Better than bingo? Seniors take field trip to Seattle pot store

quote:

---

A van full of seniors visited a marijuana store in Seattle for a Pot 101 tour. They came away with tinctures, ointments and a new understanding of a substance few had tried.

---

quote:

---

“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Barbara Krause, 84, of the field trip she and other residents of an assisted-living community took Thursday to a Seattle pot store. “I was raised at time when you didn’t do marijuana.” After a tour of the Vela store in Sodo, and getting a look at Suncliff, an adjacent growing and processing business, Krause came away impressed. “It was very professional. I’m hopeful. I think a lot of people should open their minds to the health thing.” With the help of a walker, Krause left the store with a small container of an ointment infused with cannabidiol (CBD), a chemical in marijuana believed to relieve pain without getting you high, or very high. She said she bought it for her daughter’s arthritis. (“I don’t have arthritis yet,” she explained.) But Krause said there was a good chance she would try it.

---

quote:

---

Verna Gregg, 88, could have used that advice a few years ago when she was staying with her grandson, his wife and two children. “My nerves were shot,” she said. A bit of a marijuana-infused cookie helped calm them, she said. The next day she ate a good bit more of the cookie. “It took me out of my head,” she said. Maria Scott, who cleared the store’s ID check by 70 years, said she had never tried marijuana. But as a gardener, she said she wanted to grow a pot plant because they’re good-looking. She bought a container of a CBD tincture. “I’m going to try this tonight,” she said, for her sciatica pain. And she said she might just grow that plant, though it would be illegal unless she got a medical authorization. “I’m 91,” she said. “What are they going to do about it?”

---