Where Capitalism Meets Cannabis

I just came across this FASCINATING article about the inner workings of a Colorado Medical Marijuana Collective. Its a truly interesting look into the world of dispensary owners, and an eye opening revelation to those like me hoping to one day get into the business.

By DAVID SEGAL
Published: June 25, 2010
Boulder, Colorado

ANYONE who thinks it would be easy to get rich selling marijuana in a state where it’s legal should spend an hour with Ravi Respeto, manager of the Farmacy, an upscale dispensary here that offers Strawberry Haze, Hawaiian Skunk and other strains of Cannabis sativa at up to $16 a gram.

She will harsh your mellow.

“No M.B.A. program could have prepared me for this experience,” she says, wearing a cream-colored smock made of hemp. “People have this misconception that you just jump into it and start making money hand over fist, and that is not the case.”

Since this place opened in January, it’s been one nerve-fraying problem after another. Pot growers, used to cash-only transactions, are shocked to be paid with checks and asked for receipts. And there are a lot of unhappy surprises, like one not long ago when the Farmacy learned that its line of pot-infused beverages could not be sold nearby in Denver. Officials there had decided that any marijuana-tinged consumables had to be produced in a kitchen in the city.

“You’d never see a law that says, ‘If you want to sell Nike shoes in San Francisco, the shoes have to be made in San Francisco,’ ” says Ms. Respeto, sitting in a tiny office on the second floor of the Farmacy. “But in this industry you get stuff like that all the time.”

I highly recommend reading the
whole article.

If they ever make it legal, I would use it for medical purposes. Until then, I'm not, only because I have children and am not really into getting "messed-up" anymore.

I think that a lot of the dispensaries are going about their business in the wrong way. I think that the laxed rules on medical marijuana are causing negative popular opinions. I'm not against what they are doing because I believe that people shouldn't be allowed to consume whatever they want, rather I believe the opposite. I believe that government should have no business in telling us what we can or can't consume. However, there is a method to get to that ultimate goal and I think that the behavior of the California dispensaries are going to thwart that goal by cutting the corners that they seem to be cutting. People are looking at California and their medical marijuana laws as a joke... a joke on the people who don't agree with the end of prohibition. This just causes them to work harder on depriving us of our liberty for their own misguided beliefs. The issue is delicate and how we fight our battles is ultimately going to determine how we win our liberties.

It's crazy how they authorities can think that narcotic pain medicines are better for me than a natural plant. They would rather have me addicted to opiates and chemicals, rather than get better and cheaper relief from a natural substance, handed down by Mother Earth.

I have faith that one day, I will be able to provide myself with some proper health-care. Anyway, good luck on your future possible career.

--airspoon

reply to post by airspoon


Thanks so much for your insight. I understand your position, the reason I am so outspoken about Cannabis is because I make the time and effort needed to devote myself to my cause. Luckily-or unluckily enough I am sterile...which is a blessing, and a burden. As far as I am concerned my plants, my puppy, my kitty, and my snake are my children. I'm sorry you arn't blessed enough to live in a place where the law is on your side, it truly is a strange feeling.

The whole medical pot thing is a joke, and the owners do not help the situation. By having contsests to see who had the best "medication" they are really just making themselves look like a joke and an excuse to get high.
www.nbcbayarea.com...
The name of the contest winner can't even be nammed here because it would violate the T&Cs. When is the last time you heard of a contest to see who makes the best insulin? When is the last time you bought a medication with a name like "True OG"?

reply to post by zaiger


Wow..you are obviously very archaic and old fashioned...I can see by your signature. You think bad children should be treated like adults? Do you hit your kids when they playfully smacks you? You shouldn't admit that sort of stuff on the internet man...big brother is watching you know.

reply to post by zaiger

The whole medical pot thing is a joke, and the owners do not help the situation.

While I agree with you that they are treating it as a joke, I believe that they should be able to. It's unfortunate that are such enemies of liberty, here in America even, that they would spend so much time and effort trying to dictate what others choose to do, as if these people don't have enough to concern themselves with themselves. The Nazis were the same way, as were the Soviets and Taliban.

The only reason why I think treating it as joke is bad, is because of these totalitarians, who seem to be concerned with others, instead themselves. It's unfortunate that we should even have to worry about that, given that our forefathers sacrificed so much realize liberty on this continent.

When is the last time you heard of a contest to see who makes the best insulin?

Just because it isn't normal practice, does not mean that it is bad. I'm sure Henry Ford's opponents used to think the same way. "Since when could you ever get anything done by having one worker turn a wrench 500 times a day".

Here's the crazy thing about it, that plant works a lot better than many chemicals and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to use it, nor would I get physically addicted or have a fraction of the side effects by using it. Don't knock something just because it's different, especially when thar difference is revolutionary.

“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction” --Winston Churchill

--airspoon

Originally posted by zaiger
The whole medical pot thing is a joke, and the owners do not help the situation. By having contsests to see who had the best "medication" they are really just making themselves look like a joke and an excuse to get high.

www.nbcbayarea.com...

The name of the contest winner can't even be nammed here because it would violate the T&Cs. When is the last time you heard of a contest to see who makes the best insulin? When is the last time you bought a medication with a name like "True OG"?

The "competitions" are the closest the gray area of medicinal cannabis will get to a reliable rating system for unique specimens. It is very useful to other patients to know what specimen is closest to ideal for those categories (Indica or Sativa). That actually means something to a medicinal cannabis patient, even if it doesn't mean anything to you. If Federal Laws were changed, branding and labeling would probably be different. Maybe they would keep "God's Vagina" though? I can't say for certain...

Cannabis as medicine is a joke... THAT's a joke.

Main Entry: med·i·cine
Pronunciation: \ˈme-də-sən, British usually ˈmed-sən\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin medicina, from feminine of medicinus of a physician, from medicus
Date: 13th century

1 a : a substance or preparation used in treating disease b : something that affects well-being
2 a : the science and art dealing with the maintenance of health and the prevention, alleviation, or cure of disease b : the branch of medicine concerned with the nonsurgical treatment of disease
3 : a substance (as a drug or potion) used to treat something other than disease

Cannabis meets all 3 definitions.

Cannabis is medicine.

#

"Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA [(N-methyl-D-aspartic acid] receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia. Nonpsychoactive cannabinoids, such as cannabidoil, are particularly advantageous to use because they avoid toxicity that is encountered with psychoactive cannabinoids at high doses useful in the method of the present invention."

Source:
United States Patent No. 6,630,507. Hampson, et al. October 7, 2003.
patft.uspto.gov...

Thanks for the idea zaiger, I'll probably do an entire thread about this one patent issued by the United States Government and its implications....

I really wish that the medical marijuana collective that was operating in the UK hadn't been shut down by the police. Nobody made any profit from it, and you had to supply evidence of a medical condition where cannabis use is indicated to qualify (which I do). Many people were getting very valuable help.

I have RSD which affects my whole body and none of the mainstream drugs help much and they ALL cause kidney failure when used long term. I have kicked most of them, except codeine - the only opiate I can tolerate.

Cannabis is non-addictive, has no verified long term health effects and reduces my pain levels dramatically. I think its criminal that I and so many others are being denied medicine because of the skewed opinions of a vocal, badly informed, middle class minority.

reply to post by MarlboroRedCowgirl


Nice ad hom

Do you hit your kids when they playfully smacks you?

lol

reply to post by airspoon

It's unfortunate that are such enemies of liberty, here in America even, that they would spend so much time and effort trying to dictate what others choose to do, as if these people don't have enough to concern themselves with themselves. The Nazis were the same way, as were the Soviets and Taliban.

Im not saying that they should not be allowed to so save the strawman arguments. What i was pointing out when you are trying to get something like marijuana to be seen as a legitimate form of medicine having contests mimicking Amsterdam's annual Cannabis Cup.

Just because it isn't normal practice, does not mean that it is bad.

Does not mean it is good either.

I'm sure Henry Ford's opponents used to think the same way. "Since when could you ever get anything done by having one worker turn a wrench 500 times a day".

But Henry Ford was not calling his assembly line medicine nor was he saying that it could treat anything.

Don't knock something just because it's different, especially when thar difference is revolutionary

lol

[edit on 2-7-2010 by zaiger]

I don't see a big deal with cannabis.

Especially when it was a big crop when America was colonized.

So the tight control of the product may create more funds then taxing it.

By the arrests of people and assets.

The medical cards are just licenses or paid permission.