Unfortunately, that appears far from the case, as the modern legalization debate has been more focused on the financial opportunities cannabis provides rather than how it reproduces racial inequalities.What is cannabis? As this brief analysis of cannabis history shows, the answer is not a simple one. Considered by some as medicine, others as a guide to spiritual enlightenment, others the road to perdition and still others, human consciousness. Although it would be easy to paint all these ancient cultures as naïve, superstitious and ignorant of drugs, this is an ethnocentric view of a plant that has historically held a social significance that should not be underestimated. It’s powerful influence on human culture and its social significance spread it to every country on earth. And it is today still the most widely used illicit substance on earth. What I feel is particularly noteworthy about the history of marijuana is its transition from being considered a spiritual, religious and medicinal plant with the power to connect with the divine to a dangerous schedule I narcotic that is believed to lead to schizophrenia, suicide, murder and sex crimes. Although recent years and legislation such as Proposition 215 and Colorado and Washington’s legalization of the plant seems to suggest a step forward in viewing the plant as a non-addictive herb with medical qualities, there is a sense in which the power and beauty of the plant is still not recognized in our culture the way it was millennia ago. It is the goal of this dissertation to study and understand the perceptions of this plant by a group of cannabis growers, sellers and users from a relativistic perspective.Most collectives that exist in Southern California operate in disguise. Natty told me that he had a friend that worked at a collective that was raided. Luckily, because of some technicality, his friend was not prosecuted, clone rack but they did have to shut down the collective. Because of this, Natty made sure to keep the collective as hid as possible.

Although The Corner attempted to keep the collective hidden, Natty also tried to make sure people knew The Corner existed. He posted the location of the collective on a website called Weedmaps. Weedmaps is a type of social networking community for marijuana users to find, review and discuss cannabis, recommending physicians and dispensaries. Weedmaps uses a proximity map for the user to locate dispensaries and doctors around their area. They also have a link to delivery services around the area that the user is located. Weedmaps charges to list a delivery service. It appears there are a lot of amateur pot growers who wish to be listed as a delivery service without being associated with a collective. This way Weedmaps eliminates competition and keeps the organization more legitimate. Natty suggested there was an inherent danger with posting the collective on Weedmaps or any other type of social networking site, it alerts the police and federal agencies to the location of a collective, putting the Kings at risk of harassment by the local authorities. Although cannabis collectives are legal in California and are protected under SB420, various cities, Costa Mesa not included, have enacted local ordinances so restrictive that it makes it virtually impossible to operate within them. Any violation of a restrictive ordinance gives local police the ability to effectively shut down collectives or prevent them from operating. Furthermore, the local police have the ability to inform federal agents about the operation of a collective that they believe does not follow the rules. Since cannabis is still illegal on a federal level, federal agents can raid dispensaries at will. Despite president Obama claiming that federal agents would no longer be used to raid legal medical marijuana collectives, it still frequently occurs . Natty told me that cops never came in to the collective, but he strategically placed a “going out of business” sign on the front door of the collective a week after it opened to make the police think the collective was going to close soon. Natty told me the cops rarely do full on raids without warning. He told me that the cops typically find a small violation by the collective and uses that as an excuse to threaten to shut it down. After the threat of a raid, most collectives shut down their operation and move them to a location nearby, typically with the same staff. Most office buildings that house collectives rent to collectives on short-term leases because of the risk involved with the business.

Many of these office buildings tend to be unused, hidden or not centrally located, and deteriorating. I believe these are usually the only office buildings that will lease to medical marijuana dispensaires. Some collectives are stationed in buildings that look like they could only be inhabited by an illegal business. Unfortunately, the only way to keep a consistent and steady stream of patients was to advertise on Weedmaps and risk harassment by local authorities. The entrance lobby was plain with chairs and magazines on a coffee table that looked like a doctor’s office for the patients to sit on while they waited to be called in to the collective. The lobby has a series of video cameras to deter would be robbers. The front counter is where the patient shows their identification card and provides the collective with their recommendation letter . The rec, as it is frequently referred to, is examined by the front clerk and is confirmed by the recommending physician’s office. While a patient waits for the collective to confirm the legitimacy of the rec, the patient fills out new patient paperwork and signs an agreement that they will not visit another collective . After filling out the paperwork, and the legitimacy of the rec is confirmed, the patient becomes a member of the collective or cooperative and the plants that the patient can consume and possess are conferred to the collective. By conferring possession to the collective it allows the collective and the growers to possess much more cannabis than they would be able to legally hold without the aggregate possession. The front desk clerk then scans and copies all of the necessary documentation and inputs them into a computer that holds a database of all of the collective’s members. The front desk volunteer also serves as a bud tender at the shop. After the patient becomes a full member, the patient is shown through the door. The security guard also serves as an informal door attendant. The security guard serves the dual function of making patients feel safe, while discouraging would be robbers. Once the patient walks through the door, they are greeted with a very tranquil ambiance. The ambience is cool and mellow with reggae playing from the speakers and the smell of incense stirring the air. While the original entrance lobby was designed to give the impression of an official doctor’s office or pharmacy, the ambience inside the collective is designed to make the patient feel welcome and relaxed. In fact, Lucy Natty’s girlfriend and Corner co-manager frequently shows up with her dog as the dispensary pet.There are typically two attractive female volunteers that stand behind the counter at the shop. The Bud tenders are there to help the patients find the item they seek. Lucy is the most common tender, and her friends also help at the collective.

There is a gendered division of labor that exists in the cooperative. The Kings prefer to have Lucy and her friends work the counter while the male workers serve as delivery drivers. Lucy told me many times she would prefer to be the delivery driver, but that she understands that delivering cannabis to people outside of the dispensary might put her at risk of sexual assault or injury. Thus, the females to some degree use their sexuality to lure customers back to the dispensary, and the males deliver the goods to personal homes or other locations. Dispensary “volunteers” as they are called are a critical component to the functioning of the medical marijuana system. There are extreme inconsistencies between strains, strengths, and potency. Thus, the employees are critical to helping the patient select the right strain, strength and potency. The volunteers of the collective are kind of a mix between pharmacist and wine connoisseurs, hydroponic shelves informing the patients of types of cannabis, to effect, potency and even flavor. A common name for a collective employee is a “Cannasouir” or Bud Tender. Likewise, the staff at The Corner will typically ask a patient if they are comfortable with another patient being in the collective with them at the same time. This helps the staff maintain a level of privacy for their patients. Although The Corner members to maintain their privacy, its typically unnecessary as anybody who is at a collective must be relatively permissive about cannabis use. Some people however are private individuals and would like to keep their use a secret and those people typically use delivery services. The Kings explained that older people and females are more likely to use delivery services. The Kings explained that it was rare for patients to not allow others to join them in the dispensary when they are present. For those that prefer privacy, it is typically the elderly and females who may feel uncomfortable around people they do not know. Likewise, they explained that people that are already high on cannabis are much more likely to use delivery services as driving to a dispensary becomes too difficult for many. The inside of the collective is broken down into three sections. The cannabis in bud form is at the front. The bud is kept in glass cabinets like those that one would see at jewelry counter. The bud itself was kept in medium sized mason jars for the employees to pull out so the patients can smell the cannabis. Edibles, lollipops tinctures, topicals, concentrates and waxes are positioned at the left. In a mini-fridge near the edibles is a series of soda pop like drinks that contain THC. To the right there are pre-rolled joints and various souvenirs handed out to first time patients. To the furthest right is the cashier hidden behind another bulletproof glass wall where the donation to the collective is made. Tight security is necessary at the dispensary. Although it is a semi-legal operation in California, the fact that it is associated with marijuana, a banned substance in many areas of the world, makes it a frequent target for thieves and robbers. It is frequently suggested that the massive amount of money dispensaries hold, instead of the cannabis, is what makes the dispensaries attractive to criminals . Collectives typically carry massive amounts of cash, as banks will not do business with them. The Corner skates around this buy processing transactions under a different name. A trip through the back store of a marijuana dispensary is quite intimidating as you see pounds of cannabis in large bags littering the floor. Natty told me that if the DEA ever raided the place that there is no paper trail linking any volunteers to the collective. He told his volunteers that if the collective was ever raided to jump on the other side of the counter and say they were patients. There was no accounting of employees’ social security numbers or other information. Bud tender volunteers were paid under the table. This helped the employees avoid prosecution in the event of a raid. They typically have a lot of cash, as many patients do not like to have a credit card trail of their visits to collectives. However, when patients utilize their card and the volunteers swipe the card through their phone with a device the credit card statement is encrypted with a weird name such as garden nursery that is suggestive of a nursery rather than a dispensary. The back wall has an assortment of bubblers, pipes, bongs, ash catchers, adapters, down stems, vaporizers, vape cartridges and percolators, many of which can be combined together. It is quite interesting to see the massive assortment of materials that can be used to consume cannabis. Marijuana can be consumed through smoking joints, bowls, pipes, bongs, bubblers, hookahs and blunts; dabbing, or vaping. These different contraptions are used to consume different types of cannabis products such as cannabis, resin and oil . It is even more fascinating to think about the way these contraptions have evolved over the past two decades.