Weed Takes Root

Marijuana's steady creep toward legalization nationwide

A A A Comments By Dave Ferrell Wednesday, Jan 6 2010

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A new class is in session at Oaksterdam, a how-to about opening and running medical-marijuana dispensaries. Dark-haired, bespectacled lecturer Don Duncan, a prominent pot man due to his lobbying efforts at Los Angeles City Hall and his ownership of a busy outlet in West Hollywood, warns a room of rapt students to be mindful of the rules. After federal agents raided his business in 2007, he says, the state Board of Equalization slapped a lien on his house for nonpayment of taxes.

"Don't mess with those guys," he says. Pay your taxes. Pay your rent on time. Don't drive a Bentley and take 'round-the-world vacations if you're running a nonprofit collective, "but if you earn a healthy salary because you work hard, that's okay. That's actually a very patriotic and American way of life."

Reuters/Robert Galbraith/NewsCom

Oaksterdam’s students are at the forefront of a new industry as cities look to tax medical marijuana dispensaries.

NewsCom

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano’s proposed legislation would tax and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol.

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Next to speak is Robert A. Raich, a leading marijuana attorney with a halolike crown of white hair. He gets down to the nitty-gritty of applying for business licenses. Medical marijuana is still illegal in the eyes of the federal government, even if the Obama administration is backing away from enforcement. So be creative when you have to fill out forms describing what you plan to sell, he says.

"Let me give you some truthful euphemisms," offers Raich, who seems to delight in presenting them: medicinal herbs, Chinese herbs, cut flowers, dried flowers. "You don't want to lie to the government," he says cheerfully. "You just don't want to give them too much information."