NPR

'Brave New Workers': A Burning Desire To Get A Medicinal Marijuana License

What happens to workers when an industry fails, new technology takes off? NPR brings you stories of Americans adapting to a changing economy. This week: Leaving the black cannabis market to go legal.
Malcolm Mirage and sister Nina Parks operate the cannabis business Mirage Medicinal in San Francisco.

California native Malcolm Mirage's dream was to own a legal cannabis dispensary. For years, he had grown marijuana and sold it on the black market, while working a day job as a personal trainer. But in his late 20s, Mirage decided it was time to jump into the growing legal industry — before it got too crowded — and build his expertise into a sustainable, above-board business.

In order to open up that business, which he calls , he needed to come up with $500,000 in startup capital, so Mirage

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