Cannabis undercover

I have a friend who regularly uses the services at one particular south side shop. She recommended it to me, but she did not know the name of it. Now that I’ve visited the shop, I understand why. It’s sign has no store name. No words at all, in fact, just a big purple marijuana leaf. The shop isn’t loud about its presence, and I appreciate that. But I know many people who are not aware of the shop, even though it has been open five years.

The parking lot is, like many of Michigan’s roads, full of large pot holes. The store shares a plaza with the defunct Uli’s Haus of Rock, so there is plenty of parking. After I entered the exterior glass door, I was in a "mantrap" — a small entryway with another door before one can enter the dispensary proper. Many dispensaries are set up like this. A security guard with a gun on his hip greeted me, checked my credentials and allowed me in.

The waiting room had a clean, nice décor. I noticed that they offer green apples to their patients, a nice touch. As I waited, I sat on a loveseat and flipped through a magazine. The security guard who checked me in yelled back to the budtender and then told me I could enter the back room.

I walked through to the green room, and on the right I saw the display cases with a budtender behind them. I was quickly drawn to a new product I had yet to see anywhere, Herbalife. I asked what it was, but the budtender didn’t know much about it. He did tell me that despite the name, it does not contain marijuana. Herbalife, apparently, is a nutrition company.

The shop does not carry medibles, and I couldn’t find any extracts to dab. I was pleased to see some hash coins, but that is all it offers in terms of concentrates. As far as flowers, there were several small jars sitting on the glass counter, showing the strains that were available. The shop uses a color-coding system for pricing. A blue dot, which indicated an $8/gram price tag, marked two strains. The red dot had a larger selection, about eight strains at $10/gram. Two black-dot strains were priced at $15/ gram. The shop offers price discounts for larger orders.

A board on the wall displayed “caregiver specials,” including two ounces of red dot strains for $400 or black dot strains for $500. I then noticed the pre-rolls, and I could not resist getting one.

This shop has gone a step further in pre-rolled joints than most shops. It even has a cute name for them, "Rasta joints," and packages them in tamperproof blister packs. The joints cost $15 each, and there were two types to pick from: Cherry Pie and Blue Perm. I selected the Blue Perm, which was greeted by a nod of approval from the budtender. The Blue Perm, which is a cross of Blueberry and Permafrost strains, increased my appetite, helped with my joint pain and reduced my anxiety.

Steve Green, who writes this column every two weeks, uses marijuana to prevent seizures. He has no business ties to any dispensaries or products.

Capitol Cannabis

10 a.m.-8 p.m. daily 4513 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Lansing