James and Pam Fleming want their new venture — the EnerChi Healing Center in Fort Collins — to be more than just a place where medical marijuana is dispensed.
They have lined up more than 20 practitioners of alternative medicine to help people try other ways of treating health woes.
The center will be the first medical-marijuana store in Fort Collins and probably the first in the state that is more than just a dispensary of the drug, Pam Fleming said.
“Natural holistic health care is a growing field and there is a huge need for it,” she said.
EnerChi opens Monday and will offer healing therapies that include hypnosis, acupuncture, yoga and organic medical marijuana.
Fleming and her husband are both registered medical-marijuana users. He began using prescribed pot a year ago to deal with problems brought on by using an inhaler for chronic asthma.
Pam Fleming also began using the drug more than a year ago to deal with severe digestive problems. Medical marijuana helps her more easily digest her food.
“It completely changed everything for me,” she said.
The Flemings are listed as caregivers for about 10 registered medical-marijuana users, which allows them under Colorado law to grow and dispense the drug to their patients.
Registered users can designate anyone over the age of 18 to be a caregiver.
Colorado voters passed a medical-marijuana law — Amendment 20 — in 2000. To date, there are 2,000 medical-marijuana users registered in Colorado, said Ron Hyman, registrar of vital statistics with the Colorado Department of Health and Environment.
“There are people on the registry that have provided care for multiple patients,” Hyman said. The state, he adds, doesn’t keep track of the number of dispensaries in Colorado.
Pam Fleming says their patients suffer a variety of ailments including arthritis, epileptic seizures and lung problems. Each patient is interviewed first by the Flemings to make sure their legal documents are in order and to get an idea of how much marijuana they need.
The drug often is priced according to a patient’s ability to pay, Pat Fleming said. An ounce of pot on the street goes for about $300, Fleming said.
Proceeds from each pot sale will go back into the center to pay for salaries and expenses, she said. No smoking will be allowed in the center.
“We want to be sensitive to other clients getting treatment there,” she said.
Fort Collins police spokeswoman Rita Davis said as long as EnerChi follows medical-marijuana laws, police have no problem with the business. “If the grower is certified and the users have a legal prescription from a doctor, that is legal in Colorado,” Davis said.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
