YOUNG VETERAN ORGANIZES COOPERATIVE FOR DISTRIBUTION

GARDINER -- A young veteran has organized a cooperative of medical
marijuana growers and patients, saying clients have dubbed him "a
pioneer" of Maine's budding new industry.

Robert Rosso, 25, of Gardiner, and other local growers have organized
Kennebec Healing, a business that delivers hydroponic marijuana grown
in three locations to 14 patients from Waterville to Windham.

"Some of my higher-class patients tell me, 'You're blazing the trails
for medical marijuana'," he said. "I've had people call me a pioneer."

Since 1999, the state has allowed the prescription and limited
possession of medical marijuana for a certain list of conditions. But
it was not until a November 2009 referendum that the state was
prompted to create a new, formal method of legal distribution that has
put Rosso and others like him into a new class of "potrepreneurs."

Maine patients can apply for a medical marijuana identification card
issued by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services that
allows them to possess 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana if obtained from
one of three sources: 13 state-licensed dispensaries, many of which
have yet to open; one's own garden; or a state-registered
"caregiver."

Dispensaries are allowed to sell a given patient 2.5 ounces of
marijuana per 15-day period. Someone growing his or her own can have
up to 2.5 ounces and six plants -- only three of which may be flowering.

Rosso, his business partners and some of their family members belong
to the third class of provider: the individually licensed caregiver.
These people can legally provide marijuana to no more than five
patients with proper documentation, and are allowed to produce only
2.5 ounces and six plants for each patient served.

The law does not prohibit a group of caregivers from banding together
to share knowledge. But in doing so, they cannot exceed the amount of
harvested marijuana allowed by law.

As such, nonprofits such as Compassionate Caregivers of Maine, which
connects patients to a network of caregivers without selling marijuana
on its own, are legal.

And so, on the surface, are groups such as Kennebec Healing, which go
a step further -- aiming to offer patients advice, networking and a
wide array of marijuana varieties.

Rosso has plans to establish a website for the business soon, where
patients registered with the state can shop online with unique login
information to see what types of medication are in stock.

It would be a closed network -- the general public would not be
allowed in.

John Thiele, program director in charge of the medical marijuana
program's day-to-day administration, said growers who combine
knowledge -- not resources -- are within the letter of the law.

"The main thing is that they don't join their grow or their harvest,"
he said.

Potrepreneurialism

Rosso and his main partner, who declined to be identified for this
story, formed a co-op after both broke into individual caretaking.

An Army veteran honorably discharged after a major injury in July
2009, Rosso said he began growing marijuana for personal use in the
summer of 2010 to manage pain.

"It has made my life a lot better," he said. "A lot of people think
these people are hippies and stoners. That's not it at all."

He said they help each other with technology in their harvest areas,
but that their crops are kept separately.

"I have mine in my location. I do mine," Rosso said. "He has
his."

Rosso's partner's location is in a home in a residential neighborhood
just outside Windham. He did not want the specific location revealed
for fear of robbery.

In January 2011, Rosso quit his job at a Lewiston post office to focus
on this business.

Before being contacted by a reporter, he said only family and his
partner knew he was in the business.

He said he has not made "a dime" yet, but will -- once he has more
equipment and a larger network of patients.

Rosso expects to make at least $40,000 per year, working part
time.

But, he warned that growing marijuana for patients, which includes a
12-week period between seed and first harvest, has high startup costs
and is "not a get-rich-quick scheme."

"I have spent enough money on this to buy a brand new car," Rosso
said. "To do it right -- what I consider right -- for five patients
. you're talking $25 (thousand) to $30,000."

According to Rosso, many patients the co-op serves are unable to leave
home, so he makes a point to deliver marijuana directly to all clients.

"There is no reason you should have to drive to me. You're trusting me
with your plants," he said. "That would be sort of the street
mentality that I'm against."

Nipped in the bud?

Rosso demonstrated his partner's operation in the Windham area
recently.

It involves a cloning process in which a segment of a mature plant is
cut off, placed into a growing medium then replanted, which eventually
leads to an exact copy of the "mother" plant.

One upstairs bedroom is used for harvesting the clones. Another
bedroom is used for "vegging" the young plants -- basically the
growing stage between sprouting and flowering.

Once plants flower, they are moved to the basement, where a "flowering
room" utilizes state-of-the-art growing technology including LED
lights, a reverse osmosis watering system, air filtration and climate
and carbon dioxide controls.

The scent of marijuana is not present in the room. From the outside,
the house -- though vacant of people and purchased specifically for
marijuana growing, according to Rosso -- seems like any other in the
area.

But the group's formation comes at a time of great uncertainty for
those cultivating, procuring and monitoring medical marijuana -- in
Maine and the 14 other states and the District of Columbia that allow
it.

In 2009, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder directed federal
prosecutors not to pursue cases against medical marijuana patients in
states where voters approved it.

But in recent weeks, the federal government has apparently done an
about-face. Federal prosecutors have sent letters warning officials in
Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington state
to back away from plans to liberalize medical marijuana laws.

In Washington, Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, cited those
letters when she recently vetoed a medical marijuana bill she
previously supported.

So while marijuana is considered a harmful and illegal drug by the
federal government, states' acceptance of it as a new agricultural
industry -- whose national earnings have recently been projected at
$1.7 billion in 2011 by an independent financial analysis firm -- has
been thrown into jeopardy.

"You're counting on the grace of God and the federal government to
leave you alone," said Gregory Braun, an Otisfield-based criminal
defense and business attorney who advised Rosso. "That's a lot of
faith to place in a government,"

Meanwhile, in the Legislature, Rep. Deborah Sanderson, R-Chelsea, has
sponsored L.D. 1296, "An Act to Act To Amend the Maine Medical Use of
Marijuana Act To Protect Patient Privacy," which would loosen some
restrictions on medical marijuana in Maine -- making patient
registration optional, preventing municipalities from putting
unreasonable burdens on caregivers and expanding the list of
qualifying conditions.

But the bill also would allow a crackdown to prohibit collectives from
sharing resources -- either money or marijuana.

The bill received an "ought to pass" vote in committee
Tuesday.

Sanderson said other states with medical marijuana laws have had
problems with licensed people illegally combining their efforts,
though she admitted she had not heard of any such instance in Maine.

Sanderson said she "would hope" the proposed bill would not prohibit
companies such as Kennebec Healing from operating, as long as
patients' grows are kept to separate caregivers.

"That was one of the prohibitions that Maine doesn't have," Sanderson
said. "It doesn't hurt to be proactive."

Darrell Crandall, division commander for the Maine Drug Enforcement
Agency, said he has seen no related impact on law enforcement in Maine
since the new federal letters.

"We make sure we are only targeting people in violation of (state)
law," he said. "Is it more time-consuming and difficult to do that
now? Yes. But we are taking the time necessary to do so."

Crandall said he has handled cases where people found possessing
marijuana have claimed they were doing so under medical marijuana
laws, but were caught lying upon investigation.

Dazed, confused

According to Rosso, he has had two instances in which he declined to
work with a potential client because he or she wanted to receive more
than the legal amount of marijuana.

"I deal with almost every patient at the beginning and screen them
all," he said. "I honestly don't believe we have a patient that
doesn't need medication."

But attorney Braun said unaddressed loopholes in Maine law can leave
caretakers in legal jeopardy.

He gave an example of a caretaker who grows and harvests 2.5 ounces
for himself and 2.5 for a patient. This would put the caregiver
technically over the aforementioned legal amount until he sold the
excess to patients.

"The moment they harvest it, they're in violation of Maine law," Braun
said.

Rosso and Braun said many prospective medical marijuana patients
express confusion about Maine laws.

"The state says what these people can do and then drops them off,"
Rosso said. "You wouldn't even believe it. I can guarantee I answer
more phone calls and emails than the state does about this."

Braun said he receives calls from people simply asking for explanation
of the laws.

"Most of what I do is answer calls and provide advice," he said. "Many
can't figure it out and don't know what it means."

Thiele, the state program director, said his office has handled an
increasing number of inquiries regarding the law.

"In the last couple of weeks, we've seen an uptick in calls," he
said.

According to Braun, many doctors in Maine have shied away from
prescribing marijuana to patients.

He only knew of "three or four" advertising they are prescribing it
and said reasons why could be stigma or the relative youth of the law.

"There's a fear in many doctors that patients may be drug seekers," he
said.

But patients from all walks of life, from business class to the very
poor, are served by the co-op, Rosso said.

The rapport built with them is a distinguishing strength of his
business, Rosso said. "Long-term relationships" are the goal, he said.

"One time, I delivered (marijuana) at 12:30 a.m. to a patient who
couldn't sleep because he was having seizures.

"He was all embarrassed, and I said, 'Don't worry about it. I can go
back to sleep'," he said. "I served my country. I'm about helping people."