The Latest

Posted on July 28, 2009

If you’ve been following the Jones for awhile, you know we’re in the midst of an exciting immersion project, one revolving around the world of medical marijuana. For the past 24 months, Dann has dug in layer-by-layer: beginning as a patient, then becoming a delivery driver, and now as director of a Hollywood-based delivery service. It’s been a lot of work—to the point where Dann must now write less and make more deliveries in order to survive. So in lieu of his colorful literary stylings, here’s a fast-paced Q&A with the latest news about Artists Collective, how it works, how it came into being, what’s available, and where it fits into the master plan that is Walkabout Jones.

WJ: You’re a drug dealer now.

Dann: That would be the impolitic way of putting it. Here’s the thing: The best way to learn about a world is to work it with your own hands. I spent many years as a traditional journalist and you’re painfully restricted in that format. Your bosses tell you what to write and often how to write it. You don’t have time to do deep research, so you’re at a disadvantage in interviews. People lie to you all of the time. They even have a word for it now: Spin. After much thought, I decided I could never do this story justice unless I was willing to live it. I was tired of depending on others. I wanted to learn it for myself.

WJ: So you make the deliveries for Artists Collective and then write about being a delivery driver for Walkabout Jones.

Dann: That’s the plan. I change the names, muddy up the locations, and work toward the greater factual and emotional truths of the story. I’ve seen some crazy shit. As a delivery driver, it can sometimes be very frightening, to the point you’re wondering if you’re going to make it back. I’ve been on Skid Row late at night—with an ounce of marijuana tucked in a bag. In moments like this, you’re at war with your instincts—because every part of your body is telling you to go. I’ve seen things I’d rather not see again, but at the same time, as a writer, it’s an incredible story. The traditional stigma toward marijuana casts such an interesting prism on the world. As a storyteller, marijuana instantly changes the context of places and events. It’s the difference between a retirement home and a retirement home where the old folks smoke reefer. The whole picture changes. So as a writer, it’s golden. And thank god I can feel positive about the creative process, because the marijuana world is an incredibly stressful, hard life. It isn’t anything like you’d expect. I’m looking forward to when I’ll have the time to write about it more consistently.

WJ: You must get a lot of calls from people asking how deliveries work. Want to explain?

Dann: The first thing we do is make sure the patient is under doctor’s care. Many of the doctors in Los Angeles now have 24 hour phone verification or online verification. Compared with the old days when you sometimes waited a day for a doctor to respond, patients can often be verified within fifteen minutes. Once they’re confirmed, we can answer all of their questions about how the delivery system works and the marijuana strains currently available. Patients can either make an appointment for a specific time or for a delivery route. The latter is more affordable, but appointments are better for busy patients who’d rather order more, schedule it into their daily planner, and see us less frequently. Once we get to their home, there’s paperwork and then we’re able to help them.

WJ: What’s it like when you go into a stranger’s house?

Dann: One of the best parts about making deliveries is having dozens of dogs adore you…or at least be intrigued by the scent of what you’re carrying. I’ve delivered to mansions and trailers, hipster lofts, Indian reservations, bungalows with families stuffed in. What you realize almost immediately is the diversity of the people you’re serving. People who smoke marijuana are every bit as diverse as any other group. Every home is different. I meet an incredible variety of people.

WJ: What’s the difference between a medical marijuana service and black market delivery?

Dann: It’s night and day. What legitimate delivery allows is patients to make an informed choice. Different strains have different benefits. A patient suffering from chronic pain might need something very different from a patient with insomnia. We travel with essentially a mobile dispensary, letting patients see and smell a variety of options, explaining the qualities of each, and ultimately helping them make an informed choice. Collectives now are able to offer choices beyond the usual bag of nugs—edibles, teas, creams. There’s even now cannabis lip gloss. It’s just a safer, better way.

WJ: Fear of arrest?

Dann: You live with the reality that the Federal government could come in at any time and arrest you. And the conviction rate in Federal court is 100%, so it’s not like it’s risk free. I’ve learned you can never fully remove the target from your chest. All you can do is try to make that target as small as possible. You do so by following California law to the letter and not running afoul of local authorities. We’re small potatoes. We’re a little service doing a drop of business in a big ocean where others are making billions of dollars. Law enforcement is most concerned with businesses clearly flouting the law and proprietors with serious criminal records. They have more important work to do than go after me. And the Obama administration’s call to end DEA raids might really be a game changer. We’ll see.

WJ: Artists Collective is set up like a regular non-profit, with its goal to fund individual artists. How does it work?

Dann: Americans spend more than $100 billion on marijuana every year. Much of that money goes to crime. Most of us in our twenties and thirties agree that legalization will happen in our lifetime, so we want to shift the conversation toward how that money should be spent. Should we allow the tobacco companies (big supporters of legalization) to run it? Or should marijuana be like Indian casinos? A social curative pumping needed funds into non-profit charities. We’d love to see it become an economic engine for social good. Those billions of dollars would be much better spent by local non-profits than multinational corporations.

WJ: Do you accept tax deductible donations?

Dann: We do, though it’s a little more complicated when you’re a medical marijuana non-profit. Artists Collective Caregivers is recognized as a California non-profit, but we’re unable to get Federal non-profit status because the Federal government doesn’t recognize what we’re doing. So what we’re in the process of completing is incorporating a second non-profit called Artists Collective Arts. This will be strictly an arts organization, which should qualify it for Federal status. All profits from Artists Collective Caregivers will go to Artists Collective Arts. And Artists Collective Arts—thanks to a combination of medical marijuana proceeds and hopefully private tax deductible donations—will create opportunity grants for artists, writers, performers and musicians. 

WJ: As a writer, how did you get this idea?

Dann: When I was in journalism school, many of my teachers were old reporters from the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times. I remember hearing a story from the 1970’s, back when newspapers had budgets and could still do real investigative journalism. Chicago reporters are famous drinkers and on some cloudy night, the story goes, someone got the idea that they should buy a bar. But not just any bar. They’d work it themselves and learn the complexities of running a Chicago neighborhood tavern—complete with mobsters, teamsters, and all of the commotion unfolding within it. The newspaper bought one, the reporters staffed it, and together they won a Pulitzer Prize. So a generation later, as I watched medical marijuana clubs spreading throughout Los Angeles, I realized these clubs were historical in nature. We were about to see a real societal shift on the subject of marijuana—one that would have a rippling effect in ways we couldn’t predict. I knew that somebody would eventually write about it—and I needed a job. So why not me?

WJ: How does Walkabout Jones fit in?

Dann: Jones is where we publish the stories. And from an editorial point of view, this is the perfect subject for the long-term goals of the site. Walkabout Jones, from a literary standpoint, is a hybrid between “creative non-fiction” and “new journalism”—with 21st century sensibilities for a young and vibrant digital audience. Historically, this has been called muckraking… or participatory journalism… or most anything by Tom Wolfe. Upton Sinclair and Mark Twain did it back in the day. Barbara Ehrenreich and Steve Almond have done it more recently. So it’s old but it’s new—we’re bringing it into the digital age. What we want is to make this a full art and culture site. My marijuana journey is one story. As we grow and improve the infrastructure, other writers will create new Walkabouts. And also art, music, politics and culture, geared toward a smart, adventurous, thoughtful young audience. 

WJ: Big dreams.

Dann: And small resources, but we’re patient and hard-working. It takes time to find investment. What we want is pennies on the dollar when compared to backing a low budget movie, but our format is new and unfamiliar—and there’s always a prejudice against “new” until it makes somebody money. But every month the response gets better. A lot of you seem to really love the site. So for now, we’ll just keep posting great work (as time allows) and be grateful so many of you are returning.

WJ: What’s the latest on the short story contest?

Dann: We received more than 300 entries from around the world for Walkabout Jones/Artists Collective’s contest, and it’s taking some time to read them and bring the entries down to a group of finalists. Sorry for the delay, but we’ve been so busy, it’s hard to get everything done! Soon, a wonderful published author will choose the winner. We hope to announce later this summer.

WJ: When do we get more stories on Walkabout?

Dann: It’s so hard right now because there’s so much work to do and so little time as we try to get this non-profit running. The economy has made it very hard for us to focus on anything but Artists Collective because right now we’re just trying to make it! We’re publishing as often as we have something good to post. We’re also assembling a Walkabout Jones staff. Bottom line, we’re doing the best we can with the limited resources that we have. We want to publish great work consistently, and when we can do so on the daily, we will. Until then, we’ll just keep doing our best.

WJ: Do people tell you that you’re crazy?

Dann: They definitely have thought so, but at least now it’s with a smile on their face! Very few believed in this when I started. But folks are coming around. It feels good!

Artists Collective is Walkabout Jones’ social action project, a medical marijuana non-profit that will dedicate a considerable percentage of proceeds toward creating opportunity grants for deserving artists. For more information about Artists Collective, go to www.artistsforaccess.org

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