I hate the dispensaries , because of their greed. They've had a cash cow going now and they don't want anything to stop their extreme profiteering off of MMJ. It's the same here in Colorado where I'm at. I moved from Georgia to Colorado because I was tired of chancing my closet grow on getting found out, Georgia is one of the worst states to get busted for growing and they'll probably be one of the last states to have any type of legalization or even any MMJ bill.
I got my MMJ recommendation on chronic back pain, 7 bulging disc with gross stenosis , both knees have torn meniscus also. I couldn't afford the expensive opiate pain pills and seeing a pain doctor every 2 months at $225 per visit , I done that in Georgia from 2003 to 2007, started growing for myself in 2007 and saving up with a plan to move to Colorado, which I done in 2009. With an average price of $350 an ounce at the dispensaries and I go through 2 ounces a month...if I didn't know how to grow that would cost me $700 a month that I couldn't afford, hell ...I paid less than that when I was seeing a pain doctor every 2 months and getting my Methadone scripts filled every 30 days back in Georgia.
I too think about all the people on fixed incomes, the ones that need herb for ailments but the one's that just don't have a green thumb or either they live in a non-MMJ state and aren't in a position to move to a MMJ state like I did. I got my MMJ recommendation last year in Colorado Springs from a doctor that was in with a dispensary and they got pissed with me that after I got my recommendation that I told them I was growing my own and not buying their over-priced MMJ. It's big business to them and the dispensaries don't ever want to see herb legalized, though they might say different, they know legalization will fuck their income up. Legalization would drop prices big time.
I also think about the prisons, the people that get busted for possession or cultivating, then the bullshit criminal records from that which prevent getting good jobs. No dispensary owner in California or Colorado gives 2 shits about anyone in Texas or Florida or any other non-MMJ state that gets the judicial hammer on some disabled person who's got a closet grow for their ailment.
All it would take is for just ONE STATE, to legalize , and then other states would start passing similar legalization bills. It's going to eventually happen, but you will always have the crowd that's gonna bitch about something in the bill that they don't like, be it "I don't like the taxes attached to it"...or.." 25 square feet ain't big enough" yah-yah-yah, ect. They better enjoy the profits whilst they can, maybe 5 years from now ...those $350 ounces just might be $35 ounces because the movement is growing, legalization is nearing, its going to cause more people to grow, maybe even to the point where there will be so many home grows in so many states all over the nation that there will be so much herb being produced that people will be giving their excess away like a neighbor who regularly gives tomatoes and peppers to their next door neighbors. ONE STATE, that's it, all it would take, and within a few years from that ONE STATE... most all other states would follow.
I do think its wrong for cities to ban dispensaries and limit their number, BUT... I don't feel sorry for the dispensaries because of their greedy prices. The days of the dispensaries are numbered , the herb will be freed , because I have a dream...that one day... every house in America will have a green closet. I'd love to re-write MLK's "I have a dream speech", and make it fitting for the legalization people.