Cannabis dispensaries are not new to the Boston area. The prohibition of cannabis for adults 21+ ended on December 15, 2016, when voters approved “Question 4” on ballots that year. In the years following lots of recreational and medical dispensaries have popped up around the state thanks to entrepreneurs answering the demand for this now legal and regulated substance. But what many do not realize is that each dispensary and brand focus on unique niches, similar to the alcohol and tobacco industries. Blue River™ focuses on solvent-less products and wants to show their benefits to the world.
With a retail dispensary in Cambridge and another opening soon in Somerville, Blue River™ believes that cannabis products should be made naturally without the use of “chemicals, solvents, gases, additives, artificial fragrances, GMOs, or fillers.” They even call their brand a “farm-to-table cannabis experience.”
According to Founder & COO Tony Verzura, “Our sustainable practices and proprietary extraction technologies provide our brand partners the ability to create unadulterated, plant-based cannabis products to consumers without a negative impact on the environment.”
Everything at Blue River is very science based, while still being approachable even to newbies to Cannabis. And a big part of that are the “Budtenders.” Essentially, the staff at the dispensary are trained in how to both educate customers and sell the products. With the slew of cannabis products available on the recreational market today, it can be very intimidating to newer customers, and with so many types of brands of products out there it can be confusing as to the methods that different brands use to extract the cannabis resins. However, at Blue River, the goal is to educate the entire market on the different ways that producers can extract and create the concentrates that make up products like edibles and vapes.
New to cannabis? There are a few keywords that Blue River wants everyone to become familiar with to best understand the landscape. The first is “cannabinoids”, these are the specific chemicals that interact with your brain that give people a feeling of highs. The next is “terpenes”, which are aromas and flavors that make different cannabis products more appetizing than others. And the last is “flavonoids”, which are antioxidants that have anti-inflammatory properties that can have significant health benefits for users.
All in all, remember that not all dispensaries offer the same level of education and information on the products that they sell. So be sure to ask lots of questions and at places like Blue River the teams are excited to teach and share their opinions so all customers can have the most enjoyable and safest experience with cannabis products.