Medical pot returning to underground - LA Times

[flaxseedoil1000]

A stocky onetime mortgage broker is speeding through Costa Mesa in an old pickup with two pounds of weed in a paper bag. He wears gray cargo shorts and flip-flops and a faded cap with the image of a marijuana leaf stitched on the front. He just smoked a joint thick as a knuckle.

..For a man whose apartment was raided recently and now faces felony drug possession and cultivation charges, he doesn't seem particularly worried about the mission at hand.

Ricky rants about a federal and local crackdown on medical marijuana that closed various dispensaries that he ran and forced him back to the streets, where he began as a teenager in the 1970s. (Except then, he was a dealer. Now he is a "mobile dispensary.")


"It's too late!" he bellows. "The genie is out of the bottle. A huge demand has been created. It's back to the underground. Anyone who is smart is just going to take it back to the streets."


He says he knows lots of people scurrying to the shadows as the state has struggled and failed to regulate the medical cannabis industry and local law enforcement agencies and the federal government have tried to curtail it.

..
Despite the problems, he was in the sunlight for the first time in his marijuana career and enjoyed it. He had always known he could end up in prison, and he prepared for it mentally, but things seemed to be changing.


Then he got busted.


From a tip, police put his apartment under surveillance and noticed his Edison meter was spinning like a ballerina, a sure sign that grow lights were guzzling power. They served a search warrant last year, seized his plants and about $20,000, and charged him with drug possession and cultivation. He's preparing for trial now.

Complete story: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pot-delivery-20120907,0,6377677.story

 

[d.s.m.]

We gave the government a chance at huge revenue stream, and they chose to shit on it. Fuck 'em.

 

[Rapunzel]

We gave the government a chance at huge revenue stream, and they chose to shit on it. Fuck 'em.

Haha, that revenue stream is literally less than a grain of sand compared to the revenue stream being generated by the whole system itself. It all ultimately goes to an extreme minority. Just have to convince these foockers that they can still suck the life blood out of every human on the planet with mj being widely used.

 

[Dan Kone]

We gave the government a chance at huge revenue stream, and they chose to shit on it. Fuck 'em.

Yep. I'm ready for em all to close down and go back to some wild west shit.

They may be able to close down a few hundred store front dispensaries, but let's see them try to shut down a few thousand delivery services with PO box addresses and private collectives.

 

[OGEvilgenius]

We gave the government a chance at huge revenue stream, and they chose to shit on it. Fuck 'em.

It was already a huge revenue stream for them, except it's off the books. Bonus.

To say the United States government is corrupt would be a great understatement.

 

[Mithrandir420]

Haha, that revenue stream is literally less than a grain of sand compared to the revenue stream being generated by the whole system itself. It all ultimately goes to an extreme minority. Just have to convince these foockers that they can still suck the life blood out of every human on the planet with mj being widely used.

While this is a very simple way of saying it, it's also spot on.

Personally, I am always ready to go back to full underground black market. So are all my old dealer friends.

 

[Dan Kone]

Right now it seems like the people who actually do the work in the medical marijuana industry, the growers and the people who make products as well as the customers are all getting fucked over by these dispensaries which are nothing more than sleazy middle men.

I was ok with that when I thought the dispensaries would step up and unite if the feds ever came for them. Well, they didn't step up even a little bit. They just kicked back and watched as the feds shut down dispensaries one by one thinking it wouldn't happen to them. I'm not impressed with that behavior at all.

Now it's clear to me that these dispensary owners generally just don't give a shit. They are pretty fucking useless. They are just squeezing dollars out of both growers and customers. Now for the most part, they aren't even providing a higher quality product. They buy bud based on profit margins instead of quality, but still sell it for the same price as what top shelf should go for. There are exceptions to that, but not many.

They had the opportunity to both get rich AND help the medical marijuana movement. Instead they are kind of just shitting on everyone. For this reason, I hope the supreme court does end up shutting them all down everywhere. Fuck them, they are just sleazy middlemen sticking their hands in everyone's pocket. We don't need them.

 

[Rapunzel]

Yo Dan, that is pretty harsh man. I don't know if you just had a bad experience, but that is spicy .

I feel you to an extent, but I'm also sure it is pretty hard to run a dispensary, and even more so if it is totally legit.

Lemme ask you though, I'm a legit mmj patient, for like a couple of months now (and after several years of real and true suffering am just starting to get my life back), where am I going to get medicine if the dispensaries are closed? Also, I'm still sorting through what works and what doesn't work for me. In a post-dispensary environment, how am I going to find that one strain that actually works, and find a steady supply of it?

Dispensaries no doubt are middle men, but middle men serve a valuable function acting as a central node connecting growers and buyers. It is my feeling that the quasi legal status of this whole industry enables shady behavior on the part of everybody, but especially the dispensaries. Seems like if the state really put its foot down and resisted federal intervention in our internal affairs, the shady dispensaries would have a much harder time pulling the shit that they do (whatever that is, haha, I have no clue beyond under/no pay for growers).

I'm not trying to argue with you, but I am curious to understand your reasoning better due to your experience in this field. I am wondering if your opinion considers the interests of patients?

 

[AlohaKid]

A lot of dispensaries in LA area are run by The Armenian mafia.

 

[angryblackman]

Yo Dan, that is pretty harsh man. I don't know if you just had a bad experience, but that is spicy .

I feel you to an extent, but I'm also sure it is pretty hard to run a dispensary, and even more so if it is totally legit.

Lemme ask you though, I'm a legit mmj patient, for like a couple of months now (and after several years of real and true suffering am just starting to get my life back), where am I going to get medicine if the dispensaries are closed? Also, I'm still sorting through what works and what doesn't work for me. In a post-dispensary environment, how am I going to find that one strain that actually works, and find a steady supply of it?

Dispensaries no doubt are middle men, but middle men serve a valuable function acting as a central node connecting growers and buyers. It is my feeling that the quasi legal status of this whole industry enables shady behavior on the part of everybody, but especially the dispensaries. Seems like if the state really put its foot down and resisted federal intervention in our internal affairs, the shady dispensaries would have a much harder time pulling the shit that they do (whatever that is, haha, I have no clue beyond under/no pay for growers).

I'm not trying to argue with you, but I am curious to understand your reasoning better due to your experience in this field. I am wondering if your opinion considers the interests of patients?

If they are in it for the money then the patients suffer. Quality meds aren't going to hit the shelf, the customer has to pay the dispensary markup, their greed is going to get them shut down, and the patients are back to the black market to get their meds. All over money.......

Imagine a dispensary that posted the cost to grow and truely charged a compassion fee. I could easily see $20/30 eights being the norm. But that won't make them a profit.

 

[Mithrandir420]

There is nothing wrong with making a profit. Also, prices are at an all time low right now. It seems like some of you won't be satisfied until people are taking from their own kids mouths to give to you. Everyone has to make a living.

 

[angryblackman]

There is nothing wrong with making a profit. Also, prices are at an all time low right now. It seems like some of you won't be satisfied until people are taking from their own kids mouths to give to you. Everyone has to make a living.

Profit and greed are 2 different things and also go hand in hand. Making a good living providing a service to those in need to me is profit. Then there is greed... We all know what that looks like and results in. Too much greed.

 

[Mithrandir420]

Absolutely, but some people can't seem to distinguish between the two.

 

[Dan Kone]

I don't mind dispensaries making profits, they deserve to. I have a problem with them only being concerned with profits at all costs. The entire 215 world would be better off without them at this point. They had a chance to unite and fight the feds. They have the money to do it. Instead they did nothing proving they have no value in the community. They are parasites.

Making profits = ~100-150% markup on their products. 250-400% markup = profiteering. And that's what most of them do.

 

[UncleBuck]

If they are in it for the money then the patients suffer. Quality meds aren't going to hit the shelf, the customer has to pay the dispensary markup, their greed is going to get them shut down, and the patients are back to the black market to get their meds. All over money.......

Imagine a dispensary that posted the cost to grow and truely charged a compassion fee. I could easily see $20/30 eights being the norm. But that won't make them a profit.

$20 an eighth would be a revenue increase for me and i get by just fine.

and before i'm accused of being some hack grower, my patients choose me over the dispensaries when they get the choice.

i would never deal with a dispensary for the reasons dan kone listed.

edit: even though i'm in oregon, i have family in CA that i bring my wares to. they prefer it to dispensary product that costs twice as much.

 

[cdub5]

yeah even 45 an 8th is like 300 % profit and that is ridiculous. thats if they are getting it for 2500 a p which most clubs are

 

[Dan Kone]

yeah even 45 an 8th is like 300 % profit and that is ridiculous. thats if they are getting it for 2500 a p which most clubs are

Depends what the pack costs. If a club is charging $45 an eight then the grower should get $2800. That's more than even to cover all dispensary expenses and make a nice profit. But if a club is paying $2k a pack, then charging $50 an eight, that's profiteering IMO, and many clubs are doing just that.

 

[cdub5]

Depends what the pack costs. If a club is charging $45 an eight then the grower should get $2800. That's more than even to cover all dispensary expenses and make a nice profit. But if a club is paying $2k a pack, then charging $50 an eight, that's profiteering IMO, and many clubs are doing just that.

all true, theres a difference between making money and just raping people on prices and making tons of money and not caring about patients.

 

[Rapunzel]

Dan, you keep saying dispensaries are unnecessary, but you won't suggest an alternative way for patients to acquire medication. I don't think your opinion holds any weight until you suggest a reasonable alternative.

 

[Milovan]

Medical pot returning to underground?
Thank God!! Yes, yes yes, I can't wait!!