Weedpipe
Active Member
ASPEN, CO. The line of people spilled outside the door, even while it rained.
Some 3,000 Colorado medical marijuana patients ventured to this posh skiers paradise for one weekend in April, and for the $25 entrance fee, each received a plastic green bracelet granting them entrance to a veritable pot flea market.
They lingered over cases of handblown, multicolor glass pipes, ooohed and ahhed over enhanced confections likes Rice Krispies Treats and chocolate-covered pretzels, and snapped up tiny bags of pot from dozens of growers.
But only 130 people who paid $100 or more earned themselves a Willie Wonkaesque Golden Ticket, giving them critic-like status to decide from their own home, no smoking on site, please who should win the first annual Cannabis Crown for the best weed.
Nicki Gross of Aspen didnt have a golden ticket and wasnt there for fun. She was there to learn more about the medicine that reduces her chronic back pain. "Im in excruciating pain right now, Gross said through clenched teeth. "I wish we could smoke here. All I take is one hit at a time the stuff is really strong.
Held at two of Aspens exclusive hotels, the conference embodied the best of what the burgeoning medical marijuana industry has to offer: a recession-defying opportunity with seemingly limitless economic potential. Equally important to many entrepreneurs, the industry also satisfies a benevolent urge. Everybody in the industry can rattle off a string of examples of how marijuana has helped people walk, eat, function and sleep better while diminishing their reliance on prescription painkillers and their discomforting side effects.
ON THE FRINGE
But for every heartfelt testimonial, dispensary operators can share insomnia-provoking tales of what its like to enter an industry shunned by banks, insurance companies, many elected officials and large segments of mainstream society. Competition is fierce, and there are few tested models of success to emulate.
That uncertainty hasnt stopped an expanding group of aspiring growers and dispensary owners from making their own pitch to get in on the ground floor in New Jersey, where nary a detail about New Jerseys medical marijuana program has been disclosed, and the governor is delaying the launch of the program until as late as next year.
But even with the most restrictive medical marijuana law in the country, New Jersey will gain jobs and revenue, said Gus Escamilla, founder and CEO of Greenway University, which helped open 230 dispensaries in California and Colorado.
Medical marijuana "helped the economy in Denver in so many ways. Security companies, CPAs, attorneys, physicians their practices are booming. We are about to see something similar occur in New Jersey, Escamilla said. Greenway hosted a seminar in Paterson yesterday and was scheduled to hold another today to teach people the business.
RESEARCH IS LACKING
There are no authoritative economic studies of the medical marijuana industry in the 14 states where it has been legalized.
In Denver alone, 279 storefronts that were vacant less than a year ago are now occupied by licensed medical marijuana dispensaries that each paid the city $5,000 for a license, according to state Treasury and Economic Development statistics. In Colorado, 199 shop owners paid $631,000 in sales tax from February, and 201 more registered with the state have yet to pay any sales tax, said Mark Couch, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Revenue. Colorado also charges $90 for every person who applies to be a patient, and there are 80,000 of them.
STRESS ON THE JOB
No one working in Colorados medical marijuana industry would call this an easy way of life.
Jesse Lafayette, his wife Holly Bockenthien, and two partners took a vacant gas station in downtown touristy Glenwood Springs and opened Peaceful Warrior dispensary and grow operation in September.
Since then, they said, two banks they had been doing business with dropped them in fear the federal government might question any involvement with what is still an illegal substance. And the couple works all the time because theyve been robbed by some of the employees they hired, they said. "We cant trust anybody, Bockenthien said.
But Lafayette, 33, who holds degrees in horticulture, and Bockenthien, 26, a cattle owner, say they are committed to their patients a steady roster of 350 people, like Noel, a mother of three recovering from a brain tumor. She stopped in on a Sunday afternoon in April for marijuana for her pain instead of morphine.
Bradley Mann of Monroe and some partners have already formed a nonprofit entity, the Compassion Associates Inc., to be among the first in line when the state chooses the dispensary operators. The organization plans to start an assistance fund for low-income patients, and a launch a website that will inform the public about the program, said Mann, a 42-year-old father of four who is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
"Whether we get a license or not, we have a few different things we are doing to reach our goal of supporting patients.
News Forum: rollitup.org
Source: New Jersey On-Line
Author: Susan K. Livio
Contact: New Jersey On-Line
Copyright: 010 New Jersey On-Line LLC
Website: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/medical_marijuana_pot_nj_color_1.html
Some 3,000 Colorado medical marijuana patients ventured to this posh skiers paradise for one weekend in April, and for the $25 entrance fee, each received a plastic green bracelet granting them entrance to a veritable pot flea market.
They lingered over cases of handblown, multicolor glass pipes, ooohed and ahhed over enhanced confections likes Rice Krispies Treats and chocolate-covered pretzels, and snapped up tiny bags of pot from dozens of growers.
But only 130 people who paid $100 or more earned themselves a Willie Wonkaesque Golden Ticket, giving them critic-like status to decide from their own home, no smoking on site, please who should win the first annual Cannabis Crown for the best weed.
Nicki Gross of Aspen didnt have a golden ticket and wasnt there for fun. She was there to learn more about the medicine that reduces her chronic back pain. "Im in excruciating pain right now, Gross said through clenched teeth. "I wish we could smoke here. All I take is one hit at a time the stuff is really strong.
Held at two of Aspens exclusive hotels, the conference embodied the best of what the burgeoning medical marijuana industry has to offer: a recession-defying opportunity with seemingly limitless economic potential. Equally important to many entrepreneurs, the industry also satisfies a benevolent urge. Everybody in the industry can rattle off a string of examples of how marijuana has helped people walk, eat, function and sleep better while diminishing their reliance on prescription painkillers and their discomforting side effects.
ON THE FRINGE
But for every heartfelt testimonial, dispensary operators can share insomnia-provoking tales of what its like to enter an industry shunned by banks, insurance companies, many elected officials and large segments of mainstream society. Competition is fierce, and there are few tested models of success to emulate.
That uncertainty hasnt stopped an expanding group of aspiring growers and dispensary owners from making their own pitch to get in on the ground floor in New Jersey, where nary a detail about New Jerseys medical marijuana program has been disclosed, and the governor is delaying the launch of the program until as late as next year.
But even with the most restrictive medical marijuana law in the country, New Jersey will gain jobs and revenue, said Gus Escamilla, founder and CEO of Greenway University, which helped open 230 dispensaries in California and Colorado.
Medical marijuana "helped the economy in Denver in so many ways. Security companies, CPAs, attorneys, physicians their practices are booming. We are about to see something similar occur in New Jersey, Escamilla said. Greenway hosted a seminar in Paterson yesterday and was scheduled to hold another today to teach people the business.
RESEARCH IS LACKING
There are no authoritative economic studies of the medical marijuana industry in the 14 states where it has been legalized.
In Denver alone, 279 storefronts that were vacant less than a year ago are now occupied by licensed medical marijuana dispensaries that each paid the city $5,000 for a license, according to state Treasury and Economic Development statistics. In Colorado, 199 shop owners paid $631,000 in sales tax from February, and 201 more registered with the state have yet to pay any sales tax, said Mark Couch, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Revenue. Colorado also charges $90 for every person who applies to be a patient, and there are 80,000 of them.
STRESS ON THE JOB
No one working in Colorados medical marijuana industry would call this an easy way of life.
Jesse Lafayette, his wife Holly Bockenthien, and two partners took a vacant gas station in downtown touristy Glenwood Springs and opened Peaceful Warrior dispensary and grow operation in September.
Since then, they said, two banks they had been doing business with dropped them in fear the federal government might question any involvement with what is still an illegal substance. And the couple works all the time because theyve been robbed by some of the employees they hired, they said. "We cant trust anybody, Bockenthien said.
But Lafayette, 33, who holds degrees in horticulture, and Bockenthien, 26, a cattle owner, say they are committed to their patients a steady roster of 350 people, like Noel, a mother of three recovering from a brain tumor. She stopped in on a Sunday afternoon in April for marijuana for her pain instead of morphine.
Bradley Mann of Monroe and some partners have already formed a nonprofit entity, the Compassion Associates Inc., to be among the first in line when the state chooses the dispensary operators. The organization plans to start an assistance fund for low-income patients, and a launch a website that will inform the public about the program, said Mann, a 42-year-old father of four who is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
"Whether we get a license or not, we have a few different things we are doing to reach our goal of supporting patients.
News Forum: rollitup.org
Source: New Jersey On-Line
Author: Susan K. Livio
Contact: New Jersey On-Line
Copyright: 010 New Jersey On-Line LLC
Website: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/medical_marijuana_pot_nj_color_1.html