Search Results: photography (27)

420Nurses.
420 Nurses 420 Nurses vice president Summer Rain, left, and president ChaCha VaVoom, right.


Even in L.A., it’s still something of a taboo for a woman to brand herself as a pot-smoker. So in 2009, native Angeleno ChaCha VaVoom (née Vanessa Sahagun) launched 420nurses.com, a social network for models who toke to connect, video chat and cash in on their looks, à la Instagram superstar Madzilla. Now, VaVoom is expanding, opening a 2,000-square-foot photo studio on a busy stretch of Sherman Way in Canoga Park, a dedicated space where 420 Nurses members can network and smoke weed for the camera.
“Smoking pot can be something useful, an opportunity,” VaVoom says. “We give young women the inspiration on an everyday basis to feel better about themselves.” LA Weekly has more.

In honor of 4/20, we’re presenting Maria Levitov’s portraits of cannabis consumers in Colorado, the first state to allow legal recreational sales. “The world can feel isolating and discouraging, so now more than ever, it’s important to show the things that connect us, not separate us,” says the photographer.

“I think cannabis is distinctive in that it mixes medicine with recreation in a way that feels inherently inclusive. By combining fine-art photography with the act of smoking, I think these portraits offer a different insight and perception. Plus, smoke is beautiful and ever-changing; it’s as unique as the participants in this project.”

Banking issues have been a major stumbling block for the cannabis industry, with banks refusing to work with marijuana-related companies for fear of coming under scrutiny of federal regulators. So far, attempts to clear up that conflict have gone nowhere in Congress — but now a former federal government employee has come up with a partial solution: Tokken, an app for both customers and dispensaries that was recently named a finalist for the 2017 SXSW Interactive Innovation Award.

A former banker for Merrill Lynch, Lamine Zarrad came to Colorado in 2014 as a regulator with the U.S. Treasury. He soon became the department’s liaison between the cannabis industry and Washington, D.C., helping to address fiscal concerns of both the federal government and Colorado businesses. That led to his working with compliance experts in the financial sector to try to untangle the banking issue.

Cooking with cannabis can be intimidating, so Emma Levy, the chef at BlueKudu, has made it easy for us. She’s created a dark chocolate cookie recipe that pairs with BlueKudu’s Polar Caps bar.

All you need to do is bake the cookies, prepare the chocolate ganache topping and frost the cookies, then chop a Polar Caps bar — which has 100 milligrams of THC — into ten pieces. Place each piece on top of a single cookie for a ten milligram dose — or just sprinkle the cookies with bits of candy cane for an unmedicated treat.

Though it’s becoming increasingly legal to possess it, smoke it, eat it, and even sell it in medicinal, recreational, or retail settings, there’s still one thing you can’t do with cannabis.

“You can’t — legally — drink alcoholic beverages with it,” says Weston native Joe Durkin, cofounder of Fort Lauderdale-based South Florida Distillers and head distiller for Fwaygo rum. “I want to help change that.”

Additional photos and more below.

Today marks six months since recreational marijuana sales began in Colorado, still the only state where such purchases can be made. (The first licensed retail shops in Washington are expected to open on July 7.) By the January 1 launch, eighteen stores had been licensed in Denver, and since then, the total has grown steadily. Some outlets have come and some have gone, but the latest total, as vetted by Westword‘s Amber Taufen, stands at a whopping 88 — fifteen more than our previous update in April.
All the licensed shops are included here, along with photos, videos, links and excerpts from reviews of the ones visited by Westword marijuana critic (your’s truly) William Breathes. See the countdown thanks to Michael Roberts below.

William Breathes


This past weekend, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra held a cannabis-friendly fundraiser that almost didn’t go off thanks to overzealous Denver city officials hell-bent on preventing people from smoking cannabis quasi-publically. The solution was to make the event invite-only, leaving all but about 250 people out in the dark (and rain/hail mix). The event was a success, raising more than $50,000 for the CSO, but more than that it did a great job of pointing out the absurdity of Colorado laws that keep otherwise legal pot smokers in the closet.
More below.


Desmond* has been a weed courier on and off for almost four years. He’s in his mid-twenties now, but he was still in college when he heard about the opportunity through a classmate. He works three days a week, and makes, on average, 15 deliveries a day. If he makes more than 20, he gets a free bag. Usually he’ll give it away or resell it — he used to be a big stoner, but he doesn’t smoke much any more; certain strains make him anxious.
The work helps him pay off his student loans and subsidizes his creative pursuits (he’s in two bands and does photography on his days off). When he’s working, he looks like any one of the hundreds of bike messengers who speed around New York City, clad in shorts, perched on a single-speed bike, with a bag and a couple of delivery tubes slung over one shoulder. And like any other messenger, he can be at your door in 20 minutes or less.
The Village Voice has more.

Big photos and more below.

It was a Happy Halloween at Lightshade Labs, judging by this photo from the store’s Facebook page. But it’s probably an even happier March, since two Lightshade branches are among the latest shops licensed by the City of Denver to sell recreational marijuana. In the two-plus weeks since our last update, Denver has okayed seven more stores, bringing the official total to 54. All of them are included here in this list compiled by Westword’s Michael Roberts, along with photos, videos, links and excerpts from reviews of the ones visited by Westword marijuana critic William Breathes. Count them down below.

Review Books
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

A letter from 1803 reveals that early 19th century British Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge — known not only for his writing talent (“Rime of the Ancient Mariner”; “Kubla Khan”) but also for his opium appetite — was aware of the medical properties of cannabis, and that it would be useful in treating his friend’s intestinal ailments.

Coleridge wrote the letter to his landscape painter friend Samuel Purkis of Brentford, Middlesex, to ask about acquiring some bhang (a hashish preparation) for his friend Tom Wedgwood, according to the Australian maritime history website Merchant Networks.
He requested that Purkis ask the eminent Sir Joseph Banks — whom Coleridge had heard was in possession of some — for some bhang. Banks advised the government of Great Britain on what best to do to expand British-controlled supplies of hemp.
Coleridge wanted the bhang to treat the intestinal malady of his friend Tom Wedgwood, son of the famous potter Josiah Wedgwood; Sir Joseph Banks knew Josiah. As Banks probably knew, Tom’s health collapsed when he was about 21 — not coincidentally, when he was experimenting with silver nitrates and photography (the younger Wedgwood is credited with being the Father of Photography).
1 2 3