Dear Stoner: How can I easily request the highest-potency strains of product? I know concentrates are all strong, but which strains?
John M.
Browsing: Dispensaries
Dear Stoner: I’ve noticed the CBD and THC percentages on my marijuana products, but what is CBN? That percentage is also on the bottle, but I’ve never heard of it.
Derrick
My librarian mother taught me never to judge a book by its cover, but anything I put into my body is a different story. It took years for me to get over pea soup’s pukey-green color, and I nearly got cold feet with magic mushrooms after finding out they weren’t just grown in shit, but also still had some shit left on them. While I let those same instincts keep me away from Cat Piss and Chocolope strains for too long, I didn’t make the same mistake with Booger.
Colorado marijuana sales continue to hit new milestones, surpassing $1 billion in sales two months earlier in 2017 than they did in 2016, according to tax-revenue data from the Colorado Department of Revenue. Totaling retail and medical marijuana sales tax from sales largely made through August 2017, Westword‘s calculations show that Colorado’s cannabis industry had made over $1.02 billion in sales…with four months left to go.
A lot of hybrids, especially the earlier ones, were bred to build upon a parent strain’s good qualities while minimizing its undesirable traits. I remember how exciting it was to see “Jamaican Sativa” or “Purple Thai” on coffeeshop menus in Amsterdam, and how disappointing it was to find that these old-timers hadn’t evolved like the potent strains they’ve birthed. San Fernando Valley OG isn’t as old or crusty as Jamaican and Thai landraces, but it’s produced its fair share of wunderkinds while getting unfairly pushed back in the shadows.
Dear Stoner: I have a broken hash-oil cartridge. Can I open it up and eat the oil? Maybe put a drop or two in some food or a drink? I don’t want that sweet juice going to waste.
Steady Buzz
Colorado’s decision to legalize recreational cannabis has taken the blame for several changes to the state’s rapidly changing landscape, specifically in Denver. Pot has been accused for the rise in population, the rise in homelessness and the rise in housing costs…and now one study believes it has found a solid connection to the increased cost of homes.
My memory was an unstoppable force before I started smoking cannabis. Sports statistics, promises from my parents, painful childhood memories — nothing escaped me. And while all of those recollections from my past remain, retaining random facts and events from the recent past is no longer my strong suit.
Barely hanging on to my short-term memory, I practically ran for the hills when a budtender suggested Amnesia Haze. The most popular form of the headstrong sativa has a combination of purer genetics than most hybrids, but it’s still a hot mess, counting Haze, Jamaican, Afghani, Hawaiian and Laos strains as its parents.
Entrepreneurs and consumers have been holding their collective breath as California readies itself for retail cannabis sales, which that state’s voters approved in November 2016. California expects to have regulations and license programs in place for retail cannabis businesses by early next year, although the exact date that stores will open is still unknown.
Despite the lack of retail presence, California’s medical marijuana industry is spurring one of the largest legal pot markets in the country, medical or recreational. Several cannabis industry studies have shown that California’s market is already larger than in Colorado or Washington, which both opened retail pot businesses in 2014. And even though they’re in a medical-only market, California’s cannabis consumers already display strong similarities to their Colorado counterparts, according to data from BDS Analytics – but on the recreational side.
The phrase “drink the Kool-Aid” is commonly used when talking about letting hype or peer pressure affect a decision, but it has pretty morbid origins. The saying stems from the 1978 Jonestown tragedy, in which over 900 followers of cult leader Jim Jones died from drinking a cyanide-laced version of the juice mix. Don’t let that stop you from enjoying a glass at your next cult meeting, though: Just add a little more sugar, and that cyanide tang will go right away.