First step

Today we took a first step towards checking out the recreational marijuana situation here in Nevada.  As of July 1 it has been legal to buy recreational marijuana.  You buy it at the same dispensaries set up for medical marijuana and we (my wife and I) found the whole thing really odd.  Of course we remember when you would buy from a friend or acquaintance.  You'd get a partially full baggie of dried leaves for $10 or so.  It's different now.   Boy is it different!

We have a dispensary here in our town so we stopped by after lunch.  You are admitted to a waiting room where you have to turn your driver's license over to a young woman who is safely behind what I expect is bullet proof glass.  I don't believe you have to be a resident of Nevada but you do need to be 21.  They had a couple informational handouts that talked about two different strains of cannabis and what effect you might expect from them.  Sativa is said to produce positive emotional effects; increased energy and enhanced creativity.  Indica is said to produce a relaxing effect; relieving pain and giving a feeling of well-being.  There is also a hybrid that does both in some degree or another. 

After a short wait a young man came out and called our names, introduced himself as our 'butdtender' and took us into the showroom.  The room had display cases along one side and the end.  They had all kinds of product you could buy.  My wife is a former smoker and wanted nothing to do with smoking so we bypassed the actual marijuana.  The first product the young man showed us was a liquid that came with a dropper, like an eyedropper.  Our budtender told us that you would simply put a drop under your tongue and you are on your way.  Then we came to the edible products.

This is more what I'd been thinking of trying.  Back in the day adding marijuana to brownie mix was a fun thing to do.  The problem was measuring the correct amount.  Now you can buy candy bars, gummy bears, cookies, even drinks.  Each product has a measured amount of the compounds that cause the effect you are desiring.  We ended up buying some chocolate mint bites and some orange zest mints. 

The chocolate bites are round and about an inch in diameter.  According to the package they are a cookie covered with chocolate and mint.  The cannabis oil, approx. 20 mg, is contained in the cookie.  The package of 5 cookies was $30. 

The mints are called 'Awakening Mints' so I guess are supposed to make one feel more alert.  You are instructed to place one mint under your tongue and enjoy it.  They contain 5 mg of THC oil each.  The package of 16 mints cost $25. 

We paid our 'budtender' his $55 and off we went.  One thing is that this is a cash only purchase.  The federal laws against marijuana keep them from accepting credit cards.  How's that for dumb? 

That was enough excitement for one day.  We'll try our new treats another day but today we had places to go and things to do.  Thanks for stopping by.