On Wednesday, January 27th, the Seattle Times sported a headline which read: “Why Cooking with Pot is a Bad Idea”. I had to read the whole article. It was fascinating. The author explained how cooking with marijuana didn’t work out well. For one thing, it is almost impossible to keep consistent dosages in the food (there was a recipe for an Italian noodle dish included in the article). Also, there is the problem that a person who eats a weed-laced dinner will still get the munchies about an hour after the meal ends. The writer concluded that it might be best to just burn a blunt prior to or immediately after the meal. Amazing.
Stefan wanted to go to a pot dispensary. Oddly enough, there is one on Bainbridge Island. We drove there in Senji’s car, a 1988 Ford Tempo that had no dash lights, a perpetually lit “check engine” light, and malfunctioning fuel gauge. We drove around the island (it’s not that big) until we found “Paper and Leaf”, the home of Stefan’s dreams.
I’m not sure what I expected prior to entering the pot shop. I guess I was anticipating a typical head shop, full of bongs, hookahs, pipes, and posters of Bob Marley. I kind of thought we would be talking to some stoner behind the counter who would tell us, “Yeah Dude, this shit will take you places that you’ve never been. Like totally.”
I couldn’t have been more wrong. The store was clean and neat and very organized. The staff was friendly, courteous, extremely knowledgeable, and sober. Well, okay, the girl at the check out, who had trouble reading Stefan’s ID, seemed a little buzzed, but besides her, everybody was clean as could be. It reminded me of being in a upscale liquor store, where people really know about beer and wine. All the marijuana was labeled and the THC content shown. The staff could answer questions that Stefan hadn’t even thought to ask. They has loose leaf weed, pre-rolled blunts, and God only knows what else. The counter was full of slick brochures and pamphlets from the growers. I kept some of them.
We went to one other dispensary. That was in Seattle. There are actually two types of dispensaries: one type for recreational drugs, and one type for medical marijuana. Apparently, there are two types of dispensaries because of tax issues. Medical marijuana is taxed less than the recreational kind. So, if I went to the medical dispensary for my back problems, I would pay less than at the rec store. By the way, the medical marijuana dispensaries are identified with a green cross. Yeah, for real. The place we actually visited was on Aurora Avenue, and it was called “Ocean Greens”. It was similar to “Herb and Leaf”. It was clean, organized, and well-staffed. Stefan bought a weed chocolate bar. He offered me some. I like chocolate, but not that much.
In Washington State weed is a business. It’s just like Amazon or XPO or Kwik Trip. It’s serious and it’s for real.
Frank is Emptiness 