Cannabusiness: Not Your Average Drug Dealers Anymore
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On a recent trip to Long Beach, I stopped by one of the many medical marijuana dispensaries to find out if the reality of a pot shop lived up to the image I had in my head. It did, and it reminded me of the coffee shops in Amsterdam. Walk into any California weed dispensary, and you will be greeted by a friendly and knowledgeable dealer who will give you the pros and cons of different weed strains and explain the pricing for the day. That’s right, ya’ll – weed prices go up and down like stocks based on the availability of certain strains, as well as the demand. (And just in case you were wondering . . . no, I didn’t purchase any pot. I don’t have a medical marijuana card. This visit was all about research.)
The cultivation and distribution of medical marijuana is serious business. In fact, you can even get a degree in weed. So much for your junior high D.A.R.E. officer telling you that pot smokers don’t amount to anything! Oaksterdam was founded in Oakland, California with the express purpose of training cannabis dealers in the legal and business aspects of distributing medical marijuana.
As Don Duncan, the proprietor of dispensaries in Berkeley and Hollywood and an Oaksterdam professor, put it, ‘œMarijuana has evolved from a countercultural experience to an over-the-counter experience. . . .”
My introductory class had consisted of two sessions. The first taught the legal and business aspects of running a dispensary and, because the faculty is active in the cannabusiness, emphasized such practical concerns as not getting robbed (keep your stash in a gun safe) and not getting busted (exude good corporate citizenship’”incorporate, pay your taxes, join the Chamber of Commerce; Duncan won over suspicious neighbors by cleaning up all the dog poop on the block). Learn your bud: what’s good, what’s bad. Carry a variety of strains, at different price points. Know their effects. For instance, you’ll need to explain to customers that sativas produce a clear, heady high, while indicas cause a drowsier, full-bodied kind of lift (and munchies). You’ll want to sample everything.
The second session was Grow Lab, taught by a reed-thin young man in a kimono shirt, who introduced himself as Joey the Horticulturalist. State law allows patients and caregivers to grow 12 plants, but some localities set higher limits (Oakland, for instance, allows 72), so if you prefer to do without external suppliers, you can grow your own. Joey had assembled a nylon ‘œHydro Hut,’ with lights, ventilator fans, and a grow table’”your basic beginner setup. While explaining how everything fit together and how we would plant, grow, and harvest a crop as a class project, Joey effortlessly fielded a series of increasingly technical questions, earning respectful nods. For raw botanical skills, Martha Stewart can’t hold a candle to Joey.
If this gives you grand ideas of opening a dispensary and making a fist full of dollars, think again. Medical marijuana is legal under California state law, but the federal government still views cannabis as a Class 1 narcotic. If you’re caught growing, you could face a minimum of 5 years – assuming, of course, that you choose to grow more than 100 plants. (If you grow 99 plants or less, you will receive a lesser charge.) Robert Lee, founder of the Cannabis College in Oakland, has gone to prison several times on pot charges, and each sentence has carried its own bag of legal fees.
You could operate a clandestine operation. Theoretically, you could pay $150 to get your medical card so that you could grow your own pot or buy your weed from a dispensary, then redistribute it to people without a medical card. But if somebody finds out about your operation (like a greedy neighbor, or a spiteful ex) and they rip off your stash, you can’t call the cops or expect to get any sort of compensation for your loss. It’s the cost of going into the cannabusiness.
Today’s pot dealers know all of this. They’re business-savvy entrepreneurs who know an incredible amount of information about the product that they’re selling. The stereotype of a washed-up old hippie just doesn’t cut the mustard anymore. Your friendly neighborhood pharmaceutical salesperson is just as likely to be a soccer mom, or a liberal arts student, or a union representative. And if California does in fact legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, the image we have of weed dealers is likely to go even more mainstream.
What do you think – is marijuana distribution a legit business opportunity? Or should pot dealers be thrown in jail?
Photo credit: stock.xchng
It is time to unveil the drug war propaganda and legalize marijuana. Not only will the fed & state governments save money, but legalizing marijuana will bring tax revenue and will open up a new industry bringing jobs and money. Or, hey, I guess we can just keep slashing education and health care. I mean who needs education and health anyway?
Hayley, I totally agree. Holland has legalized marijuana for recreational AND medicinal purposes. They’ve limited who can sell it. They regulate it, just like any other industry. And guess what – people don’t abuse it the way the do in the states. It’s mostly the tourists who do it, and the government gets all kinds of revenue from marijuana sales. To compare your argument about education and health care funding, Holland also has free health care and free education all the way through college. I’m sensing that this is more than a coincidence. It’s a completely different mindset, and a completely different set of priorities.
Like my own post earlier about paying for sex it again boils down to Money…whether anyone likes it or not.
Liquour is the same….here in Florida we actually have a couple of Dry Counties…no alcohol at all. Every time they get enough signatures to put it to a vote the Southern Baptists who are religiously against alcohol team up with and get an enormous amount of money to fend off the legalization from all the bar and liquour store owners in the surrounding counties….Hypocrits.
As for Marijuana and other drugs the police especially have no desire for legailization…otherwise they couldn’t collect all the money, cars, houses, airplanes etc. under the forfeiture laws and they certainly would not be able to justify the SWAT team having M16’s, Armored Personell Carriers, Speedboats, fleets of Helicopters and lots of untraceable cash used in drug stings.
The Libertarians have it Right…legalize and Tax.
It would instantly stop the war in Mexico that may yet topple their government.
Roland, it’s interesting that your bring up forfeiture laws, because 90% of all marijuana-related arrests are for simple possession. I could get busted for having less than an ounce of weed and go the prison under mandatory minimum sentencing. It’s so stupid. They’re not going after the distributors. If they really wanted to put a dent in marijuana consumption, they would be going after the supply.
The people at Oaksterdam are really cool, it just goes to show you how the climate for marijuana is changing! I think that the legalization of medical marijuana has changed the “dealer” atmosphere, as a lot of dispensaries are not shady places at all. We’re kind of in the in between stages of full on legalization, though I think we’re still a ways off from seeing that happen at the federal level.