Sensi Magazine Puerto Rico - Spring 2022

¡EDICIÓN ESPECIAL BILINGÜE! SPECIAL BILINGUAL EDITION!

RACIAL JUSTICE Right the Wrongs

BETTER THAN DRUGS Learn to Breathe Deep

P U E RTO R I C O SPRING 2022

THE GREEN ROOM Hit the High Road to Happiness in Rincón

SMOKIN’ TUNES Best Marijuana Music

PUERTO RICO SENSI MAGAZINE SPRING 2022

sensimediagroup @sensimagazine @sensimag

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FEATURES

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Check The Vibe

The Green Room has a plan to help both local patients and visiting tourists enjoy Puerto Rico’s elevated experiences.

Prueba La Vibra

The Green Room tiene un plan para ayudar tanto a los pacientes locales y los turistas visitantes a disfrutar de las experiencias elevadas de Puerto Rico.

DEPARTMENTS

8 EDITOR’S NOTE 16 THE LIFE Contributing to your health and happiness 10 THE BUZZ FREE YOUR MIND Breath News, tips, and tidbits to keep you in the loop IT’S CRAFTY Danish designer Peter Monrad brings a global perspective to craft beer branding.

HAPPY CLAM Learn the definition of quim.

HIGH FIVE A fistful of stuff we love GREEN THUMB Grow cannabis in your garden this spring.

ORDERED HERB The feng shui of marijuana THE BIG O Cannabis for better sex

is life.

LIBERA TU MENTE La

respiración es vida.

WHAT DOES CANNABIS LAW HAVE TO DO WITH RACISM? Be the change. ¿QUÉ TIENE QUE VER LA LEY DE CANNABIS CON EL RACISMO? Sé el cambio.

ON THE COVER

48 THE SCENE Hot happenings and hip hangouts around town

Take the Road to Happiness and stop by The Green Room.

PHOTO BY ADOBE STOCK

THE 4/20 PLAYLIST

Celebrate the herb that goes hand-in-hand with great music.

50 THE END How to get your medical card for Puerto Rico

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EXECUTIVE

MEDIA SALES

Ron Kolb Founder ron@sensimag.com Stephanie Graziano CEO stephanie.graziano@sensimag.com

CALIFORNIA Nancy Birnbaum Media Sales Exec.

Omowunmi Lykins Media Sales Exec.

ADVERTISING

Toni Tardif National Sales Director Jade Kolb Director Sales Operations and Global Recruiting PUBLISHING

COLORADO Nancy Seidel Media Sales Executive Amy Sharp Media Sales Executive Tyler Tarr Media Sales Executive FLORIDA Anthony Mckenzie Media Sales Exec.

MASSACHUSETTS Jake Boynton Media Sales Exec.

Nancy Reid Market Director, Florida

MICHIGAN Eric Lutey Media Sales Executive Kyle Miller Media Sales Executive Will Oostendorp Media Sales Exec.

Leah Stephens Media Sales Exec.

EDITORIAL

OKLAHOMA Diana Ramos Media Sales Executive

Jamie Cooper Market Director, Michigan Richard Guerra Market Director, Massachusetts

Stephanie Wilson Co-Founder + Editor in Chief stephanie.wilson@sensimag.com Doug Schnitzspahn Executive Editor Tracy Ross Managing Editor, Michigan Debbie Hall Managing Editor, Spark Jenny Willden Managing Editor, California Will Brendza Managing Editor, Colorado Radha Marcum Copy Editor Bevin Wallace Copy Editor DESIGN

Jamie Ezra Mark Creative Director jamie@emagency.com Rheya Tanner Art Director Wendy Mak Designer Josh Clark Designer Miguel Martinez Designer PRODUCTION

Neil Willis Production Director Richard Guerra Digital Production

NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD

NCRMA Risk Management ADVISORY BOARD

COLORADO Colorado Cannabis Company THC Coffee Concentrate Supply Co. Recreational Concentrates Higher Grade Boutique Cannabis Lab Society Extraction Expert + Lab Supplies marQaha Sublinguals + Beverages Monte Fiore Farms Recreational Cultivation Source CO Wholesale Consulting Terrapin Care Station Recreational Dispensary Uleva Hemp Products Witlon Inc. Payroll Processing

MICHIGAN Aronoff Law (Craig Aronoff) Licensing Law Firm Cannabis Counsel Cannabis Law Firm Etz Chaim Attestations Grapp Lerash Accounting/CPA Services Great Lakes Natural Remedies Lakeshore: Provisioning Center Kush Design Studio Cannabis Facility Design & Build MRB Solutions Human Resources Northern Specialty Health Upper Peninsula: Provisioning Center Pure West Compassion Club Caregiver Connection & Network Rair Medical Flower Solutions by Dr. Dave West Michigan: Hemp CBD Helping Friendly Hemp Company Hemp Topicals MASSACHUSETTS Corners Packaging Packaging Green Goddess Supply Personal Homegrown Biochamber The Holistic Center Medical Marijuana Evaluations Revolutionary Clinics Medical Dispensary Royal Gold Soil Tess Woods Public Relations Public Relations Vantage Builders Construction CALIFORNIA 365 Recreational Cannabis Dispensary: Recreational, Santa Rosa Red Door Remedies Dispensary: Cloverdale Southern Humboldt Royal Cannabis Company Mixed Light Farming Uleva Hemp Products Vaper Tip Vape Supply & Consulting Witlon Payroll

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N OTA D E L E D I TO R

Revista publicada mensualmente por Sensi Media Group LLC. © 2022 Sensi Media Group. Todos los derechos reservados.

Nuestro lista A edicion de primavera está repleto

Celebramos dónde hemos estado, dónde estamos y hacia dónde nos dirigimos.

de rostros de personas que están impulsando la industria del cannabis. Esta temporada los homenajeamos: los innovadores, los pioneros, las personas que están en el corazón de todo esto.

Durante los seis años que Sensi lleva explorando e informando sobre el cannabis (además de todos los temas sobre estilos de vida relacionados), hemos ampliado de forma colectiva el alcance de la forma en que definimos, pensamos y experimentamos el estilo de vida moderno en torno al cannabis. Nunca ha sido más popular ni ha tenido más potencial: nuestra cultura ha comenzado a tratar la planta, a las personas que la consumen y a la industria que la impulsa con una importancia que debería haber tenido con anterioridad.

Por supuesto, más noticias sobre el cannabis significa más trabajo para nosotros aquí en Sensi, ayudándote a navegar por todos sus altibajos y desafíos.

Nosotros, como colectivo, no llegamos a vivir la experiencia colectiva el 20/04/20 ni el mes que duró, el 04/20, algo que habíamos estado esperando desde que alguien tuvo la genial idea de que en abril de 2020, sería 04/20 todo el mes. Esperábamos compensarlo en abril de 2021, cuando Sensi celebrara su quinto aniversario, pero, por desgracia, el mundo tenía otros planes para todos nosotros.

Este año, Sensi cumple 6 años y lo celebramos como si cumpliéramos 4 en medio del mes 04/20, y lo hacemos multiplicado por cinco. Literalmente. En Colorado, volvemos a nuestras raíces en el lugar donde empezamos celebrando a las luminarias de la vanguardia de la industria del cannabis, los pioneros que impulsaron esta conversación.

Celebramos dónde hemos estado, dónde estamos y hacia dónde nos dirigimos. Las Noches de Sensi se celebran de costa a costa, de California a Massachusetts, de Michigan a Florida, y se instalan en nuevos mercados. Te invitamos a hacer este viaje con nosotros a través de las páginas de esta revista y en línea, donde puedes leer todas las ediciones de Sensi que publicamos esta primavera: Colorado, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Florida, Oklahoma, y Puerto Rico.

Steph Wilson @stephwilll

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ENCUÉNTRANOS EN REDES SOCIALES FAC E B O O K Al igual que Sensi Media Group, queremosinfundir en tu lista de noticias más contenido sobre el estilo de vida del cannabis.

TWITTER Sigue a @sensimag para conocer lasnoticias y opiniones más importantes de la sede de Sensi.

I N S TAG R A M Cosas bonitas, lugares bonitos, gente bonita y asombrosa: Encuéntralo todo en @sensimagazine

O

EDITOR’S NOTE

Magazine published monthly

by Sensi Media Group LLC.

© 2022 Sensi Media Group. All rights reserved.

Our spring A-list issue

is brimming with faces of

FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

FAC E B O O K Like Sensi Media Group to infuse your newsfeed with more of our great cannabis lifestyle content.

TWITTER Follow @sensimag for need-to-know news and views from Sensi headquarters.

people who are driving the cannabis industry forward. This season, we celebrate them—the innovators, the trailblazers, the humans at the heart of this all.

Over the six years Sensi has been exploring and reporting on cannabis (in addition to all its adjacent lifestyle topics), we have collectively widened the scope of how we define, think about, and experience the modern cannabis lifestyle. It has never been more mainstream or had more potential: our culture has started treating the plant, the people who consume it, and the industry it powers with an importance that’s long overdue.

Of course, more cannabis news out there means more work for us here at Sensi.

We are working overtime on our mission to help you navigate all its highs, lows, and inevitable challenges.

We—the collective—didn’t get to collectively experience 4/20/2020 or the monthlong 4/20 that surrounded it, something that we had been looking forward to ever since someone had the high thought that in April 2020, it would be 4/20 all month long. We were hoping to make up for it in April 2021, when Sensi celebrated its fifth anniversary, but alas, the world had different plans for us all.

This year, Sensi is turning six and we’re celebrating as if we’re turning four in the middle of a month of 4/20s—and we’re doing it five times. Literally. In Colorado, we’re going back to our roots in the place where we started by celebrating the luminaries at the forefront of the cannabis industry, the pioneers who are pushing the conversation forward.

We’re celebrating where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re heading. Sensi Nights are being held coast to coast, California to Massachusetts, Michigan to Florida, and setting up shop in new markets in between. We invite you to take this journey with us through the pages of this magazine and online where you can read every edition of Sensi we’re publishing this spring: Colorado, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Florida, Oklahoma, and Puerto Rico.

We’re celebrating where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re heading.

I N S TAG R A M Pretty things, pretty places, pretty awesome people: find it all on @sensimagazine

Steph Wilson @stephwilll

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Danish designer Peter Monrad brings a global perspective to the truly global phenomenon that is craft beer branding in his latest book.

Craft breweries spring up like mushrooms around the globe, and it can be hard to stand out in an already-crowded market. Pioneering brewmasters and microbreweries are finding new ways to create unique brands that stand out, using cans and bottle labels to define their ethos and identity. Pushing the boundaries of graphic design and illustration, they draw from the full riches of graphic language to lead the way in modern packaging design. From the minimalist to the expressionist, using lines, colors, patterns, and illustrations, all styles are allowed—which makes for an exciting, exuberant visual 10

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culture. Peter Monrad’s book Craft Beer Design showcases a curated collection of the best and most out-there designs from around the world, ultimately leaving the reader with the feeling that, when it comes to craft beer, what’s on the can can matter as much as what’s in it.

The book is a bit of a preview of the future of cannabis branding as the industry continues to mature and balloon with each new state that opts out of prohibition and into legal adult sales. Market research firm BDSA predicts that the legal U.S. cannabis market will reach $47.6 billion in annual

sales by 2026, surpassing the craft beer industry.

Craft beer and craft cannabis have a lot in common: they’re artisan products geared toward the same demographic of consumer that is driven by taste, product quality, and consumer experience.

For a brand to succeed, it not only has to have outstanding quality products, it’s got to stand out in a crowded marketplace, and we can look to the innovative design tactics employed by craft beer brands to get a glimpse of what’s in store for craft cannabis.

Craft Beer Design by Peter Monrad for Gestalten ($40).

PHOTOS (FROM TOP) COURTESY GESTALTEN; DESIGN BALTER AND LACHIE GOLDSWORTHY, PHOTO BEN TRUEMAN

Brewing Something New

CONTRIBUTORS

Sensi Staff

HAPPY CLAM Something I learned today: the word quim is Old English slang for the female anatomy. It’s also the name of the California-based self-care brand of sexual wellness products “for humans with vaginas and humans without vaginas who love vaginas.” Quim’s mission is to break the taboos associated with sex, cannabis, and vaginal health, and it is doing so with a collection of high-quality, plant-based pleasure oils and serums that meet your intimate needs while fostering proactive self-care rituals that support vaginal health and relaxation.

Happy Clam ($48) is an everyday oil designed to “keep your quim happy, healthy, and moisturized.”

The official product description suggests you “think of it like eye cream for your vagina.” It’s made with tea tree oil (mother nature’s antiseptic—UTIs be gone!), damiana (natural aphrodisiac that’s been around since the Mayans), and full-spectrum hemp CBD among other plant-based ingredients. Happy customers report an increase in sexual arousal and stamina, more frequent orgasms, and reduced vaginal dryness. The brand suggests you apply after bathing, before bed, after sex, when PMSing or menstrautaing, or “anytime your quim is in need of some tender loving care.” itsquim.com

BY THE NUMBERS

107,059

High 5

Here’s what’s haute at the intersection of culture and cannabis right now.

How many new jobs the cannabis industry added in 2021—more than 280 every day

3x How many more cannabis workers there are in the US than dentists

428,059 The number of full-time-equivalent jobs that are now supported by cannabis in this country, as of January 2022 SOURCE: 2022 Leafly Jobs Report

1. Hervé Macarons Inspired by the classic art of French pâtisserie creation, Hervé produces exquisite macarons that combine contemporary design with delicious flavors in this iteration of the treat that has been around since the 1500s. Available in California.

2. Vibes Basketball Get in the game with this rock from Vibes, the premium rolling paper brand by rapper and serial entrepreneur Berner of Cookies.

3. Session Goods Protected Pipes Made of thick, tinted borosilicate glass, this handheld piece comes with a custom-designed silicone sleeve that protects your pipe from breaking and your bag from ash while you’re out in the world.

4. Jeeter x Highsman Sweatshirt The cannabis pre-roll brand teamed up with NFL running back Ricky Williams’ cannabis lifestyle brand for an apparel line that benefits Athletes for CARE. 5. Alive & Kicking Ashtray Stay alive by kicking that cigarette habit— that’s the message behind this decor piece from the company behind the slim hemp pre-rolls that are free from THC and nicotine.

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THE BUZZ

THE FENG SHUI OF CANNABIS Interior designer and feng shui master Jami Lin can’t grow hemp plants at her home in Florida. If she could, she would place them in her home’s southeastern and eastern corners, where, according to feng shui’s five elements theory, the wood element resides. Plants are wood elements, so they feel comfortable and thrive there.

Lin says you can also place cannabis plants, with intention, in the southeastern or eastern part Follow this simple guide to growing cannabis in of individual rooms. In the bedroom, they would your garden this year. grow opportunities for deepening relationships; in Growing cannabis takes knowledge, time, and attention, but anythe home office, professional and financial opportuone with good intentions can do it, says Susan Sheldon, a landscape architect and master gardener in Amherst, Massachusetts. She had nities; in the zen den/meditation room, subliminal and conscious head spaces. no idea how to grow it when she first got started, but she learned online and now has cannabis sprinkled among the hyssop, borage, basil, chamomile, and mountain mint in her herb garden full of QUICK HIT native pollinators. We asked her to share some tips to help anyone who wants to give it a try themselves.

Obey laws. Local regulations vary state by state, county by county, town by town. Make sure your space complies with the rules of the land.

Be discreet. Hide cannabis among other plants or structures. It’s still federally illegal and could invite thieves.

Plant a diverse ecosystem. If possible, plant cannabis among beneficial companion plants (a quick Google search can point you in the right direction) with good light penetration and air flow.

Give plants space. Cannabis plants each need at least 2.5 to 3 square feet. The more space you give the roots, the larger your plant will grow.

Feed them. Go online or visit a grow store to find the best nutrients for your plants. Don’t be stingy, but don’t overfeed them either.

Water as needed. Let plants dry out between watering, then thoroughly saturate them. If plants are in pots, place the pot in a tub of The inventor of Viagra introduces water and let it drink from the bottom up. If pots are in trays, don’t a cannabis-enhanced sexuallet them sit in water. enhancement serum for women.

Practice garden sanitation. Remove diseased plants or plant pieces One of the developers of Viagra co-inventimmediately. Clean pruning shears with rubbing alcohol between snips. ed Vella Women’s Pleasure Serum ($65), Beware of mold. Plants in damp climates are most susceptible, but which uses nanoencapsulated CBD to mold can happen anywhere. Check plants daily if not twice daily. In relax vaginal and clitoral muscle tissue and the late season before harvest, shake off dew and fan the plants. deliver more intense orgasms. Apply 15 Kill powdery mildew. PM Remover, a spray made from potassium minutes before having sex. bicarbonate, lactose, and garlic powder, does the trick. vellabio.com

PHOTOS (FROM TOP) BY AAPSKY VIA ADOBE STOCK; COURTESY VELLA

Inner Growth

CBD for the Big O

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THE BUZZ

GREEN GOES BLUE AND GOLD

PHOTOS (FROM LEFT) COURTESY MEDITHRIVE; PILGRIM SOUL

Dispensaries step up to support Ukrainians ravaged by war.

Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine has displaced more than 6.5 million people and continues to devastate a nation determined to fight for its sovereignty. Ukrainians have fought bravely on the ground against a far superior force, but this modern war is also being waged across the globe on social media and in the power of a global economy uniting against it. The cannabis industry has even joined in the effort to bring aid to Ukrainians and protest the immorality of Putin’s war.

San Francisco-based dispensary MediThirve (medithrive.com), which is owned by Ukrainian-Americans, painted its outside walls blue and gold (Ukraine’s national colors) and donated 100 percent sales on March 6 and 10 percent of sales thereafter for the week, to Sunflower of Peace, which is providing medical and humanitarian aid to the beleaguered nation. “I hope to do more as time goes on and be more hands on in the next effort,” says CEO Misha Breyburg. “Anything and everything helps. This is a time in the world where a social post or a financial donation is of the utmost importance. Every voice that speaks up with disgust about the war in Ukraine contributes to something bigger. It’s akin to that old idiom that a butterfly flapping its wings creates a tsunami.”

MediThrive is not alone in its efforts. Homeland Growers Company (hvgcompany.com) normally donates 100 percent of its profits to aid veterans, but is dedicating that money to help Ukrainians through World Kitchen. California cannabis manufacturer Lime (limecannabis.co), with 30 percent of its workforce from countries affected by the war, donated a portion of its March sales to nonprofit Hope for Ukraine.

“In my 50 years, I’ve never seen people so ubiquitously on the same page as they are to help Ukrainians against the Russian invasion,” says Breyburg. “There are so many issues that divide us and, in the past 20 years, it feels as if we’ve been stuck in polarizing positions on those issues. We’re on the same page with Ukraine, and I hope that’s an opportunity to build bridges.”

Creative Thinking

You like art; you like thoughts; you like pot. Buy this book.

Creative thinking is a competitive edge that separates the good from the great in all aspects of life—so light up a joint and think about thinking.

This guided journal is designed to engage your imagination to help uncover new ideas, build more productive habits, and inspire creative thoughts.

Bonus: you’re supposed to use it while you’re high.

It’s not your basic coloring book—although there are pages for coloring plus a set of colored pencils for you to use on them—nor is it a puzzle book for stereotypical “stoners” too blazed to think thoughts at all. Refreshingly free of clichés, the Original Creative Thinking Journal by Pilgrim Soul is packed with more than 50 engaging prompts that are neither incredibly boring or stupidly zany.

The book asks you to make up and define new words and to complete abstract analogies (“Being in a relationship is like cleaning the bathroom. How so?”), write a Tinder bio for Oprah, or fill out the famed Proust Questionnaire. (What is your most marked characteristic? What do you regard as the lowest depth of mystery? Which words or phrases do you overuse most?) One exercise instructs you to go to a public place and invent a narrative for two strangers you encounter.

The people at Pilgrim Soul say the goal of the journal is to “get people to look at problems in entirely new ways, get out of their comfort zones, and tap into what makes them uniquely creative.”

Buy the book, get high, and spend a few hours losing yourself in the mental playground. You’ve already seen everything on Netflix anyway. $30 / pilgrimsoul.com

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Free Your Mind Breathwork is the latest trend to get people off of pharmaceuticals and in touch with their bodies.

“Since age six I had horrible chronic migraines,” Lindsay Balgooyen tells me. “I pretty much lived my entire life with a migraine.” Admittedly, I’m not expecting this. My interest in the idea of 16

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breathwork started when I interviewed comedian and psychedelics expert Shane Mauss last year.

He described an intense, mind-altering experience, one that seemed more of a consciousness

expansion than healing.

Considering the impressive resume of substances he’s experimented with, I took stock in his words, but never considered the curative properties of my own breathing.

“I grew up in Michigan in not exactly a progressive town and when I was 17 I had been on 50 different drugs,” Balgooyen says. “So I decided I was done with that.”

Working with med-

PHOTO BY JOMKWAN7, ADOBE STOCK

TEXT JAKE BROWNE

PHOTO BY RAWPIXEL.COM, ADOBE STOCK

ical cannabis patients for years, I’m used to hearing about chronic pain, but there’s something beneath her words that belies how much of a struggle it was for her, how defining the experience was. Balgooyen’s journey overcoming the constant illness led her to seek a number of treatment options outside of traditional Western medicine, from acupuncture to physical therapy to massage. It wasn’t until a 2015 trip to Southeast Asia that it all clicked, though.

While assisting at a yoga retreat in India, Balgooyen had made plans to head to Thailand toward the end of her trip for a new type of modality she was previously unfamiliar with. “I did my first session and it absolutely blew me away,” she says.

“My entire body felt like it was paralyzed, I couldn’t move anything and just felt like my body was filled with cement.”

Balgooyen notes that this isn’t uncommon, but one of the reasons guided sessions are recommended for beginners before branching out on their own. “My whole body was in pain,” she says.

The process of circular breathing, she tells me, can lead to cramps and tightness, but she describes it as “energy

moving” through your body and hitting “blockages” along the way. I’m a skeptic at heart, but it reminds me of a Tai Chi teacher I once had who would have us tense our muscles to lead the way to relaxation. Balogooyen says that once she worked through the pain

in her first session, she experienced a release like nothing else she had felt before and was hooked.

“That day I found a month-long training and signed up for it. Within a week, my headaches went away completely.”

Returning home to Steamboat Springs, Col-

orado, the transition was natural. “There’s a ton of different healers up there and it’s a pretty spiritual town,” she says.

Once a week, she’d bring together friends and people who had heard the buzz for three hour sessions as part of a longer course, and soon

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PHOTO BY YAKOBCHUK OLENA, ADOBE STOCK

THE LIFE

students became apostles. “It just takes one session because it’s such a crazy, profound experience,” she says “It kind of becomes addicting.”

After another year of building through word of mouth in Steamboat, Balgooyen decided it was time to take the next big leap and work in Boulder, Colorado, a liberal bastion of alternative medicine and a town where collaborators would be bountiful. Soon, she was incorporating other modalities into her practice, particularly sound healing. Having some expe-

rience with the chanting and music of kirtan vis-a-vis Deb Browne, my spiritually woke mom, I can start picturing us in a session together. “The sound alone is so powerful,” Balgooyen says, as I nod.

At festivals, it started with Nibumbu, a Neotribal band that has spent the last two-and-a-half years incorporating shamanic drumming into breathwork, creating an immersive experience.

Now, she’s teaming up with Brian Dickinson, founder of Sonic Alchemy, to bring similar

Practices like yoga have incorporated an intense focus on breathing for millenia, using the body to do the heavy lifting that substances couldn’t.

concepts to smaller settings, with gongs, singing bowls, flutes, and “other trinkets” adding to the journey. “It starts off really relaxed, then it builds and gets pretty intense, then it starts to calm down and it gets very meditative,” she says.

I’m curious about what science has to say on the matter, though.

We take tens of thousands of breaths each day, so there has to be some study on how such a simple act can have such a profound effect.

Instead, Balgooyen directs me north, to the S P R I N G 2022

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PHOTO BY YOLYA_ILYASOVA, ADOBE STOCK

THE LIFE

brain. “The beta brain state is similar to hypnosis, which allows you to pretty quickly drop into that deep meditative state right above sleep, that usually we’re just passing through really quickly while falling asleep. [Scientists] know that we have to be in

that beta state to access our subconscious mind, where we hold so many thoughts, and the beliefs that are running our lives, a lot of times not to our advantage.”

When I finally get the nerve to steer the conversation toward Mauss’ hallucinatory experi-

ence, it doesn’t come as a surprise to her. “It’s definitely common,” she says. “I’ve had a lot of people who have had a lot of experience with psychedelics who have said it’s much more profound.” How can that be possible, though?

I’ve been conditioned to

think of substances such as psilocybin and LSD as incredibly powerful. Balgooyen believes that, unlike an outside substance, your body is designed to do the work and can readily integrate that experience into its own framework. “If you have a cut, it naturally heals,” she says, sagely.

“We don’t have to think about it.”

That’s the breakthrough moment, the “Aha!” that ties it all together for me. Practices like yoga have incorporated an intense focus on breathing for millenia, using the body to do the heavy lifting that substances couldn’t. Not everyone had access to the hallucinogens that scientists are now increasingly focused on as alternative treatments for PTSD and addiction.

Balgooyen is busy, leaving for Bali the next morning, but she tells me about a busy summer that includes rafting and water therapy. “You wear a snorkel and face down while somebody holds you and it allows you to get even deeper,” she says. “Water is one of the highest vibrations we have access to and it also brings up a lot of stuff from the womb so it’s pretty cool.” Don’t be surprised if you see me there.

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THE LIFE WELLNESS

Libera Tu Mente La respiración es la última tendencia para que las personas dejen los productos farmacéuticos y se pongan en contacto con sus cuerpos.

“Desde los seis años de edad, tuve horribles migrañas crónicas”, “Viví casi toda mi vida con migraña” me comenta, Lindsay Balgooyen.

Cierto es, no me esperaba esto. Mi interés por 22

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la idea del ejercicio de la respiración comenzó el pasado año cuando tuve la oportunidad de realizar una entrevista a Shane Mauss, comediante y experto en psicodélicos. Duran-

te la entrevista, Shane, me describió sobre una experiencia intensa que altera la mente, se trata más de una expansión de la conciencia,que de una cura. Teniendo en cuenta la cantidad de sustancias

con las que Mauss ha experimentado, hice un balance sobre sus palabras, pero nunca consideré las propiedades curativas de mi propia respiración.

“Crecí en Michigan, no exactamente en una ciu-

PHOTO BY JOMKWAN7, ADOBE STOCK

TEXT JAKE BROWNE

THE LIFE

PHOTO BY RAWPIXEL.COM, ADOBE STOCK

WELLNESS

dad progresista y cuando tenía 17 años de edad ya había probado 50 drogas/ fármacos diferentes. Entonces,decidí terminar con eso”, dice Balgooyen.

Trabajando durante años con pacientes de cannabis medicinal, estoy acostumbrado a escuchar sobre el dolor crónico, pero en la historia de Lindsey hay algo detrás de sus palabras que desmiente la gran lucha que fue para ella, y la experiencia del proceso.

El viaje de Balgooyen superando su enfermedad constante, la encaminó a buscar numerosos remedios alternos de tratamientos, fuera de la medicina tradicional occidental, integrando acupuntura, terapia física y masaje. Sin embargo, no fue hasta un viaje que realizó en el 2015, al Sudeste de Asia que todo le hizo“click”.

Mientras Lindsey asistía a un retiro de yoga en la India, realizó planes para viajar a Tailandia con el propósito de conocer sobre una nueva modalidad con la que anteriormente ella no estaba familiarizada.

“Hice mi primera sesión y me dejó boquiabierta”, ella comenta. “Todo mi cuerpo se sentía paralizado, no podía mover nada y sentía que mi cuerpo estaba lleno de cemento”. Señala que esto no es

raro, pero esta es una de las razones por las que se recomiendan las sesiones guiadas para principiantes antes de ramificarse por su cuenta. “Me dolía todo el cuerpo”.

El proceso de respiración circular, ella dice; puede provocar calambres y tensiones del cuer-

po, pero lo describe como “energía en movimiento” a través de tu cuerpo que golpea “bloqueos” en el camino. Soy escéptico de corazón, pero me recuerda a un profesor de Tai Chi que una vez tuve ,nos dijo que nos haría tensar nuestros músculos para abrir el camino

a la relajación. Balogooyen dice, que una vez ya trabajó a través del dolor en su primera sesión, experimentó una liberación como ninguna otra cosa que había sentido antes y quedó cautivada.

“Ese día encontré un entrenamiento de un mes y me inscribí en él. En

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una semana, mis dolores de cabeza desaparecieron por completo”.

Volviendo a casa en Steamboat Springs, Colorado, la transición fue natural. “Hay un montón de sanadores diferentes y es una ciudad espiritual”, ella dice. Una vez a la semana, reunía a amigos y personas que habían escuchado durante las sesiones de tres horas como parte de un curso más largo, y luego los estudiantes se convirtieron en apóstoles. “Solo se necesita una sesión porque es una experiencia tan loca, como tan 24

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profunda”, ella dice “Se vuelve un poco adictivo”.

Después de otro año ofreciendo recomendaciones de boca en boca en Steamboat; Balgooyen decidió que era hora de dar el siguiente gran salto y trabajar en Boulder, Colorado, un lugar liberal que fomenta la medicina alterna y un pueblo donde los colaboradores serían generosos. Pronto, estaría incorporando otras modalidades en su práctica, en particular la sanación con sonido.

“Teniendo experiencias con el canto y la música de kirtan vis-a-vis Deb

Browne, mi madre espiritual, puedo empezar a imaginarnos en una sesión juntos. El sonido por sí solo es tan potente”, dice Balgooyen, mientras yo aserto con la cabeza.

En los festivales, comenzó con Nibumbu, una banda neotribal que ha pasado los últimos dos años y medio incorporando tambores chamánicos en el trabajo de respiración, creando una experiencia inmersiva. Ahora, ella se está asociando con Brian Dickinson, fundador de Sonic Alchemy, para compartir conceptos similares a escenar-

ios más pequeños, con gongs, cuencos de canto, flautas y otros “cachivaches” que se suman al viaje. “Empieza muy relajado, luego se construye y se vuelve bastante intenso, luego comienza a calmarse y se vuelve muy meditativo”, ella dice.

Tengo curiosidad por saber qué tiene que decir la ciencia al respecto.

Tomamos miles de respiraciones al día, por lo que tiene que haber algún estudio sobre cómo un acto tan simple puede tener un efecto tan profundo.

En cambio, Balgooyen me dirige hacia el norte,

PHOTO BY YAKOBCHUK OLENA, ADOBE STOCK

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hacia el cerebro. “El estado cerebral beta es similar a la hipnosis, que te permite entrar bastante rápido en ese profundo estado meditativo justo encima del sueño, por el que generalmente estamos pasando muy rápido mientras nos dormimos.

Los científicos saben que tenemos que estar en ese estado beta para acceder a nuestra mente subcon-

sciente, donde tenemos tantos pensamientos, y las creencias que están dirigiendo nuestras vidas, muchas veces no a nuestro beneficio”.

Cuando finalmente tengo el descaro de dirigir la conversación hacia la experiencia con alucinógenos de Mauss, no es una sorpresa para ella. “Definitivamente es común”, ella dice. “He

tenido mucha gente que ha tenido mucha experiencia con psicodélicos y han dicho que es mucho más profundo’’. ¿Cómo puede ser esto posible?

Me han condicionado a pensar que sustancias como la psilocibina y el LSD son increíblemente potentes. Balgooyen piensa, a diferencia de una sustancia externa, que su cuerpo está diseña-

do para hacer el trabajo y puede integrar fácilmente esa experiencia en su propio marco. “Si tienes una cortadura , se cura de forma natural”, dice ella con sabiduría.

“No tenemos que pensar en ello”.

Ese es el momento de descubrimiento , el “¡Ajá!” Que lo une todo para mí. Prácticas como la yoga han incorporado un enfoque intenso en la respiración durante miles de años, utilizando el cuerpo para hacer el trabajo pesado que las sustancias no podían.

No todo el mundo tiene acceso a los alucinógenos en los que los científicos se enfocan cada vez más como tratamientos alternos para el trastorno de estrés postraumático y la adicción.

Balgooyen está ocupada y viaja a Bali la mañana siguiente, pero ella me habla de un verano ocupado, que incluye rafting (canoas en agua rápidas) y terapia de agua. “Usas un tubo o snorkel, estás boca abajo, mientras alguien te sostiene ,eso te permite profundizar aún más”, ella dice. “El agua es una de las vibraciones más altas a las que tenemos acceso y también saca muchas cosas del útero, por lo que es bastante genial”.

No te sorprendas si me ves allí.

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What Does Cannabis Law Have to Do with Racism?

The story of cannabis law in America is one of injustice, with people of color bearing the brunt of a system weighted against them.

TEXT ANDREW DEANGELO OPENING IMAGE RAWPIXEL.COM, ADOBE STOCK

As with many things in America, the cannabis experience for white people has been different from the cannabis experience for people of color. White citizens have used and traded cannabis at nearly the same rates as Black and Brown people, but Black and Brown people have been arrested nearly four times as often. In most cases, people of color have done jail time while people like me were able to grow wealth in the cannabis industry—both underground and, more recently, legally. There is no doubt that the color 26

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of my skin has given me untold advantages others do not enjoy.

The racist history of federal cannabis prohibition in the United States is the subject of Fab 5 Freddy’s Netflix documentary masterpiece Grass Is Greener. With his cast of musical icons, the filmmaker exposes the story of how mid-level bureaucrat Harry J. Anslinger ascended to be the nation’s first drug czar on the backs of Black jazz musicians and Brown citizens, a tale both shocking and unsurprising for 1930s America.

For 30 years Anslinger promoted racist propaganda and policy that resulted in much higher rates of drug-related arrests and imprisonment for people of color. Then in 1970 President Richard Nixon, another racist in a position of great power, launched the Controlled Substances Act, famously classifying cannabis as a Schedule I drug so he could go after his two biggest enemies, Blacks and hippies, and the DEA was born. Old Anslinger even came out of retirement for the ceremony.

“It was never about the cannabis,” Freddy

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tells me, “but about the people who were using it, plain and simple.”

Cannabis prohibition was really just a war on people of color, another way to rob them of opportunity and justice.

Ronald Reagan rode a wave of conservative promises to the White House in 1980. With the launch of the “Just Say No” campaign promoted by First Lady Nancy Reagan, mandatory minimums and racial sentencing disparities proliferated. Widespread workplace urinalysis testing arose in the 1980s, further putting pressure on communities of color as jobs were lost, income obliterated and children removed from families due to a failed drug test or a weed possession charge. As funding for the drug war skyrocketed, even public schools began to embed police

“The fight is trying to clean the American house of this evil infection called racism that is the root cause of everything from drug wars to lack of ownership in the legal cannabis industry, or any other industry.”

—Fab 5 Freddy, director of Grass is Greener

and practice urinalysis screening. The so-called school-to-prison pipeline that haunts some Black and Brown communities to this day is due in large part to the unjust cannabis policies and over-policing that targeted those communities.

So how do we right these wrongs now?

“The fight is trying to clean the American house of this evil infection called racism that is the root cause of everything from drug wars to a lack of ownership in the legal cannabis industry, or any other industry,” says Freddy.

Today, Black Americans own just 4 percent of the legal cannabis industry, while whites own 81 percent. Those in the cannabis business have a moral obligation to commit to social equity (not least because that aligns with the values the plant

teaches us). Given the gross injustices of the past, Black and Brown people must be empowered in the legal cannabis industry to have ownership, equity, and wealth created for and by themselves. This is the true promise of cannabis law reform.

Kassandra Frederique, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, put it simply in Grass Is Greener: “The solution has to be more comprehensive than the damage that has been done.”

Most importantly, social equity represents a sacred promise that our industry must keep to right the wrongs of the past and begin to heal the inequities that permeate our society. That promise cannot be kept until more people of color attain positions of power and ownership in the legal cannabis industry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew DeAngelo is the cofounder of the Last Prisoner Project. This article is the first installment of DeAngelo’s new Dope Tutor column for playboy.com, an early advocate for cannabis rights.

BELOW: Protestors march in downtown Denver on June 4, 2020, in response to the killing of George Floyd.

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¿Qué Tiene Que Ver La Ley De Cannabis Con El Racismo?

“La historia de la ley del cannabis en Estados Unidos es una de injusticia, con personas de color que soportan la peor parte de un sistema que pesa en su contra”.

TEXT ANDREW DEANGELO OPENING IMAGE RAWPIXEL.COM, ADOBE STOCK

Al igual que muchas cosas en Estados Unidos, la experiencia del cannabis para las personas blancas ha sido diferente a la experiencia del cannabis para las personas de color.

Estadísticamente los ciudadanos blancos han consumido y comercializado el cannabis al igual que las personas negras y latinas; pero la tasa de arrestos de personas negras y latinas ha sido casi cuatro veces mayor en comparación.

En la mayoría de los casos, las personas de color pasan tiempo en la cárcel, mientras que 30

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personas como yo podemos crecer riqueza en la industria del cannabis, tanto en el mercado ilegal hasta como el más reciente, legal. No cabe duda que el color de mi piel me ha dado ventajas incalculables que otros no disfrutan.

La historia racista de la prohibición federal del cannabis en los Estados Unidos es el tema del documental de Netflix del rapero Fab 5 Freddy, la obra maestra “Grass Is Greener”. Con un elenco de iconos musicales, el cineasta expone la historia de cómo el burócrata de medio nivel, Harry J.

Anslinger ascendió a ser el primer zar anti-droga de la nación, persiguiendo músicos de jazz negros y ciudadanos de color, una historia impactante y poco sorprendente para los Estados Unidos de la década de 1930.

Durante 30 años, Anslinger promovió propagandas y políticas racistas que dieron lugar a tasas mucho más altas de arrestos y encarcelamientos relacionados con las drogas para personas de color.

Luego, en 1970, el presidente Richard Nixon, otro racista en posición de gran poder, lanzó la

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Ley de Sustancias Controladas, clasificando el cannabis como una droga en la Lista I y así poder perseguir a sus dos mayores enemigos: los negros y los hippies, de esto surge la DEA. El viejo Anslinger incluso salió de la jubilación para la ceremonia.

“Nunca se trató del cannabis”, me dice Freddy, “sino de las personas que lo estaban usando, simple y llanamente”.

La prohibición del cannabis era realmente solo una guerra contra las personas de color, otra forma de robarles oportunidades y justicia.

Ronald Reagan montó una ola de promesas conservadoras en la Casa Blanca para el año 1980.

Con el lanzamiento de la campaña “Solo di no” promovida por la primera dama Nancy Reagan, proliferaron los mínimos obligatorios y dispararon

las sentencias raciales.

Las pruebas generalizadas de análisis de orina en el lugar de trabajo surgieron para la década de 1980, presionando aún más a las comunidades de color a medida que perdían puestos de trabajo, se borraban los ingresos y se removían niños de las familias debido a una prueba de drogas fallida ó a un cargo por posesión de Marihuana. A medida que los fondos para la guerra contra las drogas se elevaron, las escuelas públicas comenzaron a integrar a la policía y a practicar pruebas de análisis de orina.

El llamado oleoducto de escuela- a- prisión que acecha a comunidades negras y latinas hasta el día presente se debe en gran parte a políticas injustas de cannabis y a la presencia policiaca excesiva en estas comunidades.

Entonces, ¿cómo corregimos estos errores ahora?

“La lucha está tratando de limpiar la casa estadounidense de esta malvada infección llamada racismo, que es la causa fundamental de todo, desde las guerras contra las drogas, hasta la falta de propiedad en la industria legal del cannabis ó en cualquier otra industria”, dice Freddy.

Al día presente, los afroamericanos poseen solo el 4 por ciento de la industria legal del cannabis, mientras que los blancos poseen el 81 por ciento. Aquellos en el negocio del cannabis tienen la obligación moral de comprometerse con la equidad social (sobre todo porque eso se alinea con los valores que la planta nos enseña).

Dado a las graves injusticias del pasado, los negros y latinos deben ser

empoderados en la industria legal del cannabis para crear la propiedad, la equidad y la riqueza para ellos mismos. Esta es la verdadera promesa de la reforma de la legislación del cannabis.

Kassandra Frederique, directora ejecutiva de “Drug Policy Alliance”, lo expresó simplemente en Grass Is Greener: “La solución tiene que ser más integral (completa) que el daño que se ha hecho”.

Lo más importante, es que la equidad social representa una promesa sagrada que nuestra industria debe cumplir para corregir los errores del pasado y comenzar a sanar las desigualdades que impregnan nuestra sociedad. Esa promesa no se puede cumplir hasta que más personas de color alcancen posiciones de poder y propiedad en la industria legal del cannabis.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew DeAngelo es el cofundador de la Last Prisoner Project. Este artículo es la primera entrega de El nuevo Dope Tutor de DeAngelo columna para playboy.com, un temprano defensor de derechos de cannabis.

BELOW: Manifestantes marcha en el centro Denver el 4 de Junio de 2020, en respuesta a la matanza de George Floyd.

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CHECK THE VIBE A destination dispensary in a Puerto Rican surf town has a plan to help both local patients and visiting tourists enjoy the island’s elevated experiences.

TEXT STEPHANIE WILSON

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appiness may not be a place—think of it more as a feeling, a state of being— but there is a road that’ll take you there. Lined with golden beaches, swaying palm trees, and outdoor bars where you can catch kaleidoscopic sunsets, the Road to Happiness is real. Aka Route 413, the Road to Happiness winds along the coast in Rincón, Puerto Rico, a laid-back surfing community on the island’s western corner. And, after the last two crazy years spent largely at home riding out the pandemic, it’s a trip you need to take—if, for no other reason, for the sake of your own wellness.

Rincón, Puerto Rico, is the destination we all need right now.

The sleepy little beach town is an unconventional tropical paradise with all the things—including world-class waves that send siren calls to pro surfers from around the globe. Rincón is the ultimate spot for wellness trav-

el lite, perfect for low-key types whose mood is more California surf rock than Miami EDM. It’s just as close as Tulum with all the modern conveniences but none of the megaresorts or tourist traps— and you won’t need a vacation to recover from your vacation. You don’t need a passport to get there; your cell phone will (probably) work; most people speak a mix of English and Spanish; the U.S. dollar is the official currency, and flights tend to be cheap. (You will want to bring your medical marijuana card if you’ve got one or apply for one before you go if you don’t. More on that in a bit.)

Local cuisine jumps out at you on every corner, along every major road, and at all spots in between.

Truly, it’s the best island for people who are hungry all the time (aka stoners).

Word about this blissful spot has been out in some circles for a while now already. The international surfing community got

the memo about Rincón basically forever ago—1968, in fact. That’s when the fourth-ever World Surfing Championship literally put Rincón on the map. (The town often didn’t warrant inclusion before then.)

Thanks to the surfers and the creative types who follow them, Rincón’s got an authentically bohemian vibe and a freaky, fun-loving atmosphere. Life in Rincón is essentially one relaxed party, and even non-surfers find it easy to fit right in…and then find it hard to leave.

This is the type of place you visit for a weekend and wind up staying for a lifetime. Just ask any of the expat locals who comprise a good portion of the town’s population.

THE BEAUTIFUL PLACE Start with Sandra Torres. The native Puerto Rican visited Rincón with her husband Raul for the town’s annual triathlon in 2014 and fell in love with the area and the community. “We have the prettiest beaches on the island,” she says. “This is one of the most beautiful places in Puerto Rico.”

At the time, Puerto Rico was on the verge of legalizing cannabis for medical use, and they were interested in getting in on the ground floor. Friends of theirs in Rincón— Ovidmarie Garcia and her husband, Hector Ramírez—outlined their vision for a wellness-focused dispensary that would cater to patients through personalized attention and education.

“My husband entered the industry when it started in Puerto Rico,” says Ovidmarie. “He was born on 4/20, he’s a surfer, and he’s a cannabis connoisseur. He’s a doctor who certifies patients

OPPOSITE: Rincón Beach BOTTOM: The scene at the 2017 Domes Event Corona Extra Pro Surf Circuit

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PHOTO COURTESY THE GREEN ROOM (X2)

[for medical marijuana], and it was my dream to have a dispensary in Rincón. So why not?”

With a vision in mind, this group of friends got together to put the plans in place for The Green Room.

The medical cannabis dispensary now sits in the heart of Rincón, about a block off the beach and not too far from where the Road to Happiness begins. It’s a fitting location for a place where you can pick up the blissful fuel you need to get to your happy place. Keep in mind that tourism is a mainstay of the economy, so any time and money you spend in locally-owned shops like The Green Room is injecting much-needed capital into the community.

Just don’t forget to bring your medical marijuana card. (Told you there’d be more on that.) Puerto Rico accepts out-of-state mmj cards—no need to get a new one on the island. You will, however, need to get a medical recommendation from a Puerto Rican doctor

if you want to purchase flower, otherwise you’ve got to stick to vapes, edibles, tinctures, topicals, anything other than smokable flower. If flower is your thing, don’t fret: this is where Dr. Green comes in. One of the island’s foremost medical marijuana docs, Dr. Green is also your go-to guy if you don’t already have a med card in your home state but use (or want to use) cannabis to treat a qualifying medical condition—and in Puerto Rico, lots of conditions qualify, including depression, insomnia, migraines, and more. (See p. 50 for more details and plan ahead so you’re not wasting any precious vacation time doing paperwork, or visit thegreenroomrincon.com.)

A PLACE LIKE HOME Stop by The Green Room on any given day and you’ll feel the welcoming vibe. “When people come to the Green Room, they can feel like it’s home,” says Ovidmarie.

“This is a place where they can

come and feel comfortable. And that’s what makes us different. We can’t know every patient, but we know most of them by name most of the time. We speak with them about what’s going on in their lives. It’s a more personal service, and I think that’s what makes us different from other dispensaries.”

(We’d argue that the location, mere steps from the sand, also elevates The Green Room above the rest. Because seriously, what’s better than a beachfront dispensary? Nothing. There’s nothing better in our book.)

That, and the personal service that stems from their close relationship with Dr. Green. “We are in communication with our patients’ doctor, so we have a one-on-one service,” says Ovidmarie. “Every patient has different conditions, there are many different ways they can consume cannabis, so we give every patient special treatment.”

They also give them lots of options, with a wider selection of products than you’ll find in most dispensaries on the island and a staff of budtenders trained to help patients select the elevating products that will work best for their needs. “Our budtenders are professionals,” says Ovidmarie.

“They welcome patients by name, they know who you are and what you like. They know what they are selling. They know what is good for you, what will work best for your condition, what amount you need for your treatment and how it can be mixed with another type of product. Our budtenders are the most knowledgeable in the area.”

LOCAL CONNECTION Spend a little time in Rincón (and

MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHTS According to the Rincóniest of the town’s dispensaries, The Green Room.

Surf Spots: Domes and Maria’s are the most iconic spots in a city that’s full of them Snorkeling: Tres Palmas Marine Reserve Cultural Activity: Art Walk on Thursdays Restaurants: Black Eagle, Taqueria Vato Loco Best Pinchos (Meat Skewers): La Cambija Bars: Aloha Surf, Caddy’s Calypso Cafe Accommodations: Villa Pier 25, Casa Isleña

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c

w

is

en

l l a w g o n m i l la love cann ab o h

CONNECT WITH YOURSELF AND OTHERS IN CITIES AROUND THE GLOBE

TOKEATIVITY.COM/CONNECT

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we highly recommend that you do), and you’ll quickly realize that the town’s close-knit community wouldn’t have survived this long without safeguarding. Across the Caribbean, even the quaintest of beach towns have been bulldozed into megaresorts devoid of personality or sense of place. But thanks to the efforts of local entrepreneurs and community stakeholders like the team at The Green Room, Rincón’s bursting with both.

There’s no better place to see that in action than the weekly Art Walk, which happens every Thursday evening. What began

as a community effort to support local artists almost a decade ago has evolved into a cultural happening every week that transformed Rincón’s central plaza into the cultural and economic hub of the surfing town. An eclectic mix of artisans and performers transform downtown in to an open-air gallery for Puerto Rican art and culture.

The Green Room’s team gets involved through partnerships with other local businesses that center on the wellness of the community. Which is to say they are highly involved—both attending events and hosting them in collaboration

with other area entrepreneurs and businesses. They’ve partnered with Centro La Paz wellness center to offer patients yoga sessions on Zoom during the pandemic, they host cannabis educational events for seniors, they support local artisans during Art Walk, and they’re planning events centered around the Rincón triathlon in June. This is their community, and they love everything about it.

“We have good places to eat well, to see the sunset—good music, good vibes, good company,” says Sandra. “That’s what Rincón is all about.”

RIGHT: Punta Higuero Lighthouse LEFT (FROM TOP): The nightlife sizzles in Rincón, beach yoga is the best yoga, Jack’s Shack, Sensi kicks off in Puerto Rico

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PRUEBA LA VIBRA Un dispensario en un pueblo surfista de Puerto Rico tiene un plan para ayudar tanto a los pacientes locales y los turistas visitantes a disfrutar de las experiencias elevadas de la isla. TEXTO DE STEPHANIE WILSON

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uede que la felicidad no sea un lugar (piensa acerca de ella más bien como una sensación, un estado de ser) pero existe un camino que te llevará allí. Bordeado por playas doradas, palmeras que se mecen al viento y bares al aire libre donde puedes disfrutar de atardeceres inimaginables, el Camino a la Felicidad es real. También conocido como Ruta 413, el Camino a la Felicidad serpentea a lo largo de la costa en Rincón, Puerto Rico, una relajada comunidad surfista en la esquina occidental de la isla. Y, después de pasar los últimos dos locos años mayormente en casa superando la pandemia, es un viaje que necesitas hacer (aunque no sea por otro motivo más que tu propio bienestar).

Rincón, Puerto Rico, es el destino que todos necesitamos ahora mismo. El somnoliento y pequeño pueblo playero es un paraíso tropical poco convencional que lo tiene todo, inclusive olas de primer nivel

que son un llamado para todos los surfistas profesionales alrededor del mundo. Rincón es el mejor lugar para los viajes de bienestar, perfecto para personas tranquilas cuya onda es más de surf rock Californiano que de Miami EDM. Se encuentra igual de cerca que Tulum, con todas las comodidades modernas, pero ninguno de los mega complejos hoteleros o trampas para turistas (y no deberás tomarte vacaciones para descansar de tus vacaciones). No necesitas pasaporte para ir, tu celular (probablemente) funcionará, la mayoría de la gente habla ambos idiomas, el dólar estadounidense es la moneda oficial y todo tiende a ser barato. (Quizás quieras llevar tu licencia para comprar marihuana si tienes una, o solicitarla para ir si no tienes una. Más al respecto en un momento). La cocina local salta a tu paso en cada esquina, a lo largo de cada calle principal y en todos los lugares entre medio. Verdaderamente, es la mejor isla para

quienes tienen hambre todo el tiempo (los conocidos “munchies”).

La voz sobre este lugar pacífico lleva rato corriéndose en algunos círculos. La comunidad internacional del surf recibió el mensaje sobre Rincón básicamente desde el principio, en 1968, de hecho. Fue entonces que el cuarto Campeonato Mundial de Surf literalmente puso a Rincón en el mapa. (A menudo, antes de entonces el pueblo no garantiza la inclusión).

Gracias a los surfistas y la gente creativa que los siguieron, Rincón posee una vibra auténticamente bohemia y una atmósfera alocada y de amor por la diversión. La vida en Rincón es básicamente una fiesta relajada, e incluso a quienes no surfean les resulta fácil encajar… y luego les cuesta irse. Este es el tipo de lugar que visitas por un fin de semana y acabas quedándote toda la vida. Solo pregúntale a cualquier extranjero que viva allí, quienes conforman una buena parte de la población.

EL LUGAR HERMOSO Comienza con Sandra Torres.

La puertorriqueña nativa visitó Rincón con su esposo Raúl para el triatlón anual del pueblo en 2014 y se enamoró del área y de la comunidad. “Tenemos las playas más bonitas de la isla”, dice. “Este es uno de los lugares más hermosos en Puerto Rico”.

En ese momento, Puerto Rico se encontraba a punto de legalizar el cannabis para uso medicinal y ambos estaban interesados en participar desde el principio. Amigos suyos en Rincón, Ovidmarie García y su esposo, Hector Ramírez; detallaron su visión de un dispensario enfocado en el bienestar que

OPPOSITE: Rincon Beach BOTTOM: La escena en el 2017 Domes Event Corona Extra Pro Surf Circuit

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CORTESÍA THE GREEN ROOM (X2)

atendiera las necesidades de los pacientes a través de atención y educación personalizada.

“Mi esposo ingresó a la industria cuando esta se inició en Puerto Rico el 2016,” dice Ovidmarie. “Él nació el 20/4 (4/20, en inglés), es surfista y conocedor del cannabis. Es un médico que certifica a pacientes [para utilizar marihuana medicinal] y su sueño era tener un dispensario y el sueño de Ovidmarie siempre fue tener un dispensario en el pueblo de Rincón. Así que, ¿por qué no?”

Este grupo de amigos con una misma visión decidieron desarrollar su plan para The Green Room.

El dispensario de cannabis medicinal ahora se halla en el corazón de Rincón, a casi una cuadra del mar y no muy lejos de donde comienza el Camino a la Felicidad. Es una ubicación ideal para un lugar en el que puedes conseguir el combustible dichoso que necesitas para llegar a tu lugar feliz. Recuerda que el turismo es un pilar de la economía, por lo que el tiempo y el dinero que gastes en tiendas de propietarios locales como The Green Room inyecta capital muy necesario en la comunidad.

Tan solo no olvides llevar tu licencia para uso de marihuana medicinal. (Te dije que habría más al respecto) Puerto Rico acepta licencias de otros estados, no es necesario obtener una nueva en la isla. Sin embargo, necesitarás una recomendación médica de un doctor local si deseas comprar flor, de lo contrario deberás limitarte a los vaporizadores, comestibles, tinturas, ungüentos, cualquier cosa que no sea la flor para vaporizar. Si la flor es lo tuyo, no te preocupes: aquí es donde entra el Dr. Green. Uno de los médicos especialistas en mari-

huana con más conocimiento en la isla, Dr. Green también es médico si no tienes una licencia de cannabis medicinal y estarás más de 30 días, entonces él podría ayudarte a obtenerla. Y en Puerto Rico muchas enfermedades te permiten calificar para una licencia, entre ellas la depresión, el insomnio, dolor crónico y más. (Da un vistazo a la pág. 50 o thegreenroomrincon.com para conocer más detalles y planificar de antemano para no desperdiciar el valioso tiempo de vacaciones realizando papeleo).

UN LUGAR COMO EL HOGAR Visita The Green Room cualquier día y su equipo siempre te hará sentir con una vibra acogedora.

“Cuando la gente llega a The Green Room, puede sentirse como en su hogar”, dice Ovidmarie. “Este es un lugar al que pueden venir y sentirse cómodos. Y eso es lo que nos hace diferentes. No podemos conocer a cada paciente, pero casi siempre los conocemos a todos por su nombre. Hablamos con ellos sobre lo que sucede en sus vidas: ‘¿Qué pasó ayer, fuiste a este o a aquel lugar? ¿Cómo está tu madre; cómo está tu

hija?’ Es un servicio más personal y creo que es lo que nos diferencia de otros dispensarios”.

(También nos atrevemos a decir que la ubicación, a solo pasos de la arena y el mar, también eleva a The Green Room por encima del resto. Porque, en serio, ¿qué mejor que un dispensario frente a la playa? Nada. No existe nada mejor en nuestro libro).

Eso, además del servicio personal que surge de su relación cercana con el Dr. Green. “Estamos en constante comunicación con el médico de nuestros pacientes, por lo que tenemos un servicio uno a uno”, dice Ovidmarie. “La enfermedad de cada paciente es diferente y existen diferentes maneras en las que pueden consumir cannabis, por lo que le damos a cada paciente un tratamiento especial”.

También les ofrecen muchas opciones, con una selección de productos más amplia que la que se puede hallar en la mayoría de los dispensarios de la isla y con un personal experto para ayudar a los pacientes a seleccionar el producto adecuado que funcionen mejor para sus necesidades. “Nuestros

LUGARES DE GRAN INTERÉS QUE HAY QUE VISITAR Lugares para surfear: Domes y Maria’s son los lugares más icónicos en una ciudad que está llena de ellos Esnórquel: Reserva Marina Tres Palmas Actividad cultural: Art Walk, los jueves Restaurantes: Isla Restaurant, Taqueria Vatos Locos Mejores pinchos: La Cambija Bars: Aloha Surf, Caddy’s Calypso Cafe Alojamiento: Villa Pier 25, Casa Isleña

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empleados a cargo de ofrecer variedades de marihuana son profesionales”, dice Ovidmarie. “Dan la bienvenida a los pacientes por su nombre, saben quién eres y qué te gusta. Saben lo que están vendiendo. Saben lo que es bueno para ti, lo que funcionará mejor para tu enfermedad, la cantidad que necesitas para tu tratamiento y cómo puede combinarse con otro tipo de producto. Nuestros profesionales son los que más conocimiento tienen en el área”.

hoteleros vacíos de personalidad o sentido de pertenencia. Pero gracias a los esfuerzos de los emprendedores locales y de actores vinculados con la comunidad como el equipo de The Green Room, Rincón está lleno de ambos.

No hay mejor lugar para ver eso en acción que el Art Walk (Paseo del Arte) semanal, el cual tiene lugar cada jueves por la noche. Lo que comenzó como un esfuerzo de la comunidad hace casi una década para brindar apoyo a los artistas locales ha evolucionado hasta convertirse en un acontecPasa algo de tiempo en Rincón (y imiento cultural que tiene lugar realmente te recomendamos que lo cada semana y que transformó la hagas) y pronto te darás cuenta de plaza central de Rincón en el cenque la unida comunidad del pueblo tro cultural y económico de este no hubiera sobrevivido tanto tiem- pueblo surfista. Una mezcla eclécpo sin establecer salvaguardas. A tica de artesanos y artistas que través del Caribe, incluso los más presentan sus espectáculos transpintorescos pueblos de playa han forma el centro del pueblo en una sido víctimas de las palas mecánigalería a cielo abierto para el arte cas para construir mega complejos y la cultura puertorriqueños.

CONEXIÓN LOCAL

El equipo de The Green Room se involucra por medio de asociaciones con otros negocios locales que se enfocan en el bienestar de la comunidad. Lo cual quiere decir que están muy involucrados, tanto asistiendo a eventos en colaboración con otros emprendedores y negocios del área. Colaboraron con el centro de bienestar Centro La Paz para ofrecer sesiones de Canna Yoga por Zoom a los pacientes durante la pandemia, celebran eventos educativos sobre cannabis para adultos mayores, brindan apoyo a artesanos locales durante el Art Walk y están planificado eventos deportivos en Rincón que se realizarán próximamente. Esta es su comunidad y aman todo de ella.

“Tenemos excelentes lugares para comer bien, ver el atardecer, buena música, buenas vibras, buena compañía”, dice Sandra. “De eso se trata Rincón”.

RIGHT: Punta Higuero Lighthouse LEFT (FROM TOP): La vida nocturna in Rincón, Sensi viene a Puerto Rico, Jack’s Shack

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P R O M O T I O N A L F E AT U R E NCRMA

Risky Business The National Cannabis Risk Management Association (NCRMA) is here for businesses looking to assess—and mitigate—risks that threaten their success in this ever-changing market.

I

n business, as in life, the biggest risk you run is not knowing what you don’t know. That’s why risk management is an integral part of any successful business’s operational plans—even more so in the emerging cannabis industry.

The reality is that running a business—let alone a cannabis business—comes with a lot of complexities, and a lot of pitfalls that could derail your business goals. That’s why

it’s imperative to not only have practices and policies in place to mitigate those risks, but also to be prepared to minimize the impacts should they become reality. But for new business owners—which by some estimates more than 60 percent of cannabis entrepreneurs are—it can be difficult to even know where to begin.

This is where the National Cannabis Risk Management Association (NCRMA) trade organization comes in. The nation’s

only dedicated cannabis risk management association, NCRMA has put together a disruptively innovative risk management platform for the cannabis industry, supplemented by an insurance platform that offers businesses committed to the risk management process access to lower-cost coverage designed for this nontraditional industry.

The platform includes robust risk assessment and consulting services through the National Cannabis Risk Prevention Services (NCRPS); the NCRM Academy, a virtual educational platform where NCRMA members can access discounted courses, webinars, and customized trainings; and exclusive access to insurance products designed for cannabis businesses through Trichome innovative Risk Protection TM Insurance. Together, these benefits offer NCRMA members tools, procedures, knowledge, and support.

“We first created NCRMA about four years ago because we recognized that emerging markets and industries like cannabis require fundamentally sound risk management in order to be successful,” says Rocco Petrilli, chairman of NCRMA. “Growth in cannabis is not guaranteed, and one of the major derailers is the weak states of risk management and insurance, which threaten the industry’s ability to reach its projected potential. But with the right solutions, these threats can be mitigated and overcome.”

This is the first of a three-part series discussing risk management in the cannabis industry with NCRMA. To read the entire series, visit sensimag.com

NCRMA Risk Management Company ncrma.net S P R I N G 2022

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Sensi’s 4/20 Playlist Tune in. Turn it up. Drop into our selection that celebrates the herb that goes handin-hand with great music.

As the voice of the Beat Generation, poet Ginsburg, once put it: “Marijuana is a useful catalyst for specific optical and aural aesthetic perceptions. I apprehended the structure of certain pieces of jazz and classical music in a new manner under the influence of marijuana, and these apprehensions have remained valid in years of normal consciousness.” With that in mind, we give you our annual 4/20 playlist, guaranteed to both up the vibe of the day and celebrate musicians who appreciate the plant.

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Snoop Dog Gin and Juice The modern poster child for cannabis as a recreational pleasure, a medicinal alternative, a symbol of counterculture, an F-you to racism, and an entrepreneurial goldmine, Snoop has never been apologetic about being himself and enjoying his smoke. His biggest song gives the finger to society unwilling to accept him and elevates partying to a social statement.

Essential Lyric: “Rollin’ down the street, smokin’ indo / Sippin’ on gin and juice, laid back”

The Beatles Got to Get You Into My Life

from Revolver is, according to Paul McCartney, a paean to the the green leaf.

Essential Lyric: “I didn’t know what I would find there / Another road where maybe I / Could see another kind of mind there”

The Fab Four is most associated with hallucinogenics—often credited with the cosmic shift of experimentation that gave us Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which changed pop music forever—but marijuana first loosened them up. By all appearances a love song, this often overlooked gem

Bob Dylan Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 Sure everybody must get stoned but don’t fall for the obvious here. Yes, Dylan was talking about the favorite herb of the counterculture but the Nobel-prize winning poet was also calling on the Biblical sense of getting stoned: his haters tossing rocks at him. There’s also

SNOOP DOGG VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS (TOP), WEST MIDLANDS POLICE VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS (BOTTOM)

TEXT DOUG SCHNITZSPAHN

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: TIM DUNCAN VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, ELI WATSON VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, DWIGHT MCCANN VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Black Sabbath Sweet Leaf Marijuana and metal together symbolize a powEssential Lyric: “They’ll stone you erful rejection of societal and then say you are brave / They’ll norms and the original stone you when you are set down in Prince of Darkness and your grave” crew made that evident in this banger that always Peter Tosh seems to boost testosLegalize It terone and call for the volume to go up to 11.

Childish Gambino Redbone The multi-talented Donald Glover, producer of TV series Atlanta and musically known as Childish Gambino, has made it Essential Lyric: “Roll me up and clear that Black people smoke me when I die / And if anyone smoke weed to deal with don’t like it, just look ‘em in the eye” the trauma and PTSD of simply being Black and Manu Chao living in this country. He Essential Lyric: “You introduced me Clandestino also admits that cannato my mind / And left me wanting Singing in English, Span- bis helps him work. His you and your kind” ish, French, and Catalan, rap clicks all the boxes Manu Chao is housewhen it comes to scaring Sublime hold name in Europe your parents and pushes Smoke Two Joints and should be far better boundaries in exploiting This is a mandatory track It would be a crime to known here in the states. the ugliness of racism in on this mix. The Bush leave this anthem off this A proponent of global love this country. And, damn, Doctor was way ahead of playlist. Sublime, who and an unabashed canna- does this slow groove of his time both in seeing recently launched their bis advocate, he has been a song sound good when the spiritual and medicown cannabis brand, in semi-retirement for the you are in the mood. inal values of marijuana unapologetically loved the past decade but his music Essential Lyric: “If you need it, you better believe in something” and in calling for an end life of punk rockers and still makes you want to to the racist power syspartying. While that left get up and move. tem that made it illegal. lead singer Bradley Nowell Essential Lyric: “Mexicano, clandes- Kacey Musgraves tino / Marihuana, ilegal” Essential Lyric: “Doctors smoke it / Slow Burn tragically dead from an Nurses smoke it / Judges smoke it / overdose in 1996, the Country singer and Even lawyer, too” Rihanna songwriter Musgraves music that he left behind proved she’s not afraid continues to inspire a will- Same Ol’ Mistakes ingness to reject norms The pop sensation is to shock anyone when and seek individualism in front-and-center when she performed naked a world where it’s nearly it comes to her love of under a jacket on a recent impossible to escape con- cannabis—just scroll her episode of Saturday Night sumerism and sameness.

Instagram feed. And her Live. She has also been Essential Lyric: “’I work good and support of the plant goes forward about singing I work fine, / But first take care a long way in breakthe praises of cannabis of head’” ing stereotypes about to audiences that might weed. This is not stoner not be as open to it. Like Willie Nelson music—it’s get up, move most complex tunes, Roll Me Up and Smoke Me your booty, and feel good this song plays with the When I Die music. This cover of a sensual and destructive The frontman of the Tame Impala tune unites double entendres of a cannabis movement for hipsters and hip shakers. slow burn. decades, Willie actually Essential Lyric: “Not thinking in Essential Lyric: “I’m alright with a released this tune on April black and white / Thinking it’s worth slow burn / Takin’ my time, let the the fight” world turn” 20, 2012 (the year when biting criticism about the civil rights struggles of the day and the Vietnam War in this song.

Colorado became the first state to legalize recreational cannabis), to make his un-subtle point about where he stands. For extra emphasis, Snoop Dogg provides backup vocals.

LISTEN UP Be sure to check out an expanded version of this playlist on the Sensi Spotify channel.

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THE END

How to Get Carded in Puerto Rico Everything you need to know before you go.

First things first: plan ahead. Puerto Rico runs on island time (it’s casual), and you don’t have a minute to waste.

Is cannabis legal in Puerto Rico? Recreational use: no. Medical use: yes. The commonwealth legalized medical marijuana in 2015.

Do I need a medical marijuana card? Yes, but it doesn’t have to be from Puerto Rico—a med card from any state will do.

What if I don’t have a med card? You can apply for one, even if you’re just visiting the island.

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Tourists with qualifying medical conditions can receive a temporary license valid for 30 days.

You’ll need a medical recommendation from a certified physician, and thanks to the wonders of telemedicine, you can get that all squared away before you step foot on the island. The doc will ask you some questions about your condition and if you have any evidence or documentation, that’ll help speed things along.

What kind of evidence? A prescription bottle, a printout of your

prescription history, an x-ray, lab results—anything that proves you’re suffering from one of the conditions on Puerto Rico’s long list of qualifications.

Where do I buy it?

Registered patients with a valid medical marijuana card can purchase from state-approved dispensaries. You can get up to a 30-day supply of concentrates, vapes, edibles, tinctures, topicals, and every other form of cannabis except good ole fashioned flower. Dispensaries are prohibited from

selling combustible flower to tourists without an explicit recommendation from a medical doctor.

How do I get a recommendation? If you’re in Rincón, ask The Green Room (see page 34) to connect you with Dr. Green—he’s one of the island’s top MMJ docs. But note that it will still take about 24 hours for the approval to go through once you have a doctor’s approval.

Which brings us back to the first point: Plan ahead. Bring cash.

And tip well.

PHOTO BY JDOMS VIA ADOBE STOCK

TEXT STEPHANIE WILSON

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