WOMEN IN CANNABIS REMEMBER BROWNIE MARY 

ROHAN MARLEY TALKS LION ORDER

Nearly a decade ago, Rohan Marley helped his family take its first steps in the cannabis space, now his personal brand is rolling along strong after launching in Michigan. 

Rohan is the middle child of Bob Marley’s nine kids. He and Stephen are the closest in age of the group and were born a month apart in 1972. When it was time for the family to start dabbling in cannabis in the mid-2010s following the first successful legalization initiatives, Rohan took the lead. 

The family founded Marley Naturals in 2014. Marley Naturals was originally a partnership between Privateer Holdings. The brand would have some hiccups as it came to market. The family would buy the rights out in 2019 and take full control. Not too long after, Rohan would get the ball rolling on the cannabis element of Lion Order that recently launched in Michigan after a couple of years of pheno hunting before the flower went into full production. 

We flew out to Detroit to check out Rohan’s new flowers and hear the lessons learned in California. He kicked things off by describing the vibes associated with Lion Order. They are similar to what the phrase means in Rastafarianism and his father’s music.  Particularly, the ideas of strength, courage and righteousness in the face of oppression and adversity. 

In the song his father named Lion Order on his final studio album, Confrontation, he would sing on the themes of standing up for your rights and fighting injustice, as he did frequently throughout his career. 

After a walk through 305 Farms cultivation facility where the Lion Order line is in production, we sat down with Marley. 

“After years of being an entrepreneur and wanting to do things my way, which is things I love, being a part of something that’s more than just cannabis. Being a part of a movement. And that movement is Lion Order and just the philosophy of Rastafari,” Marley told L.A. Weekly. 

His goal going in this time was to create something he’d want to smoke and share with his brothers. Marley’s years in the coffee industry have made picking out the notes in aromas a regular thing. With Lion Order, his plan was to hunt down the flavors of his childhood. 

He remembered the flavors he would come across in college. He didn’t know what indica or sativa was, he just knew he loved herb. He has spent the rest of his life chasing some of those flavors from his youth, just now it’s for the sake of good business as opposed to just his personal enjoyment.  

“For me, it was like a pheno hunt all the time once I left college,” Marley said. 

Marley would get his hands on some cannabis in Miami not long into the pandemic that had him thinking, this is really it? Eventually, Marley was introduced to Heavyweight Heads by fellow University of Miami alumni Mike James. James also played six years in the NFL after his time at The U. 

“And those guys, we spent about two and a half years trying to develop that taste profile I wanted. They would come in and I’d say that ain’t it,” Marley said. “I started to like get into the whole strain and my own thing to like all right, we need to create our own movement. Because I don’t like the herb that’s out there. I want my own herb of what I like to smoke. So those guys from Heavyweight Heads helped me to develop these genetics here. And when they brought the right one, I knew that was the one.”

That was King Clem, the current flagship strain. The King Clem’s nose profile is somewhere in the middle between a sour and an OG. It’s not quite either, but you can detect certain similar notes for sure. The structure is a bit chunkier than either of them too.

King Clem

Marley knew the King Clem was the one before he even lit it. 

“Before you light it, you know they see that people pre-pull it now, when you get all those terpenes and all that flavor. That’s what I love. Then when I spark that and I’m getting that all together, I see that’s the one, so for me, that’s what we create,” Marley said. 

Marley said it didn’t take long for them to create the rest of the line after that because they knew what ingredients would help produce the flavors he liked. Marley notes while he liked the more tropical flavor profiles, he still has the OG gassy thing in the mix. 

We asked Marley what he thought of the argument that it’s hard for a cannabis brand to be elite in the eyes of the biggest whale buyers without the real strain name and lineage on the bag. He pointed to the traceability back to the farm. 

“So if I create my own, like cooking, if I create my own dish and you like my dish, and you’re gonna eat that right? Then you can go there and eat his dish, but this is my dish. This is what I like,” Marley replied. 

The conversation moved on to his early efforts in California. He called Marley Naturals a family movement that was ahead of its time. He argued it was one of the first in the game to ever have to deal with licensing and royalties in the midst of our ongoing prohibition of cannabis.

305 Farms

Marley argued that Marley Naturals went through the ups and downs of any startup. 

“What I learned from that is that when you come onto my herbs, it has to be my way,” Marley said. “The partners learned some things and they’re doing wonderful things with beautiful accessories. We’re developing the herb.”

He went on to subtly emphasize the difference between the two, noting it’s one thing to have something with a licensing component, it’s another thing to have something that’s your own. 

Fans line up for a Lion Order in-store meet and greet.

One of the things we noted was the move to packaging that seemingly would provide longer shelf life with Lion Order compared to Marley Naturals wood-top jars that needed to be shrink-wrapped with a Boveda inside, and it was still a little rough by the time it got to the shop.

Marley explained the packaging was one of the things the family tried on a quest for sustainability that can sometimes make them tricky to work with. 

“What’s tricky is like, to work with us, you have to have ingenuity and be able to create things that are following in the family guidelines. Sustainable movement, you know? So we went into the wood and learn that because, obviously, as a consumable, it takes time to get to you, the consumer,” Marley said. “You have to go to the thing, then the journey, then the travel, and so that shelf life has to be preserved a certain way in order to maintain that freshness.” 

Marley argued it’s not that the herb is not good. It’s just the way to procure it, in a way to give it a shelf life, is one of the things the family has learned in their quest to be as sustainable as possible.

Marley went on to discuss what it’s been like watching legalization from the context of a Rastafari, essentially getting the right to pray legalized. 

“It’s beautiful and we love it because you know, it’s different when you’re driving down the street and the policeman is behind you. You don’t panic if you got the herb. You know that it can be good. Because like, people can create a lot of anxiety over herb. But it’s not really the herb that gives you anxiety, it is the consequences. So when you alleviate that, it’s wonderful. So we’re very happy about the movement, a part of that movement,” Marley said. 

Lion Order is currently popping in Michigan, expect to see it in other states in the not-too-distant future.

MEDICAL CANNABIS PRISONER LUKE SCARMAZZO FREE

Luke Scarmazzo was California’s most prominent medical cannabis operator serving federal time and he did so for nearly 15 years until his release on Feb. 3. 

For those many years, Scarmazzo served as the face of the worst-case scenario for state’s medical cannabis operators. He was walking proof that even if you were operating in full compliance with state law, the feds could come to rip you away from your family at any moment. 

There is a fair argument to be made that of the cannabis offenders released in recent years to much-deserved excitement, Scarmazzo was the most connected to the modern industry. Modesto, the home of the nonprofit California Healthcare Collective (CHC) for its year in operation, is now riding its own cannabis wave that hit the shore a bit later than coastal California. We even covered cannabis sales at the Modesto Reservoir during Dirtybird Campout.  

After giving him some room to catch up with family and friends, we caught up with Scarmazzo last weekend. 

The conversation would start with the fact he’d been the main face of California medical cannabis prisoners since the release of Eddy Lepp in 2016. But the two were on very different boats. Scarmazzo operated a nonprofit collective while Eddy grew some legendary “smell it from the highway” big crops. Eddy pushed the limits and many of his peers up north weren’t as surprised when he caught a case even though he was compliant with state law. Scarmazzo on the other hand represented a lot more people doing exactly what he was doing that didn’t want to end up in similar circumstances. As such, he’s had a lot of different people and organizations advocating for his release throughout his whole incarceration. With Eddy it was more of a cult hero support, but I can’t imagine most of those supporting Lepp thought they’d ever go as big as he did. 

So with all that, when did Scarmazzo know this time it was real? The day he was released. 

“I woke up, kind of just did the normal prison routine,” Scarmazzo told L.A. Weekly. “I gotta make coffee, getting ready to work out. And I just kind of go jump on the email to check the day’s emails.”

When he logged in there were significantly more emails in there than usual.

“So I knew something was up,” Scarmazzo said. “So I was like, OK, so I open it up. And the first email I see is from my attorney, and the subject line says, ‘you’re a free man.’ So I just stared at the computer for a few minutes.”

Things got a bit more obvious in 2017 that Scarmazzo was getting targeted for more time over his music career where he’d taken some shots at the feds in his lyrics. In January of that year, Scarmazzo’s co-defendant, Ricardo Montes, had his sentence commuted by President Obama on his way out the door. Scarmazzo, who also applied, wasn’t as lucky. And given the nature of how clemency works he never found out why, but to onlookers, it seemed pretty obvious. 

The pair had worked on their clemency petitions in an informal clemency clinic in the prison library where Scarmazzo and Mission Green founder Weldon Angelos would help guys file their petitions and legal documents for free. Scarmazzo had wrapped his head around legal forms and paperwork over the first five years of his sentence on the hunt to find a way out. He was essentially offering up the skill set he’d built in that time to other prisoners free of charge. 

“So we did this kind of clemency clinic, and then we, when it came to our turn to file, Weldon and I worked on both mine and Ricardo’s clemency petition,” Scarmazzo said. “They’re basically identical petitions. I mean, we were sitting together, and we were charged the same. We were both co-founders of CHC. So it was like, our conduct and all the circumstances of our case were pretty much the same.”

Scarmazzo noted the petitions were identical to the point all he had to do was swap out his name and personal information. 

Scarmazzo would see Montes’ name among those granted clemency, but not his own. That was seemingly the point it felt the most personal. 

“I knew something like this has to be something personal, I mean, this has to be an issue that’s directed directly at me, rather than us because the president obviously granted his and then called his sentence outdated and unjust. And I’m like, well, hello, my sentence is the same. So if you think this is outdated, adjust my findings, too.”

Scarmazzo reiterated he was happy to see Montes walk. The pair had been friends for many years before their ordeal. But he remembers one of the low points of the moment is having to explain the situation to his daughter. 

“I was really happy to see him get out though,” Scarmazzo said. “He’s my brother. I’ve known Ricardo since we were kids. So, but you know, it was bittersweet. Like it was hard to kind of, I guess the hardest part was calling my family and my daughter and just telling them, hey it didn’t come through for us, but it came through for Ricardo. I want everybody to be happy for him.”

He knew regardless of his own circumstances, the moment had to be treated like it was a big win, because it was.

Most of the federal actions that followed what happened to Scarmazzo felt targeted. The last major federal action on a cannabis retailer operating in compliance with state law was 11 years ago during the Oaksterdam raids. Its founder, Richard Lee, bankrolled Proposition 19 in 2010 with legalization, only losing by a few points. The feds got their revenge on him a couple of years later. 

One of the things Scarmazzo is most thankful for is the 29-page opinion the judge wrote when granting a five-year supervised release for the rest of his sentence. The long document articulates the changing of the times and other people will be able to use it as case law in their own quests for freedom. 

The team at the nation’s oldest cannabis law reform group, The National Organization for The Reform of Marijuana Laws, was happy for what Scarmazzo’s freedom meant in the continued wave of cannabis prisoners getting out in recent years.

“I think it definitely sets a fantastic precedent that we’re starting to see federal judges reexamine the sentences that have been handed out by other judges, or sometimes even by themselves,” NORML Political Director Morgan Fox told L.A. Weekly. “When they start to look at changes of both state and federal policy and as well as the length of sentences that had been handed down for violations of federal infractions over the years since national attitudes have been changing.”

Fox noted there’s a lot of people out there that don’t have the connections and resources that might get lost in the shuffle here. 

“And at the same time, there’s also just the opinion of one judge in one particular case,” Fox said. “It’s really going to take a change in federal law in order to start providing relief on a massive scale for not only people at the federal level, but people at the state level.”

California NORML called Scarmazzo the last known federal medical marijuana prisoner, following his release. 

DECEMBER IS A GREAT MONTH FOR CANNABIS

Many argue that November is one of the best months to buy pot given the deals and steals of Black Friday and Green Wednesday, but don’t sleep on the quality available and prices when purchasing your weed in December. 

One of the main feathers in the hype for December is the fact it’s just a little bit further out from the Croptober harvest. In the first half of November, you might still be waiting for the girls that finished late to cure up to perfection. That’s not a problem in December, in fact, the whole month much of the year’s harvest will be in the golden zone for quality. 

And we’ll be the first to note there are a lot of variables on how long that golden zone lasts. The best hope is the pot never leaves an awesome environment before it ends up in the hands of a consumer, but that’s few and far between. That’s why the date is so important. 

The accountability of shelf time says a lot in the current market. Dispensaries don’t want flowers that don’t move. They want you to get the heat, apart from a charlatan or three trying to make a quick buck. But even then, that harvest date can transcend shady retail practices that make you think you’re getting a deal when, in reality, the consumer is doing them a favor by taking it off their hands for anything.  

This has led to the best cultivators in the world living by their packaging dates — that’s the moment the clock really starts ticking. Especially given in how many cases the weed was already finished for a bit before it made it to bags or jars. 

One brand that’s based a lot of its business model around the heat and keeping to a short shelf life is California Artisanal Medicine. 

“We put our harvest date and our package date, because after 90 days from the package date, your product is aging and will not hold all the attributes we look for in top-shelf cannabis,” CAM founder Anna Willey told L.A. Weekly. 

Willey went on to note the biggest things impacted are the smell, how the buds break up and moisture content. 

As for the biggest factors Willey sees outside not hitting the gold standards in temperature and humidity?

“The way it was dried and the evenness of your environment in the dry room,” Willey answered. “Also the health of the plant at the end of the cycle and the trim time.”

While Willey is an indoor cultivator, this all rings true for the outdoor that dropped a couple of months ago.

Another point proving the quality of cannabis in December is the Emerald Cup’s old format before the move to Los Angeles for the award show. Back in the day, we knew who the world champs were a couple of weeks into December. It was all wild and fresh heat. The new extended format creates a bit more hype over many months but adds the additional factor of which weed actually holds up through that time until it gets into the hands of the judges.  

THE ROAD TO LA STARTS: THE EMERALD CUP HARVEST BALL

The rain could not stop the heat at the second annual Emerald Cup Harvest Ball in Santa Rosa. 

The event serves as the kickoff to cup season with the winners getting crowned in roughly six months in L.A. at the awards show. This weekend had traditionally served as the whole show for years, before the new format. The quests of farmers looking for next year’s hottest genetics, the chance to survey the harvest, and the awards show were all crammed into one action-packed weekend over 17 years that continued to get larger and larger. 

With the awards show still months out, the weekend now focuses on the cannabis of the moment and seeds. The seed and genetics part can’t be overstated. In more recent years we’re even seeing tissue cuttings available for farmers terrified of the dreaded Hop Latent Viroid, commonly known as HLVd. Cuttings with HLVd have been the downfall of mega nurseries people were convinced were here to stay. But regardless of the high-tech stuff, the regular seeds and cuttings called clones are a huge part of the show.

We were reminded of this when we walked in the gate on Day One. Emerald Cup Competition Director Victoria Shea grabbed me out of line just before gates opened so I’d make it to the judges’ meet-and-greet on time. The public hadn’t even been allowed in yet and there were already lines at the Compound Genetics and Purple City Genetics Booths as their peers participating in the Harvest Ball queued up to get the latest and greatest genetics from both. That wave of people on the hunt would increase tenfold once the gates opened up. 

And those who weren’t looking for cuts were looking for great cannabis or trying to convince people they had it; plenty did. 

Our Favorites

Higher Heights from Comptche, California, had a lovely spread. The two standouts for us were the Carambola and the Purple Candy Cane. The Purple Candy Cane was a bit more complex on the nose. 

Pacific Cultivation was another absolute banger spread for 2022. Everything came out awesome, but it would be criminal to not highlight the Hippie Crasher. The pairing of Kush Mints and Wedding Crasher was among the finest offerings at the whole harvest ball. The Caked Up Cherries was our second favorite from the Pacific Cultivation lineup.

Pacific Cultivation

Humboldt Seed Company had their new Jelly Donutz collaboration with Casa Flor on display. You could certainly smell the sugary goodness some people like to start their mornings with. 

Moon Valley Cannabis’s Wine Country-grown pot also was pretty awesome. The standout for us was the Grapes and Cream, but the Zlurpy was very competitive, too. We could see people leaning in that direction for sure. 

Moon Valley Cannabis

Bigfoot Cannabis Co’s rendition of Gelato 41 was stunning. It was one of our favorite versions we have ever seen that wasn’t indoor. The only one nicer won the Cannabis Cup in 2018. 

Fidel’s spread was as top-class as to be expected. It included the KMZ that won the Transbay Challenge I hosted in Los Angeles this past August. The blend of Kush Mints and zkittelz is a flavor profile in its own league. 

Fidels

One of the loudest jars of the day had to be the Garlotti from Good Good. Once you cracked it open, you were hit with an explosion of garlic terps so strong your eyes and sinuses might water up a bit. But don’t worry, that’s definitely a good thing. 

Garlotti

Sun Roots Farm’s Velvet Papaya won the contest for the thing I think we’ll have the best shot of smoking in a hash format. The terp-loaded strain was said to produce a decent amount of the resin you need to make hash, which essentially is collected plant resin.

IS AI IMPAIRMENT TESTING NEXT FOR CANNABIS? 

Predictmedix Inc. may have the answer to squash concerns about stoned driving.

The lack of a validated mechanism to test someone’s level of impairment from cannabis use on the spot has complicated the national rollout. Regulators and elected officials vent their fears about stoned driving all the time. You can test someone’s saliva, urine, blood or hair, but these detection methodologies are too dated for the modern era. Mostly because they aren’t focused on the moment but whether you’ve used drugs over a more extended time frame that goes long after the impairment has stopped. If you were to base impairment on those tests, you would have a ton of false positives since more of the workforce are enjoying off-the-clock use and have those spent THC metabolites in their system. 

The same people who don’t want to change drug testing laws to protect off-the-clock use are ironically well-versed in the reality of current testing not truly benefiting public safety in real time. But what if you could use artificial intelligence to determine someone’s level of impairment in 20 seconds?

Predictmedix calls itself an emerging provider of rapid health screening, medical devices, and remote patient care solutions globally. Over the last three years, the now publicly traded company has raised $3 million. 

“And all that money has gone into developing the technology. And now we’re commercially deployed,” Toronto venture capitalist Steve Singh told L.A. Weekly. He went on to break down the difference between their tech and the breathalyzer tech that’s been in development for years. “With the breathalyzer and you get a result in 20 minutes that’s biased, with Rahul’s technology, it’s 20 seconds and unbiased.”

The Rahul that Singh mentioned is Dr. Rahul Kushwah who founded Predictmedix after leaving academia to pursue AI-based impairment testing. To date, 50,000 people have now been screened by his Safe Entry Stations at places like The Super Bowl and F1 races. 

The stations are powered by a proprietary AI. It uses multispectral cameras to analyze physiological data patterns with its screening technology to detect many conditions. They include cannabis or alcohol impairment, infectious diseases, mental illness, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, respiratory illnesses, COVID 19, and signs of fatigue. The stations are about 90% accurate. Kushwah told LA Weekly that the tech still had trouble with people under the age of 18 and over 75. If you were to remove those groups from the data pool, he estimates the accuracy would be well over 95%. 

“It’s almost like we have developed this new language. With this language, you can write impairment, you can write fatigue. You can write health care parameters, screening for diseases, whatever you want. So effectively, we have a platform that can be used to screen an unlimited number of things,” Kushwah said. 

We asked Kushwah how helpful it is to have the road out in front of them with no real sign of another mechanism to test a person for their current level of cannabis impairment in the near future.

“So let’s say we talk about cannabis impairment. First of all, this whole concept of using breathalyzers for cannabis just cannot work from a scientific perspective because the only time you can make a freaking correlation is if you can measure the level of THC in the brain,” Kushwah replied. “The THC has to cross the blood-brain barrier to impair you in the first place. So that’s why we’re not even going after measuring THC. What we’re identifying are signs of impairment.”

Kushwah went on to explain, Predictmedix can actually create thresholds in terms of what you want to define as impairment within your organization. If it’s zero tolerance, they can make it that way in the Safe Entry Stations. The red light is going to come on, even if somebody is showing just the slightest signs of impairment. 

Since launching the Safe Entry Station, Predictmedix has worked to scale down the machines to something a bit more manageable. They’ve not reached the point where they’ll release a phone app that pairs with a small multispectral camera you plug into your phone. 

“You put the camera in front of you, you look at the camera, you say a few sentences that are popping up on your phone and that’s it, and that can be used to identify impairment in 10 to 15 seconds,” Kushwah said. 

Kushwah explained the reason for using multispectral imaging is because they don’t really care about how you look on top of your skin. He argues there is no such thing as looking stoned. 

“It’s more about, how are the changes in the underlying blood flow patterns that we are able to identify. And that’s part of the reason that our technology, I mean, is a bit Star Trek in a way. I mean, just think about it. Not only the technology can tell you if you’re impaired if you’re fatigued, but it can also tell you your heart rate, breathing rate, temperature and a lot of your vitals, without even touching you,” Kushwah said. “ And we have completed a few clinical studies in different parts of the world where we have had medical institutions basically signing off on our technology and saying how this is the future and the future is now.”

The app could certainly be a game changer. Imagine police officers being able to give people impairment tests without even getting out of their cars. If they fail, they can do a full sobriety test that would confirm the test or catch a false positive

We’ll continue to keep an eye on how this plays out.  

THE WEED, SEX, AND CHOCOLATE GUIDE 2023

The Weed, Sex, and Chocolate Guide is back to help you with your quest to enhance the Valentine’s Day festivities.

Weed is one of the greatest Valentine’s Day gifts of all, regardless of your plumbing. You can buy it for the person you started dating last week or last decade and you never have to worry about it being too over the top. Not the lube, but the other stuff. 

We’ve always used this list to highlight the chocolate of the moment. We’re also trying to include plenty of new faces this year, but you’ll certainly recognize a couple of OGs that just have it down. Nevertheless, we’re sure this lineup of cocoa in all its glory produced all over California will fill the air with, at the very least, a love of weed chocolate.  

The Weed

Alien Labs – Super Silver Haze x Xeno

The pheno of SSH x Xeno that we tried was probably the haziest American thing we’ve ever had the chance to sample. It tastes more like something from Europe than Sacramento. I think the thing that shocked us the most was just how overpowering the Haze terps were over the complexity of Xeno. A lot of people would argue hazes are some of the best sex weeds with the exception of this dominatrix I knew from San Francisco who said Blue Moonshine. But I think she just wanted a heavy indica to make it easier to tie people up. 

Symbiotic Genetics Rosin

Courtesy of Kalya Extracts

Symbiotic Genetics is one of the most stored seed companies of the decade. In addition to its genetics taking top honors at Chalice, its work has dotted podiums all over the world for years. I even saw some Mimosa grown in Africa that would be competitive. As luck would have it, the amazing flavors are now available in hash made by some of the world’s best extractors. Keep an eye out for their work with Royal Key Organics and Kalya. 

The Chocolate

Fig Farms – High Flyin Chocolates

Courtesy of Fig Farms

The first-ever Emerald Cup indoor flower champions are diving into the world of edibles with a new chocolate offering. Made from the same quality material that’s taken home a podium spot in every contest it has ever entered, you’ll certainly be able to feel the difference. But the actual flavor of the Cookies and Cream rosin-infused chocolates is spot on, too, with no weedy flavor to it at all. 

Oui’d Confections

Courtesy of Ouid

Is another rosin chocolate starting to make waves, Ouid is owned and operated by Michelin and James Beard Award-winning chefs Matthew Kim and Matt Rowbotham. The pair strived to bring their high-end cooking experience to the world of cannabis edibles. They argue that they are putting out restaurant-quality confections and it would be hard to say otherwise. Ouid Confections is available all over Los Angeles. 

Cosmic Cookie Dough

Courtesy of Cosmic

We covered the tale of Cosmic Cookie Dough last year, and they remain one of the easiest ways to please vegan edible lovers. If you want to show your vegan lover you care, bake some up for the holiday or just bring two spoons and raw dog it. There are no eggs, so you don’t have to worry about food poisoning. 

Punch Edibles

Courtesy of Punch Edibles

Punch always has a Valentine’s day offering, but this year, the new half cookie bar is definitely our pick. Punch is a company that was made famous during the medical era for its potency but had to fall back on quality alone once the value buying aspect of cannabis edibles was lost to the 100mg THC cap that came with Prop 64. This year the company celebrates a decade of getting Southern California lit with its exceptional edibles. 

Native Humboldt

Courtesy of Native Humboldt

Want to get your V-day chocolate from a women-owned farm in the heart of The Emerald Triangle? Look no further than Native Humboldt. The bars are filled with the quality and love of the game it takes to be a survivor up north these days. With so many farms devastated over the past few years up north, it’s important to support the farmers up there when you get the chance, but we’re not telling you to buy it out of sympathy. It’s great chocolate. 

Jelly Wizard Magic Morsels

Courtesy of Jelly Wizard

We have been a wizard gang since the moment they entered the recreational market. We were literally standing at the booth smoking a blunt with them when they made their first legal sale at Kushstock a couple of years ago. While the gummies helped put them on the map along with some killer hash and flower, do not sleep on Jelly Wizard’s chocolate offering. You can truly taste the hype in The Magic Morsels. 

The Sex

Flora + Bast Aphrodisia Intimate Arousal Oil

Courtesy of Fiona + Bast

The dual purpose oil is designed for both topical and edible adventures in the bedroom. Now is the $77 price tag steep for 1,700mg CBD and 1,000mg CBG? Maybe that’s just the cost of great cannabinoid-laced sex these days. Flora + Blast note when applied topically it makes you slippery and stimulates the libido. If you eat it, the CBD makes your Valentine’s Day hookup less regrettable. The oil also comes in a Sex System they call “the kit” (not my quotations) because why not, right? That set features a QR code to download the book “Becoming Cliterate” by author and sex educator, Laurie Mintz, Lelo’s sonic massager Sona II Cruse and the Aphrodisia Oil for $149. 

Lavinia Oh.Hi Lubricant

Courtesy of Lavinia

In one of this year’s list’s most heartwarming tales, here is Lavinia’s backstory that I couldn’t possibly word better:

“The brand was founded in 2021 by Katie Enright, a former celibate studying to be a nun. In a quest to help herself and others obtain easy, powerful, multiple orgasms, Enright began by studying cannabis and sex, and created her first product for herself, then for friends, then friends of friends. After an earth-shattering orgasm, Lavinia’s first product, oh.hi, was born.”

The company claims the THC and CBD-infused lube increases blood flow for heightened sensation when applied vaginally or for Valentine’s Day butt stuff. Oh.hi is latex friendly, glycerin-free, glycol-free, paraben-free, hypoallergenic, unscented, unflavored, and 100% vegan. It’ll take about 15 minutes to work, not the slippery part, the weed part. Oh.hi is available at dispensaries all over California.