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Migz420

Business booms at Santa Cruz' pot shops02.01.07]Santa Cruz Sentinel|Shanna McCord

Business is brisk at Greenway Compassion Inc. The pot shop has a steady stream of customers and few of the problems some neighbors anticipated before the store opened a year and a half ago.

The medical marijuana dispensary on Dubois Street in the Harvey West neighborhood sees an average of 100 patients and sells up to three pounds of pot each day, said Greenway's general manager, Laura Vanderlinde.

"The plant itself is a saint," said Vanderlinde, who had worked for network television stations in Los Angeles before moving to Santa Cruz for the job. "It has so many healing properties — oils, textiles, etc"

Greenway opened in September 2005 and is one of two medical marijuana shops in the county. The other, Santa Cruz Patients Collective, opened last year on Limekiln Street, a couple of blocks away in Harvey West. The two combined serve an estimated 3,000 medical marijuana patients in the county, as permitted by the voter-approved Compassionate Use Act.

Though some feared drug activity and crime would increase when the shops opened their doors, there have been few complaints from neighbors. Police say they've had little problems with either outlet.

"If I didn't know a medical marijuana shop was there, I wouldn't know there was anything different there," said Martha Macambridge of Complete Mailing Service, located near Greenway.

The shopping experience

Shopping at a dispensary is a little like stopping by a bakery to pick out a muffin, but with a lot of security.

All patients are required to show a California ID card and doctor's recommendation to a security guard stationed in the lobby. Dispensary owners say state law prohibits them from asking patients about their medical conditions.

Patients must pass through a metal detector just inside the front door at Santa Cruz Patients Collective, and at Greenway, a security guard waves a metal detector wand over each patient before allowing them to enter.

Inside the "buying room," patients are bombarded with the pungent smell of marijuana and oodles of options.

"Security is key. We pay a lot of attention to the details," Vanderlinde said. "We want the patients to feel comfortable here"

Marijuana in all its various forms, strains and prices — from brownies, cookies and chocolate to joints and buds — are kept behind large glass cases.

At Santa Cruz Patients Collective, which opened in July, a marijuana menu is written on a colorful chalkboard and a sign hangs over the glass case that says "Don't panic, it's organic"

They offer varieties with such names as Cherry Bomb, Richie Rich, Sour Diesel and Plumeria. Prices range from $15 for a gram of the drug to $100 for 7 grams.

Sales are rung up on a computer, with a flat screen facing customers to show their bill. Sales tax is charged.

Neither dispensary would say how much money they make, and the city does not provide sales tax revenue for individual businesses.

The marijuana at Greenway — with such names as Mission Possible, Sensi, Panama Mango, Baby Ruth and NYC Diesel — is kept in small glass jars and stored in large glass cases. Individual joints are available at a price of two for $25.

Patients at Greenway are limited to one visit per day and allowed to buy 3 ounces at a time, owner Lisa Molyneux said.

Similar rules apply to Santa Cruz Patients Collective. Both say they have strict quality standards for the pot.

"We personally test everything that comes in before selling to patients," said Ken Sampson, owner of Santa Cruz Patients Collective and himself a medical marijuana patient. "Everything is grown locally"

A sign near the exit at Greenway reminds patients, "Do not resell your medicine"

Under the law

The dispensaries operate in Santa Cruz under a city ordinance that permits such businesses in industrial areas.

The city Planning Department keeps tabs on the dispensaries and requires a review of the business six months after opening.

Sampson's Santa Cruz Patients Collective sailed through its review in January, and no one from the public spoke for or against it. Greenway passed its review with no major issues, city planning officials said.

Planner Mike Ferry says he's made unannounced visits to both dispensaries to make sure they're complying with conditions of their special-use permits, such as having a security guard on-site and operating within specified hours.

"Every time I've went out there, everything was squared away," Ferry said.

Though the shops are in accordance with local and state laws, they still violate federal law.

Marijuana use became legal for sick people in California in 1996 when voters passed Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act.

However, all marijuana use, growth and sales are illegal under federal law, and medical marijuana dispensaries are often the subject of investigations by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The amount of indoor marijuana seized in California by federal agents shot up 85 percent in 2006 from 2005, DEA special agent Cacy McEnry said.

The increase in busts, she said, is a sign of the federal government's seriousness in cracking down on marijuana use in California.

Federal agents say their investigations have revealed widespread abuse of medical marijuana for general use. The DEA did not have specific information about how many dispensaries it has shut down in California or how many it visits because the agency does not differentiate between medical marijuana and illicit pot dealers, McEnry said.

"Millions and millions of dollars are being made. We're finding large amounts of profit at the distribution centers," McEnry said. "For the most part, the people we see are able bodies and young adults, some even athletically fit, who just want to get high," she said.

Peace of mind

Before opening in Santa Cruz, local medical marijuana patients say they had little choice but to drive to Hayward, Oakland and San Francisco to buy the drug at shops designated for such uses.

The two shops in Santa Cruz are among a growing industry statewide. California is home to at least 250 medical marijuana dispensaries — some estimate as many as 400 — serving a ballooning population of sick people who say they need the drug to ease pain, fall asleep and stimulate hunger. There are an estimated 150,000 medical marijuana patients across the state, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

"I, as a patient, had to take a whole day to drive to another city for safe access to medical marijuana," Molyneux said. "The key word is safe access. It's important for patients to have safe access and not have to go to the street"

Alexandra Lee of Santa Cruz, who suffers from a premature aging disease known as Ehlers-Danos syndrome, says she shops for pot at Greenway about once a week.

At 66, her body is more like that of a 96-year-old, Lee said. She's had seven face-lifts and suffered more falls and broken bones than is typical for someone her age.

Without marijuana, Lee says she'd be unable to eat enough food to keep her weight up and sleeping would be more difficult.

"You can actually feel the healing energy," Lee said. "Before this place opened Greenway, I was going all the way to Hayward"

 

KidCannabis420

"Federal agents say their investigations have revealed widespread abuse of medical marijuana for general use. The DEA did not have specific information about how many dispensaries it has shut down in California or how many it visits because the agency does not differentiate between medical marijuana and illicit pot dealers, McEnry said."

Well, the individual State laws do differentiate between the two, and that's the will of the people according to their vote. When the Federal government steps in and trys to trump state laws, why aren't the states re-enforcing their jurisdiction over the matter of Cannabis when it is used in a medicinal form.

This is much like when a child has permission from one parent to do something, but the other parent doesn't agree and wants to punish the child for asking the more lenient of the two parents for permission. Instead, the parents should be communicating amongst themselves, with the child's best interests at heart. The most lenient of the two laws should prevail.

If it's another victemless crime, leave it alone. We have more than enough laws on the books and unfortunately, more and more are written every year.

"Millions and millions of dollars are being made. We're finding large amounts of profit at the distribution centers," McEnry said."

If they're finding large amounts of profit at the distribution centers, why doesn't this simply indicate that there is a definite need (and in turn a good market) for Patients to have safe access to their medicine?

"For the most part, the people we see are able bodies and young adults, some even athletically fit, who just want to get high," she said."

I can see how this may be a common misconception. Why does a person have to look sick to qualify to use Cannabis in a medicinal capacity? You can't physically see chronic back pain, stress, heavy menstrual pains, etc. without looking far closer than the common Federal/DEA Goon steak out in front of a local dispensary.

According to the Doctor Patient confidentiality law the doctor cannot release information pertaining to their patients health. If that's true, then the federal "investigators" would have no information to make an informed decision either way. Isn't that why we have informed doctors recommending Cannabis, not the Federal government?

KidCannabis

Lit_Match

Let them dig their own grave. Eventually the majority of states in this country will have medical marijuana. If the feds keep acting the way they do there will be a public outcry against them, they just aren't unpopular enough yet...

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Buzzby

Because they don't have any? California law doesn't guarantee access to cannabis for people with physician's recommendation. It merely guarantees that these people won't be prosecuted under state law. What would you have California do? Take up arms against federal agents?

That's not a good analogy because the two controlling parties are not coequal. A better analogy would be your boss telling you that it's OK for you to take a vacation but his boss quashes the idea. That happened to me once. When I returned from the vacation I found that I no longer had a job.

Perhaps because the prices being charged are astronomically greater than any possible cost of production. If dispensaries were non-profit cooperatives the prices wouldn't be anywhere near as high. People getting rich from selling pot to sick people are drug-dealers and profiteers.

I can't tell you how many people have posted on this site looking for advice on how to fool a physician into writing a cannabis recommendation when the poster had no real disease. Abuse of medical marijuana laws is rampant and one of the biggest reason why more states haven't passed such laws.

Maybe they read the forums on Marijuana.com...

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Nugget Lover

What's the difference all medicine is expensive so that the manufacturer makes a profit. Why should pot be any different?

 

newgrowerNY

Some things are bigger than $$ my friend. Its not all about the Benjamin's when it comes to the subject of legalizing MJ .. for medical purposes or recreational purposes.

I think big profits put them on the radar of the DEA. And while protected from state law, Federal Law does not acknowledge CA state law on this matter. So in an effort to make the program work, non profit would be a better alternative. Plus some people will say "See, I knew this would happen, all people want MJ legal for is to sell it and make money" . Blah Blah .. While you and I know that's not the truth, perception is reality for most.

I just think some of these dispensaries would have an easier time if they were a little more low key. And I have read articles about dispensaries not getting busted, because the owner was low key. He commented that the dispensary that got raided was nick-named wal-pot . The DEA also seized 1.5 mil in cash new house, and new car etc.

But then again this is just my opinion. I live in the empire state, far away .. what the hell do I know

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Migz420

If they sold the medical pot for 100 an ounce, when it goes for 400 on the street...there would be many more people trying to get illegitamate access to the dispensaries. When the prices are near or equal to street value, there's not much incentive for people to get it and re-sell it. They wouldn't turn a profit. The dispensaries give sick people a safe place to access their medicine without having to deal with the "black market" side of buying weed.

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kinghelwig

Buzzby,600.00 and up for medicine? I know there is other med's out there that cost alot,cancer meds aids meds and so on,you are right all these shop's are legalized dealers,I was in a shop that had just opened,the youngster selling me my meds was barely out of school and higher than a kite,and using a hand held scale,I offered him a real scale and he says as soon as business closes for the day we are going to get a real scale,I wonder if he knows about calibration?,At any rate we who are truly sick are getting screwes in this deal,while despensaries are making a fortune,and laughing all the way to the bank.

Buzzby

All the pharmacy drugs are legal to sell. Marijuana is not. Selling for profit constitutes "Sale of Marijuana" and is subject to severe legal penalties. If it is given away or sold for cost it can be defended under the state's medical marijuana caregiver provisions. No state provides for commercial cultivation and sales.

Buzzby

I have narcolepsy. Every month I walk into my local drugstore with a prescription and get a great big jar of Dexedrine tablets. They cost me $0.25 each. I could walk out the door and sell each of those tablets for $5.00. How is that any different from a dispensary selling marijuana for non-black-market prices? All the pharmacist does is check the legitimacy of the prescription before filling it.

So you think the pharmacist should jack up the price of my prescription to match street prices? The result would be that I wouldn't be able to afford my medicine. If I needed an ounce of weed every month to stay healthy and it cost $400 there's no way I could afford it. Many medical marijuana patients are disabled and living on small, fixed incomes. They shouldn't have to forego eating in order to get their medicine.

While that's true, there's no reason why dispensaries couldn't provide that service at a much more reasonable price.