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Dear Stoner: I just had a stoned idea for homemade edibles: meal kits, like HelloFresh, but with infused ingredients or hash oil to make the meal yourself. Why haven’t we seen these yet, and how can I get it off the ground?
Wolfgang Pot
Dear Wolfgang Pot: Adding THC to the box makes everything more complicated. There are laws banning mail-order cannabis, even inside of Colorado. There are laws banning electronic payment systems for cannabis that mail-order subscriptions require. And, until last year, there was a law banning the sale of non-infused food in Colorado dispensaries.
Infusing meals is easy if you have access to retail cannabis, but the cooking part is still hard.
Westword
That last law was repealed for packaged food and drinks in 2024, so you could theoretically sell these meal boxes at dispensaries, but good luck getting dispensaries to refrigerate the necessary meat, produce and other ingredients. You could also partner with an intoxicating hemp extractor for “Delta-9 THC.” It’s a lot cheaper than licensed cannabis, and most of those brands are built on shipping THC across the country. Or you could create a subscription meal service without the hash oil and partner with a dispensary where customers pick it up. None of these options sound like a sustainable model, though, so your best bet might be building a brand via pop-up events until the laws change…or going underground and taking orders through social media. It’s not uncommon.
Send questions to marijuana@westword.com