NEW WEST MARIN MEDICAL MARIJUANA BUSINESS STRIVES FOR LEGITIMACY

With the state's unemployment rate topping 12 percent and government
leaders desperate for jobs and tax revenue, four West Marin
entrepreneurs think they have part of the answer.

Their new business, Medi-Cone, employs about a dozen people in the
cultivation, harvesting and packaging of medical marijuana for
several Bay Area dispensaries.

"This is a home business, but we're growing fast," said Matthew
Witemyre, the company's chief of staff.

The operation is cloaked in secrecy: The man who owns the West Marin
house where the business is situated didn't want the exact location
or his identity revealed due to twin security concerns: thieves and
federal drug agents. He noted that even though he is abiding by the
state's medical marijuana law, growing marijuana remains a federal offense.

He said he financed the business with money he made with another
successful, mainstream venture. He met his partners -- Witemyre; Jeff
Studdard, a former Los Angeles County police officer; and Joseph
Gubernatis -- while attending classes at Oaksterdam University in Oakland.

Founded in 2007 by Richard Lee, Oaksterdam University is basically a
trade school for the medical marijuana industry. Oaksterdam is a
district on the north end of downtown Oakland where medical cannabis
can be purchased at a variety of cafes, clubs and dispensaries.

"We all went through the program at Oaksterdam University," Witemyre
said. "I was a teacher there for about a year."

Recently, the group invited representatives from the United Food and
Commercial Workers Union, Local 5, to organize the members of the collective.

"Every one of our employees and board members are patients or
caregivers," Witemyre said.

"I want them paid well," said the West Marin homeowner. "I want them
to have good benefits. I want them to have a 401(k). I want it to be
a real job, not one where the owner is making all the money and
everybody gets used and shoved out. The union is the best way to do that."

Medi-Cone employees are paid an average of $25 an hour.

Dan Rush, the union's director of special operations, said Local 5
previously organized the 200 employees that work for S.K. Seymour,
the holding company for most of the Oaksterdam businesses. Local 5
has 32,000 members in California and represents many grocery and food
processing workers.

"Welcome to the birth of an industry," Rush said.

Witemyre said Medi-Cone's success is not dependent on passage of
Proposition 19, which would legalize recreational use of marijuana
for adults in California.

"We're medical cannabis providers, when Prop. 19 passes we're going
to be medical cannabis providers. That's our business plan," Witemyre said.

Medi-Cone grows most of its pot in indoor grow rooms situated behind
the West Marin house. But it has a sizable number of plants outside
on the spacious patio.

"All my neighbors know what I'm doing here," the homeowner said.

Witemyre said Medi-Cone is producing 500 to 600 cigarettes a day from
20 to 25 varieties of marijuana. The marijuana is various hybrids of
sativa and indica that sell under such names as Trainwreck, Hawaiian
Haze Afgoo and Grand Daddy Purple -- winner of Oaksterdam
University's Cannabis Cup for the best marijuana last year.

Rush said, "They have the best cannabis in the industry and everybody
knows it."

The growers say they are trying to be as organic as possible: The
plants are all grown hydroponically in a medium consisting of ground
coconut shells; only organic fertilizers are used and pesticides
along with pesticides that have been judged safe for human
consumption. The finished product is tested in an Oakland lab to
determine its cannabinoid profile and to detect any molds or pathogenic fungus.

Witemyre said, "We're trying to set best practices and do some self
regulation because we know as this industry comes on line there is
going to be regulations placed on it by governing bodies. We'd rather
help set the standards than be playing catch-up."

Medi-Cone -- so-named for the cone-shaped marijuana cigarettes it
produces -- grinds the buds produced by its plants and uses them to
make large cigarettes that sell for $15 to $16 each. Witemyre said an
ounce of top-quality buds currently retails for about $400.

Witemyre wouldn't say exactly how many plants Medi-Cone has or what
they're worth, but he said it works with fewer than 100. He said a
state law passed in 2003 to clarify the law governing how many plants
medical marijuana growers can have specified six adult plants and
eight ounces of buds. But Witemyre said a recent court decision found
those limits to be unconstitutional.

"We're operating as a cooperative," Witemyre said. "Patients in
California can cooperatively or collectively come together to grow
medicine for each other and distribute it to each other."

Medi-Cone's marijuana is sold at the Marin Alliance for Medical
Marijuana in Fairfax and at the Blue Sky Coffee Shop in Oaksterdam.

"We are only in permitted licensed dispensaries," Witemyre said, "and
we have reciprocal agreements wherein they're joining our collective
and we're joining theirs."

Marin County Sheriff Bob Doyle said neither he nor any of his
officers knew anything about Medi-Cone.

"I don't know if that is lawful or not," Doyle said. "Collectives
have sort of been exempt from the law because there is an assumption
that people are growing it for each other and not selling it. I would
have to check with the district attorney's office.

"I don't know where it is," he said. "I'm certainly not going to send
deputies to comb West Marin to find it."

In addition to its joints, Medi-Cone sells hash and bagged marijuana.

Witemyre said, "We're hoping to have a full integrated line under the
Medi-Cone label."