Building a Collective 101 -- Part 1, Ground Zero

There seems to be a great deal of confusion about what is a collective, what is a cooperative, and what is a dispensary.

To read some of the many descriptions and definitions of collectives and co-ops you can look on Wikipedia, google, and a variety of mostly excellent medical cannabis websites. Then you’ll be just as confused and befuddled as most people.

The differences are sometimes huge, and sometimes subtle, and it can come down to the feeling one gets becoming a part of a group of individuals working to take care of themselves.

Where there is a necessity, a small group of patients can join together to take care of their needs. This does not mean they have to open a “store” or find other people.

Let’s start with an example of a basic collective:

Mary has cancer. She cannot tolerate her chemotherapy -- she vomits out her medications and is losing weight.

Mary is married to Barry. Barry is a stockbroker, and he knows that one of his long-term clients grows marijuana to take care of the symptoms from his AIDS medications. Barry makes a telephone call, and his client, Steve, agrees to meet with Barry and his wife.

But first Barry discusses with Mary his ideas, his fears, and his love. They then discuss medical marijuana with Mary’s doctor, and he agrees that it would be appropriate for Mary to add marijuana to her treatment regimen.

The couple then visits with Steve. Steve, diagnosed with AIDS in 1998, thought he would die in a few years. He cashed in his life insurance money and bought a nice secluded home that he thought he would retire to and die in peace.

Wrong! Steve stayed healthy with the new medicines his doctors prescribed, along with the cannabis his doctors agreed he could use to control the nausea and vomiting. After using cannabis for awhile he became fascinated with the plant and the myriad amazing uses that heard that it could be used for. Was it true? Does this little green plant really help millions of people daily around the world fight a variety of ills?

So Steve got a little tiny plant from the local “club,” and he started growing it, and his love grew. Now, a couple years later, Steve has several plants, and is learning that one is best for his appetite, one for his nausea, and one for stress and anxiety relief.

So this evening Barry and Mary visit Steve. They have a lovely evening together, sipping tea and discussing something Mary had never had thought she’d discuss without laughing … MARIJUANA!

Steve gives Mary a few varieties to try, and plugs in his vaporizer. This is all very confusing to Mary, but after a few tries she starts to get a little less stiff and less uncomfortable inhaling marijuana. It feels weird and strange to her. She had, when younger, tried joints, and cigarettes, but the vaporizer produced … well … almost nothing. It was like she could see nothing but a light mist… it felt cool in her throat…. There is no smell, no taste. It almost tickles.

Mary begins to feel a soft cushioning about her… her shoulders burn, her breathing deepens and quickens, and she exhales tension and stress with a whoosh and a relieved sigh. The burning muscles in her neck and shoulders relax as her head feels as if it is floating.

Soon Mary realizes she is hungry. Tears, long held back, begin to form in Barry’s eyes as he watches her gobbble down the coffee cake.

Later, the couple is given a tour of the garden.

It is getting a little difficult for Barry to handle some of the larger plants by himself, he explains. And not just the plants, but running to and from Home Depot for supplies… lugging huge bags of soil…

Well, to cut this story short… I’m sure by now you see where this is going… Barry agrees to help Steve with the lugging and planting and growing, and harvesting, and cultivating, and storing, and etc., etc. etc. In return they would share the harvests.

This is a collective.

Both Prop. 215 and SB 420 protects them.

They don’t need a name.

They don’t need a store.

They don’t need a sign.

They don’t need to pay taxes.

They don’t need to file any paperwork.

The state will leave them alone.

The federal government can send them to jail for about five years.

P.S. The importance of security and keeping all types of medicines away from children is vital. Remember, anything that can be found, they will find. Always consider security.

[In my next post I will show how they must change when they grow, and what would be necessary for them to do in order to continue complying with Prop. 215 and SB 420.]

Jeff Yablan, 6/15/09

A Visit to Hope Unlimited

Last week I made the trek down to San Diego to meet Aaron Kline and get a look and feel for him and his situation.

Aaron is a vocal and public medical marijuana patient who uses cannabis along with psych-prescribed medications to control his bi-polar chemical imbalance. Barbara MacKenzie, who helped found the first medical marijuana collective in San Diego with her husband, Steve McWilliams, introduced him to me.

Aaron runs Hope Unlimited, which is a medical cannabis patient support and advocacy group. They do not dispense cannabis; it’s mainly a loose collective of people who are patients or caregivers of patients, as well as local activists and dispensary owners.

I was quite impressed by Aaron and Hope Unlimited. Aaron and his few close associates are a small grass-roots group of like-minded individuals working within the original spirit of prop 215. Their public meetings, held at a local San Diego restaurant, is open to all in the community. Besides patients and caregivers, there were reporters and bloggers and photographers and dispensary owners, and various other medical cannabis activists.

Meeting Aaron and visiting Hope Unlimited, I noticed the continued proliferation of the misconception that one merely needs to declare themselves to be a cooperative or collective and poof! they are one, and are thus protected by the health and safety codes created via Prop. 215 and SB 420.

Nonsense and poppycock!

There are no legal dispensaries (defined as “city approved”) in San Diego, but there are approximately 30 dispensaries currently operating as a “store” in San Diego. Many may believe themselves to be legal and operating as a cooperative or a collective, but in truth, they are mostly just pot stores.

Even owners with good intentions have gotten caught up in the economy, survival and family vs. compassion. The seriously ill patients – on an individual basis – obtain less medicine than someone who re-sells their cannabis. Some collective owners have bemoaned their suspicions that those who “buy” ¼ or more pounds per week are reselling their “medicine.” The owners feel uncomfortable with these transactions; yet feel helpless to stop them.

The owners would be able to stop them if they were not “owners,” and were instead Directors or Managers of not-for-profit collectives or cooperatives.

In my next post I will more clearly take you through the building of a medical cannabis collective that is formed in accordance with Prop 215 and SB 420.

Searching Southern California

It is already June 1st, and I’ve been languishing in the desert now for nine months. I have a need to give birth to some creative part of me that will pull me forward into unknown territory. This “BLOG” seems the first step …

Being in the desert, I feel in the middle of Southern California. North Cal, as I will discuss later, is far different in many respects. Not living there or being part of that community, I have little insight into that portion of the state, and my knowledge base precludes me from discussing it from any perspective but that seen through the lenses of So. Cal politics, perception, and other preconceived notions.

Southern California consists of what I consider two metropolitan cities, Los Angeles and San Diego. The rest of the state consists of small towns, cities, and unincorporated areas.

I’ve titled this BLOG “Searching Southern California for safe and affordable access in a safe and secure environment with a cooperative movement of patients in a grass roots setting.” That has been what I have been searching for … and unable to find … since our cooperative was raided and closed by Bush’s government on Oct. 25, 2001. The Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center (LACRC - that's our old logo on the right) was on of the last true cannabis cooperative movements SoCal, and none has truly thrived since for a number of reasons.

I have joined many groups whose claims as a real collective fell far short of the mark, and in many different ways. To understand why, you must understand the differences … both subtle and obvious, that differentiates the several different types of medical cannabis organizations that dot the state.