Just look at all the trichomes on that nug.

Jay’s daughter has osteosarcoma — “cancer of the bone. She had to have her leg amputated. It also tries to travel to your heart and lungs, and it’s ongoing. They actually prescribed cannabis for her in the hospital. It would have helped with the nausea and with the sleeping. But she didn’t want to partake; she was just anti- the whole idea. So she just went through all that unfortunate process.”

Jay doesn’t partake, either — not in straight marijuana, anyway. “I drink the CBD water” — wherein “CBD” stands for “cannabidiol,” a cannabinoid that accounts for up to 40 percent of the marijuana plant’s extract. “Most CBD products have a small percentage of THC left in them because of the way the concentrate is taken out, but it’s so minimal that you don’t feel any high. I have high-level anxiety. I was in the auto industry for 25 years, and you can’t help but be high-strung. I was on Xanax, but they took me off, because it’s a controlled substance now, and put me on the drug that was a step down. And I was still having high anxiety. Now, instead of taking Xanax, I’ll drink a CBD water, and I’ll get some of the same effects naturally.”

A true believer, Jay also uses CBD lotion on his peeling hands. “I’m very allergic to cleaning materials, but I have OCD and I like to clean. It usually takes about two weeks for my body to get all the dead skin off, but I noticed a huge difference in 72 hours.”

Now retired from the car business, Jay works at The Vault, a medical marijuana dispensary on La Mesa Boulevard. “This is my afterlife; I’m really trying to learn about the medicinal properties. I want to expand our advertising, have it lean towards more than just cannabis. With CBD, it’s not like trying drugs, where you have patients coming in and saying, ‘This made me throw up.’ There’s no harm.”

Iley, Jay’s manager, says her volunteers “take time with patients, especially cancer patients or anyone needing cannabis for pain — things other than wanting to get the heck high. We’ll see if they need sativa for daytime use or indica for insomnia,” and will recommend particular strains depending on what’s in the store. “The girls are pretty much familiar with the strains and with the percentage of THC. The vendors have their product lab-tested, and we pass those results on to the patients.”

Volunteer Karlie explains that when it comes to vendors, “some people set appointments; others just bring in a big bag of weed and say, ‘Hey, look at my shit.’ We have regular vendors, and we have random people who come in with great stuff.” Hopeful vendors usually provide “a solid nug that we can break in half. We’ll see how filled with [cannabinoid-rich] trichomes they are, and if you can smell the turpenes. If there’s mold in the middle or other things growing, or if it’s dry…that means it isn’t fresh.”