It was during an endless drive home from a camping trip in eastern Washington state that entrepreneur Adam Stites came up with his latest product. "What would happen if I infused heavy cream with cannabis, then mixed it with my coffee?" he mused. ("My van doesn't go very fast, so I have a lot of time to think," Stites explains.)
He road-tested the idea as soon as he got home. So strong was the first dose, Stites woke up 13 hours after he chugged a single cup. Nonetheless, his professional interest was piqued. Not long after, he set up Mirth Provisions to sell a commercial version of his creation: marijuana-infused cold-brew coffee, dosed up with 20 milligrams of THC per serving. Waggishly named "Legal," it's the ultimate wake and bake.
"Our customers are not looking to get blown out of their mind, just ever so slightly tilt their relativity," Stites said, employing the lyricism of a man who clearly started his day with a cup of Legal. "It's great for a Sunday morning, where I'm at a teahouse reading the newspaper and want to focus and get some work done," he tells us from a conference in Las Vegas.