Pubdate: Thu, 01 Nov 2012
Source: Westword (Denver, CO)
Copyright: 2012 Village Voice Media
Website: http://www.westword.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1616
Author: William Breathes

WILLIAM BREATHES LOOKS BACK ON THREE YEARS AS THE COUNTRY'S FIRST POT CRITIC

This month I'll mark my third anniversary of reviewing medical
marijuana dispensaries for Westword as the country's first MMJ critic.
In that time, I've written about more than 150 dispensaries, smoked at
least 546 grams of cannabis and tested out nearly two ounces of
assorted hash, kief and oil. Not bad for a job that I originally
thought was going to be a short-lived stunt.

That's not to say I didn't take the job seriously - I did - but back
in the fall of 2009, the mainstream media wasn't taking the MMJ
industry seriously, much less giving it the attention that 60 Minutes
just did in its October 21 report. And while that was shortsighted, it
was also easy to understand. Growers were opening up ragtag shops and
selling anything they could move to patients pumped just to be able to
buy legal marijuana. So many dispensaries popped up on South Broadway
that the stretch became known as "Broadsterdam."

Three years later, everyone takes Colorado's MMJ industry seriously.
Despite federal closures of nearly sixty dispensaries around the
state, there are still hundreds of centers open for business. Yes,
there are still some crappy, low-rent shops out there - but I've also
seen an increasing number of shops doing things right. The most
obvious change has been the constantly improving quality of cannabis
available. While a lot of people like to make the blanket assertion
that all dispensary meds are warehouse-quality and don't compare to
the small grows of dedicated personal caregivers, that doesn't always
hold true. While some centers have just mid-grade buds, an
inexperienced caregiver may do no better. And there are definitely
shops that turn out top caregiver-level cannabis, including Green
Dream Health Services, the Health Center, Colorado Alternative
Medicine and the Golden Goat.

A lot of the improvement is due to the increasingly complex genetics
originating in Colorado gardens. The Golden Goat's Tierra Rojo has
been mixing up the genetic pool of available kush and haze varieties
by breeding them with the heirloom-vegetable equivalent: seeds
originally sourced from Afghanistan. And while Colorado's original
seed company, Centennial Seeds, has shut down because the law now
prohibits cultivation by any entity other than a caregiver or
dispensary, other seed companies have aligned with dispensaries and
are flourishing. Reserva Privada, for example, has come out with a
line of seeds that combines a number of strains from the Clinic with
RP's fierce LA Confidential.

Prices have also become consistently better from a consumer's
standpoint. When I first started reviewing MMJ, paying $50 or more for
3.5 grams of mid-grade buds was the norm at most shops. Higher-end
buds would regularly sell for $60, and some places like Boulder's
Greenest Green would go as high as $70 for an eighth of an ounce. Now
patients looking for cut-rate buds will find many places selling herb
below $200 an ounce. While a good amount of that is not worth buying
if you're truly concerned about medical-quality buds, there are also
quality grows with warehouses pumping out top-rate buds for members at
$200 or below. Even Greenest Green has lowered the prices on its
consistently chronic-quality herb to a more reasonable sub-$50/eighth
level.

Another major development has been the increased availability and
quality of concentrates like hash and hash oil. No doubt this is
partly because of all the excess cannabis grown in the larger
warehouses. But some dispensaries have begun looking at concentrates
as almost an art form, hiring dedicated hash-makers to produce
extremely potent, high-quality, delicious-tasting and skunk-stinking
icewater extractions. A huge market has also emerged for all things
solvent-extracted. Butane hash oil was known to only a few
message-board weed geeks just three years ago, and now every
dispensary carries grams of butter, shatter, earwax or whatever
nickname they care to attach to it; the overall quality has improved
from a general viscous, used-motor-oil consistency to see-through
amber glass made of chemically extracted cannabinoids.

And it's gratifying to see that advancements aren't coming from
professional or college labs with major funding, but from a few
dedicated pot nerds who have come together through Internet forums and
Saturday-night hash gatherings rather than peer-reviewed papers and
university conferences.

As much as some things have changed, others remain the same. Despite
my series of blood tests in April 2011 that demonstrated how THC DUI
laws might harm sober medical marijuana patients, state senator Steve
King plans to bring another proposal to the legislature in the next
session. (Amendment 64 clearly states that driving under the influence
of marijuana "shall remain illegal.") And on a personal level, I'm
still plagued by the same painful stomach condition that gives me
almost daily nausea and cramping.

But not everything that stays the same is as unwelcome: I still get
excited checking out new dispensaries every week, and medical cannabis
is still the best medicine to help curb those symptoms. And whether or
not Amendment 64 passes next month, I'll still be able to get my meds
in Colorado.
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MAP posted-by: Matt