Some people don't like the idea of smoking weed because you're lighting something on fire and sucking in the smoke. Thankfully for those folks, there is no shortage of ways to ingest your weed in this new reality of legal marijuana. Just remember, you need some patience with these (it can take more than an hour for you to feel the effects) and a clear calendar for the remainder of the evening.
Drinking it
Yeah, yeah — you're looking to get high instead of drinking your buzz, but we promise that cannabis-infused beverages are a different game than booze. At several marijuana shops around town, you'll find Legal, a triumvirate of "sparkling tonics" made by a company called Mirth. There are pomegranate, lemon ginger and Rainier cherry, all served in cute, stubby-style bottles. All three feature different weed strains, thus different effects. So read the label. If you're more into hot drinks, there are several coffee-meets-bud options for you, including ganJava, available at both Cinder locations.
The treats
If you can think of a sugary snack, a THC-loaded version of that treat can be found at one of the region's marijuana shops. If you rolled into Royal's Cannabis, you'd find caramel Tootsie pops, chocolates, butterscotch candies, bon bons and something called a Stoney Bar that probably doesn't need much explanation. With all of these, pay close attention to the dosage recommendations so you don't pull a Maureen Dowd and gobble an entire chocolate bar, only to suffer a breakdown in a hotel room an hour later.
Cooking yourself
Making your own pot brownies can be tricky. Chopping up the bud, melding it into the butter and hoping you were doing it right. By the time you actually ate the things, they tasted and smelled vaguely of weed and you waited for the effects, having no idea how high you were going to get. The answer, probably, was very, very, very high.
The legal marijuana market is a savior in this respect, in that there's a way to make your own weed-laced dishes in the event that buying one of the myriad of edible options available to you just doesn't cut it. Most dispensaries have oils to cook with on hand, and you can typically get 100 mg of oil with varying amounts of THC (which is, of course, labeled) for about $45. Or you can opt for something a little more rich, like the Eleven Window butter you can find at Smokane. Likewise, Craft Elixirs makes a variety of flavored additives that can work in all sorts of homemade dishes, from pancake syrup to BBQ sauce, and you can find them at most recreational outlets.
Take some time to research marijuana cooking recipes online — there are many out there — and strap on your apron, then get to work.
Accessories
We found honey sticks to be popular items at places like Satori — home to a long list of edibles — and available for just $12 a pop. The idea with these, or the sauces and salad dressing we found, is to add a little high to whatever needs a little sweetening, while being able to easily control the amount of pot you're ingesting.
Now, if you're looking to really get down to business, go straight for a lozenge, like the increasingly famous (or for some, infamous) ZootRocks. These are super high-quality edibles that each have 5 mg of THC, so you can control your high by eating as many or as few as you want. ♦
