Dear Ngaio:
Where are edibles made? I’m asking specifically about chocolate bars,cookies, brownies et al sold at medical cannabis dispensaries. Are they made in commercially licensed kitchens? Do local health departments approve? What’s the law? What assurances do we have that medical cannabis food products are prepared with attention to food-safety standards?
Luv,
Alkali Hank
Good question. Most edibles are made in someone’s home. Although Bhang bars are made in a commercial kitchen, most edible makers don’t make enough product to justify renting a commercial spot, and many commercial kitchens refuse to rent to medical edible makers because cannaphobia.
My homie Mickey Martin, who has just restarted his “Tainted” line of cannabis infused edibles, says he uses a super clean home kitchen and he follows the edible guidelines posted by the San Francisco Department of Health.
These guidelines are pretty good. They allow a home kitchen and they state that if someone wants to provide edibles to more than one dispensary he or she needs to have a state issued food handler’s certificate. I also talked to some homies at All About Wellness and Northstar collective up here in Sacramento and they said pretty much the same thing.
There have been no known instances of someone getting food poisoning from an edible bought at a dispensary, although I am sure some people have gotten uncomfortably high, especially from the Korova “5150” bar. That shit will put you on your ass if you aren’t used to weed food.
If you are going to make cannabis-infused foods that you intend to sell, remember that you aren’t making a batch of cookies for your friends, you are making food for people with a variety of illnesses, and some people may have weakened immune systems, so you need to be as clean as you can possibly be. The biggest challenge is making sure the product is consistent. Good luck, and enjoy your baked baking.
Some of my friends say that smoking weed before working out puts you more in touch with your body without decreasing energy; one guy tells me he runs 20 miles high, and “the miles just drift by.” Any truth to this? Does weed slow down, say, long-distance runners, or could the opposite be true? What strains would you recommend for (nonprofessional) athletes?
Jay Strapped
If weed slowed you down, the NBA would not exist. Weed may make you a little less motivated to work out, but it shouldn’t impair you too much. I would recommend a sativa if you are trying to get fired up, like for basketball or running, and an indica if you need smooth slow focus, like on the golf course. I have also heard that marijuana is great after a workout, you know, because it’s a natural anti-inflammatory and it helps with the aches and pains. So, toke up and enjoy your “runner’s high.”
