Come on Panhead...You make it sound like patients are leeching off of growers. The truth is there is no one fair set amount that growers can or should compensate patients for.There should be some sort of formula in the agreement between the grower and patient. IMO at least here in Oregon the whole medical law simply skirts around existing marijuana laws, and you "pay" to play.
In my agreement my grower supplies me with 1oz a month and as I said above (And Slim Jim, I am far from a noob) he averages about 6 oz a plant. So in my name he is growing to maturity 24 plants a year, he also has two other patients, so he is harvesting 24 plants, four times a year.
I have absolutely no problem with him covering his costs and more in my name, as during the outdoor season I do the same thing. He's invested probably 20K constructing the rooms in his basement, rewiring, installing dehumidifiers, an air conditioner, carbon filters, lighting, and he puts in tons of hours caring for the plants, harvesting, drying, trimming
A grower is not going to "invest" in 25K worth of grow equipment to lose money, unless he/she is in a situation like you and your wife..But you and I both know, yours and my situation is in the vast minority of medical card holders .
I've never heard of anyone in Oregon getting their car impounded, or siezed. What state are you in? I was driving through Portland last summer and drove through a check point for drunk drivers after a concert. (I wasn't at the concert) but the cop asked me if I had been drinking and almost immediately smelled my weed (an 8oz freezer bag full) He asked me if I had been smoking and I told him I hadn't. He had me pull to the side, he checked my bag, my OMMP card, asked me what I was doing with 8oz in my car at 11:00 PM at night and then said, thank you have a good nightOTE]
Im not trying to make it sound like patients leach off growers , ya see i have a unique perspective as to rough percentages of which card holder is truly a " Patient " & who is a card holder who is using the mmj program to avoid legal trouble & use their card to obtain weed to get high on , which im ok with but those card holders are not " Patients " in my eyes nor is the mj Medicine , this is where my problems lie & fester .
A year into the start of Michigans mmj program i was watching a dispensary take my product & sell it at $25 a gram & i watched them sell an obviuosly sick person a 20 gram bag of my blue widdow for $500 , i was so pissed i told her not to buy it & if she'd follow me to my car i'd give her a zip free of charge , that experience led me to invest $180,000 with a group of investers to start a true co-op , we got it up & running & with me owning 51% shit went smooth , i started a program which gave out free meds to patients with painfull diseases & once their doctor filled out our questionaire they got up to a zip a month depending on their pain levels , durring my 2 yrs as co-op controler i was bombarded with young kids trying to sign up for the patient hope program with bullshit back aches & add or adhd , stoners trying to take advantage , most real " Patients " were ashamed to even ask about joining patient hope .
We also provided doctor consultations so i'd wittness young healthy people trying to make up shit to fill out on the form to appear sick to our doctor , atleast twice a day some stoner would ask me how to fake pain & how to describe it on paper , ive also wittnessed dozens of people auction their grow rights by pitting one provider against others , i walked away knowing that around 90% of Michigans mmj " Patients " were interested in being legal for self servingreasons & that most do not truly use mj as medicine , my partners got so greedy i made them buy me out or i'd close the doors so ive seen greed from both sides , the thing that sticks in my craw about most patients is they allways do the math estimates on how much the provider is making off their 12 plants , much like you outlined in the quote above , what i never see wrote or talked about is how much their provider invested to grow their meds , with lighting , equipment ,nutrients , proper building code wiring & fire suppresion equipment it cost me $25,000 to set up 8 4ft x 8ft tables with geothermal cooling for all 8 rez's , that with the $180k in the store front put me in for roughly $200k & thats what i sold back my interest in the co-op for , i could of made more money just collecting bank interest , where i made real money was from operating that huge grow room & even that was risky , the building i owned so if the cop's wanted they could of seized the bldg & its contents , even though the grow was inspected by the fire marshall , met building codes & was in complience with state mmj laws it could be seized on a whim , exactly like my truck , all total i barely made 20% returns on my money because we gave so much to terminal patients .
If cops think there is profit to be made from a grower they will beat other leo agencies over the head to get at you 1st , i allready lost a home , 2 cars , bank accounts , several motorcycles & everything in the home over growing & spent 2 yrs in prison to boot , now they are gonna get my truck , it angers me how providers are painted as greedy by fake patients who do some quick math & think their provider is making a fortune off their 12 plants , im also angered at these type threads because nobody takes the grower into consideration his risky investment , his labor or risk of having his home & assets seized , its allways ( Am i getting enough from my provider ) .
Im in Michigan & mj laws only protect patients & providers are viewed as atm machines by johnny law , imo any patient who thinks they deserve more than 2 zips per 12 plant grow is greedy & not thinking about their providers investment , hard work or especially the risk to their home & family saftey .