Cannabis has been used by humans for thousands of years. A genus of flowering plants, cannabis contains dozens of alkaloids that help people deal with pain, anxiety, and countless other health issues. Many others use cannabis just to have fun.
Although cannabis has been outlawed in the United States for nearly a century, over half of the nation’s states have laws that support medical cannabis programs. 10 states have even come out with laws legalizing their constituents’ recreational use, cultivation, and possession of cannabis.
Let’s take a look at the cannabis industry in the state of Nevada as an example.
Cannabis Use Has Been Legal In Nevada For A While
In 2000, a state referendum in Nevada opened up a legal cannabis industry for medical users. Even though sales for medicinal users of marijuana didn’t begin until the beginning of 2015, recreational sales began on July 1, 2017, just a few months after the voting citizens of Nevada opted to legalize the recreational use of cannabis within the state.
Dispensaries are great for several reasons, though one of the most important benefits of opening up legal medical and recreational cannabis markets is that people from poor socioeconomic backgrounds who have been disproportionately affected by drug laws are able to use or otherwise be involved with cannabis and not face the risk of entering the criminal justice system.
Whether the people who shop at cannabis dispensaries are from these backgrounds or their better-off counterparts, everybody can bring their own type and level of utility to the table by shopping at dispensaries instead of sourcing cannabis through the black market.
You’ll find that shopping for cannabis in a regulated environment is much better than buying weed on the black market. You will have access to more types of cannabis, better qualities of the plant, and more information about the products they offer. This is the way that cannabis is supposed to be bought and sold – just like everything else in the world.
Making The Most Of Your Experience With Legalized Cannabis
If you’re reading this article, you’re probably not an expert when it comes to cannabis. As such, every reader should seek out a dispensary that can best address their personal wants and needs.
Beginners, for example, generally have great experiences with cannabis whenever they seek out dispensaries that have programs designed just for the education of new and inexperienced cannabis users.
To find dispensaries in your local area, simply head over to Google, Yahoo, Bing, or another popular search engine. Within seconds, you should have the contact information of all the dispensaries in and around your state of residence. Feel free to narrow down your search by adding phrases and words that are closely related to whatever it is that you’re looking for.
If you want to make sure that the experience that you take away from using cannabis sourced from a regulated dispensary in a legalized cannabis market that is overseen by relevant government agencies, you should learn all of the things listed below before you ever consider setting foot in the dispensaries that you have your eye on.
Know Why You’re Using Cannabis
Each of the 100-plus cannabinoids in cannabis is responsible for a unique set of symptoms and side effects in users. Every variety of cannabis has a unique profile of cannabinoids, causing them to affect people differently than other strains. Further, a variety of cannabis may elicit notably different effects between two or more users.
For example, some strains have very low concentrations of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, and high concentrations of CBD, or cannabidiol, and tend to not interfere with people’s executive functioning capabilities. Strains with high levels of THC and comparatively low concentrations of CBD are often more popular among recreational users because they are often responsible for stronger feelings of euphoria than their high-CBD counterparts.
Cannabis sativa, one of three varieties of cannabis, is usually best for people who want to keep a clear frame of mind. Those who want the opposite of a “heady” high are usually best off with Cannabis indica strains.
As a means of increasing the likelihood of having the best experience possible with cannabis, you should first consider the reasons why you’re using cannabis.
If you’re simply entertained by the novelty of legalized cannabis sold on a regulated market filled with tons of professional-quality retail shops, your budtender will likely provide you with a few types of cannabis so you can generate as much utility as possible from using cannabis.
It’s also important to be forthcoming to budtenders with the fact that you’ve never used cannabis before if this applies to you. This way, you’ll almost certainly have a better experience sourcing and using cannabis. They’ll be able to send you in the right direction.
Most Dispensaries Aren’t Welcome To Refunds
When it comes to extracts, concentrates, and flower, retail cannabis dispensaries are not likely to offer refunds. This is because they have no way to know if the product in question was contaminated with any foreign materials. As such, you shouldn’t bite off more than you can chew when it comes to buying cannabis.
Before you make large purchases of any particular strain of cannabis or cannabis product, make sure that you consistently enjoy its effects.
If you aren’t an everyday user, don’t purchase too much cannabis. You can always return to dispensaries and purchase more cannabis products if you didn’t cop enough on your first go around.
Keep in mind that even though a particular strain may have high concentrations of the cannabinoids that you prefer to consume or be a top seller at the dispensary you’re at, these strains might not be received well by you. Among cannabis dispensaries, there isn’t always consistency between the purportedly-same varieties of cannabis. As such, you should try to stay true to one or a few dispensaries so that you can try most of their strains out.
You’ll be much more likely to be happy with your purchases if you don’t buy too much at once and do experiment with different varieties.
Most Dispensaries Require Paperwork, Documentation, And Identification
The youngest age that people can purchase cannabis at across all the states that have legalized medical or recreational cannabis use is 18. Although it’s as high as 21 in some places, there’s one thing that every state holds in common with one another – they all require some form of identification. Further, many of them require visitors to present staff members with valid documents related to physicians’ recommendations of cannabis and being authorized by a state government to use, purchase, and cultivate the leafy, green, flowering plant.
In states that have legalized the recreational use of cannabis, stores are likely to require nothing more than a valid, in-date identification from everyone who enters their facilities.
States that have only opened up to the medicinal use of cannabis, rather than its recreational counterpart, always require people to present relevant letters from doctors and appropriate government agencies.
Since every state is different in terms of what they require prospective cannabis customers to come ready with, the best way to find out exactly what you need to bring is to reach out to one or more dispensaries in your local area.
Identifying All Mental Or Physical Health Issues Is Important
Although many people, both experts in the world of cannabis and laypeople, believe that cannabis is harmless, its use can exacerbate both mental and physical health issues.
As such, it’s important for cannabis users to be aware of any and all health issues that are currently affecting their minds and bodies. Failing to be aware of these health issues can result in people having bad experiences with cannabis that could have been prevented if those users had been aware of their health issues and active in sharing them with budtenders.
Cannabis use, for example, often increases blood pressure and heart rate. Using cannabis often isn’t a good idea for people who have cardiovascular issues because they could easily make them worse.
Further, you should know that different varieties of cannabis are more likely than others to cause certain responses across multiple people who share the same physical or mental illness. This goes to show that people can identify strains of cannabis that are less likely to negatively interfere with their bodies based on their syndromes, diseases, and issues.
Not knowing this before you step foot into a dispensary is a great way to have a bad time when using cannabis.
You Need To Be Honest
Marijuana is a dynamic drug, meaning that its users’ experiences are often wildly different from one another’s experiences. Because of this, it’s important for people who plan on purchasing cannabis for personal use to be totally upfront with budtenders. Failing to inform them of the reasons you’re using cannabis, potential health problems you’re dealing with, and other relevant things is a reliable means of achieving a negative experience in your dealings with cannabis.
Most cannabis dispensaries’ staff members are willing to help prospective cannabis users out by answering their questions and addressing their concerns for free. They often help people who don’t end up purchasing items because the people who do buy cannabis products after having good experiences with dispensaries’ staff members make it worthwhile for these businesses to offer such services.
The World Wide Web is packed to the brim with truthful, accurate information related to using cannabis. However, beginners usually struggle to consistently find good sources of such information. As such, it’s a good idea for beginner and intermediate cannabis users to present their questions and concerns to budtenders.
Find Out How To Pay For Cannabis At Dispensaries
Many dispensaries only accept cash for their products and services. However, countless others accept every major payment method that other retail stores, those from all types of industries, welcome the use of.
Since there’s no way to definitively determine whether the dispensaries you’re going to visit accept cash, credit, or both other than contacting them, you should call those dispensaries or contact them via social media and see what payment methods they’re currently accepting.
The reason why many dispensaries across the United States don’t accept credit or debit cards as payment is that they often don’t have the same opportunities to work with industry-leading payment processors. This is true because cannabis is still illegal at the federal level. Since financial institutions must adhere to both federal and state laws, they typically turn down opportunities to process debit and credit card payments for businesses in the cannabis industry.
Also, keep in mind that some dispensaries only allow consumers to purchase a certain amount or dollar value of cannabis. Be prepared to meet minimum purchase requirements at the dispensaries that you plan on purchasing cannabis from. You’ll save tons of time and have a much better experience.
