Cannabis dispensary

A cannabis dispensary or marijuana dispensary is a local government regulated physical location, typically inside a retail store front or office building, in which a person can purchase cannabis and cannabis related items for medical or recreational use and/or consumption. First modeled in Amsterdam in the late 1970s where they were innocently called coffee shops it would take the Americans more than a generation to successfully duplicate the idea of a retail cannabis storefront. Unlike the Dutch coffee shops, today marijuana dispensary customers are prevented from consuming cannabis on the site of a regulated marijuana dispensary in all known markets.
In a traditional medical marijuana dispensary store a patient receives cannabis medication as allowed per the patients doctors recommendation. In 2013 Colorado became the first state in the United States to begin regulating recreational marijuana dispensaries.
A marijuana dispensary differs from similar retail stores known as head shops, in that only government licensed marijuana dispensaries are authorized to sell cannabis.
History
1970s
Kingdom of the Netherlands, in Europe made a decision to ignore cannabis sellers. In 1976 the Dutch government recognized the need to separate hard core drug dealers from pot dealers and chose to openly ignore cannabis distribution which, ultimately, led to the creation of .
1990s-2015
The first marijuana dispensary appeared in California, U.S. Forbes magazine reported that as a result of all their hard effort, they were now broke
In 2000 Colorado's citizens voted for Amendment20 which allowed medical use of marijuana by any Colorado adult. Shortly thereafter Colorado's first marijuana dispensary, Colorado Compassion Club opened in Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Recent times
In 2010 in an effort to provide a regulatory framework in which to allow and tax marijuana dispensaries, the state of Colorado enacts House Bill 10-1284 the first state government authored marijuana regulations. The adoption of this law allowed Colorado residents to open medical marijuana dispensaries which they did in droves with nearly one thousand entrepreneurs standing in line to make the Sunday August 1 registration deadline. Not registering before that date meant an operator must close to the public. If, however, they met that and two other difficult requirements the stores were allowed to keep their doors open while they applied for state and local licensing.
Washington state becomes the second state in the U.S. to develop a regulatory framework for marijuana dispensary operators improving the access to cannabis patients beyond the caregiver model.
Creating enough controversy to create a temporary city wide moratorium, the first marijuana dispensary and gas station opened in Colorado, U.S. On January 8, 2016 the city of Trinidad Colorado became the first city in the world to approve a pot mini mall. According to local news reports the developer worked for some time to convince the city officials to allow a design where they could place five separate regulated recreational marijuana dispensaries right next to one another.
North America
The term "marijuana dispensary" in the United States is most often used to refer to private organizations or companies that sell cannabis, particularly in the states of California, Colorado, Washington and Oregon. "Cannabis dispensary" is starting to become a more politically correct term as conscientious people prefer the use of the word cannabis which avoids using the more common Spanish slang word "marijuana".
Medical marijuana dispensaries
Twenty three of the United States regulate some form of medical cannabis sales. As of 2016 seventeen of those states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Washington, D.C.) have at least one medical marijuana dispensary.
==Recreational a.k.a. "retail" marijuana dispensaries==
Today only four states Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington currently regulate recreational sellers. These are stores where any adult 21+ can enter to purchase cannabis and or cannabis smoking accessories.
Notable marijuana dispensaries
Harborside Health Center, Oakland, CaliforniaHarborside calls itself the largest marijuana dispensary in California and his claim turned into the title of a 4 part reality show. It is hard to verify such a claim as the state does a very poor job regulating the industry and therefore few reliable records actually exist. Harborside Health Center has been doggedly pursued as a criminal enterprise by the western region Department of Justice Attorney General for the Northern California Region, Melinda Haag. The city of Oakland tried to help the marijuana dispensary by filing a lawsuit against the Department of Justice, but the effort was thrown out by a federal magistrate.
Kind for Cures was the first shop to make national press by taking over a defunct KFC. South Park did a parody show on the now defunct store.
In popular culture
WeedWars is a four part reality show broadcast on the Discovery Channel which highlights Harborside Health Center in Oakland California.
The third episode of the 14thseason of South Park is named Medicinal Fried Chicken and contemplates a marijuana dispensary taking over a recently failed failed fast-food chicken restaurant named KFC.
Popular American comedian D.L.Hughley's short lived and controversial news program on CNN ends with the artist visiting a California dispensary to treat back pain.
Setback to schools
On December 1, 2012 the U.S Attorney's office advised that 50 marijuana dispensaries who were operating within 1000feet of a school were required to close within 45days or face prosecution.
Following the Americans lead, the mayor of Amsterdam set a distance setback to grade schools requiring dispensaries who chose to remain with the prescribed setback to close when the schools are open.
Locating services
As marijuana dispensaries grow in popularity across the United States and the Americas several locating services and apps have come online. It is not uncommon for a regional independent newspaper who offers a marijuana dispensary locating service or map.

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