Stand outside Giving Tree Wellness Center and it's not immediately clear what they do inside.
Then breathe in and you'll know. Room after room has pot growing.
"The temple I belong to asked if we want to advertise and I was like do you know what I do?" Giving Tree Co-Owner Lilach Power laughed. "I didn't believe they were going to let me do it."
Power and her business partner Gina Berman act more like sisters than colleagues. And for good reason. The two basically grew together, learning the ins and outs of an industry that wasn't established It started with a call from Berman while she was driving one day.
"She was like turn on the news," Power recalled. "(She said) medical cannabis initiative. I'm like what?"
In 2010, shortly before medical marijuana was legalized in Arizona, the two were considering launching a business. At the time, Berman was an emergency room physician. Marijuana use was still taboo. Plus, the women both have small children.
"I took my now five-year-old in a car carrier to a meeting about this," Berman said. "They've been raised in it, they were born in it."
But it didn't make it comfortable to talk about with others. It took time before they would openly discuss what it's like to own and operate a marijuana dispensary and grow. Plus, stories of other entrepreneurs having family difficulties made them second guess their decision.
"I remember saying I don't want my kid to pay the price for what I decided to do," Power said. "I remember talking to my mom and telling her the story and her saying well you didn't think it's going to be easy to change history did you?"
But the two are glad they didn't turn back, happy now to be part of the revolution. They are proud of the company they've built, from one location to two, and the charities they help.
Then there's the satisfaction of seeing hundreds of patients every year.
"As a clinician, I'm fulfilled by that in a way that I wasn't in the ER," Berman said.
The Giving Tree Wellness Center also offers many alternative healing therapies like yoga, massage therapy and acupuncture.
