Sam Humeid has seen many sides of the marijuana industry. He ran a medical dispensary in Los Angeles at a tumultuous time. He later relocated to North County, where he counseled patients and delivered product directly to their door.
But on Jan. 1 — as the state’s regulatory system officially got off the ground — he was forced to stop operations. Cities across the region have either banned marijuana outlets or required that drivers work for licensed retail shops.
In the meantime, Humeid has been lobbying local city councils as part of the San Diego Cannabis Delivery Alliance and educating its members about the patchwork of regulations.
“Moving forward, it’s not so much that we’re looking to have pot-slingers running around the city,” he said. “It’s very much still a cannabis-therapy-practitioner kind of business, where independent retailers have their core group of 30, 50 or 100 patients that they know intimately.”
He joined us for the first “Voice of San Diego Potcast,” a podcast series we’re trying out that will work to demystify the world of marijuana culture and regulations and bring regular folks into the discussion.
Kinsee Morlan and I also talked to Humeid about the prevalence of illegal shops, pending ordinances in the South Bay, the problem with an all-cash business model and more.
At the end of the show, we also heard from our friend and photojournalist Vito Di Stefano, who scoured the internet for two interesting marijuana-related stories. A California winery is converting into a Wonka Factory for weed. And is North Korea really awash in marijuana, as some media outlets claim? It’s all part of an occasional segment in the show we’re calling “Puff Piece.”
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