Movement Afoot to Make California Medical Marijuana What it Already is: A For-Profit Enterprise

By Dennis Romero Tue., Feb. 15 2011 at 12:18 PM

KCET

American Eagle Collective.

One of the more farcical aspects of medical marijuana in Los Angeles is the flouting of state law, which says pot shops must be nonprofit.

A recent SoCal Connected report estimated that one Eagle Rock pot shop (American Eagle Collective) saw one customer a minute as its cameras rolled during a daylong time-lapse shoot.

It's open on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. SoCal Connected described its busy parking lot scene as looking "like McDonald's at lunchtime."

We'll take the Happy Meal, BTW.

So let's assume that each one of those 600 customers that day was getting an average "dose," let's say a $50 "eighth" of weed (we checked pot shop prices by flipping through our handy-dandy hardcopy of LA Weekly) and not a three-figure ounce or $30 bucks worth of "shake."

That's could be $30,000 day for AEC, conservatively. We're sure the local nuns are enjoying their cut.

So, getting back to state law: This is a nonprofit collective distributing homegrown cannabis among members who are "seriously ill?" Yeah, right.

So, here's the deal. San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano wants to propose an "omnibus cannabis bill" to better oversee the medical pot industry.

Don't worry, L.A. pot-shop owners. It sounds like what he wants to do is regulate it as-is -- codify its status as a business and forget this nonprofit b.s. Maybe.

In any case, Sacramento marijuana dispensary lawyer George Mull is proposing that yes, the state should just get rid of the nonprofit clause. It's not working.

We'd have to agree there.

Tags:

American Eagle Collective, Eagle Rock, medical marijuana, pot shops, Tom Ammiano

We Recommend

Joe32

This reporter clearly has an anti MMJ agenda. Rather than embracing the only growingindustry in this city, she wants to bring in the police state. Reporters are supposed to reportfacts, not use journalism as a mask to support their personal agendas. So Cal Connectis a sham of journalism and should be ashamed of themselves.

Delos

I'd say they're about as non-profit as any other non-profit entity in the US. Problem is, most people have no idea what non-profit actually means in terms of US law.

It seems the author of this article is one of them. Here, I'll quote it for you:

"A nonprofit organization (abbreviated as NPO, also known as a not-for-profit organization) is an organization that does not distribute its surplus funds to owners or shareholders, but instead uses them to help pursue its goals."

A 30k gross/day is not proof of their business being non-profit. That is nonsensical. You didn't even show what their net take was, or what their operating expenses are. Nor did you find that they're illegally selling stock in the company.

All in all, this article is a piece of incredible disinformation and is tantamount to libel in my opinion.

Jeff

AEC and the other Pot Shops are all about huge profits. Any shop serving 600 customers in one day, making $30,000 when the shop purchasedthe Pot at a average of $1,900 a pound and make $5,000 on that same pound. Do the math. Non profit? You know as well as I, their operating costs are a lot less then what their pulling in.

Paul

Did I hear correctly??The Mexicans are complaining about ILLEGAL competition?/WOW! Smoking pot seems to improve intellect but confuse the issues. Cool.

Timothy Weld

Real medical cannabis collectives, unlike AEC, are more strict with their laws than any other business out there. They pay their taxes and are good community members. Collectives like AEC cause douche bags like Romero to bad mouth every Medical Cannnabis Collective. AEC, the aforementioned House Of Kush are all reason why this city has problems with Cannabis.

Why don't you go to a real Medical Cannbis facility and see how they work, before you bad mouth the whole community Mr. Romero? Better yet, why don't you research the laws between state and city when it comes to Cannabis, and then see who really is to blame. The collectives? The City Council? The doctors who give recommendations to any kid who comes to their door?

NO ON MEASURE M!! DON'T "SIN TAX" MEDICAL CANNABIS!!!