Holiday high

My town just got a brand-new dispensary. I want to give all of my recreational friends fancy and delicious chocolates for the holidays. I know that you still need a medical card to purchase at a dispensary, but are you legally allowed to give it as a gift to anyone?

—Figg E. Pudding

According to Proposition 64, any adult (meaning over the age of 21) is allowed to give any other adult up to an ounce of marijuana, so my answer is: Of course you can! I mean: IANAL (that’s internet shorthand for “I am not a lawyer”), so I called my lawyer. Omar Figueroa. He’s fantastic. He agreed that if you legally purchased some goodies and gave them away, you aren’t breaking California law. You are breaking a federal law, but I don’t think the feds are really worried about you giving your homies some candy bars. However, don’t tell the dispensary that you plan to share your goodies with folks that aren’t cannabis patients; “diversion” of medical cannabis to non-patients is illegal, so the dispensary doesn’t need to know about you taking advantage of this loophole. Weed is gonna be legal in like a month, and anyone over the age of 21 will be able to walk into a shop and buy some edibles, so just be cool about your outlaw lifestyle until then, okay? Enjoy your holidaze!

High! I am planning on attending the Emerald Cup this year. Any tips?

—Dorothy N. Toto

This year’s Emerald Cup is gonna be a blast! Besides the great music (the music venue is kinda small, so be sure you are in the right spot to catch your fave bands) and good grub (food truck heaven!), there will be more than 500 different vendors, from growers to glassblowers. Not to mention all the speakers (see a list at https://the emeraldcup.com) and general merriment. Everyone should go at least once, and I am not just saying that because I have been a judge for the past three years and the emcee for the past five or six. Here is my advice:

Wear comfortable shoes. Bring your rec! If you do not have your rec, you will not be able to enter the medical vendors pavilion. They are very strict about this. They have a doctor doing on-site recs, but the line for that is longer and moves slower than all seven seasons of Game of Thrones. Stay hydrated. Be careful with the edibles and the edible samples. Those little 5 miligram chocolates, mints and hard candies will sneak up on you after you have had seven or eight, or twelve. Wear layers. It is almost always cold outside, but the music hall gets pretty warm. Bring money. You are gonna want to buy a gram of this, an eighth of that, maybe a packet of seeds, and “ooh look, this necklace is hella cool!” The Emerald Cup is a great place to do the holiday shopping. Treat everyone with respect and patience, and have fun.