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CO-OP SEEKS TO ASSIST MEDICAL-MARIJUANA FARMING

Brothers Mick and Tom Clark of the Growers 4 God medical-marijuana cooperative are hoping to work with Las Animas County farmers to establish medical-marijuana grow operations in the county, a development that could require the lifting of the county's current moratorium on any business that "sells or distributes" medical-marijuana.

The brothers told The Times Independent that they intended to address the county commissioners regarding the topic at their July 6 meeting.

The county first established a moratorium on medical-marijuana businesses last November, ostensibly to allow time for the state to solidify its regulations regarding the businesses.  The moratorium was renewed for an additional six months at the end of May.  The new regulations, signed by Gov.  Bill Ritter last month, require existing businesses to apply for a permit by Aug.  1 and pay a licensing fee.  The fee monies go into the newly created Medical-marijuana License Cash Fund, with the fund existing to "pay for the direct and indirect costs of the state licensing authority and the development of application procedures and rules necessary to implement ( the regulations )."

The regulations also require dispensaries to certify by Sept.  1 that they are cultivating at least 70 percent of the marijuana they sell.  The Clark brothers are hoping to convince the county to drop its moratorium before that date, allowing them to recruit local farmers to cultivate off-site grow facilities primarily for, though not limited to, the "edible medicinals" business operated in Denver by their daughters, Candy Girls.

The new state law requires a local nursery license for grow operations, one specifically stating the intended crop to be medical-marijuana.

"The way this works is we can be an off-site grower for a company like this ( Candy Girls ), and they actually pay it through the co-op," Mick Clark said.  "So, with this set up, we could actually set up grow operations with other farmers in our county here, and have them, through the co-op, be able to find customers because we know a lot of people in this business."

Adding, "As our co-op is established, we'd be able to take more members, which would be actual farmers from the community."

The Clark brother emphasized that they were not interested in establishing a dispensary in Las Animas County, only in inviting local farmers to participate in their medical-marijuana growing cooperative.  "We're just seeking to hook up with the actual farmers out here, the ones that are having a hard time making it," Tom Clark said.  "They could be small farmers because it's not a big facility they'd need ( for grow operations ).  We don't want them to get so big that they'd attract attention, either from other people or the ( federal ) law."

Adding, "The way I see it, small farmers could have a small area ( in which to grow ), and they could hire one or two people to work it for them, pulling in some much needed money into their farms and the county."

The brothers said that they had run the idea privately past a few local farmers to generally positive responses, though they had not yet pitched the idea in a public forum.  "Right now there are so many people scrambling up in Denver because there's no way they can grow 70 percent of their stuff by themselves," Mick Clark said.  "( The dispensaries ) would have the contract with the actual farmer to deliver the goods to them...the co-op could hopefully put the farmers together with the dispensaries."

The Clark brothers suggested that farmers, using a "small field," could derive about four to eight ounces of medical-marijuana per mature plant, potentially earning a farmer $2,500 - $3,500 per pound wholesale in Denver, with the average grow operation containing anywhere from 300 - 800 plants.  "We have a pretty good advantage down here if people just get into it," Tom Clark said.  "The main grow operations that are going in Denver are in warehouses, and they require an awful lot of electricity...the sun is a much better light to grow under."

Adding, "With this scramble going on to find actual outside grow places, about as soon as it was made public that they'd accept grow places in this county, you'd see land values go up rather quickly."

The commissioners and county officials have voiced various opinions on medical-marijuana-related businesses in the county.  During a February discussion on the topic, Commissioner Gary Hill had complained that, " What the people passed ( legalizing medical-marijuana in 2000 ) is literally trying to make us the highest state in the union."

County Planner Robert Valdez had said at an April meeting that, "I think personally they should just go through a pharmacist like how every other medication is dispensed.

Commissioner Jim Montoya had said at the same meeting that, "They should just do it like alcohol, and sell it anywhere and tax the crap out of it."

The Clark brothers also presented the grow operations as having the potential to be far more economically stable over a long period of time than, for example, the oil and gas industry, whose countywide slowdown since late 2008 is expected to result in a halving next year of county tax revenues.

"If I were the county, I would say, 'let's do it and let's charge them a fair-sized fee to get started,'" Mick Clark said.  "( The county government ) needs money so badly, why not charge a couple thousand just to get started ( with a grow operation )?"