Alyssa Garcia
What do you like about working at New Millennium?
I love the culture there — we really kind of pride ourselves on being the “friendly shop” in Eugene. Most of the time, our customers come in and they’re remarking on the vibes and the fact that everybody’s so friendly. I love our customers and our community.
Can you speak on working in a mostly woman-operated dispensary and your experience as a woman in the industry?
We have two owners, a husband and wife team, but we predominantly work with our owner, Carolina. Eight out of 11 of our employees are women or femme presenting. We hire the best candidates available, and a lot of times they just work out to be women.
There is a lot of rampant misogyny still alive and well in this industry. Unfortunately, I’ve been the general manager for about seven years here, and there are a lot of instances where I’ll have vendors come in who are men who still ask to speak to my male counterpart. The staff jokes about #everydaysexism. But, as long as you come in with confidence, you can weather the storm pretty good.
Speaking of women in cannabis, what is your dream all-woman blunt rotation?
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, because I feel like she could handle it. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, And Natasha Lyonne.
Tell me about the first time that you got high.
It was my older sister who got me high. It definitely felt very innocent. Cannabis, luckily, is pretty easygoing. My big sister and her friends were hanging out, and I wanted to be cool and get in on it. I just got stoned with big sis and we went bowling. It was great.
Go-to method and sativa, indica or hybrid?
I mean, a little bit of everything. But hard pressed, I’m a flower gal.
I use indica. Sativa can have a tendency to exacerbate my anxiety, so since I’m an anxious little baby, I tend to avoid the sativas.
Advice for newbies?
I always recommend just to start low. You can always take more, but you can’t take less. I would just recommend starting with a lower potency, especially with edibles in the beginning. A lot of cannabis is trial and error, so it’s good to keep a journal to kind of keep track of what things have affected you well and things that haven’t.
What’s your favorite thing to do while high?
I’m always going for creativity, so probably playing guitar. I’ve been playing “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims on loop trying to get it right.
And finally, what is your favorite thing about working in cannabis?
There’s such a communal, just energy about working in the industry, which is unlike any other industry I’ve worked in before. It’s a very tight-knit community, and it’s so supportive. You don’t see a lot of angry stoners.