Annie Lowrey expects the big money in legal pot will come from mass-market products, noting that “thousands of people and millions of dollars are hard at work to make [marijuana] as predictable and dependable” as a fast-food hamburger:
In spite of marijuana’s significant popularity, there is still an element of roulette when it comes to smoking a legal joint or eating a legal brownie. Federal law does not require companies to test for and disclose levels of the drug’s active ingredients, like tetrahydrocannabinol. (Federal law does not hold that pot is legal, after all.) Many dispensaries and producers fail to test for potency, contaminants or mold. And different states have different disclosure laws with different levels of efficacy. As such, a gram of “AK-47” bought in an Oakland dispensary might affect you differently than a gram of the same purchased in Colorado. …
Sensing the opportunity for something more predictable, [Jon] Cooper and his partner at Ebbu, a Colorado pot start-up, are creating a variety of predosed products – like prerolled joints, or little Listerine-style strips. They have eschewed the silly strain names, instead labeling their products “high-energy,” “relaxed,” “bliss,” “create,” and “giggles.” Lauren Ely, a librarian from Erie, Colo., is working on a start-up called DisposaBowls – prepacked, disposable ceramic pipes. “I joke around and tell everyone I’m the old, fat Nancy Botwin,” she said, referring to the character from the HBO show Weeds. She said that she hoped the product would appeal to experienced smokers looking for a convenient way to bring the product with them while they go on a hike, for example. But she also saw it as a good way to introduce novices, seniors, and medicinal smokers to pot, with gentle, predictable results.
The Dish 