Pubdate: Sun, 22 May 2011
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2011 The Arizona Republic
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Mary K. Reinhart
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

SCOTTSDALE PHILANTHROPIST TRYING TO UNITE MEDICAL-MARIJUANA USERS AND GROWERS

When the state began approving applications for medical-marijuana 
users last month, officials offered no guidance about where to find pot.

Since dispensaries are not yet licensed, more than two-thirds of the 
roughly 3,300 Arizonans who have permission to use marijuana also 
have indicated they plan to grow it.

But the rest are on their own, and Scottsdale philanthropist Gerald 
Gaines says terminally ill patients and others are having trouble 
tracking down marijuana. So Gaines is launching an effort to put 
users and growers together.

Gaines, who hopes eventually to oversee a dozen or so dispensaries, 
is looking for 150 volunteers willing to be listed as "designated 
caregivers" for medical-marijuana users.

"We're looking at almost a year before people who are legally allowed 
to have medication can actually get it," Gaines said. "There's no 
natural connection between somebody who might be a patient and 
somebody who might be a grower."

Proposition 203, approved by voters in November, legalized 
medical-marijuana use for people with certain debilitating conditions 
and allowed them to designate someone as a "caregiver" to grow or 
otherwise obtain marijuana for them.

Caregivers are authorized to grow 12 plants per patient if the 
patients live more than 25 miles from a dispensary. Since dispensary 
licenses won't be issued until August, and it will be several more 
months until they pass state inspection and open for business, 
qualified caregivers currently are allowed to grow pot for their patients.

Gaines is offering free growing lessons to anyone interested in 
becoming a temporary caregiver until dispensaries open, and he hopes 
to connect patients and caregivers through his website 
(www.compassionfirstaz.com). The online caregiver network is free. 
Growers can recoup their costs from patients who pay for the pot.

Dispensary business

Gaines hopes to be in the medical-marijuana business for the long 
haul and donate millions of dollars to local charities.

A founding director of Sprint PCS, Gaines came to Arizona four years 
ago from Colorado, where two of his sons were involved in the 
medical-pot industry.

His plan is to provide start-up capital and services to get up to 15 
dispensaries licensed through two for-profit companies, Compassion 
First AZ and Maricopa Medical Marijuana LLC.

He's advertising for managers to run dispensaries with salaries up to 
$160,000 a year, plus benefits. The managers and dispensary boards 
would donate 40 percent of the revenues, and Gaines' for-profit 
companies would take a percentage for providing outside services, 
including accounting, legal and personnel.

Gaines estimates that an average Phoenix-area dispensary, with 800 
patients buying an ounce of marijuana a month, could generate $5 
million in revenues each year. Roughly $2 million of that would go to 
charity under his model.

"I believe strongly in medical marijuana as a product for ill 
patients," he said. "A big part of the power of our model is giving 
the right to give to charity to people who haven't had that opportunity."

State rules

Arizona Department of Health Services rules will allow about 125 
dispensaries statewide. They must be run as non-profits. State rules 
offer some guidance, but provide plenty of wiggle room.

Dispensaries must have bylaws that include "provisions for the 
disposition or revenues" and provide receipts and a business plan 
showing the facility is operating as a not-for-profit. There are no 
limits on compensation for dispensary personnel other than that it be 
"reasonable."

Gaines plans to set up a fund with the Arizona Community Foundation 
to distribute the dispensary revenues. Dispensary board members would 
decide where the money should go.

The foundation vets the charities, requires that all money go to 
501(c)(3) organizations and prohibits funding to political groups.

Megan Brownell, chief communications officer for the foundation, said 
the agreement with Gaines is pending state approval of the 
dispensaries and review by the foundation's gift-acceptance 
committee. That committee oversees new, unusual or complicated gifts.

"In this case, it's new for us. It would be just an extra layer of 
scrutiny to ensure that everybody involved is in compliance with the 
law," she said. "Our staff did do research to ensure that these 
dispensaries are legal in the state of Arizona. . . . We're not going 
to do anything that would be in violation of federal law."

Some out-of-state dispensaries have struggled to give money away. A 
food bank in Oakland last year declined proceeds from a 
dispensary-sponsored food drive for fear that it would jeopardize its 
federal funding, according to a New York Times article. But 
dispensary donations have helped an AIDS hospice in San Francisco 
offset state funding cuts.

Though medical marijuana is now legal in 16 states, it remains a 
federal crime. Opponents of the state law say anyone involved with 
the industry could face federal prosecution.

Joe Yuhas, of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Association, an industry 
trade group, said he doesn't expect the federal government to target 
non-profits that accept dispensary contributions because the federal 
government already collects about 30 percent of revenues in income 
taxes. Dispensaries aren't recognized as businesses under federal 
law, so they can't take business-tax deductions.

"The largest beneficiary of a medical-marijuana dispensary is the 
federal government," Yuhas said. "There should not be a fear based on 
Big Brother cracking down on a community-based organization. But 
ultimately it's a business decision and perhaps a personal judgment."

Yuhas said he believes most dispensaries will satisfy their 
non-profit status by running efficient operations and offering free 
or reduced pot and other services to low-income customers.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom