Street Wize News ( Raw &Unkutt )

Wal-Mart of Weed" or "Home DePot" Opens In Arizona

A California-based company has opened a medical marijuana garden center in Phoenix, AZ.

According to reports, the company called weGrow sells everything expect marijuana itself, and is looking to capitalize on a new law in Arizona that allows medical marijuana.

"We sell everything but the plant itself," weGrow founder Dhar Mann said. "We sell the products and the services for people to safely and responsibly cultivate their medicine."

weGrow also has stores in Oakland and Sacramento, California.

The weGrow supercenter is 21,000 square feet, and sells 2,000 products to assist marijuana growers, including including soil, grow lights and irrigation trays.

The store, which has been nicknamed "Wal-Mart of Weed" or "Home DePot," also features an in-store doctor to help those eligible get approved by the state health department for cards that will authorize them to legally grow and use marijuana as treatment for a variety of ailments.

Arizona is the 16th state, including Washington D.C., to decriminalize marijuana for medical use.

weGrow has plans to expand to locations in D.C. this July, Denver, Detroit and Los Angeles.
The store's opening came on the same day that Arizona was to have begun accepting applications from individuals seeking one of 125 permits the state plans to grant for the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries. But that process was put on hold last week.

On Friday, the state went to federal court seeking to clarify whether its citizens were at risk of federal prosecution for participating in activities sanctioned under Arizona's medical marijuana act, passed by voters in November.

Arizona is the 16th state in the nation, plus the District of Columbia, to decriminalize marijuana for medical purposes.

But Dennis Burke, the U.S. attorney for Arizona, warned in a letter to state health officials last month that the cultivation, sale and distribution of cannabis, classified by the U.S. government as an illegal narcotic, remains a federal crime.

Since April, state officials have been accepting applications from patients and caregivers looking to grow and use marijuana for medical purposes.

Figures show that 3,696 people have obtained cards allowing them to possess and grow marijuana for a range of medical issues, chronic pain chief among them. Males account for more than 75 percent of those approved.

Mann said his Oakland-based company has big expansion plans for Arizona and nationwide as it looks to tap into what some have estimated to be a market worth billions of dollars.

He said the next franchise store will open in the District of Columbia in July, with additional outlets slated for Denver, Detroit and possibly Los Angeles by the end of August.