A still-paranoid '70s guy visits a RI cannabis store and finds a brave new world

For the first time since the 1970s, I decided to explore how people score weed. I found a contact in Pawtucket, and, still paranoid about narcs, I dialed the number.

The voice on the other end was different from the whispered transactions back in the day.

“We thank you for calling Mother Earth Wellness,” said a welcoming message, “Rhode Island’s largest vertically integrated cannabis cultivator and compassion center.”

Weird — the campus potheads you bought weed from in the ‘70s weren’t vertically integrated. Though if my adult children are reading this, what I meant is, I had, um, friends who scored some back then - I would never do such a thing.

“If you know your party’s extension,” said the Mother Earth Wellness recording, “please dial it now. Otherwise, stay on the line to speak to an associate.”

Since when does pot have extensions and associates?

After a short wait, Tamami Kataoka came on the line. She’s Mother Earth’s assistant general manager. I decided to have fun with her.

“So do you meet people in the alley and for the right price, you slip them a few joints?” I asked.

It got a laugh.

“You actually come through the door,” said Tamami, “and you walk into this grand retail floor with marble tables and live flowers on display you can smell before you purchase.”

You mean like roses and tulips?

“No — cannabis flower.”

“So it’s not like people say, ‘I’ll take a dime bag?’” Meaning 10 bucks' worth — or at least that’s what my friends told me.

Tamami laughed again and said they do sell by the gram, which is the rough equivalent in price.

What, I asked, if the cops see the deal go down?

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“We work closely with the Pawtucket Police Department,” Tamami said, adding that the store’s head of security is a former Pawtucket officer.

Finally, I asked about the two strains I remembered from back in the day.

“Do you still have Acapulco Gold and Panama Red?”

“Oh my goodness,” said Tamami. No, things have progressed well beyond that.

I got in my car and soon, in an industrial part of Pawtucket not far from the East Side — there it was, the Mother Earth Wellness sign on a converted mill. It’s next to the Kitchen & Countertop Center of New England, whose longtime owners — Joe Pakuris and Ed Keegan — also now run the cannabis operation.

They were among a half dozen applicants for the area’s single dispensary license. Because they had a suitable building with the right zoning, they “won” the lottery and only months ago opened for business — both medicinal and recreational.

What do a couple of countertop guys know about running an artisanal agricultural operation and wellness store? Not much at first, but man, did they do their homework. I got the full tour, and it’s incredible what the two have done here — futuristic growing rooms, a huge baking kitchen and an extraction lab that would impress Walter White of “Breaking Bad.”

As for the store, it’s one of the nicest retail spaces I’ve seen, with marble display counters, waterfalls over glass, huge flat screens and cool lighting on high brick walls.

They have hundreds of products, from gummies to “pre-rolls” — my friends referred to those as “joints.” A dozen customers were browsing, including an older couple I told myself to try to talk to later.

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Unlike the 1970s, where local weed operations came down to one pothead behind a dorm, Mother Earth has 85 employees and is looking for 20 more.

As I entered, I had to show my driver's license and get a visitor pass on a lanyard. I was then met by head of security Sean Driscoll, the former cop Tamami told me about.

I asked Sean how he got the job. The owners invited him, a police major at the time, to inspect the operation. At the end of it, Pakuris, the CEO, mentioned he was looking for a security manager — did Sean know anyone?

The timing was right. After 23 years on the job, Sean was considering retirement from the force, and, at age 51, he’s begun a second career here.

I asked if Sean had ever busted anyone for grass. Well, yes, most cops did. The law was the law. But no longer. These days, Mother Earth’s customers include professionals, the elderly, lawyers, you name it.

“I’m still getting used to the change,” said Sean.

As he escorted me in, he recalled that I like to write about iconic Rhode Island things, so he pointed out a cannabis product I at first couldn’t believe.

A small bottle of weed-infused Del’s lemonade.

It’s got the Del’s logo and is made by a Rhode Island cannabis lab called Hapi. They proudly say, “We are the official infusers of Del’s products.” In this case, they add 10 milligrams of THC to 4-ounce Del’s juice bottles. THC is the part of marijuana that used to get my friends high.

In another nod to a local icon, the store also sells infused coffee milk syrup. And many other edibles. Tamami said the upstairs kitchen cooks up a ton of items, including chocolate chip cookies, brownie bars, macaroons, truffles, gummies and Rice Krispie treats.

At that, a salesperson nearby chimed in to say the Rice Krispie treats are her favorite. The staff is like that — folks here clearly get a kick out of what they do.

They’re actually called Marshmallow Krisp Bars, and for $19.50, you can buy a five-pack, each bar dosed with 10 milligrams of the strain of hybrid cannabis oil geared to leave you calm, happy and relaxed. Different strains can give you other feelings, like energy and focus.

The salesperson’s name is Tori Chipman and she said her official title is budtender.

“No way,” I said. “Like bartender?”

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Yes, but for weed. She’s one of 25 full-time sales folks, which is what you need to run the state’s biggest dispensary. Before this, Tori spent 11 years as a hairdresser. Now she’s a budtender, with hair as a side gig.

I’d been here 20 minutes by now, intending to chat with the owners, but when you’re a journalist in a cannabis store, everywhere you look, something interesting is going on, so I kept getting sidetracked.

Like with that older couple I mentioned, Chuck and Kathy Allen.

Chuck is 70, a retired tow truck driver and inspector, here with his wife, Kathy, 65, and his son Charlie Jr., 33, a plumber and jack-of-many-trades. Chuck and Kathy come here often, buying the actual “flower,” akin to the leaves and stems those friends of mine would get in dime bags.

Chuck partly uses cannabis for medical issues — emphysema and diabetes as well as liver cancer, but he also just likes the buzz. Kathy sampled marijuana as a teen and didn’t love it, so that was it for her, until she married Chuck four years ago. It’s different now, she said, with Mother Earth products precisely calibrated so you can, for example, choose whether you want a short, mild high or a longer, intense experience.

“I smoke for enjoyment,” Kathy said. “It makes me feel good. Sometimes, when I’m having a bad day, I like to zone out and get high.” Both say it takes away anxiety, problems and pain.

Son Charlie gives similar reasons, saying he prefers smoking, as opposed to edibles — it takes effect more quickly. Charlie says he buys pre-rolled, usually 20 or more milligrams.

Some folks use stronger — even three times that. But Tamami advises that if you haven’t done cannabis in a while, like since the 1970s, try 5 milligrams first and see how that goes.

“We say start low and go slow,” she says.

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Unlike the old days, when my friends' dime bags didn’t exactly come with FDA labels, dispensary products now show exact THC amounts. Tamami claims Rhode Island has some of the best items anywhere, because the law requires it all comes from in-state.

“It’s individuals who stand by their strains and care about these things,” she said.

The sale of recreational weed just went legal in December, and Tamami is thrilled to be part of the new scene here. It wouldn’t work for her too well in her native country.

“It’s very illegal in Japan,” she said with a laugh.

Now 33, Tamami moved to America at 14 when her dad, a computer microchip guy, came for a job in Massachusetts. For the last few years, she worked in a dispensary there that carried items from big national creators, but here, she says, cannabis is like a craft beer culture, with 70 local cultivators making flower and edibles for a half dozen recreational shops.

Finally, I sat with CEO Joe Pakuris. He’s 42 and grew up in Warwick, son of a dad who ran Sparky’s Auto Detailing.

“So a blue-collar background?” I asked.

“Very blue,” said Joe.

He and Ed Keegan, 42, have for 20 years run the Kitchen & Countertop Center in a 20,000-foot-space overlooking Route 95. It’s part of a big mill building they also own, once leased to a restaurant equipment business and others. Now, those tenants are gone, and the mill’s other 35,000 feet have become Mother Earth’s “vertical” operation, meaning they grow it, create it and sell it.

Joe told me they make 100 of their 400 SKUs, meaning different products. When, I wondered, did weed start having SKUs? Some of the coolest are the “flower” displays. No more Panama Red, but they now have things like Triangle Canyon, Power Punch, Gorilla Mango and Midnight Runner, each in a clear cube with a squeeze bulb to let you preview the aroma. There are also concentrates that look like wax, oil and crumble that you put in a pipe or vape pen. From what my friends said, that would have been "hash" back in the day.

Co-owner Ed Keegan is the reason the store is so stunning. He’s long been the countertop design guy, which is why the cannabis showroom displays are made of white marble and granite. Out back, the building's countertop side has thousands of slabs overlooking Route 95, as well as a digital billboard that often features a rival Massachusetts dispensary. But not Mother Earth, because local shops aren’t allowed to advertise. Note to legislature: Maybe think that one through a little better.

Sean Driscoll, the head of security, took me on a tour, starting with the extraction lab run by Pete Mitchell. It really does look like the one in "Breaking Bad." Smiling as he pulls out a tray of concentrated cannabis, Pete says he gets that joke often.

The nearby kitchen is impressive, too, in part because the owners gave Ian Gilley, their executive chef, a blank check to make it perfect. Ian is 57 and has long run two Pawtucket candy makers, so things like infused gummies, chocolate truffles and Rice Krispie treats are up his line.

Ian is a perfectionist who studied industrial design at RISD, and he describes his edible goods this way: “They’re art techniques.”

Sean took me down another hallway, and then, there they were — the growing rooms, huge indoor spaces with countless plants under bright controlled lighting so the “sun” can shine longer.

It struck me that this is as direct a case of farm-to-table as you’ll find — growing, processing, cooking and “serving” in the same building.

By now, back in the retail area, maybe 20 folks were shopping, and it made me think of an Apple store, with associates explaining things on iPads and cool displays that you could peruse for hours.

Somewhere deep, I still had some of that old paranoia, then realized this is state-regulated with a former cop to help you with your marijuana purchase.

My friends should know it’s not the 1970s anymore.

Which is not a bad thing at all.

Mpatinki@providencejournal.com

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Buying pot in RI now is a very different experience than in the 1970s