This question was inspired by another thread, where I was reading about someone's attempt to open a co-op, and the general support that the readers of the thread seemed to be expressing.

I have been to several dispensaries in the California bay area. While they don't all outright suck, I have yet to find one that does not charge street prices for medicine. I understand that there might be perfectly valid reasons for this, including the fact that if they were undercutting the street, people would resell their medicine. But there is no avoiding the bottom line; the people running these "co-ops" are making hundreds of thousands of dollars. Consequently, I have a very low opinion of co-ops, even though I support medicinal marijuana.

A few months ago, all of the co-ops in Modesto, California were busted. There was general lamenting throughout the pot community. But I had been to these dispensaries while they were open, and they were being run by thugs. The first time I walked into one I thought I had stepped into a meeting of the Tony Montana Appreciation Society, and they treated the customers rude as hell. I was overjoyed when they got shut down, and resent the unwillingness of the medicinal pot-smoking community to clean its own house. The Modesto co-ops were so bad that the PATIENTS should have shut them down before the cops had even finished their doughnuts.

So I don't get excited when I hear about someone opening a new co-op. A true co-op, in my opinion, would never "open." It would simply consist of a group of people who were sharing the expenses of a grow operation in order to grow for their own personal use. Any surplus would be provided to the truly needy at a rate drastically lower than street prices. And if your operation is so large that you can't tell the needy from someone who is going to resell, your operation is too large.

I am a caregiver, and I provide medicine to the patients I serve at a price less than half of the street price. At this time, approximately 25% of my patients are on hospice, and their medicine is provided absolutely free. I also provide those who are physically able to grow their own medicine all of the information I have to get them started growing on their own so that they don't have to rely on others to get their meds. THAT is a co-op. I don't need a business license, and I don't have to "open" anything.

I would like to know if there are others who feel the same way, or do most folks just figure that the more pot is available the better off we are, no matter how much personal profit is involved.

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"There is a general place in your brain, I think, reserved for 'melancholy of relationships past'. It grows and prospers as life progresses, forcing you finally, against your better judgment, to listen to country music".- Kary Mullis, Nobel Prize Winner for Chemistry

I stand and applaud in your direction my friend. Far too few feel the same way. The sick and dying can't afford to pay $50-80 a fuckin 8TH! That's robbery!

IMO, if someone is gonna sell their crop...they should sell it commercially and quit masquerading behind the medical issue. I'm hearing that 3K an lb is standard purchase price for a club for a pound of weed...and man...there are folks cleaning up under that pricing on BOTH sides of the coin...you can bet.

Small "grassroots" groups are what is needed. Millions of SMALL gardens will never be stopped or pulled. The larger it all gets...as we've seen in yer state..the EASIER it is for the Fed to come down. We need to take this all back to the people via local support groups and through networking for seeds, clones and other items....and from there...it can AND WILL unfold exponentially.

good growin to ya. Big ups/karma from here for your approach!

bt dt

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Amendment IV, search and seizure rights. Read about them before they're gone.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_...s_Constitution

If you are growing for a select few of those who are known as "Pot Snobs," then the price should be up there to what ever the market will bear. I mean, it takes a lot of knowledge, skill and care to present a bag of super fine Train Wreck that just glistens with crystals, perfectly cured and giving off that heavenly aroma. I've seen Train Wreck go for $500.00 an ounce with no questions asked, and the buyers very happy to get it.

On the other hand, for those in hospices ... the price should be free .. or no more than on a break-even basis.

Vi

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"What's the difference between a Pit Bull and a Hockey Mom? ... Lipstick!" --- Sarah Palin

you'd never ever ever get any foo to pay 500 in my area max is usually 220 i get damn good erb for 160 repeatidly. honestly @ 500 i'd quiet smoking thats nutz

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n3v3r st0p t0kin

people in n.y. pay rediclus amounts of money for high qualtiy weed..such as ny sour diesil..

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Amendment IV, search and seizure rights. Read about them before they're gone.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_...s_Constitution

First of all, "fools" never pay 500 an ounce. Fools pay $90 an ounce for Mexican schwag, then inbetween attacks of paranoia, they cough their freakin' brains out.

And you might quit at $500 an ounce, but as one famous entertainer once said: "I don't have a drug problem ... I can afford it." In other words, there is a market out there for everyone. Some like Charles Shaw and others think nothing of paying $30-plus for very fine Cabernets.

Vi

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"What's the difference between a Pit Bull and a Hockey Mom? ... Lipstick!" --- Sarah Palin

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Amendment IV, search and seizure rights. Read about them before they're gone.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_...s_Constitution

No, no, Med ... were talkin' extra fine snob pot here. You know, the kind that is perfectly cured, smells like lemons, smokes to a fine white ash, tastes like concord grape ... and looks like it just came out of the deep freeze. Now THAT'S the $500 an ounce kind. *lol*

Vi

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"What's the difference between a Pit Bull and a Hockey Mom? ... Lipstick!" --- Sarah Palin