In a way, I kind of miss the old Patients Plus. Not because it had good medical cannabis for sale. In fact it was quite the opposite. But I liked it because it exemplified the type of neon-green, warehouse-bud-filled dispensary I like to avoid -- and I would often point out the low-rent shop to visiting journalists I occasionally show around town.

I just can't do that with Earth Group. But I'm glad the space has gone on to owners who can do more with the shop than make it a stoner's dream hangout (minus the ability to actually get stoned).

Earth Group Colorado

4493 N. Washington St. Denver, CO 80216 303-295-0232 EarthGroupColorado.com

Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Raw marijuana price range: $25/eighth-ounce, $140-160/ounce. Raw marijuana price range (non-members): $35/eighth-ounce, $180/ounce. Other types of medicine: CO2 oil, edibles Online menu? Yes, but it is not updated.. Handicap-accessible? Yes.

The biggest change for the new crew was toning down the outside. Before, the green and white paint made it obvious to even the most clueless passersby that the shop was a dispensary. But the new, subdued blue-and-green paint scheme once again puts the building in the landscape background: The McDonald's across the street and the Hispanic superstore next door garner more attention.

Inside, staffers have given the dispensary a coat of paint and done away with the stereotypical stoner trappings that the previous owner clearly loved. No more black-light poster gallery, no more library of stoner literature strewn about the straight-out-of-CU-Boulder hippie lounge. On top of that, the once-proud glass gallery is now down to a handful of scientific oil pieces.

Otherwise, the layout remains the same. The lounge is still directly in front when you walk through the security door from the receptionist's window. The bud bar remains along the same back wall, and budtenders continue to stand on a raised platform behind the chest-high glass display case full of buds and (occasionally) concentrates. The shop usually carries wax and shatter produced with CO2 by the folks at EvoLab, but it was out the day I stopped by. Earth Group is going recreational at some point in July, but my budtender said a completely new storefront will be opened in the adjacent space, with the existing side staying medical.

My budtender was about as far from a "clinical"-type marijuana dispenser as you can get. I have no problem with tattoos whatsoever. But I'm always taken aback by face tattoos, mostly because my instinct is to say something stupid like, "Wow, those must have hurt," instead of having a normal conversation. I also wonder if they realize my internal struggle to look them in the eye while also trying to check out the ink work. And it's purely internal. My budtender was a really nice dude and easy to talk to about strains and effects. I just kept getting sidetracked by his body art. At least until he pulled out the great equalizer: jars of cannabis.

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