Missouri voters legalized it; now cannabis accessories can cleanup in a newly de-stigmatized market
A Kansas City cannabis lifestyle brand hopes this month’s legalization of recreational marijuana sales in Missouri will spark new interest in its products designed for on-the-go cannabis users, said Mohamed Dia.
Gopack Station markets itself as “fashion meets cannabis,” said Dia, founder of the emerging brand. It’s anchored by a flagship product, the Gopack rolling station, a smell-proof travel case that holds all the materials needed to roll easily and safely from anywhere.
”I can sit on my lap, I can be in a car, I can be at a park, I can be on the beach, and it’s just a perfect kind of thing where it provides that ease of access and convenience,” Dia said.
The rolling station — which now also comes in a miniature size — features an odor-deterrent exterior, ample storage pockets, custom rolling tray storage, rolling paper holders, and lockable zippers.
All the features were hand-selected, Dia said, with the goal of “making people’s lives a little bit easier.”
Gopack Station recently launched a collaboration with Fresh Karma, a dispensary with three locations in the Kansas City area, Dia said.
The licensing deal allowed Fresh Karma to create Gopack rolling stations branded with the dispensary’s colors that are now available for purchase in their stores.
“It was just really a great collaboration to serve their customer base and to expose the Gopack brand to the Kansas City cannabis market,” Dia said. “Having your product in a dispensary, you can see how things are taken more seriously.”
Wrapping its development
Dia, whose family immigrated to Kansas City from Senegal, identified the need for a portable and fashionable storage case while completing his engineering degree at Wichita State University, where he was first introduced to cannabis culture.
“I noticed that was a problem in the [cannabis] community,” Dia said. “You’d spend all this money on good flower, but you’d be rolling it on a dirty car manual in the backseat or you’d be breaking it down on the kitchen table.”
Initially, Dia visited smoke shops and searched various online retailers looking for a product that would fit his needs. His market research, however, only uncovered options that were “clunky” and served solely for storage purposes.
Unsatisfied, Dia decided to put his engineering skills to use during his final two years of college, spending hours in the campus engineering building conducting research and taking advantage of the laminating and screen printing capabilities to create a prototype.
“So now whenever I would meet up with my friends, I was able to roll up my flower and zip it up and be done,” Dia said. “Everybody’s wondering, ‘Dang, he didn’t even move an inch. He just finished, closed everything. He had every piece of material that he needed — from his wraps to his flower to his scissors to his tray — in a small, little convenient pouch, and he was able to tuck it away like it wasn’t there.’”
After getting the legal and financial aspects of the business settled, Gopack Station began selling products online in spring 2021, just before Dia graduated and moved home to Kansas City, he said.
“I was really adamant about taking my time and making sure that I could provide quality over quantity, not just trying to get something out there, but making something that’s going to be long-lasting, and something that people will actually enjoy,” Dia said.
Rooted in KC, shipped beyond
Now that Gopack Station has broken into the Kansas City dispensary market, Dia wants to build on that momentum and add to the company’s product line.
Gopack Station already offers such apparel and accessories as stem cutting scissors and packing sticks, he said, with plans to add rolling paper dispensers soon.
The brand will also be oriented toward art and community events, Dia added, noting that Gopack Station plans to partner with local artists in Kansas City and showcase new designs.
“There are a few different things that we’re trying to do, but all in all, just trying to make sure people have ways to express themselves in whatever they’re doing and wherever they’re going,” Dia said.
Although the company’s roots are firmly established in Kansas City, Gopack Station does most of its e-commerce business outside of the region, according to Dia, who said he’s shipped travel cases to customers in at least 46 different states.
Gopack Station also partnered with Luxury Leaf, Missouri’s first Black and woman-owned dispensary, to sell Gopack rolling stations at its St. Louis location.
Close to home, Dia feels like the buzz generated by upcoming events like the NFL Draft in April and 2026 World Cup will vault Kansas City — and small businesses like Gopack Station — to another level.
“There’s a lot of different creative businesses and unique businesses relating to cannabis coming to Kansas City, and I feel like it’s just gonna keep getting bigger with all the events that we have coming to the city and actually being able to showcase how Kansas City is to the rest of the world,” Dia said. “I want to hopefully be a part of telling the cannabis story in Kansas City.”