Caregivers Overage Path To Market

[Restorium2]

Fresh Information;

If there are any caregivers that have overages they would like to get on the dispensary shelves Choice Labs is where you start.

Contact info;

https://choicelabs.com/

I'm not affiliated with Choice Labs in any way. Just got information from an honest source that knows what is going on. 

[shishka]

Yes, Maxwell at Choice has been great to work with. 

Just had them move a batch thru the system, extremely professional.

I would recommend getting a full panel of tests before thinking of going this route. Once Choice has it tested (mandatory) if it fails they may have no choice but to destroy your product.

 

[Kingdiamond]

What kind of offers are they making per ounce not that i have enough to move anyways  lately I have not been able to keep pace with my patients.

[shishka]

1 hour ago, Kingdiamond said:

What kind of offers are they making per ounce not that i have enough to move anyways  lately I have not been able to keep pace with my patients.

That is between you and the shop that will be purchasing your product. Choice is not really buying it they are helping caregivers that have requests from provisioning centers although even Choice is looking for good flower for their PC’s. 

 

Keep in mind testing is $400 and you also have to pay for transport from their processing plant to the provisioning center it ends up at. 

[Restorium2]

Call Choice and they will fill you in. 

From what I have been hearing the dispensaries are paying up to $150 an ounce from caregivers. As low as $30.

Way better to find your own consumers. Legalization has opened up the market quite a bit. 

I feel sorry for growers who have to cast their cannabis out into this regulated market. Sad. Must live under a rock.

That's why ANOTHER middleman in the chain, (Dave, the guy who tried to squeeze his butt in here with a 'big idea' last week comes to mind) is such a bad joke.  

[Restorium2]

12 hours ago, Kingdiamond said:

What kind of offers are they making per ounce not that i have enough to move anyways  lately I have not been able to keep pace with my patients.

You are doing the best you ever will, having your own patients that buy it all. Low overhead. No middleman. No testing. The sweet spot. 

Best thing going for growers and consumers alike. Just like it always has been. The more things change the more they stay the same.

The Golden Rule; You grow great cannabis and know great cannabis people you are golden. You don't need any help.

 

 

[shishka]

1 hour ago, Restorium2 said:

Call Choice and they will fill you in. 

From what I have been hearing the dispensaries are paying up to $150 an ounce from caregivers. As low as $30.

Way better to find your own consumers. Legalization has opened up the market quite a bit. 

I feel sorry for growers who have to cast their cannabis out into this regulated market. Sad. Must live under a rock.

That's why ANOTHER middleman in the chain, (Dave, the guy who tried to squeeze his butt in here with a 'big idea' last week comes to mind) is such a bad joke.  

Well that’s one to to look at it. 

Then again if you have 50 lbs and move it (at more than $150 an ounce) in a single day and get paid by check so you now have clean bankable money...

Never been a better time to be a caregiver in Michigan. 

[Restorium2]

21 minutes ago, shishka said:

Well that’s one to to look at it. 

Then again if you have 50 lbs and move it (at more than $150 an ounce) in a single day and get paid by check so you now have clean bankable money...

Never been a better time to be a caregiver in Michigan. 

Don't take this the wrong way, just heed the advice;

If you have 50 lbs. to move don't do it through the State.

You can't pretend to be legally producing it.

That money that you think is clean and bankable is just part of the paper trail to your door. 

Whether you know it or not yet, you just sold 50 lbs. to a cop. 

You aren't even supposed to have more than 2.5 ounces per registered patient.

The dispensaries told me that. They said they will only buy what your cards can allow, 2.5 per patient, and they want to see the cards. They said that the caregiver and the dispensary would both be under investigation if they went past that. 

So I'm thinking you might have stuck your neck out a little far there with your fitty pounds.  

 

[Restorium2]

Sometimes I wonder when someone comes out and says they did something really crazy. I wonder if they really did that or is it a 'head fake' to get others to do it. Sometimes it's just something to get others to 'jump'. Can't help but wonder....

 

[shishka]

5 minutes ago, Restorium2 said:

Don't take this the wrong way, just heed the advice;

If you have 50 lbs. to move don't do it through the State.

You can't pretend to be legally producing it.

That money that you think is clean and bankable is just part of the paper trail to your door. 

Whether you know it or not yet, you just sold 50 lbs. to a cop. 

You aren't even supposed to have more than 2.5 ounces per registered patient.

The dispensaries told me that. They said they will only buy what your cards can allow, 2.5 per patient, and they want to see the cards. They said that the caregiver and the dispensary would both be under investigation if they went past that. 

So I'm thinking you might have stuck your neck out a little far there with your fitty pounds.  

 

Yes you should stay in your comfort level. 

Who would pay $410 to test and another $200 to transport 15 ounce of flower?

That equation alone tells you all you need to know. 

Why do you think the state had to admit they need caregivers for the supply to keep shops open? Because caregiver gardens have been fueling the shops for the last ten years. And let’s not pretend they have been doing it 15 ounces at a time.

Our Attorney General and Governor know the score bless their hearts. 

[Restorium2]

1 hour ago, shishka said:

Yes you should stay in your comfort level. 

Who would pay $410 to test and another $200 to transport 15 ounce of flower?

That equation alone tells you all you need to know. 

Why do you think the state had to admit they need caregivers for the supply to keep shops open? Because caregiver gardens have been fueling the shops for the last ten years. And let’s not pretend they have been doing it 15 ounces at a time.

Our Attorney General and Governor know the score bless their hearts. 

Where I start is with the dispensaries I asked about it. They all said they could only buy 15 ounces legally. I know they would just laugh at someone asking to sell them 50 pounds. 

That's reality to me. 

Now you say you sold 50 pounds to an entity very close to law enforcement. Without any avenue to have done it legally. Not even a plausible story about how it was legal. 

That's not reality to me. So I have only a couple choices as to why your reality doesn't match mine. None of them good. 

[Restorium2]

I've talked with people who have been selling to the dispensaries legally. So everyone isn't cheating.

[semicaregiver]

The testing labs can only certify 15#'s at a time so if you have 50#'[s that will mean $1,600 in testing fees.  

This was presented last week at the BMR's public hearing by an attorney from Brighton.   She was complaining to Brisbo and company that a caregiver she represents was trying to follow the rules and he sold 16 #'s to a licensed grower and they broke it into two test batches, 10 and 6#'s.  One batch failed and was destroyed and the second accepted.   She was upset about what appeared to be arbitrary results by the lab.  Curiously no one questioned her as to how her caregiver happened to have 16#'s.


















 

[shishka]

1 hour ago, semicaregiver said:

The testing labs can only certify 15#'s at a time so if you have 50#'[s that will mean $1,600 in testing fees.  

This was presented last week at the BMR's public hearing by an attorney from Brighton.   She was complaining to Brisbo and company that a caregiver she represents was trying to follow the rules and he sold 16 #'s to a licensed grower and they broke it into two test batches, 10 and 6#'s.  One batch failed and was destroyed and the second accepted.   She was upset about what appeared to be arbitrary results by the lab.  Curiously no one questioned her as to how her caregiver happened to have 16#'s.


















 

Yes that was Allison Ireton attorney and partner in Bloom City Club in Ann Arbor. 

No one questioned it because as I said, everyone knows the score. At this point there are hundreds if not thousands of caregivers that have been working in the system for years.

All you need is an Instagram account to see hundreds of 12-100 light grows in Michigan.  These are the people that have been keeping shops open for the past ten years. 

Brisbo knows, Nessel knows, Whitmer knows, it is no secret at this point. Obviously Snyder and Schuette  weren’t going to have any of this going on, but luckily we had a good election and a new guard is at the helm.

Oh yeah, Choice will want to see a preliminary test result from the caregiver before they have it tested for obvious reasons so call it $820 in testing costs per 15# batch plus the required 34.2 grams of flower for the test.

Edited June 24, 2019 by shishka

[shishka]

You might think only big industry has lobbyists in Lansing but you would be wrong. Business minded caregivers have the ear of the new administration as well trying to protect what they have built. 

[Restorium2]

8 hours ago, shishka said:

You might think only big industry has lobbyists in Lansing but you would be wrong. Business minded caregivers have the ear of the new administration as well trying to protect what they have built. 

I'm calling BS on you bro. 

You made it sound like you took in a 50# batch yourself.

Then we find out you can't take in a 50# batch.

Then you 'adjust' your story to fit what you just learned. You know just enough to tell stories, make up stuff.

You have so many holes in your knowledge that you can't tell a completely believable story.

Why not just tell the truth, speak from your real experiences? 

[semicaregiver]

9 hours ago, shishka said:

Brisbo knows, Nessel knows, Whitmer knows, it is no secret at this point. Obviously Snyder and Schuette  weren’t going to have any of this going on, but luckily we had a good election and a new guard is at the helm.

I agree, Brisbo knows and is a participant in the process.    I was part of a 20 person focus group last month where Brisbo was sitting next to me.  During discussions about how to handle the caregiver sales to licensed dispensaries I asked him point blank how LARA deals with the issue that it is illegal for a caregiver to sell to someone he/she does not have a card for.  His response was that LARA's responsibility under the MMMA is only to issue cards and as such caregiver actions were neither LARA's nor BMR's responsibility.  The room included several attorneys including Mike K that owns this site.  Pretty much a wink/wink moment.

[semicaregiver]

On 6/22/2019 at 4:12 PM, shishka said:

Yes, Maxwell at Choice has been great to work with. 

Just had them move a batch thru the system, extremely professional.

I would recommend getting a full panel of tests before thinking of going this route. Once Choice has it tested (mandatory) if it fails they may have no choice but to destroy your product.

 

I am a little confused about who Choice is.  From the various posts and their name it sounds like they are a lab, but the link Resto provided suggests they are a dispensary.  Do they connect you with a grower and a lab or perhaps they have a grower's license to?

[Restorium2]

3 minutes ago, semicaregiver said:

I agree, Brisbo knows and is a participant in the process.    I was part of a 20 person focus group last month where Brisbo was sitting next to me.  During discussions about how to handle the caregiver sales to licensed dispensaries I asked him point blank how LARA deals with the issue that it is illegal for a caregiver to sell to someone he/she does not have a card for.  His response was that LARA's responsibility under the MMMA is only to issue cards and as such caregiver actions were neither LARA's nor BMR's responsibility.  The room included several attorneys including Mike K that owns this site.  Pretty much a wink/wink moment.

Of course it's not LARA responsibility to prosecute people who don't follow the rules. They are not law enforcement.

They just report to investigators and supply raw data for them. 

We have really clear rules that we have to follow. 

They have been in place for years now.

If you break them you lose your defense and are just a drug dealer with a grow and will face the same prosecution as anyone without a card(s).

So if you break them with a paper trail you are a sitting duck. 

[Restorium2]

4 minutes ago, semicaregiver said:

I am a little confused about who Choice is.  From the various posts and their name it sounds like they are a lab, but the link Resto provided suggests they are a dispensary.  Do they connect you with a grower and a lab or perhaps they have a grower's license to?

I went to Dispo, the largest dispensary in my area, and asked one of the senior managers there about the whole process. This was less than a week ago so I would have fresh and valuable information, not BS.

They are a lab and a holding center. Everything Dispo gets is from Choice Labs. That is their supermarket. They go there and buy. 

Choice has product there from High Life Farms, the State grow facility. They also have product there from caregivers who show their cards and qualify as legal growers in the medical program. 

I  have not taken anything to Choice. I know for a fact that when we could take our caregiver product to Dispo in particular, they wanted to see your cards and you only qualified to sell 2.5 per card per day. 

I find it highly unlikely that Choice has decided they can go past qualified purchases like Dispo had going on. 

After the new smaller grow licenses come out they will. 

I can't explain the difference in rules that make it so some folks can just swagger up with 16 or 50 pounds when all I could sell would be 2.5 x cards. 

Maybe the person in court had a real grow license and wasn't just a caregiver?

I strongly advise that caregivers stick with the rules and don't go rogue and grow beyond the rules and set themselves up with a paper trail that proves it. 

If one guy wants to jump off the cliff don't follow like a lemming... It's just not worth the cost. 

[shishka]

2 hours ago, semicaregiver said:

I am a little confused about who Choice is.  From the various posts and their name it sounds like they are a lab, but the link Resto provided suggests they are a dispensary.  Do they connect you with a grower and a lab or perhaps they have a grower's license to?

So Choice Labs is local to Leoni township in Jackson county and was the first to receive local approval to do business. It is owned by Wes Lutz who also owns a Dodge dealership in town. 

Choice has a Class C, processor, and two dispensary licenses in Leoni and are working on opening a third in Douglas MI. They employ like 100 people already.

They have licensing deals with some of the bigger national brands such as Dixie, Mary’s, Platinum Vape etc. 

Because of these brands pretty much every PC orders from them. They have had some growing pains with their own grow producing clean flowers so if they can get clean tested flower they keep their wholesale PC customers happy.

 

Now, all that said, NO, you as a caregiver are not protected driving with or even just possessing more than what your cg cards allow for. If you should find yourself pulled over with pounds in the car it will likely not go well. As I already said, stay in your comfort space and don’t take chances you are not comfortable with.

The prevailing thought is that the state will continue to allow caregivers to work the system at least until rec is rolled out and caregivers have a chance to transition into a micro or class A rec if that is what they want to do.

Thats my thoughts anyway, just a caregiver trying to stay afloat in ever changing times.

 

 

[Restorium2]

9 minutes ago, shishka said:

So Choice Labs is local to Leoni township in Jackson county and was the first to receive local approval to do business. It is owned by Wes Lutz who also owns a Dodge dealership in town. 

Choice has a Class C, processor, and two dispensary licenses in Leoni and are working on opening a third in Douglas MI. They employ like 100 people already.

They have licensing deals with some of the bigger national brands such as Dixie, Mary’s, Platinum Vape etc. 

Because of these brands pretty much every PC orders from them. They have had some growing pains with their own grow producing clean flowers so if they can get clean tested flower they keep their wholesale PC customers happy.

 

Now, all that said, NO, you as a caregiver are not protected driving with or even just possessing more than what your cg cards allow for. If you should find yourself pulled over with pounds in the car it will likely not go well. As I already said, stay in your comfort space and don’t take chances you are not comfortable with.

The prevailing thought is that the state will continue to allow caregivers to work the system at least until rec is rolled out and caregivers have a chance to transition into a micro or class A rec if that is what they want to do.

Thats my thoughts anyway, just a caregiver trying to stay afloat in ever changing times.

 

 

There you go. Nice that you finally are making some sense.

Working the system is defined by following the rules, limits, etc. 

No 50# deals. What a joke that was! A mean joke. No caregiver gets to do that and stay a caregiver. You would be all done and have serious fines. I doubt Choice would be a part of that anyway. Totally imaginary scenario. 

Edited June 24, 2019 by Restorium2

[JJsmalls]

Out of state licensed Cannabis Patient recently moved to Mi.In need of a caregiver asap.Where do I find the best?Willing to travel once a month if necesary✌ 

[NancyBotman]

Question? I read on this thread where Restorium2 mentioned "Wholesale"? How is this gonna work for CG in MI the legal way?

[Restorium2]

7 hours ago, NancyBotman said:

Question? I read on this thread where Restorium2 mentioned "Wholesale"? How is this gonna work for CG in MI the legal way?

Doesn't seem to be a path to market for caregivers right now. 

Caregiver grown cannabis has dwindled down at the dispensaries. At the same time the prices are climbing. I'm seeing minimums of $200 an ounce on most days now. The quality is good but the business is slowing. Michigan licensed large scale grows are driving the prices up with their dam of the supply.