Why is medical marijuana so expensive?

find that hard to believe drive up to the gates of trinity broadcasting network or actually watch some of the crap like the creepy grey hair old bastard who was pulling in a million dollar salary,and a personal assistant who had gay sex with him and extorted the trinity broadcast network for $.
yea thanks blue dot I'll feel better with my coop owner in jail for aspiring to actually make $maybe I can shell out more gas money on my next drive.
you are perpetually petulant on the subject of $ grow you own buy your own,but apparently what you want compared to what you deserve is our collective bridge on the river kwai in action.

blue dot/inflorescence, i didn't read it - i was ADVISED that by my attorney as i was setting up my 501c. so i have no link for you.
AND I AM STILL HERE

BlueDot man... What is your beef with medical marijuana? I can't remember reading you post in like one thread where you were on our side, are you a FOX news astroturfer?

ocean99 said:

BlueDot man... What is your beef with medical marijuana? I can't remember reading you post in like one thread where you were on our side, are you a FOX news astroturfer?

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Then you must not read the growers forums.

They help me and hopefully I can also help a few grow better along the way.

It's just the cannabis laws forum where I'm "perpetually petulant" because I just know what I read. I'm mean think about it, if the dispensaries really did have the law on their side then there wouldn't even really be a cannabis laws forum because there wouldn't be any news or court decisions to discuss.

Technically a Non-profit business can set salaries at any amount they wish or settle on. The profit, which is the revenue minus expenses including salaries cannot be withdrawn from the company into the owners pockets.

So if a non-profit set all of its salaries for all of its workers to a combined total of 5 milliion dollars, any net revenue beyond 5 million for the year cannot end up in the owners back pocket, but must stay in the company. So if say company brought in 10 million in revenue, they would pay out the 5 million in salary, then reinvest the other 5 million. This is perfectly legal.


Many, many companies operate non-profit for tax breaks. As well many of these companies CEO's and top Execs make millions a year.


I think we should all donate some compassion and pay for BlueDot to go back to school, before he posts anymore


Mr^^

thanks for the refresher MedResearcher that sounds (well, it looks) similiar to what i have been advised by legal counsel.

i think the whole 'money making greedy dispensary' ideas are really coming from is simply the amount of patients the coops service. DUH OF COURSE THERE IS GOING TO BE LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY.

like i suggested earlier maybe the coops should scale back their patient/member counts... of course then there will be 3 coops on every block but none will be raking in excess dollars their profits will be limited by number of members - unless of course someone were to own multiple locations....

MedResearcher said:

Technically a Non-profit business can set salaries at any amount they wish or settle on. The profit, which is the revenue minus expenses including salaries cannot be withdrawn from the company into the owners pockets.

So if a non-profit set all of its salaries for all of its workers to a combined total of 5 milliion dollars, any net revenue beyond 5 million for the year cannot end up in the owners back pocket, but must stay in the company. So if say company brought in 10 million in revenue, they would pay out the 5 million in salary, then reinvest the other 5 million. This is perfectly legal.


Many, many companies operate non-profit for tax breaks. As well many of these companies CEO's and top Execs make millions a year.

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So some fancy lawyer or lobbiest somewhere along the way found a way to pervet a good intentioned thing (non profit status) and many a-holes like trinity broadcasting, etc ad nausum decided to take advantage of this new found (typically American) perveted lawyer double speak and then Jerry brown was dumb enough to interpret sb420 as that so now every dispensary and their lawyer just uses this as their loophole?

Is it too much to ask of america not to pervert a good intentioned thing like the intention of what the originators of what a non-profit really was supposed to be about before the lawyers got a hold of it?

Somehow, I don't think the founders of the American Red Cross in 1881 were thinking "Hey, let's set this up so we can make huge salaries".

Greyskull said:

of course then there will be 3 coops on every block but none will be raking in excess dollars their profits will be limited by number of members - unless of course someone were to own multiple locations....

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maybe someone like the CA head of the ASA, a group who is supposedly looking after PATIENT's rights?

why don't we ask california why there is a parking lot next to the peir in huntington beach instead? what kind of intention is involved with a parking lot on the sand?

im not saying the clubs dont charge to much BUT....

they do have to pay rent.
employee.
electric.
water prolly...
taxes on there pot.
and im sure more i dont even kno about....
so it does kinda make sinse why they charge the prices they do...
still sucks tho..

last time i spoke with don (it has been some time mind you) he was getting out of the ownership game. If I am misinformed then its not the first time and it wont be the last.

you probably hate C3 huh?

I found the fee Harborside pays Oakland every month just for the privilege of opening its doors. $2500. $30,000 per year. Then after they open their doors they get to pay 1.8% of gross sales in addition.

http://www.sacbee.com/politics/story/2161926.html

1.8% and I get to sell a federally controlled substance?

Where do I sign up?

JJScorpio said:

The above post makes me think that legalization with a 50 dollar tax will save the sick and dying a lot of money on their meds. Hundreds of thousands of more people will be growing and the supply might outweigh the demand.

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Bingo!

It also leads me to believe instead of "compassion clubs" some should be named "get what you can clubs".

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With respect, perhaps it's your definition of the word compassion that's confusing you. They're called 'compassion' clubs because Prop 215 is named "California Compassionate Use Act". It's not the common usage of the word that is intended.

This was the answer I was waiting to hear..... But you might want to remember, Bill Gates sells computer software, which is a luxery. Clubs sell meds to ease suffering. And some seem to have learned they can put any price on that....

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OK, you're in NY, but for a second pretend you're in CA. You've found poor people which you give away 5 lbs a year and help. Now all the 'profiteers' somehow disappear. Where do the people that can afford to pay go? Are there hoards of people waiting in the wings to grow tons and tons in order to give it away? I submit that almost 100% of the people inclined to be angels are already doing so, and are at capacity. The 'profiteers' are now gone, and people that can well afford to pay for their medicine, not to mention the people that aren't really sick but hold medical cards. By eliminating the 'profiteers' you've eliminated supply. These people are doing it solely for the money. Take away the money and they go do something else. They're not going to suddenly say 'well, I can't make a profit here so I think I'll become Mother Theresa and give it away'. The funny thing about people making massive profits is it draws in other people who want a piece of the pie. Absent artificial barriers to entry that would be created by morons like Blue Dot they'll set up a grow, and increase supply. Were you around in the '80s? Long distance service was a cash cow. The money was so lucrative that it drew in lots and lots of competition, and the result today is that only idiots pay for domestic long distance phone calls, and it's not going to be long before international is that way too. It is almost always barriers to entry that keep competition out and support high prices. Reality is that a distribution chain has to be set up to get medicine to the people that need it, and that isn't an easy task. If you wouldn't motivate people to do the needed work with monetary rewards, how would you do so?

Above you note someone on SSI disability being unable to afford their medicine. Very sad. But that's a failure of regulation. because that $700/month is only their monetary benefit from being in the program. These people get medical care and prescription medicine as well as food stamps, at least if they understand the system. It isn't the people taking care of those that can afford to pay that are depriving them of their medicine, it's the idiotic laws that prevent their medicine from being prescribed by doctors. But even then you note that computer software is a 'luxury', which I certainly find arguable in today's society. If computers are a luxury then so too is almost anything other than that which will fulfill your basic needs, and there are adequate medicines that are prescribable and available to the people you say can't afford cannabis, which will adequately fulfill their needs. No, not in as desirable a manner but disire for better than that which is needed is the way I understand the word 'luxury'. Cannabis is not a curative, it is a palliative.

You're obviously doing your part to increase supply, and god bless you for it. Your motivation works for you. But why do you think that the small percentage of people that hold your point of view can handle the needed demands of the sick and dying by yourselves, or why do you think there's a pragmatically realistic way of increasing the supply of people such as yourself? I admire you for what you do, but don't seek to emulate you. Frankly it galls me to think of giving away free medicine to people that would have put me in jail before they got sick. Calvina Fay will never get a price cut from me no matter even if it's the difference between her living and dying. Prohibitionists get sick too you know. Since we've mentioned Bill Gates, is there any reason he shouldn't pay full freight if he gets sick?

I recall watching an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street where Robin Williams was playing the husband of a murder victim. When he was at the station the primary detective was goofing, laughing, and talking about how fat his paycheck would be because of his wife's case, which enraged him. He went to Giordello and demanded the detective's removal. G replied, I'm not taking him off the case. He's the best detective I have. You don't need him to grieve the death of your wife, you need him to solve the case. Likewise I don't need my medical cannabis provider to give a shit about me. I just need him to provide my medical cannabis.

Owl Mirror said:

I would like to know if anyone feels the way I have stated Michigan's law is designed is,
patients wanting "something for nothing" ?

A Patient is suppose to pay for the service of having another grow their plants and, upon completion the patient takes possession of the entire plant regardless of weight.
Would that arrangement be akin to "something for nothing" ?

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You are seriously misrepresenting Michigan's law. No such provision requiring what you claim exists in the text.

(e) A registered primary caregiver may receive compensation for costs associated with assisting a registered qualifying patient in the medical use of marihuana. Any such compensation shall not constitute the sale of controlled substances.
http://medcannabis.googlepages.com/textinsmallerprint

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Where, pray tell, do you see anything that says anything remotely like what you claim?

Blue iDiot said:

Somehow, I don't think the founders of the American Red Cross in 1881 were thinking "Hey, let's set this up so we can make huge salaries".

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The CEO of the American Red Cross is paid an annual salary of $565,000.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3277

why is med weed so expensive???

because the demand is huge, and well we live in a money makin country, the american dream, get rich, drive a nice car, own a home, all drives americans. the want for more.

"all i want is more then ill ever have", comes to mind.

MudClub, private co-op, charges 50 a 1/4, no matter what the strain, delievered to you each week(local) monthly if your further out. mexi brick goes 30 to 40 a 1/4 around here.

for the growers, we could sell to a club, 3k to 4k a lb, and they turn aorund and double it if not more. sellin directly to a patient at 50, you still make 3200 a lb. downside ya have to sit on your haul, instead of movin a large amount at once.

we have even takein patients on drives, and to the grocery store(those without transpo) and theres perks for our patients that you will not get at a dispensary, and we have no problems doin this for them. we make out just fine.

medusers that run around to all the clubs cryin about prices and shitty meds are still goin to the clubs, day in and day out. whos fault do you really think it is?

i cant in good consience hand a zip to a seriously ill patient for 400 or more and take his money, just no way.

i picked up a patient from cali about a month ago here in CO, i bring him a 1/4 and tell him 50.00 for it, he gives me the cash and we have a session, guy has a big smile on his puss, i ask him whats so amusin, and he says thats the fattest 1/8 hes ever seen, tells me im his man for life, i tell him its a 1/4, he looks at me wierd, he cant even get his head wrapped around the cost. hes totally baffled, lol. tells me the bud i gave him would go 150 in cali.

most peeps i know tell me we are idiots, LOL

CBF

$500 bucks an O is perfect for me. If you can't move your shit your either scared or just have no hustle. Bread is no longer 5 cents a loaf.. A new chevy is more than $3500 and you can't buy a house for $15,000 any more. This ain't the good old days and they are far over. We're in the weed growing business cousin, and business is a boomin..

Pythagllio said:

You are seriously misrepresenting Michigan's law. No such provision requiring what you claim exists in the text.
Where, pray tell, do you see anything that says anything remotely like what you claim?

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WHO OWNS THE MARIJUANA?

I just had an interesting conversation with Greg Schmid, an MMMA General Counsel and top notch attorney in Saginaw. He pointed out to me that while caregivers are allowed to cultivate the medical marijuana, the plants themselves belong to the patient. Now if you are both a Qualified Patient and Patient Caregiver, you own your plants but simply manage the plants of any other patients you service.
If you are a Patient Caregiver all you own is your equipment, like above, you are managing the plants of others. This is important for patients and caregivers to remember as they negotiate the caregivers fee for service.

That being said, patients must understand the complexities of growing marijuana from a caregivers point of view. Caregivers spend thousands of dollars setting up and maintaining a grow operation, just like any other service business. The lights required to grow marijuana eat up lots of electricity and the bulbs only have a useful life of 12 months, at which time they must be replaced at a cost of up to $100 per bulb. Growing high-grade medical marijuana can be a costly endeavor and that entitles caregivers to be compensated for the service of engineering and outfitting a grow room, acquiring seed or clone, and cultivating and preparing your medical marijuana.

The MMMA is not here to establish prices, or assist with the negotiations between a Qualified Patient and a Patient Caregiver, that is their business. We are here to provide information so that both parties can negotiate from a position of knowledge.

Brad Forrester
Communications Director
Charter member of the MMMA
http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/node/50

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sneakinman13 said:

im not saying the clubs dont charge to much BUT....

they do have to pay rent.
employee.
electric.
water prolly...
taxes on there pot.
and im sure more i dont even kno about....
so it does kinda make sinse why they charge the prices they do...
still sucks tho..

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Don't forget bribes to police and mafia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111