What legally do you need to do to open a dispensary ?

I know there is a few diff things like zoning laws and obviously business license but what else?

thanks

nicolleholliday89 said:

I know there is a few diff things like zoning laws and obviously business license but what else?

thanks

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Actually no. You don't necessarily need a business license.

All cannabis clubs need articles of incorporation (most clubs form as mutual benefit non-profit corporation these days), a tax ID #, and a sellers permit.

If you are opening up inside city limits you'll need a business license and most likely a use permit from the planning department. A lot of cities with no approve either of these things for a dispensary. Technically they are not supposed to do this and you can try to sue the city, I've seen that done. But if you're going to do that I hope you have a lot of $$$.

If you open a club anywhere in an unincorporated county space you do not need any paperwork from the county you're in what so ever unless your county has a specific law saying you do.

All you need to open in an unincorporated area is the state paperwork which they rubber stamp for anyone who wants them. Get those and you can legally open up as long as there is no law in your county preventing you from doing so.

Depending on how hostile the city/county is towards medical cannabis, even if you follow the rules, the local pd/sheriff might shut you down anyways. If you followed the rules you'll probably win in court, but again, I hope you have a lot of $$$.

edit - this is all California law. No idea about other states.

i think a lawyer would be your safest bet.

the reason why places get shut down and raided by the government in Cali is because most people dont try and get city council approving and a biz license. Sure you can do what Kone says as im sure most places do and most places dont get raided but just so you know that is the REASON why most places get shut down.

in order to get a license to go in front of city council or start any paperwork or anything you have to have a physical address of where your going to be selling. That involves rent blah blah. Like Kone said mucho money.

Id just open one up like Kone said and get as much money as i could before something happened lol.

money isn't the issue.. I want to open it in Colorado maybe by next Aug

Hmmm idk how colorado works maybe like Cali?

http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881

go there and read the description for Colorado. To the right will be links to your states official website telling you how to become a caregiver. As always esp. for something like this since money isnt an issue get a lawyer on retainer. If you had the high times with the 15th anniver ( i cant remember wat year, whichever was the latest anniv.) it gives lawyers who specialize in weed. But ask around and google search for them if you dont have it.


All this free legal advice i should get a complementary smoke when you open your doors

There are a lot of things, and a lawyer would be the best place to finish these thoughts. But this is a good place to start. New laws in CO require you to track every gram sold, and make sure you get 70% of your inventory from a grower who is working with your dispensary. There's a good piece of software that makes sure you are fully compliant at www.MMJMenu.com

blazin256 said:

i think a lawyer would be your safest bet.

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Yes. you are 100% correct. No one should ever attempt to open a dispensary without getting legal advice first or they'll be doing it at the expense of their freedom.

Actually, you need two lawyers. You need a criminal prop 215 lawyer and a corporate lawyer. Don't ask your prop 215 lawyer to do your corporate paperwork. They'll do it, but it'll be really really expensive.

nicolleholliday89 said:

money isn't the issue.. I want to open it in Colorado maybe by next Aug

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You are wasting your time and obviously know nothing of business. But if you insist, you should open a hydro store. Everyone wants to be a grower, profit off that. MOST dispensaries around here make little money and as a dispensary owner you're at risk of federal prosecution at any time. You're also subject to any law changes regarding any aspect of MMJ laws.(which if you live in CO, you know were just changed and are going to be changed again) A hydro store is just a store and there isn't a damn thing illegal about it.

Really though, you're consulting a how to grow weed forum about how to open a dispensary. You're not really suited for this

S1rSmokesAlot said:

the reason why places get shut down and raided by the government in Cali is because most people dont try and get city council approving and a biz license. Sure you can do what Kone says as im sure most places do and most places dont get raided but just so you know that is the REASON why most places get shut down.

in order to get a license to go in front of city council or start any paperwork or anything you have to have a physical address of where your going to be selling. That involves rent blah blah. Like Kone said mucho money.

Id just open one up like Kone said and get as much money as i could before something happened lol.

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Yes that is basically correct. One really important thing though. Never ever ever bring something publicly in front of your city counsel or county board of supervisors unless you already know what they are going to say. If you ask their permission to open a dispensary at a city counsel meeting I guarantee their answer will be a firm no 100% of the time.

The first rule of politics. Don't ask politicians for something unless you already know how they will answer. Your city counsel members or county board of supervisors all have their own office hours. Any tax paying voter can go to these office hours to have access to their local government regardless of who you are. Talk to them on a one on one basis. This allows them to say things that they may not want to say publicly. You should be able to get an honest answer there. They'll probably ask you to make sure your club does xxx or make sure you open in xxx zone, away from schools, or other things like that. Once you have the support of the majority of supervisors/counsel members then you're all good to open up.

You can open up without the permission of local government, but if you open with out telling them, you'll likely wind up in a fight with them. You don't want this. They may not be able to close you down, but they can always make your life a very expensive living hell. A friend of mine opened up legally, all his paperwork was correct, but that didn't matter. They ended up fining him $1000 dollars a day every day for over 6 months. After all that he ended up having to make multiple $20k donations to several organizations in the community to get out of the shit with them.

They can fuck with you like that no matter where you open up. If you open in a place zoned retail, they claim since a collective is a member only organization it is not technically a retail establishment. If you open in a commercial/industrial zone they can claim that since you're not producing an industrial product on site, you're in violation of zoning laws. If you open in a commercial office zone, you're not an office so you're in violation of zoning laws.

That's how they get you. There is no legal zoning for a dispensary unless your local government says it's legal. So they can fuck you over no matter what you do. The penalty for violating these zoning laws is what ever they say it is. You then must sue them for violating state law by denying patients fair access to medicine. It's an ugly and expensive process.

So yes, the best way is definitely to go to their office hours and ask them what is the best way to open up and not get fucked with. Ask them where/how they want you to do this. Don't ask them permission to open! Just ask them how you can do it in a way that will get the least resistance from them. Find a way to comply with at least 3/5 members of the counsel/board and you're all good!

The problem with opening up in city limits is it's MUCH MUCH harder to deal with these city employees who don't have to run for office so they don't care what voters think. You are shielded from the people at the planning department making decisions, you'll talk to people will only make your life difficult. All they have to do is deny your permits and there is really nothing you can do about that except take them to court. You'll never get the opportunity to talk to the person who is going to deny your business license before they just go ahead and tell you no.

ColoradoLove said:

You are wasting your time and obviously know nothing of business. But if you insist, you should open a hydro store. Everyone wants to be a grower, profit off that. MOST dispensaries around here make little money and as a dispensary owner you're at risk of federal prosecution at any time. You're also subject to any law changes regarding any aspect of MMJ laws.(which if you live in CO, you know were just changed and are going to be changed again) A hydro store is just a store and there isn't a damn thing illegal about it.

Really though, you're consulting a how to grow weed forum about how to open a dispensary. You're not really suited for this

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Lame.

There is nothing wrong with asking people for information. It's not like there is a handbook written or anything. People should be encouraged to open a dispensary till there is one on every street corner in America. No need to give people attitude for asking for info. When I first started going through the process I didn't know shit. It's not like anyone is born knowing how the process works. Why discourage people from asking?

Come on man, she hasn't even been back. Why encourage her to throw the money away? To run a small business you have to be business savvy, she obviously isn't. Look at her posts. I offered her a much more profitable and SAFE option.

I'm not discouraging asking, I'm discouraging inexperience people from trying to "jump in the weed game." Not to mention who starts at square one by asking a grow forum? None of us have a clue, get a lawyer is pretty basic and she didn't even have that down.

Nicole I'm not trying to be mean, I'm trying to be real. It's obvious you see other people "making money" in this, but MOST don't. I know several owners of dispensaries around here and up in Summit and they're paycheck to paycheck. The wealthy ones are the hydro shop owners and the people selling on the streets or growing legally and mailing it to other states. I'd recommend the hydro route rather than the illegal slanging.

ColoradoLove said:

Come on man, she hasn't even been back. Why encourage her to throw the money away? To run a small business you have to be business savvy, she obviously isn't. Look at her posts. I offered her a much more profitable and SAFE option.

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I just hate to discourage people asking for knowledge.

Not to mention who starts at square one by asking a grow forum? None of us have a clue, get a lawyer is pretty basic and she didn't even have that down.

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I'm not open yet, still setting up the shop and trimming so I'll have product, but I just went through the process myself, jumped through all the hoops. So I actually do know.

Nicole I'm not trying to be mean, I'm trying to be real. It's obvious you see other people "making money" in this, but MOST don't. I know several owners of dispensaries around here and up in Summit and they're paycheck to paycheck. The wealthy ones are the hydro shop owners and the people selling on the streets or growing legally and mailing it to other states. I'd recommend the hydro route rather than the illegal slanging.

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People don't understand how expensive the process is. You should really have like $75k you're ready to dump into it if you want to be successful. My projected monthly expenses are over $10k a month not including product. You have to sell a shit ton of bud to just break even.

So yeah, you're probably right.

You are a rarity my friend. No hard feelings here and I understand that you're just trying to help. However, those numbers you're quoting only makes me more sure that this girl isn't prepared for what lies ahead.

On the topic of YOUR dispensary though... you said it's in CO? Where? Need any staff? Hahah, I promise I'm actually a very helpful person!

Really though, I love checking out new dispensaries, so if it's a reasonable driving distance I'd for sure like to stop by. At the very least meet another RIU member. I just got my actual red card today! Pretty stoked, only took 8 months!

I love all feedback. You have to understand that I have read, researched, asked lawyers ect for months now. What you read online or what a lawyer may suggest could possibly work but the advantage of a blog/forum place such as this, is that you get the opportunity to get advice or ideas from people who have the same passion as me.. Im learning in as many ways that I can but i understand where your coming from..

Hey Nicole. I was thinking. If you have some money and want to help out why don't you do me a favor. Get your dispensary going and once established use some of your money that you have now or a percentage of your profits from the dispensary to do a community study on the effects of marijuana in your community and then spend your time and money pimping your study to the 43 or so state governments that cant seem to grasp that it is a harmless plant that helps thousands daily. I would be willing to help accomadate (sp?) you in any way I can when you are in the New England area. I have a spare bedroom and a chick that cooks her ass off.

No hard feelings here and I understand that you're just trying to help.

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My theory is the real way to make this shit legal and acceptable all over the country is for people to help each other and share whatever knowledge they've gotten while in the game so everyone with the intelligence and motivation to do so can have their own grows/businesses/whatever and be successful. So when I'm not talking shit to dumb fucks, I do my best to help people.

No hard feelings either. Your a smart dude with a good perspective on things and best of all, you say what you really think rather than sugar coat everything or bullshit people to try and make yourself look good. I've got to respect that.

ColoradoLove said:

On the topic of YOUR dispensary though... you said it's in CO? Where? Need any staff? Hahah, I promise I'm actually a very helpful person!

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Nah man. I'm in the bay area (NorCal). But if you ever make it out this way feel free to send me a pm and I'll make sure I hook you up with the best Cali has to offer.

ColoradoLove said:

Really though, I love checking out new dispensaries, so if it's a reasonable driving distance I'd for sure like to stop by. At the very least meet another RIU member. I just got my actual red card today! Pretty stoked, only took 8 months!

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Congrats man. I've spent the last several years as a full time medical vendor and I love checking out every dispensary I can. I love looking around to see what products are strong and weak. What strains/products are selling good and most importantly what makes a successful dispensary successful and what makes other fail. I live and breath this shit.

much respect

nicolleholliday89 said:

You have to understand that I have read, researched, asked lawyers ect for months now.

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And I understand no matter how much research you do and lawyers you talk to, this is fucking hard to figure out. Get info from as many places as you can, then be skeptical of all of it.

What you read online or what a lawyer may suggest could possibly work but the advantage of a blog/forum place such as this, is that you get the opportunity to get advice or ideas from people who have the same passion as me.. Im learning in as many ways that I can but i understand where your coming from..

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Right now you have the chance to achieve your dreams. Fucking go for it! If you ever have any questions for someone who just went through this process, don't be afraid to ask me. I'll give you any info I can.

one more thing I forgot to say earlier. The hardest part of this process is finding a good location with a landlord who will rent to you. If your even casually thinking of opening a dispensary, start thinking about location right away.

i wish i could move to america n open up a dispensary

hey nicole, do you find this video a compliment or offensive?
[video=youtube;p2Lkqt4nGe8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2Lkqt4nGe8[/video]


but good luck on your dispensary venture.