Pubdate: Thu, 18 Nov 2010
Source: Kingman Daily Miner (AZ)
Copyright: 2010 Kingman Daily Miner
Contact:  http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3469
Author: Jay Fleming

NEW POT ACT MUST BE WRITTEN CORRECTLY

The Arizona Medical Marijuana Act has passed. Once the election is 
certified, the Arizona Department of Health Services has 120 days to 
write the regulations.

How these regulations are written will decide if medical marijuana 
dispensaries in Arizona charge the same black market prices as drug 
dealers, or like in New Mexico, if prices will be based on the actual 
costs of production.

California medical marijuana has been perverted to allow 
dispensaries, collectives and cooperatives to make enormous profits. 
Why is medical marijuana grown in small rooms designed to hide from 
law enforcement rather than by farmers?

In New Mexico, two of the licensed dispensaries are providing medical 
marijuana to patients at less than $10 per gram, one for $4 a gram, 
or $114 an ounce, and one for $5 a gram, or $142.50 an ounce.

In Canada the government grows medical marijuana in an abandoned mine 
near the Arctic Circle, not the cheapest place to grow anything. They 
grow it, test it for any minerals, irradiate it to kill any mold, and 
can still sell it for $5 a gram.

Yet when I checked prices at a local collective in Needles, Calif., 
the retail price of medical marijuana was $20 a gram to $340 an 
ounce, or $5,440 to $8,960 a pound.

In California the Attorney General says nothing in Proposition 215 or 
the MMP authorizes collectives, cooperatives or individuals to profit 
from the sale or distribution of marijuana. I would like someone to 
explain me how it costs almost $9,000 a pound to grow medical marijuana.

At California prices, there's no way the vast majority of patients in 
Arizona needing medical marijuana could afford it. Most people on 
disability only receive around $1,000 a month. At California prices, 
the allowable 2.5 ounces every 14 days would cost between $1,700 and 
$2,800 a month!

The people who complain the most when I write about the enormous 
profits made by medical marijuana collectives are the people making 
all the money. Please explain to me how someone can sell a 
simple-to-grow plant for almost $9,000 a pound and not make a profit.

Jay Fleming

Mohave Valley
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom