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.
This article appears in May 10-16, 2012.
Thank You Tucson Weekly/Mr. Smith. Willie Nelson & Woody Harrelson, I hope understand.
I submit that the vast majority of drug users would use only marijuana if it were available at an affordable price. But it is not available at an affordable price. During the early 1970s, marijuana sold for $10 to $20 an ounce. Now, it sells for over $400 an ounce.
Today’s price of marijuana is the result of the “prohibition tax” that goes to organized criminals — the government gets nothing.
If beer drinkers cannot get any beer, they switch to another type of alcoholic beverage.
If a marijuana user cannot obtain marijuana at an affordable price, many switch to other drugs — like meth. And because marijuana is illegal, it is sold only by criminals. Criminals who often sell other drugs — like meth. And their marijuana suppliers often give out free samples of other drugs — like meth.
Thus the so-called “gateway effect.”
If marijuana were legally available in licensed business establishments like tobacco and alcohol, our meth problem would be a tiny fraction of what it is today.
Our counterproductive drug policies have made the least toxic drug the most expensive, and the most toxic drug, the least expensive.
Sobel to me shows no compassion he his out for the money if he was compassionate he would stand up and support the removal of the 25 mile rule.
um, since i personally know him i will tell you he does support removal of the 25 mile rule. however, just look at the law and what kind of preparation has to be done to open a dispensary. now consider trying to open five, and you will see why something like this isn’t in the forefront of his dealings with the media.
baby steps and patience, mr. clark. first we have to start with a grandfather clause that allows those currently cultivating to continue cultivating, and we can work from there. that should be easy. if you look at the statistics from the state, nearly 25,000 individuals have requested to cultivate. that sort of wide-spread cultivation is not going to be easily quashed.
Ken isn’t the only one who can make this happen either, so don’t put all the burden on him just because he hasn’t publicly stated support for it.
I plan to visit Mr. Sobel’s establishment. I paid to join his club in Phoenix, so I expect to get free membership here in Tucson. I will let you all know how this works out.