Pubdate: Wed, 30 Dec 2015
Source: Stranger, The (Seattle, WA)
Copyright: 2015 The Stranger
Contact:  http://www.thestranger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2241

CANNABUTTER, TOO MANY SKITTLES, AND AMORPHOUS BLOBS OF SEMISOLID REALITY

Business Owners, Budtenders, and Marijuana Lovers Reflect on the 
Highs (and Lows) of 2015

"I regret dabs. When I do them, my heart starts to beat so fast that 
it goes supernova and the force of my social anxiety becomes so 
strong that my personality can't escape." -Kat Kranzler, cat lover 
and marijuana enthusiast

"I regret not keeping better track of the things I like. I think 
cannabis journals are gonna blow up. There should really be an 
Untappd-style app for weed." -Ananda Green, store manager at Ganja Goddess

"I regret not trying more things this year. Trust me, I've had plenty 
of years of trying things... but this year, I just couldn't find the 
time." -Deborah Semer, creator of Joyboxx

"I regret being the R&D tester for an infused product that got me so 
intensely stoned that I had to leave quietly and quickly before 
anyone noticed I was turning into an amorphous blob of semisolid 
reality. It was raining hard, and I had left without a jacket or my 
phone. The only place I could think of within walking distance from 
our Sodo facility that would provide some anonymity and solitude was 
Grand + Benedicts display and mannequin store, where I stayed for 
well over two hours trying to look purposeful. I was in full-fledged 
body/mind blur mode and I can't believe they didn't call the police 
on me. I bought a countertop display rack to assuage the feeling of 
discomfort as I left." -Lena Davidson, marketing manager at botanicaSEATTLE

"My regret was in not fully planning and preparing in advance, 
leaving something to the last minute. What pops into my mind is what 
happened when I was asked to bring pot brownies to a potluck party 
with fellow hikers of my husband (the Breakfast Club, who hike in the 
Cascades every Thursday followed by a large breakfast). I left it to 
the day of the event and then realized I did not have an actual 
recipe. I just remembered vaguely making them a long time ago while 
in graduate school. All recipes I found online indicated the absolute 
need to use cannabis-infused butter, but I did not have the time to 
prepare. I immediately called a friend who drove right over to give 
me some. So I did finish making them-with the infused butter that my 
friend brought over-along with a "regular" batch of brownies, both 
batches labeled at the party. Guess which batch was the big hit!" 
- -Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Washington State senator

"We regret that the state of Washington made cannabis consumption 
lounges illegal on June 30. We regret that Oregon is also doing the 
same starting in 2016. We regret that the next step in legalization 
is being hampered by wrong-minded laws hastily tacked onto larger 
bills at the last minute in hopes that no one will notice. We regret 
that this forces users into mass illegal public consumption and 
under-the-radar dab bars springing up everywhere instead of a 
responsible and regulated response. We deeply regret we could not 
serve the numerous responsible adult cannabis users of Washington 
with a safe, legal, and fun place to enjoy their legal rights." -Mike 
McKenney, co-owner of Zero Cannabis Lounge

"For my 30th birthday I went to Vegas. I took a 100 mg edible, and I 
regret not waiting for it to kick in before I started taking birthday 
shots." -Brian Sablan, budtender at Ganja Goddess

"I think that the biggest regret I have is one that we had no control 
of anyway. It was that it rained so hard on the Friday of Hempfest. 
While that may sound trivial, it was a hard-driving rain that kept a 
lot of people away, causing the event to lose money. I hope that 
people will consider donating to Hempfest. This will be its 25th year 
serving our community, and it deserves to continue to do so." -Trey 
Reckling, cofounder of Science of Cannabis Institute

"I regret the hours I have spent wasting away in front of a computer 
screen while being held hostage by the Washington State Liquor and 
Cannabis Board traceability software. Many a workday has started in 
despair after getting kicked out after 10 minutes of being idle or 
when it decides to move products around in a game of digital 
hide-and-seek. I am not suggesting that the software has tracked and 
traced so much weed that it is a perpetually stoned computer program, 
but it does have difficulty with staying focused, remembering where 
it left things, coordinating its movements, communicating coherently, 
and falling asleep in the middle of fairly important tasks." -Mindon 
Win, fulfillment manager at botanicaSEATTLE

"I regret most the sheer number of Skittles I've consumed in the past 
year of recreational cannabis consumption. All those calories saved 
by switching from social relaxation with alcohol to cannabis were 
replaced by uncontrollable munchies... I swear I should buy stock in 
the Mars company. Also, I call BS on their switching lime to green 
apple." -Bobby Hines, co-owner of Confidence Analytics

"I regret that working in the cannabis industry means I no longer 
enjoy consuming the end product. At this point, I mostly smoke pot 
socially only to be polite. Seventy percent of my life is work and 25 
percent is sleep. When I get to that precious 5 percent personal 
time, the last thing I want to do to relax and unwind is something 
that reminds me of work. So I drink and take Xanax. I don't regret 
even one little bit how hard I work, because I love my job and I will 
always give it everything I have. But I do regret the long, silent, 
pitying stares I get from my friends, family, and hairdresser when I 
tell them about it. Stop looking at me like that!" -April Roth, 
purchasing manager at Uncle Ike's

"I so regret that the residents who are 21 and older in the state of 
Washington did not win the fundamental right to grow cannabis plants 
in our own home and to have the ability to share one ounce with our 
friends. Not having these rights has only enhanced the less 
scrupulous aspects of the I-502 system, which actually works against 
the greater success of I-502. We need the right to grow our own and 
share a doobie with our friends, and hopefully this happens in 2016." 
- -Muraco Kyashna-tocha, medical marijuana advocate and founder of 
Green Buddha Patient Co-op

"My only regret is that I didn't buy more of it." -Alex "Magic" 
Johnson, Seattle resident

"I regret nothing, it's been a fucking dope year." -Jess Henson, lead 
market analyst at Headset.io
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom