Medical Marijuana

Danna Webster, KP News

Key Center medical marijuana co-op under new management. Manager John Nason says KPN Cross is just like any other co-op, and is not a dispensary of marijuana. He insists the non-profit business pays taxes and plans to be a good neighbor. KPN Cross will hold a food drive for Key Peninsula Community Services and Food Bank.

The medical marijuana co-op in Key Center opened under a new owner and new management March 25. It has a new name, a new business ethic, new paint, new planters and new furnishings. The name is KPN Cross and it is one of four co-ops in the state with the Cross name. The original Cross location was started about two years ago by James Lucas in Tacoma. The four locations are Tacoma, Seattle, Lacey and Key Center.

The manager of KPN Cross is John Nason. He is appreciative of the Key Peninsula community, which he found to be very welcoming and he is grateful to report no issues of theft or break-ins. The Key Peninsula is familiar to him.  His grandparents own property on Herron Island. One of the first contributions KPN Cross will make to the community is an on-going food drive started July 25. Members and the general public can drop-off food donations for the Key Peninsula Community Services and Food Bank. Nason managed a drop-off food drive previously for the Tacoma Cross co-op.

According to Nason, the KPN Cross is a non-profit business that pays taxes. The first fact Nason wants clarified is that the business is not a dispensary. It is a co-op that works with the same principles of any farmer co-op. In this case the producer of the cannabis product is a patient. When the patient grows the allowable amount of marijuana and that amount exceeds the patient’s use, that excess can be sold to the co-op. The co-op sells to patients who are unable to grow their own product. “Dispensaries are illegal,” Nason says. “A dispensary is usually for profit and they should control the product. We are not a dispensary.”

The KPN Cross is a private co-op, for members only. The employees are all patients and are authorized for medical needs. All members are required to carry a tamper proof letter from their doctor authorizing them to use medical Cannabis; and a Washington state valid ID. The legal amount for a patient-farmer to grow is 24 ounces in 60 days. Like a food cooperative, the growers can bring in any extra amounts that exceed their personal needs.

The Key Center co-op serves about 40 members a day, which has doubled since they opened. Most of the members live this side of the Narrows Bridge. Nason describes the co-op as a good business that brings shoppers to Key Center businesses. As manager, he is working to build a good reputation in the community. He holds to exactly what the law states. “There is no shadiness. This is an opportunity for good health. Not everybody needs narcotics. That is why people choose this. This is doing something natural,” he says.