Green Zone Quarterly Summer 2018

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2 GREEN ZONE QUARTERLY SPRING 2018

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SUMMER 2018 COVER ARTIST Tara Archer ART DIRECTOR Derek Harrison

F

our years. That’s how long Washington’s legal cannabis marketplace has been open for business.

In a way, 2014 feels like a lifetime ago. So much has changed: A different dude is in the White House, the gay marriage debate has been settled and the Chicago Cubs have won a World Series. Still, some things die hard. Like the feeling a drug mule gets at the sight of a cop’s flashing lights. “I will never shake that vibe,” one of Washington’s legal weed transporters tells us (page 12).

Or how a weed marketer still has to address misconceptions around the industry, telling us (page 14): “It’s just a normal job, it’s just a different product that’s a lot of fun to sell.” Or how superhero movies are a little super-er when you’ve got a buzz going (page 6). Yes, thankfully, some things don’t change. n

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BE AWARE: Marijuana is legal for adults 21 and older under Washington State law (e.g., RCW 69.50, RCW 69.51A, HB0001 Initiative 502 and Senate Bill 5052). State law does not preempt federal law; possessing, using, distributing and selling marijuana remains illegal under federal law. In Washington state, consuming marijuana in public, driving while under the influence of marijuana and transporting marijuana across state lines are all illegal. Marijuana has intoxicating effects; there may be health risks associated with its consumption, and it may be habit-forming. It can also impair concentration, coordination and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. Keep out of reach of children. For more information, consult the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board at www.liq.wa.gov.

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Warning: This product has intoxicating affects and may be habit forming. Smoking is hazardous to your health. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. Should not be used by women that are pregnant or breast feeding. For USE only by adults 21 and older. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination and judgement. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug.

SUMMER 2018 GREEN ZONE QUARTERLY

3

EDIBLES

Yummy Gummies

This sweet edible gummy recipe will give you something to chew on BY SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL

L

ike the best gas station treats that tempt even the most mature adults on a good road trip, gummies cater to that need to chew on something sweet while basking in the sunshine. With a little infused oil thrown in the mix, these gummies add a major boost to the sugar high of yesteryear.

If you want a play-by-play (including how to make your own infused oil), follow along with the recipe we learned from by RuffHouse Studios: search “How to Make Cannabis Gummies (With Infused Coconut Oil) Cannabasics #86” on YouTube.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

1/4 cup weed-infused coconut oil 1/2 cup water 1 oz unflavored gelatin 6-oz package Jell-O (pick your favorite flavor!)

A silicone mold

To make these treats into those fun shapes that make your mouth water just by looking at them, it’ll take a silicone mold or molds. Gummy bear molds can be found easily online for fairly cheap from most major retailers. Or, you can keep an eye on the clearance racks around town for a good deal, like this hand symbol-shaped tray, which was a steal for less than $4 at Urban Outfitters this summer.

DIRECTIONS

Bring the oil and water to a low boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.

Add plain gelatin one or two packets at a time, stirring until it’s mostly incorporated.

Add the Jell-O mix and stir for about five minutes until fully combined and the mix starts to come to a rolling boil.

4 GREEN ZONE QUARTERLY SUMMER 2018

YOUNG KWAK PHOTOS

From here, move quickly as the mix starts to set up fairly fast. Spray your silicone mold(s) with cooking spray and use a glass with a pour spout or a dropper to put the mix into each well.

Cool in the fridge for at least an hour, then pop the candies out of the mold and store them in an airtight container in the fridge before eating.

REMEMBER...

With any edible, less is more until you know its power, and unlike those gas station gummy bears, ya can’t eat a whole bag of these. It’s tempting, but do yourself a favor and don’t. Seriously.

And a cautionary tale from a friend: If you eat a gummy before bed, you might wake up super high the next morning and have to call in sick, so be mindful of your timing as well.

Otherwise, enjoy! n

It feels like

... ..

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THIS PRODUCT HAS INTOXICATING EFFECTS AND MAY BE HABIT FORMING. MARIJUANA CAN IMPAIR CONCENTRATION, COORDINATION, AND JUDGMENT. DO NOT OPERATE A VEHICLE OR MACHINERY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THIS DRUG. THERE MAY BE HEALTH RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH CONSUMPTION OF THIS PRODUCT. FOR USE ONLY BY ADULTS TWENTY�ONE AND OLDER. KEEP OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN. SUMMER 2018 GREEN ZONE QUARTERLY

5

CULTURE

Marvel gets full-on weird in Doctor Strange.

Superhero Highs Campy comic book movies that are way better when you’re stoned

S

uperhero movies are all the rage right now. Between DC and Marvel, blockbusters about spandexclad crime fighters are filling theaters and raking in billions of dollars every year. But how many of them are stoner friendly?

You want something light, goofy, maybe even straight-up dumb, so here are a handful of superhero movies that are best enjoyed with a joint or two.

Some of these are good, some are bad and others so bad they’re good. Let’s put the “green” in Green Lantern.

BATMAN: THE MOVIE

(1966) The 1960s Batman TV series starring Adam West has long been a stoner staple, with its pop-art color schemes

BY NATHAN WEINBENDER and wild comic-strip aesthetic, complete with “POW!” and “BAM!” text bubbles that fill the screen during fight scenes.

This feature-length spin-off is more of the same but on a bigger budget, with all the series’ iconic villains — including Burgess Meredith’s Penguin and Cesar Romero’s Joker — teaming up to take down the Caped Crusader. Holy bong rip, Batman!

DOCTOR STRANGE

(2016) Marvel isn’t known for its forays into experimentation, but Doctor Strange is probably the closest the studio has come to dabbling in full-on weirdness. It begins as a pretty straightforward origin story, but then its titular character has a transcendental, dimension-hopping head trip, and the movie dives headlong into Mac

6 GREEN ZONE QUARTERLY SUMMER 2018

screensaver territory. There are also those far-out sequences of entire cityscapes infinitely folding in on themselves; it’s like Inception atop Inception. Whoa.

THE FANTASTIC FOUR

(1993) Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s cosmically endowed quartet have had three dumb, high-profile movies made about them, but have you heard of this obscure, lowbudget adaptation produced by schlock master Roger Corman? The film was never officially released (some claim it was never intended to be seen) and only exists in bootleg form, but that sort of adds to its endearing cheapness. It’s so plastic that it almost exists in the uncanny valley. Bonus: You can watch it for free on YouTube.

FLASH GORDON

(1980) If a 1950s comic book were made flesh, it would probably look an awful lot like this campy fantasia, which is indebted to the same old-school sci-fi serials that inspired Star Wars.

It’s flimsy and insubstantial, but that’s sort of the point. The primary-colored visuals would really come alive under some impairment, and the killer Queen soundtrack would sound even more epic.

MYSTERY MEN

(1999) Probably best known for being the vehicle for the Smash Mouth song “All Star,” this off-kilter superhero comedy plays now like the first entry in a franchise that never materialized. It fizzled at the box office but has since developed a cult following, boasting an awesome cast that includes Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Janeane Garofalo, Paul Reubens and Geoffrey Rush. Its scatological and slapstick gags are recommended for the very young or the very high.

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THE WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN

(1966) This movie is bad. Really, really, really, really bad. The titular superheroine’s sidekicks are go-go girls, there’s a Mexican wrestler, a hearing aid that’s also an atomic bomb and pills that cause you to dance uncontrollably. It’s totally nuts and totally horrible, but unlike anything you’ve seen before, and we recommend you see it via the episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 that makes fun of it.

Honorable Mentions: Deadpool, Inframan, Judge Dredd, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, Supergirl, Thor: Ragnarok, The Toxic Avenger. n

Warning: This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming. Smoking is hazardous to your health. There may be health risks associated with the consumption of this product. This product should not be used by women that are breastfeeding or pregnant. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the unfluence of this drug. For use only by adults twenty-one and older. Keep out of the reach of children.

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hroughout my junior year of college in Bellingham, Washington, I worked at a soap supply store.

Through the business, we sold everything you’d ever need to make your own bath and body products: cold-process soap, lotion, bath bombs, you name it. Most of our customers were resellers, meaning they’d buy our products to make their own and sell.

One trend I noticed was customers who made hemp or cannabis-infused products. Who could blame them? In recent years, we’ve heard more and more about the painrelieving effects that cannabis, specifically cannabidiol (CBD), can have on the body.

The products these resellers are making are not cheap.

We’re talking $50 a pop for a 2-ounce bottle of lotion with CBD content. I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to drop that much money on something that’ll be gone in a month.

For that reason, I came up with a copycat recipe that will have similar pain-relieving effects that costs less to create and will give you significantly more product in the end. For this recipe, it’s very important to use a strain that has high CBD content with low THC content. (THC is what gets you high, which we do not want for this particular recipe.)

The ingredients used in this body butter are all plant derived. It’s a great cream to slap on after a day at the beach when your skin is begging for moisture, or if you just want to treat yourself to something luxurious.

If you don’t want to use weed in your recipe, simply leave out the infusing step and use plain hemp seed oil.

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Crockpot Handmixer Scale Mason jar Strainer or cheesecloth

INGREDIENTS

14 oz avocado butter 6 oz hemp seed oil 3-5 grams of high CBD-strain cannabis 5 teaspoons arrowroot powder 0.1 oz essential oil (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Prep the oil Measure 5 oz of hemp oil into Mason jar. Grind or chop cannabis and add to jar.

Fill a Crockpot with 3-4 inches of water, set on a medium heat. Place the sealed jar into the Crockpot and allow to sit for at least 24 hours. The longer, the better.

Place a cheesecloth or strainer over a bowl and strain the infused oil. Set oil aside.

Create the butter: Place 14 oz of avocado butter into a large bowl and whip with a hand mixer for about 30 seconds.

Add infused oil and essential oil to the mixture and whip until light and fluffy.

Finally, fold in arrowroot powder, making sure to scrape down the sides to fully incorporate.

Pour into desired containers and enjoy! n

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WARNING: This product has intoxicating affects and may be habit forming. Smoking is hazardous to your health. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. Should not be used by women that are pregnant or breast feeding. For USE only by adults 21 and older. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination and judgement. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug.

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9

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10 GREEN ZONE QUARTERLY SUMMER 2018

Y

ou can get high, obviously, from marijuana. But even though it’s also bred from the cannabis plant, you generally can’t get high from hemp, marijuana’s nonintoxicating cousin, as anyone who has tried knows.

And yet, ever since marijuana was legalized in Washington state, hemp farmers — what few there are — have been subjected to a bitter irony: In most ways, growing hemp in Washington is far more restricted than growing marijuana.

“Compared to the marijuana industry, we have a long way to go,” says Bonny Jo Peterson, founder of the Industrial Hemp Association of Washington.

But thanks to language in the U.S. Senate’s new Farm Bill, that may be about to change.

Currently, Washington state farmers are only allowed to grow hemp for licensed “research” purposes — and only since that was legalized as part of the federal Farm Act in 2014. And currently, only two businesses in Washington are licensed with the state’s Industrial Hemp Research Pilot.

One problem: It’s illegal right now to process cannabidiol — CBD, the trendy hemp extract — in Washington state at all, Peterson says.

“Without the processing, people are afraid to grow it,” Peterson says.

And getting seeds from across state lines is illegal too, she says, forcing farmers to import seeds from Canada.

In the U.S. House, amendments protecting legal marijuana and hemp have been blocked repeatedly by Rep. Pete Sessions, a Republican from Texas. (No relation to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, other than sharing a contempt for cannabis.)

But in the Senate? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell comes from Kentucky, where hemp has deep roots in the state’s agricultural history.

“Consumers across America buy hundreds of millions in retail products every year that contain hemp,” McConnell said in a June floor speech before Congress. “But due to outdated federal regulations that do not sufficiently distinguish this industrial crop from its illicit cousin, American farmers have been mostly unable to meet that demand themselves.”

McConnell successfully embedded language in the 2018

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Hemp has support from some surprising leaders, including state Rep. Matt Shea.

SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL PHOTO

Farm Bill that not would not only federally legalized hemp — it would make it eligible for crop insurance.

Peterson says she’s 95 percent confident that the hemp provisions, passed out of the Senate overwhelmingly in June, will become law. There would still be a few caveats, she says: Hemp would need to be tested for THC levels — the ingredient in cannabis that gets you high — and farmers would still have to submit the GPS coordinates of hemp crops to the government.

But no longer would farmers need to be part of a convoluted “research program” or face restrictions on CBD processing or seed acquisition.

“We would have to put together a plan for the federal government and then go through and change our [state regulations],” Peterson says. “And it would still take about 90 days.”

But once that happens, it could be vital for groups like the Colville Tribe, which had to leap through elaborate hoops when growing its hemp crop last year. The Colville Tribe has to abide by federal regulations like everyone else.

Peterson says Spokane Valley Rep. Matt Shea, head of the state’s hemp workgroup, has been a crucial advocate pushing for legislation at the state level. Last year, the Legislature unanimously passed a Shea-sponsored bill that removed the crop from the Washington Uniform Controlled Substances Act. In a 2017 video, Shea argued that there was a major pent-up demand for hemp production.

“I’m just super excited and I know there’s a lot of farmers in rural Washington that are very excited to be able to diversify their crops as well,” he said.

Eventually, Peterson says, hemp could be used for all sorts of products — even building materials.

“What we are working for is for hemp to be treated like an agricultural crop,” says Peterson. “Just like wheat. Just like corn.

Just like soybeans.” n

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NEWS

Legal Mules What it’s like in one of the newest parts of the legal cannabis industry: weed transportation

BY WILSON CRISCIONE

W

hen Jordan Welter was pulled over by a state trooper on the Fourth of July last year, Welter immediately thought of what was in the back of his van: hundreds of pounds of weed.

“Where are you headed?” the officer asks when Welter rolls down the window.

Welter tells the truth: He’s on his way to Pullman from Clarkston.

So why, the trooper asks, is he taking the long way that avoids crossing the Idaho border?

“Because the back is full of weed,” Welter admits.

Welter explains that he’s licensed to do so. The officer just laughs, shakes his head and remarks that, back in the day, he would have gotten a promotion for catching someone with that much weed.

Those days are gone. Now, Washington’s legal marijuana industry has created a demand for cannabis transporters like Welter, manager of Go Green Enterprises.

Go Green, based in Spokane, was the first company in Washington to get a marijuana transportation license in 2016. They move large quantities of cannabis from farms to stores or laboratories, often driving across the state.

“We’re drug mules,” Welter says. “We take it from place to place.”

And with that comes awkward encounters with law enforcement and plenty of safety risks.

K

evin Lynch, the owner of Go Green Enterprises, named his van “Greta.”

The seed money for the company came from selling a truck. He asked

Jordan Welter of Go Green Enterprises. WILSON CRISCIONE PHOTO Welter, who was managing the tech department of an Office Depot at the time, to join him. For a while, they were the only two drivers for Go Green.

Now, the company has a handful of vans driving all around the state.

They haven’t run into any problems with law enforcement, but Lynch says it still feels weird carrying that much weed when a cop comes around.

“I will never shake that vibe,” Lynch says. “I’ll probably shake it when it’s federally legal.”

Though they rarely carry this much, you can fit millions of dollars worth of cannabis product in one of Go Green’s vans.

But the vans themselves are pretty nondescript. That’s on purpose, Welter says.

Drivers can’t carry guns. They protect themselves from potential robbers largely by going unnoticed. They all have a cover story — which Welter won’t share — in case someone asks what’s in the van. If product needs to be transferred from van to van, they try to meet in vacant lots where nobody will see them.

It doesn’t always work. Some people can still figure it out. Welter has never had to physically defend himself. But he’s come close once or twice.

In downtown Seattle, for example, a guy approached him while Welter was in a parking lot having a cigarette. He asked

12 GREEN ZONE QUARTERLY SUMMER 2018

Welter how much weed he had in the van and whether he carried a gun. When Welter tried to get him to move along, things got heated.

“He looked me dead in the eye and goes, ‘Well, what would you do if I robbed you?’” Welter says.

Luckily, another driver who Welter was meeting came, and the situation fizzled.

The incident was just another example of how risky the job can be if something goes wrong.

Still, the biggest challenges, Lynch and Welter agree, aren’t necessarily the safety risks but the constant driving and paperwork. Welter drives six days a week, managing the company from the car.

As much as the company focuses on transportation, Welter says, they also focus on customer service. Because even though there are some inherent dangers, the drivers are constantly meeting people — farmers, retail store employees — and trying to set themselves apart from the other weed transporters in the state. They can connect farmers looking to get rid of product with processors, for example.

They’re drug mules, sure, but they also act as information brokers, Welter says.

“Infusing real business into something like drug muling,” he says, “allows us to do a lot of stuff that was never done on that level before.” n

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PEEPS

Keegan McClubng: “Honestly there’s probably too many things to list about what I love in my job.” QUINN WELSCH PHOTO

Trailblazer

W

Cinder’s marijuana marketeer talks shop with GZQ BY QUINN WELSCH

eed dealers used to be easy to spot. But today, they are underwhelmingly normal, taking up jobs in local dispensaries, living normal lives working in a thriving and legal industry. (Way to become another cog in the machine, man.)

But this apparent normalcy of the weed industry is still disregarded in advertising media, even five years after Washington voters approved recreational marijuana, says Keegan McClung, a marketing manager for Cinder, which is among the largest marijuana retailers in Eastern Washington.

“One thing that I didn’t like about cannabis was I didn’t feel like the advertising represented who I was as a person. I’m not a hippie,” says McClung. “I thought I could come in and market towards the ‘normal’ person.”

McClung tells stories about the business and products (mostly through multimedia) to the more modest stoner.

After graduating from Eastern Washington University in 2012 with a major in film, McClung worked at KHQ as an editor and photojournalist and then later as a producer for the 12 Tribes Colville Casinos and a marketing agency before working at Cinder.

Though not many marijuana busi-

nesses employ marketing managers, McClung expects that to change as the industry becomes more profitable and, ultimately, legal. (Data on marijuana ad sales is limited, likely due to its status as a federally prohibited drug. But where it is legal, the industry raked in $9 billion in sales in 2017, and growing).

He spoke with the GZQ about what his job is like in the industry. The responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

GZQ: So, who is your target audience as a marijuana marketer?

McCLUNG: My target market is just anyone who is looking — I don’t know how to say it — for something new. There is so much happening, if someone had tried it when I-502 just happened, they’re going to have a much different experience. I’m trying to show that it’s just your normal typical person who does this stuff.

social media more and more. It’s coming up with video ideas. Shooting the video and editing video. The content creation is going to be the biggest thing I do all day.

Video is sort of the thing that sets [Cinder] apart. Not a lot of other dispensaries are really creating much video content and that’s what people are really looking for.

A lot of people are focused on the product, but not a lot of people are focused on letting people know about the product.

Are there any misconceptions about your job?

It’s a totally normal business. Everything that everyone does, that’s what I’m doing. It’s like I have a lot of work to do [laughs].

It’s just a normal job, it’s just a different product that’s a lot of fun to sell.

What is your favorite part about going to work?

Honestly there’s probably too many things to list about what I love in my

“It’s just a normal job, it’s just a different product that’s a lot of fun to sell.”

What does a day in the life look like?

My biggest job is trying to keep Cinder in people’s mouths: Trying to manage the social media presence — it’s hitting

14 GREEN ZONE QUARTERLY SUMMER 2018

job, but the amount of freedom that I’ve been given is easily my favorite thing. …

There’s no roadmap to look at to make a successful cannabis brand since this is a brand new industry, so everyday I get to blaze my own path with the only limit being how creative I can be. n

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