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HIGH NOTES

CANNABIS

As taxing as the holiday season can be on our pocketbooks, it seems to pack the biggest wallop on our mental clarity and physical calm. There are so many get-togethers, gifts, meals, and travels to plan and prep for — all while maintaining productive (and often condensed and more intense) workweeks — many of us find that deeper we get into the season, the more that feelings of stress overwhelm the intended (and essential!) feelings of joy and gratitude.

Maybe you’ve got a personal assistant to take over some tasks. Maybe you’ve got a nightly self-care ritual to offset the accumulated frustrations. Or maybe, like most people, you shove self-care to the bottom of your to-do list and focus first on taking care of everyone and everything else because, really, how useful is a two-hour bubble bath when your brain’s racing like a hamster in a wheel, anyway?

We get it. That’s why we advocate that interested adults looking for a quick-acting, non-harmful respite from the day’s (or season’s) stresses consider incorporating legal, state-regulated cannabis into their self-care routine.

As users and nonusers probably know, a multitude of studies show that cannabis can have a relaxing effect on the brain and body. But, we’d like to add, not just any cannabis. To dial in the effects without worry, working with a state-licensed dispensary with a well-educated staff is key.

Fact is, misinformation and misinterpretation about this young industry runs rampant. A little less than two weeks ago, for example, the state’s Marijuana Regulatory Association (MRA), which oversees every cannabis product and company in Michigan, issued its largest product recall yet.

The recall wasn’t a concern about a dangerous product, but rather, the processes a lab used to test the product. Nevertheless, media pounced, and few reports were clear about the actual issue at hand, leading to understandable confusion and concern from the public. The recall hit the industry hard, too. Nearly every retailer in the state was affected on some level, but the product wasn’t destroyed; it was simply retested according to the MRA’s stringent protocols.

The takeaway? The MRA is doing exactly what it has set out to do: protect the consumer, not punish the industry. And in this case, concerned users of that product or any others could rely on more than confusing media reports; they could turn to and directly question the well-educated staff at state-certified dispensaries like ours.

We can’t run you a bubble bath or serve as your personal assistant, but if you need to slow your mind and rest your body at any point during this season, a budtender at any of our five locations can help you select a product that can. We’re at the ready and always working in conjunction with our state MRA representative to ensure whatever you buy from us is safe, approved, and in compliance. And even one less stressor in a season full of them is, we think, something we’re grateful for, too.

www.dunegrass.co Adult-use locations in Manistee, Big Rapids, Cadillac, Marquette and Beulah Alden’s Holiday Open House!

An evening to enjoy your holiday shopping in charming downtown Alden Mingle with Santa’s Elves* throughout the night as they gift wrap your perfect treasures! Visit our merchants and enjoy complimentary gift wrapping, tasty refreshments, holiday Cheer, and family fun! Friday December 3rd • 6-8 pm.

Donations of non-perishable food items will be collected for the Alden Food Pantry. *Bellaire High School’s Honor Society Students

HOLIDAY

Skin Care Event

DEC 1 10 AM – 6 PM TRAVERSE CITY DEC 3 6 – 9 PM

PETOSKEY 410 E. Lake St.

Skin Care Packages & Treatment Specials, Demos, New Products & More. JOIN US!

CopperAesthetics.com

Christopher C. Jeffries, MD, FACS Trevor K. O’Brien, MD Ryan S. Burke, MD

231.929.7700

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