Brown said Monday that formal cooperatives registered under the state's Food and Agricultural Code or the not-for-profit collectives or cooperatives are allowed for sharing marijuana but anyone running a for-profit storefront dispensary not operating as either a registered cooperative or collective may be arrested and prosecuted by local authorities.
Under the attorney general's guidelines, they must operate as not-for-profit collectives or cooperatives, and establishments are prohibited from buying marijuana from illegal, commercial growers.
Each legitimate dispensary can grow six mature or 12 immature plants per qualified patient, each of whom need a doctor's recommendation to smoke marijuana to ease health ills.
Under the recommendations, Brown suggested that all patients receiving doctors' recommendations to use marijuana should be provided with state-sanctioned medical marijuana identity cards. Patients should be prohibited from using cannabis near schools and recreation centers or at work, unless an employer gives permission.
Though the state allows the use of the drug in certain circumstances, certain government agencies say it is illegal. An estimated 300 for-profit dispensaries exist in various business guises that are running illegally.
