Jacob Bell
New Member
WASHINGTON – The lawyer who defended the famous "D.C. madam" is getting into it; so is a rabbi, a waitress and a State Department technician: growing marijuana and selling it to sick people in the nation's capital
Lawyer Montgomery Blair Sibley and his partners in the Medicinal Marijuana Company of America hope to grow a enough pot in a New York Avenue warehouse to make a profit in the first year.
But Sibley wants to go national.
"I want to be the Ray Kroc of medical marijuana," Sibley said, referring to the man behind the McDonalds fast food chain.
"People are hiding in the shadows," said Alan Amsterdam, a co-owner of the hemp store who is part of a team hoping to open a dispensary and cultivation center. "Then they'll strike like a cobra."
Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access, a nonprofit group that advocates for medical marijuana, said her office had received "hundreds of calls" from people interested in opening businesses in Washington.
She said the pool is sure to dwindle as they learn that banks are reluctant to lend money to such start-ups and that medical marijuana remains illegal under federal law, even though the Justice Department has said it's uninterested in prosecuting dispensaries.
As an industry, medical marijuana has exploded since the mid-1990s, with 15 states and Washington approving legislation. In 2002, there were 11 dispensaries in the United States, according to Americans for Safe Access. Now there are about 2,000.
"I've fielded a dozen or so calls, serious calls, from people saying: 'We're ready. We'd like to enter this. We have investors. What do you know?'" said Michael Rothman, a Washington-area defense lawyer who runs the Medical Cannabis Law Group.
Although D.C. voters supported medical marijuana in a referendum in 1998, Congress blocked the city from implementing the law until last year. After Mayor Vincent Gray took office, officials began reviewing final regulations, and they will solicit proposals and award licenses. A license in Washington will cost $10,000.
Todd Mizis, 34, an audio-visual specialist for the State Department, has visions of owning a bakery that makes cookies, brownies and cupcakes laced with cannabis. He wants to call his venture Baked DC.
Amber McKay, 25, a mother of three who makes $150 a week as a waitress at an Italian restaurant in Virginia, said she saw a new business frontier.
Her father, a contractor, asked: "Are you serious?" Her stepmother blanched. Her pastor said; "Oh, really."
Jeffrey Kahn, a rabbi, said he saw the relief marijuana gave his father-in-law, who suffered from multiple sclerosis.
"We're not entrepreneurs," he said. "This is our midlife crisis, and we're looking for something else. This would provide us with the chance to make a living and help people."
Sibley, who was suspended by the Florida bar in 2008 for failing to pay $100,000 in child support, is bullish.
"This one is wide open," Sibley said of his new field. "There is no one controlling the market. The barriers for entry are very low."
News Hawk- GuitarMan313 420 MAGAZINE
Source: newsleader.com
Author: The Washington Post
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: newsleader.com.
Website: Entrepreneurs vying for medical marijuana licenses
Lawyer Montgomery Blair Sibley and his partners in the Medicinal Marijuana Company of America hope to grow a enough pot in a New York Avenue warehouse to make a profit in the first year.
But Sibley wants to go national.
"I want to be the Ray Kroc of medical marijuana," Sibley said, referring to the man behind the McDonalds fast food chain.
"People are hiding in the shadows," said Alan Amsterdam, a co-owner of the hemp store who is part of a team hoping to open a dispensary and cultivation center. "Then they'll strike like a cobra."
Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access, a nonprofit group that advocates for medical marijuana, said her office had received "hundreds of calls" from people interested in opening businesses in Washington.
She said the pool is sure to dwindle as they learn that banks are reluctant to lend money to such start-ups and that medical marijuana remains illegal under federal law, even though the Justice Department has said it's uninterested in prosecuting dispensaries.
As an industry, medical marijuana has exploded since the mid-1990s, with 15 states and Washington approving legislation. In 2002, there were 11 dispensaries in the United States, according to Americans for Safe Access. Now there are about 2,000.
"I've fielded a dozen or so calls, serious calls, from people saying: 'We're ready. We'd like to enter this. We have investors. What do you know?'" said Michael Rothman, a Washington-area defense lawyer who runs the Medical Cannabis Law Group.
Although D.C. voters supported medical marijuana in a referendum in 1998, Congress blocked the city from implementing the law until last year. After Mayor Vincent Gray took office, officials began reviewing final regulations, and they will solicit proposals and award licenses. A license in Washington will cost $10,000.
Todd Mizis, 34, an audio-visual specialist for the State Department, has visions of owning a bakery that makes cookies, brownies and cupcakes laced with cannabis. He wants to call his venture Baked DC.
Amber McKay, 25, a mother of three who makes $150 a week as a waitress at an Italian restaurant in Virginia, said she saw a new business frontier.
Her father, a contractor, asked: "Are you serious?" Her stepmother blanched. Her pastor said; "Oh, really."
Jeffrey Kahn, a rabbi, said he saw the relief marijuana gave his father-in-law, who suffered from multiple sclerosis.
"We're not entrepreneurs," he said. "This is our midlife crisis, and we're looking for something else. This would provide us with the chance to make a living and help people."
Sibley, who was suspended by the Florida bar in 2008 for failing to pay $100,000 in child support, is bullish.
"This one is wide open," Sibley said of his new field. "There is no one controlling the market. The barriers for entry are very low."
News Hawk- GuitarMan313 420 MAGAZINE
Source: newsleader.com
Author: The Washington Post
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: newsleader.com.
Website: Entrepreneurs vying for medical marijuana licenses
