DankyDank
Well-Known Member
This question was inspired by another thread, where I was reading about someone's attempt to open a co-op, and the general support that the readers of the thread seemed to be expressing.
I have been to several dispensaries in the California bay area. While they don't all outright suck, I have yet to find one that does not charge street prices for medicine. I understand that there might be perfectly valid reasons for this, including the fact that if they were undercutting the street, people would resell their medicine. But there is no avoiding the bottom line; the people running these "co-ops" are making hundreds of thousands of dollars. Consequently, I have a very low opinion of co-ops, even though I support medicinal marijuana.
A few months ago, all of the co-ops in Modesto, California were busted. There was general lamenting throughout the pot community. But I had been to these dispensaries while they were open, and they were being run by thugs. The first time I walked into one I thought I had stepped into a meeting of the Tony Montana Appreciation Society, and they treated the customers rude as hell. I was overjoyed when they got shut down, and resent the unwillingness of the medicinal pot-smoking community to clean its own house. The Modesto co-ops were so bad that the PATIENTS should have shut them down before the cops had even finished their doughnuts.
So I don't get excited when I hear about someone opening a new co-op. A true co-op, in my opinion, would never "open." It would simply consist of a group of people who were sharing the expenses of a grow operation in order to grow for their own personal use. Any surplus would be provided to the truly needy at a rate drastically lower than street prices. And if your operation is so large that you can't tell the needy from someone who is going to resell, your operation is too large.
I am a caregiver, and I provide medicine to the patients I serve at a price less than half of the street price. At this time, approximately 25% of my patients are on hospice, and their medicine is provided absolutely free. I also provide those who are physically able to grow their own medicine all of the information I have to get them started growing on their own so that they don't have to rely on others to get their meds. THAT is a co-op. I don't need a business license, and I don't have to "open" anything.
I would like to know if there are others who feel the same way, or do most folks just figure that the more pot is available the better off we are, no matter how much personal profit is involved.
I have been to several dispensaries in the California bay area. While they don't all outright suck, I have yet to find one that does not charge street prices for medicine. I understand that there might be perfectly valid reasons for this, including the fact that if they were undercutting the street, people would resell their medicine. But there is no avoiding the bottom line; the people running these "co-ops" are making hundreds of thousands of dollars. Consequently, I have a very low opinion of co-ops, even though I support medicinal marijuana.
A few months ago, all of the co-ops in Modesto, California were busted. There was general lamenting throughout the pot community. But I had been to these dispensaries while they were open, and they were being run by thugs. The first time I walked into one I thought I had stepped into a meeting of the Tony Montana Appreciation Society, and they treated the customers rude as hell. I was overjoyed when they got shut down, and resent the unwillingness of the medicinal pot-smoking community to clean its own house. The Modesto co-ops were so bad that the PATIENTS should have shut them down before the cops had even finished their doughnuts.
So I don't get excited when I hear about someone opening a new co-op. A true co-op, in my opinion, would never "open." It would simply consist of a group of people who were sharing the expenses of a grow operation in order to grow for their own personal use. Any surplus would be provided to the truly needy at a rate drastically lower than street prices. And if your operation is so large that you can't tell the needy from someone who is going to resell, your operation is too large.
I am a caregiver, and I provide medicine to the patients I serve at a price less than half of the street price. At this time, approximately 25% of my patients are on hospice, and their medicine is provided absolutely free. I also provide those who are physically able to grow their own medicine all of the information I have to get them started growing on their own so that they don't have to rely on others to get their meds. THAT is a co-op. I don't need a business license, and I don't have to "open" anything.
I would like to know if there are others who feel the same way, or do most folks just figure that the more pot is available the better off we are, no matter how much personal profit is involved.
