Cannabist Show: He reviews pot; He’ll sell cannabis in three states

Our guests this week on The Cannabist Show: The Clinic’s Ryan Cook, and Cannabist pot critic Jake Browne.

Top marijuana news: Let’s have a look at the biggest of the many recent marijuana votes in the U.S House this week. All of them were important, including those involving industrial hemp and CBD, but most people were looking at two of the votes: One addressed medical marijuana, protecting patients in medically legal states. And the other was on recreational cannabis, protecting those who use, sell or possess weed in recreationally legal states.

On Wednesday, the medical marijuana amendment passed the House vote by a definitive margin: 242-186. The recreational cannabis amendment did not fare so well, losing 206-222. Technically, that’s a win-lose for legalization activists. But many pro-reform folks I talked with this week said that even though the recreational bill lost, it signifies something of a win for the legalization movement. The medical pot amendment that passed this week, it also passed in the House last year — but it took seven tries over 11 years to pass, according to the Marijuana Policy Project’s Dan Riffle. The recreational bill only lost this week by 16 votes, so activists think that puts them in a good place for next year or the year after.

Here’s what Riffle told us: “To start with 206 on the (recreational) amendment is much better than we expected. With five more states voting on regulation next year, it should only take us one or two more years to get this over the finish line.”

In viral video news, there is this totally bizarre video of fast food workers doing dabs (hits of potent marijuana extracts) from the drive-thru window. Can you imagine: You’re flipping burgers, dropping fries, working the window … and then some dude comes through the drive-thru offering to dab you out with super-potent-weed concentrates in exchange for a couple burgers?

This week’s guests: Jake Browne is a pot critic for The Cannabist — and a stand-up comedian. Ryan Cook is the general manager of one of the largest pot shop groups in the state of Colorado, and they’re still expanding.

Play along with the Pot Quiz: Let’s talk about the First Church of Cannabis, a pop star’s new weed anthem and some weed news from fictional hero Borat’s home country.