State law allows local dispensary to expand

A Trout Creek business is offering medical and recreational marijuana locally, saving residents trips to larger cities. Connor Reishus and his wife Nadia have owned and operated A+ Medicinal Dispensary in Trout Creek since 2016. The business started as a medical-only dispensary. With marijuana laws now allowing for recreational sales, A+ products are available to anyone over the age of 21.

The couple is excited to offer products that can help relieve pain and other uncomfortable symptoms with their locally grown and distributed cannabis. However, there have been setbacks and hardships along the way. One of those is the high rate of taxation on marijuana dispensaries.

"This is the first year we have been open to the public," said Connor Reishus. "Marijuana sales should be taxed, but it's a really tricky subject. I think the 20% right now is too much. I just went down to a county commissioners meeting where they proposed another 3% tax on top of that. What people don't understand is that right now, because it's not legal federally, I don't get tax deductions, and I don't get to write off my taxes here. That counts as my personal income."

Reishus added that it would be different if he got some tax deductions. "I just think that they are getting a little bit greedy. As of right now, the taxes are out of hand considering the circumstances. I also pay around $20,000 a year in fees that I am not able to deduct."

Reishus got into the business by chance after deciding to rehabilitate some garden plants that fell into his lap and finding that he had quite the knack for gardening. "It just kind of happened. Someone had abandoned a bunch of tomato and broccoli plants with me, and I had to take over. I ended up growing some really good tomato and broccoli plants, and then I got into gardening a little bit," he explained. "It was around 2014 before I seriously started moving into a for-profit idea, and then about 6 or 7 years ago I started setting up my medical shop."

Reishus is proud of the product that he cultivates and distributes and is grateful to have helped and been trusted by so many people, both locals and visitors. "I'm most proud of the quality of our product, because it's not easy to get to that point. I think a lot of these big shops like the ones in Washington should give their product just an extra 3 or 4 weeks of love and it would be a much better product," he noted. "We've helped lots of veterans, people with fibromyalgia, MS and cancer. We are very happy to have helped to relieve so much pain."

Reishus said A+ provides both high quality indoor- and outdoor-grown recreational and medical cannabis to patients and offers a retail location that is centrally located in the west end of Sanders County.

"I grow indoor and outdoor marijuana, and I have put a lot of time into breeding my plants. It's tricky. We've gotten it up to about 50% of the seeds we sprout will flower in our climate. I've gone through thousands and thousands of dollars to breed my plants, and at this point, I believe Copper Chem and O.G. 7 are probably our most popular strains," Reishus said.

Born and raised in Montana, Reishus has decided to offer affordable marijauna to customers as well as bring them a location that is local and accessible. "I was born and raised right here, and I graduated from Noxon. I've had three kids here, and we have been in Montana for a long time. We like to hunt and fish and travel, but working and farming has been keeping us close to home now for quite some time," he said. "I would like people to know that they have the option to come here – you don't have to drive all the way to Washington or Missoula. We sell marijuana that is grown locally right here in our county in Montana." For more information, visit http://www.aplusmedicine.com.