anyone else get a call from slater center today?

grassroots420 said:

also my best friends mom who has had cancer for a decade now went to the portsmouth center looking to see if she could get material such as fan leaves for juicing and they said no. she asked if they were working on any high cbd strains and they said no. she asked if they had any information on high cbd strains or clones and again the answer was no. and prices were 360 per ounce plus tax and 58 a g for oil. thats higher then the lowest level street dealer. all caregivers and growers i know wouldnt charge near that and the highest they said was 250! no thankyou im all set.

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Welcome to the new market... once the legalization comes this will be everywhere if theytake cards away. Everywher is looking at us to be another state on the list to help the 'movement' but they dont care how its going to hurt all the patients an people who NEED it. Rather than the general public that will pay those prices just because they can legally.

grassroots420 said:

Do you work for the compassion center? How can u keep telling everyone that the dispenserys are trying their hardest? i applaud patients trying to help others out and offer low price meds. And if they do so you would assume the center wouldnt jack up the price 300% thats ripping the hell out of patients i dont care how many free massages you give them. I want to know what their salarys are? so much for non profit. how can overhead be so much? THEY OFFERED 15 A G FOR OIL and SELL IT FOR 60! thats an outrage. Ive waited a few weeks over and over again already. Ill give them 3 months and if they dont offer better prices by then i wont have to protest against them they will fail and patients will now and forever find better deals on the black market. prices for patients by the way will never go down for patients. i talked nick from 11th state about it and he told me the reason why prices were high is because the state doesnt want people to buy it from the dispenseries and re sell it. Patients and caregivers all the way.

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I don't work for the dispensary, but I'm 46 and understand how the business of things works and endeavors like this take time to be what they will eventually become,....ESPECIALLY endeavors like this.

If they buy a pound @ $125/ounce the ounce is taxed 41% right off the bat so the ounce true cost is now $176.25. GENERAL RETAIL RULE is something referred to as "keystone" which means if you buy a product for X amount, you retail it at 2x. SO ......the $125 ounce is on the shelves for $350. This is for now, till the sliding scale pricing sets in. It seems everyone sees this as the sky falling down but have no problem spending $300 on the street for untested, uninspected meds AND MOREOVER,.....I NEVER hear anyone posting all kinds of nasty shit about places like the Gap or Sears who actually charge quite a higher markup than "keystone",....yet for a center trying to get doors open and recoup the millions spent on the building, the millions in lobbying in the name of patients AND GROWERS for 7 years and so on. I think everyone just needs something to bitch about and you'll never please everyyone but I commend them for doing what others have failed to do in the past,...get RI patients safe access to quality, rested meds

** the Portsmouth dispensary is not like Slater, they do not have a grow of their own, its a completely different place so there is no leaf to give or strains to manipulate for cbd

note, @15/g, that should retail for about 45/g, not 60,...I would imagine they are asking 60 because they know they will sell out of it so quick,...the demand thing.....

im taking buisness classes right now. what tax is 41% from purchasing ? and if you wanna double your wholsale cost then that would be 250 not 360. second off street price is 100 or more less than the centers. to a patient who needs that per week its over 5000 more per year. also anyone can test their medicine through knowyourgrow. im not hating on slater for trying to make money (even though there a non profit) but they are ripping off patients on both sides. buying and selling. LOOK HOW MUCH PRODUCT THEY MOVE. i have no doubt theyre generating enough profit. and portsmouth is growing they told me they were. if demand is high for oil and they can sell it for so much why doesnt that get passed down to suppliers? they are ripping patients off!!

Know your grow tests are pointless. All you are paying for is potency. No mold, pesticide, water, for health screening its bogus. They just look at the buds with their little bullshit microscope. If you buy tests in bulk they cost 10 dollars a piece. It seems like slater center opened in the wrong state. A high end dispensary for a low end market. Talk about over kill

Wavegem said:

Know your grow tests are pointless. All you are paying for is potency. No mold, pesticide, water, for health screening its bogus. They just look at the buds with their little bullshit microscope. If you buy tests in bulk they cost 10 dollars a piece. It seems like slater center opened in the wrong state. A high end dispensary for a low end market. Talk about over kill

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Well said. I didnt know about the tests being so simple though.

grassroots420 said:

im taking buisness classes right now. what tax is 41% from purchasing ? and if you wanna double your wholsale cost then that would be 250 not 360. second off street price is 100 or more less than the centers. to a patient who needs that per week its over 5000 more per year. also anyone can test their medicine through knowyourgrow. im not hating on slater for trying to make money (even though there a non profit) but they are ripping off patients on both sides. buying and selling. LOOK HOW MUCH PRODUCT THEY MOVE. i have no doubt theyre generating enough profit. and portsmouth is growing they told me they were. if demand is high for oil and they can sell it for so much why doesnt that get passed down to suppliers? they are ripping patients off!!

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Hey buddy check this out: http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/can-medical-marijuana-dispensaries-deduct-their-business-expenses.html

Cannabusinesses can't deduct normal operating expenses; i.e. electric bills, water bills, nutrient cost, PROCUREMENT COSTS, ancillary services, security cost, cost of packaging/labeling, testing, the list goes on and on and on.

30% federal tax
7% state sales tax
4% state dispensary tax

$360 ounce * 1.07 to account for tax = $385.20 * .59 (1 - 0.41 for taxes) = $227.27 Gross before expenses. $2000 a lb / 16 ounces = $125 an ounce. leaves $102.27 after taxes and procurement cost. Never mind all the security and the rest of the staff.

There's your explanation.

They have lawyers and accountants that are well versed in 280e. It's not quite as simple as no deductions period. They are going to write off the costs associated with procurement or there would be no reason to issue 10-99's for procurement. The customer pays the 7% sales tax so that can also come off the list.


Cost of Goods Sold
While § 280E disallows any deduction for a medical marijuana seller’s ordinary and necessary business expenses, the legislative history excepts the cost of goods sold from this rule. Constitutional concerns are the stated reason in the legislative history for this exception.
S. REP. NO. 97–494 (Vol. I), at 309 (1982), reprinted in 1982 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1050, 1050–51; See Californians Helping to Alleviate Med. Problems, Inc. v. Commissioner, 128 T.C. 173, at 182.

I'm relatively new to RI and just got into the program, just waiting for the health department to send my paperwork back. I put slater down as a cg for now because I know I'll meet a solid cg or two at some point just don't know any now. I am already disappointed their "menu" consists of 1/8's only right now but I guess that will do until I find solid caregivers. I'll certainly have my own little set up as well but needed something for the time being.

I've been going to slater since June and they are my only caregiver. Their prices are a bit high compared to what I was expecting honestly but they are the larger of only 2 in the state right now. I was kind of disappointed buy the quality initially but the past couple times I went there I was very happy by the strains I tried. Do they not sell ounces there? I know that their menu online only lists gram prices mostly but I assumed they sold larger amounts if you asked while there? Not that I have the money right now to even afford grams lol They must do a pretty good business there from what I have seem! The last few times I went there was always a line of several people waiting to get to the counter and buy meds...

They have plenty of patients. Not enough meds....

I can tell you why myself personally wont do business with them, i went in there last week to sit with new guy in charge of procuring meds... horrible experience. I couldnt talk because he talked 100time a minute more than me about california and his strains he has ect... so i then tried to tell him give me tested strain which i would run for him to stock shelfs with an he changed the subject. He asked me about my setup and i wanted to tell him an explain how much i could supply for him an if we could work out a basis on how he wieghs it out and about trim ect. I had some lady with a walkie talkie 2 feet besides us and some guy whos im assuming is head of sequrity there 2 feet off to other side of us. Both looking and listening as if theyre part of the convo...

I felt like i was being interviewed by detectives. Not being dramatic either. As far as im thinking right now is that that guy is detective listening for cardholders who have decent setups so they can do raids. Not that dispensary is in on it but just the people working there are wayy to nosy an it was way to uncomftable for me. Also he was to concerned about if i had any meds right now he could take, instead of trying make business arrangements.

All of this just because he insisted on having conversation right in the main room. Sorry that's not how you handle this type of business. Im not airing my situation out to whomever is around to listen.

I met him and I seriously doubt that he has anything to do with the police. Yes he talks a lot and bounces from one topic to another but whatever man, that's just the way he is, he seems like a nice enough guy. Thats a pretty harsh accusation to through around based on a bad feeling that you got when you were there with no facts. It's a little irresponsible...

Well i said in there also that it was my opinion and that it had nothing to do with dispensary its self.... BUT, to have a conversation in the main room about my entire setup, yield, strains ect with 2 people purposely right next to us is not good business practice. Im sure others would feel same way.

Not saying the guy was a jerk or anything but saying i tried to talk seriously about arrangements and he made it just about impossible to set anything up. More or less just cared about having something right then and there only. Then like you said he bounced around very often so the trip there to speak with him was pointless because nothing was accomplished and none of my questions were answered. Therefore, just feel to uncomfortable to hand him meds and upgrade my setup for the purpose of supplying him when he couldnt tell me when i get paid or what i would be paid or how long his trim process and dry process delays the money if he was to pick up the plant whole, then no real info for how long testing was. Ect...

I'm sure they are not interested in "plans"..I can just imagine how many people went there to try to discuss big "plans"...all they want is to see some elbows of frosty meds...

to the person wanting to try the candy IMO they are very weak.only 15mg thc per piece.i shared some with a few patients and they all thought the same.they come in 4 packs for 20$.i can easily eat all 4 and just be mellow.i guess there good for really low tolerances

That makes since. I could imagine the people who are tire kickers going there in numbers but still to safely get a check from them and do things on my end it needs to be planned out with a cpa and other things... cannot just on a limb walk-in with meds without knowing any details until last second.

Just figured in there position they would be more interested in making arrangements thats all. Deff. Suprised me.

At least you had somebody come out and talk to you. I made an appointment with the procurement guy after talking to him on the phone for a good 10-15 minutes. Guy was pumped up that I had an overage and said "bring as much meds as you can, we need all we can get!" I was worried about showing up alone with a bunch of meds on me, so I picked a nice bud to bring as a sample. Figured they could test it and see if it was of interest. Showed up to the meeting on time, the guy had me wait in the locker room area (nowhere to sit, just a security guy behind a window lookin at me) and I stood there for a half hour. I asked where he was at about 15 and the security guy said "5 minutes, he'll be right out." He never came out and the guard left the window, so I went home.

To this day I have never received a call to say why he never came out or to reschedule the meeting, or even just to say hello, ask how I was doing, whatever. His job is to engage local growers, buy their product, and take good care of them, right?! I pretty much got the impression that they didn't care about my business, so I haven't done business with them.

Does anyone know if slater center has to sign you as a caregiver to receive the overages? Or is it no.paperwork?

No, i believe you go there with the meds an he takes them an tests them and if that is good then he pays you 30 days later for them. When i went there he wanted my trim and some overages right there an then so dont think any paperwork cardholder wise.

Well, the Portsmouth center absolutely grows their own. They have a bunch of plants on display and also a grow room in back. Not sure why someone said they don't. Also, their prices were high when they first opened but are steadily dropping. They almost always have $10 grams available. With nothing over 15 a gram right now. Knowing my meds are tested gives me piece of mind. So overall I'm happy with the state of RI dispensaries

LBH said:

Y'all are hating on something that isnt even established yet. Wait till their grows are online (few weeks) and you're going to see a different program. This is how its been since they opened but everyone keeps slamming them before giving them a chance. I'm there a lot, the patients are signing up every day and with the free massage, reiki, chiro, psych stuff, it's serving a lot of people who didnt have that kind of a resource before. As for the level of meds, there are some decent growers taking the hit in the name of compassion. I couldnt afford to at that price but there are those out there who are and I don't see any good reason to slam them, kinda the opposite, I applaud them. Now it's slaters turn to hold up to what theyve been saying the future would look like.

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Whats good bro? Can't take the heat? What's the deal now? Anybody impressed with the amazing work they put out?