Quote Originally Posted by HighPopalorum
Good post by ReleafCenter. It's interesting to get a dispensary's perspective on these regulations. I agree that it will not be possible for growers to "stay in the shadows" if they want to sell to dispensaries; that's one of he things the bill set out to address. Although I live in a different part of the state, I appreciate your dispensary's policy of only buying from legal growers; to me, it's a selling point.
Other than Durango, do you have opinions regarding dispensaries in the western slope? Seems most of the reviews deal with the front range?

No, I definitely think there will be people who would rather stay in the shadows. But, let's take what the DEA says on face value; they're only going after grows that aren't in clear and unambiguous compliance with the state constitution. The state passes 1284 as a nod to the Feds, basically saying "We'll make it harder to grow here, you can prosecute everyone who doesn't want to comply." The Feds get to justify keeping their bloated budget because the bill drives more growers underground. The state gets to tout that they're protecting legal Colorado grows from the Feds. Win-win.

Growers who think they can "stay hidden" are probably kidding themselves. If 1284 passes, they know who is registered and who isn't. A lot of electric bills haven't picked up the attention they usually would because it's a pain for any agency to go after a grow in the status quo. On a state and federal level, agents have come out and said they have active investigations going on all over the place. Even the attempted busts of grows that are in compliance help them get more information on what to look for on the next raid.

And if the bill passes, we will only work with registered grows. We're built this business by 10 gallon buckets of blood, sweat and tears at a time. We've been in compliance with things that haven't even passed. It's for our, and our patients, sake that we operate legally. Even if what is legal happens to suck terribly.

@Rockwell: The biggest issue that keeps coming up on a societal level seems to be teenagers gaming the system and redistributing their meds. Parents have huge issues with a perceived ease of access that their kids have to marijuana. The recent study about marijuana leading to increased psychosis amongst teens don't help. They think that regulation will intimidate kids, hence fewer issues. I wouldn't want to go in front of some state panel if I was 18 to justify my card when the kid two desks over in homeroom has the bomb already. Think about it like a fake ID, though; everyone doesn't need one, just the one going into the liquor store.
Regarding grows, you may be representative of many dispensaries probably for the same reasons. It is a good point about the registration of growers who are also caregivers: a comparison between the caregiver list and the licensed grower list can be made. For example, the caregiver/growers not on the licensed grower list are either small (if they define small), not growing anymore, or are still growing. I suppose the not small but still growing could be potentially singled out.

Do you suppose the growers who want to remain hidden are your better growers? What effect (the hidden growers you will no longer do business with) will that have on your supply side if this legislation passes?