Pubdate: Thu, 24 Sep 2015
Source: North Coast Journal (Arcata, CA)
Column: The Week in Weed
Copyright: 2015 North Coast Journal
Contact:  http://www.northcoastjournal.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2833
Author: Grant Scott-Goforth

INFUSIONS

A recent report by the Guardian shows that alcohol sales in Colorado 
grew in the years after the state legalized recreational pot, 
seemingly dispelling an argument that pot advocates have made that 
alcohol consumption would decrease with easier access to marijuana.

It's unclear if possible alcohol temperance was a selling point for 
Colorado voters, but the prediction has led to fears in the alcohol 
industry as legalization spreads through the U.S. In Colorado, those 
concerns have all but vanished. Alcohol excise tax revenues rose 2.1 
percent from June 2014 to May 2015, and brewers and retailers in the 
state have confirmed growth in sales.

While some studies indicated that consumers think pot can replace 
alcohol, it seems sort of obvious, in retrospect, that legal weed 
wouldn't cut into Americans' appetite for booze. Anyone who's 
stumbled upon a disc golf course, for example, would know that desire 
for the inebriants isn't mutually exclusive.

And some in Colorado are saying legal marijuana is drawing tourists, 
which is good for sales - a New Belgium Brewing Co. spokesman 
suggested that there's an overlap between people who enjoy craft beer 
and high quality marijuana. With impending legalization in 
California, this could be good news. Craft beer and quality pot are 
languages that Humboldt County speaks.

Speaking of overlapping interests, the Guardian also recently 
featured a profile of Denver chef Josh Pollack and his THC-infused 
cured salmon. Can we stop?

I mean, edible THC delivery is fine. Smoke's bad for us. But how 
about a nice pill or tincture or lozenge? Something with a measurable 
dose? Something that isn't linked to a vital function, like 
nutrition? (Let's put aside, for a moment, the irony of infusing 
salmon with pot - the marriage of two of the North Coast's most 
precious resources that are increasingly at odds over scarce water.)

I've never really understood the appeal of ganja food, except as 
subterfuge for getting high in a campout festival or some such 
restricted area. Ingested weed takes time to kick in, lasts much 
longer and can lead to unpredictable results. Nowadays, legit 
manufacturers seem to be getting a handle on dosages, but still -- a 
marijuana-lox bagel?

That's Pollack's vision. He launched his stoney seafood on 4/20, and 
told the Guardian it "was a little strong." He's been guinea pigging 
customers at his deli ever since, "getting more calculated" each time 
he makes it in order to meet Colorado's dosage standards. Sounds like 
the scientific rigor you'd expect from your line cook-cum-pharmacists.

On the actual scientific rigor front, German researchers have 
engineered yeast that produces THC, according to the New York Times. 
Coaxing desirable medications out of yeast is a thing right now, 
apparently -- researchers got the micororganisms to produce 
hydrocodone in August - but it's nothing new. After all, people have 
been coaxing alcohol out of yeast for thousands of years.

As the Times reports, there's interest in utilizing those most irie 
of yeasts to brew beer, but the researchers involved see more 
medically inclined applications for the breakthrough. And anyone who 
visited the Humboldt Homebrew Festival this year knows you don't need 
a German lab to get THC into your bottle of beer.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Times report is the 
admission by one researcher on the project that synthetic production 
of yeast is kind of a dead-end. After years of careful hybridization, 
some cannabis plants yield 30 percent THC content, according to the 
article, making it an efficient producer of the compound.

"Right now, we have a plant that is essentially the Ferrari of the 
plant world when it comes to producing the chemical of interest," 
Jonathan Page told the Times. "Cannabis is hard to beat."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom