Pubdate: Mon, 03 Jul 2017
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2017 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Maia Silber

IT'S SUMMER, AND WASHINGTON SMELLS LIKE WEED. EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME

Arash Shirazi is a pretty cosmopolitan guy. A music agent and
filmmaker, he hangs out with creative types and bohemians. He's lived
in L.A., and spent time in cities such as, yes, Amsterdam, so it's
fair to say that he's not particularly prudish in his social life.

And yet - leaving a Washington parking lot recently, he took pause
when a distinctively skunky scent passed under his nostrils.

Of course he'd smelled marijuana before. But this was a weekday
afternoon - in Georgetown!

"I was surprised," he explained. "Georgetown's a bit more
buttoned-up."

Well, that's what they used to say about Washington in general. But
now, more than two years after the District legalized marijuana
possession, it seems that everywhere you go in the nation's capital,
you catch a whiff of weed. And it's often in the places where you
least expect it.

On H Street downtown, as you wind your way between officeworkers
rushing back from lunch.

At 10th and E, in the shadow of the FBI headquarters.

In the hallway of your apartment building. In the foyer of your gym.
In Aisle 9 of the Walmart, wafting in through the beach towels. (Wait,
Walmart?)

If you're seeking it out, you can find the flower in Washington in
almost any form: crushed, concentrated, liquefied, baked into an
omelet. Puffing in public remains prohibited, but you can toke up at a
wide variety of private events, enroll in a gardening class, or host a
catered dinner party, where appetizer, entree and dessert are all
"infused." LeafedIn, a site that pinpoints consumers and vendors on
city maps, shows downtown D.C. buried under cannabis leaf icons.
There's even one hovering over the White House.

For those who don't partake, this world is largely invisible, if not
odorless. And now that it's summer, the humidity keeping all scents
close, it's ever more obvious: Washington is smoking more weed than
you ever realized.

Stephen Sears, an academic librarian who lives on Capitol Hill, calls
it "ghost weed syndrome" - that lingering sense of a scent,
unmistakable but often untraceable.

Theoretically, we should all be much more blase about this - nearly 70
percent of D.C. residents voted for legalization. And yet the city's
sharp new fragrance remains a curiosity. Who's that smoking? Where's
that coming from?

"You have to wonder if these older Capitol Hill denizens have been
smoking this whole time," Sears muses.

Like Platform 9_ or the wardrobe that leads to Narnia, the portals to
D.C. weed world hide in plain sight. Muggles walk right past
them."I've lived in this building for almost 20 years, and in the last
month or so it's smelled like weed all the time," says Elizabeth
Terry, a communications consultant who lives in Cathedral Heights.
"I'm walking down the hall, sort of sniffing to figure out which unit
it is."

Elizabeth Thorp was puzzled when she picked up the scent in the plaza
of a massive office complex near Chinatown. A nearby party? A
leisurely lunch break? "Even in the suburbs of Bethesda, I hear that
middle-aged people are partaking," Thorp, who edits the women's comedy
and news site pypo.com, says.

Jen DeMayo caught a whiff while leaving Southwest Neighborhood
Library, where she teaches a Tuesday-night yoga class. It seemed like
an odd place to light up, but perhaps not: At least one D.C. yoga
class incorporates marijuana as well as mindfulness.

Maybe these fumes are just what the District needs. "I like the idea
of D.C. being on one big contact high," mused Adam Goodheart, a
D.C.-based writer. "Some member of Congress may be walking down the
street, fuming about health care, getting themselves worked up into a
partisan fury, and find themselves mysteriously mellowing."

But who are all these people lighting up, just out of sight? The
stoned and the sober often cross paths without knowing it, like
characters in a Marx Brothers sketch. At 11 a.m. on a Tuesday, a group
of young men passed a blunt on the steps of the Smithsonian American
Art Museum. Kyla Frank, passing out fliers for a tour bus company on
the other side of the building, couldn't figure out who was stinking
up her mornings. "Why are you smoking this early in the morning?" she
asked nobody in particular.

Walking her dog on a Monday night in Adams Morgan, Brianne Molloy said
that she usually catches a whiff around here in the evening. She
didn't know who was doing the smoking, but just a block away, Mark
Bebawy, the owner of Funky Piece Smoke Shop and Glass Gallery, was
hosting a potent party in a basement restaurant that was closed for
the evening. A man wearing a rubber whistle in the shape of a seashell
emerged onto the street, holding a plastic baggie containing what he
said was exactly the legally permitted two ounces of weed. "It's the
District of Cannabis," he shrugs.

To navigate this District of Cannabis, a man named Joe Tierney offers
his services. Blogging under the name of the Gentleman Toker, he
reviews local brands of marijuana and, can tell you pretty much
anything you want to know about where, when, and what D.C.'s smoking.

"When I see people on social media asking, like, `Where do I find
weed?' `How do I navigate the scene?' It really hits me," Tierney
says. "I want to help them."

Here's how you can help, Joe. Where's that smell coming from?

He's got a few theories.

In the downtown office corridors? That's a sweet spot, actually - not
enough of a nightlife scene to attract police presence, but not too
touristy either. A toker can easily fly under the radar.

Outside the FBI building? Hardcore activists, sticking it to the man.
Tierney has seen the boasts on social media.

And in the no-smoking confines of a discount department store?
Probably just a fellow shopper who recently hotboxed, i.e., lit up in
an enclosed space. The stuff can really stick to your clothes.

Really, Tierney says, there's almost nowhere you won't smell it. One
tip: If you smell it once, expect to smell it again. "Cannabis
enthusiasts are creatures of habit," he explains.

Tierney can also tell you where to find the city's best marijuana
events, as many as 12 of which may be happening on a given night. One
Wednesday evening, the place to go is a residence in Shaw, where
vendors, marketers and cannabis consultants (yes, they exist) have
gathered to show off their products. At that gathering, Rico
Valderrama, an entrepreneur also known as Phone Homie, points out that
there are a few places where you won't find D.C. tokers toking up.

"I stay away from the embassies, just to be safe." Federal property is
definitely off limits.

But everywhere else? He'll take his chances. Valderrama likes to pack
some pot and drive around the city, maybe stop somewhere with a scenic
view. "I just watch the world go by," he sighs.

Outside the party in Shaw, two men in their 70s were enjoying a quiet
dinner at the upscale restaurant and bar that shares a wall with the
reefer residence. When informed about the party just a few feet away,
both looked shocked: For once, the odor was well-contained.

"I don't smell it," one of the diners, Merrill Deskins, said, puzzled.
"And I've got a nose for it."
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MAP posted-by: Matt