Read the opening chapter of Capone of Cannabis, Ryan Richmond’s true-crime memoir about Michigan’s first licensed medical marijuana dispensary, the early green rush, and the power structure that moved to crush it.
The following is an excerpt from the opening chapter of Capone of Cannabis, a memoir about legalization, raids, corruption, prison, and the forces that refused to let the old war die.
Before I was a criminal. Before the headlines, the mugshots, the federal indictment, the Supreme Court and the prison ID number. Before the raids that ripped the doors off my shops and my life—I was just another white guy in a suit. Leasing office space to doctors and lawyers, spending my days in conference rooms and on the phone with clients, chasing commission checks and managing others. At night, I slept like a baby.
It was fine work, respectable work, but it felt like I was always helping other people build their dream, build something new, while I just moved paper from one desk to another. I wasn’t exactly reinventing the wheel.
Then, one cold afternoon in late 2009, my phone rang.
“Do you know any buildings in Royal Oak? We’re looking to open a marijuana dispensary.”
Up to that point, my experience with marijuana was limited to high school, college, and the occasional weekend toke. I knew it well enough to recognize it—but not nearly well enough to think I was qualified to sell it.
I didn’t catch his name at first—Nick, I’d later learn. He didn’t sound like the kind of guy you’d picture when someone said “pot dealer.” He was quick, clear, and confident. His voice had energy, like a man who had already visualized what he wanted and was just looking for someone to help him make it real.
His number had a Colorado area code—and back then, that mattered. Michigan had just passed its medical marijuana law that legalized the medical use of cannabis, but Colorado was a couple of years ahead, figuring out what this new industry could look like.
Nick and his partners were born and raised in Michigan and became early pioneers, now veterans, of Colorado’s cannabis experiment. They were bringing that knowledge back home.
I didn’t know it yet, but that phone call would change the rest of my life.
