Ask a Stoner: How Is “Cookies” Weed Not Marketing to Kids?

Dear Stoner: How can a dispensary called Cookies not be busted for marketing to kids? I thought that was illegal in Colorado.
Lexi

Dear Lexi: If we banned weed strains with words like “Cookies” in them, then over half of the shit in dispensaries would cease to exist. The edibles market is largely made up of candy, baked goods and sugary drinks, while cannabis breeders love naming their strain babies after cakes, pies, cookies, fruits and candy. Believe it or not, a lot of adults have a sweet tooth, too.

The difference between weed called Cookies and fruit-flavored wine coolers and liquor shooters? You have to be 21 to get inside the store selling cannabis, and the advertising for cannabis is much more limited (hard to believe while reading our paper, I know). The closest law to what you’re referencing is a Colorado rule banning edibles manufactures from shaping their products like gummy bears, smiley faces and other things that would appeal to kids (that’s why all candy edibles sold here are circles, squares and triangles). But there are no rules involving the names of the places that sell those items.

The Cookies company represents a shift in retail cannabis from pretending to be a medically focused business – with words like “wellness,” “holistic” and “health” on storefronts – to a true weed brand with a particular mission: Produce stanky buds, market the hell out of them, and convince people to lay out big bucks. If you didn’t like cannabis before legalization, you’re probably not going to like this evolution, which will come with its own set of growing pains.

Send questions to marijuana@westword.com.