When did you start budtending?

I started 10 years ago here, when this place opened, and I’ve had many roles in this business. I went from just doing things like rolling pre-rolls to budtending, assistant managing, all the different things that are done. Now, I’m actually only working a few days a week, so I’m kind of like the veteran here that can fill in and do whatever.

What do you like about cannabis?

A lot of people say it’s like medicine. To me, it is like medicine; it just sort of puts me on balance. Some people just, you know, aren’t at their best with it during their days without it and I happen to respond well to it. So I like the calm, I like the excitement, I like the creativity, but I like the fact that it keeps me regulated as a person so I don’t get too extreme. It sort of settles me down. Along with all the other reasons to like it, growing it and being involved in the industry and touching it, and smelling it, you know, all that stuff. Those intangibles that come with working with the plant.

What’s your favorite way to consume?

I am at the point now where I only do two things. I smoke and I do edibles. Now, when I smoke, I do individual, one hits because I can measure everything exactly. I don’t do too much. I know when I’m done. I know when I need a little bit more, so I do it really in a specific way.

Edibles are a little bit different. Edibles, I kind of like as my recreational fun. Cannabis is more like a balancing thing. Edibles I do when I feel like I want to have an enjoyable night or afternoon instead of drinking and things like that.

Is there anything you enjoy doing when you take edibles or when using recreationally?

I personally start my workout on the treadmill for an hour, so I love doing that. It just frees me up and I get warmed up. I golf when I’m high, which I like as well. And I hike, of course, when I’m high and I live in the country so I do a lot of trail walking and things like that.

What is your favorite thing about budtending?

My favorite thing is the youthfulness and I mean that in so many ways. So the industry was young. The products are new and young. I mean, there’s different crosses and strains and it’s like cutting edge so you keep getting new things. The people that work here are young and enthusiastic. So for me, I feed off of that. It gives me energy. I’m excited to come to work. I’m an old guy, I really am, I’m almost 70. I’m like one of the oldest guys in the industry here that’s still doing this. So for me, it’s just an added benefit to be hanging around people like your age.

What was the first time you smoked cannabis?

This was in 1975. It was homegrown and everyone kept telling me that you don’t get high your first time. So I did. And then one time, one or two times later, I remember the first experience and we had a place it was called Carvel. It was an ice cream place that did soft ice cream and I remember looking at the colorful sprinkles on the cone and I felt like I was in a circus. That one feeling, that was it from that point on. That’s the beauty of cannabis. Sensory and colors are more beautiful.

How has cannabis and being a budtender impacted your life?

It’s taught me how to be a little bit more open thinking because people do it for complete, unbelievably different reasons. Seeing new people come in that have never even done it before, it just broadens my understanding of everyone else’s needs so it’s sort of a wakening up in a way.

How has weed and the culture surrounding it changed since you first smoked cannabis?

Since I first smoked, it’s completely different. Now it’s almost understood. When I first smoked it was for one thing, to get high. When I first started, they didn’t even talk about THC because no one measured THC. They talked about, you know, did you get ripped?

Now it’s about so much more. Now it’s everything from, artists who want to get creative, people who have medical conditions, it’s so much more broad, and directed, and diverse. There’s so much to consider in the industry. It’s more than just getting high, and now there’s so many different facets and aspects to try and calculate and figure out as to what works and what doesn’t work. And everyone’s understanding and education is exponentially improving and increasing. When we first started in the store, all anyone ever asked about was THC. “What’s the THC number?” Because that’s what they thought was the only thing that was important in the cannabis experience.

Now you’re finding out the CBD and the terpenes have this effect, and this one helps me breathe, and this one, if you are ADD, helps you focus. So it’s just a completely changed industry.

You said that you did wine education, do you do that with cannabis?

All the time. My favorite part is when new people who haven’t experienced it or are not aware to bringing them into the information of what it’s all about. Whether it’s something simple like sativa versus indica or cured resin versus live resin, or what the different terpenes do and what kind of effect they have. Edibles, how to do it, when not to do it, what works, what doesn’t work. So a lot of people come to me, even if they’re relatively experienced, they go, “Josh, what are you smoking? What are you doing? What should I try?”