Medical marijuana restaurant opens in Denver

A medical marijuana dispensary in Denver is taking a fun new approach to distributing pot — it's marketing itself as a restaurant. Called Ganja Gourmet, it has a full menu of international dishes — lasagna, pizza, paella, jambalaya — made with medical marijuana. The waiters are all dressed in tie-dye and they offer free rides home to people who are too high to drive after their meals.

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thecheat

Personally I think this is a bunch of crap. As has been said above, the legitimacy of medicinal marijuana is compromised by making it a big joke.

When I think medicinal marijuana, the first thing that comes to mind is people suffering in horrible pain caused by debilitating diseases, not people smoking big water pipes and eating pot pizza.

Since prescription pain killers are recreational now, the time is good for promoting MM as a serious alternative without all the side-effects and addictive properties of heavy prescription drugs.
http://myspace.com/dazedanddrunk Stubbinz

Ha, I also don’t agree with the hippie attire, but if you do look at it in terms of merchants, medical marijuana is a business, and what comes with any business, is trying to market it out differently. Certainly an experiment, but a notch on the “Marijuana culture” belt anyways, its getting more and more in the open and Marijuana facts are getting out to the public. People are slowly becoming less prejudice against the “stoner” crowd.

On a side note, i heard about this opening day, my bestfriend works at Magic’s Emporium up in Loveland. Either way, medical cannibis, or just cannibis for that matter, is seriously something that needs to be looked into further as most of the accusations made against it were proven false. Some were right, but it’s not as bad as everyone thinks. I also know that legalizing cannibis will not pull us out of a economic crisis, however, it will put a lot more money into circulation rather than buying off the street as people will do anyways, legal or not.
Rocky Rococo

These posts are basically juvenile and/or judgmental. This is how things should be: when my wife and I first moved to Ashland, Oregon in July, 1974, we were smoking a joint out in the open in Lithia Park. The local constabulary approached us and asked if we would please move to a less conspicuous area. Other than this type of authority and public acceptance, all the other arguments pro and con are horseshit. People need to be allowed to do what they want to do as long as it does not impact negatively anyone else. And, yes, I pay my taxes and my health insurance premiums so don’t give meany crap about selfish irresponsibility.
mattofdoom

Sure, you can easily over-consume cannabis if you eat it, because of the delayed effect. Part of the benefit of getting your hash-lased food from an establishment like this, I hope, would be that they’d keep a tab on how much their patrons had ingested.

As an aside, I’m currently in fairly infamous Lao town where quite a few of the eateries will happily serve you a pizza or milkshake made with cannabis, magic mushrooms or opium. There is no control on intake beyond self-control and the after-effects (especially when combined with the ubiquitous free whiskey) can be rather messy.
Jenonymous

Buncha things:

–Certain medical conditions can make one have a very adverse reaction to pot, especially certain neurological conditions. In those cases you damn well sure can OD.

–I don’t use, but I am all for legalizing the stuff. Having said that, it does NOT do the movement any good to constantly put forth a public image of some kind of roving Grateful Dead tailgate party. Cut the crap with the cutesy acts and make medical marijuana clinics look like every other damn healthcare office in the US–a few chairs, check-in center, magazines, and Muzak. If Grandma didn’t feel out of place going to get some alternative relief for her hip operation pain, maybe she’d actually start asking some more questions about her alternatives to the standard painkillers/etc. You’d then get a positive spiral effect–more and more “normal, face of voting America” people using in the public eye, which would then make legalization laws easier to pass.

–IMHO, I put a lot of the current public face of the medical marijuana movement in the same box as radical anti-abortion folks, PETA, gun nuts, and Time’s Up–single-issue political creatures who are incredibly shortsighted. Also, to quote the amazing Evan Dorkin: Do you support any other political movements, or only those with mind-altering effects?
Zadaz

Boy that will sure get people to take it seriously as “medicine”.

I don’t consume pot in any way, but I’m not against it and think it should be legal for medical and recreational use. However stupid stunts like this are a disservice to the Legalize It movements. Who can possibly take it seriously when they present it like this?

Guess it makes sense when you’re high.
dragonet2

This scares the everloving sh!t out of me. I hope if they do this they advertise the hell out of it and make really certain they label what food contains pot.

I’m kind of sad about it, it was the only illegal substance I actually liked. But I’m so allergic to pot that I feel itchy and wheezy for hours after being around second hand smoke. I do not want to think about the incident caused by smoking or ingesting it.

Eating it could likely cause anapylaptic shock.

8-(
Architexas

I’m all for medical marijuana use (I used it medically as a teenager – and illegally, at that – to overcome chemotherapy induced nausea so I could eat), but yeah, I think the concept undermines the legitimacy of the movement. Treating it as recreation instead of a viable medical option for those in chronic pain, or who can’t otherwise choke down a meal because that so-called anti-nausea medicine doesn’t work worth crap is definitely going to defeat any tiny inroads made within the three-martini-lunch neoconservative crowd.

I also have to wonder about the liability insurance this company holds. I don’t know about the rest of the country, but in some states a restaurant/bar can be held liable for damages caused by traffic accidents if their clientele leaves the premises visibly intoxicated and causes said accident. Does the same law apply to this restaurant? If they fail to offer their patrons a ride, or fail to call a cab for them, are they liable if a high customer plows into a car and kills someone?
- Cowicide
  
  I think the concept undermines the legitimacy of the movement. Treating it as recreation instead of a viable medical option for those in chronic pain, or who can’t otherwise choke down a meal because that so-called anti-nausea medicine doesn’t work worth crap is definitely going to defeat any tiny inroads made within the three-martini-lunch neoconservative crowd.
  
  There will never be an inroads with the 3 martini lunch neocon crowd, so why do a little dance for them anymore? Just look at what they did when they were in power with Bush, Congress and the Senate… they stormed the shit out of Med Marijuana facilities.
  
  We need to get beyond appeasing these absolute idiots and quit acting like Santa Claus is real for these wicked, ignorant little infant fucks.
  
  It’s time for the adults to take charge. Let’s stop the charades and legalize it for BOTH medical use AND recreational use and quit acting like children.
  
  We listened to these idiots for 8 years and look where we are NOW??? It’s time to move on.
Anonymous

@Phikus:

It is possible to overdoes on marijuana but the amount you would need to ingest to do it is pretty much impossible to achieve. I’m not sure what studies you’ve been looking at but I have seen this said in articles by pro-marijuana people. No human has ever died from marijuana but animals have during clinical testing. Hell you can die from drinking too much water. Pretty much anything in excess can kill a person.

“Scientists conclude that the ratio of the amount of cannabinoids necessary to get a person intoxicated (i.e., stoned) relative to the amount necessary to kill them is 1 to 40,000. In other words, to overdose, you would have to consume 40,000 times as much marijuana as you needed to get stoned”
Cowicide

to overdose, you would have to consume 40,000 times as much marijuana as you needed to get stoned”

I’ve done that many times and I’m fine.
Anonymous

I’ve personally eaten brownies with an oz and a half worth of cannabis infused in them in a 15 minute period of time. i got REAL high there for a few minutes then i passed out. look, to DIE from ingesting marijuana would take a LUDICROUS amount of marijuana and after my experiences, I just don’t think the human body is able to ingest that much without passing out first. it’s a self-regulating mechanism.

I personally believe that the Greater Power planted the Good Weed here on earth for us to ingest it and through the experience, get further from our worldly posessions and problems and closer to It.

It amuses me that the government feels the need to regulate anything that gives one pleasure. Lighten up, people. If I was as uptight as some of you people, I’d be able to make diamonds from putting coal in a certain orifice.
randalll

The fact that medical marijuana makes the patient happy is a feature, not a bug.

I think if I had cancer, being happy, even temporarily/chemically, would probably make it easier to fight the cancer.
Cowicide

Certain medical conditions can make one have a very adverse reaction to pot, especially certain neurological conditions. In those cases you damn well sure can OD.

You can say that about the grass that grows on your lawn as well. Or for that matter, aspirin which has a much higher incidence of death. Actually, please direct me to anyone who has ever OD’d on marijuana and died. Please show me that record, please.

I don’t use, but I am all for legalizing the stuff. Having said that, it does NOT do the movement any good to constantly put forth a public image of some kind of roving Grateful Dead tailgate party. Cut the crap with the cutesy acts and make medical marijuana clinics look like every other damn healthcare office in the US–a few chairs, check-in center, magazines, and Muzak.

Really? Are you sure? Is that what we had to do to end alcohol prohibition? i don’t recall a bunch of nice ‘alcohol clinics’ getting set up. They were dank, mafia run places called speakeasys with plenty of sex and dancing.

It’s time to stop the charades and let common sense prevail like it finally did for alcohol prohibition. Like I said above, appeasing idiots didn’t work for us in the past. Never has and never will.

Let’s really cut the crap and cutesy acts.
akbar56

If the medical marijuana movement ever wants to gain more wide spread acceptance they need to lose the tie-dye crap. Nothing turns people away from compassion quicker than the symbolism of dirty hippies just getting high. I do however think this is a interesting approach.
- Axx
  
  What he said.
- Cowicide
  
  If the medical marijuana movement ever wants to gain more wide spread acceptance they need to lose the tie-dye crap. Nothing turns people away from compassion quicker than the symbolism of dirty hippies just getting high.
  
  While medical marijuana is a serious issue and there are plenty of people that need it for serious health issues… there is the other side of it where it’s also a front for an incredibly STUPID law that says consenting adults can’t get high from pot but meanwhile they can freely get fucked on a known dangerous drug called alcohol.
  
  While I’m not a hippy and I’m not into tie-dye, I’m tired of hearing how we should tip toe around fucking morons because people smoke pot. Pot is getting legalized whether people like it or not. Medical marijuana is just one more step towards the inevitable.
  
  So anyway… enjoy your beers, folks… enjoy your beers.
  http://www.dula.tv/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/spend-drunk-idiot.jpg
thebonobo

wow, there seems to be a flowering of experiments around medical marijuana. just published this post about the difference between LA’s and San Francisco’s medical pot approaches:

http://spotsunknown.com/national-anti-prohibition-group-likes-san-francisco-but-not-la/
Anonymous

There is nothing “fun” about medical marijuana.
- Anonymous
  
  sure, because people with chronic pain are doomed to bleak, cheerless lives, right? Might as well close the windows and break out the leeches, huh? Screw that outlook- let them have their pizza and positivity!
Nash Rambler

I’m in the “objects to” camp as well; this is treating a serious movement that took a tremendous effort to create like a big party joke. The conservative majority in Colorado is already working on legal efforts to hobble the medical marijuana law in early 2010. I can’t see how a themed-restaurant does anything but supply ammo to their reasoning.
Phikus

So how does this work? You’ve got to show them your prescription to eat there?

“…they offer free rides home to people who are too high to drive after their meals.” -Which would be everyone. Have you ever eaten kind bud?

From the article: “Steve Horowitz, an owner of Ganja Gourmet, says the restaurant will not promote a party-like atmosphere.” -And they’re doing that with “a 1960s retro feel, including tie-dye attire for the employees.”?!?

Sounds like a natch way to order pizza delivery, however.
J France

Smoking isn’t exactly a scientific means of dosing, nor is having a tray of brownies cooked with pot butter…

… but this is fraught with fuck-ups. eating is one way to put yourself in the most danger with pot, not overdose per se 9apparently you can), but it’s more psychoactive, stronger and last longer. add the munchies as a huge side effect, and well… this seems ill conceived.
- Phikus
  
  While I completely agree this seems ill conceived, I’d like to see your data on pot overdoses, because I am not aware of that being possible (and I have been collecting empirical data for years). It just puts you to sleep when you have too much. So citation, please, on that point.
  - arkizzle / Moderator
    
    Phikus.. you’ve never “pulled a whitey“?
    
    You can soooo have to much weed before the sleep-safe mechanism kicks in. And I have to agree with JFrance: the way most people end up having too much, is eating it in food. The time between eating and monging is long enough to make it difficult to judge quantities, so they end up over-doing it.
    - Phikus
      
      Sorry to get back to this thread kinda late but in answer to your question, the only whitey I’ve ever pulled is my own. Ok, snark aside, no, I’ve never been reduced to a vomiting / passing out slob on marijuana alone. All instances I have ever seen of this kind of thing have involved at least a little alcohol in the mix, but I guess it’s possible for a noob. I have been at parties where we collectively smoked an entire qp, with at least two fatties going around the room constantly for 5 hours and not one person puked, but we were all seasoned veterans. I agree that eating it is a different matter and it is very hard to judge dosages with that method of ingestion; but I guess I have never had the privilege of eating too large of a quantity in one sitting. The closest I have ever been to OD-ing on pot was from using a vaporizer for several hours with some serious Trainwreck-Pineapple Express grade shit, which had me, after safely getting home, waking up 6 hours later with the room spinning (something previously experienced only on alcohol) so I guess it’s possible, just not so easy to replicate under normal conditions. (As opposed to alcohol, where one bottle can kill, and I mean simply from ingestion.)
      
      Cowicide: You continue to impress, sir! ;D
Artimus Mangilord

I just drove by it this morning and did a double take at the mural they have painted on the building! Within a few blocks of this location on S. Broadway, it’s a conservative estimate that there are 10 dispensaries that have opened up in the months since the changes to the law. Not sure it’s sustainable, but certainly helps the economy with the glut of real estate vacancies (are you listening, pols?)
Anonymous

*cough*

mile high city?

Can’t believe I’m the first…