Culture

SEATTLE — ‘Ballard Beat’ and ‘Wallingford Wanderlust’ are just a few flavors of new marijuana-infused syrups set to hit the market here.

 

Craft Elixirs, a Seattle-based company, is waiting on the final approval from the Washington State Liquor Control Board to start producing the specialty syrups.

 

“The minute you put it in your mouth and sort of savor the syrup, you can start to feel the effects of the cannabis,” said owner Jamie Hoffman.

 

Hoffman’s company makes five different syrups. She said they can be put on foods and used to make soda. There is an orange and blueberry flavor, regular syrup, and one that tastes like coffee.

 

“You know, it doesn’t really taste much like the marijuana.  It is very slight,” said Hoffman.

 

Craft Elixirs is one of five companies with pot-infused edibles approved for sale by the Liquor Control Board. The product, along with the label and packaging, must meet state standards before it is allowed on store shelves.

 

Just like with pot stores and marijuana growers getting state approval, it is a lengthy licensing process for those companies making pot-infused food and drinks.

 

“You have to be inspected by the Department of Agriculture. They have to come through your kitchen and make sure that everything is set up right. They are kind of like the health department for the Liquor Control Board,” said Hoffman.

 

The findings are then turned over to the Liquor Control Board before a final license is approved. So far, the Washington State Department of Agriculture reports 16 kitchens have passed inspections. However, not every one of those businesses has received a pot license.

 

The Liquor Control Board said Craft Elixirs is in the final stages of the licensing process. Hoffman expects her license to be issued in the next couple of weeks. Right now, her company is making the syrups without the marijuana.

 

State rules require that pot products list individual serving sizes. All products, packages, and labels cannot be designed to appeal to children.

 

Source: http://q13fox.com

DENVER - A retired teacher says Denver International Airport denied her request to sell marijuana-themed souvenirs there, reports CBS Denver.

 

Ann Jordan makes the pot-themed collectibles, such as socks and flip-flops with marijuana leaves on them. Some of the airport stores reportedly say they're interested in carrying her products, but Jordan says when she asked the airport, they turned her down.

 

"I think it's kind of crazy because I know you can buy a lot of other Colorado products there and this is part of our culture now, so it's a natural fit to me," Jordan said.

 

Colorado legalized the recreational use of marijuana ealier this year.

 

An airport spokesman acknowledged an employee turned down Jordan's request to sell her wares. The spokesman said the airport does not have a formal policy when it comes to selling pot-themed souvenirs and added that the facility is discussing the issue and will eventually make an official decision.

 

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com

DENVER - An event targeted at veterans handed out free marijuana to hundreds of people on Saturday, including edibles and medicinal versions of the plant, all in an effort organizers say was designed to help vets in need.

 

The Denver Cannibis Giveaway, gave out pot to the veterans and to the general public, who can now legally possess it in Colorado, as a different approach to treating veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder, reports CBS Denver.

 

"That's our mission, is to offer veterans a safe alternative to the dangerous prescription drugs that they're prescribed to deal with PTSD, TBI, chronic pain, and all sorts of other ailments," said Roger Martin, Operation Grow4Vets Executive Director.

 

But others objected to the distribution of marijuana publicly to veterans in this fashion.

 

"These people are getting marijuana with varying degrees of potency and THC. That could cause things like paranoia," said Bob Doyle of the Colorado Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) Coalition. "Obviously things that we wouldn't want somebody with PTSD to be experiencing."

 

Still, the vets who attended the event say marijuana is useful to them as medical treatment because they make more sense than harsher alternatives."I'm allergic to morphine opiates, I can't take them," said Mark Pitt, a Vietnam veteran. "So I don't have much choice other than do that."

 

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com

Marijuana edibles are becoming more and more popular everyday. This is especially true in Colorado, where recreational marijuana edibles are legal. Marijuana edibles are legal in Washington State as well, but due to slow licensing, availability is much lower there. Marijuana edibles were brought into the media spotlight when New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd visited Colorado, didn’t know her limit, and ate edibles that were clearly too strong for her. Marijuana opponents tried to use it as an opportunity to throw the entire marijuana edible industry under the bus, but in fact, it was just a single case of a rookie not knowing what she was doing.

 

Maureen Dowd’s experience has led to the Marijuana Policy Project launching a new website that provides information about eating marijuana edibles. If you are a veteran marijuana consumer, the information isn’t that relevant because chances are you know your limit, and your limit is high enough that you shouldn’t have any issues. Personally, I have never met a marijuana edible that I couldn’t handle. I will not only gladly try every edible that is on the market, but I’ll eat way more than people think I can, and still be able to function quite well and can still beat most sober prohibitionists at any activity that requires brain power. But for those of you that are new to the marijuana world, or don’t have much experience with edibles, you should check out Marijuana Policy Project’s new website.

 

The main takeaways from their website, is to know the law, know your limit, and know your responsibilities. The ‘know the law’ part is very straightforward. As I stated previously in this article, recreational marijuana edibles are only legal in Colorado and Washington, and they are only widely available (and affordable I’d add) in Colorado right now. With Oregon, Alaska, and Washington D.C. voting on marijuana legalization this November, legal recreational edibles could be coming to those areas too.

 

As far as the ‘know your limit’ part, the main thing to realize is that the effects from marijuana are much stronger when eaten as opposed to smoking or vaporizing it. When someone eats marijuana in the form of a brownie, cookie, candy, etc, it goes through the bloodstream. It takes longer to kick in compared to smoking or vaporizing because smoking or vaporizing goes into the nervous system, which makes the effects kick in much faster. When marijuana is eaten and goes into the bloodstream, it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to kick in, but once it does, the effects can last many hours longer than it does when inhaled. Start slow, and let time go by, and eat more as needed. After you have eaten edibles a few times, you will then have a good idea of how much you can handle.

 

Lastly, the ‘know your responsibilities’ part gives a great overview of how to be a responsible marijuana consumer. The overwhelming majority of marijuana consumers are very responsible, so this part of the website seems like stuff that is common knowledge. But if you are dumb, and there are certainly dumb people out there, marijuana consumer or otherwise, read that section very carefully. Good luck on your marijuana edible experiences, and remember, if you have a bad experience, don’t go around throwing the marijuana industry under the bus. Take personal responsibility and recognize that maybe you can’t handle edibles, and stick to a different form of marijuana consumption that you can handle.

 

Source: http://www.theweedblog.com

Mega Chill has become the first medical marijuana dispensary in Canada to accept bitcoin.

 

Since the formal announcement this September, Mega Chill has seen an overwhelmingly positive response from the community, both from patients familiar with bitcoin and customers who had never heard of the digital currency.

 

The relationship between bitcoin and the marijuana industry is long-standing due to bitcoin’s ability to offer an alternative to the traditional banking system and its still-prevalent use in online dark markets.

 

In the case of Mega Chill, however, the decision had less to do with sidestepping potential money problems and more to do with the growing popularity of bitcoin as a payment method. CoinDesk spoke with co-owner Matt Jung, who cited the public’s curiosity and enthusiasm for digital currency as the reason his business decided to accept bitcoin.

 

Jung said customers have begun using bitcoin regularly since Mega Chill started accepting it, telling CoinDesk:

 

“It’s been really good for our patients. One girl who comes in gets paid in bitcoin, so it’s perfect for her.”

 

Notably, the company manages its own bitcoin wallet rather than using a payments processor.

 

Ideal bitcoin merchant

 

For some, Mega Chill represents the ideal merchant for bitcoin – a business that is a relative newcomer to the technology but still sees the benefits of accepting it.

 

Jung told CoinDesk that Mega Chill, like other small businesses, is responding to grassroots support for the technology. He added his belief that bitcoin is an easy-to-use payment method and that the public ledger makes record-keeping simple as well.

 

Jung explained:

 

“It’s an interesting new step to take – a new emerging technology. It’s always good to have another payment method, to have more options for everybody.”

 

He added that from a financial management standpoint, bitcoin has helped reduced some of the friction Mega Chill faces as a marijuana business, including the hurdles it experienced when dealing with either card issuers or banking institutions.

 

“It eliminates a lot of the complications of dealing with the banks and dealing with the credit card companies,” Jung said.

 

Read more: http://www.coindesk.com