At what point do we call the dispensary system a miserable failure

So, three dispensaries and the going rate seems to be $20 per gram.

If the goal of the dispensary system was to sell weed to patients for the absolute highest price possible I guess it is a success.

In the meantime, I think we need a ballot initiative to remove the 25 mile limit and allow dispensaries to buy from caregivers.

If in November, dispensaries are still selling for $20 per gram, there is an easy case to make that the system is a failure and needs to be fixed.

At $20 per gram, my patients would be paying more than triple what they are paying now. Any system artificially inflates the cost
of medication is cruel and unjust. There is absolutely no logical reason someone should be make to pay $20 per gram.

There are a number of things wrong with the law as passed.

1) A system of monopolies which is obviously unamerican and unfair. Allow the free market in and allow patients to grow regardless of where they live.

2) The requirement for a 10 ft brick wall with 1/4" thick steel door to grow outside. Jesus fucking christ.. Are you serious? Most cities won't allow
fences over 6 ft. The cost to grow outside would be far beyond the means of most patients. Growing indoors is a horrible waste or resources. We
need to be encouraging outdoor cultivation to save electricity.

3) Remove restrictions on caregiver pricing. Caregivers are charging whatever the market will bear. It is unreasonable to ask people to work for free
and most don't abide by it anyway. Let patients choose their caregivers and make whatever deal they want.

4) Remove the 2.5 oz limit. If a patient contracts a caregiver to grow a crop, let the patient recieve the entire crop if they want. Don't make the
caregiver screw around giving out an ounce a week for three months. Do you suddenly start smoking more because you have a pound instead of
an ounce a week? I think not. As it stands now, if a patient grows a pound they don't have some magical device they put it in to dispense only
an ounce a week to themselves.

5) Reciprocity for patients with cards from other states. Currently on I-10 and I-40 police are profiling vehicles from colorado and california, pulling
over and arresting patients. If I have a rifle which is illegal in a given state, I am still allowed to posess that rifle in my trunk while I drive through
that state. We should at least allow patients to pass through the state without harrassment.

they want to keep the price high to discourage us.

they being the folks currently in charge of the zoo.

unfortunately, i haven't read or heard of one politician saying anything about medical pot and the constant messing with the vote.

we only won med pot rights by a few hundred or thousand votes though. if it comes up again, and i'm thinking it might, medical pot could be voted out. i've lived here since 1965 and i know that we're just backwards enough to do that.

There is still much work to be done on the legality of cannabis. Calling for more law making, as fatboy said, could end badly for the cannabis users. Remember that no matter how high the price, or difficulty to run the business, most Americans get arrested on site for simple possession. Furthermore if we ever get federal law amended then you will see a set of laws that all but cut out the little guy. Just like tobacco and alcohol, deep pocket corporations will take over the market in a way that you could not viably make money. Were talking strain patents and regulation that would make your current laws seem like the good old days.

Previously all the anti weed commercials were centered around the death and destruction legalizing medical marijuana would cause. None of that has happened, there are not as some claimed, rivers of blood in the streets.

Anyone who supported the law will go along with the amendments because they are reasonable and no one wants to see old people and veterans screwed by evil dispensaries.

Those who voted against the law because they believed all the bullshit will have had time to see than none of that has come to pass and the only visable effect of the law has been a flood of caregivers and patients selling on craigslist and demanding cards.

The concept of monopolies is abhorrent to most people. I didn't like the idea but I voted for the law to get it through in the hope it would at least be a start in the right direction.

As much as they might hate weed, I'll bet there are a lot of conservatives who hate monopolies even more.

Laws are not always perfect. What seems like a good idea may not turn out so. That is why we have amendments so we can attempt to improve our laws based on experience.

The current experience has been that caregivers are good and dispensaries are bad. Perhaps by november dispensaries will have cleaned up their act, but there is absolutely
nothing which has happened so far to suggest that.

The issue becomes not medical marijuana, but whether to allow monopolies to charge the dying, old people and wounded veterans three times as much as they currently pay.
The issue becomes saving hundreds of thousands of kilowatt hours by using solar instead of coal and nuclear.
The issue becomes eliminating laws which are just plain silly.
The issue becomes your right to grow your own weed in your closet as opposed to being forced to buy from a government sanctioned monopoly.

Yes, we're a fucking backward state, but there is no doubt which way the wind is blowing.

buy your weed off the street if you got a problem with it. a lot of those people are risking their own ass selling you weed which is why those prices are so high. if you want really good weed off the street they are still gonna charge you a premium. get over it or dont go there.

I don't like the fact that any mom or pop can't run a "dispensary", that's my biggest thing. I prefer a free market where anyone is allowed to contend, and inefficiencies are quickly blotted out. Only allowing 125 in select locations is absurd, and forcing me to drive 25 miles to Arizona Organix for weed that is not "organic" (nice dispensary name) is furthermore even more absurd. This IS america you know, land of the free?

drolove said:

buy your weed off the street if you got a problem with it. a lot of those people are risking their own ass selling you weed which is why those prices are so high. if you want really good weed off the street they are still gonna charge you a premium. get over it or dont go there.

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I don't think you understand, the weed being provided by these dispensaries is WAY lower quality than any street herb, and WAY more expensive. You can get good herb in the PHX area for 200-300 an OZ at most depending on who you know. It's gonna be a while until any dispensary is near the number, let alone able to provide an oz to each patient that walks in through their door.

It's pretty obvious to me these people are trying to break even as quick as possible so they can get in the green.

if they want to do 20 a gram to recreational users then fine, but charge those outrageous rates after our medical insurance starts covering it.

1337hacker said:

I don't think you understand, the weed being provided by these dispensaries is WAY lower quality than any street herb, and WAY more expensive. You can get good herb in the PHX area for 200-300 an OZ at most depending on who you know. It's gonna be a while until any dispensary is near the number, let alone able to provide an oz to each patient that walks in through their door.

It's pretty obvious to me these people are trying to break even as quick as possible so they can get in the green.

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well i have a friend that brings me weed from a dispensary and its higher quality than ive ever seen on the street and i usually get the best around. im sure theres good and bad but like i said if its not up to your standards buy it off the street. dont keep going to by low grade bud for crazy prices if your gonna complain.

Trust me, it will get even more absurd, this is Arizona. The next thing to happen... The horribly overpriced dispensary in your area will go into legal limbo where it exists but you can't buy weed from it, nor can your grow your own.

Think about it.. should your dispensary go into la-la land, how long do you think it will take for you to get your cultivation rights back? Then add another 3 months after that before you harvest.

The only reason the Feds haven't shut anything down is because these places are actually making weed less available. The feds are no doubt laughing their asses off at a dispensary slinging eights for $65.


If dispensaries attempt to charge $20 per gram they will fail. The same as a gas station charging $6 per gallon would fail. Even with a faked up monopoly system you canna change the laws of economics.

Too many folks jumping the gun...

Has anyone been burdened by the AMMA?

If so... Who? When? Where? & How?


I was authorized to cultivate medicine for myself and another patient (as caregiver) for over 12 months. I recently renewed my MMJ card and was denied the cultivation rights while my patient still benefits from being able to cultivate his own medicine (through his caregiver - me). How can another person have added rights/protections/immunities than another person? Answer. A law that is unconstitutional when applied can not be enforced - null & void due to arbitrary arrests/prosecutions by being unable to support the purpose for which it was intended. A law can not infringe upon other rights/privileges/immunities.

Wish I had this problem...

Trolling said:

Wish I had this problem...

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i agree with trolling, there are some places you cant get weed on or off the streets, let alone from a store, i say, be happy with what you got.



...while it may be wrong or not the right way to do things, its better than being outright illegal and most importantly A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.

but $600/oz....who is gonna buy?
the place in Tucson had BlueDream for $28/gm!!!!! can anyone round here afford?????

Blue dream for 28 a gram bhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah.

For all you out of starters who don't know what's going on, it is easy to say be happy with what we got. but if you were here you would understand what we are complaining about. The law will eventually force us all to buy over priced shit weed from a dispensary or we will be illegal for buying from the street.

Kervork said:

The issue becomes not medical marijuana, but whether to allow monopolies to charge the dying, old people and wounded veterans three times as much as they currently pay.
The issue becomes saving hundreds of thousands of kilowatt hours by using solar instead of coal and nuclear.
The issue becomes eliminating laws which are just plain silly.
The issue becomes your right to grow your own weed in your closet as opposed to being forced to buy from a government sanctioned monopoly.

Yes, we're a fucking backward state, but there is no doubt which way the wind is blowing.

Click to expand...

The powers that be don't care about any of that. oh bidness and gubment people will talk about compassion, blah blah blah but as a country, we are all about making money and taxing the crap out of it. compassion is good for a news clip, the reality is it's all about $$ and control. booze, tobacco, gambling... the gubment won't be happy until they get a big chunk of tax money off of what ever the sin is.

a gument that allows the production and sales of tobacco products could give a shit about patients who use marijuana having to pay a lot. even obama won't touch tobacco. he states he doesn't want legal pot because of his kids. but tobacco sales on every street corner? perfectly fine! it's all about $$ and power.

never underestimate the mormon and religious right vote. they are not amused by medical pot.

1337hacker said:

I don't like the fact that any mom or pop can't run a "dispensary", that's my biggest thing. I prefer a free market where anyone is allowed to contend, and inefficiencies are quickly blotted out. Only allowing 125 in select locations is absurd, and forcing me to drive 25 miles to Arizona Organix for weed that is not "organic" (nice dispensary name) is furthermore even more absurd. This IS america you know, land of the free?

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i would love small operations. get some real pot lovers doing it all. i like the hippie vibe, what can i say.

one of the things in our favor, is that the cat is out of the bag. so many people grow these days. once they pay $450 for some so so pot a couple of times, many will fire up the lights again.

speaking of mom and pops. i went to the corner store and holy cow, glass pipes and bubblers for sale! i was shocked and couldn't stop smiling. bubblers at a mini mart. maybe we have turned a corner. maybe.

1337hacker said:

I don't think you understand, the weed being provided by these dispensaries is WAY lower quality than any street herb, and WAY more expensive. You can get good herb in the PHX area for 200-300 an OZ at most depending on who you know. It's gonna be a while until any dispensary is near the number, let alone able to provide an oz to each patient that walks in through their door.

It's pretty obvious to me these people are trying to break even as quick as possible so they can get in the green.

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the owner of organix stated as much. he talked about having to have rented the building for a long time and all his start up expenses. of course in a year when he's recooped, he'll still charge the same or more because well, fuck em eh?

I guess when these prospective D owner's started applying for licenses and designing their business plans, they didn't realize that most businesses don't get out of the red for the first 2-3 years, and that's why you need that investment capital to soften the blow.