While Washington’s recreational retail marijuana market opened for business in July, last night marked the state’s first legal sales of cannabis-infused edibles and concentrates. The edible products were delivered at about 10:30pm to Top Shelf Cannabis, which was also the first retailer to sell cannabis flowers in the state on July 8th. Scroll down for Ganjapreneur’s exclusive video footage!
During the recreational market’s first month, only dried cannabis flowers could be found in retail stores across the state. “The public wants their edibles,” explained John Evich, an investor for Top Shelf Cannabis. “It seems like every third person is hounding us, ‘Where are the edibles?'”
Well, now Top Shelf has three different kinds of edibles to offer customers: a trail mix, a Chex mix, and another nut mixture called carnival nuts (which are, reportedly, peppery nut clusters rolled in honey and sugar). “They’re not as boring as they sound,” he said — and, with anywhere between 15-20 milligrams of THC per serving, we’re inclined to believe him.
The late night delivery was made by Green Chief, an I-502 company who received their license from the Liquor Control Board less than two weeks ago. The company’s director of operations, Stesha Ries, explained that pot shop customers should expect to see a lot more of their edible products on store shelves soon: “We’re going to have a consistent product for our customers,” she said. “We’re going to have a safe product — it’s been tested. And it’s a great product.”
The state’s Liquor Control Board released regulations for edibles manufacturing and sales last month, which placed restrictions on the creation process for cannabis edibles: infused products are not allowed to be considered appealing to children, and products that would require controlled temperatures for safe storage are also not allowed.
The eager customers waiting in line outside Top Shelf Cannabis to take part in the historic moment were not disappointed: although the delivery was later than expected, every customer who showed up was able to make a purchase before midnight, which is the state-mandated closing hour for retailers in the recreational market. Green Chief delivered 500 bags of edibles last night, and Ries said that she’ll be making another delivery to Top Shelf this weekend, after which another edibles delivery will be going to Altitude, the retail store in Prosser, Benton County.
Furthermore, Ganjapreneur’s film crew persevered over other mainstream media outlets last night while waiting for the delivery, which means we’re offering an exclusive look at the state’s first legal sale of marijuana-infused edibles and concentrates! The TV news crews in attendance stuck around just long enough to get a peek at the products being unloaded before they needed to bolt out the door to meet their broadcast deadlines, but we stuck it out to capture the historic moment for future generations.
Top Shelf Cannabis was one of the state’s first I-502 retail stores to open, though its operational business hours have been largely dependent on how quickly the store sells out of product. Evich did disclose, however, that he was expecting the delivery of 50 pounds of pot over the next week and a half, meaning that — a whole month after opening — the store’s shelves may actually remain stocked for typical business hours in the near future. We are planning to conduct an in-depth interview with John in the near future, so stay tuned!
Sources:
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/pot/2014/08/06/first-pot-edibles-vape-pens-available-tonight/
Photo Credit: Noel Abbott, Ganjapreneur.com
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