Pubdate: Sun, 20 Oct 2013
Source: Desert Sun, The (Palm Springs, CA)
Copyright: 2013 The Desert Sun
Contact: http://local2.thedesertsun.com/mailer/opinionwrap.php
Website: http://www.mydesert.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1112
Note: Does not accept LTEs from outside circulation area.
Author: Xochitl Pena
Page: A11

THE DIVERSIFICATION OF DOPE

Laboratories that specialize in pot testing. Security companies that 
only guard dispensaries. Chefs that just make edibles for medical 
marijuana patients.

Businesses that cater to cannabis are starting to flourish.

"There's all kinds of companies out there," said Lanny Swerdlow, a 
medical marijuana patient and advocate from Whitewater. "When you go 
to a collective, there's pill bottles, pipes ... If there's a market, 
someone takes advantage of it."

Collective Protective Services, based in Chino, focuses on providing 
security for cannabis clubs. It started with three employees in 2010 
and now has 60 that protect more than 100 collectives across Southern 
California, including Desert Organic Solutions, a legal dispensary in 
north Palm Springs.

KC Azubuike, president of Collective Protective Services, started 
working unofficially as a security guard for dispensaries in 
Riverside about six years ago.

The 24-year-old's company is now booming. He's branched across state 
lines, securing his first contract in Colorado last week, and plans 
to expand and move headquarters to Los Angeles.

"I found a niche and was pretty good at it," he said. "Working in a 
dispensary as a guard is very different than anyone else."

Collective security guards not only protect volunteers and patients, 
they learn intake procedures and bud tending.

Locally, there are a handful of edible companies that have launched 
with some success and help provide patients with more options than lighting up.

Mark Silver of Palm Springs started The 420 Kitchen four years ago 
after he baked a cannabis cookie for his friend with cancer to help 
her deal with chemotherapy side effects -- and she loved it.

"Whenever somebody goes to a doctor to get a recommendation to be a 
patient, they always say ingesting edibles are the best way to 
partake. It lasts much longer, and it's more beneficial for you. It 
has more healing properties than smoking does," Silver said.

He provides C.A.P.S and Organic Solutions of the Desert with his 
edibles, and also delivers them to dispensaries in Los Angeles, Long 
Beach, Orange County and the San Fernando Valley. It's his only job.

Since collectives can only sell to their member patients or buy from 
them, Silver is a member of all the dispensaries he visits. 
Transactions also are done as "donations," because even though 
medical marijuana is legal, it's still illegal to "sell" or "buy" marijuana.

"Everybody in my family are cooks and bakers. My sister is a baker. 
She helped me start this business," he said.

A vintage photo of his grandmother holding a pink cake is the logo on 
his products, which include USDA nutritional information. He also 
cooks in a professional-grade kitchen, has a food handler's permit 
and has the marijuana he uses tested for quality.

"I try to do everything the best way I can," he said.

His most popular product is "The 420 Greenie Cookie" with chocolate 
chips and raisins. It comes in two varieties -- Indica cookies for 
nighttime and Sativa cookies for daytime.

"They are the strongest product I make," he said.

He's noticed growth in the edibles business and expects it to 
flourish even more when marijuana becomes legal. There are a lot of 
investors waiting on the sidelines, he said.

In Morongo Valley, 15 miles north of Palm Springs, Sam Anderson, 
creator of Vertigo Edibles, has a kief screen on his kitchen table 
that helps him extract the THC he uses.

As he lightly rubs and shakes the marijuana buds back and forth atop 
the screen, fine THC powder accumulates underneath, which is gathered 
and used for the cooking.

"It's an interesting process all around," said Anderson, who started 
his business three years ago.

He has epilepsy and suffers from seizures. Medical marijuana helps.

"Edibles, it's something that really works for me. I'd rather take 
something that's non-addictive than my pain medication every day," he said.

He operated a dispensary in Morongo Valley until it was recently 
closed. He now does home visits to patients who don't want to drive 
for their medicine. He also teaches patients how to grow their own product.

Anderson prides himself for only using pure THC in his products and 
none of the leafy "trim," even though those do work and are used by 
many others in edibles.

His most popular ice cream is the Snickers-like flavor with caramel, 
chocolate and nuts. The process from start to flash freeze takes 
about eight hours.

He also makes THC-infused butter and olive oil that can be used for 
cooking, chocolate covered peanuts and one of his most popular items 
- -- a Chex mix and chocolate concoction referred to as Puppy Chow.

Anderson does receive enough donations for edibles to cover the costs 
and then some.

"It's a profitable business that's for sure," he said. He declines to 
share financial figures, saying it's more about the patients and 
getting them their medicine than turning a dime.

He donates a portion of the proceeds to local community AIDS organizations.

Though Anderson has had success with his current offerings, he plans 
to expand his business with healthier food, such as pita and banana breads.

While edibles and jars of various strains of marijuana buds dominate 
dispensaries, they also provide salves, lotions, tinctures and THC pills.

At C.A.P.S, for example, the discreet patient who wants to keep 
medicinal marijuana out of sight can get a fake lint roller, brush, 
bottle of WD-40 or can of Mucho Mango Arizona tea to hide it in.

"It's beginning to become a niche industry. I can't wait until it's 
legalized because we can finally do without hassle,"Anderson said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom