By Jondi Gumz
The Apothecarium, which opened Nov. 11 on 41st Avenue in Capitola, brings a boutique style to shopping for cannabis for those 21 and over.
With a wall of mirrors behind the quartz counter, it feels like a Sephora cosmetics shop.
Jim Bushneff awaits customers at The Apothecarium, a chain with stores in the San Francisco area, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
The look is based on Apothecarium’s flagship location in San Francisco, named best-designed dispensary in the U.S. by Architectural Digest. (Credit to Vincent Gonzaga.)
Founded by three cousins and two friends in 2011, The Apothecarium was acquired in 2019 for $118 million by TerrAscend Corp., a Canadian company.
The Capitola shop is the first California location outside the San Francisco Bay Area, but The Apothecarium also has stores in Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
In two weeks of operation, store staff said, popular items include: State Flower brand for smoking, $55 for 35 grams; Valhalla chocolate, $18; and the CANN grapefruit-rosemary beverage, with a 6-pack of resealable cans selling for $26. Products from Santa Cruz Veterans Alliance are local favorites, too.
Art by Santa Cruz artist Eric Peterson adorns the wall at The Apothecarium. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
Since the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in mid-March, many businesses have been struggling — but not cannabis.
“Cannabis has thrived during the pandemic … It makes sense,” said Sharon Daigle, assistant manager of The Apothecarium in Capitola. “We’re an essential service. People seek us out.”
Manager Jason Astorio agrees, saying the shop helps “people who need calm.”
Both of them have personal experience with cannabis.
Daigle, 54, formerly a high school teacher, found the right combination of cannabis components CBD and THC targeted her lingering pain and inflammation from a back surgery.
“The tin man just oiled my joint” is how she put it, allowing her to work and feel better.
“The benefits are worth exploring,” she said. “It’s not for everyone but it might be for you. Until you try it, you don’t know.”
Joey Cardiol at the checkout counter of The Apothecarium in Capitola. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
Astorio, 47, said his drummer friend’s wife suffered from chronic headaches until she found the indica strain of cannabis was beneficial for her.
The challenging part of opening in a pandemic has been hiring people when most of their face is covered by the requisite mask to prevent the virus from spreading.
Still, The Apothecarium is fully staffed with 10 employees. Katie Rasche, 39, came from Whole Foods, excited to work at a place where she could help people.
Daigle said she had worked for a competing cannabis dispensary locally before coming to The Apothecarium.
“What drew me,” she said, “was cannabis being a part of health and wellness.”
Cannabis was outlawed by the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, with the name of the law indicating financial motivations rather than randomized clinical trials showing health hazards.
In fact, in the 1830s, Sir William Brooke O’Shaughnessy, an Irish doctor who had written a paper on cholera, was working in India when he documented that cannabis extracts could ease cholera symptoms like stomach pain and vomiting. By the late 19th century, Americans and Europeans could buy cannabis extracts in pharmacies and doctors’ offices to help with stomach aches, migraines, inflammation and insomnia, according to History.com.
The Apothecarium’s logo greets you as you walk into the store. • Photo credit Jondi Gumz
The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 classified marijuana as Schedule I, which means it has a high potential for abuse, there is no accepted medical use in the United States and there is a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision.
Attempts to change this status in Congress have been unsuccessful.
In recent years, opioids prescribed for pain have resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, with 50,000 dying last year in the U.S. due to opioids.
Daigle contends cannabis is safer.
“There’s no evidence anyone has died from too much marijuana,” she said.
Although many states, California included, have changed laws to allow the sale and use of cannabis, the federal prohibition remains in place. As a result, most of the research on cannabis for medicinal use has been done in Canada or Israel.
Santa Cruz County, long known as a favorable environment for growing superior fruit and vegetables, now is becoming a place where cannabis an be grown legally.
“We’re in a unique area that grows the best cannabis in the world,” said Daigle. “I’ve traveled. I’ve sampled a lot of product.”
The 2019 Santa Cruz county crop report does not list cannabis but it does list industrial hemp, with 21 growers registering 185 acres and harvesting 132 acres — numbers that are likely to expand over time. n
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The Apothecarium at 1850 41st Ave., Capitola, is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Phone: 831-325-0691. Email: info@theapothecarium.