Operating a marijuana dispensary is all the rage these days. However, a marijuana dispensary is not running a normal retail outlet. First of all, getting the product involves a difficult legal problem. Once you have a source of marijuana, you have to get it to the store. It is illegal to transport marijuana in California, especially significant quantities which are necessary to maintain reasonable inventory. So if you order some pot and the person bring it to the store gets stopped, searched, and arrested, he cannot claim the defense that he was delivering the marijuana to a dispensary. So unless you are growing pot in the back room of the shop [not a bad idea, incidentally], getting inventory is not so simple as calling fedex.
The next problem, which was featured in the Los Angeles Times recently, is what to do with the cash generated from the pot sales. Banks are very reluctant to accept cash deposits from marijuana dispensaries, since they are concerned about money laundering statutes and other potential criminal liability. Obviously the owner of the shop could employ an intermediary to make deposits under the name of a legal business, but the intermediary would also run the risk of money laundering charges. Presumably a small operation would not be very vulnerable to prosecution, but if your business is successful the feds might take a look at your operation and potentially seek prosecution for money laundering. So the more money you make the more exposure you would have...not a very nice way to do business. But the rewards from operating a marijuana dispensary are quite significant these days, so the problems involved might very well be worth it.
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