Growers

[JohnMonad]

Hi P4200,
Can you share with us why you think in 60 days we will have 4 or 5 more approved Producers?
Whats your source?

Thanks,
JM

[coolslayer]

I would like to know that also.

[bedrockbob]

OK, whatâ??s the deal with the non-profit growers and the market not being able to handle a tax and all? I know there are folks involved with the growers here and maybe they could offer some insight.

Right now there are thousands of people growing marijuana. I know one person in California that grows 90 plants at a time. That is ten, 650W. HPS lights in a 20 X 20 layout, a veg room with clones and moms, connected to a small work space. It is actually a guest house with one bedroom and a modest kitchen/living room, with an attached double car garage.

This person grows, harvests, markets, and sells the product with the help of his wife, his daughters, and one neighbor. Of course they are growing as a collective for several consumers so marketing and sales are fairly simple. They make very good money doing this and the bud sells for market value.

â?¦Just about exactly the size of operation the State allows our medical growersâ?¦

Are the regulations preventing the producers to be profitable growing marijuana at $10-$15 a gram, 95 plants at a time? It would seem difficult, given the business structure that a producer would have to abide by (the board and the other requirements). It seems that they have not set the limitations at a place that is reasonable to turn a profit...Or actually in our case the salaries of the board?

It seems that there is already a successful business model out there for small cannabis growers. It also seems that the powers that be have decided to re-invent the wheel. If 100 plants per grow is what they feel they can control, they need to model the business around that. It is just basic agribusiness. I donâ??t think we need a board of directors, a doctor, and a super secure area to grow a hundred plants do we? If we want to tax it then the board of directors is going to have to get out the freakinâ?? way and let it be profitable no?

Are the current producers basing their business model on being able to expand beyond what is legal now?

A person that had the market could profit very nicely from a 100 plant grow operation in central Albuquerque, even spending a good amount of their investment concealing an illegal operation. Three guys, ten thousand dollar investment in a rental in the NE heights. You could just start taxing these successful businesses that already exist and get a pile of tax money. They could take every cop off the DARE program and put them protecting the grow operations. Nobody goes to jail, pot is dirt cheap, and the politicians have enough hard earned cash to all take baths in and give jobs to their cousins.

[coolslayer]

They must feel that they have to appease the religious right.

[JohnMonad]

Unfortunately you are not in the NM State Government making the laws here.
All you have said would of coarse work except the "current" laws here are that a Producer\distributor must be a Non-Profit.
Also the 95 plant restriction has to do with the Federal Law. Up until Pres. Obama's instructions to AG Holder not to use funds to hassle people abiding by their States laws.
Our current state law is 95 plants no ifs and or buts. This can and I hope will change as we try to make the program work. Also from what I understand the DOH powers that be don't want a surplus of "Medicine". There is certainly is no surplus here and I don't think there will ever be with these restrictions.
This will all change with time, patience and persistence by all of us.

JM

[bedrockbob]

Yes, growers must be "non profit" but that does not mean that they cant be a success. Methinks that there are too many thumbs in the pie by design.

I am not sure what the laws are, but the board of a non-profit is entitled to a salary. Some salaries in large non profits are huge. So, a reasonable profit of say, $60K per year should be quite possible for an operation that size, provided the organization is not too top heavy. If you do some quick math you will find that 100 plants is not really a lucrative deal for more than three or four people if you get three cycles a year.

Sure the Federal limit is 100 plants. Over that and it is automatically a Federal offense. I dont see the federal law here as the real obstacle. The State could make it work within those limits. California did... kind of. At least on paper.

I have read the state rules and pondered the possibilities. There are a lot of things I dont know about the organization of non profits and all, but the way I see it is that no one would be interested in growing 100 plants even if it were legal unless it was worth their while. Were not talking "uber rich", we are just talking good sustainable business.
I visualize a lawyer, a doctor, and a host of State people needing some money to get this all done. Then they are all doing a dance with the tax man. And somewhere there is a 20 X 20 with ten lights and a maternity ward that is actually a two man job, with some hired help at harvest...

It seems that permitted personal growers should be allowed to grow for other permitted users, within limits. Say 12 plants, or three patients. Some folks would definitely get together. I bet that if that is suggested it could be done. Also including menstrual cramps as conditions...they cant deny that one....none of us can!

We can give them input as a group and they will listen to reason. We can make headway!

[patient4200]

as I mentioned in some other threads here, non-profit essentially means that monies remaining after paying what the IRS considers reasonable expenses must be dispersed. Audits assure that the money isn't dispersed improperly.

If you sit down and do the real math, there isn't a whole lot of money to made, considering the calculated risk you are going to be taking of you entire operation being taken down by the feds, regardless of what the current politics are, the DEA pretty much does what they want. Obama could be out in three years and who knows which way the wind blows after that

Do the math, you'll see why nobody wants to invest 20-50k for a startup. Those who think it can be done for nothing, never ran any kind of business. This is an agriculture biz, plain and simple, 420 culture aside, you might as well be farming Chile.

This is one reason you aren't seeing dozens of dispensaries cropping up ( hahah) here in NM. Far from the other state models, where dispensaries outnumber starbucks.

People are secretive for any number of reasons, some are blatantly in your face about it. Others are branching out ( haha) into multiple operations and trying to push the non-profit model right to the edge, as everybody in this business needs a six figure legal fund available just in case the feds decide they want a new mexican vacation on the way back from the boarder.

We're really looking at a district of columbia situation here. A law gets passed without any back end support and only after the wagons are circled and the torches are lit will the funding come along to fully implement the programs.

It's similar to the situation in Hatai, places loaded with food and water are denied landing rights while planes carrying news shows are landing by the score.

So far with all the hype, nobody is producing anywhere near max yields or we have some patients diverting supplied by buying max allowed under law from multiple dispensaries ( by the way, no system in place to prevent that from happening, no funds to manage a statewide database of sales)

by the numbers 5 producers should be able to serve 500 patients..let's see

500 patients produce the demand for 1000 z's a month ( going on a recent public statement about consumption), 4 months for a cycle

so every 4 month cycle we need 4000 oz of meds.

uh..that's 250 pounds of top bud meds or 50 pounds per producer.

is this possible....maybe with a perfectly dialed in grow, zero loss to bugs or mold and the other 500 patients never coming around.

If we cut this in half it's still a whole lot of expert production with a 95 plant limit.

And of course we assume every patient can afford $800 a month for meds, crikey, my grocery bill isn't $800 a month and I clip coupons

So what's next...bending the rules will eventually get producers shut down, straining things even more. Patients with money will hoard, so folks on real limited incomes go back to the black market or illegal home growing

we need dozens of producers, and there is simply no way the state is going to process those applications on the backs of a $100 fee with three guys working the mcp program.

We have a real problem here. From the business standpoint, it's open for anybody who can actually produce good yields with a 95 plant limit. Illegal grows are 100% profit, untaxed and unregulated, so that will likely become the source for patients, whose MCP card will simply prevent arrest for possession.

I've chatted with some folks who are on the next round of approvals prior to accepting a board position myself, that's my source for a prior statement that we'll see some more producers real soon.

But that's just sticking a finger in the dyke for most folks.

I pass the soapbox to the next person in line....

[bedrockbob]

Hey, it looks like they changed the producers rules a couple of days ago. Just three patients and a health care provider.

So any three patients, with the approval of a doctor, can grow 100 plants with a minimal of BS.

Here is the new app -

http://nmhealth.org/IDB/medicalcanna...ed-1-26-10.doc


Just slick as heck. Three comitted soldiers could pull it off for an investment of $6K each I bet. The "other health care provider" is not a problem and could be a token board member.

[bedrockbob]

Hey, it looks like they changed the producers rules a couple of days ago. Just three patients and a health care provider.

So any three patients, with the approval of a doctor, can grow 100 plants with a minimal of BS.

Here is the new app -

http://nmhealth.org/IDB/medicalcanna...ed-1-26-10.doc


Just slick as heck. Three comitted soldiers could pull it off for an investment of $6K each I bet. The "other health care provider" is not a problem and could be a token board member.

All we gotta do is join together, three at a time and form non profits. If folks got organized medical grass would be available from various growers in almost any area of the state!

Give me two good bush doctors with $12K between them and I bet we could be rolling hash off our fingers by September.

[axlom69]

If it was that easy then there would be a lot more than 5 in play already. If you people think it is that easy then give it a try. I have been working with more than A few people to start up a dispensary in NM. Iâ??m stating fact; it takes a lot more than three patients and a good DOC. to open up for business. Problem is everyone wants to say they know but nobody has really done the research on what it takes. It has taking well over 1 year of planning and setting everything up. So unless you have been there you really canâ??t say what it takes. Not one person on these sites has talked about how unless you own your property out right you have to let the lien holder no exactly what you are going to be doing. Letâ??s see you tell wellsfargo you are growing leagel med. They would take away the lone so fast your head will spend. People do your research before commenting.