Pubdate: Wed, 04 Sep 2013
Source: Seattle Weekly (WA)
Copyright: 2013 Village Voice Media
Website: http://www.seattleweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/410
Author: Steve Elliott

THE SOLUTION: NO PROBLEM!

North Seattle medical-marijuana access point The Solution has one of
the most impressive bud rooms around, once you get past their large
(but quite spare-actually, underdecorated) waiting room. Mercifully,
the wait was short, since there's not much to engage your eyeballs in
the waiting room, just a dozen or so chairs.

But all is forgiven upon entering the inner sanctum, where one is
greeted by not one but five identically stocked medicine stations,
which facilitate much quicker patient service. Not that my experience
ever felt rushed at The Solution; budtender Dylan took the time to
fully answer all my questions and to show me every strain I requested
without a hint of impatience.

If you have one of the newfangled vape pens that are all the rage
lately-and if you haven't tried one in a while, the technology has
improved by leaps and bounds-The Solution has a good selection of $40
cartridges prefilled with a half-gram of cannabis oil. This oil runs
from 37.5 percent to 40 percent THC, and is quite effective, either
with the Tristik vape pen I already had or with the portable O-Pens
available for $20 apiece at The Solution; if you buy two cartridges,
they'll throw in an O-Pen free.

But as convenient, discreet, and effortless as the vape pens are, my
first love will always be organic cannabis flowers themselves, so
after selecting a cartridge of the hybrid strain White Widow (which
Dylan obligingly let me screw onto my vape pen to ensure its
compatibility), I was on to perusing the 17 strains of buds. Making
the selection process easier and more fun was the across-the-board
$10-a-gram pricing structure (or you can get 12.5 grams of any strain
for $99, which is just $7.92 a gram).

Eyeballing the sativa end of the bar first, I was struck by the beauty
of the Sour Diesel flowers, and decided those would be my "working
meds" for the next few days. Sour Diesel, while zapping nausea and
helping transcend pain, also can result in a burst of creative energy
that is just the thing for morning and midday medication. Its fuelish
aroma may be an acquired taste, but devotees of the Sour D will settle
for nothing else.

Fully intending to select an indica or hybrid strain next, I was
waylaid by the crystalline comeliness of another sativa strain, Sugar
Plum. With a knowing twinkle in his eye, Dylan opened the bud jar; the
sweet, tantalizing aroma of ripe fruit terpenes mingling with the
heady zing of fine cannabis sealed that deal in a hurry, with visions
of Sugar Plum dancing in my head.

I wasn't disappointed upon toke-testing Sugar Plum back at home. This
is one of those delicious strains that tastes even yummier than it
smells-better yet, the taste lasts almost all the way through a joint.
The heady effects come on with a warm glow of positivity, potentiated
by the fruity terpenes and bringing almost instant relief.
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MAP posted-by: Matt