Starting a new Medical Marijuana Collective

Discussion in 'Medical Marijuana' started by rasganjah, Jul 6, 2010.

  1. rasganjah

    rasganjah True Ganjaman

    Going today for a consultation with a firm that specializes in helping individuals start medical marijuana collectives. Going out there with my business partner to get the ball rolling. It looks like we are actually going to do this. I never thought I would be involved in starting a collective. I guess my title will be collective manager, my partner is the investor of the startup capital, he'll be the Owner and I will manage the garden and day to day operations. It's not cheap to start a collective but I'm hoping that with some determination we can make it a reality. I'm pretty excited and nervous about all this. I have basically been retired and unemployed for the last 2 years just running my small medical marijuana grow out of my house and now all of a sudden I'm thrust back into the hustle and bustle of doing business. Hopefully it will offer us some financial stability in this uncertain economy. Wish us luck on our new endeavor. :passsit: :thumbs-up:

    P.S. if anyone here has been or is currently the owner or works for a collective in CA please feel free to chime in with any helpful advice for a person just getting into the field.
     
  2. ncmaineac

    ncmaineac Harvested Fat Sticky Bud

    retired


    i am retired as well..not sure i would want to get back into the rat race again...i wish you good luck...
     
  3. PharmDoc

    PharmDoc Just a NORML guy

    RasMan!


    Good luck and good vibes your way my friend. Interestingly enough MrsDoc and I were discussing (READ I was telling her about) Prop19 and the possibility of a geographical relocation if it does indeed pass. I figure that I am in a (relatively) unique position in that I would not only be able to counsel patients in regards to their Pharma Meds, but if I opened a pharmacy/compassionate care facility in CA we could do a lot of good for people. All it would require for me is to get licenced in CA as a pharmacist (piece o' cake) and then go through what you're going through to get the ball rolling (the really hard part: accumulating capitol to open an independent pharmacy AND an MMJ clinic. However if I put together a good business plan perhaps I'd be able to gather some outside investors. Mrs DOES have a business degree and is currently seeking employment in the field...


    again good luck my man! Be sure and keep us posted!
     
  4. MrAstro

    MrAstro R.I.P

    Best of luck :thumbs-up:
     
  5. Hank Chinaski

    Hank Chinaski Ruminating

    I wish I could retire.


    Good luck, Ras!


    :thumbs-up:
     
  6. ResinRubber

    ResinRubber Civilly disobedient/Mod

    Best of vibes rollin' in your direction Ras.
     
  7. Bud Greenright

    Bud Greenright In the garden, you?

    Here in Colorado the collective or co-op has been outlawed. You can only grow for yourself and 5 other people who list you as a caregiver, after that you have to jump through the commercial hoops and register with the revenue department.


    Its a nightmare. Like asking a cancer patient to build his own chemo machine. or a diabetic to grow and process there own insulin.
     
  8. rasganjah

    rasganjah True Ganjaman

    Ok here is what I found out. We are forming a Non profit Mutual Benefit Corporation. We will have to register that corporation with the state as a medical marijuana collective, acquire a state sellers permit, a tax ID #, and all the necessary paperwork for our corporation. We then will be looking for a building, once we find one we will have to get a local business license. Once all the paperwork is complete we can begin operations. That consists of getting a few good patients to join a our collective and once we have enough patients within our collective we can start the actual cultivation. We must have enough patients registered with us in order to justify the amount of plants we are going to be growing. Under CA Prop 215 and SB420 being a "Caregiver" is not a helpful thing and actually puts more restrictions on me. Under the collective we will be able to cultivate for our patients, offer cultivation classes, and distribute our medication within the collective for a donation fee that is commensurate to the time, labor, and materials needed to run the collective as well as produce the medication. There will be 3 of us on the payroll. We will be paying sales tax, SSI, State disability and unemployment ins., as well as state and federal income tax. In CA the state board of equalization has deemed MMJ a taxable item since it is in CA now classified like other herbal medications that are not regulated by the FDA and as a patient you are not required to have a prescription just a recommendation from a doctor. Therefore they are collecting sales tax on all MMJ transactions. It's still a little bit of a grey area that we are operating within however with the state accepting sales tax on all sales of MMJ we have that much more legitimacy to our field. It's hard for the state to try and prosecute a case against a MMJ collective that has all their ducks in a row, they have been accepting our money in the form of taxes and that in a way is almost as good as them saying "ok marijuana isn't as bad as we thought, go ahead and sell it, we like your money." So onward we work, the next step is to process the paperwork for the corporation. I'll keep you all posted. :thumbs-up:
     
  9. RkyMtnWayHigh69

    RkyMtnWayHigh69 2010 NAGC Winner

    Kick ass RasGanJah!:passit:


    I'm looking at doing something similar or something entirely different . . . I'm not exactly sure yet.:ponder::laugh: I'm gonna do something sometime soon. ;) :ebert:


    Congratts on your findings. :)


    I'll be watching this thread to see where things go from here.


    I'm very excited to see the leaps and bounds the MMJ industry is making in the last year or two.


    Keep us updated please. I know I'm loving this all the way!:!


    :party6:
     
  10. sho*tyme

    sho*tyme Excommunicated

    Wow I cannot believe what I'm hearing! The legal business of medical marijuana! This is incredible!


    I'm sorry but I live in Ohio where people don't realize what is happening with marijuana. The decriminalization, the legalization, and now you can run a business selling medical marijuana!


    There really is no turning back now, soon what patients in california and other legal states will be available to the rest of us in the "slow" states hopefully real soon.


    I lived in california in the early 90's and witnessed how many people fell victim to the laws against non violent drug offenders, so I can only imagine how people feel that live in california especially MMJ patients. Knowing that you can grow your own safely, LEGALLY, and run a business, doing the thing that we love and some of us are still locked up behind bars for.


    It still really hasn't sank into me what is going on and what we are gonna be able to do. I feel like moving back to cali! For real!!


    Ras man, good luck, I hope you get your business off the ground, I hope you make a million and become one of the most successful people in the industry! Hell I might need a job when I get there LOL! Anyway ima gonna take one to the head for the cause and pray Jah smiles on you journey!!!
     
  11. SteelCity Smoker

    SteelCity Smoker To Be Continued

    I applaud you for doing this it takes a lot of nerve to tell the gov. you are going to grow buds. Just be sofuckingcareful the state level leo and the fed leo don't see eye to eye. Keep your head down and nose clean. I will send safe vibes your way.Good Luck DSP
     
  12. Mr Douglas

    Mr Douglas still stoned again still

    On your way!

    :thumbs-up: :popcorn-2: :new_popcornsmiley:


    :passit:
     
  13. Mrs.Boa

    Mrs.Boa Germinating

    Like a dream...


    This is so awesome. I could totally see myself writing up a business plan for something like this. Fustrates me so much that where I am people are too slow to realize what is actually going on. I am honestly thinking about packing my things and heading west real soon. Too bad I am broke. Money first then I can fufill the next dream.


    Good luck to you and make sure you have a good lawyer on your side just in case. I am jealous.


    :not-worthy:
     
  14. rasganjah

    rasganjah True Ganjaman

    Okay, so it's finally official. We payed a consultation group to facilitate the processing of our paperwork to start our Medical Marijuana Collective. We are registered with the state of CA as a Non Profit Corporation for the purpose of being a Medical Marijuana Collective. We have our corporate portfolio an d our seal as well as all our membership agreements and corporate bylaws. I've been looking over all the paperwork, all we need to do is lock down a location with a building to list as our corporate address. We have a meeting tomorrow with a prospective building owner to see if we can broker a deal to lease the building and use it as our grow site. He was the first (building owner) so far to even agree to meet with us. Any of the large newer buildings in industrial complexes have said that right now the property owners are not willing to work with anyone in the Medical Marijuana Industry regardless of the exact nature of our group. Hopefully if all goes well, we will begin the build out very soon, and be growing a whole bunch of awesome buds. Of course we will also in the mean time be recruiting a few members in order to account for the number of plants we will be growing. So far so good, it has been slow going but it finally is becoming reality. :beerchug-2: :passsit:
     
  15. JuggaloKing420

    JuggaloKing420 Just clownin around

    Congratulations and Good Luck, Ras!
     
  16. RkyMtnWayHigh69

    RkyMtnWayHigh69 2010 NAGC Winner

    Very cool RasGanJah! This is such a positive thing. I am VERY happy for you and the wife. ;)


    Keep us updated. :) :ebert:
     
  17. bigbudztoo

    bigbudztoo growin the good stuff

    Good luck Ras. Sounds like you are getting your ducks all lined up.


    Having been retired for 4 years, I understand about the notion of jumping back into the fray. At least you will be doing something you love and are good at. Get em.


    Budz:anibong::anibong::anibong:
     
  18. ResinRubber

    ResinRubber Civilly disobedient/Mod

    Good luck Ras. Pullin for you guys on this one.:thumbs-up:
     
  19. AlienBait

    AlienBait Custom User Title

    Right on, man! All the best! :beerchug-2:
     
  20. bncooldude13

    bncooldude13 I supply your drug dealer

    85% of small bussinesses fail. Its a very risky investing thousands to start and operate. The laws are very weird because the state law approves the grow. And then you get shut down by federal laws. Its a big loophole that can get you fucked. But in state such as calorado, i seen a small bussiness do very well on HBO, so....


    I know, Ras is one of the best growers out here, i hope you the best with your dream.


    Pce
     

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