reposting since this thread got lost in the server move...

High folks! I've been reviewing dispensaries and covering various topics within the Colorado MMJ scene. Check it out and lemme know what you think

The Strain Man

Also, lets share dispensary experiences here in this thread. Here are some of mine that haven't made it to the blog yet:

First the good....

Boulder Alternative Medicine
BoulderMeds.com

Great place! Usually have at least 10 different strains for various budgets. Anywhere from $8 a gram for great tiny mix of nugs from the bottom of bags for rolling, all the way to $17 a gram for some of the best bud CO dispensaries have to offer. These guys are so cool that if you buy a gram or two, they'll actually CUT THE BUDS OFF THE STEMS before weighing so you pay for what you smoke, not what you throw out. I'll keep coming back here.

One Brown Mouse in Nederland
onebrownmouse.com
If you want great indoor, locally-grown high-altitude bud, this is your place. I like the town and the staff who also grow their own for the store and are very knowledgeable. Prices are great, too.. $14 a gram for primos like Sage and Sour Diesel.


The Bad.....

New Options wellness in Boulder
no website

These are the guys that got robbed, and ya feel those vibes in the staff with every heavy breath in the place. Despite their bad luck, honestly, their wares just suck. I opened and inspected every jar (and they had like 20 different strains) and it seems that no one there knows anything about proper drying and curing. Some of the jars smelled of ammonia!!! WTF! Also, many of their strains are mislabeled and not what they claim to be. Also over-priced at $20 a gram for their better selections when there's such better bud not a mile away.


The Ugly...

Pain Management of Colorado in Denver
colorado.medicalmarijuana.net

They'll sign you up for $350 and have a 70 year old doctor from the Dominican Republic who can't speak English that well. A bit shady in both dealings and location. They had 2 strains on hand when I checked it out and one was just crap, the other was an AK-47 which looked decent, but it just wasn't AK-47. They also have some edibles, but they are very weak. These guys are in it for the money and that's easy to see. BEWARE: If you use these guys to set you up, I hear they will make you select them as your primary caregiver, so you'll have to change that ASAP with the state.

Review: Botanic Labs in Longmont
Botanic Labs in Longmont has among the best of best meds I've seen. $20 per gram up to 7 grams, but cannot purchase more than 7 grams from Matt, as he likes to spread the wealth among many. Relatively speaking, it'll beat most other grams out there for $20+. Best bag appeal cause he's his own source growing only what he likes to smoke himself; while the rest of us get to bask in his skills. Every jar out of the 12 or so had the best and varied aromas eminating from both local-only and main-stream strains.

He had Maui, AK-47 cherry pheno, Kush, Hong Kong, Boulderberry(from a Boulder blueberry clone), and 5 or 6 others I can't remember now. All was impressive and gave me a glimpse of the kind of quality hiding in the Boulder/Longmont area. This place sets the bar for quality and I can only hope other folks strive to provide meds that good, but for $12 a gram

call first, it's by appointment only, and there's no 'make me a caregiver' crap.

The Strain Man

I'm sure his meds are good, but he's obviouslly in this game for LARGE profit @ those prices. ($9680 per POUND????)

And..it's ALL profit as he doesn't buy from others @ $250 per ounce....which seems to be about average for "wholesale" to the dispensaries. In theory, his meds should be CHEAPER than anyone else's but obviously he doesn't think that is the way it should work.

They may be good meds, but not THAT good. I urge patients to avoid places such as this and to find more reasonable pricing or EVERY shop will be this expensive if they see they can get it.

IMO, there needs to be a CAP on what can be charged per gram!

THANKS for the report. If you don't want thois post in here I'll remove it but I felt I needed to comment.

ww

thanks for the post windowpane. I agree it's too expensive and every single dispensary is out there to make money. Careful not to mistake a CARE-giver with a dispensary, which is just a store that sells based on the principles of supply and demand. Relatively speaking, Botanic Lab's $20 grams are better IMO than other shops' $20 grams.

www.thestrainman.blogspot.com

Hey! thanks for the update! I just got dr. approval for mml! right now using the clinic as my caregiver! the boulder place does sound good!

Rockbrook Inc.
In Denver, near Colorado and Yale.
(303) 756 0595

These guys are obviously just starting out but their products are amazing quality! We had a Sativa called Sweet Island Skunk that was to die for and a Blueberry that has now become my favorite strain. They had 3 or 4 other strains available, all of which looked so good it was tempting to just take a bite as you held a bud in your hand.

The drawbacks were that they were very expensive, 50/8th all the way up. They gave us some complimentary brownies as sort of a promotional thing with our purchase, but those were only mildly potent. To their credit, the guy did send us away with a few because he said he thought they were weak.

The product is very high quality, very obviously trimmed by hand. It's very much worth a try, but it is expensive.

__________________

Nothing that I say is true. When I use the word "I" I am referring to a fictional entity.

Current Grow:
http://www.greenpassion.org/f24/cfl-closet-grow-14588/

Okay, so I came up with a new formula for my dispensary reviews. I'll be using it for all my reviews from now on, feel free to use the same format if you want:

Prices:
Caregiver Policy:
Quality of Product:
Atmosphere:
Staff Knowledge:
Staff Friendliness/Helpfulness:
Strain/product variety:
Sell plants/clones:
Grow their own:
Will I go again:

So here's how I would fix the Rockbrook Inc review I did above:

Rockbrook, Inc.
Colorado Ave, just past Yale coming from I-25.
Denver, Colorado

Price: $50/8th all the way up. We paid $25 for a half an 8th

Caregiver Policy: After the introductions on our first visit we were asked us "Are you guys looking for a caregiver or are you doing your own thing?" When we said "We're doing our own thing" the subject was immediately and permanently dropped. They made a copy of our card and ID, returned them both to us and that was that. A+ caregiver policy.

Quality of Product: Excellent. It was even visually stimulating enough that we decided several strains were worth $25 for a half 8th sample. We were very pleased with two of the three we purchased.

Atmosphere: Very professional, upbeat. Feels like you're there for healing, feels like a legitimate environment and like you're being treated well.

Staff Knowledge: We've met both Adam and Calvin during different visits. Both are very knowledgable about both the product and how it can be used as medicine. Adam seems to have an especially lot of information about the strains and their backgrounds and plant growth and care, and Calvin seems to be very knowledgable in the potential application of the medicine.

Staff Friendliness/Helpfulness: Very friendly, willing to answer questions. Good personalities, they're good at creating a relaxing atmosphere to do business in and they're free flowing with their knowledge and resources (well, except pricewise with the medicine).

Strain/product variety: They had about 5 different strains each of the two times we've been there. They had edibles and bubble hash and they either had or were working on some salves and tinctures. Their bubble hash is actually separated out and separately labeled strain specific as well as triche-size specific. Unfortunately, as far as bud goes they had been running out of the stuff they grew themselves and are talking about buying inventory from outsiders to hold them over for the next three weeks until their next harvest is done drying and curing, but they assured me that the problem was fixed and they have 11 strains in cultivation right now and that supply won't be a problem again.

Sell Plants/clones: Yes, but you have to call ahead the day before so they can bring it in for you. They don't have the capacity to keep them alive indefinitely at the store.

Grow Their Own: Yes

Will I go Again: Yes, I'm sure that I will spend $25 on a half 8th from time to time when I'm in Denver and looking for quick convenient access to a small amount of medicine. It is good quality medicine, but with no price breaks all the way up they are not capable of meeting my needs as a primary source.

__________________

Nothing that I say is true. When I use the word "I" I am referring to a fictional entity.

Current Grow:
http://www.greenpassion.org/f24/cfl-closet-grow-14588/

Colorado Cannabis Center
5953 Omaha Blvd
Colorado Springs 80915

Price: $20/g

Caregiver Policy: Will not serve caregivers who do not have paperwork. The State of Colorado no longer issues paperwork for caregivers. Lots of pressure to sign over your caregiver rights. It is unclear whether they would have sold to us if we had been interested in buying anything and refused to fill out a change of caregiver form.

Quality of Product: Did not sample it, but it was not visually appealing enough for us to waste our money.

Atmosphere: Sketchy. Feels like you're making a drug deal, and like you have to be careful not to be taken advantage of. There is a lot of pressure to do things exactly their way and the whole time you're there you know in the forefront of your consciousness that they're in it for the money, and that they're paranoid about getting busted. The room that they bring you back into to do business in is smaller than the lounge, which is very small itself.

Staff Knowledge: Seemed to know a lot about the legal side of things, but not so much about the medicine. They weren't clueless about the medicine, but they weren't especially generous with product information. It's difficult to tell whether they don't know a lot about the products or whether they just don't want to share that information with the patient because of the poor quality and high prices.

Staff Friendliness/Helpfulness: Very low score. The staff is there to sell you your drugs and send you on your way before the cops show up and they have to take the fall for the owner. That's what it feels like anyway. That's the vibe. To their credit when we asked them where we could find some other dispensaries to look around for they told us where to find the green pages at a 7-11 down the road.

Strain/Product Variety: About ten strains and glass for sale. Didn't notice any edibles. It wasn't an atmosphere conducive to getting a lot of specific information or asking a lot of your own questions.

Sell Plants/Clones: No

Grow Their Own: Don't know. Honestly, we didn't care for the reasons listed throughout the rest of these categories.

Will I go Again? No.

__________________

Nothing that I say is true. When I use the word "I" I am referring to a fictional entity.

Current Grow:
http://www.greenpassion.org/f24/cfl-closet-grow-14588/

Pikes Peak Alternative Health and Wellness
1605 South Tejon St Ste 101
Colorado Springs CO 80905

Price: $350 for an ounce, $12.50 for a gram. We paid 23 something after tax for a half an 8th (1.75g)

Caregiver Policy: You must sign over your caregiver rights for service. (We told the guy we were new patients and trying to buy a gram or two from each dispensary to find out which one we liked best he made an exception for us for that one time.)

Quality of Product: The half 8th we got had about 6 seeds in it. The seeds were not visible on the outside of the buds and didn't appear until we began breaking up the bud. It wasn't riddled with them but once every two bowls or so you'd get one. There were also no seeds in the bottom of the jar, which leads me to a mild suspicion that the people who work there remove the loose seeds on a regular basis to make the product more presentable. Obviously the potency could have been better, but on the bright side we did get some free seeds with decent genes.

Atmosphere: Professional and comfortable. Seemed like you were in the office of a holistic personal trainer. In fact, I think they might also function as a personal trainer services as well. You do not feel like you're doing anything uncooth or dangerous when you're shopping there. It's a very safe feeling environment.

Staff Knowledge: There are apparently two people who work there and we only met one of them. He was not very knowledgable. He didn't medicate, and when we asked him about the percentage Indica/sativa of some of his strains he had to look each one up individually on the computer in order to tell us.

Staff Friendliness/helpfulness: Was plenty friendly. We arrived when he was closing up and he let us in anyway and brought all his stuff back out. Even though it was obvious he was not the top boss he bent the company's caregiver policy for us so we could as least sample the product before asking us to sign over our caregiver rights. As far as helpfulness, he was as helpful as he could be given the company's caregiver policy and his limited knowledge of the products.

Strain/Product Variety: About 12-15 different strains available for purchase, mix of indicas, indica dominants, sativa dominants and 50/50 hybrids. Also had medicated lozenges. They also had brownies with roughly 3 grams of medication in each.

Grow their own: No

Sell plants/clones: No

Would I go again: If their caregiver policy were different I might go there sometimes for the convenience of a cheap gram, or when I didn't mind sacrificing a bit of potency for some free seeds from a good strain. Unfortunately I don't know how comfortable I feel changing my caregiver every five minutes to whatever business happens to want to sell me something today, so I probably will not return until/unless their caregiver policy becomes less restrictive. A dispensary/grower should have their own certification; they should not be relying on the patient's certification to cover their own butts, and bullying patients into signing away their caregiver rights every time they want to shop at a new store. Some dispensaries just make a copy of your card or doctor's recommendation and your ID and then allow you to shop there, and that's all that's legally needed from the patient.

__________________

Nothing that I say is true. When I use the word "I" I am referring to a fictional entity.

Current Grow:
http://www.greenpassion.org/f24/cfl-closet-grow-14588/

Cannabis Therapeutics
907 E. Fillmore St
Colorado Springs, CO

Prices: $3-$400/oz

Caregiver Policy: Patient must sign over his/her caregiver rights for service.

Quality of Product: Did not try the products. See caregiver policy above. Some of the products looked good and some looked okay.

Atmosphere: Unpleasant. The first thing that happens when the door opens is you're greeted by this big macho intimidating bouncer with an intimidating presence. He lets you into the lobby where he checks your ids and stuff, and leads you on any tour/information gathering you might want to do before you sign over your caregiver rights. He brought us into the back room where they have all their displays and do their business and they happened to be trimming in that display room at the time of our visit. It was difficult to really get a good look at the stuff they had and much information about it in that kind of environment.

Staff Knowledge: Seemed like the bouncer had a lot of info memorized that he spouted off and stuff, mostly about the way their dispensary worked rather than about the medicine. He was the only one we got to talk to.

Staff Friendliness/Helpfulness: We were looking at the jars in the display cases maybe about a minute and a half after entering the display room (where they were trimming product right there in the middle of the floor onto a tarp that we had to walk around) when the phone rang and the bouncer immediately picked it up and waved his hands in front of our faces and motioned us out like "it's time to go now." Nobody but the bouncer even acknowledged our presence at all. I don't know if they would have been friendlier if they hadn't been trimming in the middle of the floor in the display area of their store, but our experience was you don't get to talk to or meet anybody but the bouncer until you've signed over your caregiver rights.

Strain/product variety: There looked to be about a dozen strains there. They had a refrigerator of edibles and capsules, hard candy, tinctures, bubble hash, glasswork. We didn't really get a chance to see it all on our brief tour.

Sell plants/clones: Yes

Grow their own: Yes

Will I go again: No

__________________

Nothing that I say is true. When I use the word "I" I am referring to a fictional entity.

Current Grow:
http://www.greenpassion.org/f24/cfl-closet-grow-14588/

Good reviews. The caregiver policy a lot of these dispensaries have pisses me off. "Sign over your right to grow to us and we will allow you to buy our meds". The big dispensary in CSprings has over 1000 patients, thats 6000 plants they can grow.

Independent growers will change the market. The model myself and friends are using is free meds for all our patients, whatever is left we can sell to pay for the electricity. And the dispensary paradigm will have to change too with new dispensaries opening willing to sell to anyone with a card.

Had a few visits to green mountain care already. Check out the review:
http://thestrainman.blogspot.com/200...iew-green.html

Nice NatureLover!!! K++ to you for putting out a great format and doing all this work reviewing 4 shops.

www.thestrainman.blogspot.com

Thanks strainman, good review of Green Mountain Care and awesome pictures! How do you take those?

__________________

Nothing that I say is true. When I use the word "I" I am referring to a fictional entity.

Current Grow:
http://www.greenpassion.org/f24/cfl-closet-grow-14588/

Highland Health
2727 Bryant St #420
Denver CO

Price: Grams ranging from $13 to over $20. We purchased an $18 gram of Snowcap.

Caregiver Policy: Caregivers and patients may purchase medicine. Discounts if a you do make them your primary caregiver.

Quality of Product: Our gram of Snowcap is a very effecive sativa dominant strain of medicine. The effects are potent yet easily managable in a social setting. $18 was their second cheapest category out of four.

Atmosphere: The outside of the building seemed to have a lot of shady characters hanging out in front, but there are many businesses in the building other than Highland Health. The Highland Health office itself was cozy and safe feeling, it was arranged a lot like a doctor's office with a waiting room and a reception window and that kind of thing. The back room is quite large and spacious, plenty of breathing room while you're making your selections.

Staff Knowledge: Poor. He didn't explain that his sativas were not pure sativas, and he was also telling us that 50/50 hybrids were sativas.

Staff Friendliness/Helpfulness: A little akward vibe from the staff, not unfriendly - they were nice people, it was just a little akward. They really weren't volunteering much information, and didn't greet our presence with any kind of conversation; if you want to break the silence you're going to have to take the initiative.

Strain/product variety: A lot of the most expensive stuff, only one variety, Lemon Lime, at their lowest price level. They had about 10-15 strains, hash edibles, glasswork.

Do they sell plants/clones: No

Do they grow their own: Not sure if they grow any of it, but they don't grow all of it.

Will I go again: Yes, I'll keep them in mind when I'm in need of a gram or two in Denver.

__________________

Nothing that I say is true. When I use the word "I" I am referring to a fictional entity.

Current Grow:
http://www.greenpassion.org/f24/cfl-closet-grow-14588/

great reviews naturelover

Thanks. I went to Boulder Alternative Medicine today. I know you reviewed them recently too, but their prices are higher now than when you were there, so I figured I'd write another review and add to the pool of info.

For anybody else who hasn't seen it and is interested in this dispensary, I would definitely check out thestrainman's review as well; he's got some really killer high-detail photos up to go with it.

Boulder Alternative Medicine
1325 Broadway St. Suite 213
Boulder CO

Prices: They have raised these since thestrainman last reviewed them. Their grams now start at $12 rather than $8, for the bottom of the bags grab bag mix type gram. They had two strains, AK-47 and Blueberry for $15/g, and all the rest were $20/g. They do not offer any price breaks, it's strictly by the gram.

Caregiver Policy: Caregivers and patients are both allowed into the back room. The patient is required to first sign a waiver which in effect is just saying that you want Boulder Alternative Medicine to be your TEMPORARY caregiver, for a period of one hour. It is NOT a change of caregiver form and does not effect the patient's or pre-existing caregiver's status with the state. It is not clear whether or not a caregiver unaccompanied by the patient would be able to purchase medicine.

Quality of product: We purchased a gram of the AK-47 for $15. It is decent quality, but the AK-47 we saw later at Highland Health in Denver looked much superior. But it's a fine smoke, organic medicine and effective. It's got a fun little set of effects and a pleasant taste when smoked.

Atmosphere: Friendly and welcoming. Good service, dog friendly. There is a dog in the store sometimes. Good ambiance, feels safe.

Staff Knowledge: Knowledgeable and willing to share information.

Staff Friendliness/Helpfulness: Friendly and helpful. We needed an extra copy of one of our forms for reasons unrelated to our business at that dispensary and they were kind enough to make copies for us.

Strain/product variety: About ten strains and edibles.

Sell plants/clones: No

Grow their own: Not sure

Will I go again: Probably rarely if the prices do not go up any further. It's a nice place but their price structure is not very user-friendly. Price breaks with quantity are the golden ticket. On the black market it goes without saying that you get price breaks at very specific levels all the way up the chain. That's what I'm used to and that's what I expect.

__________________

Nothing that I say is true. When I use the word "I" I am referring to a fictional entity.

Current Grow:
http://www.greenpassion.org/f24/cfl-closet-grow-14588/

Finally got to know C3 Initiatives well enough for a review. Check it out:

http://thestrainman.blogspot.com/200...review-c3.html

Interesting thought on price breaks at dispensaries. Its an emerging market here right now, with new dispensaries opening almost every week, and competition might force them to change thier business models. There are still only 11,000 medical marijuana patients in Colorado but that number is growing fast.

If you go into Boulder Alternative Medicine again try the Urban Legend.

were considering moving to colorado. that or nevada.... my pick would be colorado or stay here.

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