Potpreneur: Is there a future for “Med Pot”?

Written by Damir Perge, edited by Jana Arnold, Entrepreneurdex

Pot, Weed, Bud, Kush, Dank, Dope, Marijuana. It seems like there are more nick names for Cannabis than nicknames for a certain male private part. During my high school days, it was simple: We just called it pot, weed or dope. It’s weird writing this article because I’ve never done illegal drugs. I’ve watched friends smoke it but I never had the desire to try it. And I’m not some goody-two-shoes. I don’t believe in illegal drugs. Why? I’m high on life as it is. I don’t need them. But what you do isn’t my problem.

However, having a venture capital background, I became fascinated with analyzing the “pot business.” It started when, after my recent car accident, one of my friends suggested I use pot as medicine for the continuous pain in my ribs, sternum and knees. I told my friend, “If I didn’t do it in high school or college, why the f#@% would I do it now?”

Med Pot, aka selling pot as a medical solution to health patients, is controversial but it’s here to stay. The wave toward national legalization continues to pick up stream. This potentially big business is “growing like a weed” but the outcome is unmistakably uncertain. The Med Pot business got its break when the Justice Department agreed to comply with President Barack Obama's campaign statement that federal agents would no longer target med-pot dealers who comply with the state law.

As a result, California has the potential to become another Amsterdam. We may have to change the name of the state to Californiadam¹ if it helps Californians get out of the state’s financial mess by levying taxes on it. I lived in Silicon Valley and there’s no doubt California is one of the key states that sets the tone in fashion, innovation and new ideas… and now Med Pot.

Med Pot has been brewing in California for quite some time. It gained momentum in 1996 when state voters decreed that Californians had a right to use marijuana for any illness -- from cancer to anorexia to any other condition it might help. But supplying "med pot" remained risky. The ballot measure didn't specify who could sell it or how. The state provided few guidelines, leaving local governments to impose a patchwork of restrictions. Above all, because pot possession remained illegal under U.S. law, sellers had to worry about federal raids.² continued

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²With Med Pot Raids Halted, Selling Grass Grows Greener, By JUSTIN SCHECK and STU WOO, WSJ, July 23, 2009.