How's it growing folks?! It's me, Eddie Celaya, your host and the actual guide behind TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com and the Here Weed Go! podcast and newsletter.
A recent trip to Chicago and a few similar suggestions from friends and random Instagram followers got me thinking, what if I started to combine my loves for cannabis, travel and eating well?
Since I don't really have anyone to tell me no, I've decided I'm going to do just that.
The result is this Top 5 Weed Cities list, which is the beginning of a commitment to more personal content featuring me and my thoughts, experiences, opinions and adventures with cannabis while traveling.
That travel might be around Tucson, Arizona, or nationally into other cannabis-friendly states and jurisdictions.
Expect more reviews and features, with personal blogs and travel journals mixed in. I'll be plugging more audio and video elements in while guiding you on these adventures.
So without further ado, Here Weed Go! to the places I think warrant being called America's Top 5 Weed Cities.
(Note: This is a totally subjective list. I'd love to hear what your favorite places to travel and enjoy cannabis are. Email me your favorites at ecelaya@tucson.com)
Top 5 Weed Cities, ranked:
5. Denver
It would be tough to leave out the original recreational adult-use market on any list involving best cannabis or weed cities.
For me Denver excels in a few areas, the first being accessibility. Although I stayed in the urban core, you’d be hard pressed to find a neighborhood that doesn’t have a few dispensary options open and close-by.
With that accessibility also came variety in the type of dispensaries, and I’ll link below to the three I was able to visit.
Prices on most items were lower than what you’d see here in Tucson, but not drastically so. I paid a little over $50 for a top-shelf eighth of flower, not too dissimilar from what you’d find in most Arizona dispensaries.
Denver was also where my first foray into cannabis drinkables occurred, and it was a life-changing experience to be walking around on a cold, early spring night as it began to snow and I was able to take it all in, one root beer infused with 10mg of THC at a time.
So why is Denver number 5? Most of the other cities on the list have more affordable product prices, and I actually wasn't blown away by the quality of the flower and pre-rolls I did purchase.
Additionally, while Denver is certainly more walkable than Tucson with more happening in it's urban core, most of the main attractions, like the Aquarium, the Colorado State Capitol and most of the large museums are pretty spread out, making each a sort of day-trip-to-day-trip in themselves.
Also, it snowed while I was there.
A lot.
Nearly two feet in 24 hours.
Because of that, I was trapped in my hotel for an entire day. It just left a bad taste in my mouth, something even the orange-flavored THC-infused soda couldn't wash out.
Dispensaries to visit:
Links to Eddie's Instagram stories in Denver: Part 1, Part 2
Overall score: 7.8/10
4. Los Angeles
Some might squabble with the inclusion of Los Angeles on a Top 5 list. "It's too large and can't even be considered a coherent market!" some shout.
"You can't get stoned and walk around/get around to places to see!" many say.
"The city reeks of marijuana, there are dispensaries on every corner and it's dirty and polluted!" your conservative uncle insists.
Dear reader, let me assure you: LA is neither the Shangri-La of weed or the hellscape from John Carpenter's criminally underrated "Escape From L.A."
First, let me concede the first argument has somewhat of a point, LA and its metro region are extremely large, with some core cities, like Glendale and Pasadena, that don't allow for dispensaries within their boundaries.
However, to step on the second half of that point, because of it's similarly criminally underrated (but quite well used) bus, subway and light-rail system, any stoner wanting to avoid driving and still see the city or pick up some herb has plenty affordable options.
And while the region does boast more legal dispensaries that all of the state of Arizona (187 as of 2020), you're not going to find them on every corner or smell weed everywhere.
In Hollywood and some places downtown, sure, but not on the beach or at Disneyland or in most neighborhoods.
Now let's get to why I rank LA so high. First, it's extremely affordable.
Although California is trying to shake off a "grey market" of illicit sales that makes up an estimated one-third of the cannabis market in the state, dispensaries and jurisdictions are fighting back by easing taxes and putting heavy discounts on a glut of products that have built up during the pandemic.
What results is purchases that should total about $120 to $150 are often half as much with assorted discounts offered, like a first-time visitor or out-of-state visitor discount.
The quality of products out in California also can't really be appreciated, especially the flower, until you've been there and experienced them. Something about the flower out there: the smell, taste and look, is hard to fathom until it's been experienced.
Do I wish the LA Metro went to a few more neighborhoods and suburbs? Yes. Could the city be more walkable? Sure. But it has great weather, great parks, amazing beaches and museums and a good enough transit system to enjoy all of that and make up for it's deficiencies.
Dispensaries to visit:
3. Golden Lotus (they don't have a website but are on Google Maps and it's located in the City of Industry)
Links to Eddie's Instagram stories in Los Angeles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
Quick Note: I'll be out in LA in two weeks for a wedding so send your suggestions for culture, cuisine, craft beer or cannabis!
Overall rating: 8.1/10
3. Seattle
Damn, there's like nothing bad to say about Seattle when it comes to cannabis culture.
My all time favorite dispensary, Kemp's Cannabis, is located there and sports an old school Seattle Super Sonics basketball court floor and a mural of its namesake founder, Shawn Kemp (aka The Reign Man).
There are dispensaries everywhere, the prices are extremely affordable and there is a wide variety of kinds of dispensaries and products. I'd also rank it third for best flower selection, after Los Angeles and Palm Springs.
Seattle also scores high for walkability and public transportation, although once you get above Lake Union after 10 p.m. you're kind of stuck from getting downtown or coming back in any sort of fashion you might confuse for "quick."
That said, Seattle has great energy in its downtown areas and in its outer neighborhoods, something only Portland can best it in.
Where Seattle has a slight edge up on Portland is things to do while your stoned and walking downtown.
Between the Space Needle, Chihuly Museum, Museum of Pop Culture, Pike Place Market and all the parks, it's hard to beat a day getting stoned on edibles and just enjoying the views and vibe of The Emerald City.
Really there aren't any negatives to Seattle. Oh, except the rain. And the fact I only saw the sun once while there. That'll cost you in the grand scheme, Seattle!
Dispensaries to visit:
2. OZ. Cannabis
3. The Reef
Link to Eddie's Instagram stories in Seattle: Part 1, Part 2
Overall ranking: 8.5/10
2. Portland
Mt. Hood and downtown Portland
What is there to say about Portland and weed? It's the place I unquestionable got the highest I've been in my 30's during a trip last year, and I had some of the best hikes of my life while stoned out of my gourd there, too.
Price-wise, it's easily the most affordable market I've run across, with only Seattle giving it a real run for it's money. And the flower, ohmygod the flower! From the cheap pre-rolls to the top-shelf zaza, you literally can not go wrong with your purchase out there.
I'd also be remiss to note that while my favorite dispensary ever is in Seattle, the best variety of dispensaries I've come across is in Portland. From small boutique retail spots to the bigger, iStore-like locations, Portland really shines in its diversity, and the consumer is better for it.
Then there's everything Portland offers for the stoned traveler: public and private gardens that are unmatched anywhere on the West Coast, great museums of art and culture, a donut culture matched only by LA, and some of the prettiest urban hiking locations in the United States.
To make that even more appealing, the bus and light-rail system for the region, known as the Tri-Met, is in my opinion the best public transportation system west of Chicago.
I was able to get literally everywhere I wanted to go within a competitive time of someone who would have had to drive and find parking. All for a three dollar day pass.
Like Seattle, the only reason Portland isn't higher on my list is weather. As a kid from the desert, I need my daily dose of sun. These Pacific Northwest cities ain't great for filling that prescription.
Dispensaries to visit:
1. Lucky Lion
2. Gnome Grown
3. Green Front
Link to Eddie's Instagram stories in Portland: Part 1, Part 2
1. Palm Springs
I was as unprepared to come to this conclusion as you are reading this, reader. But it is true, Palm Springs is, to me, the perfect cannabis market and my favorite I've visited, ever.
Affordable product? Like LA, there's always discounts to be had.
How's the flower? The single best strain of flower I've ever put flame to flower to, called Malverde, I bought here.
Things to do while stoned?
You can walk the historic downtown and Arts District, you can explore the two branches of the Palm Springs Arts Museum, walk right off of downtown and take a hike into the San Jacinto Mountains.
What about the selection?
This is where Palm Springs and the greater Coachella Valley metro region set themselves apart. While some areas are totally devoid of pot shops, the main tourist areas, particularly the duel thoroughfares of Indian and Palm Canyon Roads, are chock-full of dispensaries of all kinds to choose from.
If there was a ever a miniature, more-walkable and pedestrian friendly version of LA or Las Vegas (or even Scottsdale, if we're comparing over-priced metro areas where style and fashion matter) Palm Springs is it.
Plus, other than some high winds that blow through in the late summer/early spring, the area is sunny and cloud free most of the rest of the year. Ideal for a desert rat like me.
So, if you are looking for a vacation destination where you can enjoy yourself while getting a little high, let me recommend Palm Springs, my absolute favorite weed city in America.
Dispensaries to visit:
1. Coachella Valley Green Dragon
Links to Eddie's Instagram stories in Palm Springs
