November/December 2010

THE NEXUS INTERVIEW

HIGH TIMES

Parting the smokescreen around
medical marijuana.

An interview with Bruce Granger and
Michael Williamson of
Herbal Connections-Cherry Creek

BY RAVI DYKEMA

Ten years after the passage of Amendment 20 legalized medicinal use of marijuana in Colorado, pot shops are springing up faster than Starbucks. The city of Denver alone has an estimated 250 dispensary storefronts, and at last count, the state had issued more than 100,000 cards allowing registered users to buy medical marijuana. Pot has become so popular as an herbal medicine, that an estimated 1,000 applications were submitted per day by February 2010.

In May of this year the legislature put on the brakes, sort of. House Bill 1284 was approved by the Colorado State Senate and signed into law by the Governor. It creates a statewide system of licensing businesses that wish to grow and sell marijuana or pot-infused products. The bill was designed to, in the words of bill co-sponsor senator Chris Romer, “get the thugs and the knuckleheads out of the business.”

Though the bill was passed in both the house and the senate by an overwhelming majority, some lawmakers and concerned citizens are vehemently opposed. They argue that the measure is a backdoor way to legalize marijuana, and that Amendment 20 was never intended to create the widespread marijuana dispensary system we have today. The law-enforcement community in general is opposed to the very concept of the bill. And then there’s a group of people, including Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, who believe – in Kerlikowske’s words – “Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefits.”

Evil weed or legit herbal treatment? Whatever your views, the fact remains that we’ve come a long way from “Reefer Madness” (an infamous 1936 propaganda film) – and the medical marijuana (MMJ) industry is on fire. Here, Nexus interviews Bruce Granger and Michael Williamson about the social aspects and medical benefits of marijuana, and the business of MMJ.

RD: Tell me about the medical uses of marijuana. What kinds of things can it treat?

MW: I’m a good example. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) when I was 18. Most MS patients take steroids, sleep medication, drugs for muscle spasms and pain, and all kinds of other prescriptions. I take an interferon drug that was recommended by my neurologist, but other than that, I don’t take anything besides cannabis. It works for my day-to-day symptoms of muscle spasticity, migraine issues, sometimes fatigue. Cannabis is excellent for dealing with any kind of fatigue issues. I’m able to do my job, talk to people, crunch numbers, function comfortably and normally.

RD: Is there a certain kind of medical marijuana that’s targeted specifically to those symptoms?

BG: There are three primary types of cannabis. The first is cannabis sativa. That tends to be crisp, uplifting, clear, creative, energetic at times; it’s a good one for daytime use. The second one is cannabis indica. It’s used for chronic pain that won’t go away, sleep apnea, nausea. It can help with migraines, depending on the person. Indica seems to relax the body and tends to help with inflammation.

It does depend to a certain degree on the individual. Each person metabolizes things differently and everyone’s brain is wired somewhat uniquely.

The third one is cannabis ruderalis; it doesn’t have a very high THC percentage and it doesn’t really hold a lot of medicinal value in its raw form. You can manipulate it and cross-breed it and change it a bit, but you don’t see any on the shelves in or around Colorado.

RD: You, and the other people I’ve spoken with in this field, consider cannabis an herbal medicine. But there’s an impression among others that many of the people who get medical marijuana cards are college students or young adults with no medical problems. Is there any truth to that impression?

BG: I get asked this question a lot. I sit on the board for the Department of Revenue, as one of the committee members in charge of crafting the rules under the new law, HB 1284. People ask me, “How many of your patients actually need this?” And I say 100 percent need it for a medical purpose. The state recognizes seven diseases, and there soon will be an eighth, that allow you to qualify for a medical marijuana card. Such a card is not a prescription. It’s only a recommendation by a doctor that you can purchase this. Nobody says, “Come in and smoke two joints a day.” He or she is just saying that medical marijuana may help you.

Here’s another aspect to your question about those 21-year-olds who get medical marijuana cards. Do you remember going to college? You stayed up all night to finish a report or something, and then you’re wired, and now you’ve got to go to sleep. Well, we have products that will help you go to sleep. In college, you probably also had some other issues, like maybe struggling to concentrate. One of my partners in this business is severely ADD. Working with him when he doesn’t consume marijuana is a nightmare. He can’t focus on anything. Give him marijuana, and he becomes a focused individual.

MW: A lot of women we treat here have debilitating menstrual cramps, and they just use cannabis for that time of the month. Migraines are a big complaint. A lot of GI issues as well, irritable bowel syndrome, eating disorders. And there’s a whole quality of life aspect. What about managing stress? That’s huge for pretty much everyone.

RD: I think a lot of our readers would wonder, are these college students with medical marijuana cards spending their entire four years of college stoned?

MW: It’s ironic, but some of us who use cannabis regularly actually feel more normal, and less stoned, when they are on it. When I don’t use cannabis, I feel more the euphoric effects that people talk about feeling when stoned, like feeling loose or loopy or giggly. I find it harder to concentrate. But when I’m on cannabis, I’m able to function. I can multi-task better and think more clearly.

RD: What about side effects?

BG: For most people, they’re minimal, and they’re very different than the side effects of pharmaceuticals. Prescription drugs have side effects like vomiting, bloody stool, difficulty breathing, wheezing – all those things that sound terrible. Neither the liver or the kidneys process the stuff and there’s no toxicity level. With cannabis, worst-case scenario, you might get paranoid, you might eat all the cookies in your house, or you might fall asleep. And that sounds a lot better than those other side effects, in my opinion.

RD: Who is the typical medical marijuana patient? Is it really a younger crowd?

BG: Definitely not. My mother is a good example. She’s 78 years old and has a prescription for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for her arthritis. She has to get her liver tested regularly, since these drugs are so toxic to the liver. She was here in Denver for the Fourth of July, and I said, “You’ve got to stop taking all these crazy drugs.” So she tried some of my product.

Two days later, we go to The Cherry Creek Arts Festival, and here’s a woman who can barely walk a block, and she did the whole Festival. And she said to me three quarters of the way through it, “I can’t remember the last time I walked this far.” And then she added, “I’m not telling you it doesn’t hurt. I can feel my legs. My hips have some pain, but it’s manageable. And I feel okay.”

Now, my mom was diagnosed six weeks ago with a glioblastoma brain tumor. She’s in the midst of chemotherapy, and they’re giving her an anti-nausea pill. She asked her oncologist about cannabis, and he says, “If cannabis works for you – and it works for about 70 percent of the patients – it’s brilliant. It stops the nausea and it gives you an appetite. If you’re one of the 30 percent it doesn’t work for, then try our pill.” So cannabis is starting to develop some validity as a plausible treatment within the Western medicine philosophy. It just takes some time.

RD: I think part of that may be because we’ve become so accustomed to hearing about the negative effects of smoking pot. The concern is especially shared by parents. We’ve heard about effects on kids’ brain development.

BG: First of all, I think that any time you give a body or a brain that’s in development any kind of drug – I don’t care if it’s alcohol, aspirin, ibuprofen, any of those drugs – there are negative impacts. I certainly wouldn’t ever recommend any drug to a kid who’s growing.

RD: I want to switch gears for a moment and find out how you got into this business. Here we are in your elegant dispensary in an office building in Cherry Creek. You’ve finished out this suite, bought safes, purchased equipment, hired people – you must have invested a significant amount of money. You could have put your money into something else. Why this? And how does it compare to, for example, opening a McDonald’s franchise?

BG: It’s much cheaper. A McDonald’s franchise, after all is said and done, between build-out and everything else, is somewhere around a million dollars. Between my grow facility, Michael’s grow facility, this dispensary, we don’t have anywhere near a million dollars in all of it.

RD: And you’re an experienced businessman.

BG: Yes. I was in the film business for 28 years.

RD: Were you happy in that work?

BG: When I started, I loved it. It was creative, there was good money, and I really truly enjoyed the business. About ten years ago, the business changed dramatically. Film was expensive, and there was this new thing called “video” that really drove the price down. It became so competitive, there was very little money to be made in the business.

RD: Did you transition straight from that into growing marijuana and owning a dispensary?

BG: Oh, no. I was involved in many different ventures. I raised money for non-profits. I’ve worked in a couple of other industries trying to start another business, including a patented device I had with a business partner.

RD: How did you choose this business?

BG: A year ago in April or May, President Obama instructed the Attorney General and the DEA to no longer prosecute individuals in states where medical marijuana is legal. It allowed the states to sort of police their own residents.

RD: At that time, how many states had passed legalization referendums?

BG: Fourteen, or less. Colorado actually is the only state in the United States that has a constitutional amendment guaranteeing us these rights. And that was passed in 2000.

RD: But that did not produce the dispensary industry we see now. It was Obama’s Executive Order, which didn’t turn out quite the way it might have been intended.

MW: It’s one of those “the toothpaste is out of the tube” situations; it’s really hard to put it back in. But you’re right. I think his message was simply that the DEA is not going to waste any more money on going after marijuana, especially medical marijuana.

RD: But the result was it became reasonable to invest money in the industry in Colorado.

BG: Right. So, once that announcement was made, I started investigating the business. I met Michael. He was working for another dispensary here in town, and I had met the owner of that company, “The Healing House.” Then I visited another dispensary called “BC.” And I learned more and got more information, and then decided to build my own warehouse, which I started back in August.

RD: For growing?

BG: Yes, because I knew the only way I could make money in this business was if I could control my own product.

RD: Why is that?

BG: It’s just like in any other industry. If you’re retailing, let’s say, dog food, you can buy from Purina or you can make your own. If you make your own, your profit margins are much greater. And you have more control of your products’ quality.

RD: So you want your patients to come here because they’ll trust your quality instead of going to your competitor?

MW: We want them to come here because we have created an environment that’s friendly and comfortable, and I think our staff is as knowledgeable as any in this industry.

We also want our patients to trust the quality of our products. Bruce having his own farm allows him to know exactly which type of nutrients went into that product, how long it was flushed, everything about the plant. If we were dependent on someone else for one of these products, and they did not disclose to us that the plants had powdery mildew on the leaves, or some kind of mold issue, we could be potentially harming our patients.

BG: And not only do we use organic nutrients that go into our products, we don’t spray with inorganic compounds to kill mites or other pests. We only use natural products, like clove extracts. One of the things Michael alluded to is the flush; so even though we use only organic products on our plants, we still want to flush all of it out of there. A flush is usually a sugar-based clean water flush, where you’re reducing the fertilizer content in the plant before harvest. The result is a cleaner, smoother smoke.

RD: What’s the difference between medical marijuana and the other kinds of marijuana?

MW: Medical marijuana is generally of a much higher quality. It may be lab tested, or screened for mold or pesticides or other contaminants. Some marijuana crops are sprayed with heavy neurotoxins and other toxic compounds. It seems that, for the most part, people who work in the medical marijuana industry have a passion for what they’re doing. It’s different than, let’s say, a guy who lives out in the mountains, has two acres of some outdoor harvest and is just trying to make a buck. That guy wants to create a whole lot of product and sell it on the black market somewhere, and he’s not really concerned with quality.

Medical marijuana is also specific; we may have a sativa that treats fibromyalgia and ocular pressure, for instance. Regular marijuana, like the kind everyone smoked at some point in college, is a wild card; you don’t know if it’s going to make you feel stoned or high or paranoid or nothing.

RD: But that kind of black market, street marijuana is still going strong?

BG: Oh, absolutely. And it always will.

RD: Has the price of street marijuana gone down because of the competition from medical marijuana?

MW: I have no idea, but what I can tell you is that there are more than 100,000 people on this registry who don’t buy their marijuana on the street. They have their licenses, so they can come to a store in a safe, comfortable environment and get quality medicine from educated people.

RD: Let’s talk more about the business side of selling medical marijuana in Colorado. How do you get customers?

BG: When we first opened up the store, I entered a licensing agreement with another local dispensary that had a very recognizable logo, to use their logo and their name. And we’ve created a strong customer base from word-of-mouth referrals.

RD: Do you advertise in the local papers and weeklies?

BG: I’ll tell you our philosophy. We’ve chosen not to advertise in some of the larger weeklies, because I think many of the ads that run in those magazines target people who have questionable needs, and aren’t really interested in the medical benefits. That’s why, instead, we’ve chosen to talk to the elderly, talk to people with MS, go to groups that focus on these ailments, and educate them about how medical marijuana may help them.

RD: But a lot of people are advertising, and the word on the street is that people can make a lot of money growing, opening dispensaries, or doing some combination of those. And people are throwing significant amounts of money at the venture. Maybe it’s not like opening a McDonald’s franchise, but it’s still a significant amount of cash for a 25-year-old Bachelor of Arts graduate from CU who’s just inherited $5,000.

BG: That’s true. I’ve heard of people moving from California and all over the country to come here and get involved in the medical marijuana industry; it’s like the new gold rush. For a lot of those businesses, it’s not about people. It’s about dollar signs, percentages, numbers, statistics. But it’s not necessarily a cash cow, and it’s not as easy as it sounds. A lot of people don’t realize the overhead or, even more significant, the legal hoops you have to jump through. They’ve lit the hoops on fire now, so they’re even harder to jump through.

So, yes, a lot of people say, “Hey, I’ve got $20,000. My buddy’s got $20,000. We’re going to open up a dispensary.” They put their $40,000 in, and then House Bill 1284 comes around and says “Hey, you’ve got to grow 70 percent of your own medicine.” Then those people go out of business because they don’t have any more money to fund this. So, although it seems like a get-rich-quick scheme, at the end of the day, it’s a small start up business and it’s not an easy task.

RD: So you said earlier that about 100,000 people are registered. You must also know how many dispensaries there are, because the state reports that.

MW: There are 717 dispensaries in the state. And in addition to those 100,000 people with licenses, there are also somewhere around 120,000 applications just waiting to be processed.

RD: So if those people are approved, that would make 220,000 people with medical marijuana cards. If those 220,000 people were spread uniformly among all the dispensaries, each dispensary would have about 300 potential patients.

BG: The state has put a moratorium on applications for new dispensaries until July 1, 2011. If you got your application in by August 1, 2010, you could then operate legally until you were either given notification that you have to stop, or you are granted the license. Everything that was passed in HB 1284, is sort of slowly rolling into effect, but all of its provisions become law on July 1, 2011.

RD: What are some of the rules under HB 1284?

BG: Well, for instance, all of the medicine has to be in a safe at night. Dispensaries have to have video cameras; they have to have security and be adequately lit. They’re talking about a point-of-sale system that tracks all of the patients who come through an MMC. We’ve already done all of these things; from a business standpoint, it made perfect sense. Why would you leave your medicine on the shelves, rather than locking it up in a safe? No pharmacy does. Why wouldn’t you have a video camera? We felt that that was the prudent thing to do when opening up a business like this.

RD: Medical marijuana in Colorado is often characterized as holistic health, herbal medicine, and so on. But it seems to me, after attending the Cannabis Convention in Denver in April and speaking to a number of people in the dispensary business, that many are putting on a façade; they’re pretending to be a holistic health operation, but they’re not. So we aren’t quite sure what they are.

BG: In any business, there are people who exist on the fringes in order to be in business. And I completely agree with what you’re saying. There were a lot of dispensaries out there who saw this as a get-rich-quick scheme. They were illegal dealers who saw this as a way of getting legalized. Thanks to HB 1284, those people, for the most part, are no longer in the business; one of the rules of HB1284 is that if you have a background that consists of a felony with any drug offense, you cannot own a dispensary. That eliminated probably 300 dispensary owners, and I think it got rid of a lot of those people who saw this as a get-rich-quick scheme.

I’m just guessing, but I’d say somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 percent of the dispensaries that are still in operation are patient-focused dispensaries. Now whether or not they understand what “holistic” means, or whether or not they understand what “wellness” really means, I can’t speak to that. All I can speak about is this particular dispensary. The reason I and my partners are in existence is to help patients who have serious ailments. Now, does everybody who walks in our door have a debilitating disease? I will tell you unequivocally, no. But 80 to 90 percent of our patients come in here with an issue they want us to try to solve.

RD: What do you think the future holds? What will this industry look like 10 years from now?

BG: Just like any other business, competition will force probably another 20 percent of these dispensaries out of business. Those will be the marginalized ones that aren’t doing things correctly, aren’t keeping control of their costs and things like that. From a federal standpoint, I think some things have to happen. First of all, the United Nations has cannabis as an illegal drug. That has to change. We have to then change the fact that marijuana is a Schedule I drug. In 1284, it says that by year 2012, the Secretary of State will formally request from the federal government to remove marijuana from the Schedule I drug list. Once that happens, I think we’ll have the potential for many more states to make medical marijuana available, and I think, eventually, this product will be legalized. That’s probably at least 10 years away.

MW: I perceive cannabis being legal to the point where you could get a medicated beer or a medicated soda at a bar. In time, the big pharmaceutical companies will probably get involved, and then it will be a matter of extraction and standardized dosing and shelf life and packaging.
There’s already product on the market called “Sativex” from GW pharmaceuticals out of Canada. It’s the first-ever cannabis medication approved by the FDA for spasticity in MS. I also foresee the cigarette companies growing a bunch of cannabis and having pre-rolled joints and selling them in packs, but I don’t consider that medicinal. Maybe wines would be fortified, because wine and cannabis are very similar. There’s even been some talk about Red Bull (the highly caffeinated energy beverage) putting out a Green Bull, a medicated version.

RD: So you see marijuana becoming legal and widely available?

MW: Yes, but I want to stress one point: it’s not for everybody. I don’t think marijuana cures anything in its raw form. I think there’s a lot of cannabinoid research that still needs to be done. But for many people, appropriate use of medical marijuana is an amazing medication. It relieves pain, and substantially improves quality of life. That, I believe, is the goal of the legitimate medical marijuana industry.