Pubdate: Thu, 14 Jan 2016
Source: Westword (Denver, CO)
Column: Ask A Stoner
Copyright: 2016 Village Voice Media
Contact: http://www.westword.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?department=letters
Website: http://www.westword.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1616
Author: Herbert Fuego

DEAR STONER: WHY DO COLORADO NATIVES CALL EVERYONE ELSE TRANSPLANTS?

Dear Stoner: The "natives" here like to throw around the word 
"transplant" a lot - with some vitriol, I might add. I've never heard 
this term where I come from (California and New York), and was 
wondering if it had anything to do with the weed revolution going on here.

Mara G Dear Mara: That's a funny connection, and although the word 
"transplant" has been used to describe new residents of Colorado for 
decades - and certainly since long before marijuana was legalized - 
you just might have given it new meaning.

Definitions of transplant include "a plant that has been or is to be 
transplanted" and "a person or thing that has been moved to a new 
place or situation," so "transplant transplant" could be a 
Denver-exclusive term for people who moved here specifically for 
legal marijuana.

It's impossible to tell how many of the 100,986 new Coloradans who 
arrived here in 2015 came for pot, but Colorado was already nearly 
doubling the average U.S. population growth from 2010 to 2014, 
according to the U. S. Census Bureau. Being a transplant from Phoenix 
(another city full of people who weren't born there), I can assure 
you that the word is used in other parts of the country.

And if you're sick of getting shit on by native Coloradans, wear 
basketball shorts and flip-flops outside when it's below 30 degrees.

You'll blend right in.

Dear Stoner: I'm about to get my medical card. Would it be better to 
sign my caregiver rights over to a dispensary or private caregiver - 
or just grow my own? Chase

Dear Chase: If you already know how to grow pot, then growing your 
own is the route to take. But if you have no experience growing, try 
experimenting with one or two plants, and in the meantime, sign over 
the rights to the remaining plants to a dispensary or caregiver while 
you learn.

As you'll soon find out, growing medicinal-grade cannabis can be very 
hard and time-consuming, and mistakes might take months instead of 
days to correct.

The ideal situation would be to have a caregiver who will show you 
the ropes over the course of a few harvests, but finding someone that 
nice is easier said than done. Dispensaries give discounts and 
benefits to patients who sign over their caregiver rights (as you 
probably know, it allows medical dispensaries to grow more), but some 
are a little greedy and offer garbage deals like a flat discount of 
10 percent off. If you're considering signing over your growing 
rights to a pot shop, you should demand a sizable discount at the 
very least - if not some free weed every month.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom