We made it to this third edition of the Green Screen. After the gales of November came early, late, and often, we’re on to December. The World Cup is reaching an apex and, despite the human rights violations and migrant worker deaths building the stadiums, we did enjoy the USMNT getting to the knockout round (before getting Dutch Mastered) and all the wonderful football being played.
What does any of that have to do with Herbal Solutions in Ypsilanti? Well, plenty, actually. We’ve been hearing about Herbal Solutions from trusted sources for years now, but we were not aware that it went recreational back in April. One trip and I am hooked; a game changer for the Green Screen, indeed.
Herbal Solutions is perched on Michigan Ave. next to The Rocket. An unassuming operation, the contents of a glass case filled with High Times awards, both local and national, tells a different story.
The shops musical selections tend to be on point, and the experience reminds me of an Amsterdam coffeeshop. We sat down with founder Adam Tasselmyer on a World Cup Wednesday to get the scoop on Herbal Solutions’ history and business model.
Tasselmyer explains, “I had struggled with opiates for quite awhile after a bad car accident in 2003. I was prescribed oxycontin which turned into a full on heroin addiction. I got clean in October 2010 and moved to Ypsi the same month. One of the things that helped me get off opiates was Rick Simpson Oil that I was getting at a dispensary in Ann Arbor. I had a couple bad experiences with the dispensary staff and, talking to the owner, I got to thinking ‘I could open one of these, treat people right, and do it a little differently and have more of a one-on-one feel’.”
And that thought of Tasslemyer is precisely what you get at Herbal Solutions – Herbal Solutions is operated from a caregiver perspective model. There are two main bud bars with a small waiting area (with a TV that had the World Cup on during my conversation with Tasslemyer). They don’t seem to allow more than 4-5 people inside at one time, so you receive the full attention of your budtender in a private room. They take care of you, plain and simple.
Game Changer
The game changer for me at Herbal Solutions is their pure bud pre-rolls, my preferred consumption method.
Some grower friends of mine hipped me to the fact that most dispensary pre-rolls are filled with shake and bottom-of-the-bag chaff. Not at Herbal Solutions; for the price point you get a better, cleaner smoke. It’s hard for me to consider smoking anything less at this point. Infused joints are all the rage and you can get those anywhere, but you’ll generally pay 20 bucks a pop for those babies.
Maybe the Amsterdam comparison isn’t quite accurate. It actually feels more like a familiar basement, a place where maybe you did a weed deal in the past or just hung out with friends, smoking, drinking, watching movies or sports, or listening to music.
Herbal Solutions will be moving soon to the building next door to its current location, which Tasselmyer recently purchased. Plans include, “first floor retail, short-term, cannabis-friendly AirBnB rentals on the second and third floor and a rooftop patio deck. We’re hoping to be up and running there by next summer.”
A lot of music cues tend to pop up around the holidays, and for this month’s Green Screen Auditory Companion, we’re hitting you with two. My sister, always a big Replacements fan, put me on to “Treatment Bound.” Some would say this isn’t a weed song, but I disagree. The line that stays with me is, “first thing we do when we finally pull up/get shitface drunk and try to sober up.”
The song that truly blew my mind this cycle is an old Funkadelic number, “Biological Speculation.” It’s from the album “America Eats Its Young,” which I’d tried to listen to at various times over the years but could never get through. This song is deep and funky as hell. So for this holiday season, go grab some deep funk from Herbal Solutions and deck all the halls. These are heady times here in Southeast Michigan, let’s all try to get our heads right.
