In 2019, the Original Cannabis Cafe, formerly Lowell Cafe, burst onto the scene. It was the nation's first legally permitted cannabis restaurant, with long lines snaking out of the venue and down La Brea Avenue.
The more you use a good quality olive oil, the better your food will taste. Spring is the time to seek out the newest extra virgin olive oils—the current harvest from olives picked and milled in the previous fall and early winter.
It's definitely a problem here on the coast because we have to either drive to Guerneville or Mendocino. A lot of people visit and think they can come to the pharmacies when they come here, but they can't. The lack of a pharmacy is also a problem for tourists visiting the iconic stretch of Northern California coast.
I used to have about 20 pot plants growing on one side, just to experiment. But we're too close to the ocean and they got mold, so we harvested them. Every chance I get. I've been a sun-tanner all my life. The sun is why we moved from Canada to California.
Walking through the main hall is like being at a grocery store on steroids. Big brands are out in force with elaborate displays, from Organic Valley's farmhouse-style installation featuring a photo moment with popular cartoon character Bluey to La Croix's tropical-themed display to promote its newest flavor debuting at Expo (that would be Pineapple Coconut, for bubbly water fans).
Food and stoner culture have always gone together, but these days chefs and cannabis professionals are working together to find thoughtful, new ways to incorporate weed into meals. For National Hot Pastrami Day on 14 January, a celebrated Jewish deli in Chicago teamed up with a local Illinois dispensary to give customers free pastrami sandwiches garnished with cannabis-infused mustard. The High on Rye event was held in the parking lot of Ivy Hall dispensary's Logan Square location.
In early February, Canadian researchers reported that rates of severe mental illness among young people have risen alongside increased access to high-potency cannabis (Callaghan, et al., 2022). Around the same time, a new book, A Killing in Cannabis (Kohn, 2024), revisited a 2019 California murder and highlighted how violence tied to the marijuana trade has persisted even after legalization. On February 9, 2024, an opinion piece from the New York Times editorial board
Jesse Hall can't remember a time he wasn't inseparable from the sea. Born and raised in Sonoma County, Hall spent his youth surfing the Marin coast and sailing San Francisco Bay. By his early 20s, he was shaping surfboards in San Diego, where he rode the mellow waves of Pacific Beach. "Winemaking is similar to surfing in that you're living moment by moment," said Hall, founder of Seawolf Wines in Mendocino County's Yorkville Highlands.
An analysis released Thursday by the Office of Cannabis Management claims that, without action, the shortage of flowered marijuana could reach 365,000 pounds over the next year. Citing the gap between supply and demand, OCM Acting Executive Director John Kagia said the state could issue licenses for 100 additional pot growers this year - while allowing dozens of existing cultivators to grow more flower.
Jesse Hall can't remember a time he wasn't inseparable from the sea. Born and raised in Sonoma County, Hall spent his youth surfing the Marin coast and sailing San Francisco Bay. By his early 20s, he was shaping surfboards in San Diego, where he rode the mellow waves of Pacific Beach. Winemaking is similar to surfing in that you're living moment by moment, said Hall, founder of Seawolf Wines in Mendocino County's Yorkville Highlands.
For Staller, foraging is a "precious" and "simple" activity that one can do to connect with nature. They can experience a sense of mindfulness from gathering together, looking for food and then cooking the bounty, she said. "We are returning to the most basic part of being a human, which is eating food and celebrating it," Staller said. "It's a lost artform."
Last year, he and a partner, Matt Stang, purchased High Times, a fifty-plus-year-old cannabis culture brand that had fallen into receivership, for three and a half million dollars. They are in the process of reviving the High Times print magazine, which once published Charles Bukowski and William S. Burroughs, as a quarterly. The relaunch issue, featuring the rapper Rick Ross on the cover, is out this month.
Zach is the CMO and VP of digital marketing at CannaPlanners, where he leads a team powering SEO and digital growth for more than 150 dispensaries and 30 cannabis retailers nationwide. Zach honed his skills in the plumbing, HVAC and automotive industries, fields where success depends on mastering local search. We spent two minutes with Zach to learn more about his background, his creative inspirations and recent work he's admired.
For many cannabis consumers, there's one unmistakable sign that they've found the right dispensary: the flower smells alive. It's expressive, sticky, vibrant. At Purple Lotus in San Jose, that's not luck, it's the result of a freshness-first approach that begins long before the jar reaches the shelf. Fresh Flower Begins with Intentional Practices Purple Lotus restocks its flower selection every week, keeping shelves aligned with the natural rhythm of the plant.
THC-infused beverages will now be available at special events in the United Center, the home of the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Blackhawks, which some experts suggest may pave the way for other arenas to do the same. These drinks can be sold outside of state-legal recreational dispensaries because they are part of the hemp-derived cannabis market that is currently legal on the federal level.
