April 20, 2022 - Pittsburgh City Paper

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APRIL 20-27, 2022 VOLUME 31 + ISSUE 16 Editor-In-Chief LISA CUNNINGHAM Director of Advertising RACHEL WINNER-EBERHARDT Director of Operations KEVIN SHEPHERD A&E Editor AMANDA WALTZ News Reporter JORDANA ROSENFELD Arts & Culture Writer DANI JANAE Photographer/Videographer JARED WICKERHAM Editorial Designer LUCY CHEN Graphic Designer JEFF SCHRECKENGOST Digital Editorial Coordinator HANNAH KINNEY-KOBRE Marketing + Sponsorships Manager ZACK DURKIN Sales Representatives OWEN GABBEY, MARIA STILLITANO Circulation Manager JEFF ENGBARTH Featured Contributors REGE BEHE, MIKE CANTON, LYNN CULLEN, TERENEH IDIA Interns TIA BAILEY, PAM SMITH National Advertising Representative VMG ADVERTISING 1.888.278.9866 OR 1.212.475.2529 Publisher EAGLE MEDIA CORP.

FIRSTSHOT

BY JARED WICKERHAM

The crime scene near a mass shooting that claimed the lives of two teens, and injured at least eight others, during a party at an Airbnb near Suismon Street in North Side on Sun., April 17.

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COVER DESIGN: LUCY CHEN

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER APRIL 20 - 27, 2022

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HOME GROWN MEDICAL MARIJUANA

BY JORDANA ROSENFELD // JORDANA@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

A

CCORDING TO PATIENTS, caregivers, and their advocates, Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana Program leaves a lot to be desired.

The program got a C+ in a recent report

by California-based advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, which examined nationwide access to medical weed.

Pennsylvania’s score is a full letter grade lower than the national average, and the state scored particularly low in categories

such as affordability, access to medicine, and health and social equity. One of the report’s main recommendations? Allow patients to grow weed at home.

In November 2021, Sens. Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia) and Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) introduced a bill that would permit patients in the state’s medical weed program to grow their own medicine for personal use. Citing a Department of Health report that found that some

patients must drive over two hours to reach the nearest dispensary, the lawmakers argue that patients should be permitted to grow up to five adult marijuana plants, measuring more than five inches high, and possess up to 30 grams of the cannabis they grow for personal use, without a cultivation center license.

“For folks that have to get in a car and drive an hour or so away to get what they need to make themselves feel better,

CP ILLUSTRATION: LUCY CHEN

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when they could have a couple of plants right in their house, it does seem a little bit cruel to not allow them to do that,” Laughlin says.

The bill, SB 1024, states the cultivation must occur in an “enclosed, locked-out” space that’s inaccessible to unauthorized people, including people under 21.

Dispensaries would sell seeds to patients for home cultivation.

SB 1024 has been referred to the Senate Law & Justice Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Mike Regan (R-York), a leading Republican advocate for legalization. State Sen. Jay Costa (D-Forest Hills) is among the bill’s co-sponsors, and Allegheny County state representatives on the Law & Justice Committee include South Hills Democrat Wayne Fontana and McKeesport Democrat Jim Brewster, who is the committee’s Minority Chair. The committee does not currently have any meetings scheduled.

Prior to SB 1024’s introduction, Pa. legislators most recently considered allowing medical home-grow last summer, but the amendment was tabled in committee and didn’t make it into the legislation that it was intended to amend.

Pennsylvania’s medical weed program is among the five largest in the country by patient numbers and was signed into law in 2016. Local defense attorney Patrick Nightingale, who serves as the executive director of Pittsburgh NORM (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), says that home cultivation was included in the original bill creating the medical program, but that it “was removed once bipartisan negotiations began in earnest. There were concerns about illegal diversion and compliance with testing requirements.”

According to Cannabiz Media, 18 states plus Washington, D.C. allow some degree of home cultivation of weed.

Citing a frustration with accessibility, such as a lack of transparency about the

availability of different strains and notably high prices, many of Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana patients are robustly in favor of home-grow.

“Patients are at the mercy of what the growers are producing and what their local dispensaries are stocking,” says Nightingale. “A patient may find a particular strain that works best for their condition, but that strain may not be available.

Perhaps the grower has discontinued the strain because it was not producing well or perhaps the dispensary stopped stocking the strain because it wasn’t selling well.”

Medical marijuana patients hope that home-grow will allow them more control over their medication supply.

“Pa. needs home-grow,” patient John Brooks writes to Pittsburgh City Paper, adding that there’s often no communication from dispensaries on which strains will be removed from their rotations.

“It can get expensive and frustrating loading up on one strain to last long enough to see your dispensary bring it back, if they ever do,” Brooks says. “[A]nd it can be frustrating talking to budtenders, where you’re constantly having to ask, ‘Do you have anything similar to X strain?,' just to get a very poor rec and have next to no medical relief with your purchase.”

Although wholesale prices have gone down substantially, retail prices have not seen a similar reduction. Home-grow advocates are hopeful that home cultivation will allow patients to procure their medicine at a fraction of the cost of a dispensary product.

“Our medical cannabis products are some of the most expensive products in the United States,” says Nightingale, in part, he says, because of the Pa. program’s “highly regulated” nature. “Our medical cannabis act specifically prohibits insurance coverage of medical cannabis products. Unfortunately, many

patients of limited means simply cannot afford medical cannabis. I’ve heard heartbreaking stories of patients returning to prescription opiates ‘because at least they’re covered by insurance.’”

As for why home-grow remains illegal in Pennsylvania, Nightingale believes it’s “because the majority party doesn’t want to legalize home cultivation. Republicans stripped it from the bill and that’s that. We have not been able to move any patient-friendly legislation for the past four years because the Republican majorities in the House and Senate simply refuse to bring bills up for consideration and votes in Committee.”

Some people blame this deadlock on lobbying by multi-state operators.

Patient-run website PA Menus notes that some of the MSOs (multi-state operators) affiliated with an infamous 2019 antihome-grow memo to New York’s thenGovernor Andrew Cuomo have brands and dispensaries in Pennsylvania.

“Home growers are defending against MSOs. … Big Cannabis, if you will,” Mike Munz of the Cranberry Township indoor garden company HTG Supply tells Pittsburgh City Paper. Muntz says he’s an expert, “to say the least,” in growing plants, in general, and weed, in particular, and he strongly supports homegrow. “People definitely need to be able to provide for themselves just as they do in many other circumstances,” he says.

“Patients are very suspicious of industry and for good reason,” says Nightingale.

“We have an oligopoly that allows the license holders to set wholesale prices and maximize profits.”

Nightingale compares home cultivation to home brewing or gardening.

Although he could make his own beer or grow his own tomatoes, “it’s a lot easier going to the grocery store and distributor,” he says. “That people are free to grow their own crops, raise their own livestock and make their own beer and wine doesn’t seem to have cut into the profits of retail sellers of food and beverages.”

“I do not believe the MSOs oppose home cultivation, though some have joined lobbying groups in other states that have opposed home cultivation,” Nightingale says. “I believe the market is large enough for the MSOs to thrive while also providing lower-cost alternatives.” •

Follow news reporter Jordana Rosenfeld on Twitter @rosenfeldjb PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER APRIL 20 - 27, 2022

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CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

Daniel Muessig

FIRST PERSON ESSAY

THE LAST CANNABIS PRISONER

BY DANIEL MUESSIG //INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

I

N A FEW WEEKS, I’ll be commencing a mandatory minimum five-year federal prison sentence for a first time, non-violent cannabis offense.

Federal prosecutors waited 28 months to charge me for this crime. In that time, our region and nation went through two Presidential administrations, at least two United States Attorneys, three Attorney Generals, several national reckonings with racism and murder in policing, and an unprecedented surge in fentanyl overdoses and COVID. The world we live in underwent momentous changes to the extent that most of us three years earlier would scarcely recognize many aspects of our lives today.

But here in Pittsburgh, one of the constants was the Western District’s obsession with putting me in prison for selling weed in the spring of 2019.

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I’m not going to wrap myself in the proverbial cloak of legal innocence. I’m beyond guilty. I conspired to sell 404 pounds of cannabis on May 24, 2019. In fairness, my entire life since the age of 13 has largely been a conspiracy to sell cannabis. I was also not a small-time player.

If you smoked legacy market cannabis in Western Pennsylvania during the 2010s, then you more likely than not got it from me in some fashion.

I pleaded out at the earliest opportunity given and, most important to this story, I refused to cooperate in any form.

While my guilt was factual, the reason behind the government’s relentless pursuit of me stemmed less from my nefarious cannabis trafficking activities and more from the job I had when I abortively tried to not sell cannabis. I was a criminal defense attorney with a left-wing bent and a total lack of respect

for tradition and authority as depicted by my viral ad, “Thanks Dan,” where my real criminal friends committed dramatized crimes and thanked me for enabling them to do so.

NO PARDONS, NO VOTES An all-volunteer effort founded by friends of Dan Muessig. pardonsnow.com

I created the ad out of law school, partially as Switftian satire because many people besides those who lock people up for a living know that our justice system is a sick joke. I also created it because with $300k in medical debt and a new career in a regressive marketplace, I needed some clients.

The ad went meteorically viral due to the fact that the truth in its mocking resonated. It succeeded too well for me to represent anyone here without prejudicing

them with my presence alone. So back to the trap I went with a bevy of powerful enemies that my later mistakes gave opening to destroy me.

Long before your local government ever decided that you were allowed to purchase cannabis in a controlled and friendly environment, myself and my then downstairs neighbor Dale, a former steelworker and Mon Valley Citizens council labor fighter, opened up Western Pa.’s first dispensary in a converted basement apartment in Friendship.

“The Store,” as it became colloquially known, was a Pittsburgh institution.

Surgeons, nurses, teachers, (local) cops, yinzers, hippies, trappers, frat bros, sorority girls, lawyers, rappers, Steelers, cosplay kids, judges, punks, anarchists, vegans, service industry and sex workers, pipeliners, skaters, and some elected officials all called it home, jostling happily in the daily

line as they asked Dale for their preferred strain or favorite edible.

It wasn’t just a business. It was a place of love and acceptance, and truly egalitarian. Every race and class was present and respected. It was our CBGB’s in the East Village or a crash pad on Haight in San Francisco. An enduring monument to the counterculture that blazed the trail for the corporate co-opt that ensued.

There would be no Apple Store-esque dispensaries with gleaming edifices and recessed lighting if people like Dale, myself, and hundreds of others here hadn’t taken the initial risk and thrown that Overton Window wide open. We normalized cannabis being available here at all times. And we broke the exact same law that the Crescos and GTIs did. They somehow are allowed to rake in their chips off the table while we get thrown in prison for more time than many rapists, heroin dealers, or those who stormed the Capitol.

I wasn’t sentenced to prison for the store. The feds stumbled onto our wholesale operation due to an ongoing investigation into a crew in Braddock that was selling heroin and crack. We sold a guy weed who sold it to another guy who

sold it to them. I make no judgments about anyone, but I don’t condone hard drug selling and I made it a point to never intentionally associate with anyone who did. The local press, however, didn’t take the time to do any investigative work other than retyping law enforcement affidavits and press releases. For them, the GOTCHA aspect of the Viral Former Lawyer going to prison far outweighed the question of: “What happened here and why is anyone going to prison for cannabis now?”

time we were followed running errands, months or even years after I’d withdrawn from illegal activity, every second of overtime, paper clip, printer ink cartridge, and each day of my incarceration was and is being paid for by you.

And there’s the human cost. One of the original indictees lost his life to suicide after he was indicted. He was a 63-yearold father of three and grandfather of eight with his first great-grandchild on the way. He wasn’t a major player in the game or a threat to anyone. He had never

“NOW, IN MY WANING DAYS OF FREEDOM, EVERY SECOND BRINGS MELANCHOLIC PAIN.” Had they done even a modicum of work, they’d have maybe asked if, during these times of dizzying household expenses and soaring prices, a 2.5-year investigation into non-violent cannabis sales was the wisest allocation of your tax dollars?

Every surveillance camera aimed at our house revealed nothing, every

been in trouble and, had cannabis not been criminalized by the feds, he never would have been. Instead, facing a mandatory prison term and under immense pressure to cooperate, he snapped and did the unthinkable and irreversible. He’s gone forever now. You guys also footed the bill for that.

His son, a street poet and famous local

artist, was driven to the depth of despair by his father’s death. He overdosed and died from fentanyl a few weeks before I was indicted. He was my best friend. A brother to me. And he would be alive and fighting for his sobriety and future if his dad was alive, make no mistake there. So he’s also on the tab.

We lost our adoption over this, my wife and I. We were finishing up the home study, with the raid from 2019 about two and a half years in the past, when I received a phone call from my defense attorney saying that I’d been indicted. I soon learned that the charges were the same ones I’d offered to surrender on in 2019. My surrender was rebuffed when I refused to cooperate. I was willing to accept responsibility for my actions. I wouldn’t shift that blame onto others.

A coward does that. An enabler of our oppressors. Unfortunately for myself, my wife, my mom, and the child we had to leave in Seoul, others didn’t share my idealism. So I guess that goes on the reckoning as well.

Time and time again in this hellish process, it was made apparent to me that I could always avail myself of proffering or testifying in order to reduce my CONTINUES ON PG. 8

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THE LAST CANNABIS PRISONER, CONTINUED FROM PG. 7

criminal consequences. This continued right up until sentencing where, after my final refusal, the prosecution released a memo so vile in its glee that it literally went viral on Twitter. It became readily apparent that a large motivation for this long ranging, expensive, and horrifically damaging investigation was to stick it to me for the commercial.

Locking up non-violent cannabis offenders isn’t going to be a plum line on a resume soon. It will be something those complicit hope to minimize with excuses like, “It was the law” or “We were just doing our jobs/following orders.”

I’d submit that once public opinion shifts, those excuses will sound ever more hollow as they already do today.

There’s a long line of these functionaries being retrospectively assigned their responsibility in crimes against people.

Criminalization of cannabis was always about social control and never about public protection. At best, they’ll be seen as the humorless and prim prohibition agents, and their tolerance of the corporate trade while chasing us will be their corrupt legacy. At worst, and more likely, they’ll be perceived no differently than those who locked up war protesters, student dissidents, those who incarcerated migrant organizers, Black civil rights activists, and the Japanese during WWII. The law is meaningless in the face of what’s right and that’s something they’ve never understood. This is a human rights crime against non-violent Americans, disproportionately people of color.

“CRIMINALIZATION OF CANNABIS WAS ALWAYS ABOUT SOCIAL CONTROL AND NEVER ABOUT PUBLIC PROTECTION.” They wanted me to rat. They’ll never get what they want. No one is ever doing a day in prison because of me. If I have to do more time because of that, then so be it.

One of their largest issues with me was that I didn’t adequately respect the law or the system. They harped on my quote that “Laws are Arbitrary.” So to show me otherwise, they gave me a mandatory federal sentence for something that is state legal and sold by corporations in the state despite being federally illegal.

Sure showed me. Irony is lost on fascists, however, and totalitarian exercisers of state power have no sense of humor about their institutional prerogatives and pride being trampled on by those with the temerity to question them. Bad laws end by being broken. No other way.

Many of the people who put me in prison share the same political party as myself and my family. When the democratic tent includes those perpetrating the genocide of the drug war and those being victimized by it, then that tent is too large and must fray. For years, our democratic politicians have pandered to the progressive base while doing nothing on criminal justice reform in order to appease their prosecutor and police constituents. This must end. Biden promised that no one else should ever be imprisoned for pot and those inside should go free. Rage over my sentence sparked the formation of “No Pardons No Votes,” a movement created to hold waffling Democrats accountable to their empty promises. You don’t advocate for our freedom? You don’t deserve our votes. From dog catcher to president and

FOLLOW DANIEL MUESSIG on Twitter and Instagram @dosnoun

PHOTO: COURTESY OF DANIEL MUESSIG

Daniel Muessig and his wife

every office in between. To this day, both Biden and Congress have never adjusted the mandatory minimum sentences that destroyed millions of lives. Reform is oh, so close and yet light years away.

Now, in my waning days of freedom, every second brings melancholic pain.

Every good memory feels like a lie. I see people walking in the sunshine through my window and know that there will be no summer for me. No holidays. No nothing.

I’ll be in a concrete cubicle a million metaphorical miles away from anyone who

cares about me while the world moves on in my absence. My wife will contend with missing me, and the family we hoped to have, and my parents will age without my presence or ability to help them. My days pass in a torpor of anxiety and dread.

I feel like I am dying. I see no real future.

The people who put me in prison — both the government and their informants — either fail to realize or don’t care about the fact that history will vindicate me and reserve a far harsher judgment of them.

Follow Daniel Muessig on Twitter and Instagram @dosnoun

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I could never to others what was done to me in this. My life is now suffering. But I can look in the mirror and see a man staring back at me. Everyone's a tough guy ’til that mandatory hits. Then you see.

I passed my test. Shame many didn't.

When you spark up on 4/20, take a deep inhale. Tilt your head back and blow the smoke up into the sky. Smoke one for me. One for Bobby Capelli doing eight years. For Jon Wall about to go on trial for 10 to life. For Luke Scarmazzo, 14 into 22, and for Parker Coleman doing 60.

You wouldn’t have the luxury of your exercise in freedom were it not for us. Please remember that.

Free us all.

Fuck their laws.

Daniel Muessig 61770-509 FCI Morgantown 60 months No cooperation •

GREENSBURG 305 E. Pittsburgh St. Greensburg, PA 15601 (724) 600-4438 LAWRENCEVILLE 211 52nd St. Pittsburgh, PA 15201 (412) 439-2093

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER APRIL 20 - 27, 2022

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CP ILLUSTRATION: LUCY CHEN

HEALTH

PITTSBURGH SOBER

BY DANI JANAE // DANIJANAE@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

P

ITTSBURGH IS A DRINKING town.

The Steel City has been named the No. 1 city in the U.S. for beer drinkers, and it’s no surprise for a town so well known for its sports fans and events which encourage alcohol during celebrations. But this can be difficult for people who don’t drink, or who are looking to drink less.

For Pittsburghers like Marlene Salomon, being California sober, or "Cali Sober" for short, has been a life changer.

Cali Sober has become more popular in recent years, with celebrities like Demi Lovato bringing the term into the spotlight. Its exact definitions vary, but largely those who practice it define it as regularly using marijuana products, and sometimes hallucinogens, instead of drinking. While it may sound like a trend, many people are using cannabis primarily for health and wellness reasons.

Salomon, a Haitian immigrant who works in nightlife, says she smokes weed every day for pain management, and that she started re-examining her relationship with alcohol last November when she realized that her drinking and drug use had gotten out of control.

that’s whenever it hit me. I was, like, ‘Oh, my God, like, this is beyond messed up.’”

Some medical professionals have argued that becoming Cali Sober isn’t a safer choice than alcohol addiction.

“The term is ambiguous and kind of a misnomer,” psychiatrist and addic-

"THIS WHOLE ENTIRE CITY IS CENTERED AROUND DRINKING AND ALCOHOLISM. AND I’VE LOST SO MANY FRIENDS FROM THAT ..."

“A lot of my friends were dying,” Salomon says. “And then I realized at one point, that while some of our friends had died, we were still partying together. And

tion specialist Akhil Anand told The Cleveland Clinic. “After all, you’re not sober if you’re still using mind-altering substances.”

But Salomon says marijuana helps her find relief from health issues. She has GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), a condition in which the stomach acid frequently flows into the esophagus, and she says smoking helps take away the nausea that her medication causes. She also has had two spinal fusions, a surgery where, during recovery, people are often prescribed Oxycontin or other strong opioids for pain management.

For Ali S., a former Pittsburgher now living in Florida who asked not to use her last name because of her work, the pressure to drink while living in Pittsburgh was palpable.

“I did start to feel less supported by my friends because it was so embedded in our culture,” she says. “I would also receive pressure from people saying things like, ‘Can you just go to a bar and CONTINUES ON PG. 12

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PITTSBURGH SOBER, CONTINUED FROM PG. 10

not drink?’ And I can do that now, but for the first couple of years, it was challenging because being in a bar was just triggering.”

Ali started questioning her alcohol use in 2017 when she noticed that after she drank any amount of alcohol, she would have a panic attack. She says it wasn’t until last year that she heard the term “Cali Sober” in a song and thought that it fit her lifestyle and choices.

Medical marijuana helps manage her anxiety, she says, while drinking exacerbated it. For this reason, she also uses it almost every day, but says she doesn’t use it all the time because “weed sometimes makes it hard to socialize in a serious environment.”

As far as products go, both Salomon and Ali like to use flower, but Salomon also uses concentrates like dabs, waxes, and oils.

She echoes Ali’s opinion that there is a lot of pressure to drink within the city of Pittsburgh.

“This whole entire city is centered around drinking and alcoholism. And

I’ve lost so many friends from that because nobody wants to do anything else besides drink, except for the group of sober friends that I have,” Salomon says. “Everybody just wants to sit in a bar all day. It’s just, the pressure is unreal.

Even if you do go and hang out with them, you’re stuck around a bunch of people that make you uncomfortable” Salomon says that she started smoking in middle school, but before then, she — like many young people — was shown anti-marijuana propaganda that made it seem like smoking would ruin her life. She says she remembers PSAs that said marijuana made you lazy and “lose brain cells.”

Discovering that marijuana wouldn’t ruin her life and, in fact, could improve it by helping her manage things like pain and anxiety really changed Salomon’s experience with it.

Ali agrees. She says it took her awhile to find the right dosage to help manage her anxiety, but now that she has, she’s realized just how healing being Cali Sober can be. • CP ILLUSTRATION: LUCY CHEN

Follow arts & culture writer Dani Janae on Twitter @figwidow

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CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

HEALTH

Trulieve in the North Side

DISCOUNT DIVE

BY TIA BAILEY // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

M

EDICAL MARIJUANA has been legalized in Pennsylvania since 2016, and dispensaries began popping up in 2018. There are many different dispensaries to choose from for your medicinal marijuana needs, and like other retail stores, there are different discounts offered to patients. From first-time customer discounts to birthday deals, these Pittsburgh-area dispensaries have benefits to help save some green while buying green.

AYR WELLNESS 809 Sampson St., New Castle and 112 Northtowne Square, Gibsonia. ayrwellnessdispensary.com Customers residing in areas outside of Pittsburgh may want to check out the deals at Ayr Wellness. First responders; patients ages 65 and up; recipients of SNAP, SSI, and SSD; and, industry employees receive a 15% discount off of

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their total purchase.

Additionally, patients who visit any of their dispensaries on their birthday receive a celebratory 20% discount.

For more discounts, Ayr’s loyalty program operates on a points system.

Patients get one point for every dollar they spend, and can cash in the points for one of three rewards: $10 off a total purchase at 250 points, $30 off at 500 points, and $80 off at 1,000 points.

BEYOND/HELLO Multiple locations. beyond-hello.com Beyond/Hello has a rewards program, the Hello Club, that allows customers to earn a point for every dollar spent.

Earn $10 off for every 200 points, $60 off for every 1,000 points, and $140 off for 2,000 points.

Hello Club members also receive deals through offers based on their favorite products.

DELTA 9 PA MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY 211 52nd St., Lawrenceville and 305 E. Pittsburgh St., Greensburg. delta9pa.com Delta 9 PA Medical Marijuana Dispensary, with locations in Lawrenceville and Greensburg, features an extensive list of daily and weekly deals.

New patients receive 10% off of their total first purchase. Daily discounts include a 20% veteran discount, an industry discount for those who show proof of employment at a Pa.-based dispensary or grow, and more. On every visit, caregivers for patients under the age of 18 receive a 20% discount, and first responders, including fire and EMS workers, receive a 10% discount off of their total order.

Patients who go the week of their birthday will get 10% off for the dispensary’s “Go Shawty It’s Ya Birthday” discount. Bring a friend who is new to the dispensary and you both will receive a 10% discount on

CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

goodblend in Shadyside

your total purchases for the “Best Buds” discount.

The weekly deals include Medible Monday, where capsules, tinctures, topicals, and more are 20% off. Tree Tuesday is a “the more you buy, the more you save” deal, where if you buy seven grams, you get 10% off; 15% 14 grams; and, 20% off 28 grams. Wednesdays are OG Wednesday, giving 10% off to patients aged 65 and up. Select concentrates are 15% off for Dabsday Thursday, Fridays are BOGO 50% off for cartridges, and Saturdays Savings features 10% off of all online orders.

ETHOS Multiple locations. ethoscannabis.com Ethos locations in the Pittsburgh region offer 20% off orders for first-time customers, veterans, first responders, and receipients of SNAP, SSI, and SSDI. Customers also receive 20% off an order on their birthday, and weekly sales and specials can be found online.

GOODBLEND 5502 Baum Blvd., Shadyside. pa.goodblend.com Goodblend features evergreen discounts for patients. Customers receive a discount

on their first, second, and third visit to the dispensary. The first visit is 15% off, and the second and third are 20% off. There is also a veteran’s discount available, which is 20% off.

The discounts cannot be stacked with dated promos, but customers are able to save their evergreen discounts when other promotions are happening at the store.

MAITRI MEDICINALS 5845 Centre Ave., East Liberty. maitrimedicinals.com Maitri Medicinals in East Liberty offers a range of benefits for customers. New patients receive a 20% discount on their first purchase and a 15% discount on their second. Customers over the age of 65 receive a 15% discount on their entire order. Veterans receive a 20% discount.

On your birthday, you receive 20% off one item.

The dispensary also gives 10% discounts to patients who receive PA Assistance, including SNAP, WIC, SSI, SSDI, and SPBP. Additionally, orders $150 and over receive a 10% discount, $300 and over get a 15% discount, and $450 and over receive a 20% discount.

RISE Multiple locations. risecannabis.com Rise offers 10% off for seniors, first responders, veterans, industry members,and customers who benefit from state government programs like CHIP, WIC, SNAP, or PACE[NET].

They also have a loyalty program where patients receive a point for every dollar spent, redeemable after spending $100.

SUNNYSIDE DISPENSARY 2116 Penn Ave., Strip District and 4 Kensington Square, New Kensington. sunnyside.shop Sunnyside offers several daily deals, including 10% off for veterans, and a 10% discount for customers with a valid SNAP EBT card.

Additionally, customers can save 20% on orders of $200 and over, and 30% on $300 and over, applied in-store.

TRULIEVE Multiple locations. trulieve.com/dispensaries/pennsylvania Trulieve has several different discounts.

First-time customers receive 50% off their total order, and 15% discount on

their second order. When patients renew their ID card, they will receive $75 off of a purchase of $150 or more. Veterans receive a 20% discount, and SNAP card holders can get a 10% discount.

Trulieve has a loyalty program as well, and every 500 points earns patients a 10% discount. Plus, this discount can be stacked with both the veteran and SNAP discounts.

ZEN LEAF Multiple locations. zenleafdispensaries.com Zen Leaf, formerly The Healing Center, offers discounts for veterans, youth caregivers, students, and others. Veterans receive a 20% discount, youth caregivers receive a 25% discount, and individuals with Social Security Disability Insurance receive a 10% discount.

Patients aged 55 and up, and higher education students get 10% off of their total purchase as well.

There are even more medical marijuana dispensaries in the surrounding region. Be sure to ask about discounts or check the dispensaries’ websites for more info. •

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER APRIL 20 - 27, 2022

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PHOTO: COURTESY OF JONATHAN JOHN

Prepared samples for analytical HPLC testing

PHOTO: COURTESY OF ABBY B. FROM CANNABRAND

DELTA-8

Jonathan John, cannabis chemist

"LEGAL WEED"

BY KIM LYONS // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

W

HILE YOU NEED a special license to sell marijuana in Pennsylvania, anyone can sell Delta-8, a related product extracted from hemp. Vapes, gummies, and products containing Delta-8, sometimes referred to as “legal weed,” are widely available for purchase over the counter because of an oversight in a four-year-old federal law.

But advocates for cannabis and legislators agree that Delta-8 needs to be regulated as a matter of public safety, even if they may not agree on how to go about it.

“These products are being sold unregulated in gas stations and corner stores,” says state Sen. Judith L. Schwank (D-Berks). She and state Sen. Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia) said in an April 6 memo that they plan to introduce legislation to ban products that contain Delta-8 THC made from hemp.

But Jonathan John, a chemist and the CEO of Circus Cannabis, a site selling Delta-8 products, says prohibition is not the answer.

“People use it because it’s effective and cost-effective, it’s not just people who want to get high,” says John. Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana market is extremely

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non-competitive, he adds, and not everyone who needs medical weed can afford the cost of a patient card and the high price (compared to other states) of products sold at legal dispensaries. Delta-8, he says, serves as a cheap alternative.

“What will happen is a lot of illegal activity — a ban would basically overnight say all these shop owners, all these producers are creating an illegal product,” says John.

The 2018 federal Farm Bill made it legal to grow hemp as long as the plants didn’t have high amounts of Delta-9 THC, the molecule in marijuana that gives the user a high.

But the legislation doesn’t cover the other forms of THC that many hemp plants might contain, including Delta-8.

So while only licensed marijuana dispensaries can sell products with Delta-9 THC, products derived from hemp with Delta-8 can be sold over the counter anywhere in Pennsylvania.

Schwank and John both agree that’s dangerous.

While John is wary of legislation that might impose an outright ban on Delta8, he agrees that it needs to be regulated.

Because with no oversight, it’s like a street drug — the user doesn’t know what might have been added to it in the refining process. Since cannabis plants produce so little THC, they have to be refined to get CBD, which is then converted into Delta8. During that process, someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing could add whatever they wanted to create vapes or edibles with Delta-8.

That’s why, according to John, Delta-8 products need to be tested in a reputable, accredited lab to test for harmful additives.

And, he notes, an outright ban would have a serious impact on hemp farmers in the state. Under the same 2018 Farm Bill that created the Delta-8 loophole, Pennsylvania became one of the first states to create a commercial hemp growing program. In 2019, 324 hemp growers received permits to sell hemp across 4,000 acres in 55 counties, according to the state Department of Agriculture.

Schwank stresses that the legislation hasn’t been written yet, and they plan to gather more information, but she doesn’t want any bill to be punitive.

“I was a leader in helping to get hemp on to be a legal crop grown here in the commonwealth,” she notes. “I wrote the first Senate bill to introduce it in 2016.

I’m a supporter of hemp. But I’m antipoisoning people.”

Multiple U.S. states have banned Delta-8, but Holly Teegarden, owner of Sewickley CBD store House of Oils, hopes Pennsylvania isn’t next on the list.

Teegarden has started an online petition, “Help Stop Pennsylvania Senate From Banning Delta-8,” stating that the ban would not just “cripple hemp farmers, processors, CBD store owners, and other retail shops that heavily rely on the sale of these products. But the people who would most be affected are the customers that use products with Delta 8 for PTSD, chronic pain, depression, anxiety, opioid addiction, alcoholism, and many other ailments.”

The way Schwank is thinking about it, she says, is that it should be sold legally, with labeling that lets users know exactly what’s in it. “I have a great interest in hemp as an agricultural crop. But so far, we’ve tried to approach this issue in a scattershot way. That needs to change.” •

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BUSINESS

FINDING COVER

BY AMANDA WALTZ // AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

I

N THE EVER-GROWING field of cannabis production, growers and dispensary owners still face a number of hurdles. Jennifer Zalkin, director of the

National Cannabis Risk Management Association, works with cannabis suppliers all over the country, and says that, while laws have expanded growing and

NATIONAL CANNABIS RISK MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION ncrma.net

CP ILLUSTRATION: JEFF SCHRECKENGOST

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distribution, confusion over regulations and general practices still make it risky for some businesses.

“The majority of the people who are following their passion and embarking on cannabis businesses have not actually run a business before,” says Zalkin. “But because of the lack of federal regulations and guidelines, the industry is constantly changing. You can do what you can do, what you have to do. And it’s just really overwhelming to run these businesses, especially without the experience or the business acumen of what it takes to run a business.”

Zalkin says her association “exists to provide cannabis business owners, entrepreneurs, the dreamers who are dreaming of being involved in the industry, the tools to be a better business owner.”

Founded in 2018, the NCRMA, Zalkin says, now has offices throughout the country, including in Colorado, Arizona, California, and Michigan. It’s also listed as having a Pittsburgh-area office in Warrendale.

The association touts itself as “the leader in providing cost effective and comprehensive non-traditional risk management services to the cannabis market through education, support, and expertise.”

Zalkin says NCRMA seeks to help protect cannabis businesses that, because of uncertainty over state-by-state regulation, have trouble securing insurance.

NCRMA claims that, according to its members, the limited insurance offerings available to cannabis providers “have high premiums and inadequate coverages and services,” which the association says have “hampered the success of the cannabis industry.” One Chicago Tribune article from April 15 says that, despite the major economic boom adult-use and medical cannabis brought to the state of Illinois, dispensaries “still had to pay higher insurance premiums for what insurers consider high risk activity.”

As a result, the NCRMA endorses Trichome, described as a suite of insurance products “designed to serve the needs of its members and the overall cannabis industry.” Rocco Petrilli, chairman of the NCRMA, says Trichome is a direct response to a need for “fairly priced and risk management-based insurance coverage to a rapidly emerging and evolving industry.”

In March, NCRMA also launched Health ReLeaf, a health insurance program made specifically for cannabis companies.

Zalkin says that services and products like those offered by NCRMA will be necessary until the country adopts federal legislation legalizing medical and, hopefully, recreational marijuana.

For now, though, cannabis providers are subject to each state trying to keep up with the industry, wanting to make products accessible while also imposing regulations.

The lack of protection can have devastating impacts on cannabis business owners, says Zalkin. She cites how, earlier this year, Michigan issued a major marijuana recall, claiming that products had been improperly tested. One source in a Detroit Free Press story said the recall likely affected more than $200 million worth of marijuana products, leading to a huge loss of revenue for many state dispensaries and growers.

Zalkin believes that insurers will have to keep up and change as the cannabis industry will only keep expanding.

“The industry is growing, it’s here to stay,” says Zalkin, adding that Oklahoma, for example, has “more dispensaries in that one state than there are collectively in the rest of the country.”

“And so a lot of the insurers are seeing an opportunity there, but they don’t understand the business models, they don’t understand the needs,” says Zalkin. “So a lot of the insurance that is being offered, there’s holes, there’s gaps, there are areas not covered, that people and businesses are still being forced to learn the hard way.”

She says marijuana dispensaries and growers can also face the same issues as restaurants or bars, such as being shut down by inspectors for not meeting certain health codes, or having to cover an employee who gets injured on the job.

Zalkin says that, while insurance can offer support after a setback, NCRMA wants to help businesses avoid encountering problems in the first place. She says NCRMA exists to “educate and support through the understanding that insurance is there after a happening, and it will never necessarily make you whole.”

“Whereas risk management is being prepared, it’s understanding the underlying risks,” she says, “it’s understanding that things that you might not be able to see day to day that could potentially, over time, be a cause for derailing your day to day or derailing your business goals as a whole.” •

Follow a&e editor Amanda Waltz on Twitter @AWaltzCP

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CP ILLUSTRATION: LUCY CHEN

LEGAL

CANNABIS AND THE COURTS

BY JORDANA ROSENFELD // JORDANA@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

P

ENNSYLVANIA was recently named one of the 19 states with the worst weed laws by a new report by the Marijuana Policy Project called “Behind the Times: The 19 States Where a joint Can Still Land You in Jail.”

Despite record-high levels of public support for legalization, and the fact that the state’s bigger municipalities like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have already passed measures to decriminalize cannabis possession, “There’s still a ton of arrests happening for cannabis possession” in Pennsylvania, says DeVaughn Ward, senior legislative counsel at MPP. “At the state level, we have not fully dealt with [decriminalization], and the federal government has not fully dealt with that,” said State Rep. Jordan Harris (D-Philadelphia) at a March 22 press conference. “Let’s be clear,” Harris continued, “in Pennsylvania, it is the government that sells the alcohol. We are selling this product, we are selling this substance that we know is more harmful than marijuana.”

According to the report, under current law, Pennsylvania imposes up to 30 days of imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $500 for possession of up to 30 grams of cannabis (just over an ounce).

“Black Pennsylvanians are three times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than white people in the state,” the report notes.

This year, the state Senate held

the commonwealth’s first hearings on legalizing adult-use cannabis. Senate Law and Justice Committee Chair Mike Regan (R-Cumberland), a former state trooper, made the case for a legalization bill he is crafting with Rep. Amen Brown (D-Philadelphia), and fellow Republican Sen. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) is also sponsoring a legalization bill.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has called for legalization for several years, and Pittsburgh legislators have also introduced cannabis legalization legislation.

In 2020, former state representative and Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s current chief of staff Jake Wheatley (D-Hill District) and state Rep. Dan Frankel (D-Squirrel Hill) announced a bill that would not only legalize marijuana, but would expunge the records for people charged with nonviolent, cannabis-related offenses.

Some have also argued that the state’s medical marijuana laws should be more lenient.

A new bill aims to add food products containing THC to the roster of medical weed products sold in Pennsylvania.

Medical marijuana dispensaries are currently not allowed to include medical weed in edibles like gummies or brownies, but state Rep. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) has introduced a bill in order to provide more options to patients.

“Pennsylvania’s patients should be able to buy edible medical cannabis that

is safe, uniform, and securely packaged and labeled, just as they do in 25 other states that have legalized medical cannabis,” says Laughlin in an April 8 statement. “For many patients, their medical conditions require gradual relief over an extended period of time. Consuming medical cannabis in edible form is among the best ways to achieve the time-release effect that these patients need.”

The state currently prohibits weed growers and processors from making medical weed into food products but allows the sale of many other forms of weed, including oils like RSO meant to be orally consumed.

Laughlin acknowledges that it’s fairly easy these days to make your own edibles, but argues that patients would benefit from regulation and quality control.

Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program has about 400,000 patients, according to Laughlin’s statement.

“Incorporating medical cannabis into food is complex and patients may not evenly disperse the marijuana’s active ingredients throughout their food which impairs their ability to get uniform relief from their symptoms,” he adds. “Edibles produced by one of Pennsylvania’s licensed grower/processors and tested by one of our approved laboratories would be uniform in their THC distribution and potency, as well as clearly labeled and stored in child-proof containers.” •

Follow news reporter Jordana Rosenfeld on Twitter @rosenfeldjb

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CP PHOTO: LISA CUNNINGHAM

Medical marijuana products and labels

HEALTH

LEARNING THE LABEL

BY LISA CUNNINGHAM // LCUNNING@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

T

RYING TO NAVIGATE the large variety of available medical marijuana products can be overwhelming, especially for new patients shopping at a dispensary for the first time.

Picking the form of cannabis (ie: vape, tincture, capsule, dry leaf, etc.) is just the first step. There are also two species of strains to choose from, plus a list of ingredients with various percentages.

Pittsburgh City Paper visited Lawrenceville dispensary Delta-9 to learn more about medical cannabis labels.

Ali Budz, inventory and purchasing manager, and Kaveise Cadogan, marketing manager and patient care consultant, explain what certain ingredients mean and how you can find the best products for your needs.

Read a longer version online at

PGHCITYPAPER.COM

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SPECIES OF STRAINS Sativa provides a cerebral experience and tends to act as a stimulate, Indica provides a full-body experience and tends to act as a sedative, and Hybrid is a combination of the two. It’s important to note, however, that everyone’s different and these can affect patients different ways.

If you want relief, but don’t want to get high, try a 1:1 (pronounced “one to one”) Hybrid, which means it has an equal parts THC and CBD. INGREDIENTS Cannabis labels break ingredients down into two sections, Cannabinoids and Terpenes, showing a percentage of each according to product weight. A full percentage is prominent, according to Cadogan. (Lots of ingredients will show up below a full percentage, like “0.145%.”)

Cannabinoids are also sometimes listed as “Potency.” These are chemical compounds “that interact with endocannabinoid system receptors in the

brain and body to produce various effects,” according to a Delta 9 brochure.

This is where you’ll find levels of THC and CBD. The other section shows Terepenes, “aromatic oils or compounds that contribute to the distinct flavors and aromas,” according to the brochure. “Terepenes also contribute to the medical benefits that are provided by medical marijuana.”

The Cannabinoids and Terpenes work together, and can perform differently depending on the other ingredients and your body chemistry, according to Cadogan. She describes it like finding the best recipe that will work for you, adding you should use descriptions “as a guideline, but not a guarantee.”

CANNABINOIDS Some dispensaries only list THC and CBD. Others, like Delta 9, break them down even further, such as THCA and CBDV. Combined, these subgroups make up the full THC and CBD percentage.

CP PHOTO: LISA CUNNINGHAM

Ali Budz and Kaveise Cadogan at Delta 9 PA

THC is the ingredient that gets you high. Budz says some labels are as high as 30% THC, but she wouldn’t recommend anything that strong for daytime.

“Everyone’s tolerance is different,” she says, adding that even 14% is enough for some. But Budz says getting too high really comes from overconsumption, and that if you “hit your pen once, twice, you should be fine.”

Medical marijuana often makes patients hungry. If you’re looking for relief without stuffing your face, Cadogan recommends THCV, an appetite suppressant.

CBG is “great for gastrointestinal situations,” says Cadogan. It can also stop “tummy butterflies” and help with IBS and Chrohn’s, adds Budz. Look for something high in CBN for pain relief.

Cadogan recommends to “consider the whole label, not just THC. “There might be high THC,” she adds, “but the Terpenes might be what really alter your experience.”

If you’re dealing with anxiety, Cadogan recommends a strain that is high in Linalool, Terpinolene, and Myrcene. Avoid a product high in Pinene.

Looking for an antidepressant? Try a product with an equal balance of Myrcene, Carophyllene, and Limonene.

TERPENES In pain? Try something high in Caryophyllene or Myrcene. Budz also suggests Limonene for a daytime pain reliever, especially if it’s nerve-based pain. Myrcene is the most common Terepene, found in every strain — look for a product with a high percentage for evening pain relief.

Pinene is a bronchodilator. If you’re coughing after you partake, Cadogan says it could be the Pinene. “It opens up the lungs,” she says, adding that it’s also a great anti-bacterial.

STILL CONFUSED? If you still have trouble interpreting the labels, look at your local dispensary’s online menu. Delta 9, for example, provides recommendations based on activities (“Get relief” or “Get some sleep”) or feelings (“Pain free” or “Hungry”).

And don’t be afraid to ask your dispensary consultant. “We can definitely go into more of a label deep dive with a patient,” says Budz. “That’s never any trouble. It’s very, very easy to pull it up as we are checking somebody out.” •

WARNING Tell your dispensary and check the label if you have allergies. If you’re allergic to lemon, avoid Limonene.

Pine? Avoid Pinene. Black pepper?

Avoid Caryophyllene. And some capsules contain coconut oil, so if you’re allergic to coconut, try another form of consumption.

“Typically, you will see it’s not going to be an allergic response like an anaphylactic response,” says Budz. “It’s like your immune system starts taking a hit.

You might feel like you have an upper respiratory infection that’s lasting just a little bit too long.”

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The Sanctuary Wellness Institute: PA Medical Marijuana Card Services s Medical Marijuana has become legal and more prevalent throughout Pennsylvania, many residents are looking into it as an option, and seeing if it is worth it for them. However, the first step for anyone considering Medical Marijuana is getting your medical card.

For many, this task seems daunting, and can stop people from going any further.

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The first step in the process is simply registering for Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana program. This process is simple, and usually just requires a driver’s license.

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SEVEN DAYS IN PITTSBURGH

IRL / IN REAL LIFE EVENT VIRTUAL / STREAMING OR ONLINE-ONLY EVENT HYBRID / MIX OF IN REAL LIFE AND ONLINE EVENT

PHOTO: KARLI CADEL

^ Pittsburgh Opera presents Blue

THU., APRIL 21 KIDS • IRL The Heinz History Center recognizes Autism Awareness Month with Sensory Friendly Days, hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods.

The week will make the museum a more sensory-friendly space for children who need it, with increased directional signage throughout, designated break and rest spaces, mitigation of sudden or loud sounds and motions, and more. This day includes a sensory-friendly storytime from 11-11:30 a.m. with a tactile book. Admission is free throughout the week for all individuals with sensory processing differences, as well as one caregiver per individual. Continues through Fri., April 22. 1212 Smallman St., Strip District. Free. heinzhistorycenter.org.

PARTY • IRL Greer Lankton was a significant, yet underrecognized trans artist in 1980s New York City. To celebrate her legacy, Mattress Factory, which houses a permanent exhibition of Lankton’s work, will host a Birthday Bash on what would have been the artist’s 64th birthday. Held in collaboration with the Pittsburgh Equality Center, this free community day will mark the official launch of the Greer Lankton Collection Finding Aid. Expect button making, a photobooth activity inspired by

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Lankton’s self-portraits, performances by DJ Formosa and musician Grant Charney, and more. 3-7 p.m. 500 Sampsonia Way, North Side. Free. mattress.org.

FRI., APRIL 22 STAGE • IRL The classical tale of Sophocles’ Antigone receives a twist when creator and performer Adil Mansoor presents Amm(i) gone at Kelly Strayhorn Theater’s Alloy Studios. The theater piece is described as exploring “queerness, the afterlife, and obligation using canonical texts, teachings from the Quran, and audio conversations between Adil Mansoor and his mother,” who struggles spiritually with her son’s identity. The work is the latest from Mansoor, a founding member of Pittsburgh’s Hatch Arts Collective and the former Artistic Director of Dreams of Hope, an LGBTQA+ youth arts organization. 8 p.m. Continues through Sat., April 30. 5530 Penn Ave., East Liberty. $15-30, Pay What Moves You. kelly-strayhorn.org/events/adilmansoor.

BURLESQUE • IRL Experience a night of spoken word, burlesque, and bellydancing when Lawrenceville Distilling hosts Nerdy,

Dirty, Inked and Curvy 3. Hosted by La Petty Moore, the event features talent from Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio, including Eden Ivy, Scarlett St. Claire, Viva Valezz!, and more. Enhance the entertainment with cocktails and mocktails. 8-10 p.m. 5410 Harrison St., Lawrenceville. $10-25. Search “Nerdy, Dirty, Inked and Curvy” on Facebook.

SAT., APRIL 23

food, and fun on wheels. The inaugural Bloomfield Skate Fest invites skaters and skateboarders of all ages to enjoy some traffic-free activities on Clement Way, which will be closed off thanks to efforts

by Trace Brewing and community partners, Wicked Skatewear and Radio Skate Shop.

Hear performances by Boiled Denim, fuck yeah, dinosaurs!, and others, hit up food vendors La Palapa and Pure Grub, and more. 1-9 p.m. Clement Way, Bloomfield.

Free. facebook.com/tracebrewing.

MARKET • IRL

KIDS • IRL

The Pittsburgh Center for Arts & Media will support local artists and usher in spring with an outdoor market showcasing glass, jewelry, pottery, and other materials.

Taking place on the front lawn in front of the Scaife building at the center’s Mellon Park location, the Spring Artists Market will feature items by 26 local artists, including CA Glassworks, Charmed by Nature, Gingerly Press, Harp & Hound Jewelry, and more. Enjoy food supplied

by Two and a Half Greeks and drinks by Cocktail Brewery Goodlander Cocktail as you shop. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 1047 Shady Ave., Shadyside. Free. pghartsmedia.org.

Everyone’s favorite precocious pig is making her way to the Byham Theater.

Peppa Pig’s Adventure will take families on a camping trip with Peppa and her friends George, Pedro Pony, Suzie Sheep, and Gerald Giraffe. With Daddy Pig at the wheel and lots of snacks for the trip, it’s all set up to be a blast. Singing, dancing, and more fun and surprises await for everyone to enjoy. 2 p.m. 101 Sixth St., Downtown. $44.25-59.25. trustarts.org.

EVENT • IRL Strap on your skates and head to Bloomfield for a day of live music,

SUN., APRIL 24 STAGE • IRL See author Harper Lee’s classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, at the Benedum Center.

Written by Aaron Sorkin, the stage

Join us all day as we celebratee books, bookstores, readers, and Riverstone!

5825 Forbes Ave McCandless Crossing Squirrel Hill North Hills riverstonebookstore.com

PHOTO: COURTESY OF FLAN FLAHERTY

^ Deaf Brown American Mom at SPACE

adaptation follows the Pulitzer Prizewinning story of a young girl witnessing racial injustice in her small Alabama town around 1936. The Pittsburgh production gets an extra boost of star power from TV actor Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch. See what The New York Times has called “the most successful American play in Broadway history.” 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. 237 Seventh St., Downtown. $33-105. trustarts.org.

MON., APRIL 25 MUSIC • IRL Suzanne Vega helped define the music of the 1980s and 1990s with hits like “Luka” and “Tom’s Diner.” Experience her signature, award-winning talent when she stops at the Oaks Theater during her An Intimate Evening of Songs and Stories tour. Fans will hear music spanning three decades of Vega’s career, and her skill as a masterful storyteller who The New York Times once said “observes the world with a clinically poetic eye.” 8 p.m. Doors at 7 p.m. 310 Allegheny River Blvd. Oakmont. $30-214.25. theoakstheater.com/event-listings.

TUE., APRIL 26 OPERA • IRL Pittsburgh Opera presents Blue, a show by Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori and NAACP Theatre Award-winning librettist Tazewell Thompson. Described as being inspired by contemporary events and Black literature, the story follows a Black American couple who must navigate the devastating loss of their son at the hands of police. By exploring “race, violence, and reconciliation,” Blue “places timely issues at the forefront of modern opera and invites audiences to the emotional epicenter of

their impact.” The production takes place at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. 7 p.m. Continues through Sun., May 1. 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $30.75-121.50. pittsburghopera.org.

WED., APRIL 27

LYNN CULLEN LIVE

every Monday thru Thursday at 10 a.m. at www.pghcitypaper.com

ART • IRL Fran Ledonio Flaherty, a deaf artist and first-generation immigrant from the Philippines, has lived in Pittsburgh for nearly 30 years. Her art show Deaf Brown American Mom, on display at SPACE, is described as addressing the intersections of racism, disability, and motherhood, and examines her “experiences as a Deaf Brown Artist Mom and how to find her place in the city she now calls her home.” See this highly personal show from Flaherty, a member of the #notwhite collective and founder of Anthropology of Motherhood, an immersive art space that has been featured at the Dollar Bank Three Rivers arts Festival for several years. 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Continues through Sun., May 15. 812 Liberty Ave., Downtown. Free. trustarts.org.

EVENT • IRL There was a time, not so long ago, when Arsenal Bowl drew crowds with Rock ’N Bowl, a popular event combining live music with all-night rounds of bowling.

After a long hiatus, Rock ’N Bowl returns with Dumplings, a Pittsburgh band described as delivering “overdriven guitar” and rhythmic, pulsing drums and bass, and songs about “work, friends, dreams, animals, Pittsburghers, clothes, etc.” Knock some pics down all while supporting local music. 9 p.m. 4310 Butler St., Lawrenceville. $9.95 all you can bowl.

21 and over. arsenalbowl.com.

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER APRIL 20 - 27, 2022

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BENDING THE TRUTH

Mozart Management

BY BRENDAN EMMETT QUIGLEY // BRENDANEMMETTQUIGLEY.COM

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ACROSS 1. Activity tracker info, e.g.

5. Hard volleyball hit 10. With deep pockets 14. Thing smashed by the Hadron Collider 15. Erne’s gripper 16. Tennis star Raducanu 17. Start of a quip by 34-Across 20. Lifeline’s location 21. “Open in new ___” 22. Pig’s squeal 23. Quip, part 2 26. Winningest QB without a Super Bowl victory 29. Really bothers 33. “Where ___ we headed?”

34. Source of the quip 38. Peel back?

39. Republic with a Constitution 41. Heartbreaker 42. Urge on 43. Center of activity 45. Republic with a Constitution, for short 46. Strong fragrance 47. Quip, part 3 50. Square meal ingredient?

51. Horsedrawn carriage 52. Tech

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billionaire Peter 54. Response to “Who’s there?”

57. Quip, part 4 58. App builder’s regular customers 62. End of the quip 64. Frayed around the edges 65. Spendeverything event 66. Kingdom east of Babylonia 67. See 18-Down 68. Danish word for a feeling of quiet comfort 69. Lucky charm

DOWN 1. Calendar box 2. Over 3. Caesar wrap 4. Commune in Salerno 5. Good guys?: Abbr.

6. Corkscrews, e.g.

7. Poem featuring King Agamemnon 8. Kelp in Japanese cuisine 9. Future If Future musician Brian 10. Push back 11. Supermodel née Zara Abdulmajid 12. Initialism in color separation 13. Consumes 18. With 67-Across, “no dessert, thanks” 19. Ump’s reasoning

for a safe call 24. Give a deep massage 25. When many give up 26. Registered ___ 27. Direction provider 28. Go as far as 30. Tom ___ (Mystery Science Theater 3000 robot) 31. Not engaging 32. “I don’t have time to read this,” in brief 35. Romeo’s words, in brief 36. Perspicacious 37. Tests of language?

40. Division answer 42. Hearing aid?

44. Corn covering?

46. ICU ASAP 48. Red in the face 49. “That makes sense now” 52. Picard’s counselor 53. “Take this” 55. Ventimiglia of This Is Us 56. Key for “Under the Bridge”: Abbr.

57. Pass along through Outlook: Abbr.

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City of Pittsburgh Public Meeting Smithfield Street Reconstruction Project Phase 1, Forbes Avenue to Sixth Avenue The City of Pittsburgh invites you to attend a public meeting for Phase 1 of the Smithfield Street Reconstruction Project.

This project extends from Forbes Avenue to Sixth Avenue on Smithfield Street in Downtown Pittsburgh.

The project is early in the design phase so there is an opportunity to provide feedback on proposed changes. The project team will be available to review and discuss the proposed improvements as part of the Phase 1 Reconstruction project.

MEETING DETAILS

April 27, 2022 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM PUBLIC MEETING VIRTUAL MEETING VIA ZOOM Website: https://zoom.us/join Meeting ID: 822 7182 7873 Passcode: 122696

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Call for more details today! (some restrictions apply) Call IVS 1-877-350-1003

For general questions about the meeting, or if you or someone you know would like translation services, please contact: Michael Panzitta, P.E., Project Manager City of Pittsburgh Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (412) 255-8850 x217 or michael.panzitta@pittsburghpa.gov

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER APRIL 20 - 27, 2022

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