The Cost of Doing Canna business in CA.

[cannabudz]

Yesterday I read in a BBC article how much it would be to obtain a Government approved large scale growers permit. Okay, Just to file a application to the county is a "non refundable" $5000.00. If you are one of the very "few" people awarded with a bulk growers permit, you will have to pay $211,000.00 annually to the state. As well you will be paying at least 5% more tax on top of the normal sales tax of your city. Now that is just overhead to the State and Federal...
I noticed that in Oakland, one person holds three of the four bulk growing permits. The last permit is going to a overseas corporation (pharmasphere) who isnt even gonna grow it. They are looking to outsource the work (i hope to local people) to grow the cannabis using their techniques/products (Speculators).
So now today, as i sit here I am thinking to myself: "That prop. 19 got rejected, right?.. That bill was about legalizing small amounts and for large scale grow ops. So how do these large scale grows get to forge forward like prop 19 wasn't even there in the first place....? I'm a little confused on that issue.. It looks like if you have enough money and are willing to throw some of it at the local judicial / law enforcement agencies, they are willing to overlook the Federal Cannabis guidelines.
So now I am a little pissed off. Why? Because I thought by voting no on prop 19, it would keep big pharma out of the cannabis scene. And also keep huge corporations from absorbing up another industry. It is so sad to see this happen.. Yet again, big business is pushing the little guy out of the market.. It will be like wal-mart all over. We use to have half a dozen little grocery stores around my rural area, now we have ZERO! If i want groceries, i have to go to wal-mart or Costco for them. Or grow them myself.. Fucking sad.
A few years ago i had the joy of watching a movie called "Idiocracy", I laughed so hard. Only until recently I have i noticed how much we are like that movie, Currently. It is becoming a serious problem. Just one example: i was watching local news, and they where covering a power outage. They where talking to a couple of young boys (10-13yr old). The reporter asked them what they thought of the snow and the lack of electricity. The young boy responded saying "Its dark, and I dont have a flashlight, I just have this thing on my head so i can see". Well, the thing on his head was a headband "FLASHLIGHT". If this was a toddler or anywhere near there i wouldn't think anything of it.. Just the fact that a 10+ year old boy, dont know WTF is on his head is a "hands free flashlight" blows my mind.. being a boy, and knowing most boys that age are into gadgets like that just toppled me mentally.. I can rest assured by telling you my faith in the younger generation to carry forth an Intelligent agenda is 100% gone.. left the fucking building.. exited stage left.. Allahkazahm poof...
Well.. I just wanted to share my findings with the rest of you.. It sucks that just to get your foot into the door, you will need just about a quarter of a million dollars.. Hell that doesn't even include things like Insurance, etc... /sigh..
Be well all, Peace, love, and unity..

Cannabudz.

 

[HydroJen]

Feels good to vent
Now relax.

Let the people who can afford it pay lots of money to a broke-ass city. The DEA already expressed themselves- not cool.
The actuality of successful warehouses of that magnitude in the bay is unlikely. If the product is not of acceptable quality, it will not be saleable in legal venues. Ask anyone with outdoor.

I can't say I know what is going to happen, but I'm watching.
I can say that big business will never put exceptional growers out of the market.

 

[AGPUMPKIN]

The feds are going to be all over these asshats like stink on shit. They won't get two crops before they get rolled up.

 

[vta]

So now today, as i sit here I am thinking to myself: "That prop. 19 got rejected, right?.. That bill was about legalizing small amounts and for large scale grow ops. So how do these large scale grows get to forge forward like prop 19 wasn't even there in the first place....?

The difference is that prop19 was about recreational cannabis and these large grows in Oakland are about medical cannabis.

 

[imadoofus]

i still am in awe prop 19 was denied. at least its pretty much decriminalized, in florida a joint can get you 6 months in jail. anyone got a light ; )

 

[miltonchitlin]

No one has a grow permit yet and there are over 300 applicants including Montel Williams and some from other countries. Unless you've read the city of Oakland RFP there's really not much you can add to the discussion.


I suspect they said the feds would go after the dispensaries when they were new too. With as much control the city places in the grows it's hard to say they'll be automatic targets. The RFP is is precise and the transparency is there.

 

[vta]

The feds are going to be all over these asshats like stink on shit.

Remember that the Feds said that they would respect local laws and they would only go after those who break it. These large grows will be heavily regulated, so it would be hard for them to break the local 'law'. These grows will have the full support of their City....most of the clubs raided in the past can't make the same claim.

Do I think these places are safe from a fed raid? NO but I think that they show the legitimacy of medical cannabis and thus it would not be 'politically' advantageous for the justice dept to go after them.

 

[kmk420kali]

So now I am a little pissed off. Why? Because I thought by voting no on prop 19, it would keep big pharma out of the cannabis scene.

Sorry to say this bro, and I say it with humility...not trying to start shit--
You guys simply did not listen, and did not do your research--
The Oakland thing was all about MMJ...never had a thing to do with Prop 19--
You voted No without considering the entire picture--
We all know it had far too low of most all it's limitations...but that is how a Voter Initiative works...it starts with absolute rock bottom limits...and is later Amended to reflect more sensible limitations--
ABX6-9 was all ready to step in and do that--
Are there guarantees that it would have passed the first time?? No...but it would have been worked out in one way or another--
Now it looks like 215 may end up slipping through our fingers--
Sad shit....

 

[rick shaw]

The Berkeley Patient's Group is going warehouse with city blessings.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/21/AR2010112101551.html

 

[BiG H3rB Tr3E]

Damn people are fucking stupid.... Making this huge deal over voting no on 19 because of commercial grows because they read the headline or heard about the warehouses through hearsay, not even bothering to read that these warehouses were 215 - not 19.

Then the OP brings up idiocracy because of some youngsters? OP you are the problem. You are the idiocracy nation. Making decisions based on fear and misinformation, rather then researching your concerns and making an informed choice.

 

[cannabudz]

Damn Bigh3rbtr3e, gotta call people names, not cool.. I was a little confused about the "warehouse" grows from it being a prop 19 or 215 issue.. But my main point was that only a handful of people where going to be allowed to grow mass amounts, "If" you have the quarter million dollars to "start" with.. Not to mention the full array of other criteria you need to have. It just seemed unfair to the common cannabis grower.. that was my point. I dont know any grower that has that kind of cash to invest in a legal grow. I am not saying they are not out there. Looking at the 300 people interested in these permits, Montel, Steve Cubby, Richard Lee, Pharmasphere, etc.. seems like a list of "Millionaires" and not a common joe.. America is the land of the free, home of the brave. Where you can become anything... yada, yada, yada.. But seems like thats a lie, if the fist step in doing your "dream" is to cough up 250,000.00 to get your foot in the door.. Just seems like another Corporate avenue opened up, and common citizens are not allowed to enter..
BiigH3rBTr3E, i do know what a flashlight is.. im not that stupid.. And yes i do make decisions based on fear and happiness. The majority of humans do.. If you don't you must be a Yogi master Monk...
For me to realize that the past 10 years of me growing, with the hopes of opening my own small cannabis farm is going up in smoke; Yeah, that does bring a little fear to me. To watch people like myself get swept over like that is messed up. I followed the laws pertaining to 215 and sb 420, kept up on the advancements of the MMJ front so I would know how and when was a good time to start my own operation. Knowing that the starting point is 250k depresses me.. I am a farmer type, not a business type. So I guess I will try to put in my application for employment at one of these new Cannabis warehouses. I hope they don't just want people with Horticulture degrees. Oh well, i guess...
Peace.

Cannabudz.

 

[♥Mo♥]

So now I am a little pissed off. Why? Because I thought by voting no on prop 19, it would keep big pharma out of the cannabis scene. And also keep huge corporations from absorbing up another industry.
Cannabudz.

Lol, big business is and always will be involved with any commodity that commands the type of money cannabis does. Imo, prop.19 was written to fail and relied on people being naive in one form or another. If, big if another proposition makes it to the ballot in the future, I highly doubt it will allow for any type of personal growing at all. It will make no sense to allow the common person to grow their own if all they are is a recreational consumer. If you have to have cannabis as medicine you can still get 215 and grow. Failure of 19 made big business' day.

 

[BiG H3rB Tr3E]

Damn Bigh3rbtr3e, gotta call people names, not cool.. I was a little confused about the "warehouse" grows from it being a prop 19 or 215 issue.. But my main point was that only a handful of people where going to be allowed to grow mass amounts, "If" you have the quarter million dollars to "start" with.. Not to mention the full array of other criteria you need to have. It just seemed unfair to the common cannabis grower.. that was my point. I dont know any grower that has that kind of cash to invest in a legal grow. I am not saying they are not out there. Looking at the 300 people interested in these permits, Montel, Steve Cubby, Richard Lee, Pharmasphere, etc.. seems like a list of "Millionaires" and not a common joe.. America is the land of the free, home of the brave. Where you can become anything... yada, yada, yada.. But seems like thats a lie, if the fist step in doing your "dream" is to cough up 250,000.00 to get your foot in the door.. Just seems like another Corporate avenue opened up, and common citizens are not allowed to enter..
BiigH3rBTr3E, i do know what a flashlight is.. im not that stupid.. And yes i do make decisions based on fear and happiness. The majority of humans do.. If you don't you must be a Yogi master Monk...
For me to realize that the past 10 years of me growing, with the hopes of opening my own small cannabis farm is going up in smoke; Yeah, that does bring a little fear to me. To watch people like myself get swept over like that is messed up. I followed the laws pertaining to 215 and sb 420, kept up on the advancements of the MMJ front so I would know how and when was a good time to start my own operation. Knowing that the starting point is 250k depresses me.. I am a farmer type, not a business type. So I guess I will try to put in my application for employment at one of these new Cannabis warehouses. I hope they don't just want people with Horticulture degrees. Oh well, i guess...
Peace.

Cannabudz.

Two things:

1) It doesn't take a yogi zen master with a MS in english to read an article that is all of 200 words. Every article that talked about these warehouses clearly stated they were for the production of medical marijuana under 215.

Senator Ammiano already had written and was preparing to introduce ABX6-9; an ammendment to prop.19 that made personal possession up to 16oz legal, removed or reduced many of the under 21 aged penalties, and capped commercial growing permits at $5k per year.

2) It takes money to make money. Most those people grew up with nothing and made their own fortune. Just look at Richard Lee, a hemp activist from Texas who moved to California and opened his own medical marijuana businesses. It was through his own workings that he became wealthy enough to be able to afford these liscenses and legislation. So it seems to me that yes, if you work hard enough and are intelligent enough to put your money in the right places you can become the millionare that other people love to envy.

 

[Tr33]

it's over, time to move along and do your work.

Fuck this prop 19 BS it's OVER and DONE.

Stop the fucking whining people.
who fucking cares now!
it's over.

It's time to formulate a new and Better option for legalization.
It's the ever present, not the past.
to many of you stoner's dwell on the past,
and that stops your forward progress!!!

 

[BiG H3rB Tr3E]

it's over, time to move along and do your work.

Fuck this prop 19 BS it's OVER and DONE.

Stop the fucking whining people.
who fucking cares now!
it's over.

It's time to formulate a new and Better option for legalization.
It's the ever present, not the past.
to many of you stoner's dwell on the past,
and that stops your forward progress!!!

Progress cannot be forwarded until we learn why 19 failed. If you dont learn from your mistakes your bound to repeat them. It seems to me one of the biggest reasons 19 failed is because of alot of misinformation. You call it whining, I call it researching...

 

[kmk420kali]

Yes...the Prop 19 Debate is much like trying to convince someone that Miracle Grow is not the right Nutes for Cannabis-- It is not enough to tell them...you must convince them, and educate them on why this should not be!!
(Sorry for any MG Growers...just using it for illustrative uses!! lol)

 

[farmerpirate]

I wonder how much of an anti-misinformation campaign could have been paid for with the money George Soros donated to the Prop 19 fund. Too bad he waited so long to show his support. Funny that.

 

[hydromaddicted]

The feds have said no way Jose again and now the city attorney wont sign off on the ordinance...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/28/BAA91GGMRH.DTL

 

[rick shaw]

John Russo is a douche. When Governor Elect Jerry Brown was mayor of Oakland he signed Ed Rosenthal's city permit for a warehouse grow he even had the Oakland Fire Chief do the electrical inspection. This happened about six months before has busted.

 

[!!!]

So now I am a little pissed off. Why? Because I thought by voting no on prop 19, it would keep big pharma out of the cannabis scene. And also keep huge corporations from absorbing up another industry.

You really think there's a way to stop Big Business from staying out of the weed industry? Seriously? Think about it. Big Business is THE ONLY WAY it will ever be legalized.

Altria will most definitely get into this industry as Tobacco dies out. Not necessarily a bad thing. I would love to see Cannabis spread far and wide, and nothing will do that faster than these companies big marketing/lobbying dollars.