LAS VEGAS -- James Parsons has anxiety. He copes and feels better legally with medical marijuana. This second generation Marine is also a businessman. He wants to help you grow pot.
Parsons appears to be the first of his kind in the city of Las Vegas: a licensed medical marijuana consultant. He can legally sell you piping, buckets, fertilizer and his expertise. But he can't sell you marijuana.
The state and cities have no rules allowing the sale of medical pot. So the question is, where to get it?
Parsons wants to create a system for dispensaries in Las Vegas -- shops for legal cardholders only. It's happening elsewhere, just not in Nevada.
"Everybody's defense is, 'Over in California they do this,'" he said.
It isn't that southern California is more permissive to pot, they just understand that medical marijuana is a big business. And the same rule applies: buy low, sell "the high." Which leads to the Universal Herbal Center and Khalid Almudarris.
His dispensary has been open since 2006. He pays taxes on what he sells, and the prices are reasonable for patients for Indicas and Exotic Sativas -- from $20 a gram to $60 an eighth.
His shop follows the strict guidelines recently put into play in L.A. Security and cameras are critical. His business also has to be 1,000 feet from a church, park or school. L.A. also capped the dispensaries to just around 100, shutting down hundreds in the process. Almudarris survived, and welcomes the scrutiny.
"It's great. The more we can work with them, the more head on we are, the more open we can be about everything, the better it is for us and the better it is for everybody else," he said.
That openness is missing back in Las Vegas. Getting politicians to talk about allowing dispensaries isn't easy. Most politicians anyway.
"It would appear to me that this is a very legitimate goal," said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.
The outspoken mayor has even bandied about support for prostitution. He sees an untapped market with medical marijuana and the taxes to go along with it.
"If doctors say that it does a patient some good and gives relief to somebody that has a dire need for it, I'm all for it," he said.
Which may be why Parsons can set the trend.
"I'm asking to use a non- toxic, non-lethal plant for medical purposes," he said. "Somebody needs to get back in their little room, pick the pens back up and let's finish what we didn't finish 10 years ago. It's that easy."
Parsons isn't totally sold on L.A.-style dispensaries in Las Vegas. He and Almudarris don't like how the L.A. rules keep changing and shifting. They say if las vegas politicians in the county or at the city want to really tackle this problem, there is way -- those in power just need to willing to take that leap.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: KLAS-TV 8 News NOW
Copyright: 2010 WorldNow and KLAS
Parsons appears to be the first of his kind in the city of Las Vegas: a licensed medical marijuana consultant. He can legally sell you piping, buckets, fertilizer and his expertise. But he can't sell you marijuana.
The state and cities have no rules allowing the sale of medical pot. So the question is, where to get it?
Parsons wants to create a system for dispensaries in Las Vegas -- shops for legal cardholders only. It's happening elsewhere, just not in Nevada.
"Everybody's defense is, 'Over in California they do this,'" he said.
It isn't that southern California is more permissive to pot, they just understand that medical marijuana is a big business. And the same rule applies: buy low, sell "the high." Which leads to the Universal Herbal Center and Khalid Almudarris.
His dispensary has been open since 2006. He pays taxes on what he sells, and the prices are reasonable for patients for Indicas and Exotic Sativas -- from $20 a gram to $60 an eighth.
His shop follows the strict guidelines recently put into play in L.A. Security and cameras are critical. His business also has to be 1,000 feet from a church, park or school. L.A. also capped the dispensaries to just around 100, shutting down hundreds in the process. Almudarris survived, and welcomes the scrutiny.
"It's great. The more we can work with them, the more head on we are, the more open we can be about everything, the better it is for us and the better it is for everybody else," he said.
That openness is missing back in Las Vegas. Getting politicians to talk about allowing dispensaries isn't easy. Most politicians anyway.
"It would appear to me that this is a very legitimate goal," said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.
The outspoken mayor has even bandied about support for prostitution. He sees an untapped market with medical marijuana and the taxes to go along with it.
"If doctors say that it does a patient some good and gives relief to somebody that has a dire need for it, I'm all for it," he said.
Which may be why Parsons can set the trend.
"I'm asking to use a non- toxic, non-lethal plant for medical purposes," he said. "Somebody needs to get back in their little room, pick the pens back up and let's finish what we didn't finish 10 years ago. It's that easy."
Parsons isn't totally sold on L.A.-style dispensaries in Las Vegas. He and Almudarris don't like how the L.A. rules keep changing and shifting. They say if las vegas politicians in the county or at the city want to really tackle this problem, there is way -- those in power just need to willing to take that leap.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: KLAS-TV 8 News NOW
Copyright: 2010 WorldNow and KLAS
