Pubdate: Thu, 10 May 2012
Source: Tucson Weekly (AZ)
Copyright: 2012 Tucson Weekly
Contact:  http://www.tucsonweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/462
Author: J. M. Smith

THE POT ECONOMY

The State Is Making Prospective MMJ-Dispensary Owners Jump Through 
Costly Hoops

The aerie is a place of the past now, so I am hunkered down, 
listening to too many sirens and dodging too many broken bottles in 
the bike lanes and chronically getting a neck ache from the stress 
and stark realities of life and foraminal spinal stenosis.

It's a grim existence, in some ways, but there is a light: My pain 
will be eased in a big figurative way in August, when we will-God 
willing, and the governor don't rise-have medical-marijuana 
dispensaries sparsely peppered all over the state like fields of 
desert poppies. Ken Sobel, vice president of the Arizona Cannabis 
Chamber of Commerce and operator of Green Halo Caregiver Collective 
on the westside, is ready.

Last year, shortly after the 2010 passage of the Medical Marijuana 
Act, the University of Arizona graduate and longtime Arizona and 
California attorney gathered like-minded friends around him and 
started gearing up. Sobel hopes to open dispensaries in five of the 
10 Community Health Analysis Areas that are in or touch Tucson. It's 
no small undertaking.

Sobel owns one of the spots he plans to use-an RV storage lot near 
Prince Road and Interstate 10-and has already built it out to state 
specifications as a dispensary. The others were not so easy. There 
are square-footage and distance requirements-even the size of the 
reception area is specified. WTF? Why does The Man have to give a 
shit how big the lobby is? Dispensaries have to be at least 1,000 
feet from schools or parks, and there are considerations for security 
and cultivation. Finally, the property-owners have to be willing to 
lease to dispensaries.

Despite the threat of federal seizure (mostly a vague, nagging 
threat, given the feds' actions in other states), finding landlords 
willing to lease has not been hard.

"I've had a really good experience with landlords," Sobel said.

Cultivation was another issue. The law says each dispensary can have 
two grow operations-one within 1,000 feet of the dispensary, and one 
anywhere. All cultivation sites have to meet the same state and local 
requirements as dispensaries, so the search for available properties 
is similarly limited. Sobel worked it out.

"We plan to open two cultivation sites for each dispensary license," he said.

Sobel and other potential dispensary operators need cash on the 
barrelhead-another state requirement. For each dispensary, $150,000 
must be set aside to prove financial chops.

This bit really pisses me off. A lot. The state is forcing dispensary 
owners to deposit an escrow-like set-aside in banks-banks which then 
get a risk-free potential profit ride. Meanwhile, the folks who own 
the effin' money aren't allowed to profit. Fuck that.

I say let Sobel and all the other dispensary investors make some 
money. Isn't that what you want, Gov. Jan? People making money? I am 
asking you personally: Would you tell a bank, "Sure, you can do 
business here, but you have to be a nonprofit?" Ima say you wouldn't.

Anyway, the other startup costs total about $50,000, according to 
Sobel. So these people are pumping money into the economy. I've seen 
one of them hire a person, right before my very eyes. He gave her a 
job, Gov. Jan. A real job, and she was smiling.

Sobel got passionate about MMJ in 2003, when his mother-in-law died 
from cancer. A hospice worker suggested MMJ as a way to build 
appetite and ease pain. It worked. Then, in 2009, Sobel had a similar 
experience with his father here. When his dad died-two months after 
voters passed the AMMA- Sobel realized the property near I-10 could 
be a dispensary. And he took action.

Sobel is laying a lot on the line. He is openly advocating something 
a lot of people despise. He is risking his reputation as an attorney, 
though I suspect he cares little about the people who would cast 
aspersions. He is risking money.

Let's hope it all pays off in big ways for him and others like 
him-whether it's in karma, cash, soothed patients or smiles on faces 
of people with jobs.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom