Samhain                                                                 Moon of the First Snow

Kate called up to the loft, “Do you want to go shopping for pot and out for lunch?” “If you still want to.” “I do.”

Down the mountain and into Denver. Broadway, a fascinating street filled with specialty furniture stores, vinyl record collections, funky restaurants and a block of marijuana dispensaries both medical and recreational.

We have to go into Denver because Jefferson County, where we live, does not allow marijuana sales of any kind. This conservative streak did not show up in the election results yesterday however when Kate and I and our fellow citizens of the county turned out a trio of right-wing school board members. They wanted our schools to teach only capitalism, American exceptionalism and a softer view of slavery. Oh, and they also treated teachers and teacher’s unions like pariah’s.

Still, though, no Mary Jane in Aspen Park or Conifer. We drove past the green block all the way to the Imperial Chinese Restaurant, a Chinese seafood restaurant we’d eaten at a month or so ago. Over shrimp, egg rolls, hot and spicy and egg drop soup, we discussed our pending purchase.

“This feels faintly illegal to me. Sort of guilty.” Like, I thought, I should be watching over my shoulder. Buying weed, after all, was a signal illegal act of the ’60’s.

When we got to Walking Raven, a premiere marijuana dispensary (as it says on its very own signs), it had a furtive appearance, much like the Adult stores of yore. No windows, nothing cheery about it, a block building, low and dull, as if embarrassed itself at what it did.

Stepping through the blue door above takes you into a narrow waiting area with a locked door in front of you and the entrance behind. A glass cage is on the left and a bearded young man looked at us. (His name is Matt and this is his picture.) A sign said, “No one under 21 admitted.” He asked to see, then take our driver’s licenses. “Do you really see us as under 21?” “You’ll get your licenses back when you’re called up.” Oh.

A door buzzed and Matt appeared on the other side. “There are three ahead of you.” We sat in comfortable chairs in the tiny waiting area. The three ahead of us were not Denver’s leading citizens. One man had the crippled walk of a person in permanent pain. Another sported a bushy red beard, jeans and a crumpled shirt. The third wore a Nepalese or Tibetan wool hat pulled down over bushy hair. He had on khaki shorts and displayed green socks sporting a marijuana leaf decoration. His tennis shoes were colorful keds. A hipster.

And us, two graying remnants of the ’60’s.

A young woman called us up in a bit, handed us back our driver’s licenses as Matt had promised. She had a leather glove on one hand and seemed confident. “We haven’t bought any pot recently,” I said. “Since the ’60’s,” Kate added. “No problem. We’ll make it as painless as possible for you.”

We told her we were interested in edibles. “Oh, they’re over here in the cooler.” The cooler was a small upright, maybe four feet high, but on a stand. It looked like a medical cooler you might see in a pharmacy. Inside were various colorful options: Edipure, Highly Edible Gummies, Cheeba Chews, Bhang Ice Chocolate, and Dew Drops among others. “The recommended dose is 10 milligrams. So the chocolate bars have small squares that are 10 milligrams, the gummies are 10 milligrams, one drop of the Dew Drops is 10 milligram.”

Kate chose Cheeba Chews*, a non-psychoactive blend of thc and cannabinoid. She wants to try it as a non-narcotic alternative to Percocet for arthritis pain. It was not cheap, at $55 for 8 chewable tablets. She’s not tried it yet, but I’ll let you know how it goes.

While waiting for her change, Kate noticed a second clerk reading things on the wall above the cash register. “I’m trying,” she told marijuana socks, “to tell how high I am.”

*A tasteful blend of chocolate taffy and CBD extract.

Each batch of high grade cannabis oil used to make Cheeba Chews™ is tested at three critical stages…The Flower, The Oil, The Edible…to ensure each individual chew is consistently infused. Individual 10mg chew in each bag.

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Ingredients: 10mg – CBD, Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Vegetable Oil, Skim Milk, Cocoa, Whey, Butter, Soy Lecithin, Flavorings | Calories: 10   cheebachews.com