Ok, So I Want To Open A Dispensary, But How?

ta2drvn said:

There is no difference between non-profit or not-for-profit, it is in name-only (semantics, in other words). Sometimes people referred to these differently to help convey what the intent of the organizations is with regards to any profits or overages made by the organization.

However, there is a difference between a 501(c)(3) non-profit and one that doesn't have this status, one has the ability to allow donations to be tax deductible because of an allowance granted by the IRS and the other doesn't. This is a common misconception, I was very actively involved in a non-profit that at times flirted with the notion of registering as a 501(c)(3) but never did.

But don't take my word for it:

non-profit vs not for profit - Google Search

Click to expand...

Actually, there is a difference; that being the technical legal structure. Here it is from the American's For Safe Access essay on what the AG's recommendations mean for compassion clubs in CA:

"SB 420 says that nothing in the law authorizes the cultivation of medical cannabis for profit. The AG guidelines anticipate that medical cannabis dispensing collectives and cooperatives will operate in a "not-for-profit" manner. Many people confuse the phrase "not-for-profit" with the term "nonprofit." The phrase not-for-profit describes the behavior of a business or association that is not operated solely to generate profits for its owners. Any business, regardless of its formal structure, can operate in a not-for-profit fashion be reinvesting excess revenue (after salary and overhead) in patients services for members, advocacy for patients, or other typical nonprofit activity.

The term nonprofit refers to a specific corporate structure under California law. Nonprofit organizations are organized for a variety of non-commercial activities including charitable, educational, and religious activities. Many nonprofit organizations are exempt from taxation at the state and federal level. However, medical cannabis collectives that choose to organize as California Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporations can not be exempt from taxation because the Internal Revenue Service will not recognize their activity as legal, and state exemption from taxation is contingent on federal exemption.

It is important to note that nothing in the AG guidelines mandates a specific corporate or organizational structure. A traditional business form (corporation, partnership, limited liability company, etc.) could, in practice, substantially comply with the guidelines by operating in a not-for-profit fashion. Some additional clarification may be needed in the courts, but patients operating not-for-profit collectives should be aware that the perception of excessive profits is what motivates this portion of the guidelines. Paying reasonable salaries is acceptable, but other indications of excessive profits should be avoidedlavish bonuses or dividends, conspicuous spending, etc."

OK, thanks for the impute.

Maybe neither one of us is 100% correct in how we are explaining this, so if someone is really that interested they should talk to someone that KNOWS the law on this (attorney), not just a couple of informed advocates 'cut and pasting' from different sites. Besides I think we have both posted a few informative links.

m4n said:

Anyone know what you need to open a delivery service??? I will go back and re-read this thread.

Click to expand...

This is all that i found:
DELIVERY SERVICES
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Although state law has no explicit provision for delivery services, they can be justified on the grounds that many patients lack transportation and cannot grow for themselves. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]One way of setting up a delivery service consistent with state law is to act as a "primary caregiver." In this case, the caregiver grows the marijuana and delivers it to the patient. It is an unsettled question whether primary caregivers can buy medicine from outside sources. Although there is no provision in the law explicitly outlawing such purchase, the Attorney General's guidelines disallow it.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Theoretically, the caregiver should not charge for the marijuana itself, but rather for his or her time and costs in providing it.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Note that the caregiver should "consistently" [/FONT]provide for the patient's needs, and that multiple "primary caregivers" are not authorized in the law.
The second way to organize a delivery service is as a non-profit cooperative or collective: in this case, the management should be in the hands of the membership, not a single individual.

I was wondering about Business License or permits? Kind of like the green cross, Anyone got any more info?

You must apply for a sellers permit through the state so you can pay the sales tax owed. Seller's permit applicants require the business name (of course) but need not provide 'type' of business but not providing this might cause delays in getting updated info on specific business type issues. City or county business license's are only needed when required by city and/or county requirements, depending on how you set yourself up you may not be required to obtain this.

M4n; you can probably run a google and run across this site with most of the info you need to know to answer your question:

Registration - Board of Equalization

You can't get a NEw license fm the state, but you can buy existing licenses. Check out 420lawyers.com. Gives some good info. on starting your own.

so if patients designate you are their "grower", How many plants can you grow and how many can the patient grow now that he's turned over his right to grow to someone else?

this is more difficult due to a recent court decision that to qualify as a caregiver you must be able to show the relationship is established before the MJ entered the picture not started because of the MJ.

However if you have a person that can qualify they can grow 6 adult or 12 immature plants and then you can grow 0, you can't grow your max and have the caregiver grow your max also if that is what you are asking.

But then again I guess LEO would have to look at both locations and count them up from there....

m4n said:

This is all that i found:
DELIVERY SERVICES
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Although state law has no explicit provision for delivery services, they can be justified on the grounds that many patients lack transportation and cannot grow for themselves. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]One way of setting up a delivery service consistent with state law is to act as a "primary caregiver." In this case, the caregiver grows the marijuana and delivers it to the patient. It is an unsettled question whether primary caregivers can buy medicine from outside sources. Although there is no provision in the law explicitly outlawing such purchase, the Attorney General's guidelines disallow it.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Theoretically, the caregiver should not charge for the marijuana itself, but rather for his or her time and costs in providing it.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Note that the caregiver should "consistently" [/FONT]provide for the patient's needs, and that multiple "primary caregivers" are not authorized in the law.
The second way to organize a delivery service is as a non-profit cooperative or collective: in this case, the management should be in the hands of the membership, not a single individual.

I was wondering about Business License or permits? Kind of like the green cross, Anyone got any more info?

Click to expand...

FYI - Do not set up a delivery service based on being a 'CAREGIVER' this will NO LONGER WORK because of the recent supreme court decision, this is affected just like in my last post. Status has to be established BEFORE MJ enters the picture, so if you take care of your mother then you can still claim CAREGIVER status but if you are doing it for a buddy that just got his recommendation, no can do.


Establish a collective or co-op that delivers to it's patients, as for having to have a specific license through the state, none needed, county by county it is different.

ta2drvn said:

FYI - Do not set up a delivery service based on being a 'CAREGIVER' this will NO LONGER WORK because of the recent supreme court decision, this is affected just like in my last post. Status has to be established BEFORE MJ enters the picture, so if you take care of your mother then you can still claim CAREGIVER status but if you are doing it for a buddy that just got his recommendation, no can do.


Establish a collective or co-op that delivers to it's patients, as for having to have a specific license through the state, none needed, county by county it is different.

Click to expand...

Where did you get your information from a lawyer?

I've opened up many dispensaries in my life. It's not too hard you just have to stick to your guns when the city tries to bother you. I have found ways to try to make sure you don't get "too noticed"

Screw Lawyers. They are only looking out for their backs. Only use lawyers if the city/county is having a issue with you otherwise don't waste your money or your time.

The only thing you need in a dispensary is the right documentations. There is a site that sells all the required documentations. www.dispensaryhelp.com. I saw this site on craigslist and its very affordable.

If you have any questions I can help you answer it. My email is [email protected]

I'm a patient who started mmjmenu. Several dispensaries use it to run efficiently and if you run a dispensary or are opening one we can help you. Like I said, I'm a patient too so this is a business started because we believe in the purpose. Please check us out at www.mmjmenu.com and feel free to contact me if we here can help you in any way.

Wow. This thread is awesome. I am looking to start my own collective... I would love to talk to some more people about this topic

does anyone know where i can get all the documentations and license forms to start a co-op collective

Arizona Dispensary Solutions is a consulting service has experience with obtaining dispensary licenses in other states including Colorado. We specialize in Proposition 203 based medical marijuana consulting and specialty services such as business plans and forecasting to help individuals in the state apply for an Arizona dispensary certificate.

Long Beach not possible.
http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_16128268

Or you could find people like me that live in non med states that don't live close to 1(I live in NC) and help them out by sending them some,discretely that is. It's crazy that we cannot legally go to another state and buy medical mar. even if we have a qualifying condition(hep c) I hate trying to find good grade bud around here and would be willing to pay decent prices for it. No questions asked.

First things First. Have 50 thousand in the bank.

sridir said:

I've opened up many dispensaries in my life. It's not too hard you just have to stick to your guns when the city tries to bother you. I have found ways to try to make sure you don't get "too noticed"

Screw Lawyers. They are only looking out for their backs. Only use lawyers if the city/county is having a issue with you otherwise don't waste your money or your time.

The only thing you need in a dispensary is the right documentations. There is a site that sells all the required documentations. www.dispensaryhelp.com. I saw this site on craigslist and its very affordable.

If you have any questions I can help you answer it. My email is [email protected]

Click to expand...

Opening a dispensary without a lawyer is suicide. Especially in California where the law changes more often than the direction of the wind.

To run a good dispensary you need:
-6 or 12mo lease on a store front with the land owners knowledge and consent of the use of the area for the sale of marijuana
-minimum 2 employees at any given time in the bud room in your dispensary
-Safe to lock away all product that isn't on display (this is in the law not just a recommendation)
-Safety door and bulletproof glass recommended to protect your ass from both the DEA and assholes who want to make a quick buck.
-Money put away to cover renovations that will need to be done to your store location. You won't find a place that's laid out the way you want, you just wont.
-Money to cover desks, phone service, internet, lights, cash registers, employees salaries, purchasing product, office supplies like paper and such, phones, answering machine, book keeping software, display cases, jars to store bud in, pill bottles or bags (no one wants bags spring for the air tight pill bottles, not regular Rx ones.), vacuum sealer to prevent your excess product in storage from going bad, chairs, decorations.

You want to make sure you can cover the cost to pay your employees for at least the first 2-3 months of business assuming you get less than expected sales. Not to mention if you have full time employees you'd need to find health care for them, so its probably best to get more employees so you can afford to hire everyone part time until things get rolling, but then you run into the small business head tax so you're paying a small amount of money in taxes per employee.

All that being said, you're an idiot if you go into starting a dispensary without 200k if not more in cash. No (reputable) bank on the planet is going to give you a loan to start a dispensary (if they do, enjoy the sky high interest rates) so you're stuck with your own finances plus what ever private investors you can wrangle up. The idea of having so much cash available is that with ANY business opportunity you want to be prepared for an absolute shit storm. You have to be prepared for extra expenses, especially in medical marijuana where business can be very fickle in places like Cali where there are so many dispensaries to choose from.

You want to have enough cash lying around where you won't have to sell your first born child to cover rent if you go 2+ months with no sales. Be able to sustain yourself for at least 2-3 months MINIMUM. It would be better to not open a dispensary until you have the first 6 months expenses fully factored out and covered in cash, not in assets.

I know two shops with one employee, no armed guards. Just a man in a booth above some shop covering all the points of his business.

1/21/2012

Hey Everyone ,

I started this thread a while back to get information on opening a Club here in Southern California. Well, it's been almost 4 years since then.... and we CAN successfully tell you ALL, that WE are ALIVE and THRIVING!

So, I just wanted to say thank you to Rollitup.org, for Helping us get going! The information shared by your members helped us acquire the proper paperwork, and permits we needed. And Last week, we successfully signed up our 35th club, and are now over 5,000 patients strong!

But we couldn't have done it without this community! So thank you everyone, and we look forward to bringing Organically Grown, Low Cost Medical Cannabis to patients Everywhere in the future!

Also, to give back: I am offering any members of this community who use our service an additional 10% OFF, when you use Promo Code:
ROLLITUP.


**We feel that Rollitup.org is the best online Think Tank for the Medical Cannabis Community, and this is our way of giving back!


Cheers Everyone,
David Ford
Owner - Operator
http://CareGiversExpress.com
Current Menu For MMJ Patients In CA (only):
http://tinyurl.com/6otuc4b