Dear Stoner: Why Do Colorado Natives Call Everyone Else Transplants?

Dear Stoner: The “natives” here like to throw around the word “transplant” a lot — with some vitriol, I might add. I’ve never heard this term where I come from (California and New York), and was wondering if it had anything to do with the weed revolution going on here.
Mara G

Dear Mara: That’s a funny connection, and although the word “transplant” has been used to describe new residents of Colorado for decades — and certainly since long before marijuana was legalized — you just might have given it new meaning. Definitions of transplant include “a plant that has been or is to be transplanted” and “a person or thing that has been moved to a new place or situation,” so “transplant transplant” could be a Denver-exclusive term for people who moved here specifically for legal marijuana.

It’s impossible to tell how many of the 100,986 new Coloradans who arrived here in 2015 came for pot, but Colorado was already nearly doubling the average U.S. population growth from 2010 to 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Being a transplant from Phoenix (another city full of people who weren’t born there), I can assure you that the word is used in other parts of the country. And if you’re sick of getting shit on by native Coloradans, wear basketball shorts and flip-flops outside when it’s below 30 degrees. You’ll blend right in.

Dear Stoner: I’m about to get my medical card. Would it be better to sign my caregiver rights over to a dispensary or private caregiver — or just grow my own?
Chase

Dear Chase: If you already know how to grow pot, then growing your own is the route to take. But if you have no experience growing, try experimenting with one or two plants, and in the meantime, sign over the rights to the remaining plants to a dispensary or caregiver while you learn. As you’ll soon find out, growing medicinal-grade cannabis can be very hard and time-consuming, and mistakes might take months instead of days to correct. The ideal situation would be to have a caregiver who will show you the ropes over the course of a few harvests, but finding someone that nice is easier said than done. Dispensaries give discounts and benefits to patients who sign over their caregiver rights (as you probably know, it allows medical dispensaries to grow more), but some are a little greedy and offer garbage deals like a flat discount of 10 percent off. If you’re considering signing over your growing rights to a pot shop, you should demand a sizable discount at the very least — if not some free weed every month.