Meet the new pot entrepreneurs

• Entrepreneur: Charles Marcus
• Background: Owner of several restaurants, bars
• Weed-related job: Large-scale grower/producer

He doesn't smoke it. He doesn't touch it. But that won't stop Marcus Charles from attempting to create a massive growing facility to supply all of Washington's future pot stores.

"I'm a business guy. This is a business opportunity," he said.

Charles' business plan makes him an outlier in Washington. The typical grower operates out of a tiny room, raising about 45 plants at a time.

Charles is putting together a warehouse filled with 52 shipping crates, each one growing dozens of marijuana plants.

He wants to be the Budweiser of bud, a recognized brand of marijuana with a base of loyal customers.

Charles is using a decrepit, old sawmill in Raymond, Wa., offering much-needed jobs to a tiny town that once relied on the lumber industry. Jobs have disappeared in recent years, as hardwood imports have skyrocketed and jobs have shifted overseas.

As for his business experience, Charles thinks he'll have an edge over the competition. He expects the state to slam the recreational marijuana industry with burdensome rules like it did with liquor licensing. He's a bar owner who knows what that's like.

"It's a highly-taxed, highly regulated environment," he said. "We're used to living under those constraints."

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