Medical Marijuana Entrepreneurs Decry Fees
From the Chicago Tribune
Vegetables, flowers and herbs grow in rows of green at Robert Boyce's greenhouses in Lake Zurich — but what he'd really like to grow is marijuana.
Boyce, a horticulturist and landscape design architect, has run Natural Environments Greenhouses and Nursery and a florist shop for many years. He's done work for the Chicago Botanic Garden and several Chicago-area public parks.
Yet none of that is enough to qualify for a license to grow pot under the new state law allowing medical marijuana, for which having a green thumb may not be as important as having lot of green to put up.
Under the proposed rules for the new law, Boyce and other would-be pot cultivators need a $2 million surety bond, $250,000 in liquid assets, $25,000 for an application fee, $200,000 for a permit fee and an approved site. The greenhouses he runs wouldn't qualify because they're next to a day camp for kids — one of many siting restrictions that also prohibit growing pot near schools and residential areas.
"We have the know-how. We have the manpower, the familiarity with growing herbal and medicinal plants, knowledge of building greenhouses," Boyce said. "But right now, you're looking at $3 (million) to $5 million in startup costs."
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Tribune
Vegetables, flowers and herbs grow in rows of green at Robert Boyce's greenhouses in Lake Zurich — but what he'd really like to grow is marijuana.
Boyce, a horticulturist and landscape design architect, has run Natural Environments Greenhouses and Nursery and a florist shop for many years. He's done work for the Chicago Botanic Garden and several Chicago-area public parks.
Yet none of that is enough to qualify for a license to grow pot under the new state law allowing medical marijuana, for which having a green thumb may not be as important as having lot of green to put up.
Under the proposed rules for the new law, Boyce and other would-be pot cultivators need a $2 million surety bond, $250,000 in liquid assets, $25,000 for an application fee, $200,000 for a permit fee and an approved site. The greenhouses he runs wouldn't qualify because they're next to a day camp for kids — one of many siting restrictions that also prohibit growing pot near schools and residential areas.
"We have the know-how. We have the manpower, the familiarity with growing herbal and medicinal plants, knowledge of building greenhouses," Boyce said. "But right now, you're looking at $3 (million) to $5 million in startup costs."
Read more in our daily News Update...