P. Hanahoe-Dosch

Highlighted:� all forms of [BE] in first several paragraphs�want to reduce this somewhat, throughout?

Boulder, Colorado, is a small, beautiful city approximately 25 miles from Denver at the base of the Rocky Mountains, about an hour south of the main entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park (where it is illegal to possess or use marijuana since it is federal land). It is home to the University of Colorado and the Naropa Institute, �a Buddhist-inspired, student-centered liberal arts university,� according to the institute�s website. And according to Weedmaps.com, there are at least 35 shops that dispense recreational marijuana in Boulder, now that it is legal in the state of Colorado [B1] since the passage of the Colorado Marijuana Legalization Amendment, also known as Amendment 64[B2] , on November 6, 2012. �The Terrapin Care Station, was the first of these to open, and has two locations. The company that owns the dispensary, Genetic Locker, LLC,� is one of the largest growers and suppliers of marijuana in Boulder, supplying a small percent of the other dispensaries, as well as their own, claimed one of the clerks at the Folsom Street shop. I stood in the shop, not quite sure what to make of it, wondering what Cheech and Chong would say about it. Not much about it resembled any of the alternative sub-cultures �weed� has come to symbolize. As Chong said in Cheech and Chong�s Next Movie: ��Yeah. It's like the same thing, only different.�[B3] 

The Terrapin Care Station, at 1795 Folsom Street, Boulder, Colorado, [B4] sits on one of the main thoroughfares in the city, close to the main buildings of the university�s campus. It has its own parking lot large enough that another small building could fit into it. Trees and bushes line the edge between the asphalt and the concrete sidewalk that runs along the length of it, away from the store building.[B5] � The front door of the building opens up into the parking lot instead of the front sidewalk. �The motorcycles and cars parked outside were all nice ones, not cheap.� But neither is the marijuana. Just one pre-rolled joint costs $12 � with tax, $13.

When I first walked into the store, I was greeted by one of the salespeople or clerks in the front room, who was dressed in a standard business attire of tie, white shirt, dark blue pants, and black shoes. He looked like he could be selling appliances at Sears. The other salesperson in the front room was dressed in a red, short sleeved dress and looked like any clerk in a high-end boutique. The first clerk checked customers� ID�s when they first walked into the store, and then handed them each a number from the same kind of machine delis and, bakeries, and other kinds of grocery stores use to keep a numbered order of customersfor orderly service. There was a steady flow of people of all ages and types in and out of the shop. �A varied clientele, all ages and types, flowed steadily in and out.� (suggested, as replacement for �there was�)

There were several middle aged, middle class women, a young woman dressed casually, but in nice[B6]  pants and plain white shirt, a couple of young men, probably in their early twenties who looked like college students with the requisite dirty, torn jeans, t-shirts, moderately long hair and beards (like students looked in my day in the early eighties � some things don�t change), and a number of hippie leftovers, guys in their sixties, wearing ragged jeans, motorcycle boots, t-shirts, long hair with a bandanna, and beard. They all looked middle class, even the college students. Most were white, but one woman was African American, and a middle-aged African American man wearing a polo shirt and khaki pants walked into the store as I was leaving. Customers stood around by an ATM machine or a small glass display cabinet filled with various paraphernalia such as bongs, pipes and vaporizers, or they sat on a comfortable couch in the small, front room until their numbers were called. The marijuana is all sold in the back room to only a few people at a time. This may sound odd, but it is a way to prevent any possible thefts or misuse of the products being sold. [B7] 

I stood by the clerks� desk, which was lined up in front of the wall between the back room�s door and the front door, feeling a little odd with my number in my hand, eyeing the door to the backroom and waiting for it to open and discharge enough people to let me in. I asked the clerks questions. At first they were happy to talk to me, though they declined to give their names. They explained that only a few people are allowed in the back room at one time because �that�s where the product is.� I was left to figure out on my own that they meant it was a precaution against theft. They both bragged a bit about how the company which owns their store, Genetic Locker, LLC, was one of the first companies to produce enough �product� to open a store and keep two stores supplied, as well as supplying a few other local stores. [B8] They grow all of their own �product� in �warehouses� in Colorado. They said that the company also supplies some of the other distributors. By Colorado law, merchants selling recreational marijuana must grow at least 70% of their product themselves[B9] . This is one of many reasons there are more shops selling only medical marijuana in Colorado than selling recreational. The paperwork and regulations are much stricter, and it is more difficult to get a license to sell recreational marijuana. ��They [the state legislature] really don�t know what they are doing, so they made a huge amount of laws for everything,� said the male clerk (Let�s call him A and the woman clerk B). [B10] 

It was unclear whether A and B were just clerks, managers, or more than that. They were hesitant to talk much other than to [B11] answer simple questions about the products and the business. They did both admit, though, that the company had plenty of the marijuana plants grown and ready for sale before the law legalizing it was passed. It supplied medical marijuana and owned medical marijuana dispensaries before Amendment 64 was passed. When the law was first passed in the state, only currently operating medical marijuana businesses were allowed to open recreational marijuana stores until 2016, when others would be allowed into the market.� I asked if the people running their company had known Amendment 64 was coming and would pass and were prepared earlier than anyone else. �Sure,� he said, noncommittally[B12] . I was curious how they could have so much �product� ready for sale, even if they did supply medical dispensaries. That�s still a lot of marijuana to have ready on hand. That�s why, when most recreational dispensarie[B13] s first opened, they were worried about not having enough �product� and some limited the amount that customers could buy. Many businesses chose to continue selling medical marijuana only, since the regulations were simpler.

In fact, selling medical marijuana has other advantages that can make it more profitable than selling it for recreational use.� pPatients with medical marijuana cards don't pay the extra sales and excise taxes that are on recreational sales. They can possess up to two ounces of marijuana � sometimes more, if their doctors recommend it � instead of the one one-ounce that limit on� recreational users are allowedpossession. Plus, people under 21 with a docrtor�s prescriptioncan buy medical marijuana, which broadens the potential clientele. �if it is prescribed by a doctor. So it can be more profitable, still, than recreational sales.

As I talked to A, the other clerk, B, kept tabs on the numbers of people leaving the back room. One by one, each customer�s number was called to enter the inner sanctum as others left.[B14]  The back room looked just like a bakery shop combined with an old fashioned pharmacy. There were two counters on either side of the room. On shelves, in plastic bins, there were many different varieties of cannabis, each bin labeled with its name, like White Goat, Bio Diesel, Chernobyl #3, and Glass Slipper. One of the counters had three people standing at it, talking to the salesman there. I went to the other counter, which had no customers.

The salesman behind the counter happily explained in great detail, much of which [B15] involved the names of chemicals and strains of plants, that different types of marijuana have different levels of THC and other chemicals in different mixes. Consequently, some are better for inflammation or anxiety; others are better at giving a great high. For example, the menu describes Bio Diesel as �an exceptional cannabis hybrid as evidenced by the 1st place title it earned at 2009�s 2nd Annual Colorado Medical Marijuana Harvest Cup[B16] . Bred by Denver Relief, this cross between sativa Sour Diesel and indica Sensi Star excels at delivering both intense and balanced effects: an acute, speedy sativa onset gravitates into numbing relaxation. The hybrid effects make this strain a reliable choice for mental and physical relief alike, so it�s no surprise that Bio-Diesel is cherished by cannabis connoisseurs.� �It describes Hash Haze as �a milder alternative to some of the heavier strains, like Coal Creek Skunk. Still very much on the heavy indica side, the HP hits around 80/20 indica. The Hash Haze's buds are of varying size, anywhere from popcorn to a couple grams, and are a nice green with bright orange hairs and a dusting of trichomes. The Hash Haze smells piny, with a hint of lemon, and has a flavor reminiscent of a lighter sativa, very citrusy. The combination of great tasting buds and heavy indica effects make the Hash Haze great for anyone who finds other indicas too harsh on the intake. Expect heavy occular pressure and a nice combination of cerebral and �������� body highs.� Indica and sativa are the two sub-species of the marijuana plant. Growers also create hybrids of the two.

A customer can buy just the marijuana itself, or buy it already rolled into a joint. It can be bought as baked goods or candy. It depends on whether the customer wants to ingest or smoke it, both of which give a different kind of high. The store also sells bongs, pipes and other paraphernalia used to smoke weed. I had read Maureen Dowd�s column about her frightening experience after ingesting too much of an �edible,� as pot- laced candy or baked goods are called. I asked the salesman if there were regulations or recommendations about the safe quantity of an edible one should eat. He admitted there were no specific guidelines or regulations just yet, and if I had never tried any, I should begin cautiously and eat only a few bites, then wait about an hour to see how I reacted to it. The amount of THC in the edibles apparently depends on the manufacturer. �That�s probably going to change soon, though,� he said. �The state is talking about regulating them.� Even though I do not smoke and hate the smell of both tobacco and marijuana smoke, I decided to buy a pre-rolled joint, mostly because I was curious as to what it would look like.� It was about the length of a regular cigarette, but twice as wide, maybe more. It had a cigarette kind of filter on the end of it, too.

The guys who sell it all there in that back room are experts on the substances. [B17] They can tell you which variety is better for anxiety or other problem, and why. They understand the science of growing the plants as well as the science of using them. The salesman waiting on me explained that people �back in the day� didn�t know they were supposed to smoke the female plant, and the flowers, not the stems. That was one of many reasons why weed was so inferior then, and why it was sometimes full of seeds. I confess that I still don�t understand why their pot doesn�t have seeds if it comes from the female flowers[B18] , but he was quite emphatic. I decided I would not try to find someone to confirm or deny what weed used to be like. That would be admitting to committing a felony.

He handed me a joint in a white, plastic bottle that looked like an over-sized pill bottle. A sticker wrapped around the bottle announced: �The marijuana contained within this[B19]  package has not been tested for potency, consume with caution. The marijuana contained within this package has not been tested for contaminants. There may be health risks associated with the consumption of this product. This product is intended for use by adults 21 years and older. Keep out of reach of children. This product is unlawful out of the state of Colorado. There may be additional health risks associated with the consumption of this product for women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or planning on becoming pregnant. Do not drive a motor vehicle or operate heavy machinery while using marijuana.� I was already feeling pretty intimidated by the efficiency and professionalism of the store. Ironically, the plastic bottle just added to my anxiety. I handed over my $13 and was now free to carry the bottle and its obvious contents in the open, legally, as long as I didn�t break the seal and try to use it in a public space.

I brought it back to my hotel room and looked at it. I hate the smell of marijuana smoke. There�s a reason it is often called �skunk funk.� I went to a moderately large public college in the early eighties; plenty of students smoked it fairly openly. As a community college teacher, I have often had occasion to smell it on students. One time, while I was teaching at a community college located in the middle of a very large city in New Jersey, I walked by several students sharing a joint while standing right next to the main entrance to the college�s main building. It was the middle of the day, and they weren�t in the least bit concerned that anyone would do anything about it. It is an extremely distinctive smell. I have never understood how anyone could mistake it for anything else, though I know people mistake any kind of burning incense for it. That�s absurd. The only smell that comes close is that of a pile of weeds from a garden or farm being burdened. That is probably the origin of the nickname, �weed�. [B20] 

I left it by the TV as part of the tip for the housekeeping crew when I checked out of the hotel. That seemed like the Cheech and Chong thing to do[B21] .

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