OMG (left) and WTF

Heading east recently toward a concert at Snoqualmie Casino gave me the opportunity to try GreenLink, a medical-marijuana access point in Issaquah. GreenLink's owners, Lydia and Jake George, beat the odds by getting the Issaquah City Council to approve collectives back in 2010, working with the city to create a medical-marijuana ordinance after an initial dispute had resulted in a moratorium on access points.

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Cannatonics features a 1930s-style apothecary theme

The 1930s-nostalgia, apothecary-themed décor of Cannatonics makes it one of the most visually charming access points I've ever visited. Located in downtown Tacoma, is "not a commercial marijuana dispensary," the access point emphasizes in its patient orientation literature. It is, rather, a private cannabis collective where medical marijuana patients can get the medicine recommended by their health care professionals. But that doesn't change the fact that "several businesses do not approve of or accept" Cannatonics' mission of providing safe access to marijuana for those who need it, the membership sheet inform us. "Please don't ruin things for us" by medicating or loitering in front of our near the store, the sheet implores.

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"We're in the karma business," Jason of Seattle's Best Cannabis explained to me, the first time we talked on the phone. "And we want to keep it good." I thought a lot about that quote, as one is wont to do under the influence of marijuana, and after examining it from multiple angles, I like it a lot. Of course, it's cannabis, not karma, for which you donate $10 a gram, and Seattle's Best doesn't disappoint. Despite the fact that I caught them between harvests - when their stock was down to only two strains - those two, at least, were both excellent and showed signs of loving care being taken in their cultivation and curing.

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Quite a few folks within the medical marijuana community were unable to get past the name of the Dope Cup Medical Cannabis Awards, held April 21 at the beautiful venue Within Sodo and sponsored by Seattle's own Dope Magazine. Never mind that DOPE is an acronym for "Defending Our Patients Everywhere;" some patients feel they've fought too hard and too long to lose any ground in their eternal quest for respectability and inclusion. More >>

Gourmet Green, a medical marijuana access point on Aurora Avenue just north of Seattle, had only been open for two weeks when I visited on a recent Sunday, but they already had better customer service, by more knowledgeable budtenders, than some other collectives in town which are old enough to know better. Both Bob (who greeted me upfront in the reception area, processed my paperwork, and also helped me in the budroom) and Leslie (a lovely, personable lady and great conversationalist with lots of medicinal cannabis knowledge) are a little older than average for dispensary employees.

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J&K Collective, located in a residential section of Green Lake, offers a discreet alternative to more public shops. Its unobtrusive signage (just watch for the house with the green garage doors) and private location make J&K a good choice for patients who, for whatever reason, would prefer not to be seen leaving a dispensary.

I was very pleased, after a brief stay in the reception area, to learn from budtenders Paul and Cameron that J&K has a straight-across-the-board $10 per gram donation level. Patients can mix and match as many strains as they want to reach an ounce for a $240 donation, and new patients get a free prerolled joint (a $5 value). Moreover, patients who donate $50 or more get a free medible (also a $5 value).

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Cut Loose Collective opened just over six weeks ago in South Park, and it's off to a good start. "This is a substantial establishment," I thought as soon as I entered the reception area, noting the tasteful painting of a 1930s-era jazz band on the wall. Another idiosyncratic touch of class was the stained glass that serves as a reception window under which patients poke their medical marijuana authorizations and Washington I.D.'s. One other patient was ahead of me as I waited for admittance to the bud room, but she was quick to make her selections.More >>

It didn't take long to get a positive impression of Olympic Wellness, a medical-marijuana collective open since last June on Aurora Avenue North. Its spacious, well-appointed reception area has modern art on the walls. Waiting patients have medicinal cannabis-oriented publications Dope and NW Leaf on the table to read, with extra copies to take home if wanted. That happy trend continued in the bud room, where I learned from budtender Trevor that new patients get a free medible (a brownie, in my case) and a free quarter-gram of blonde kief.

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​The Holistic Choices, a medical-marijuana collective in Frelard, offers 25 strains of flowers, and you never have to wonder what the per-gram donation's going to be for any of them. Refreshingly, there's a straight-across-the-board $10/gram rate for everything in the house. Since some of the strains would almost certainly go for $15 at certain other collectives, this is a compelling reason to visit. Once I'd slipped my tamper-proof authorization form and Washington I.D. through a tiny slot at the bottom of a bulletproof glass window, budtender Ric admitted me to a waiting area full of original works of art. I learned that all the paintings were by local artists, and were available for sale to interested patients; in so doing, The Holistic Choices helps support the local arts community.

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​This week I visited the Cosmic Dragon Collective, the first shop in the past month without "Green" in its name. It's located in the Greenwood neighborhood, though, so I guess they still get to be part of my month-long lead-up to St. Patrick's Day, albeit on a technicality. After a quick and painless verification process, I was escorted to the bud room, and immediately noticed the glass display case held only nine strains of cannabis flowers and two kinds of hash (Master Kush and Pineapple Express).More >>