Pubdate: Wed, 17 Aug 2016
Source: East Bay Express (CA)
Column: Legalization Nation
Copyright: 2016 East Bay Express
Contact: http://posting.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/SubmitLetter/Page
Website: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1131
Author: David Downs

MORE THAN JUST SIX FLAGS

A year after vallejo's mayor mulled shutting down dispensaries, 
marijuana offerings are better than ever.

Vallejo's medical-marijuana industry has weathered yet another 
crackdown and is in full bloom this year.

Thanks in part to state-level regulations, medical-marijuana patients 
throughout the north and east bays can obtain some of the best 
regionally grown cannabis flowers, and hence the world - all from a 
sleepy, bedroom community just across the Carquinez Bridge.

Thirty minutes north of Berkeley by freeway, Vallejo Holistic Health 
Center had a line nine-people deep on a recent Tuesday afternoon. The 
huge, community center-like club was stocked with eighth ounces of 
elite cuts of trendy Wedding Cake, Alien OG, Sherbet and Gelato, as 
well as Bay Area staples such as Jack Herer and Grand Daddy Purple. 
VHHC has seven sales stations and a veritable Target aisle worth of 
starter marijuana plants, or clones; edibles such as Yummi Karma 
medicated sriracha potato chips; and hyper-potent extracts like "The 
Clear" vape pen cartridges.

It could have been much different. In 2015, Mayor Osby Davis promised 
a renewed crusade against pot clubs, proposing they all shut down. 
After a voter backlash, the city has since "immunized" at least 
eleven clubs from prosecution. That means the dispensaries are not 
legal, but as long as they pay their taxes, stay away from schools, 
and play by some other rules, the clubs are not illegal, either.

A quick review of online directory WeedMaps.com shows a fleet of 
non-immunized weed delivery outfits, as well.

The city is now at work on regulating the local industry from seed to 
sale, through a large advisory committee and paid consultants.

A bloom is beginning, and residents of the once-bankrupt city enjoy 
access to some of the most elite, trending cannabis strains on the planet.

Cannabis regulatory expert and attorney James Anthony commended 
Vallejo's progress.

"The local dispensaries are improving and diversifying their product 
lines - and their prices remain highly competitive despite a ten 
percent gross receipts tax," he explained in an email.

The menus are a testament to this growth and success. Highway 29 
Healthcare has a never-before-seen cannabis strain, a cross of 
Gorilla Glue and Girl Scout Cookies called Gorilla Scouts. They also 
report having supplies of Mochi, which is the newest "it" strain from 
ranking breeder Mr. Sherbinski.

Mr. Sherbinki and a San Francisco group created the hit strain Girl 
Scout Cookies, which has since colonized the world. Today, Vallejoans 
are first in line for new Cookies crosses at H2C Cookies 707, which 
carries official Cookie Fam Gelato 45 and 41, and the award-winning 
Do-si-do, Zkittlez, Berner's Cookies and Hi-Tech.

We spotted Mr. Sherbinski's equally coveted Gello at HTP Group. U.S. 
Bloom Collective has the cross Blue Cookies, Black Diamond Sherbet, 
Tangie and Jahgoo.

For chronnoisseurs, this is like being able to do your most elite 
wine shopping not in Napa, but in Tracy.

Valley Holistic Health Care remains among city residents' favorite 
spots, though. It's clean, professional, fully stocked, and is one of 
the rare union shops - expertly staffed by friendly, trained UFCW 
Local 5 members.

Inside, VHHC is as simple and unadorned as it is massive. Each sales 
station is stocked with both low-cost outdoor flowers and also 
top-shelf offerings, plus wall-and-wall edibles, extracts, topicals, 
clones, and even THC skin patches and asthma inhalers.

Patients looking for cannabidiol-rich, or CBD, flowers will be 
rewarded, as well as top-shelf strain hunters.

After learning about my love of Sherbet and Blue Cookies, the 
budtender brought out some off-menu Wedding Cake and Alien OG. 
Wedding Cake is so named for its frostiness, and because it's 
physically caked in white resin. A cross of Girl Scout Cookies with 
Cherry Pie, it gives off a complex smell and a rich, sweet, 
indica-hybrid smoke that works best as a nightcap.

Similarly, Alien OG is the famed Tahoe OG crossed to Alien Kush - 
which carries some extremely heavy indica genetics that go back to 
Afghanistan. This is piney, astringent, potent, pain-relieving, 
insomnia-zapper in a bottle.

For the best flowers today, look farther. Make time to for a quick 
pit stop in Vallejo.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom