Fortunately, in 1996, California voters passed an incredible proposition ( 215) allowing doctors to recommend cannabis to their patients and for patients in California to use cannabis medicinally.  Unfortunately they passed what may be the most ridiculous and difficult to understand guidelines for collectives/dispensaries to provide patients their medicine.

For starters, collective have to be not-for-profit. That was their first mistake.   The obvious question is: 1. Why would anyone start a business, spend all of their time running it, have to worry about federal prosecution, have to worry about being held up or robbed and NOT BE ABLE TO MAKE A PROFIT! The answer is NO ONE!   Therefore the obvious result is that dispensaries SHOW NO PROFIT!  Any money they make is probably not being reported to the State.  Therefore the State is NOT MAKING ANY REVENUE!

What would have made sense is to allow collective to make a profit, report it as income and pay the IRS and State the money they deserve. Secondly, this would attract more professional and corporate minded business owners into the arena.   Instead we are still left with an underground community who are running sham operations in the majority of cases.

The next problem was that they are not providing a way for suppliers (GROWERS) to safely grow and distribute medicine to dispensaries just like any other business.    So patients have NO IDEA where or how their medicine was grown.  Organic?  Pesticide ridden? Indoor? Outdoor?   In addition the growers are not reporting their incomes either to the IRS (in my opinion) because they are not allowed to be FOR PROFIT. The attorney general should have set it up so, just like auto suppliers distribute to dealers, cannabis growers can distribute to collectives.  Let them run a legitimate business.

Now the next issue is that the individual cities have their own ideas about prop 215 and many have NO ORDINANCES written at all.   So where can patients safely go?  Who knows.   One day they are there, the next day they are gone.  In the past month I have seen two amazing collectives get shut down for no reason that anyone can explain.

Tax and Regulate in 2010 is only going to confuse current law and make matters worse.   What the voters need to do first is encourage their cities and elected leaders to allow a simple system for patients to get their medicine.   Let the market dictate how many should be in any given city.  After all this is just a place for patients to pick up medicine and go home.  Its unlike a bar where people will congregate and cause problems.  I don’t think collectives negatively impact communities like people think they do.

Stay tuned as the law changes!