Pubdate: Mon, 31 May 2010
Source: Missoulian (MT)
Copyright: 2010 Missoulian
Contact:  http://www.missoulian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/720
Note: Only prints letters from within its print circulation area
Author: Betsy Cohen

MEDICAL MARIJUANA: MAINSTREAM BUSINESSES BENEFIT FROM EXPANDING INDUSTRY

Editor's note: Today, the Missoulian presents the second in a 
three-day special report on issues surrounding the state's rapidly 
expanding medical marijuana industry.

People who live in pain aren't the only Montanans benefiting from the 
state's medical marijuana law.

In the past seven months, ever since the federal government said it 
would defer to state medical marijuana laws governing legal and 
illegal use of the drug, Montana's cannabis industry has boomed.

Garden supply companies, real estate agents, insurance providers, 
irrigation experts, attorneys, Web developers and security companies 
are among the many mainstream businesses that are getting a fiscal 
high from this fast-growing industry.

When the national recession brought a near standstill to the Missoula 
real estate market last year, Wayne Smith, an agent with RE/MAX, was 
juggling several vacant properties.

As a result, Smith was more than willing to work with two men who 
wanted to turn one of his properties into a medical marijuana dispensary.

He looked into what it would take to renovate his Missoula Industrial 
Park property and meet the codes for such a business, and followed 
through with the necessary changes.

Although his potential clients bailed at the last minute, Smith 
wasn't ready to give up on all the time, work and money he had 
invested in the property, and placed an ad on Craigslist for the 
turnkey dispensary.

"Things just exploded from there," he said. "I suddenly had 20 
clients looking for space."

Since last fall, Smith has helped fill 12 previously vacant rental 
locations - some 17,641 square feet of retail and office space in 
Missoula - with medical marijuana businesses. The income produced 
from those rentals is $13,782 per month, or $165,385 per year, and 
more than $20,000 was spent with local contractors to improve the 
properties for his clients.

Smith, who explained he is neither a medical marijuana patient nor a 
caregiver, said he is OK with this emerging, albeit sometimes 
notorious, business sector.

"At this time, it's such a small part of the much larger local 
economy - a drop in the bucket," Smith said. "Still it's better than 
another pinhole."

"The medical marijuana business has added to my income as a Realtor 
in a slow housing market and created a few weeks of work for local 
contractors," he said. "But the bigger picture is that most of these 
caregivers are trying to do things right. They are getting city 
business licenses, hiring bookkeepers, and each growing facility has 
two to five employees on the payroll."

*

Aaron Evans, a Missoula Web designer, has seen his already thriving 
international business grow by 20 percent this past year because of 
contracts related to medical marijuana.

"I'm pretty busy. I have about 40 medical marijuana websites I'm 
working on right now, and I've definitely seen an uptick in 
business," Evans said. "I build websites all over the world and 
wasn't really attached to the local economy until this hit."

Evans is so busy these days, he's hired several part-time employees 
to help with marketing, Web development and other in-house projects, 
and he will likely have to hire more in coming months as Montana's 
medical marijuana sector continues to expand and businesses keep 
hiring his firm, Website Clarity.

"There is definitely a lot of opportunity popping up with this new 
industry," Evans said. "I think it's great, especially during a down 
economy and in a town like Missoula that's been hurting with big 
closures like Smurfit-Stone (Container Corp.) and Macy's.

"This is one of the bright spots."

*

In Billings, Don Crawford said he's happy to get a piece of the 
state's new, thriving industry by insuring dispensaries and marijuana 
crop growers.

"It is just like any other business. I got involved with it when I 
saw an opportunity," Crawford said. "I see this as an emerging market 
and I feel it's not going away anytime soon.

"If anything, it will become bigger as it becomes more acceptable, 
and I saw an opportunity to be in on the ground floor."

To date, medical marijuana insurance represents just 2 percent of 
Crawford's business, but he expects that number to climb once the 
2011 Montana Legislature tackles the many vague regulations 
surrounding the state's medical marijuana law.

"What I find amazing - and rare - about people in this industry is 
that they are begging for more regulation," Crawford said. "They want 
clear laws in place and the Legislature to act and local 
municipalities to give them direction because the law right now is so 
vague and they are at a crossroads about what they want to do with 
their business. But they won't make a move or expand until they know 
how things will shake out."

*

Up in Kalispell, James Blair is taking a chance that medical 
marijuana services are here to stay - and will expand.

Blair, who was laid off from his job with a Flathead Valley wholesale 
distributor and struggling to support his family of five, is opening 
a custom drip irrigation business to assist marijuana growers.

"I saw a demand and it's putting me and my partner to work," Blair 
said. "It gives me an opportunity to own my own business, work for 
myself and support my family without government assistance."

Big Sky entrepreneur Chris Mountjoy shares Blair's sentiment.

Despite a saturated market in Bozeman, Mountjoy saw an opportunity in 
Missoula to open a garden supply store called Green Miszoo last fall, 
which offers a specific inventory targeted at growing plants indoors.

Grow lights, plant food, soil and the like can be found in the small 
shop in the heart of Missoula.

His goal isn't to have a dynasty in the growing business. Rather, he 
sees it as a relatively safe way to cut his teeth as an entrepreneur 
and gain the confidence to open other kinds of businesses.

"I've got bigger plans," Mountjoy said, "like opening a snowboard 
company and building a skateboard fun center. I opened Green Miszoo 
because I thought it was the right time to get involved with that 
market and hopefully it will produce a business that will make me 
feel confident to make moves toward my other goals."

Because he lives and works in Big Sky, Mountjoy hired Luke Rieker to 
be his store manager in Missoula.

Rieker knows about business. He co-owns the city's specialty kayak 
shop, Strongwater.

"This place is busy every day," Rieker said. "I can't say for sure if 
our customers are growing marijuana, because we don't ask them."

"But we do get a lot of questions about how to grow marijuana," he 
said. "I tell them, 'Don't you have a computer? All the information 
you need is there. We are a garden supply store, not marijuana tutors.' "
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart