| Photo: East Bay Express |
A Berkeley medical marijuana dispensary has released a spiffy set of cards that allows cannabis enthusiasts to compare high-scoring strains such as Afghani Goo and Grand Daddy Purple.
“It was really just like an evolution of the labeling system,” said David Bowers, manager at the Berkeley Patient’s Care Collective, a 10-year-old pot shop on Telegraph Avenue. Introduced in March, the cards feature glossy photos of beautiful buds along with details about their defining traits and medical usefulness, reports Josh Harkinson at Mother Jones.
“Consumers want to get rid of physical pain, restore appetite, or find mental relaxation, and different strains help,” Bowers told David Downs at East Bay Express.
| Photo: Mother Jones |
A 10-pack of the trading cards sells for $7, and they don’t come with any bubblegum.
According to the cards, Grand Daddy Purple has a “rich fruity and sweet scent like grape pixie sticks” and is “very relaxing and good for sleeping.” Lightweight smokers should maybe avoid OG Kush, an “extremely pungent and skunky” plant with effects that are “extremely psychoactive… can be almost too strong for some patients.”
“Many of the cards read like a cross between a wine label and a bottle of aspirin, reflecting marijuana’s double-edged allure as a medicine and an agent of hedonism,” Harkinson reports.
The Jack Herer strain, named after the legendary hemp activist, is “pepper and spicy, with a touch of tropical fruit.” It’s also “clear, focused, energetic and motivating… A good strain for when you have to medicate during the work day.”
Of course, pot-haters like former California Attorney General Dan Lungren aren’t very enthusiastic about the trading cards.
“Using slick, full-color cards to promote marijuana use to children while turning a profit for yourself,” Lungren huffed, along with 21 other state AGs in a 1998 letter to the now-defunct, San Francisco-based In-Line Trading Cards and Magazines, which had printed a set of “Hemp Cards “that were sold in retail stores.
But the Patient Care Collective only sells its cards at the dispensary and medical marijuana trade shows, according to Bowers.
If PCC can educate patients and the public just a little, the cards are worth it, according to Bowers. A second line of 10 more cards is in the works — and there may be a technology breakthrough incorporated into the next batch.
“We’re trying to make them scratch and sniff,” Bowers said.