The Unique Challenges Facing Medical Marijuana Sellers and Users
Like some other business, the owners of medical marijuana dispensaries face many challenges getting their businesses off the ground. Unlike more traditional establishments, these entrepreneurs often deal with greater difficulties getting needed business services and handling negative public opinion.
In the best case of NIMBY – not in my own yard – purveyors of medical marijuana dispensaries find it too difficult to obtain leases goodtrip mushrooms in more affluent areas and find themselves relegated to less desirable locations, increasing their likelihood of facing break-ins and robberies. People want medical marijuana to be available to card carrying patients, nevertheless they don’t want the stores inside their neighborhoods.
Break-Ins Can Occur Anywhere
In two recent incidents the motivation remained the exact same – obtaining marijuana. A dispensary in Colorado Springs has received its dumpster stolen many times in recent days. Thieves used bolt cutters to open the trash receptacle searching for marijuana debris. Trash has been left on neighboring trails and in parks.
In Langley, BC a person who grew medical marijuana legally at his home opened his door to help two men claiming to possess car trouble. They pushed him into his home, brandished a knife and gun, tied him up and blindfolded him, and then proceeded to rob the house and reduce his marijuana plants. They left, stealing both his vehicles.
Legitimate Business Services Would Help Entrepreneurs
While there isn’t much that banks or merchant account providers could do for domestic growers, for dispensaries, obtaining the exact same scale of business services available to others would lessen the attraction of such storefronts to burglars and petty thieves. Besides the attraction of marijuana on the premises, it is often the availability of so much untraceable cash which makes MMJ dispensaries so appealing.
Owners are finding that after they are able to process transactions by charge card, clients prefer to cover that way. With little cash on hand, vulnerability of a spot decreases dramatically.
The issues behind getting such services lay in the truth that although some state governments have legalized the sale of medical marijuana to card carrying individuals, the government hasn’t accepted marijuana as circumstances issue. On the federal level pot remains illegal, and banks are influenced by the FDIC to insure their account holders, and are required to check out numerous federal regulations.
What Does the Future Hold?
There is really no solution to anticipate how a fight to completely legalize marijuana will go. Some cities which already approved the sale of MMJ are attempting to backtrack; others are striving to improve service and availability. The very best exemplory case of such a predicament historically may be the re-legalization of alcohol after prohibition. Crimes surrounding the sale decreased dramatically.
Taking into consideration the potential tax base, it isn’t hard to see why both federal and state governments would be interested in completely legalizing MMJ. For business owners, that will signal the availability of all needed business services, an extremely welcome change.
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