Barak Rigbi brings the Vie vaporizer up to his lips, draws in a breath and, in his deep Israeli accent, explains: “This is my world. For the past two and a half years, my world has been around this. We want one thing. For this to be enjoyable and satisfying.”
The Vie was developed in Denver, where for almost three years Rigbi has worked on a vaporizer that smokes flower and concentrates, and can be sold for a reasonable price. “Let’s start a revolution,” promises the company’s website
It’s easy to buy pot in Colorado –– but not that easy. Federal law still prohibits mailing marijuana, and that was one of the red flags when two online marijuana retailers claiming to mail their products to purchasers were reported as scams to the Better Business Bureau of Denver.
You could get marijuana delivered to your home in L.A. since at least the days of Cheech & Chong. But, despite California’s legalization of medical cannabis in 1996, the essential activity of having someone bring it to you has been pretty much illegal in the city of Los Angeles.
The app-based delivery service Speed Weed learned that the hard way last year when the City Attorney’s Office announced the firm would cease to exist within our borders. Of course, that hasn’t stopped other tech-based companies from keeping delivery alive in L.A. And now, ironically, state and city officials have revealed proposed regulations for medical pot that would legalize delivery, particularly the kind allegedly practiced by Speed Weed.
Loose-ends legislation from Gov. Jerry Brown’s office proposes that delivery be allowed so long as the driver is connected with a licensed brick-and-mortar dispensary. That dispensary wouldn’t have to be a storefront; it could exist simply to serve delivery customers.
Scott Pack has been indicted by an Arapahoe County grand jury for what attorney Matthew Buck has called “the largest fraud case in the history of Colorado’s marijuana industry.” Buck, who filed a lawsuit in the matter earlier this year, says the grand jury’s findings tie Pack to what prosecutors describe as a massive operation that grew marijuana for distribution outside Colorado and previously led to the indictment of sixteen people, including Pack associate Rudy Saenz. Among those reportedly indicted along with Pack is Renee Rayton, a former officer for the state’s Marijuana Enforcement Division.
Ladies, unhook your bras. The Ganja Goddess Getaway is coming to Los Angeles (well, Palm Springs, but it’s basically the same thing at this point right?).
Founded by two powerhouse women in the cannabis industry, this women’s-only overnighter is intended to celebrate sisterhood, tear down the walls of inhibition and put cannabis to use as a “creative and spiritual tool.” Four weekends a year, at outdoorsy locations in both Northern and Southern California, this weed-centric trip brings together 75 to 100 ladies for glamping, dancing, yoga classes and a little “Puff, Puff, Craft” time. You can take a hike in the desert, a dip in the hot tub, or get your tarot cards read, all in the name of “radical self-love.”
One morning this spring, about two dozen L.A. cops arrived at a large marijuana grow facility with a battering ram. Without knocking, and armed with what the business owner called “full-on assault rifles, like something from a movie,” the owner said police proceeded to bash on the entrance.
Mixing gourmet food and premium cannabis was a hot topic for white-collar America after the New Yorker‘s April feature story on the “Martha Stewart of edibles,” a Portland food writer who holds cannabis-infused dinners at her home. The story was nothing new to us in the Mile High, of course, where there have been plenty of edibles, both legal and illegal, to choose from for quite some time.
But what if you want to separate weed and food while still enjoying them together?
Canadian weed?
It’s supposed to be pretty good.
But Arizona medical marijuana?
Super profitable.
Ask the people from a Toronto firm who recently announced the “acquisition” — with caveats and disclaimers — of two Mesa dispensaries.
The $27 million deal also includes one of the state’s biggest cannabis-extracts brands and an option to control a cultivation and wholesale business in Nevada, where voters legalized recreational marijuana in November.