Divorce Parties & A Smoke-Friendly Spa
Plus: 4/20 happenings coast-to-coast.
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Time to read: About 6 minutes. Contains 1,487 words.
Good afternoon!
I hope everyone’s maintaining sanity as 4/20 planning intensifies. I have been pitching my book around like crazy attempting to get it into some gift guides. It’s weird to reach out to editors to pitch a story that I would typically write for them. I’m super grateful for recent hometown coverage and a feature on the travel site Matador Network last week. Housing Works Cannabis Co. in New York City is going to feature Green Scenes in their new Weed & Read program, which I’m stoked about. Starting Monday, there will be a Green Scenes bundle available at the shop that includes a copy of the book and five products from small, locally owned and operated businesses that put quality first, reflecting the type of entrepreneurs highlighted in my book. Take a pic for me if any of you visit the store next week!
Here are the news items and legislative updates on my mind this week, some 4/20 events on my radar, and the trippy accessories of my dreams.
One-Hitters: Cannabis News at a Glance
Eaze faces a potential delivery driver strike the busiest time of year. Drivers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union have rejected the company’s last, best, and final contract proposal, unsatisfied with the offer of mileage reimbursements, hourly wages and minimum work hours in light of rising costs of living and the more dangerous environment for cannabis delivery drivers transporting cash. According to Eaze, the company pays drivers “fair wages averaging over $25 per hour including tips,” and they have offered $0.45 per mile, which is $.10 more per mile than the current state-mandated minimum in California. The union’s negotiating team remains committed to reaching an agreement, but Eaze is preparing for alternative ways to maintain company functions if the strike comes to fruition.
Adult use stalls out in Virginia. One month after Virginia’s Democratic-controlled General Assembly passed a bill to allow licensed cannabis sales through dispensaries, Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed it. Virginians age 21 and older can still possess up to 1 ounce of cannabis and grow up to four plants per household, but a retail system isn’t coming while Youngkin is in office.
Are we reaching peak hemp THC? Hemp Delta-9. THC-0. THCa. Call it what you like; it’s all variables of good ‘ol-fashioned THC being sold under different names in order to operate as a hemp product with 2018 Farm Bill freedoms. Consumers and colleagues alike are continually tripped up by confusing availability of THC varietals in states where cannabis remains illegal, and test samplings of available products routinely show THC content far exceeding the .3% limit. A coalition of 22 state attorneys general is calling on Congress to address “the glaring vagueness” that has led to legal cannabis products being sold over the counter, online, in food trucks, etc.
A new Denver spa + dispensary concept on the horizon. I have been fantasizing about this idea ever since Oregon legalized cannabis. A few spots have tried over the years, making grand plans for an adjacent massage clinic where people can enjoy a massage with THC-infused oils after a puff or two on provided glassware, until they inevitably come up against prohibitive regulations that make the approach legally impossible. Denver, Colorado’s Pure Elevations Spa and Garden has apparently cracked the code, creating a space that features an on-site dispensary and an outdoor garden for you to partake in prior to your massage. There’s even a coffee shop for a non-infused latte on your way out.
Joggy took the weed out. I’ve been doing some research for an upcoming dive into energizing cannabis products, which brought me to Joggy’s site for the first time in a while. Joggy is Ty Haney’s brand, the founder of Outdoor Voices, which was initially all about CBD from an athletic angle. There was a CBD tincture—’Runner’s High’—and gummies at launch. I knew there was a more recent drink launched, which I assumed had CBD in it as well. Upon closer inspection, it does not, and most of the CBD mentions have been removed from the site. When you go to the “Shop All” section, it’s just the energy drink and those wild sports sunglasses. You can see a page for the CBD tincture in Google search results about the brand, and if you make it to the page, you can buy it, but it’s no longer a big part of the site. No more gummies. It’s interesting to see Joggy seemingly withdraw from the space—probably due to the usual payment-processor/marketing challenges that can come with proximity to cannabis/hemp. Or I wonder if the drink is doing that much better than the gummies and tinctures.
Come to Vegas to get married and celebrate your divorce. Las Vegas Cannabis Weddings is launching a “Puff, Puff, Part Ways” divorce party package later this month. Reacting to the increasing demand for divorce celebrations, the two-and-a-half-hour experience will include a visit to a dispensary, consumption lounge, and strip club, complete with a celebratory toast, for $185 per guest.
4/20 looks different across the country. Perhaps the most encouraging sign of our industry’s momentum is the sheer range of events planned in different states, where cannabis is legal and otherwise.
New York City, New York: FLAMER, the queer-owned cannabis brand with the signature red joints, is throwing a 420 picnic from 2 pm to sunset in Prospect Park's Long Meadow with Weed Auntie Solonje Burnett hosting a healing sesh between meditations to harp music and yoga. Also, Mary Mag is throwing a consumption-friendly Mary Fest with many vendors, experiences, food trucks and live music all day in Williamsburg Brooklyn (you can use the code ROLLWITHUS for $15 off), and Gotham dispensary is taking over the outdoor patio of Upside Pizza and turning it into Gotham Gardens for a consumption-friendly, pizza-fueled block party with a mystery musical performance from “a critically acclaimed multi-faceted actor and rapper born and raised in Queens.”
Washington, D.C.: To honor the right to grow at home, Blue and Yellow Farms is putting together 1000 Clones For 1000 Homes, a two-day clone share at this year’s National Cannabis Festival.
Chicago, Illinois: Jade Iguana Co. is throwing a 420 DIY Ceramic Workshop at Freestyle Ceramics & Tufting in Andersonville, during which guests will create their own unique ceramic ashtray masterpiece while enjoying music and good company. No smoking, but edibles are allowed. In Orland Hills, Stash Dispensary is hosting a consumption-friendly comedy show, or head to OKAY consumption lounge for a High on the Hog pig roast with James Beard Award-winning chef Jonathon Sawyer.
Macon, Georgia: Puffapalooza will be a three-day celebration of all things “hemp” with live art, lots of live music, comedy, edu panels, vendors, and more. No consumption will be allowed, though.
Austin, Texas: MARYJAE Social Club's Consumption Lounge will light up for a 4/20 After Dark event featuring flower, vape, and THC mocktails for sale.
San Francisco, California: The official celebration at Golden Gate Park is canceled, but there’s still a cannabis and wine pairing experience happening on 4/19, a drag and burlesque show complete with Stoner Baby Nails pop-up on 4/20, and a ton of other events held across the city’s consumption lounges throughout SF Weed Week.
Portland, Oregon: Broadway Cannabis Social Club (located above the dispensary) is hosting a 4/20 party featuring aura photos, flash tattoos, tarot pulls, food, gift bags, and more, and Cheechable is putting together a new invite-only flower cup with 30 of Oregon's finest farms to be judged by a curated panel of intake managers from dispensaries all over. After the winner is announced, the 420 party begins.
Plus: A Puff, Puff, Paint in Baltimore, Maryland; a festival of food, live music, and fun at Zahara dispensary in Attleboro, Massachusetts; a 420 music fest in Bowling Green, Kentucky; a Kill Bill-inspired party in Los Angeles with live martial arts performances; a cannabis and couture exhibit in Simi Valley; and a ton more in Los Angeles and beyond. Love to see it!
High Finds: Surreal Stashes
I came across a story about the time Air India tapped Salvador Dalí to design a line of custom ashtrays for gifting to important friends and valued customers. The porcelain trays took on different shapes depending on how it was placed: Two stands resembling swans held up the center of the ashtray, and when flipped over, the entire thing looks like the shape of an elephant. Dalí was also compensated with an elephant, per his request.
An ashtray fit for Latex queens and kings spotted on the Artemest. The Iris Pleated Green Ashtray by Studio X looks so much like ruched material I think I’d be scared to ash in its glossy green resin interiors.
There are many great grinders but there is only one Egg Grinder. Maaari’s one-of-a-kind marble creation is a handmade wonder, created by zero waste marble producer La Roca, which is revitalizing the small hand-carving factories that once thrived in the Romblon province of the Philippines.
This Orb Roach Clip by Eau Claire Resin contains real dried flowers—meaning you can hold flowers that will hold your flowers.
To creative highs and playful nods,
Lauren Yoshiko