CO-OP SEEKS TO ASSIST MEDICAL-MARIJUANA FARMING

Brothers Mick and Tom Clark of the Growers 4 God medical-marijuana
cooperative are hoping to work with Las Animas County farmers to
establish medical-marijuana grow operations in the county, a
development that could require the lifting of the county's current
moratorium on any business that "sells or distributes"
medical-marijuana.

The brothers told The Times Independent that they intended to address
the county commissioners regarding the topic at their July 6 meeting.

The county first established a moratorium on medical-marijuana
businesses last November, ostensibly to allow time for the state to
solidify its regulations regarding the businesses. The moratorium was
renewed for an additional six months at the end of May. The new
regulations, signed by Gov. Bill Ritter last month, require existing
businesses to apply for a permit by Aug. 1 and pay a licensing fee.
The fee monies go into the newly created Medical-marijuana License
Cash Fund, with the fund existing to "pay for the direct and indirect
costs of the state licensing authority and the development of
application procedures and rules necessary to implement (the
regulations)."

The regulations also require dispensaries to certify by Sept. 1 that
they are cultivating at least 70 percent of the marijuana they sell.
The Clark brothers are hoping to convince the county to drop its
moratorium before that date, allowing them to recruit local farmers to
cultivate off-site grow facilities primarily for, though not limited
to, the "edible medicinals" business operated in Denver by their
daughters, Candy Girls.

The new state law requires a local nursery license for grow
operations, one specifically stating the intended crop to be
medical-marijuana.

"The way this works is we can be an off-site grower for a company like
this (Candy Girls), and they actually pay it through the co-op," Mick
Clark said. "So, with this set up, we could actually set up grow
operations with other farmers in our county here, and have them,
through the co-op, be able to find customers because we know a lot of
people in this business."

Adding, "As our co-op is established, we'd be able to take more
members, which would be actual farmers from the community."

The Clark brother emphasized that they were not interested in
establishing a dispensary in Las Animas County, only in inviting local
farmers to participate in their medical-marijuana growing cooperative.
"We're just seeking to hook up with the actual farmers out here, the
ones that are having a hard time making it," Tom Clark said. "They
could be small farmers because it's not a big facility they'd need
(for grow operations). We don't want them to get so big that they'd
attract attention, either from other people or the (federal) law."

Adding, "The way I see it, small farmers could have a small area (in
which to grow), and they could hire one or two people to work it for
them, pulling in some much needed money into their farms and the county."

The brothers said that they had run the idea privately past a few
local farmers to generally positive responses, though they had not yet
pitched the idea in a public forum. "Right now there are so many
people scrambling up in Denver because there's no way they can grow 70
percent of their stuff by themselves," Mick Clark said. "(The
dispensaries) would have the contract with the actual farmer to
deliver the goods to them...the co-op could hopefully put the farmers
together with the dispensaries."

The Clark brothers suggested that farmers, using a "small field,"
could derive about four to eight ounces of medical-marijuana per
mature plant, potentially earning a farmer $2,500 - $3,500 per pound
wholesale in Denver, with the average grow operation containing
anywhere from 300 - 800 plants. "We have a pretty good advantage down
here if people just get into it," Tom Clark said. "The main grow
operations that are going in Denver are in warehouses, and they
require an awful lot of electricity...the sun is a much better light
to grow under."

Adding, "With this scramble going on to find actual outside grow
places, about as soon as it was made public that they'd accept grow
places in this county, you'd see land values go up rather quickly."

The commissioners and county officials have voiced various opinions on
medical-marijuana-related businesses in the county. During a February
discussion on the topic, Commissioner Gary Hill had complained that, "
What the people passed (legalizing medical-marijuana in 2000) is
literally trying to make us the highest state in the union."

County Planner Robert Valdez had said at an April meeting that, "I
think personally they should just go through a pharmacist like how
every other medication is dispensed.

Commissioner Jim Montoya had said at the same meeting that, "They
should just do it like alcohol, and sell it anywhere and tax the crap
out of it."

The Clark brothers also presented the grow operations as having the
potential to be far more economically stable over a long period of
time than, for example, the oil and gas industry, whose countywide
slowdown since late 2008 is expected to result in a halving next year
of county tax revenues.

"If I were the county, I would say, 'let's do it and let's charge them
a fair-sized fee to get started,'" Mick Clark said. "(The county
government) needs money so badly, why not charge a couple thousand
just to get started (with a grow operation)?"