Lit_Match

A Primer on Selling Pot Legally in California
03.10.07|Fresno Bee|By ANDREW GLAZER

So you want to sell pot legally in California.

The first step is to become a "primary caregiver," a status that insulates you and your patients suffering from "serious medical conditions" from prosecution for violating state laws against pot distribution.

As a primary caregiver, the law authorizes you to grow, transport and provide marijuana to patients.

You don't need any background in health care to hold this status. Nor do you need to register with the state. All it takes is an oral or written agreement between you and a patient designating you as their "primary caregiver." And you must be older than 18.

So where do you get the pot? You can grow it yourself. But if you don't have the acreage, grow lamps or know-how, you're out of luck because the state has no system to provide marijuana and does not designate authorized pot wholesalers to sell the weed.

The result, federal authorities say, is clinic owners do the same thing as people jonesing for pot in states without medical marijuana laws: They buy it illegally from street dealers.

The state doesn't regulate what "primary caregivers" can charge for marijuana. And while clinics are prohibited from earning a profit there's no rule on how much a clinic owner can pocket. Some are pulling in millions of dollars each year, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

If you want to get in on the action, you might consider advertising. You could go the route of a San Fernando Valley clinic and have roller-skating employees pass out glossy fliers to shoppers at a nearby mall.

Or you could simply leave fliers on car windshields. Just be careful not to canvas cars parked near schools. When a Los Angeles-area clinic did that, Police Chief William Bratton called for a moratorium on all new clinics.

Another option is to offer a popular brand of pot. The Web site Weedtracker.com offers reviews of marijuana varieties sold at dispensaries across the state. A good review in the Zagat of the Zig-Zag set can bring a new wave of clients.

Though pot purchasers are supposed to be sick, clinics aren't required to check medical records. However, some are participating in a voluntary program where patients must show an ID to get marijuana. The card is proof patients got a recommendation from a physician.

One downside: The price of the cards may be a buzz kill. A surge in applications prompted one county - Riverside - to raise the cost from $100 to $220.

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Donation links to NORML (The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) | MPP (Marijuana Policy Project)

sterbo

Wow, that's a mouthful Lit_Match
It's possible I'm wrong but I don't think so - I, nor, anyone I know has ever been able (in this State) to enter a co-op (clinic) without a Doctor's recommendation or a County or a State ID card. Are there failures in that endeavor? - yes. But, like so many things, especially with the level of persecution that prevails regarding marijuana and the now 'chess game' mentality we are playing - A little faith, brothers and sisters, it's a brutal endeavor working our way through the 'system' and yes, while we may skin our knees - and in the case of all too many - suffer a hardship the rest of us owe a lifetime of thanks for, the chance that pot gives us, over and over, to renew our every moment is ...

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