Step inside a Colorado dispensary today, and you'll see more options than ever before: vapes and pre-rolls of all shapes and sizes, every flavor of THC gummy you can imagine, jars full of hash, bottles of infused drinks and lotions. But actual weed? That sticky, icky stuff you break apart and smoke? It used to be stickier, ickier and produced with more passion — and less mold remediation. Just ask the people who grow it, sell it and smoke it.
Few people in Colorado have smelled or seen more varieties of legal weed than Spencer Laster. In 2015, the year after recreational sales began in Colorado, he started working for what would become one of the state's largest dispensary chains, LivWell Enlightened Health; he's been budtending ever since. A consumer of cannabis since 2012, Laster now works at the Herbal Cure, a mom-and-pop dispensary in south Denver.
"Cannabis helped me be able to center and ground myself. I also like to make music and tie-dye, and it's been a great use for that creatively," says the longtime pot purveyor. "I would say I care greatly about the quality: how it's grown, how it's cured."
Laster isn't looking for the most expensive weed, just something with personality, from a grower he can trust. While he's proud of the Herbal Cure's selection and in-house cultivation, Laster doesn't have the same confidence in the majority of Colorado's stores and growers.
Read more at Westword
