With Ontario’s provincial government ramping up to legalize marijuana sometime this summer, the phrase “green living” is poised to take on a whole new meaning.
For the first time in its 12-year history, the Green Living Show (April 6-8), the largest eco-conscious consumer show in Canada, will be giving a dedicated main stage and educational feature exhibit to cannabis experts and exhibitors.
This expanded presence at a long-running event is yet another example of weed going mainstream. Cannaspace will have everything from medical expertise to vape raffles, with products and programming designed to attract new pot consumers and seasoned smokers alike.
Here are five exhibitors, products and events to check out this weekend.
1. Freshen up with Milkweed’s Post Sesh Scent (booth #406)
One of the worst things about pot is the smell, which lingers for ages and does a pretty good job at advertising your smoking habits to everyone sharing a building with you.
If you’d like to avoid smelling like a 60s college dorm or incurring the wrath of your roommates/parents/significant other(s), Milkweed, a Toronto-based purveyor of artisan-made cannabis essentials, has you covered. Post Sesh Scent uses a mixture of orange, lavender and frankincense essential oils and golden jojoba oil, equipped with a roller ball for easy application. The product is specifically designed to blend with the scent of marijuana, so it leaves your space smelling sweet, not skunky.
If you hit up Milkweed’s booth this weekend, you can snag a bottle for $25 – marked down from the regular $35.
2. Sign up for simplified and affordable smoking (booth #309)
If terms like THC and CBD befuddle you, this booth is for you. Spectrum Cannabis is an international medical cannabis brand that aims to demystify medical marijuana.
Their products are colour-coded based on how much THC and CBD (the two main active compounds found in pot) each contains and what kind of effects they have, so even the least experienced cannabis users will know exactly what they’re getting. Tweed is also the first licensed Canadian medical marijuana producer to offer income-based discounts. Folks with a yearly income of less than $29,000 get a 20 per cent discount on all products if they register online.
3. Personalize your pot experience – and maybe win a free vape (booth #409)
Sail Cannabis aims to reduce the stigma associated with cannabis and bridge the gap between health care practitioners, medicinal users and regulated vendors. While they already have an online community for users to share knowledge and experiences, they are also developing two online resources to help patients take control of their medication.
The first is the cannabis log, a medically devised tool that lets people rate how well a particular strain of cannabis met their medical needs. The second, the “Strain Discover Tool,” lets users input data about symptoms and level of experience with pot. It then recommends strains and products tailored to each patient’s needs. The resources aren’t set to launch until May, but you can to test them out at the Cannaspace. There will also be a raffle to win a Pax 2 vaporizer.
4. Find out how strong pot brownies really are (booth #407)
A perennial predicament: that supposedly conservative bite of an edible that leaves you totally greened out; or that extra-large bite that doesn’t affect you at all.
A device called tCheck provides a solution to this problem by letting you test the potency of your pot infusions at home (as long as they’re made with coconut oil, olive oil, butter or alcohol), with results in 45 seconds to a minute.
Their website offers a free CBV (cerebral blood volume) calculator to help you set the potency of a recipe per serving, and the tCheck measuring device pairs with your phone so you can test on the go and never worry about consuming too much or too little.
5. Learn all about cannabis, from the basics to niche knowledge (Main Stage)
While the 2017 Green Living Show also featured a Cannaspace, this year marks the first dedicated Cannaspace stage. The space is being put to good use with nearly 20 talks and panels planned over the weekend. Topics include everything from a discussion on cannabis in the workplace, to a seminar on how to use cannabis more effectively in cooking, to a weed sustainability panel. Speakers will include Emma Baron from Milkweed, Chris Mayerson of Aurora Cannabis and Mika Unterman of Sail Cannabis.
