Mississippi brothers continue making headway on multi-million dollar cannabis growing facility in Canton

CANTON, Miss. (WLBT) - A pair of Mississippi brothers continue making progress on a multi-million dollar cannabis growing facility in Canton.

The founder of Kudzu Cannabis, Jared Kobs, took a risk when he purchased the twenty-two acres in Madison County before medical marijuana was even signed into law.

“We did take a little chance and a little bit of a risk to try and get out in front of everybody, but we wanted to be rolling,” he said.

Now that it’s been legalized, the Magnolia State native is looking to be among the first to have product hit the shelves.

“It’s very important that Mississippi is not last on this,” he said. “It’s going to bring great revenues and great jobs to the state.”

Kobs said after another week or so of dirt work, it will be time to lay down the foundation on the eight-million dollar, thirty-thousand square foot cannabis growing facility.

In the mean time, workers are gutting the old State Bank and Trust in Jackson so that a dispensary is fully operational by the time the state gives the green light to sell product.

“We believe that we’re going to be first to the market along with the few others that will be,” Kobs said.

As Kobs makes his debut in the industry, he brings a team with years of experience along with him.

“I’ve worked everywhere from California, Florida, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania... a lot of the really big markets,” Kudzu Cannabis Chief Operating Officer Rob Levy said. “The one thing that always has pointed true to each one of the players in those markets is that if they’re first, they usually have a really good likelihood of being successful.”

“As a startup in Missouri, we did a number of things and we made a number of mistakes,” Chief Financial Officer Don Whetsel said. “But now that I have those lessons under my belt, we can start to better use our time and our money to get this to market much quicker.”

Between the dispensary and the growing facility, the developments are expected to bring about 100 new jobs by the time everything is finished.

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