How Do You Feel About Co-Ops?

[DankyDank]

This question was inspired by another thread, where I was reading about someone's attempt to open a co-op, and the general support that the readers of the thread seemed to be expressing.

I have been to several dispensaries in the California bay area. While they don't all outright suck, I have yet to find one that does not charge street prices for medicine. I understand that there might be perfectly valid reasons for this, including the fact that if they were undercutting the street, people would resell their medicine. But there is no avoiding the bottom line; the people running these "co-ops" are making hundreds of thousands of dollars. Consequently, I have a very low opinion of co-ops, even though I support medicinal marijuana.

A few months ago, all of the co-ops in Modesto, California were busted. There was general lamenting throughout the pot community. But I had been to these dispensaries while they were open, and they were being run by thugs. The first time I walked into one I thought I had stepped into a meeting of the Tony Montana Appreciation Society, and they treated the customers rude as hell. I was overjoyed when they got shut down, and resent the unwillingness of the medicinal pot-smoking community to clean its own house. The Modesto co-ops were so bad that the PATIENTS should have shut them down before the cops had even finished their doughnuts.

So I don't get excited when I hear about someone opening a new co-op. A true co-op, in my opinion, would never "open." It would simply consist of a group of people who were sharing the expenses of a grow operation in order to grow for their own personal use. Any surplus would be provided to the truly needy at a rate drastically lower than street prices. And if your operation is so large that you can't tell the needy from someone who is going to resell, your operation is too large.

I am a caregiver, and I provide medicine to the patients I serve at a price less than half of the street price. At this time, approximately 25% of my patients are on hospice, and their medicine is provided absolutely free. I also provide those who are physically able to grow their own medicine all of the information I have to get them started growing on their own so that they don't have to rely on others to get their meds. THAT is a co-op. I don't need a business license, and I don't have to "open" anything.

I would like to know if there are others who feel the same way, or do most folks just figure that the more pot is available the better off we are, no matter how much personal profit is involved.

 

[beenthere donethat]

I stand and applaud in your direction my friend. Far too few feel the same way. The sick and dying can't afford to pay $50-80 a fuckin 8TH! That's robbery!

IMO, if someone is gonna sell their crop...they should sell it commercially and quit masquerading behind the medical issue. I'm hearing that 3K an lb is standard purchase price for a club for a pound of weed...and man...there are folks cleaning up under that pricing on BOTH sides of the coin...you can bet.

Small "grassroots" groups are what is needed. Millions of SMALL gardens will never be stopped or pulled. The larger it all gets...as we've seen in yer state..the EASIER it is for the Fed to come down. We need to take this all back to the people via local support groups and through networking for seeds, clones and other items....and from there...it can AND WILL unfold exponentially.

good growin to ya. Big ups/karma from here for your approach!

bt dt

 

[medicineman]

Rip offs, 50.00 a quarter is more like it. If I got a pound off my grow, I'd probably sell for 25-50 a quarter. 25 for the smaller buds and 50 for the top of the line. There are expenses to growing, plus the risk. You must at least break even, and a little profit for the risk would be fair.

 

[ViRedd]

If you are growing for a select few of those who are known as "Pot Snobs," then the price should be up there to what ever the market will bear. I mean, it takes a lot of knowledge, skill and care to present a bag of super fine Train Wreck that just glistens with crystals, perfectly cured and giving off that heavenly aroma. I've seen Train Wreck go for $500.00 an ounce with no questions asked, and the buyers very happy to get it.

On the other hand, for those in hospices ... the price should be free .. or no more than on a break-even basis.

Vi

 

[420101]

you'd never ever ever get any foo to pay 500 in my area max is usually 220 i get damn good erb for 160 repeatidly. honestly @ 500 i'd quiet smoking thats nutz

 

[AzGrOw-N-sMoKe]

people in n.y. pay rediclus amounts of money for high qualtiy weed..such as ny sour diesil..

 

[medicineman]

If you are growing for a select few of those who are known as "Pot Snobs," then the price should be up there to what ever the market will bear. I mean, it takes a lot of knowledge, skill and care to present a bag of super fine Train Wreck that just glistens with crystals, perfectly cured and giving off that heavenly aroma. I've seen Train Wreck go for $500.00 an ounce with no questions asked, and the buyers very happy to get it.

On the other hand, for those in hospices ... the price should be free .. or no more than on a break-even basis.

Vi

I'll be contacting you for a list of your 500.00 customers shortly,~LOL~

 

[ViRedd]

you'd never ever ever get any foo to pay 500 in my area max is usually 220 i get damn good erb for 160 repeatidly. honestly @ 500 i'd quiet smoking thats nutz

First of all, "fools" never pay 500 an ounce. Fools pay $90 an ounce for Mexican schwag, then inbetween attacks of paranoia, they cough their freakin' brains out.

And you might quit at $500 an ounce, but as one famous entertainer once said: "I don't have a drug problem ... I can afford it." In other words, there is a market out there for everyone. Some like Charles Shaw and others think nothing of paying $30-plus for very fine Cabernets.

Vi

 

[medicineman]

First of all, "fools" never pay 500 an ounce. Fools pay $90 an ounce for Mexican schwag, then inbetween attacks of paranoia, they cough their freakin' brains out.

And you might quit at $500 an ounce, but as one famous entertainer once said: "I don't have a drug problem ... I can afford it." In other words, there is a market out there for everyone. Some like Charles Shaw and others think nothing of paying $30-plus for very fine Cabernets.

Vi

PM me the list of 500.00 customers, this batch is top of the line, white cristals and all.

 

[ViRedd]

No, no, Med ... were talkin' extra fine snob pot here. You know, the kind that is perfectly cured, smells like lemons, smokes to a fine white ash, tastes like concord grape ... and looks like it just came out of the deep freeze. Now THAT'S the $500 an ounce kind. *lol*

Vi

 

[medicineman]

No, no, Med ... were talkin' extra fine snob pot here. You know, the kind that is perfectly cured, smells like lemons, smokes to a fine white ash, tastes like concord grape ... and looks like it just came out of the deep freeze. Now THAT'S the $500 an ounce kind. *lol*

Vi

Are you dissing my stash before you taste it? Now that's what I call predjudiced. I might have learned a thing or two. I'm not at all like you, when I make a mistake, I try and not repeat it. I try and learn from every source, even you. I listened to your advice on how to grow snob pot and read some more, read all the info I could get, balanced PH, nutrient levels, amount of light etc. Now I'm about to reap the bounty of my endeavor, I've cut the nutrients off, changed the mix to pure H20 and await the finalization of the buds. Maybe it'll only be worth 499 per oz, who knows, but I'll probably let my main guy have it for 200.00 an oz. With 5 ozs, thats a grand and a pretty good hobby. If you're comin to town give me a PM and I'll save you a bud.

 

[fdd2blk]

when a co-op has to pay $4000 a lb for medical grade marijuana then they have no choice but to sell it for 50+ an 1/8th. also why would a grower who is growing for profit sell a lb for $2000 when he can get $4000?

have you considered business license costs, rent on a building(when and if you can find one), insurance on your business(good luck on this one), employee payroll....

i used to feel the same way until i talked to a few owners.

 

[ViRedd]

Yep, its not all its cracked up to be. The Co-ops HAVE to offer the finest they can find. After all ... its intended for medical users. So, in order to offer the best, they have to pay for the best. Usually, that means the clubs pay from 3000 to 4000 a pound. The same thing applys to the edibiles and hash they offer as well. I bought one gram of hash from one of the San Diego clubs once ... it was some of the best hash I've ever had. It cost $35 a gram and was well worth it.

Med ... Have you converted over to RO water? Sound like you have with the "pure H20 comment you made." That one change is well worth the extra expense.

Vi

 

[abudsmoker]

Ro Water is the key. my water is 11 parts per million TDS i make this at the cost of .13 a gallon 5 gallons takes 18 gallons of conditioned/soften water.

the benifit is total control of nutes delieved to the plant.
if you water is real hard or has high TDS you food will " Fall out" so to speak

 

[medicineman]

Yep, its not all its cracked up to be. The Co-ops HAVE to offer the finest they can find. After all ... its intended for medical users. So, in order to offer the best, they have to pay for the best. Usually, that means the clubs pay from 3000 to 4000 a pound. The same thing applys to the edibiles and hash they offer as well. I bought one gram of hash from one of the San Diego clubs once ... it was some of the best hash I've ever had. It cost $35 a gram and was well worth it.

Med ... Have you converted over to RO water? Sound like you have with the "pure H20 comment you made." That one change is well worth the extra expense.

Vi

Yup, my tap water was 700 PPM. I have a water store a few blocks from me that sells water for 16 cents a gallon. I take 3-5 gallon buckets once a week and fill them. the guy charges me 2.40. The hardest part is lugging those buckets home. I believe those buckets to hold more like 6-7 gallons, they are the large chlorine buckets from my pool and they are heavy for an old fart. I cant believe that this one giant plant drinks 15 gallons of water a week, The root ball is 5-6 feet long and 6 inches in Diameter, amazing. I am using two pumps and 4 stones, so there's lots of aireation going on and some of it may be evaporation, but 15 gallons+ a week is still amazing. I believe I let the plants go too far in veg, wont let that happen again. this one of two survivors (The other 4 were males) has taken over my little closet and is 6 ft tall and 5 feet accross, buds everywhere. These will be a bunch of smaller buds instead of a few big ones, but the end result will be the same, kick ass pot.These are seeds from the widow and her boyfriend, the midnight stranger. Be interesting to see what they taste like. I've thought about putting some orange or lemon extract into the water, but don't want to ruin a good thing.

 

[ViRedd]

Sounds good Med. I'd stay away from the extracts. If you flush for the last two weeks of flower, then cure it properly, you'll end up with some really nice tasting pot ... and it will be natural tasting pot as well.

You've got a big-assed plant going there. What kinda wattage are you using?

Vi

 

[medicineman]

Sounds good Med. I'd stay away from the extracts. If you flush for the last two weeks of flower, then cure it properly, you'll end up with some really nice tasting pot ... and it will be natural tasting pot as well.

You've got a big-assed plant going there. What kinda wattage are you using?

Vi

Just a little old 400HPS. I bought a fancy 400Hps Bulb with super high output and balanced red and blue for ultimate plant growth, but am using the plain 400 watt HPS for flowering. The buds are starting to tighten up, a couple more weeks and they gotta go as I'm leavin on a 10 day vacation, so they will be what they will be, probably take me all day one day to cut and manicure the buds, An enjoyable job if ever there were. also bought a 70cfm rotary fan and made a hole in the cieling of the closet and ran 4" ducting from the plant area to the attic, so the smell level is much better, although, I love the smell of skunk in the morning. You should see it, It grew past the light and is hitting the ceiling and growing back down. I had to string wires and make a hole in the middle to keep all the plant away from the light. Next time, I'm going into flower on the 4th node and trying to keep them lower. I actually had to raise the ceiling 12 inches and that is all I've got. I've found that I can put a seed into a rockwool cube and as long as I keep enough water in the bubbler, it will turn into a six inch plant in 10 days or less. I also am doing the poor mans co2 deal with a milk carton and sugar and yeast, seems to be working.

 

[DankyDank]

So it seems that most of the responses I got, with the exception of the very first, are dealing with the issue as if pot clubs are there to provide pot, period. These responses don't seem to be treating pot as medicine, or the co-ops as pharmacies. Fair enough. I'm all for the free market. But it would then seem to me that everyone would have to admit that the medicinal pot movement is just a smokescreen to get pot to anybody that wants it.

I wouldn't have any problem with the co-ops if they weren't masquerading as clinics. I don't have a problem in the world with people charging what the market will bare, and getting dirty rotten filthy stinking rich doing it. But don't come off like you are doing ill people a favor when you are nothing more than a legal dope dealer. Go ahead and make a million, but like the man said, don't piss down my neck and tell me it's raining.

 

[fdd2blk]

So it seems that most of the responses I got, with the exception of the very first, are dealing with the issue as if pot clubs are there to provide pot, period. These responses don't seem to be treating pot as medicine, or the co-ops as pharmacies. Fair enough. I'm all for the free market. But it would then seem to me that everyone would have to admit that the medicinal pot movement is just a smokescreen to get pot to anybody that wants it.

I wouldn't have any problem with the co-ops if they weren't masquerading as clinics. I don't have a problem in the world with people charging what the market will bare, and getting dirty rotten filthy stinking rich doing it. But don't come off like you are doing ill people a favor when you are nothing more than a legal dope dealer. Go ahead and make a million, but like the man said, don't piss down my neck and tell me it's raining.

the clubs ARE supplying medicine to patients in need. others slip in thru the cracks. i see more little old ladies and wheelchairs at my club than i do 25 year old men. i think there are clubs out there that give off a bad impression. but it is not the club issuing prescriptions it is the DR.s. without the proper paper work you can't get in the club in the first place. as far as getting filthy rich: why do i wait 2 weeks to get my money on a 1/4lb front? if they were rich couldn't they pay me at the time of donation?

 

[DankyDank]

as far as getting filthy rich: why do i wait 2 weeks to get my money on a 1/4lb front? if they were rich couldn't they pay me at the time of donation?

I'm not sure what u were trying to say here... are u selling to the clubs?

There is no doubt that the clubs are making huge profits. And again, I guess if the point is simply for pot to be available, that it doesn't matter. I just have a problem with all of this money being made in the guise of "helping the sick." So I do what I can. I provide to the ill at less than half of street price, and I don't patronize the clubs AT ALL.

At any rate, thanks to all of those that responded to the thread. Even though I am extremely surprised at the lack of outrage in regards to this issue, it has been cool to see how other people feel about it.