Pubdate: Thu, 16 Jan 2014
Source: Tucson Weekly (AZ)
Copyright: 2014 Tucson Weekly
Contact:  http://www.tucsonweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/462
Author: J.M. Smith

UPSCALE IN ORO VALLEY

Unless You Happen to Live in the Area, Catalina Hills Care Isn't On 
Your Way to Anywhere, but They Provide an Excellent Dispensary Experience

Catalina Hills Care

12152 N. Rancho Vistoso Blvd.

797-3073; catalinahillscare.com

Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday

Pluses: Comfy, upscale experience; wide selection; edibles; friendly, 
professional staff; full menu on WeedMaps.com

Minuses: Prices; few high THC strains; long haul from most of Tucson

Until a few years ago, I played about 60 rounds of golf a year.

Most of those rounds were at utilitarian, workaday courses like Fred 
Enke or Silverbell. Often enough, it was a more upscale experience at 
del Lago or the Pines or Tubac. But a few times a year, it was a 
full-on, first-class ride of courtesy, service and impeccable 
grounds-keeping at the Ritz or Ventana or Stone Canyon, the last 
being Southern Arizona's epitome of golf detail orientation.

Catalina Hills Care, a dispensary that opened six months ago in Oro 
Valley, just down the street from the region's ultimate golf 
experience, seems to be the Stone Canyon of local dispensaries, IMO, 
even though it's in a strip mall anchored by a Safeway.

Because it's in a huge strip mall, parking will never be a problem. 
If you want to be discrete, park by Safeway. If you want to be 
paranoid, buy some gum and take your Safeway bag to Catalina Hills to 
smuggle your meds out, in case your grandkids see you on the way to 
your car. ;)

The waiting room here is a sort of quality faux-Victorian, like an 
expensive hotel, which kinda gives it a swanky doctor's office feel. 
There is a private consultation room with a tasteful desk and two 
chairs off the waiting room, presumably for patient evaluations, 
which they offer periodically in-house. Everything is in its place in 
the waiting room, and it was very clean. The magazines were perfectly 
aligned, and there is a giant electronic menu board to keep you occupied.

The board listed 18 strains the day I went, in four price tiers: 
$15/$45/$90, $17/$50/$95, $18/$55/$105 and $20/$65/$120 per 
gram/eighth/quarter. That's more strains than the average dispensary, 
but it's hard to compare prices. I can get top-shelf meds from $55 to 
$70 an eighth all over town, but what am I getting? Catalina Hills 
has a slight problem with bag appeal and a bigger problem with 
potency. The couple of strains I looked at weren't trimmed as well as 
they could have been. Not a fatal issue, but an issue.

But they only had one strain that tested at 20 percent THC or better, 
so they were selling strains in the 17-plus-percent range as top 
shelf. That doesn't mean they suck. I tried a strain called Bisbee 
Blue, which tested at 14 percent, and it was very smooth and left me 
on a nice, even keel. High THC isn't everything. It's also about the 
cannabinoid brew each strain offers. Nonetheless, if you're looking 
for high THC, you might call ahead. They didn't have much the day I 
went. They did have a wide selection of edibles from Bisbee.

This dispensary is inconvenient to most of Tucson, which will 
probably hurt them. I regularly drive past other dispensaries when 
I'm shuttling back and forth across town, but never this one. You 
kind of have to mean to go there, unless you're local. The location 
seems like a plus for their clientele, though. A lot of older folks 
like the safety and security cushion their monied lifestyle affords 
in the land of Golf and Plenty.

The staff at Catalina Hills seemed knowledgeable about the strains 
they had. They were very smiley, and they don't wear uniforms. The 
two women in the shop the day I went were dressed better than I was, 
so props on that. They were very professional. ;)

All in all, I'd say Catalina Hills striped it down the middle. I've 
been to every dispensary in town, save one, and this one is the top 
of the upscale heap, although I'd advise a little more attention to 
details on the meds. For quality experience and surroundings, they're 
hard to beat. But I think they could push their top shelf a little 
higher. Not a deal-breaker for me, though.

Mr. Smith approves.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom