YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS EAGER TO TAP INTO SAGINAW'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA MARKET

SAGINAW -- Launching their first retail business in Saginaw's
sometimes-controversial and untapped medical marijuana market made
sense to two 20-something entrepreneurs from Reese.

High school friends Keith E. Beyerlein, 25, of Reese, who graduated
from Reese High School in 2003, and Christopher J. Krieger, 28, a
2001 graduate, opened their new hydroponics business, GrowMart, 2135
Warwick in Saginaw, in mid-July.

The store doesn't sell marijuana or paraphernalia.

The state's medical marijuana industry is expected to eclipse $2
billion per year, Beyerlein said his market research indicates, and
it didn't take him long to convince friend and fellow investor,
Krieger, it was a smart industry to crack.

"Medical marijuana is going to help every aspect of the economy,"
Beyerlein said. "Money's going to start flowing. Electricians (who
wire growing operations) are going to go to work, it's going to
create a lot of jobs, not just the growers but the people to sustain
the growers."

Neatly stacked upon the shelves of their shop, with its
commercial-grade carpet and promotional posters from their
wholesalers on the off-white walls, are filters, piping, reflectors,
ballasts, bulbs and soil, all the equipment required for an indoor
growing system.

Start-up systems can cost nearly $7,000, Beyerlein said.

Nothing in the store promotes cannabis growth -- no tie-dye, "tobacco
pipes" or incense.

The equipment could be used just as easily to grow indoor tomatoes,
but Krieger isn't shy about identifying the target market.

"Over 85 percent of our sales are to medical marijuana patients and
caretakers," Krieger said.

That was the plan.

"During the Gold Rush, people made their money selling pick-axes and
jeans," Beyerlein said. "This is it right now. This is the market to be in."

After graduation, Beyerlein moved to Thailand and worked as a scuba
instructor for about four years, then moved to Florida, where he was
installing hurricane-safe windows and doors until, he said, the
market dried up.

He made a trip back to Saginaw, not intending to stay long, but after
discussing business prospects his old friend, he decided to stay.

Krieger said he was the high school quarterback, and with his wife,
Megan Krieger, has children ages 10, 3 and 3 months old.

He attended Saginaw Valley State University to bowl on the
university's team for two semesters, but dropped out after he
couldn't make grades, struggling with a math class.

"We don't fit into normal, we're not 9-to-5 jobbers," Krieger said.
"From the minute we wake up to the minute we go to bed, we just live
our lives."

The following year, Krieger started his first business, Midland-based
Duperon Education, a curriculum to teach innovation and
entrepreneurship, with his inventor and entrepreneur father-in-law,
Terry Duperon, owner of Duperon Corp., 515 N. Washington in Saginaw.

The college dropout found himself at the place he'd just left, in a
classroom at SVSU, watching his father-in-law teach while he handled
the management side of their new education business.

Beyerlein and Krieger aren't concerned that GrowMart is catering to a
clientele that some people associate with drug addiction.

They say it's the furthest thing from the truth.

Last week a 23-year-old woman came in with her boyfriend and wanted
to grow marijuana in preparation for the extensive chemotherapy
cancer treatment she was about to undertake, Krieger said.

Beyerlein described another customer, a retired Delphi Corp. employee
who'd just lost his wife, had his pension chopped in half and most of
his retirement benefits taken away, who was looking for something he
could do to occupy his time while making a few dollars.

Michigan's medical marijuana law states: A registered primary
caregiver may receive compensation for costs associated with
assisting a registered qualifying patient in the medical use of
marihuana. Any such compensation shall not constitute the sale of
controlled substances.

"The older generation was taught the stuff was the devil, but really
it's safer than aspirin," Beyerlein said. "I believe there are two
people that are against it: One, people that are uninformed, or drug
dealers who don't want their market to disappear."

Krieger and Beyerlein said they haven't butted heads with local
government, despite talk earlier this year of a six-month moratorium
on medical marijuana-related businesses in the city, an effort
Saginaw officials cast aside after citizens voiced dissent.

Both owners said some potential customers remain out of reach out of
their own fear about what government might do.

And many who do enter their store do so with hesitation, they said.

"They're fearful to go get their medicine," Beyerlein said. "I don't
think people should have to feel nervous about getting something that
benefits their health."