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Some veterans groups have argued in favor of allowing the use of marijuana to treat the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, which is common among those returning from tours of Iraq and Afghanistan.
When Mike Young's mother flew to Colorado to visit him in May, he gave her a tour of the horticulture production facility where he works.
Young described the way he and his co-workers carefully monitor their plants, tracking everything from the acidity of the soil to the precise mixture of nutrients applied to the crops. He also showed her the retail operation where the product of his labors is sold under such names as Banana Master, Killamanjaro and Perma Frost.
The product is marijuana.
"All I could think of was, 'Where's Grady Judd? He's going to get me,'" Young's mother said, referring to the Polk County sheriff well known for his aggressive pursuit of illegal drug operations.
But Young, a 2008 graduate of Lakeland High School, is well beyond the reach of even Judd's long arm. Were he still in his native Florida, Young's activities would make him a criminal. Some 1,500 miles away in Denver, his home for the past three years, he is a law-abiding "horticulture technician."
Colorado is one of 17 states that have departed from federal guidelines in granting some level of legality to the cultivation or use of marijuana, a drug with psychoactive properties.
Proponents say marijuana helps reduce the symptoms of dozens of ailments, including cancer, glaucoma and HIV/AIDS. Critics says marijuana has addictive properties and can lead to the abuse of more powerful drugs.
Though pot is legal in Colorado, the state has tight restrictions on the amount that can be cultivated, allowing a grower to have only six plants per medical marijuana patient. Young said the state's Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division closely enforces that rule, leaving his company vulnerable to prosecution when patients fail to submit all the required paperwork, skewing the grower's ratio of plants to patients.
Young, 22, said he hopes those anxieties will disappear this fall. In November, Colorado residents will vote on Amendment 64, a measure pushed by a group called the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol. If passed, the amendment would allow personal use and limited home-growing of marijuana by residents 21 and older.
For outfits like Allgreens, the dispensary for which Young works, the amendment would remove the maximum plant counts. While Young would like to see Amendment 64 pass, he said he hasn't gotten involved in the campaign.
"With my job, I stay as low-key as possible," he said.
When it comes to medicinal marijuana, Young is not only a provider, he's also a patient. He said he has chronic lower back and knee pain as a result of his previous experience as a busboy and a construction worker.
A doctor prescribed medicinal marijuana, and Young now has a license permitting him to have pot in both smokable and edible forms. He said he starts and ends each day by smoking a joint, and he is convinced of marijuana's healing properties.
"I wouldn't be the same person without it," he said. "I know that."
HORTICULTURE CLASSES
Young was an athletic kid in high school, running track and cross country. He also helped found a club dedicated to parkour, or free running, a pursuit that involves running and climbing over obstacles in urban settings.
After graduating from Lakeland High, Young enrolled at Florida Southern College and took classes in horticulture. At the time, he worked for a Men's Wearhouse in Lakeland. At a company function, he met the founder and former CEO of the clothing chain, George Zimmer, a proponent for legalizing marijuana.
Young said he became intrigued as he learned more about the pot industry in Colorado. When he had a chance to transfer to another store in a Denver suburb, Young left Florida Southern and moved to Colorado in 2009.
Within two months of arriving, he met a man who was establishing a marijuana dispensary and was looking for a grower. Young was hired and has been in the pot business ever since.
Young was working as a "budtender" for a mobile trim crew when he met the owner of Allgreens, who liked his work and offered him a job. Young said he is now the company's lead grower. A website listing a "menu" for Allgreens shows the dispensary carries a wide variety of marijuana strains at prices ranging from $8 a gram to $225 an ounce.
The warehouse Allgreens uses as its nursery has 10,000-watt lights programmed to mimic the diurnal cycle. Young said the nursery produces about 90 pounds of harvested leaves every six months.
Young said pot growers in Colorado have two main concerns: robberies and federal raids. He said all three of the growers for which he has worked in Colorado have been the targets of attempted robberies, and that's one of the reasons he has dropped off Facebook and taken other steps to reduce his public profile.
Young's mother, who still lives in Lakeland, said she fully supports her son's work but does worry about his safety. (She asked to be identified only by her first name, Carol, for fear that someone might wrongly assume she possesses marijuana and target her for a robbery.)
"He's in a cutting-edge industry," Carol said. "Every cutting-edge industry, I guess, has to go through its learning period and adjusting and all that."
Young said Allgreens has an extensive network of security cameras in its warehouse. He said marijuana growers cultivate good relations with local law-enforcement officials.
"We make sure the state patrol is a good friend of ours because we have a lot of break-ins that happen," he said. "The state cops are really cool with dispensaries. It is still illegal federally, and that's what we always worry about. A lot of places in California are dealing with getting raided. I'd say the reason that doesn't happen a lot over here is we're a lot more organized."
In keeping with its aura of medical legitimacy, Allgreens has its growers wear white lab coats in the nursery. Carol said she plans to sew the company's logo onto a lab coat for her son to wear at work.
A SERIOUS JOB
Carol said her son has always shown an aptitude for science. She said some of her son's former teachers and professors are aware of his involvement with the medical marijuana industry and have told her they approve. She said her relatives and many of her friends also know what he does for a living.
"I'm just glad he's in a legal environment," Carol said. "I support him in what he is doing because I know he's enjoying it and he's helping people."
Carol visited Allgreens' retail dispensary during her trip to Colorado in May. She said it was a surreal experience.
"It's really remarkable you can walk into a store that's selling marijuana," she said. "You've got to get used to it. If you're from Polk County and then you walk into a place that's legal, it's hard to make that transition."
Carol said some of Mike's high school friends envision his job as a laugh, but in reality, she said, he works long hours and takes his work quite seriously. She said she keeps up on the industry by reading online articles from the Denver Post, which has its own "marijuana news" section.
Young said the customers at his dispensary include doctors, lawyers and judges. He said buses from retirement homes sometimes show up and discharge a load of senior citizens looking to get their marijuana prescriptions filled.
Some veterans groups have argued in favor of allowing the use of marijuana to treat the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, which is common among those returning from tours of Iraq and Afghanistan.
It seems unlikely Florida will legalize the medical use of marijuana any time soon. Rep. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth) and Sen. Larcenia J. Bullard (D-Miami) introduced bills in the last state legislative session to give voters the chance to approve a constitutional amendment approving medical marijuana use, but neither bill advanced.
Young said he doesn't think his native state is receptive to the idea of easing marijuana laws.
"I think it's because cities like Miami have a lot harder stuff going on," he said. "Years ago a lot of money was coming in, a lot of cocaine money, and I think there are a lot of possibilities of it going the wrong way in Florida. I've heard Alabama is going to try it, but I think the states down there are a little too conservative. I'd move back right away if Florida said it was legal."
Though Carol would welcome that change, she said she'll be content to have her son thrive in Colorado.
"I envision him owning his own dispensary one day and being able to buy me a retirement home in the mountains," she said.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: theledger.com
Author: theledger.com
Contact: Contact Us | TheLedger.com
Website: Lakeland Native Finding Success in Colorado's Medical Marijuana Industry | TheLedger.com
When Mike Young's mother flew to Colorado to visit him in May, he gave her a tour of the horticulture production facility where he works.
Young described the way he and his co-workers carefully monitor their plants, tracking everything from the acidity of the soil to the precise mixture of nutrients applied to the crops. He also showed her the retail operation where the product of his labors is sold under such names as Banana Master, Killamanjaro and Perma Frost.
The product is marijuana.
"All I could think of was, 'Where's Grady Judd? He's going to get me,'" Young's mother said, referring to the Polk County sheriff well known for his aggressive pursuit of illegal drug operations.
But Young, a 2008 graduate of Lakeland High School, is well beyond the reach of even Judd's long arm. Were he still in his native Florida, Young's activities would make him a criminal. Some 1,500 miles away in Denver, his home for the past three years, he is a law-abiding "horticulture technician."
Colorado is one of 17 states that have departed from federal guidelines in granting some level of legality to the cultivation or use of marijuana, a drug with psychoactive properties.
Proponents say marijuana helps reduce the symptoms of dozens of ailments, including cancer, glaucoma and HIV/AIDS. Critics says marijuana has addictive properties and can lead to the abuse of more powerful drugs.
Though pot is legal in Colorado, the state has tight restrictions on the amount that can be cultivated, allowing a grower to have only six plants per medical marijuana patient. Young said the state's Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division closely enforces that rule, leaving his company vulnerable to prosecution when patients fail to submit all the required paperwork, skewing the grower's ratio of plants to patients.
Young, 22, said he hopes those anxieties will disappear this fall. In November, Colorado residents will vote on Amendment 64, a measure pushed by a group called the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol. If passed, the amendment would allow personal use and limited home-growing of marijuana by residents 21 and older.
For outfits like Allgreens, the dispensary for which Young works, the amendment would remove the maximum plant counts. While Young would like to see Amendment 64 pass, he said he hasn't gotten involved in the campaign.
"With my job, I stay as low-key as possible," he said.
When it comes to medicinal marijuana, Young is not only a provider, he's also a patient. He said he has chronic lower back and knee pain as a result of his previous experience as a busboy and a construction worker.
A doctor prescribed medicinal marijuana, and Young now has a license permitting him to have pot in both smokable and edible forms. He said he starts and ends each day by smoking a joint, and he is convinced of marijuana's healing properties.
"I wouldn't be the same person without it," he said. "I know that."
HORTICULTURE CLASSES
Young was an athletic kid in high school, running track and cross country. He also helped found a club dedicated to parkour, or free running, a pursuit that involves running and climbing over obstacles in urban settings.
After graduating from Lakeland High, Young enrolled at Florida Southern College and took classes in horticulture. At the time, he worked for a Men's Wearhouse in Lakeland. At a company function, he met the founder and former CEO of the clothing chain, George Zimmer, a proponent for legalizing marijuana.
Young said he became intrigued as he learned more about the pot industry in Colorado. When he had a chance to transfer to another store in a Denver suburb, Young left Florida Southern and moved to Colorado in 2009.
Within two months of arriving, he met a man who was establishing a marijuana dispensary and was looking for a grower. Young was hired and has been in the pot business ever since.
Young was working as a "budtender" for a mobile trim crew when he met the owner of Allgreens, who liked his work and offered him a job. Young said he is now the company's lead grower. A website listing a "menu" for Allgreens shows the dispensary carries a wide variety of marijuana strains at prices ranging from $8 a gram to $225 an ounce.
The warehouse Allgreens uses as its nursery has 10,000-watt lights programmed to mimic the diurnal cycle. Young said the nursery produces about 90 pounds of harvested leaves every six months.
Young said pot growers in Colorado have two main concerns: robberies and federal raids. He said all three of the growers for which he has worked in Colorado have been the targets of attempted robberies, and that's one of the reasons he has dropped off Facebook and taken other steps to reduce his public profile.
Young's mother, who still lives in Lakeland, said she fully supports her son's work but does worry about his safety. (She asked to be identified only by her first name, Carol, for fear that someone might wrongly assume she possesses marijuana and target her for a robbery.)
"He's in a cutting-edge industry," Carol said. "Every cutting-edge industry, I guess, has to go through its learning period and adjusting and all that."
Young said Allgreens has an extensive network of security cameras in its warehouse. He said marijuana growers cultivate good relations with local law-enforcement officials.
"We make sure the state patrol is a good friend of ours because we have a lot of break-ins that happen," he said. "The state cops are really cool with dispensaries. It is still illegal federally, and that's what we always worry about. A lot of places in California are dealing with getting raided. I'd say the reason that doesn't happen a lot over here is we're a lot more organized."
In keeping with its aura of medical legitimacy, Allgreens has its growers wear white lab coats in the nursery. Carol said she plans to sew the company's logo onto a lab coat for her son to wear at work.
A SERIOUS JOB
Carol said her son has always shown an aptitude for science. She said some of her son's former teachers and professors are aware of his involvement with the medical marijuana industry and have told her they approve. She said her relatives and many of her friends also know what he does for a living.
"I'm just glad he's in a legal environment," Carol said. "I support him in what he is doing because I know he's enjoying it and he's helping people."
Carol visited Allgreens' retail dispensary during her trip to Colorado in May. She said it was a surreal experience.
"It's really remarkable you can walk into a store that's selling marijuana," she said. "You've got to get used to it. If you're from Polk County and then you walk into a place that's legal, it's hard to make that transition."
Carol said some of Mike's high school friends envision his job as a laugh, but in reality, she said, he works long hours and takes his work quite seriously. She said she keeps up on the industry by reading online articles from the Denver Post, which has its own "marijuana news" section.
Young said the customers at his dispensary include doctors, lawyers and judges. He said buses from retirement homes sometimes show up and discharge a load of senior citizens looking to get their marijuana prescriptions filled.
Some veterans groups have argued in favor of allowing the use of marijuana to treat the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, which is common among those returning from tours of Iraq and Afghanistan.
It seems unlikely Florida will legalize the medical use of marijuana any time soon. Rep. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth) and Sen. Larcenia J. Bullard (D-Miami) introduced bills in the last state legislative session to give voters the chance to approve a constitutional amendment approving medical marijuana use, but neither bill advanced.
Young said he doesn't think his native state is receptive to the idea of easing marijuana laws.
"I think it's because cities like Miami have a lot harder stuff going on," he said. "Years ago a lot of money was coming in, a lot of cocaine money, and I think there are a lot of possibilities of it going the wrong way in Florida. I've heard Alabama is going to try it, but I think the states down there are a little too conservative. I'd move back right away if Florida said it was legal."
Though Carol would welcome that change, she said she'll be content to have her son thrive in Colorado.
"I envision him owning his own dispensary one day and being able to buy me a retirement home in the mountains," she said.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: theledger.com
Author: theledger.com
Contact: Contact Us | TheLedger.com
Website: Lakeland Native Finding Success in Colorado's Medical Marijuana Industry | TheLedger.com
