By Ryan Randazzo | The Republic
Arizona’s surging medical marijuana industry includes a 40-acre greenhouse in Snowflake, stock traded on the Canadian market, an 800,000-square-foot factory turned indoor farm in west Phoenix, and home delivery for customers.
Sales of medical marijuana here soared nearly 50 percent in 2017 with an estimated value of $387 million. A small army of attorneys and high-end Scottsdale public relations professionals work on its behalf.
The size and scope of these operations belies the “non-profit” description voters heard when they approved medical marijuana in 2010. They also highlight an open secret within the industry: Non-profit doesn’t mean non-lucrative.
