Dispensary and compassion clubs are two different entities. I've been working on a dispensary for a year. Jan Brewer's lawsuit halted it for now. Let me share some POVs with you that you may not have thought of which just may shift your perspective enough to get involved and vote. Bitching isn't going to accomplish dick, VOTING is. Getting others to vote is.
First off, any dispensary in the USA sits with a target on it since it is illegal at a federal level. The feds can come in at any time and rape a dispensary of all its money and product, and yet never charge the owners. Feds can keep those assets without much ado. Cost money to fight them, which they just raped you of. If you are lucky enough to remain open, you are now a larger target. The larger your grow, which most would equate to larger profits, the larger your target. A dispensary in AZ sits with a BIG ol' bullseye on it. Sheriff Joe is considered America's Toughest. Add to that, he is the former head of the DEA, which is funded by those seeking to keep MJ and thus MMJ away from the public, meaning the illegality of MMJ keeps the DEA well funded. And we are generally a Republican state. Dispensaries have to charge a lot, quite simply, their overhead is phenomenal compared to a homegrower. A homegrower is stealth.
If those who voted for Jan Brewer actually understood what Jan Brewer did to appease them, she would not have a political career. She halted dispensaries, for now. Basically, that will allow homegrowing for at least 2 years, if not longer. Yet, many of those homegrowers will sell their excess on the streets in order to recoup funding. It's the nature of the beast. The streets, or rather, the teens are the target market that the "just say no" campaign focuses on. That's the main politics of it, keeping it out of the hands of kids because it is still touted as a stepping stone drug (falsely, research "forbidden fruit syndrome"). However, had she allowed the dispensaries to open, where they are limited, monitored, regulated and taxed, the homegrowers could go and sell their excess without a hassle to the dispensaries at a reasonable, yet lower cost than street value. This benefits the dispensary and the patients, it lowers the cost, and reduces the grow facility that a dispensary needs, decreasing their overhead and the eyes of Big Brother. Mind you, the dispensaries are so monitored and regulated, that this decreases the amount of MMJ going onto the streets, keeping it away from the target market, teens. Homegrowers being able to sell to dispensaries lowers all costs in the long run and is effectively monitored via the dispensary sales regulations, plus it is taxed. Homegrowers selling to dispensaries will lower the costs on street value too, just by the sheer nature of the economic system.
Now, AZ didn't have forethought with the law we did pass. We didn't allow for the homegrowers to sell back to the dispensary, it has to be a "donation." As a dispensary, you piss off a "donator" they could very well draw attention to you, and the bullseye grows. Every time the bullseye grows, overhead grows, and that cost is naturally passed along to the patient. Bottom line is, it is a business. Not sure what the law writers were snorting and drinking, they should have been smoking instead. So now, even if AZ dispensaries were up and running, the streets would still have excess from the homegrowers. Counterproductive.
Now, "compassion clubs" as I recognize them in AZ are the clubs that are currently circumventing the law offering a "hook up" place basically. They don't sell, but they can help facilitate the deal just by the fact that all members are MMJ card holders. They sell other products, might offer a brokering service, etc. They vary. These are the danger. Not because of what they are, but because they chose to circumvent the current law which is under a microscope. Any good lawyer will tell you, don't circumvent the law, exploit it. Circumventing lends itself to a gray area, exploiting is using the law to your benefit. Creativity and thinking outside the box are necessary for this.
Boxed thinking is what your politicians rely on.
You want to make a change, get involved, do your due diligence, RESEARCH (not another's opinion), exchange ideas, and most importantly VOTE!!!!
.... I don't like the idea of what the clubs are as I am reading about them either. There will be lots of profiteering with any new law and the economy as it is. There will be scam artists and a number of snake oil salesman around for a time to come. Let Joe take care of them.
