L.A.’s Stoned Pizza Is Exactly What It Sounds Like
Yes, it’s true — weed-infused pizza has made its way to Los Angeles. Billing itself as “smoke-free pain relief,” Stoned Oven Gourmet Medibles is now selling frozen pizzas containing THC to several dispensaries throughout the Los Angeles area.
Available for $10 each, according to LA Weekly, each pizza is made with 250 mg of “ethanol-extracted THC concentrate from an indica-dominant hybrid strain.” Although L.A. city law prevents anyone from eating the pizza on site, some dispensaries will cook it for their customers. (In my sordid imagination, the smell of the pizza wafting out onto the street will lead to some very confusing feelings in people who are pro-pizza but anti-marijuana.)
The six-inch personal pizzas are netting Stoned Oven owner Henry Mark about $20,000-$30,000 a week, says Eater; not too bad for a 24-year-old who only opened his business this year.
Mark has reportedly been working in dispensaries since he was 17, and spent four months developing the recipes for some of his new pizzas. “You cannot taste one bit of marijuana in there,” he tells LA Weekly, adding that he plans to expand Stoned Oven into the wholesale business, among other things — including a line of pizzas intended to ease pain and treat diseases like cancer without causing a traditional high.
For those not up on their California medical marijuana laws, it has been legal since 1996 for patients to possess and grow marijuana for personal medical use, as long as they have the approval of a doctor licensed in the state. The state itself does not legally allow dispensaries, but some cities regulate them locally.
Pizza is apparently a hot property in the medical marijuana world; recently, Vancouver’s Mega Ill café began serving pizza topped with a marijuana-infused sauce and ground weed buds. Owned by cancer survivors, Mega Ill is another venture that aims for creative and delicious ways to help cancer sufferers find relief.
Since, as Mark puts it, “Everyone loves pizza,” it looks like these businesses have only just begun to boom.