nosh nook #120 - friday, august 28, 2009

meet the marijuana snack kings of the future (link)
08.27.09 - the atlantic - by christina davidson

...so medical marijuana's actually been making some serious inroads recently. it's now legal in thirteen states across the country. that's more than a quarter of the states, folks. as a result, dispensaries have been popping up all over & in the case of places like california, they're often thought of as part of a thriving industry, one that can bring in a ton of tax revenue. just last month, oakland became the first city to impose a tax on weed. i'm pretty sure that there are a bunch of people who probably don't actually need medical marijuana who are getting it, but whatever. it's not heroin. we've got much bigger problems. sorry about that, nancy reagan.

"i want to be like the nabisco of ganja." this is quite possibly the best opening line i've read in a while from a news piece. as part of her "recession road trip," which takes her to a different town around the country every day, the atlantic's christina davidson sat down with shaz swartz, an ex-marine who lives in ward, colorado & wants to be that aforementioned "nabisco of ganga." in colorado, medical marijuana's been legal since 2000 & swartz, in an effort to "provide a more comfortable future" for his two sons, is starting "ganga goods," a business offering all manners of foods containing a bit o' the mary jane. for a lot of folks using medical marijuana, eating it is a much better option than smoking it & as shaz says, "there's a huge and growing demand right now, but not sufficient supply." that's where he comes in.

he's just received his license & to start off, ganga goods will offer "various chocolate truffles, brownies, cookies, cake, banana bread." beyond that, he's thinking of making "pesto, hummus, pizza, ice cream, croissants, granola bars." one of the cool things he plans on doing is perfecting a "ganga butter" that allows him to vary the potency of his recipes. that's one of the issues with medical marijuana. unlike other prescribed drugs, there's no standard potency or dosage. apparently when the ganga butter is perfected, he'll be able to do control the potency. if his business takes off, that'd be good too, since he's not concerned with much beyond living comfortably & "view(s) the profit potential as an opportunity to financially support a meaningful cause...thinking (he) might like it to be one that promotes educational resources and opportunities for children in colorado." your child's education: funded by weed.