Photo by Elisa Ventur on Unsplash
Marijuana Venture recently moved to a new office in Seattle, after spending the previous seven years in one single location, so cleaning out our file cabinets and boxing up our possessions unearthed some memories and memorabilia from the early days, almost forgotten amid an industry rapidly maturing and constantly fighting for mainstream success. We’re also recently created an issue celebrating the 10-year anniversary of legal weed in Washington, so we’ve been combing through our archives and noting some of the most outrageous products and claims — though the truly far-fetched, appalling and laughable items never see the pages of print.
I think now is a good time to share a handful of my all-time favorites.
– Run Criki: In October 2014, I received a message through the Marijuana Venture website: Recently, Uruguay has become the first country in the world to make it legal to grow, sell and consume marijuana. This is very important for Uruguay and also the entire world because a lot of countries are planning to legalize and are seeing the consequences this brings to Uruguay. To celebrate the legalization of marijuana in this country and to inspire and promote legalization, we have created a fun runner game. It is the story of a pothead Uruguayan cricket that lives in Netherlands, but after hearing the news about legalization in his home country, he wants to return to Uruguay. His path begins in Amsterdam, followed by Washington, Colorado, California and, of course, Jamaica, until he arrives in Uruguay. In his amazing journey, Criki will be able to collect marijuana plants and seeds, eat magical brownies, smoke hashish and other good stuff he encounters on his way to get back home. Run Criki has excellent graphics and gameplay but most importantly is full of funny situations and unique characters. Would you like to write an article in your magazine?
Needless to say, I did not write an article about this video game, mostly because video game reviews are not our forte — but also because this idea seemed a little too much of a stoner’s brainstorming session.
– Story idea: November 2017, another email in my inbox, this one that raised my eyebrows from the opening line: Good morning, I was wondering if you would be interested in doing a story on my cat? I have the first and to the best of my knowledge, the only cat in U.S. history that has been cured from MMJ. My cat had a large flower pot fall on his tail and sever it in half. After three amputations and over $3,000 in meds fighting phantom nerve pain, the vet said I would have to put my cat down. Nothing was working. I researched veterans who were coming back from the war with the same condition and MMJ has worked on many of them. We decided to try it instead of putting him down. It worked! Please let me know if you have any interest in this story.
Needless to say, I did not write an article about this miraculous cat, again, because marvels of veterinary science are not really a good fit for a business magazine.
– Terrible: This last email came to me in August 2023: Hi, I just found out about your site. What is WRONG with you guys?? It is terrible you promote pot smoking! And what gets me is that I have ranted against pot for 20 years online, typing for hours and hours. Haven’t you read a thing I have written? Didn’t your parents teach you any morals?? Is this how you’re going to raise your kids? What type of young lady is going to want to date or marry a POT smoker?? And vice versa?? Think of your future! Oh, how I wish I could sit down and talk some sense into each and every one of you guys who promote and glorify marijuana. But, of course, that will never happen. It’s just so frustrating. I type and type for years, and haven’t ever made a single dime, while you guys are making MONEY by selling and promoting drug use! You all really need to grow up and get some morals. You set a terrible example and go against everything that most parents try to teach their kids about drugs and life!
Well, needless to say, Reefer Madness remains alive and well in this country.