Grass: A North Seattle Recreational Marijuana Store

December 8, 2014 By Manic Conrad

Michael Perkins has done it again, as he has many times before: open a place where one can purchase marijuana. He started in California where he opened a handful of medical marijuana dispensaries before moving to Washington State in 2012 to rinse and repeat. Now, this lucky dog-winner of 3 recreational marijuana licenses – currently owns two recreational marijuana stores in North Seattle, including Grass.

Grass is conveniently located close to I-5 so you don’t have to travel too far once exiting the freeway. It resides off of 15th Ave NE, in the midst of strip malls near the Jackson Park golf course. You can’t miss it as large banners in the front and in the back let’s passersby know that this is a marijuana store for ages 21+.

Apache 6 security team is contracted by the shop to greet visitors and check identification to make sure everyone is of age. Once inside, you are welcomed by a staff eager and anxious to assist you with your purchase.

We enjoy walking into recreational marijuana stores for the first time. Each one of them has their own unique personalities and touches. Ganja Goddess, located in the Industrial District, has an old world flavor; Uncle Ike’s Pot Shop, located in between the Central District and Capitol Hill Neighborhoods, has a vintage ‘Reefer Madness’ propaganda-like poster theme going on; Cannabis City, another Industrial District marijuana store has wood floor panels at ‘420’ degrees; and Ocean Greens has a vintage behemoth of a wooden bar as its’ centerpiece. To continue the trend, Grass has a modern touch, accented by wooden floors and walls painted with colors to keep you feeling warm. A large vase stands in the corner with a stick plant decor. A subtle nice touch.

Grass organizes the glass product display cases by quality and price of bud. If you would like to pay a lower price and don’t mind a lower quality of cannabis, there is a section of the store for you. If you want nothing but premium grade marijuana and are willing to pay for it, there is also a section for you. And if you want a price and quality in between those examples, they got that too.

The Operations Manager was very helpful and gave us an in depth analysis of their entire line of products. What stood out to us is that Grass is very selective of what they carry and takes pride in their premium choices. While packaging and branding is not everything, it can at least give a sense of what a company is trying to achieve and the effort they put forth. In short, Grass has an unique and spectacular selection of brand conscious products.

Grass is Michael Perkins first recreational marijuana shop. He just opened Mary’s, located off of Aurora Avenue. Perkins should be adding a 3rd legal retail shop in Snohomish County sometime this month. But don’t expect him to stop there. Perkins hopes to expand his brand of legal retail shops into other states that legalize the plant.

For more information about Grass including location and contact info, check out www.grasswa.com

Guest Post: Cash Only Businesses Create Unwarranted Risk

November 28, 2014 By Nacho

It’s been an concerning couple of weeks for the cannabis industry from a security point of view here in Washington State state and it’s only going to get worse as we roll into the holidays.

The recent stories in the news about people getting hogtied or pistol whipped to get cash and weed out of them is alarming. These criminal elements are only attracting more crimes and potentially creating copy cats. So how do we fix it? The holidays are here, crimes of opportunity will present themselves with the holiday shopping season. So how do we combat that here in Washington state? And how can we prevent this from happening to other up and coming states with medical and recreational shops to open?

In my opinion, we have to educate the public and change public perception on marijuana and a cash only businesses. The public must know and understand that marijuana is not that hard to get your hands on. Criminals and the black market are selling it everyday. On the black market, it’s cheaper because there is no quality control and there is no tax on it. Anyone with a internet connection can research how to grow and care for a marijuana plant. So the real problem isn’t the plant or the marijuana itself. It’s the cash that surrounds and attracts all these criminal minds. It’s the fact that the government isn’t allowing a reputable tax paying business to keep and store their transactions in a bank.

The longer the government and banks hold out on doing business with marijuana companies, the longer the crimes will continue to occur. Criminals think business owners and their families are taking these huge duffle bags of cash home every night. That’s just stupid. Money and product goes into a huge vault that will take you a godly amount of time to TRY to get thru. By then you have tripped a silent alarm, a secondary regular ADT type of alarms, cops are on their way and your actions have been caught on cameras. Dumb criminals think that by cutting the power, they won’t get caught. They never considered a back up system that keeps recording and sends the data to the cloud.

There has to be a better way to prevent future cannabis crimes where the potential owners of pot shops are covered and do not have to constantly worry about thief’s trying to break into their facility. The recreational 502 and medical owners that are working in this industry must understand the risks and be willing to take certain security measures if they are to survive such brutal tactics.

Warning: Avoid These 3 Areas if You Are Carrying Marijuana in Washington State

November 26, 2014 By Manic Conrad

Although cannabis in Washington State is legal for adults, these areas could cause a problem

Did you know, even though you may live in the great state of Washington where marijuana is legal for adults, you can still get in big trouble if you are possessing cannabis? In fact, according to this site, almost 42% of the state is off limits. Why? Because it’s owned by the Federal Government which means federal jurisdiction applies. That’s right, almost half of Washington State.

Here is a short list of places you may want to avoid if you are carrying marijuana.

1. National Park or National Forest

Much of the land owned by the federal government are National Parks or National forests, and are under federal jurisdiction. Rachel Kurtz, cannabis attorney & consultant, mentioned to us that she ‘knows of folks being prosecuted by the feds for small amounts in national parks in Washington.’ We looked this up and found out that more than 27,000 have been cited for bringing marijuana into the State’s National Parks since 2009! That’s almost half of Olympia!

2. U.S. Military Base

A military base such as Joint Base Lewis-McChord, is one place you don’t want to be carrying around any amounts of cannabis. If for any reason you need to visit the base, a friend in the military, or attend a private party at the Officer’s club, you may want to check your pockets before hand just in case your stash falls out while trying to grab your Identification. A U.S. Military base is federal property and federal prohibitions are in effect.

3. Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park

Yes, that neat little museum on 2nd Avenue in downtown Seattle, is technically off limits. It doesn’t look like a National Park but it is. Of course you could walk around with pot in your pockets and most likely wouldn’t need to think twice about it. We just don’t encourage you to reach in your pocket, take out your stash, and show the security guard what you just bought at the local weed shop.

Do you know of any other places in Seattle or Washington State where federal jurisdiction applies?

How Long Before Washington State legalizes Marijuana Delivery Services? Or Banishes Them?

July 17, 2014 By Manic Conrad

UPDATE: Marijuana delivery services are no longer allowed. Winterlife Coop has converted to a recreational producer known as Winterlife Cannabis and supplies marijuana stores in Seattle with vegan cannabis-infused cookies.

With Winterlife Cooperative, the largest Seattle marijuana delivery service back in the news; and a state recreational marijuana rollout which has stumbled out of the blocks, is it now just a matter of time before the State and the Washington State Liquor Control Board decide on the fate of the local pot Delivery Services?

Now that the recreational retail marijuana has begun in Washington State, stores have run out of weed while delivery services continue to deliver, well stocked. Also, if you take a closer look at recent numbers that were recently published by KomoNews.com, could Winterlife be raking in up to $50,000 a day? If this is the case, or if the figure is remotely close, then the State may want to look into legalization for marijuana delivery. After all, that would be around 10 grand in taxes per day from one delivery service – if the figure are accurate.

But, maybe the State doesn’t want to take a look at legalizing this market. After all, this is black or grey area – depends on who you talk to – and if they allow cannabis delivery to be legalized would the State come across as a pushover?

How long do you think before Washington State allows marijuana delivery services? Or do you think the state will banish them all together and make examples out of them

Seattle Runs Out of ‘Legal’ Pot but ‘Unlicensed’ Delivery Services Are Well Stocked

July 11, 2014 By Manic Conrad

UPDATE: Marijuana delivery services are no longer allowed but look here for Seattle pot stores.

According to the Associated Press, Cannabis City will close its’ doors for 10-15 days, after their small supply of marijuana has run out. Here’s the irony: while the city has run out of ‘legal’ weed, unlicensed delivery services working in the grey-area remain well stocked with cannabis.

Maybe regulating and licensing delivery services should be looked at ASAP as it appears they could help immensely with the Seattle and Washington State rollout effort.

What do you think? Do you think delivery services should be allowed under I-502? Please comment below or on Twitter…