10,000 square foot marijuana store opened in Sacramento

A retail store, dubbed as the Wal Mart of weed has thrown open its doors in Sacramento with how-to experts and merchandise to help medical marijuana patients grow pot.

The facility is a whopping 10,000 square foot warehouse and hopes to provide individuals in California with everything required to grow marijuana.

The retail outlet that calls itself 'The First Honest Hydro Store' was just the conversation starter for an unusual celebration of legal cannabis commerce in California, the Sacramento Bee reported.

The company weGrow, hopes to offer benefit for those seeking medical marijuana. It was all for a gardening supply store that doesn't sell any marijuana but packs its shelves with plant nutrients called Kushie Kush and Big Bud, and caters to customers who grow medical marijuana, the report said.

According to the Bee, the store's founder chose its opening location strategically. And he has no qualms being forthcoming about its purpose:

I just thought it was a statement to have something close to the state Capitol, said Dhar Mann, who founded the original iGrow in January 2010. It's a statement of how progressive the industry has become. We're all about coming out of the shadows.

With California, 14 other states and the District of Columbia legalizing marijuana for medical use, the hydroponics industry is exploding. But, unlike weGrow, most hydroponics outlets avoid any mention of marijuana, billing themselves only as generic suppliers for people growing anything from peppers to rosemary.

George Mull, attorney for the store and a lobbyist for the California Cannabis Association, said the outlet's marketing pitch bravely and strongly supports patient cultivators, the Bee reported.

But to avoid running into trouble with police, its pot plants - registered to individual medical cannabis patients - are for display only. They are to be pulled from the store before they flower with marijuana buds.

Pot isn't sold or grown at the store. In the past, hydroponics outlets have avoided any mention of marijuana because pot cultivation is illegal under federal law. But hydroponics stores have exploded as states approve medical marijuana use.

Last month, California-based entrepreneur Soquel, Calif., created a new line of soda pot or marijuana soda and plans to roll out in February in Colorado.

The beverage combines soda and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), a psychoactive ingredient found in marijuana, to create a drink that co-brand-developer Clay Butler calls medibles, edible medicine.

Besides his flagship cola drink, Canna Cola, he will also produce Dr. Pepper-like Doc Weed, lemon-lime Sour Diesel, grape-flavored Grape Ape and orange-flavored Orange Kush.

Canna Cola's makers plan to sell it to medical-marijuana dispensaries in Colorado starting next month, and hope to launch it in California by the spring.

READ: Medical Marijuana Has No Use, Leads to Addiction: US Government