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| Oakland to license, tax indoor marijuana growers |
| 2010-05-29 |
| Local governments in California and other Western states have tried to clamp down on medical marijuana, but Oakland has taken a different approach. If you can't beat 'em, tax 'em. After becoming the first U.S. city to impose a special tax on medical marijuana dispensaries, Oakland soon could become the first to sanction and tax commercial pot growing operations. Selling and growing marijuana remain illegal under federal law. Two City Council members are preparing legislation, expected to be introduced next month, that would allow at least three industrial-scale growing operations. One of the authors, Councilman Larry Reid, said the proposal is more of an effort to bring in money than an endorsement of legalizing marijuana use — although the council has unanimously supported that, too. The city is facing a $42 million budget shortfall. The tax voters approved last summer on the four medical marijuana clubs allowed under Oakland law is expected to contribute $1 million to its coffers in the first year, Reid said. A tax on growers' sales to the clubs could bring in substantially more, he said. "Looking at the economic analysis, we will generate a considerable amount of additional revenues, and that will certainly help us weather the hard economic times that all urban areas are having to deal with," Reid said. How much money is at stake isn't clear because the tax rate and the number of facilities the law would allow haven't been decided. A report prepared for AgraMed Inc., one of the companies planning to seek a grower's license, said its proposed 100,000-square-foot-project near the Oakland Coliseum would produce more than $2 million in city taxes each year. Given their likely locations in empty warehouses in industrial neighborhoods, the marijuana nurseries under consideration would have more in common with factories than rural pot farms. Dhar Mann, the founder of an Oakland hydroponics equipment store called iGrow, and Derek Peterson, a former stock broker who now sells luxury trailers outfitted for growing pot as a co-founder of GrowOp Enterprises, have hired an architect to draft plans for two warehouses where marijuana would be grown and processed year-round. Their vision includes using lights, trays and other equipment manufactured by iGrow and creating an online system that would allow medical marijuana dispensaries to see what pot strains are in stock, place orders and track deliveries. "We are emulating the wine industry, but instead of 'from grape to bottle,' it's 'from plant to pipe,'" Mann said. "Or seed to sack," offered Peterson. The pair say they intend to operate the pot-growing business they have dubbed GROPECH — Grass Roots of Oakland Philanthropic and Economic Coalition for Humanity — as a not-for-profit. They anticipate gross sales reaching $70 million a year. After paying their expenses, they'd funnel the money to local charities and non-profits through a competitive grant process. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #8 Remember, they're emulating the wind industry. You probably drink the $5.00 stuff, so you wouldn't appreciate the bouquet of Chateau Neuf de Pape. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2010-05-29 22:19 |
| #7 Nope, highest grade medical, exotic variety I guess, $125 per 1/8th oz. I'm sure that there are a lot cheaper varieties, but why mess around if you are going to smoke that crap. |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2010-05-29 22:01 |
| #6 seriously $125 an eighth? that is crazy expensive. gotta be a typo in there. just asked my kid, and it goes for $10 a gram in the local high school |
| Posted by: abu do you love 2010-05-29 18:52 |
| #5 Seem like there would still be a large demand for cheap, crappy pot to me. All the stuff being grown in the high tech hydroponics gardens is very pricey. Do people still smoke cheap swag? Mexico won't get cut out of the game altogether if they do. |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2010-05-29 15:44 |
| #4 If they set the taxes too high . . . we already have in place an effective and widespread smuggling system. All the smugglers need to do is counterfeit tax stamps. |
| Posted by: James 2010-05-29 15:18 |
| #3 a cat. not in a hat. |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2010-05-29 14:51 |
| #2 I know a kid with a medical marijuana card. He has a 'neck injury' from his childhood. He buys his pot from a dispensary for $125 for 1/8th of an ounce. Don't know what variety. He's not a bad kid, harmless to society. I think it is worth mentioning though, that he's 27, still lives at home with his parents and works at the Lucky grocery store around the corner from his house. So I'm not sure medical cannabis has done him much of a service. Nor has it turned him into a raving heroin junkie either though. |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2010-05-29 14:19 |
| #1 The beginning of the end. Now that was quick. Expect 'high' prices. Cheech, "man, it was cheaper in the days it was illegal." |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-05-29 08:51 |