Colorado Dispensaries: the good, the bad, and the ugly

[StoneMountain]

" i think a few places would survive i know the Black Market does."

Black Market doesnt have:

All sorts of taxes, Business Insurance, Store Front Rent, Dept of Revnue cost, City Business Lic cost, employee cost, employee unemployment cost, Security cost, Extra Electricity bill, business office expenses.

..should I keep going or do you get the point. Cost a lot more to run a LEGIT biz than an illegal one.

The only way to drive down cost is to improve overall quality. Places with high prices for low quality herb will fold on their own.

If youve never ran a high sales retail business you honestly have no idea what the cost are involved to make it run smoothly and keep customers happy.

Not wanting to gripe, honestly this is the best job in the world.

 

[BiG H3rB Tr3E]

How would the authorities know who is your primary caregiver? They would have to raid both your grow and your dispensaries grow, then go through all of the paperwork to see if you had signed them as a primary caregiver. Then what? What if you signed to a place that was less than quality....? Can you only be the member of a single dispensary? Doesnt seem very fair for the patients....alot of gray area. They should lobby to not have a single caregiver, if they removed the five patient per caregiver, im sure they could work on this as well...

 

[Tripsick]

How would the authorities know who is your primary caregiver? They would have to raid both your grow and your dispensaries grow, then go through all of the paperwork to see if you had signed them as a primary caregiver. Then what? What if you signed to a place that was less than quality....? Can you only be the member of a single dispensary? Doesnt seem very fair for the patients....alot of gray area. They should lobby to not have a single caregiver, if they removed the five patient per caregiver, im sure they could work on this as well...

Right and i guess you can just keep signing everyone up as primary caregiver unless you run into problems by continuing to send in forms with different information unless there is a limit the amount of times you can switch in a year?

 

[guest123]

I was at green mountain today... They definitely have some nice stock. Their cheese totally legit and tasty! Picked up some real nice super silver haze and some kali mist too. They told the number of days the cut was at and everything, interesting.

Anyway, if you guys have a cheaper place to shop with good meds, do it! Their prices are comparable to what I've seen, and they have some top shelf stuff right now.

 

[pikes peak 69]

I'd like to make a few comments here.

First off the State didn't remove a 5 patient limit for caregivers, they were trying to enact a 5 patient limit. here is no limit according to the law.
Second, when you assign a primary caregiver, nowhere in the law does it state that you as a patient cannot grow. In fact the law uses the wording COLLECTIVELY, so a patient can still try growing if they have a primary caregiver.
How I would do it is if you choose to list a primary caregiver, have something signed by you and them to the effect that they grow x number of plants and you will grow x number of plants.
Also a business can not be a caregiver, only a person. So what most (not all) dispensaries do is sign one of there contracted growers as your caregiver. Then they contract with that grower to buy all they produce and give you a discount on your meds. They take the excess to sell to others.
This of course is only what I'm seeing in The Springs, but I imagine that's how it's being done all of the state. They will also buy any excess meds that any person will sell to them. Hell in a Springs newspaper there are adds from dispensaries openingly asking for you to bring your excess meds for them to purchase.

pp69

 

[66buds]

Here's a link to the story I was talking about earlier.

http://www.metronorthnews.com/story.php?id=101.0

 

[clonedoctor420@]

Here's a link to the story I was talking about earlier.

http://www.metronorthnews.com/story.php?id=101.0

"Council can decide to embrace the state law legalizing the medical use of marijuana and set regulations. Or, it could hang its hat on federal law, which maintains that it is illegal to grow, sell or possess the drug."





Supreme Court Hands Medical Marijuana Major Victory



San Diego County, however, argued that the federal ban on marijuana trumps the state law, meaning they are not required to follow the state law. The county filed suit in 2006. Both the San Diego Superior Court and the Fourth District Court of Appeals rejected the argument, which was followed by the California Supreme Court's refusal to review the case in 2008.
The San Diego Board of Supervisors voted to appeal to the Supreme Court.
"The courts have made clear that federal law does not preempt California's medical marijuana law and that local officials must comply with that law," said Joe Elford, chief counsel with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a national medical marijuana advocacy group with a large presence in California. "No longer will local officials be able to hide behind federal law and resist upholding California's medical marijuana law."
It is not the job, in other words, of local cops or municipalities to enforce federal laws. In fact, the federal government has never made such an argument.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/18/supreme-court-hands-medic_n_204681.html

 

[K.J]

Black Market doesnt have:

All sorts of taxes, Business Insurance, Store Front Rent, Dept of Revnue cost, City Business Lic cost, employee cost, employee unemployment cost, Security cost, Extra Electricity bill, business office expenses.

..should I keep going or do you get the point. Cost a lot more to run a LEGIT biz than an illegal one.

The only way to drive down cost is to improve overall quality. Places with high prices for low quality herb will fold on their own.

If youve never ran a high sales retail business you honestly have no idea what the cost are involved to make it run smoothly and keep customers happy.

You sir, get it. Amen to that.

 

[Kola Radical]

I still think we need a real CoOp where everyone trades meds and the costs are minimal.

Sometimes I feel like Cannabis Oil is the only thing keeping me alive. I try to take it every day and make it myself, but it kills me when I have to buy it. At $10 for 3 capsules or $60 for a small bottle of tincture, MMJ is more expensive than regular pharmaceutical meds. Not to mention the unknown purity etc.. of locally made medicine.

But it is working. I can do things now that I could not do 10 yrs ago. I just need to figure out how to get it without going into debt.

 

[Tripsick]

I still think we need a real CoOp where everyone trades meds and the costs are minimal.

Sometimes I feel like Cannabis Oil is the only thing keeping me alive. I try to take it every day and make it myself, but it kills me when I have to buy it. At $10 for 3 capsules or $60 for a small bottle of tincture, MMJ is more expensive than regular pharmaceutical meds. Not to mention the unknown purity etc.. of locally made medicine.

But it is working. I can do things now that I could not do 10 yrs ago. I just need to figure out how to get it without going into debt.

CO-OP is what Denver needs, we have more than enough dispensaries but the more the better i hope they become like 7-11's so they are on every corner.

Grow for yourself if its possible. Its the best way to go the cheapest and the most rewarding.

 

[High]

The Colorado medical marijuana wagon keeps on moving on. This exerpt is from the Atlantic's article "Colorado's Marijuana Economy: An Explosion of Ganjapreneurship."

http://correspondents.theatlantic.com/christina_davidson/2009/08/at_first_glance_the_one.php

Kathleen Chippi has been a proponent of hemp and pro-medicinal marijuana activist for over twenty years, but had never considered opening a dispensary until the recession hit her boutique. With sales down 75% early this year, Kathleen faced financial probabilities of losing her business. After Obama's drug czar announced there would be no more federal raids on legal medical marijuana dispensaries, Kathleen decided to look into the requirements for starting one. "Our law is so gray and open," she explains, "there are no guidelines about dispensaries except that you have to collect sales tax." After procuring a business license identifying the new product she would sell, on June 26 Kathleen's modest artisan shop transformed into the One Brown Mouse Cannabis Healing Arts Center.... and Boutique.

The success of her new venture has been nothing short of astounding, with implications that reverberate far beyond the four walls of her tiny shop. From the micro-view of her own personal experience, Kathleen suggests, "Marijuana is the only thing pulling Colorado out of the recession right now." Not only has her own small business been saved, but whereas her previous sales tax bill would run about $500 per quarter, Nederland will be getting a $5000 check out of her first few months as a dispensary.

Most of the farmers Kathleen works with have been cultivating their product illegally for many years--the oldest has been in the illicit business for 35, more than half have grown marijuana for over two decades. Now that they sell their product to a legal commercial enterprise, weed farmers will have to register their income and pay taxes on it, just like anyone growing tomatoes or tobacco. "To have these people coming out of the closet after so many years, that's the really heartening thing about what's happening right now," Kathleen says.

 

[SweetBOG]

high, you beat me to it. what a great article.. one of the best and most reassuring I've read! Wow there are people our there that actually want to make a difference and care about the scene, not just jump on the bandwagon.

 

[High]

It is a good article! Well written, informative and accurate. You don't see those qualities in our other local media reports on MMJ.

Can't wait to visit the Brown Mouse's upcoming Megacannamart!

Cheers.

 

[K.J]

Great article High. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[alphaguru]

brown mouse is sooooo sketchy fuck no

there is no privacy whatso ever
people come and go as they please. they are selling pipes as well as clothing and other things and it is a tiny shop. during my visit at leat 6 people who didn't have cards walked into the store only to see weed all over the counter. not fucking cool.

its dank though.

try grateful meds also in nederland. way more discreet

 

[Kola Radical]

You would think Nederland would have the best dispensary since that little town is weed heaven. I think you have to grow weed before they will let you live there. Some of the best buds I've ever had came from Ned.

I'm going to have to make the drive up there or else catch the RTD.

 

[SELFHEMPLOYED]

You would think Nederland would have the best dispensary since that little town is weed heaven. I think you have to grow weed before they will let you live there. Some of the best buds I've ever had came from Ned.

I'm going to have to make the drive up there or else catch the RTD.

The atmosphere was fine when I went here, not one person came in and the guy behind the counter was super nice.

BUT the weed sucked. I drove all the way from the Fort for some SAGE and was very disappointed when their "SAGE" was absolutely not SAGE. Apart from the Black Domina everything there smelled like hay and was kept in the refrigerator.
If Nederland is the weed heaven of Colorado they sure aren't representing themselves well, I won't be back.

I do have to say it is cool that they give you mason jars with your medicine, I'm used to seeing plastic condiment dishes or even plastic bags.

 

[StoneMountain]

Nederland has 7 dispensaries opening. Way to many for such a small town, Ward (which is the real weed heaven) is opening 4 clubs there in that little hole of a town.

Doesnt seem smart location wise. I wouldnt open a tomato stand in a town where nothing but tomatos are grown.

but to each their own.

 

[alphaguru]

Nederland has 7 dispensaries opening.....

seriously???

have any more info

 

[SweetBOG]

Full review of One Brown Mouse in Nederland

Full review of One Brown Mouse in Nederland

hmmm I've always had really good experiences the few times I've been up to One Brown Mouse. They have a small rotation of local growers that work there at different times, so maybe some bad luck there that hay smell day.

I just did a full review at www.thestrainman.blogspot.com on this place and you can see some quality pics of some of their meds. I LOOOOOOOVVVVVVEEEE their Cherry Lime Haze!!!!!!!!!! Just love it.