The Clinic Colorado’s fifth annual charity golf tournament, which benefits the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Colorado-Wyoming chapter, has doubled in size from previous years, but organizers say it’s already sold out.
Although the Clinic hasn’t announced how much money it’s raised from participants and sponsors, the total’s at least $32,500 thanks to 250 people paying $130 apiece to play. That comes on top of $15,000 raised earlier this spring for the 2014 Walk MS event in City Park and more than $100,000 donated by the medical pot shop since the tournament’s 2009 debut.
“To be able to sell out the fifth annual Clinic Charity Classic quicker than all previous years while doubling the amount of participants was a pleasant surprise for us,” Clinic general manager Ryan Cook says. “I’ve always said that awareness for the National MS Society truly comes in dollars, and it’s a great feeling to host an event that will contribute a very significant amount of money to such a special cause.”
The Clinic is among the top donors to the MS Society in Colorado, thanks in part to the dedication of Clinic grower Jay Price, who lost his father to MS. Price now heads a high-CBD breeding program at the dispensary and also runs an annual seminar where budtenders learn about treating people suffering from MS symptoms.
Price says that the stigma of working with a marijuana business was initially a concern for the MS Society. “Their big fear was that by being too supportive of us, they could potentially scare off other donors,” Price said. “But then there were the people here [at the local chapter in Colorado]who had no problems with it, and they told us that they talk to patients who do use cannabis as a therapy and have had good success with it.”
Kayla Daniels, spokeswoman for the National MS Society Wyoming-Colorado Chapter, says all money raised goes directly to patient outreach services and national MS research.