The
Healthy Element is a hidden gem in the unassuming Olympia suburb of Lacey, offering more than 30 strains (15 indicas, three sativas, and 13 hybrids) and more than 20 varieties of cannabis-infused edibles.
The shop’s relaxing vibe can be at least partially credited to budtender Brian, whose knowledge is helpful when perusing such a bountiful selection. Brian happily opened numerous bud jars for my inspection and sniffing, as I narrowed down the candidates and arrived at my selections: the sativa-dominant Sour Kush and the indica-dominant UK Super Cheese.
While most strains, including both of my selections, are $10 a gram, eight of The Healthy Element’s strains are $12 a gram. What all but one of these eight have in common is that they come from award-winning medical garden TJ’s: indicas TJ’s Purple Kush, TJ’s Platinum Label, TJ’s White Label, and TJ’s Choco Kush; sativa TJ’s Sage ’n’ Sour; and hybrids TJ’s Raspberry Kush and TJ’s Harcanna. (The eighth $12 strain is Blackberry Kush, an indica.)
Sour Kush is a tasty sativa-dominant strain with a flavor and smell somewhere between the Sour Diesel half of its genetics and the indica Kush with which it was crossed. After the third toke, you’ll learn that Sour Kush produces a pleasantly euphoric head high, along with almost immediate pain relief. If you happen to put on some music after indulging in these flowers, you are quite likely to thoroughly enjoy it.
UK Super Cheese offers over-the-top flavor and bouquet in its dense, rock-hard flowers. Their musky, cheesy scent has subtle undertones of fruit, berries, and flowers. Its spicy taste presages its thunderous onset; your eyelids are going to quickly become heavy. Cheese is more suitable for nighttime usage due to its heavy indica effects, but it also often results in creative thoughts along with insomnia relief, appetite boost, and anxiety relief.
It would be a shame to visit a shop with such an extensive selection of medibles and not try any. If, like me, you have something of an elevated tolerance to THC, you might want to drop $24 on one of the 250-milligram THC candies, practically guaranteed to bulldoze over insomnia and pain (I had a blissfully sound night’s sleep behind one of these things). Also available are a selection of 100-milligram treats for $14 each; Chocolates by Scottie (150 mg) for $10 each; and assorted 50-mg candies for $9 each. Avoid the Kit-Teas cannabis-infused teas ($20 each); most patients I’ve talked to tell me they don’t work.
Every $100 donation gets a free gram of butane hash oil (BHO); first-time patients get a free 1.5-gram pre-rolled joint.
tokesignals@seattleweekly.com
Steve Elliott edits Toke Signals, tokesignals.com, an irreverent, independent blog of cannabis news, views, and information.
THE HEALTHY ELEMENT 430 Carpenter Rd. S.E., Suite A, Lacey, 360-556-7247, laceydispensary.com. 10 a.m.–7 p.m. Mon.–Sat., 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Sun.
