Going to California

greetings and blessings
some further thoughts on this worthy subject

regarding oaksterdam u. - like missmj i was a bit predisposed to guess that it was a more exploitative than real enterprise. stopped in there for the first time yesterday and was really knockt out with how heartical and substantial it is. i bet that it would benefit anyone who takes part in it. they are just starting a semester program (meeting 1x/wk for a few months) and have also just added a "student union" space in a building across the street so participants can get together in between times

btw while in there i met very memorable young man named adam who rents bikes in oaksterdam (Oaksterdam Bike Rental, 410 15th St., 510-290-1883) does a pedicab business (OaksterCabs), and contributes to the u. bless this young man, as his efforts do for others! and keep an eye for his big smile if youre in that neighborhood, a trustworthy elder-in-the-making he is

one interesting aspect about a place/phenomenon like oaksterdam u., as may be obvious to many, is that by teaching how to do any and everything, and by bringing others or many others into the business, they may be seen as weakening the position of those who have benefitted from high prices fueled by prohibition. so they are ticking people off on both sides of the issue! to put it one way, eddy lepp's vision of plentiful good 500$/lb marijuana is not the vision that, say, many of the folks in and out of the local hydro shop, or many of the vendors at the clubs, or many of my friends putting their kidz thru school, are hoping to see come true.
i've always said, at trim tables for instance, that id be doing the same things each year even if there were no commercial market for marijuana. that typically gets a cold reaction which surprised me at first. i guess a person's expectations of this plant do have a lot of impact on how they experience it.

fwiw i think that similar to wine, freedom for mj would mean that there's an ample market for a "6$ bottle" and just as much for a "$100 bottle". if you aren't into wine you may not be aware how easy it is to sell 100$ bottles of wine if it's super fuckin good. certainly some parts of that price spectrum might tend to get clogged with too much product but in general there's people that want a whole range of different stuff, if you can find them and they can find you. which is a beautiful feature of the dispensaries for sure

some of the dispensaries offer classes and get togethers on a variety of subjects...including growing herbs. had the chance to see the white-board at the harborside dispensary
http://harborsidehealthcenter.com/moreinfo.htm
not too far from the little "oaksterdam district" blocks of downtown (fantastic place; definitely among the finest we've seen) left over from a growing class and they go into some depth! it would also probably benefit just about anyone to attend one of these.
working at or visiting a place like harborside would be a great education/must-see for anyone wanting to do similarly, anywhere else in the us!

on further reflection and after another trip around the bay area i think that a voyage like missmj was wondering about is possible, especially if you could allow a month or so for best results. take/rent a vehicle you can sleep and eat out of? i'm pretty sure that it is possible to get a prescription more or less upon arrival if you go to the "right place" wherever that is...

one interesting factor is how much the dispensaries (and everything ellse in this business) varies from one enterprise to another. there is the most amazing range of variation. some are great, some are fine, some are icky. ones that seem icky to me may be just what others are looking for...? some are different on different days, some are operated with amazing dedication
here's one list statewide
http://westcoastcannabis.com/page/collective-guide
we use the printed version from each issue of this publication to navigate around...
in the printed version they list some recommended ones at the top of the list, which we've found really helpful
you see also alot of delivery services on there

if i was someone like missmj i would try calling up as many of the dispensaries as seem possibly attractive to you, trying to find out when you could reach the owner or manager at a time when they aren't too busy, and just tell em whet you want to do. i bet somebody would be willing to bring you in for a short internship or let you watch for a day, especially after meeting you or whatever, if you are persistent and find the right person/wavelength, if only because what unifies all these businesses as far as i can see is how different they are from each other! it certainly wouldn't hurt everywhere you go if they had talked to you before anyhow and are expecting you! we have found amazing hospitality and fast friendships in our favorite dispensaries, and wanted to get away from others quickly
you can find out in a general way which places seem to have integrity from reading what folks say about them online (w/ grains of salt)

if none of that comes together beforehand i'd come anyway and tour the dispensaries after getting a prescription and a patient id card. shouldn't take more than a week to get that together in a populous area; could be real hard in a less populated county

one thing id say about visiting dispensaries generally: if you go expecting/intending to "like" all the staff, and you can act friendly and pleasant, you will probably find that they are all pretty kewl folks. some places have a "hard" front to them and it can be intimidating at first, but that usually melts away and you can appreciate that the various kinds of exposure to "the street" understandably make the folks who work there nervous. for example. but the folks in the clubs frequently respond with real gratitude if you can do simple things like learn and remember their names and say "thank you, you are nice" or words to that effect. like anybody i guess!

best wishes to all who wish to advance the craft...
stuff that's happening in this state now seemed impossible 20 years ago, so go ahead and vision the future we need and deserve it to be!

 

unless there's "clone farmers markets" where you live....
http://www.goodkarmagrowers.com/clonemenu.html
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=46616&page=21
maybe you can't get 'em home but that's a nice country picnic !

just remember you need that 'scrip' first
then if you take that cali prescription, and a california id (you can get one at the dmv--or a drivers license-- if you have a good mailing address) you can also obtain a patient id card from the "patient id card center" (good name right?)
http://www.patientidcenter.org/
having that card helps a lot too - currently 40$

while the official id card/d.l. from the dmv would take a couple/few weeks to arrive in the mail, the piece of paper you get from the day of your dmv visit is currently good enuf at the patient id center and also at many dispensaries (of course in combination with your 'scrip'), that wouldn't be able to service you or let you in at all if you have a local prescription but only out-of-state id...

c-l-o-n-e f-a-r-m-e-r-s m-a-r-k-e-t . . . . .
great balls o fire!

 

I live an hour north of San Francisco and visited Humboldt a couple of months ago with a friend (we're thinking of going there for our junior and senior years for college) and we talked to the people there. It's DAMN expensive there, but there are surrounding areas that aren't as expensive. However, anywhere in CA is gonna run you.

 

some good updates on oaksterdam - drug truth network's dean becker has been broadcasting from oakland this week
find the 2/24 and 2/25 podcasts of Cultural baggage and Century of Lies at www.drugtruth.net.
he may have another show or two coming from oaktown or elsewhere in california before going back to texas - any way his shows are always good so keep it in your poddarium

 

If you want to grow a lot of marijuana then Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity county will be your best place. Really easy to grow a large amount of marijuana in these areas.

If you want to open up a dispensary I would look in the Bay Area and further south.

I haven't done a lot of research into opening a dispensary or anything but like someone else said the clubs up in humboldt are locked up.

A good time to be a dispensary. No more DEA raids!

 

Smoked my stuff and drank....allllllll my wine.

 

Last I heard they were pulling smash and grabs. Destroying computers and cameras while taking cash and meds. No arrests.

Has this stopped? I thought this was one of the scariest times to be a dispensary. Even the delivery services have been targeted.

 

You haven't been paying attention. The new Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder, has confirmed President Obama's campaign promise that there will be no more DEA Raids on MMJ co-ops or dispensaries.

 

Wow!

Good news can travel slow! Thanks

 

I just enrolled at Oaksterdam, I'll be going to the basic weekend workshop the first weekend in April, I'll let everyone know how it goes.

I too have a passion for the beautiful cannabis plant and want to make a career in the industry, unfortunately I live in Utah and its not an option here. I want to move to northern cali to grow but I'm starting to think the Emerald Triangle has way too much heat and compitition these days. I need to live in an apartment or something around $1200 a month, does anyone have any suggestions? I was thinking Sonoma or Santa Cruz county, does anyone know what the heat is like there? Are the landlords naturally suspicious like they are in Humbolt or Mendo? And how hard is it to find a reliable broker, dispensory or someone to sell to?

Also, does anyone know how much you can get caught cultivating in Cali before getting time in prison? 100 plants? I'm also considering moving to Oregon or Colorado, does anyone know anything about the laws in those states? I just want to play as safe as possible. But I NEED to start growing because I had some medical issues with no health insurance and now have a mountain of credit card debt that will never be paid off without finding a way to make some extra cash.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

I say head to San Fran first and foremost and stay at the Cozy Castro Cottage. Learn from the master himself, the father of California's MMJ movement, Dennis Peron! He'll show the ropes and a good time in Frisco, that's for sure!

 

good idea MissMJ

will you document your experience at Oaksterdam-Ann Arbor here on grasscity? i'd love to hear about it

if you get back to thinking of coming out to the west coast, whompwhomperson's idea sounds good- maybe during the Wonders of cannabis exhibit in October

 

OMG! There's a class in Ann Arbor??? That is awesome. It's a hell of a lot closer to me than California.... but still a good 2 hr drive. Plus, how much $$ is it?

I really want to do this now! But I have a feeling it won't work out. We're too poor for me to drive back and forth all the time, plus the fee for the class, AND childcare!

Do you know if this Ann Arbor version will be held all the time, or is it a one-time event only? Because perhaps in the future I would be able to go. Hopefully anyway.
Thanks,
~Peacebaby

 

peacebaby/midwesterners here's a link to ou's michigan page

http://www.oaksterdamuniversity.com/michigan.html

some may already know, but i don't see anything yet promising more, specifically, than this seminar. but i would bet that enthusiasm and commitment by participants could make a full-fledged ou-aa a reality.
oaksterdam are smart and good people you can have confidence in
& ann arbor sounds like a gr8 place to go to cannabis college
can anyone speculate about where the "humboldt"s of michigan are/will be?
the upper peninsula ?
as i recall the upper midwest, it could be an awesome place to live with legal cannabis
... woulda thot wisconsin would be leading the field on this issue (anybody been to the madison hempfest? i'd like to go to one of those, what a kewl town). eventually: wi mi and mn together in a sea of green

one project-idea for midwestern ganja: develop excellent ganja *brewskies* for the ultimate brat fests