Pubdate: Sat, 26 Apr 2014
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2014 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Alexandra Gill
Page: S5

PIZZA JOINT SERVES UP TASTY, MEDICINAL PIES

Part pizzeria and part vapour lounge, it's a place to enjoy some
marijuana before, after or in your meal

There was a haze of smoke in the air when I arrived at Mega Ill. I sat
down at a table and the waitress brought me an ashtray, a pack of
rolling papers and a grinder. Now that's a pizza joint.

I didn't have any marijuana to roll. I was waiting for my friend Paul,
who has a medical marijuana certificate and was bringing his own stash.

Now that this gonzo pizzeria and vapour lounge has become an
international sensation - it was recently featured in the L.A. Times
and Vice magazine and joked about on David Letterman and The Tonight
Show Starring Jimmy Fallon - I figured it was high time to critique
their medicated pies.

It was a rainy Wednesday night and not very busy. There was one woman
in a wheelchair behind me, zealously inhaling a bong. And there was a
nonsmoking group of six, who looked like tourists from Kerrisdale who
had car-pooled it to the East End to take in the circus.

Anyone over 18 is welcome to order a regular pizza at Mega Ill. You
can smoke your own pot or borrow a sterilized vaporizer from the
establishment's vast collection. They do not sell marijuana to smoke.
But if you have a federal exemption or medical prescription, you can
top up your pizza with house-blended marijuana-infused oil for an
additional $10.

Paul arrived with a baggie of green "cotton candy."

"It used to be that there were only four or five types of medical
marijuana sold in dispensaries, but now there are more than 30," he
explained, describing the various designer hybrids.

He started telling me about a new super-refined version of
butane-extracted hash oil called "shatter." It's a soft,
semi-transparent amber goop, sometimes called earwax. You blowtorch a
small bong fitted with a titanium nail until it gets red-hot and then
dab the shatter on the tip and it vaporizes instantly.

"Look, that's what she's doing," he said, pointing to the woman in the
wheelchair.

"Pure? Yeah, right. Sounds like crack," I sniggered.

"It's the evolution of hash," he replied, conceding that some weed
activists are worried about the street-drug connotations.

Paul's cotton candy was too gummy for the grinder. We asked the
waitress for scissors. They were wet. "I think these people are
crazy," Paul said. "Are they gangsters?"

"No, the owners are cancer survivors," I explained. Mark Klokeid, who
also owns the medical marijuana dispensary next door, opened the
pizzeria with Rocky Tolfree in December. They wanted to create a
safe-inhalation site, akin to a safe-injection site for heroin users.

"Sure, the police could come and shut us down if they wanted," Mr.
Klokeid said later by phone. Mega Ill also flouts Vancouver bylaws
that ban smoking in restaurants, though he contends that pot is
different from cigarettes.

"But technically, we're selling medication for patients who need it.
We're in the same category as dispensaries - tolerated, not regulated."

The waitress came over to answer questions as we perused the menu.
"One pizza should be enough to get two people high," she assured. "But
today is Wow Wednesday so you can get two pizzas for $20."

The medicated topping (no discounts on that) is what they call Rick
Simpson oil, an extract strained of all fibre and plant matter, which
is then infused into olive oil. The oil, which contains 100 milligrams
of pot a pizza, is brushed on the dough before cooking. The fat from
the cheese helps metabolize it better.

"She didn't check our ID," I exclaimed, after we ordered two enhanced
pizzas. Oops, I spoke too fast. A minute later, she was back to card
us, but not too carefully.

Although the marijuana pizza has made Mega Ill famous, Mr. Klokeid
maintains that his real goal is to create a great dining experience.
He said 90 per cent of customers order non-medicated pies.

"A lot of people come here for their birthdays. We're the adult Chucky
Cheese."

Uh, sure. The restaurant may be expanding its menu to include soups
and salads, and building a patio for the summer, but I certainly
wouldn't want to celebrate my birthday at Mega Ill. When we went back
inside, the woman in the wheelchair was hacking away violently. There
are some really sick people in that place. The ambience is gross.

Yet surprisingly enough, the pizzas were quite good.

"Great texture," Paul said, commending the dough made from whole-wheat
flour, hemp hearts and whole oats. "Light, not too chewy, it holds up
to the sauce."

We both enjoyed the Rocketarian, topped with fresh tomato, roasted
garlic, caramelized leeks, red and green onion, baby arugula and
roasted red peppers.

But we wouldn't order the El Luchador again. "I think the salsa's
off?" Paul asked. "No, it's not off," I replied. "It's just sweet -
sweet and sour." It was finished with lime.

Neither of us could taste the marijuana oil. "That's the mark of a
good cannabis cook," Mr. Klokeid later explained. "You have to hide
the flavour.

You don't want an overpowering, weedy, chompy pizza."
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MAP posted-by: Matt