Marijuana Business Magazine - Issue 09, Oct 2017

Macias to raise her profile in the local and national community, resulting in a strong business and support network for Macias and her cannabis industry colleagues. For all the value Macias got from her education and experience, her success would not have been complete without healthy doses of perseverance and savvy. “I know that the people who hire me respect my craft and my knowledge,” Macias said. Writing a Winning Application Macias’ first big challenge was put- ting together a winning license applica- tion, one made all the harder because so few licenses were available – five were on offer in the District in 2014. Macias emphasized her scientific background. At Howard, for example, she performed cancer research and had an interest in marijuana’s ability to shrink cancerous tumors.When her professors nixed the idea of her pursuing that line of study, Macias kept learning about medical cannabis in her free time. In addition to her medical research, Macias laid out to the District’s MMJ regulators how she planned to incorpo- rate cannabis into her patients’ treatment plans. She also explained how, over many years of study, she had learned what cannabinoids fought tumors, controlled muscle spasms or induced sleep. And Macias detailed how she had developed a treatment methodology called “strain-ail- ment alignment,” which matches strains based on their cannabinoid and terpene profiles with the ailments they are best suited for, such as cancer, multiple sclero- sis or insomnia. In her application, Macias noted that her staff would include a clinical engi- neer whose job would be to examine the biochemical composition of the flower, record what cannabinoids and terpenes it possessed, and then relay the results to Macias – who would match the strain with the ailment it would be best suited to fight. “So, when patients come in, we have this knowledge already recorded, like in a library, and we can call up this knowl- edge and use it to help the patient,” Macias explained. Drawing from her business background, Macias also brought on a lawyer, a business operations specialist, and sales and market- ing talent and other professionals. “The key is to show that you under- stand the regulations, and emphasize compliance. To do that, you need to have those people on your application: the scientists, the medical staff, the lawyer, the operations specialist and the compliance specialist,”Macias said. “You need subject-matter specialists, and when you can show that you have these people on your team, you show that you’re serious.” The approach worked. Having highlighted professionalism and her W hile it’s not clear when Washington DC regulators will implement a new regulation allowing medical marijuana cardholders from other states to purchase medicine in the city, Chanda Macias plans to hit the ground running when it does happen. For the past year or so, Macias and her staff at the National Holistic Healing Center in Washington DC have been collecting data on how many out-of-towners with medical marijuana cards either drop by her dispensary looking for product or call to see if they can get it during an upcoming visit to the District. “Daily, we have at least five people that come in that are from out of town that have medical cards that are looking for a place to provide them their medicine,” she said. “In terms of phone calls, it’s unbeliev- able. It’s like 10 phone calls a day from people traveling to Washington DC that are looking for a place to get medicine.” Macias, who as a scientist instinctively likes to collect data that can be used to help her better treat patients and better run her business, said the record-keeping will help her dispensary be ready to take in the influx of patients when reciprocity does begin. “Because we’re collecting data now, we can forecast what the reci- procity numbers might look like,” Macias said. She expects many of the reciprocity patients to come from Maryland, where the state’s patient registry has opened but the industry has been slow to launch. “They’re still some time away from having product ready. That being said, patients are looking to source their medicine elsewhere, and that includes DC,” Macias said. How else is she getting her business ready for reciprocity? “The first thing to do is talk to your suppliers, because no matter how good your systems are, without supply, you can’t service your patients,” Macias said. “You need to get your suppliers to increase their supply.” Because Macias has cultivated good relations with her growers, she’s already spoken with them about increasing supplies. “They’re on it,” Macias said. “We’re going to be ready.” – Omar Sacirbey READYING FOR RECIPROCITY 60 • Marijuana Business Magazine • October 2017