[420 Girl]

Colorado - George Archambault thought he was taking a big risk when he opened Mile High Horticultural Supplies just over a year ago, and after several months of slow sales, he was worried about missing some of his mortgage payments.

"For those first five months, I was really terrified," he said. "I dumped everything I had into this business, didn't really know if I was going to make it."

Then, this past summer, sales of his indoor grow lights, ebb and flow tables and nutrients for hydroponic growing took off. Now, he can barely keep up with demand.

"It's reasonable to assume that a lot of it is a result of the medical marijuana laws that have passed recently," Archambault said.

While the equipment at his shop has traditionally been used to grow vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants indoors, many marijuana growers are starting to use the same equipment.

One of Archambault's regular customers is a Denver medical marijuana grower who just wants to be known by his first name - Jared.

Jared says he shops at Mile High Hydro about twice a week, often buying expensive nutrient supplies for his hydroponic varieties of marijuana.

"If you want to upgrade to bigger lights, hydro systems and have quality that'll meet the patient's needs, then you have to invest a great deal," Jared said.

This marijuana grower says his business is also booming. He only has about 50 small, cloned plants, but Jared says his medical marijuana patients are waiting for at least 200 plants. Growing and selling marijuana is now the 19-year-old's full time job.

Archambault says the medical marijuana boom is helping out many other businesses. Electricians often need to install power grids for larger banks of lights, heating and air conditioning specialists are installing ventilation and cooling systems for grow rooms and other businesses are filling CO2 bottles because some growers feed their plants with more carbon dioxide.


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