"New Mexico marijuana program a guide for Mass.; Strict model may help Bay State shape its rules" by Jenn Abelson | Globe Staff, February 06, 2013
ALBUQUERQUE — In the first five minutes of talking to Willie Ford, president of R. Greenleaf Organics in Albuquerque, he makes the following distinctions: He sells medical cannabis (not marijuana), harvests from a farm (not growhouse), and provides medicine (not weed) at his clinic (not dispensary) to patients (not potheads).
That careful choice of words reflects the approach Ford takes with every facet of his nonprofit medical marijuana business. R. Greenleaf and the state’s other licensed cannabis producers operate discreetly in unassuming complexes with small display signs — or none at all — and obsessive security, where they track their legal marijuana from seed to sale.
Industry watchers say New Mexico, with one of the country’s strictest medical marijuana programs, provides a model for Massachusetts....
But marijuana operations are far from traditional business ventures. Employees must pass a background check and security cameras are everywhere....
There are unique financial complications, too....
The federal government still classifies it as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it has no medical value and is likely to be abused. That long shadow of federal disapproval has caused banks and credit card processors in New Mexico to shun marijuana businesses....
If they were behind it, the government would be, too; however, seeing as illegal narcotics money that is laundered is the life blood for banks....
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