One perk of the pandemic — you can now get marijuana products brought right to your door
One of the few blessings to emerge during our year of COVID restrictions — with bars and restaurants shuttered for long stretches and opportunities to socialize limited — was the proliferation of services that deliver cannabis. Right. To. Your. Door. (Or to your secret Man Cave or She Shed if you’re still worried about what the neighbors think.) Whether you’re canna-curious or ready to get California Sober, we’re here to guide you through your first cannabis delivery.
No, It’s Not Just Like Pizza
First of all, you’re going to need to plan ahead because, depending on your location, it will likely take two to three hours for your cannabis delivery to arrive. You’ll also have to pay in cash, order to a residential address (versus a commercial location like a hotel or an office), and be present upon arrival. And if you’re ordering medical, the address must match either what’s on your medical card or your ID.
“If there are any special instructions — whether you want loyalty points off on your order, a veteran’s discount, or to knock hard since your doorbell is broken — we ask customers to make note of it in the ‘special instructions’ portion of the checkout cart,” says Dajuan Holbrook, vice president of retail operations at New Standard Cannabis in Hazel Park. The “special instructions” box is also where customers should notify New Standard if they’re experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms.
Most retailers offering cannabis delivery provide pretty detailed information on their website, so be sure to check.
For anyone who has visited a retailer’s website or dispensary — or, as they’re often called here in our state, a provisioning center — the menu can seem daunting. There are different categories, and endless products within those categories, to choose from. Here’s a quick breakdown.
Recreational vs. Medical
Retailers offering both recreational (also called “adult-use”) products and medicinal products will have separate menus to shop from. The difference between the two is that only medical patients have access to the medical menu, which sometimes offers a slightly different product range. Medical cannabis patients also have access to a tax break.
Flower
Back in the day, you probably called it pot, bud, weed, grass, ganja, or reefer. Today, it’s called flower and it simply refers to the smokable part of the plant. “Flower is our most popular category, with edibles not far behind,” Holbrook says.
Topicals
Gone are the days of having to rely solely on over-the-counter lotions for pain relief. Topicals are cannabis-infused products that you apply directly onto your skin to alleviate pain and inflammation. They come in a wide range of forms such as creams, salves, balms, and transdermal patches.
Concentrates
Cannabis concentrates, as you might guess, have higher levels of THC and include forms such as crumble, hash, live resin, rosin, and shatter. Concentrates are typically consumed by vaporizing or dabbing.
Edibles
Also known as ingestibles, edibles basically include any kind of cannabis-infused product that you put in your mouth. Think brownies, capsules, gummies, tea, mints, and tinctures. Rebecca Sloss, sales manager at Michigan-based Peregrine Manufacturing, maker of TreeTown products, explains why tinctures are her favorite: “You get the greatest dosage control. And tinctures are the most versatile product. You can drop them under your tongue, add them to a food or beverage, or use as a topical.” For a complete rundown of all TreeTown’s products, visit treetowncannabis.com.