Cannabis News and Opinions

I am a cookie fanatic when my self-control gives way to desires and sugar cravings.

I can eat a box of oreos in a single day so I don’t even buy them anymore.

Why bring food in your home that defeats your self-control in the first place? However, cookies get the best of me when I’m at the store getting my essentials for the week. If there are sales on raw cookie dough I will typically buy several packages. During the pandemic it was even harder to control my food cravings while I was working from home exclusively. Now that I am getting up every morning and driving to the office again, I can simply refuse the temptation of taking those treats with me to work. When I get home, it’s another story. Recently a different kind of cookie has me obsessed, and that’s the cookie cannabis strain. There are a plethora of cookie strains that are hybrids of the famed Girl Scout Cookies strain. Mandarin Dream and GSC create Mandarin Cookies while GSC and Gorilla Glue create the strain known as Gorilla Snacks. You also have the famous Miracle Alien Cookies (MAC1), Pink Cookies, Sour Garlic Cookies, and Wookie Girl. All of these cannabis strains that relate back to Girl Scout Cookies have all been winners when they’re grown properly. You can take the best marijuana genetics in the world and ruin them with poor growing techniques. It’s worth spending more money at a quality cannabis dispensary that is focused on stocking consistently good products to keep customers coming back for more.

Cannabis for sale

Back in the 1990s many of us ordered pizza with no additional charges from the restaurant.

You always expected to leave a tip for the driver, but I only remember rare instances where there was a separate “delivery fee” tacked onto the total after taxes.

This all changed in the early 2000s as major pizza chains all started adopting delivery fees in unison as oil prices soared before and during the Great Recession. I stopped ordering pizzas by delivery except on special occasions as it was simply easier to pick them up on my way home from work so my family could eat upon my arrival. That way you don’t even have to set aside money for a tip since they hand you the boxes of pizza over the counter. However, I had no choice but to order my cannabis products via delivery for the first year that cannabis was legal in this state. The closest dispensary was an hour away and I hated the traffic trying to get there. I would pay a small delivery fee and get my cannabis products brought to my door. But now that there are more retail locations around the state, this same cannabis dispensary’s delivery service no longer delivers to my area. Their store is 30 minutes away, but it has horrendous parking due to its exact location downtown. At a certain point I couldn’t justify the time it would consume out of my day just to stop at a dispensary that was already slipping on the quality of its products in the first place. This cannabis dispensary lost a lot of quality customers when they rolled back much of their cannabis delivery services.

 

 

Cannabis delivery service

I don’t need to understand the complex chemical process that goes into making the medications I take daily as long as I can trust that they’re safe.

Not in the sense of being free of side effects, but without any residual solvents or chemicals left-over from the laboratory.

Otherwise a batch of medication could make someone with poor health even sicker. No doubt the manufacturer would get hit with a massive class action lawsuit, so they have every reason to go to any expense to make sure their drugs are pure before they’re sold. I just wish that the cannabis industry was the same, regardless of whether or not you’re shopping with a medical cannabis card or just recreational. Sometimes I get batches that smell a little bit like mold despite the lab reports claiming otherwise. The worst are the marijuana oils like distillate syringes and vaporizer cartridges. You might see the strain OG Kush on the packaging, but in fact it’s distillate extracted from any random strain in the grow room and botanical terpenes are added to “simulate” or “mimic” the terpene profile of OG Kush or whatever strain they sell it as. If you ask a neophyte they will claim that all you have left after distillation is just THC, which is an oversimplification of the truth. There are plenty of trace amounts of CBD and CBG that can be plentiful enough to be statistically significant. A single strain of cannabis is characterized by a complex mix of different terpenes and cannabinoids present in its makeup. The ratios between all of these constituents is essential, and therefore the idea “simulating” these strains with half a dozen botanical terpenes is ridiculous. Try them if you don’t believe the warnings, then go find a full spectrum cannabis concentrate to compare to the marijuana oil.

 

Marijuana flower

When I first started getting marijuana in high school, I wasn’t lucky enough to smoke specific cannabis strains.

• Everything was either Mexican brick weed which was referred to as “mids,” or you could get sensimilla weed that was typically grown locally in a person’s house.

Sensimilla back then was called “crip,” “chronic,” and “hydro” among other names. By the time I reached college, I started to find strain-specific batches of cannabis flower buds. I’ll never forget the excitement that I had when my friend told me that he found White Widow. That night we smoked a joint and walked onto the other side of campus to see live music at the student-run restaurant. Months later were graced with a strong batch of Sour Diesel that made an impression on me about the possible impact of quality cannabis compared to the junk I had in high school. Now that I live in a state with a legal cannabis market, I see a lot of hybrid strains that are derived from OG Kush. The famed hybrid strain Girl Scout Cookies was made from crossing OG Kush with Durban Poison, while Bubba Kush a cross between Hindu Kush and OG Kush. It’s hard to find a good batch of OG Kush in my state because a lot of growers will pass off an inferior cultivar as OG Kush when it doesn’t reflect the taste profile and effects of the OG Kush I got when I lived in California for a few years in the early 2010s. You know you’ve got real OG Kush when you open the bag and smell the rich, dank aroma of the flower buds.

Sativa strains

Smoking cannabis was different 40-50 years ago.

A lot of the best cannabis back then came from overseas.

You’d find Thai sticks in southeast Asia, kushes in northern India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, and Gold-bud in North and South America. These “landrace” strains are either pure sativas or pure indicas and were used to develop the very first hybrid strains of cannabis. While I have found current phenotypes of indicas like Pakistani Kush, Hindu Kush, and Afghani Kush to be weak and unappealing, landrace sativas like Durban Poison and Hawaiian are phenomenal. While many medical cannabis dispensaries carry Durban Poison on a regular basis, it isn’t always easy finding other quality landrace sativa strains. When my local cannabis dispensary started stocking Acapulco Gold and Columbian Gold recently, I was excited to try them both. Opening the jar of each was a satisfying experience. The dank aroma of the flower buds was both fruity and dank at the same time, which I’ve been missing from some of these crazy hybrids that are trending right now. I’ll take a hybrid if I can be sure that it will give me consistently good effects. But more often than not, I’m disappointed by these muted hybrids. My body is left wanting more. Hopefully I can keep getting more landrace cannabis strains moving into the future. I saw many on moneus when I lived in California briefly, but the state I’m living in now is limited in its options of cannabis products by comparison. As long as I can keep getting Colombian Gold and Acapulco Gold, I’ll be happy.
medical cannabis store near me

My parents have told me many stories about getting cannabis in the 1970s and 1980s.

Until the ‘80s, there was no such thing as “sensimilla,” which is a term used to describe unpollinated female cannabis plants.

These unpollinated females would produce flower buds free of seeds and would thus yield stronger effects. The energy once used to create seeds can go into trichome production instead. But before sensimilla became popular nationwide, the batches of cannabis coming from all over the world had lots of stems and seeds in them. Columbian Gold and Acapulco Gold actually had a gold tint to them and long, thin leaves like you’d expect from a pure sativa. Nowadays most legal cannabis is grown indoors so it’s a lot easier to produce batches of sensimilla without any seeds. Sadly, this isn’t always the case as I have received a few bad batches of cannabis flower products in this state that were filled with immature seeds. If I’m going to find a seed in a premium cannabis product, I want it to at least be a mature seed that I can save for home cultivation. Unfortunately, the last few times I found seeds they were far from being viable for growing. Even if you complain to the dispensary, the best thing they will do is give you 10% off your next order. If you can’t trust the replacement product will be any better, why bother taking their discount in the first place? Getting a mature seed for a change would be cool, but I doubt I’ll ever be that lucky. At least give me sensimilla if those are the kind of prices you’re going to charge. That’s at least what I expect from a reputable cannabis dispensary in a legal state.

Sativa

Before I visited the dispensary for the 1st time, I wanted to understand the products I might find there. I didn’t want to walk in with no idea of what to ask for & end up buying something I wouldn’t enjoy. I knew that the mental & physical effects, mouth taste & experience are influenced by the consumption method. I just had no clue on what consumption system might be perfect for me. There are more than two basic delivery methods, including inhalation, oral & topical. Those are entirely large terms that cover a broad style of techniques. Inhalation covers smoking & vaporization & is the process where the cannabinoids are drawn into the lungs prior to absorption into the bloodstream; Loose flower can be rolled into a joint or blunt. It can be packed into small, portable, easy to use hand pipes. There are water pipes such as bongs & bubblers & hookahs where the cannabis is placed between tobacco & allows many people to smoke at the same time… Vaporizers eliminate the combustion plan by heating oil just until it forms a vapor. There are tabletop vaporizers & portable vape carts that offer an abundance of cannabinoids such as THC & CBD. The dispensary has all types of oral methods including tinctures that are portable, supply precise dosing & fast-acting effects. There’s also all sorts of edibles, like candies, cookies, breads, baked treats & an abundance of cooking oils and butters. Edibles need to be eaten in small doses because the onset of effects is an after effect. Topicals are beneficial for sited relief of aches, pains, bee stings, inflammation & all sorts of skin irritations.

Medical marijuana oils

I am amazed how long it has taken for cannabis to finally gain the yes in this country.

Marijuanna has absolutely been used as a medicinal fix since ancient times.

The psychoactive effects were often a portion of religious events & rituals. It was used to treat depression, stress, anxiety, nausea, inflammation & as an anesthetic. It was brought to this country in the late 1500s by the Spanish & was grown by early settlers. It wasn’t until the government failed in their war on alcohol that they needed an up-to-date target & focused on marijuana. The pitfall propaganda was supported by companies worried about hemp taking over the paper business. Because of this, the studies on the potential benefits of cannabis to the health community are limited. Research has been restricted to a single facility since 1968! Just this past year the Drug Enforcement Administration finally initiated the process of registering further American companies to produce marijuana for scientific & medical research. Hopefully now that public opinion has started to change & legalization is gaining ground, more studies will supply firm proof & help more people get the help they need. There are growing success stories from people who have used cannabis to treat sleeping disorders, PTSD, migraines, arthritis, dementia, nausea & all sorts of medical symptoms. The local dispensary carries a wide variety of consumption methods, including flower, pre-rolls, tinctures, topicals, concentrates & a large menu of edibles. I am amazed that with a government-issued identification, I can walk into any dispensary in the state & make a purchase. It’s been a long time coming.

medical cannabis

After a few visits to the dispensary, I decided to toy around with some unusual consumption methods.

I just recently felt confident enough to try cannabis concentrate; Cannabis concentrates are created by eliminating the excess plant matter & distilling the plant down to nothing but the most tasty parts.

What’s left is the cannabinoids & terpenes, making concentrate entirely strong & with great effects. The terpenes & cannabinoids are found in the trichomes of the plant & are responsible for the aroma, flavors & color. Concentrates are available in a wide variety of strains & textures. There are budders, wax, shatter, kief, live rosin, snap-and-pull & all sorts of options. It can be added to edibles, tinctures, topicals & more. It can also be vaped or dabbed. Dabbing is a method where a concentrate is heated to the point that it vaporizes. The vapor is highly potent & is inhaled. However, the dab tools are pricey. I’m sticking with vape carts & sprinkling kief on flower to add potency to a joint, blunt or bowl. These methods are more affordable & easier. It has been really beneficial listening to & trusting the recommendations of the budtenders at the store. They advocate day to day deals & guess the terpenes I care about best. They also convinced me to join a loyalty program that includes some really relaxing discounts. Eventually, I will take the fortune of the dab bar at the dispensary. I will let the budtenders teach me how to use a nail & all of the other necessary paraphernalia. Since I strictly use cannabis for social situations, stress relief & relaxation, I’m in no rush.

 

recreational pot store

I went to the dispensary looking for traditional flower, expecting to roll some joints or blunts.

I was willing to consider some pre-rolls.

Then the budtender recommended that I try cannabis cartridges. There is no mess & vapes are easy to take with me when I am leaving. They allow full control over dosage. I learned that vape cartridges are all set with cannabis & can be disposable refillable. All I need to do is press the button & inhale. Disposable vape pens for cartridges are lightweight & can fit absolutely into my pocket. They are hassle-free & they work until the cartridge runs out. Then I can simply throw the pen away & buy another 1. The cartridge provides an almost instant high but requires no expertise or experience… Reusable panes need to be filled with cannabis oil. It’s quick & easy to do, & let’s me determine THC levels & cater to my personal needs & preferences. The reusable options include a rechargeable battery & features such as LED displays. With both vape pens, there’s no smell. This makes them especially discreet. Once the vape cartridge is connected to the battery & activated, it’s ready to smoke. The dispensary offers a wide selection of vape cartridges. I have my option of terpenes, CBD & THC levels. I care about the fact that there is no combustion plan. The oil is only heated to the point of creating vapor, which lessens that opportunity of inhaling carcinogens. It’s a healthier alternative to smoking flower. I am so grateful that my budtender introduced me to this up-to-date opportunity.

 

medical weed dispensary