Best Buds
Hugh Newmark stands behind his patients in a time of change for the cannabis community
STORY BY NICK YERGER | PHOTOS BY BEATRICE HARPER
Without marijuana, Hugh Newmark is on edge and struggles to stay on task, to the point where his brain feels like it will explode.
For years, Newmark, 25, has been using marijuana to keep focused and alleviate health issues. Now, fueled by personal experience along with the potential of cannabis as medicine, he runs Best Buds Collective Garden, an access point for medical marijuana patients in Bellingham.
It was in 2006 in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida that Newmark really discovered how cannabis could be used as medicine. His mother was in a car accident that led her to becoming strung out on prescription opiates. Newmark was in a band at the time, when the vocalist’s girlfriend gave him a joint, telling him to have his mom try it out to ease her pain.
It helped her immensely.
“It just started this huge transition to cannabis as medicine,” Newmark says. “It opened my eyes. She’d smoke a joint and be totally functional.”
In 2013, Newmark personally lobbied for the legalization of medical marijuana in Florida, gathering more than 2,000 signatures to get Amendment 2 on the ballot. It made the ballot, however the people did not vote to legalize it. Newmark had originally planned to open a glass shop and dispensary in St. Petersburg if Amendment 2 passed, so when a friend in Bellingham called offering employment at a dispensary, Natural Remedies, he jumped at the opportunity to pursue his dreams.
Natural Remedies went well at first, but management conflicts led to its closure. Shortly after, Newmark opened Best Buds in the same location on Meridian Street.
In October 2015, Best Buds celebrated one year of business at its first location, and a second Fairhaven access point opened in July. It has seen enormous growth since opening, with 1,521 members at its Meridian location, and another 431 in Fairhaven, with some overlap between the two.
Newmark is very laid back, but is also very business-minded, doing everything by the book. He cares deeply for his patients and takes pride in having only the best medicine possible. Not codeine. Not oxycodone. Nothing made in a lab.
Just cannabis.
Under Washington’s current medical marijuana law, Best Buds is a collective garden, a group of medical marijuana patients who work together to produce, process and deliver medicinal marijuana to other patients. It’s the best law that will ever exist, Newmark says.
Unfortunately for patients and members of the collective, as of July 1, 2016, Best Buds, along with every other collective garden and dispensary in Washington State will have to shut down due to Senate Bill 5022.
Newmark wishes things could stay the same, but in order to continue doing business, he has applied for a retail license under Initiative 502, which legalized recreational marijuana in Washington.
Applying for a recreational license means going under the scrutiny of the Washington State Liquor Control Board, but Newmark isn’t worried and thinks that Best Buds will receive one.
While Newmark will most likely acquire a few college students and Canadian buyers if he is issued the license, he is confident many current patients will become customers.
“They’ll stand by me and I’ll stand by them as well,” Newmark says. “It goes both ways, they’ll keep supporting me and the way I run my business and I’ll continue to offer the best product I can at the lowest price.”
Best Buds provides medicine to a wide range of people, from individuals with epilepsy to cancer patients and everyone in-between. Most patients are regulars, allowing Newmark and his staff to build relationships with them.
He loves his patients. Sometimes they will come in without enough money to afford what they need, so Newmark will give them a discount, or even free medicine.
One of those patients is Caitlyn Irene, 26, who has been a medical patient for about five years, using medical cannabis to relieve migraines, cramps and insomnia. Irene is also one of Newmark’s employees who has worked at Best Buds since the beginning.
Her whole life, Irene was prescribed drugs such as Adderall to keep her focused for her ADD but with the help of cannabis she has been able to completely eliminate pharmaceuticals and feels more attentive and healthier than ever.
Irene wants to stick with Best Buds and says that Newmark’s intention is to make Best Buds a great place, both to access medicine and work at. She says she has always been amazed by Newmark’s positivity, through both ups and downs.
“It’s so much fun to do what we do and it’s so rewarding to genuinely be helping people,” Newmark says with a grin. “You’re part of these people’s lives. This is the third night in a row that someone has brought me dinner!”
He’s the happiest he’s ever been.