Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please login or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!
Montel Williams opens marijuana
dispensary in Sacramento
June 14, 2011 - Sacramento Bee
Montel Williams has been the face of many things – host of a nationally
syndicated television talk show and pitchman for prescription drug
assistance products and a fruit-and-vegetable emulsifier.
On Monday, Williams appeared in Sacramento to announce a partnership
with a new enterprise, a medical marijuana dispensary.
In a news conference at the newly renovated offices of the former
Capital Wellness Center, Williams spoke about his own battle with
multiple sclerosis and why he turned to marijuana to alleviate
near-constant neurological pain.
"Prescription drugs nearly shut down my kidneys. Then a doctor
suggested I try medical marijuana," said Williams, who credits pot for
improving his health and well-being.
Williams – a recent guest host of "Good Day Sacramento" on Channel 31
(KMAX) – led a tour of the new Albatin Wellness Cooperative at 29th and
U streets in the Newton Booth neighborhood of midtown. He was
accompanied by a Harvard-trained physician, Dr. Alan Shackelford, who
specializes in medical marijuana.
"We've been caught up in culture surrounding medical marijuana that's
20 years old," Williams said. "While adhering to every single state
law, we want to provide safe access for patients and really medicalize
this. Patients should be put first."
He decided to partner with the marijuana cooperative's director, Aundre
Speciale, a friend he met two years ago and with whom he shares a
philosophy of making medical marijuana available along with patient
counseling and a standardized product.
The host of "The Montel Williams Show," which aired from 1991 to 2008,
said he would be "involved at every level of the cooperative, from the
philosophical direction down to the blueprints."
His influence certainly shines through in the décor and appearance of
the dispensary, which is a far cry from at least some other facilities
that advertise their product in windows and display it openly in glass
cases. The building is as nondescript as its dull-blue hue, at least on
the outside.
Once visitors walk through the door, they are in a mosaic-tile lobby
with flat-panel televisions playing various slides concerning the
history of medicinal marijuana in addition to testimonials from
Williams and others in the field.
After having their permits and paperwork vetted by a receptionist, the
patients are buzzed in to a larger room to meet with a "counselor."
This happens every time they come in to discuss their medical needs,
before any of what the center calls medicine is distributed.
It feels almost like going to the bank, except instead of money the
tellers dole out a different kind of green. Dozens of cameras and at
least four security guards monitor every movement.
Unlike most dispensaries, no marijuana is displayed in the facility,
anywhere. Patients don't see the actual product, which is available in
edible and smokable form, until the very end, and can't use it on the
property.
"I want this to be someplace your mother and father could see
themselves walk into," Williams said. He is using his celebrity status
to try to do just that – he brought his parents along for the tour.
But Williams' high-profile appearance also brought with it some
controversy for Albatin even before the system debuted Monday.
A group of five vendors came to the dispensary to inquire about what
they claim is thousands of dollars owed for marijuana provided to
Speciale's Capital Wellness Cooperative in recent months.
Gary Hiller, the legal adviser for Capital Wellness Cooperative Inc.,
said any claims of money owed would be fully investigated.
"If a patient-cultivator brings in excess medicine, he or she will be
reimbursed the cost of cultivating that medicine in accordance with
state law."
That seemed to put the issue to bed for the most part, as minutiae and
legal wrangling appeared to be at the root of the confusion, leaving
Williams to focus on his goal of medical marijuana patient advocacy.
Williams said he wants to change the stigma surrounding
doctor-prescribed pot use.
"It's absurd. I can go get morphine pumped into my system and nobody's
got a problem," he said. "But all of a sudden they're really worried if
I smoked a joint."
Montel is an overall interesting guy... He was an intelligence and linguistics analyst for the navy. He speaks fluent Russian(why he was in intelligence, he was a cold warrior). I think veterans above anyone should have the right to smoke herb.
lol. ok dont get me wrong....but when it comes to smoking weed i dont think vets should get any special treatment....thats just.... another excuse for people to smoke weed...there are enough of them....you dont need any more.
but back to the point.... THAT IS AWESOME!!! MONTEL YOU ARE THE MAN! if i lived in Ca id go there every day and toke with Montel......epic.
Just cause someone is dumb enough to become a puppet for our retarded government shouldn't entitle them to any more rights or privileges than the rest of us.
Quote: fapjack said: Just cause someone is dumb enough to become a puppet for our retarded government shouldn't entitle them to any more rights or privileges than the rest of us.
Quote: fapjack said: Just cause someone is dumb enough to become a puppet for our retarded government shouldn't entitle them to any more rights or privileges than the rest of us.
That sort of nonsense has nothing to do with it.......EVERYONE should have the right to smoke it!
-------------------- Nothing I say or do is factual; every single thing I write is a work of fiction. Got no idea what I'm talking about here~
"Once in awhile, you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right"~ (Grateful Dead)
"o puer, qui omnia nomini debes"; "You, boy, who owe's everything to a name"~ Mark Anthony
"Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum."; "Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system."~ Cicero
Quote: Society said: Sting should open a PCP dispensary.
-------------------- Nothing I say or do is factual; every single thing I write is a work of fiction. Got no idea what I'm talking about here~
"Once in awhile, you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right"~ (Grateful Dead)
"o puer, qui omnia nomini debes"; "You, boy, who owe's everything to a name"~ Mark Anthony
"Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum."; "Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system."~ Cicero