By MORGAN ADDERLEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net

AS the national debate on the decriminalisation of marijuana continues, one Bahamian-American man has found great business success in the medical cannabis industry in the United States.

Elliott Marshall-Hepburn is CEO of Proper Rx Collective, a company based in Oakland, California that delivers medical marijuana to patients.

In an interview with The Tribune, Mr Marshall-Hepburn discussed his company, the benefits of marijuana decriminalisation, and how he hopes to help Bahamians tap into this market.

He believes “the government has an opportunity to kick in the door and really give Bahamians a chance to get into different markets besides the service industry”.

Mr Marshall-Hepburn was born in the US to Bahamian parents, and raised in Eight Mile Rock, Grand Bahama. He attended St Paul’s Catholic School until the age of 14, when he moved to Miami to pursue his dream of playing basketball.

After graduating university and a “short stint” in professional basketball, he was employed at a cannabis dispensary where the idea for Proper Rx was born.

He said, “I had quite a few patients that would come in during my shift that suffered from some pretty bad ailments — physical deformities, wheelchair bound folks.

“I would see them pull up to the dispensary and take sometimes 20-30 minutes to get out of their car. (After all that), they came into the business to do a transaction that might (take) all of 30 seconds. And then they were back (to) their car, taking another 30 minutes to get in and just leave.

“I didn’t feel as though that was fair, I didn’t think it was right. We also had a patient that…was still attached to IV. And he had to come and physically go there to get his meds. There were no companies, no systems in place to get his medicine to him.

“The whole point of the law in California was to service the sick and help the sick. And I decided to start a company where we would only service them and go to their homes or wherever they were.”

Mr Marshall-Hepburn said the company was set up between 2007-2008, and officially began serving patients in 2010. Today, Proper Rx has 20 employees and makes deliveries to over 150 people daily from facilities in Oakland and San Francisco.

Mr Marshall-Hepburn said he has been following the recent Bahamian debate “extensively”.

His desire to promote marijuana legalisation in The Bahamas was sparked after he received a heart-breaking phone call from a mother.

“About a year ago I got a phone call from a Bahamian mother that has a child (with) this really rare form of epilepsy. I really felt for her in her situation, because she’s seeing on the internet and on different TV shows the benefits of cannabis oil on children that suffer from the same ailment as her child. And she is unable to provide that type of care. (Meanwhile) the kids (in California) are able to make some really good strides with assistance of the oil.

“And I think that kind of triggered it in my mind that beyond the cancer patients, the AIDS patients, the pain patients… I felt like I had overlooked those mothers that are dealing with little kids that have these obstacles to overcome— autism, epilepsy, and others. I wanted to shine some light on (this treatment).

“Everyone talks about the smoking component, but there are many applications for it and there are many uses that benefit a lot of people, including kids and mothers.”

In terms of crime, Mr Marshall-Hepburn said legalising marijuana use can crack down on its illicit trade.

“Oakland is known for its crime, but one thing that is not a part of (crime) now is marijuana. Arrests…have gone all the way down.

“It also bothers me that our young men get this attached to their names (and it affects) their traveling. It hinders them, something so small, something that people here are making millions and millions of dollars on. And mistakes that they may make young now affect them for life.”

Should decriminalisation occur, Mr Marshall-Hepburn said he would “definitely” expand his business to the Bahamas. However, it would not follow the exact same model as his California branch.

“I would want a lot more. I have a delivery service (here), and that’s a reflection of the system here. In America, a lot of the different cities and states are now enacting these equity programmes. And that’s because this is an industry that’s predominantly white. 99.9 percent white.

“I don’t have any black colleagues that I can call upon. So it’s predominantly white and they’re trying to level the playing field. I would want my company in The Bahamas, if that was to ever come to fruition, to reflect Bahamians.

“I want Bahamians now to jump on the world stage and grab our opportunity. The opportunities are endless, and cannabis tourism is just ridiculous, as we saw what happened to Las Vegas — they legalised this past July and they’re doing upwards of $50-60 million a month in sales just in that city alone, not referring to the amount they’re making in the whole state of Nevada. It’s crazy; forecast by 2020 an excess of $20 billion annually across the country. It’s a golden opportunity.

“You have countries like Canada that are now exporting cannabis to different countries. All of these are global opportunities that we’re missing out on. We have a chance to regulate it, keep it out of the hands of kids, shut down the black market.

“There are countless benefits that are just kind of getting brushed away. We really need some more information and more education to get into The Bahamas.”