DISPENSARY QUESTIONS
When you’re new to cannabis, or newly back since the 70’s… there are now shops dedicated to the sale of all things cannabis. They are called dispensaries.
Visit this website to find local dispensaries near you. At this site, go to the very top of the right corner of the home page and click on “change” to put your approximate address or zip code in for the list of dispensary shops near you.
Since Covid, there are some different rules. Often you will not be allowed to view and/or smell any cannabis flower they have for sale. You can ask, but I doubt it.
Some shops deliver only now. Others have more restrictions on how many can be in the dispensary at a time.
Some of the shops will be clean, open, well kept, drugstore-like, friendly non-tattooed customer service reps who use plain language when they answer questions.
Others cater more to the recreational crowd and might use slang, the customers and the employees might wear different clothing choices than you, different hairstyles. The customer service reps will be called “budtenders”. There might be all kinds of psychedelic artwork on the walls…
If you live in a legal recreational cannabis state, most of them will have a “deli” with all kinds of normal and enticing foods that are (drugged) with cannabis called cannabis edibles.
Some might sell seeds or baby marijuana plants called clones if growing cannabis is legal in your state.
So the first place to start is online at the site above. It again will show you some dispensaries near you. Sometimes the store listed there might have their own website and you’ll be able to get a clearer idea how they operate.
You might have to just stop over to all the dispensaries near you just to get a feel about them. You don’t have to buy a thing just to stop in and look around, ask some questions.
But before you head on over, do give them a call first about the basics.
Depending how they now allow in-store shopping, the following questions are important.
And depending on your state legalizing recreational cannabis and medical cannabis, or medical cannabis only for certain conditions, you might only get entry if you have secured a cannabis medical ID card.
If a medical card is needed, check online about medical ID cards for your state. They are often offered for sale online without needing to make any office visit to a medical practitioner.
Also, if you are disabled and have a care-giver with you, you will need to check with the store about accommodations for you to sit if there is a line you have to wait in. And some states allow a caregiver to purchase on your behalf, also with a special medical card.
So here are some pertinent questions to upfront ask the dispensary before you head over:
Give them a call:
[“I’m new to your dispensary and have a bunch of questions, who would I talk to about them? I’m interested in medical cannabis products.”]
- When we arrive, do we go into a waiting area or into the shop itself.
- How is the waiting area put together, are there chairs, how many allowed in, etc. generally how long is the wait line or the best time of day to go for the shortest wait times.
- Is there a waiting area for people with wheelchairs or disabilities?
- Can a caregiver go in with the customer.
- Is there security on site.
- How far away is parking and is there security for the parking area (choose a dispensary with security IN THE PARKING LOT)
- What ID is needed, state specific? ID needed for the caregiver?
- What payment type is accepted (CASH or checks, sometimes debit cards).
- Are other products available that are not listed in the online menu from either the dispensary website or from leafly.com
- How new is the cannabis flower available, do you know when it was harvested.
- How new are the prepared products.
- Are 3rd party verified lab reports available onsite for every product or how does that work.
- For pickup: is inspection allowed of the cannabis flower material for molds/insects/quality prior to leaving.
- For delivery items: is inspection allowed of the cannabis flower material for molds/insects/quality before the delivery person leaves.
- Does the dispensary ship to customers within the state.
- What is the return policy for shipped product, re: cannabis flower inspection, etc.
Visiting a dispensary can be as every day casual as stopping at the drugstore.
But going the first few times can be a bit harrowing. Just know that our nervousness in “going into one of THOSE places” is only because of the negative conditioning society has put on us with all the stigmas around this plant since about 1930.
Prior to then, cannabis was one of the regularly prescribed medicines by the family doctors of the time.
See these photos from an antique medical textbook I have from 1907… clearly listing cannabis as a medicine and what it’s used for (pain and anxiety) and how to prepare it in the pharmacy:
So breathe deep and step across the threshold. You won’t be the first one there that’s new!
And read the “Getting Started” article for the first three items to purchase once you think you’ve found the dispensary you can visit a second time.
