Shooting for a recent cover story about local commercial real estate, an assignment came up that took me to the Giving Tree Wellness Center, a medical marijuana dispensary near the Deer Valley Airport. My tour was led by managing director Lilach Power. She oversees operations at the company’s locations in Phoenix and Mesa. The Giving Tree started doing business in 2013. The dispensary side, once you get past the security guard, has the appearance of a jewlery store, nice counters, well lit with chandeliers and big screen TVs with current prices of their freshly cured products. The grow rooms have the obvious olfactory hues of fresh cannabis blended with organic soil mixtures. Depending on the room, they’re filled with containers of plants, some are in rooms that provide the amount of light needed for the plant to grow leaves. Other rooms have plants that are on a tightly monitored light cycle to encourage the “budding” process. It is these buds, or flowers, that are then harvested for its medicinal uses. Last week the Phoenix Business Journal held a Power Breakfast event that had local leaders discuss the upcoming issues of Proposition 205 and how it will impact businesses.
