Related: 4/20: Massachusetts Insuring Medical Marijuana Stays on the Shelves
Doing everything they can by any means po$$ible:
"High fee proposed for marijuana dispensaries" by Kay Lazar | Globe Staff, May 25, 2013
Dispensaries granted a license to sell marijuana for medical use in Massachusetts will be required to pay a $50,000 annual fee under proposed regulations unveiled Friday by the state Department of Public Health.
So much for a small business getting off the ground.
The regulations, which also include a $50 annual registration fee for patients to use marijuana, is intended to create a “self-financed medical marijuana industry that supports patient access without relying on taxpayer resources,” the department said in a press release.
All of a sudden they give a s*** about taxpayer money, all the while tossing it at banks, corporations, and their own lifestyles.
The department said it will use the fees to hire staff and train inspectors to monitor the industry.
After they did such a great job down at the state drug lab and overseeing the compounders?
I'm a little put off by the fine-tooth combing for weed when heroin and coke are the criminal drugs (liked by intelligence agencies because of their high-profit, low-visibility value).
Consultants to the marijuana industry said proposed fees for dispensaries in Massachusetts are higher than those charged in a number of other states, while patient advocates said the fees for consumers appear to be lower than the norm.
Under the draft regulations, dispensaries would also pay nonrefundable application fees totaling $31,500.
“In most states we see [dispensary] application fees between $5,000 and $25,000, so it’s a little on the high side, but not exorbitant,” said Kris Krane, managing partner of 4Front Advisors, an Arizona-based consultant that has helped businesses open marijuana dispensaries in other states....
Massachusetts voters approved a referendum last fall legalizing marijuana for medical use, and state regulators finalized rules earlier this month to implement the law. Those rules took effect Friday.
While Massachusetts dispensary fees appear to be on the higher end, businesses may recoup the money more quickly than in other states because they are likely to do a brisk business, Krane said. That is because Massachusetts regulations are more expansive than many in defining which patients would qualify for medical marijuana use — essentially any patient whose doctor certifies a condition as being debilitating — creating a large potential client base.
Under the state’s proposed fee structure, dispensaries would also be required to pay an annual $500 registration fee for each of their employees....
The co$ts just keep adding up. I thought we were trying to encourage employment in this state?
Krane said that charge could add up quickly for larger companies, which would be unlikely to pass the cost on to their employees, many of whom may be paid relatively low retail-level salaries....
Oh, so it is just going to be ANOTHER MINIMUM-WAGE JOB that will probably be done by some cheap insourced immigrant on a work visa if the immigration bill passes.
At least the fringe benefits (cough) should be pretty good.
The state’s proposal would charge patients an additional $100 annual fee if they applied for a license to grow their own marijuana, claiming financial or other hardship.
What do they have, like four fees burning at one time? No wonder it is so damn $mokey in here.
Matthew Allen, executive director of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance. said that charge “does not make any sense, since these patients have already demonstrated limited income.”
State regulators have said the program is crafted to discourage home-growing by making dispensaries accessible to most patients, with discounts for those with low income, and by allowing dispensaries to deliver to patients with mobility or transportation problems.
Yeah, they WANT SOME LARGER CORPORATION doing the DRUG DEALING!
Landlord groups and public safety officials had lobbied against allowing patients to grow marijuana at home, citing concerns about crime and damage to their property.
And kids, right?
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Too bad; stuff grows in just about any condition, even drought.
Also see: 4/20: Byned By the Boston Globe
I suppose it is better than smoking crack, kids.
"Police have seized a large stash of narcotics, prescription pills, and guns from homes in Plymouth and Carver in simultaneous raids and arrested three men who allegedly distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of drugs in Plymouth and Bristol counties, prosecutors said....
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They found heroin, cocaine, oxycodone, and other drugs that postal inspectors delivered the packages to the two residences (should have used FedEx).
At the home of Joshua Amado, 28, they found packages of cocaine and heroin, more than 300 oxycodone pills, a shotgun, a digital scale, and $28,500 in cash, and at the apartment of James Foster, 26, they found cocaine, steroids, a variety of prescription pills, a loaded 9mm handgun, and $1,800 in cash.
And yet MEDICAL MARIJUANA is $UCH a CONCERN!
