Hahaha thats a great story! Amazing the offices had no idea.kinda funny story...
Here in CO.... in 2010 when the MMJ dispensaries came online there weren't any laws in place to address any of it. The Med law had the word "dispense" in it...and that opened to door for folks to open stores...though it took almost a decade for things to quiet down and folks to feel safe enough to play. In my county...5 stores opened. A friend worked at the county in the Tax Accessor's office and she said that the County had no clue they were open until their first tax payment came in. Talk about scrambling to figure shit out...LOL. I got to know most of 'em (LOL)...and 2 of the guys who opened one of the shops I vended to the most were both Felons for weed sales. They met in prison. LOL. Once the regs came into play the State created...the rule said that Felons couldn't own stores...they merely signed the business over to one the guy's GF and just kept right on rolling.
And yes...you'd pay the Fed....whether they say it's legal or not...cus that is the shit that will fuck ya as a business. It's likely they wouldn't even know what "High Country Wellness" is....but they might if you called it "Bob's Medical Weed Pharmacy". They just want their cut...like the State does.
The Fed will want to take a cut no matter what, and I understand it is what it is unfortunately. It just bothers me that they would accept "dirty money" to support themselves but not support what supported them. No taxation without representation, represent the herb if you're going to tax it. Again it isn't a winning argument but just bothers me haha.
I am not sure how it is in other states but in NY but you cant even get paid/compensated in any way for being a care giver (except for cost of materials). Anyways I don't mean to rant... Just amazing how messed up things are over a plant that helps/fixes more issues than any medicine and has less dangerous side effects than over-the-counter meds (even supplements). I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir.