I’m going to draw a line in the sand: When you refuse to tell people your first name – or hand out business cards that give your name is “James Chainsaw” (looking at you, Liberty 420 Clinic) – or refuse to talk to media (Hint: most small businesses in their first year are thrilled to get a call from a writer; it’s free advertising) – or neglect to file the $10 record of assumed business name with the county – or dispense medical treatments with names like “AK-47,” “God Bud,” or “Grape Ape Fuck You” (I’m not making these up) – or generally embrace the iconography of an innocuous and annoying subculture best known for buoying sales of Nutter Butters – when you do those things, you run the risk of seeming like a shyster.

Entrepreneurs also are flocking to the sales side of the business, operating an estimated 20 dispensaries, cafes and clinics in the state, according to medical marijuana attorneys. At Liberty Clinic in Ann Arbor, patients pay $12 for an annual membership that allows them to purchase different strains of marijuana, which are displayed in small see-through packets on a counter. Liberty buys its marijuana from caregivers throughout the state. “We hope to be a model,” said the owner, a former home inspector for Bank of America who would only give his name as James Chainsaw.

Add tags