Beware of the Wellness Connection - Guaranteed to Go Retail, Guaranteed to Be Sold Off

BingoPlayer

New Member
i have been using the Wellness Connection, in Portland, for 3 years and I have my suspicions about Wellness Connections' direction, going from nonprofit to profit. And I see how awful this is for the patient and it makes me wonder if Wellness is petitioning lawmakers to fold the medical program.

The Wellness Connection is filled with the same strains for nearly all 3 years I have been going there; Chocolope, Blue Dream, Girl Scout Cookies, etc. And they have been advertising new strains since Tuesday, January 2nd. It's Thursday, February 22nd, and as God as my witness, we have not seen a gram of these advertised strains. I have never been so frustrated.
I asked a member liaison, "so why do you guys announce and advertise the White Lemon strain and not have it in stock for months at a time?". The employee says, "oh, it was a marketing mess-up". Bullcrap. It's wrong of them. If that's not false advertisement, I don't know what is! I ask the guy, "does the state know you advertise product that you don't have?". He responds, "I don't think the state cares". My jaw nearly dropped! Yes, he is right! The state may NOT care and it may not be an issue worth pressing, BUT I certainly cared.
In December 2017, the Wellness Connection rolled out a loyalty program called "b.Well", where members gain 2% in 'points' to use on purchases. All EBT, SNAP, TANF-eligible members of Wellness Connection were automatically enrolled in this program. It took them a week or two for them to sign me up - because at first, they were telling us that EVERYONE was automatically enrolled and already articulating points, which was further from the truth. I found out that I had to manually sign up for exlusive program - to save $$$, but others were automatically enrolled? Who wouldn't want this?! It's not even like you get a pamphlet or anything to go with this "b.Well" program. "Hey Mike, can you put me in the b.Well program?" and Mike goes on the computer, puts me in the system. This is silly and negligent. Those guys on welfare spend more on weed than I do. And I'm working class. I have legitimately seen a welfare receipient be reminded by Wellness staff that he had nearly $60 in loyalty points. And I was nearly late to work because that Wellness' liaison kept asking the PATIENT the questions. I had a 25 minute wait for 2 people ahead of me. And there is absolutely no privacy. It gets old.

I voiced my concern with a friend, who is also a patient at the Wellness Connection, and that's where I learned; you can recycle your Wellness Connection bags for 5 cents. While that doesn't sound lucrative, it does sound like a nice way to dispose of their awful baggies. I could have accumulated 50 of them after a few months. I never knew about this 'return' program after all those 3 years.
That's when it hit my finally hit my FRIEND; Wellness Connection keeps us in the dark. Lots of shade going on around there and it was enough for me to pull my designation card and never look back. I recommend that EVERYONE stays away from this place because it WILL be inundated with very, very long lines and limited selections.
 
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4(207)

Well-Known Member
Exactly what I did a few years ago, friend. They always had same strain and over priced and dried out and you can tell they only want your money. Unfortunate.
 

Sleepybud

Active Member
Don't know if this is still valid, but it seems there are more small-operation, caregiver storefronts that are really med caregivers that truly help people. My local shop sells me CBD tincture at their cost ($17/gram) for my dog who's 14 and has a brain tumor. The vet told me he'd be dead in a month(last winter), and said she knew absolutely nothing about CBD and cancer treatments, so I did a little research and found a holistic vet in Boulder Colorado who said to start at 6mg/day for his size(55 lbs), and increase as needed for symptoms(he's had terrible seizures). Well, he's up to 160 mg/day and his seizures have resided to a few a month(he was having 6-8/day) that are much less intense. I'm just pointing out what everyone probably knows already, that there are good caregivers tat will do everything they can for their patients and there are crappy caregivers that cast a shitty shadow on the good ones.
 
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