At least, not with the meds on display recently.
See also: Medical marijuana dispensary review: Lyons Finest II in Denver
Green LeafThe shop is tucked in the middle of a small shopping center in the horn of land created by the intersection of South Quebec Street and East Iliff Avenue. The sign out front is discreet enough, though I think most people here know what discreet businesses with ambiguous names painted in green really are. The lobby was done up in pastel greens and purples with splatter paint accents. It was straight out of the late '80s -- and not something I think any of us really want to remember.2280 South Quebec Street Unit G Denver, CO 80231 303-990-9333
Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Raw marijuana price range: $7-$16+/gram $18-$60/eighth-ounce, $130-$260/ounce. Members receive punch card, daily specials and joint with purchase. Other types of medicine: Wax, edibles, vape pen refills. Online menu? Yes. Handicap-accessible? Yes. Recreational? No.
After filling out some privacy paperwork, I was buzzed back through a long hallway also painted up like an '80s jazzercise office. But it led to a more normal, modern bud bar.
The bar space itself is roomy, and there's some cool stencil/graffiti artwork hung on the walls that's for sale. An ATM takes up one corner of the room, and the rest is devoted to weed, with an L-shaped counter filled with more than twenty different jars of bud in tall, square display jars.
Aside from the strange paint job in the entryway, everything seemed normal until I walked over to the bud counter and saw a jar of some alleged Girl Scout Cookies cross selling for $60 an eighth.
I looked at the jar like you do when you see someone throwing up in public. My budtender chimed in and told me that taxes are included, but even that means Green Leaf is charging more than $55 for the bud itself. Even if it were the best dispensary weed I've seen in ages, it wouldn't be worth that price. As it turns out, it wasn't even up there with the $35/eighth top tier of the last few dispensaries we've reviewed.
There were other high-priced strains, like a $55/eighth Skywalker OG that looked and smelled like brown hay, as well as a few other underwhelming OGs for $50. First-time patients get $5 off your first eighth, but it doesn't apply to strains above $45 -- and even if it did, I wouldn't have wasted it here.The buds selling at $45 and $40 were wildly overpriced and mid-tier quality at best. That includes a lackluster Trainwreck, a leafy Super Sour Diesel with a sweetly rotten Golden Goat scent, and a Golden Goat that smelled like generic herb. The lowest-price-level buds, at $30 and $35 an eighth, looked about as good as a Midwest teenager's first-time grow in a closet powered by a couple of 75-watt lightbulbs. I'm not sure if it was from the stress of being poorly grown or if a male plant had gone unnoticed, but at least three of the strains on the low shelf were filled with immature seeds popping out of their pods.
Continue for the rest of the review and photos. My budtender, a woman in her late twenties with a light, vaguely foreign accent, stood by to help, though that consisted mostly of her pulling out a jar and telling me that "it's a good one." She was friendly and welcoming, but her assistance was meaningless, since even the seeded strains were "good."The BC OG was one of the few strains worth consideration and, ultimately, the only thing I could bring myself to take home this week. I've never done a review with just one strain of weed, but it was better than walking out empty-handed, which is probably what I would have done in any other situation the minute I saw a $60/eighth price tag and seeded bud in the same display cabinet.
To be fair, the BC OG wasn't all that bad. It wasn't great, either, but at least the small, slightly underdeveloped buds with scrawny calyxes had a decent enough odor to them and a dusting of amber trichome crystals throughout. The stock jar in the shop didn't have too much of a rubbery, OG stink to it, but the buds were more plump than most of the other selections. The tiny green buds had a stink hidden inside, though. Broken up at home, I was truly surprised by the mildly strong, earthy, fuel-like smell. It didn't stink up my whole office or anything, but at least it was noticeable.
It came through lightly in the flavor of the smoked buds, too, and overlooking a few snaps and crackles, the herb burned cleanly. Potency was there, and I had a nice, even head buzz within a few minutes of toking a bowl that lasted for a solid ninety minutes before quickly disappearing. Really, my only problem with it was the price: $45, tax included. That's top-top tier pricing in my book, and reserved for special, rare strains grown to perfection. This didn't hit any of those marks and was at least $10 overpriced.
Which, if you didn't get it by now, is my major complaint about Green Leaf: Its pricing is on another planet. I can't remember the last time I saw a $60 eighth of weed in a medical pot shop. That's even getting to be high in recreational pot shops. I could overlook that if the bud being offered at lower prices was worth it -- but it wasn't. The only way to get a decent price is to buy it by the ounce at $135 to $260. It cuts a $55 eighth down to where it should be: $32.50. But that leaves lower-income patients in the dark and would mean you'd have to go through an ounce of possibly seeded bud to get your money's worth.Read more reviews from Westword's medical marijuana dispensary critic, William Breathes, in our Mile Highs and Lows blog, and keep up with all your Colorado marijuana news over at The Latest Word.
