Best Topicals

The High Times Cannabis Cup took place over the weekend of August 24th and 25th. Before the weekend ended, High Times gave out over a dozen awards. Lotus Gold and CBD Plus USA won first place for best topicals and best hemp-derived product. Every notable cannabis business in Oklahoma entered the running, and the competition was fierce.

Main Stage

Outside of the awards ceremony, the Cannabis Cup had a lot to offer. Its venue, Lost Lakes, entertained thousands of people throughout the festival. At night, you could see smoke pouring out of vendor tents and hung over the lake. The stage area offered music and a crowd of food trucks strategically poised. With 311 headlining the first day and Slightly Stoopid featured on day two, the Cannabis Cup never lacked for entertainment.

Lotus Gold at Cannabis Cup

Lotus Gold pitched two vendor booths. The first positioned just after the entrance to the VIP section. Visitors were treated to a spectacular view of the main stage. But the real event happened in the Vendor Village. Each company’s stall offered their best and boldest products, eager to share their own take on cannabis. The Lotus Gold booth offered a spectacular set-piece, the weed blower. The weed blower was a technological marvel—a leaf blower repurposed to blow air from two attached, gigantic bowls of cannabis. Every hour, a lotus gold representative would pack both bowls, set them alight, and blast a consenting crowd with a cannabis cloud that left a fog so dense it felt like standing in the shade.

Long Lines, Parking Troubles

Although spectacular, the event suffered from growing pains. The lines grew long the first day. The wait times took over an hour and a half for some guests arriving on Saturday evening. Water was not quickly available, and the festival attendants found themselves overworked. Parking, as always in Oklahoma, was a puzzling nightmare. Festival guests thought outside the box, parking as creatively as possible up and down 10th street. For certain, nobody had quite realized the popularity of cannabis in Oklahoma.

Cannabis Cup Coming Together

However, once the festival organizers understood the incredible demand Oklahomans had for this event, the adjustment went over smoothly. Day two saw more available water and quicker lines for the attendees. The parking situation remained complex, but people made their own parking spots. After a tremulous start, the Cannabis Cup hit its stride.

While the event was enjoyable, the real treat was the outcry of support from Oklahomans. Of the people browsing the booths, you never saw a single person that matched the stoner stereotype. Of course, you could not walk ten feet without bumping into someone smoking cannabis. Festival goers represented a wide diversity of Oklahomans. Every type of person was present from military veterans to art students and even accountants.

Next Year’s Cannabis Cup

If there is any lesson to learn from this year’s Cannabis Cup, it is that Oklahomans support medical cannabis with great enthusiasm. The second takeaway is that accessibility needs more consideration. Oklahomans understand how to handle the heat—summer in Oklahoma lasts longer than all the other seasons combined. However, expecting every person to be able to walk the distance between parking, admission, and the Vendor Village assumes too much. Considering medical marijuana’s purpose of relieving pain–among many other benefits–making cannabis cup more handicap-friendly should be the highest priority for next year.