Theory Wellness
Theory Wellness should be on your go/to while traveling list for the best cannabis dispensaries in the land. Why would I make such a bold statement? Because my trip from Martha’s Vineyard to New Jersey can go a number of directions. Massachusetts is now one of the states that permits the sale of cannabis both for recreational purposes and also for medicinal alleviation of your ills.
While I’m fortunate to have a medical cannabis card in New Jersey for my glaucoma, there is no reciprocity in Massachusetts, unlike Rhode Island, where my New Jersey card is accepted. But I digress, there is a plethora of fine dispensaries in Great Barrington… I’ve visited two of them so far.
For New Yorkers seeking a respite from the Hamptons or New Jersey folks looking for something other than the Shore, the Berkshires have attracted summer folk for generations.
And now a new generation has discovered this bucolic and pristine, year-round vacation spot. I’m fortunate to have stumbled upon the Berkshires when I was in college at Emerson in the 1980’s. Tanglewood is located out in these mystical woods and the region is rife with intellectualism and experimentation pertaining to controlled substances. This is why cannabis has very few stigmas in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. They’ve been smoking weed here since before you were born.
I was listening to a Grateful Dead show that I had the luck to have attended on the way out to the Berkshires yesterday. As I passed through Worcester it all came flooding back to me. Funny how spiritual music can do that, and cannabis does the same thing for me. It’s uncanny and it’s why cannabis is my touchstone for healing what ails me.
My experience of Theory Wellness was not unlike the usual dispensary experience. You enter through a creatively landscaped path; Halloween is very important in Massachusetts! There is one short row for medical users, the other for recreational users and a third for picking up pre-orders. It is efficient and the line moves very quickly. The front “greeter” is smiling, kind and quite helpful. You move down your selected path to the second greeter who ensures your id is up to date and not expired. Pro-tip, have your current license in hand before you get this far, it makes the experience flow with ease, and you don’t have to be the one with the expired license like the folks in front of me in line. Silly!
You enter through the front door and get scanned in by the efficient and smiling security/door agent. It’s nice to see everything so well planned and executed. Impressive. Finally, you’re able to go into the queue. There is a menu at hand, and you can page through the different varieties of flower, concentrates, vape pens and edibles. They also had a couple different cannabis infused beverages that people were buying by the case. That’s really encouraging to me for other reasons, it’s good to see customers drinking their THC.
As I made my way through the catalogue, I picked a couple different strains in whole flower, Wedding Cake being a recommendation from the helpful budtender and Dosidos, one of my all-time favorites. I also picked up some whole flower pre-rolled joints in .50 mini pre-roll size. These are very helpful to me as my rolling skills have not evolved with my years in this regard. I have the rolling skills of a small soap dish, so the experience of finding small pre-roll joints makes my experience all the more satisfying and profound.
My budtender was kind, experienced and fun to interact with. I didn’t introduce myself to him, but I suspect that he knows by now who he was helping. That’s cool you know.
Theory Wellness looks from the outside to be a restaurant or an architect’s office by the pleasing pyramidal design and New England style- chic landscaping. Physically the store fits in on the main street in town and doesn’t shout to the world what it is. Not that it really matters in Great Barrington.
Theory Wellness is a really nice experience that should be on your visit list, if in the area for more than just a pick-me-up. They are a definite go/to.
Warren Bobrow is the CEO of Klaus Apothicaire, a 6x Author, Chef, Barman, Cannabis Alchemist, Master Mixologist. Some of his cannabis awards include: SXSW Cannabis Disruptor 2018, Berlin Bar Convent-Cannabis, and Moscow Bar Show-Master Class-Rum. He is the author of Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails, and Tonics, Available in Indie Bookstores, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indigo Books. See his cannabis creations on instagram.
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