Shop from the cannabis industry’s nice list this season

The nights in Lansing are twinkling a little more bright, and holiday cheer is radiating throughout the capital city as residents celebrate or prepare for winter holidays and wrap up the end of 2023.

Are you looking for a gift for that very loved but hard-to-shop-for stoner your life? I’ve compiled a list of a few great finds from some amazing operators who are surely on Santa’s nice list, allowing you to use your holiday spending as an opportunity to reward those in our industry who have been good little boys and girls this year. I hope everyone has a happy and heady holiday season!

Lansing local Ryan Basore and his cannabis business, Redemption Cannabis, bring a tasty variant of the ever popular Mafia Funeral strain. I think any cannabis-loving friend or family member would be thrilled to receive a crisp 10-pack of pre-rolls of this former-caregiver-grown strain in their stocking on Christmas morning. The strain mixes menthol and sweet high notes to create a truly unique and memorable smoke, with the quality always seen in Redemption-cultivated flower. You can also feel good knowing your purchase is helping to support the work of the Redemption Foundation and being utilized to help those affected by the prohibition of cannabis.

In addition, Redemption offers some of the most accessible price options in the industry. Be sure to pick up a few 10-packs this season at Local Roots in Laingsburg. The mid-Michigan cannabis retailer has turned into a flagship store for Redemption and numerous other legacy and local Lansing brands. Like Redemption, Local Roots has a long history of cannabis activism and community involvement.

Commissary Program distillate vape cartridges — Franklin Fields

$15/1g
$60/5g
The Botanical Co.
3535 Capital City Blvd., Lansing

This new line of distillate-based vape cartridges from Franklin Fields features no-frills, high-THC products with impressive and reliable hardware and real attention paid to not overpowering users’ palates with artificial flavor and fake terpenes. The result is a potent, reliable vape that can get you discreetly wrecked almost anywhere without the tell-tale smell of skunk that accompanies the operator’s top-shelf live rosin cartridge offerings, another great gift idea.

Best of all is that $1 from each cartridge sold goes toward a fund that puts money in the commissary accounts of people serving time for cannabis offenses. This holiday season, Lansing cannabis hero Danny Trevino is sitting in federal prison for trailblazing the legal cannabis market, while corporate chads pillage the industry in search of market share and speculative future profits. Good on Franklin Fields for continuing its tradition of activism and philanthropy. This is a great chance to stock up on some affordable distillate carts and feel good about helping people out.

Michigan Organic Rub

$30/1.5 oz
Pincanna
1234 E. Grand River Ave., East Lansing

Michigan Organic Rub is one of the OGs of cannabis topicals. The $30 jar of the rub is a great value and can offer relief for all sorts of ailments. In addition, there are roll-on products and a new line of granola infused with THC. Founder Vince Volovlek is a former patient and caregiver who turned to cannabis after an accident left him with numerous injuries and accompanying aches and pains. I first met Volovlek back in the gray-market days as a patient and then as a vendor at Kind Provisioning in Lansing. It’s been truly amazing to see him and his brand navigate the waters on legal cannabis. What I like about Michigan Organic Rub is that anyone can use it, from your heady, glass-pendant-wearing stoner friends to your nana with the achy knees. This is a good gift to help bring people into the cannabis fold and show them that there is more to the plant than just getting blitzed. You can feel good about spending your money with this brand, too, which is a win-win.