My Funny Valentine

Chocolate & cannabis: a romantic pairing.

Cannabe Your Valentine? The intoxication of Maine’s love affair with

THC and CBD is growing and sweetening the closer we get to V-Day. Maybe that’s what they mean when they say a couple has chemistry.

Many of Maine’s cannabis stores are busting loose with imaginative, marketleading chocolates. One touts a “decadent cannabis-infused chocolate bar made of silky imported Belgian chocolate.” Another says, “Our chocolate bars are the perfect marriage between delicious, fair-trade dark chocolate and rich, full spectrum cannabis oil.” Clearly our state has a glow on.

But what makes the cannabis and cacao plants such a mind-blowing match?

IT’S ONLY NATURAL

“Cannabis contains at least 113 unique chemical compounds known as cannabinoids,” according to the blog Zamnesia. com. “Some of the most famous are THC (the main psychoactive ingredient in the plant) and CBD (a non-psychoactive compound renowned for its medicinal properties).” Chocolate also delivers euphoria. According to “Brain cannabinoids in chocolate” by E. di Tomaso, M. Beltramo, and D. Piomelli (a 1996 study published in the journal Nature), there are three “pharmacological constituents of chocolate whose main target may be the endogenous cannabinoid system of the brain.”

SO IT’S FATE

Chocolate and cannabis were always highschool sweethearts, even if they didn’t

FROM STAFF & WIRE REPORTS

MEDICAL MARIJUANA CERTIFICATIONS AND EDUCATION

PRIVATE, CONVENIENT SETTING - TELEMEDICINE - WALK-IN CERTIFICATIONS We are committed to supporting the medicinal value cannabis with your holistic healthcare treatment by providing safe and compliant access to Maine’s Medical Marijuana Program. We provide a caring, non-judgmental medical professional who will qualify your condition for medical marijuana and discuss cannabis as it relates to your specific needs.

JOSEPH SORBELLO, PA-C

MEDICALMARIJUANAPRACTITIONERS.COM 207-807-1401

know it. They were meant to be. And as Maine goes, so go the cannabis revenues. With retail sales of $8,359,846 from 119,589 transactions in November alone, it’s likely that total retail sales transactions for 2021—already at 980,051 through November, according to Maine’s Office of Marijuana Policy in Augusta—will break a million.

VALENTINE FUTURES

“I have a chef on site, André Gamard,” says Ben Edwards of Schoppee Farm in Machias. “He works in white, milk, dark, and semi chocolates. There’s a lot of demand, so we’re building him a new separate kitchen space. My favorite is his dark chocolate truffles with Bailey’s Irish Cream mint ganache.” Next stop, St. Patrick’s Day! n

BEDAZZLED

According to history.comthe Aztecs used cacao beans as currency, and Aztec emperor Montezuma drank 50 cups of cocoa a day as an aphrodisiac.

MAINE MADE HEMP PRODUCTS

Created by our family for yours | ShopSchoppee.com