Cannabist - Lowell (Medical)
5/13/2016
So my first impression is that the facility is very nice and clean. The showroom is nice, neat, and well designed. People were very friendly and the service was great. There didn't seem to be many people there when I went, but I can imagine that if the place got crowded their current system of bringing the customers to the floor might actually be a bit of an annoyance and a slow down.
However, I was very disappointed to see the very limited quantity of stuff. First there were no edibles and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING other than flower, and even then there were only 3 strains to choose from. Very limited options which is very disappointing. Patients want tinctures, edibles, concentrates, and topical lotions/balms. The quality of the flower was great and have zero complaints on that, seems to be well grown and despite other reviews I have yet to find any seeds. However, only having 3 options is very limiting and really takes away from being able to give them a 5 star. It especially stinks because, right now, this is the only dispensary around this area so there is no one else they need to compete with right now. This means that even though I'd never recommend someone to go here for marijuana products if it could be avoided I am still going to have to go here more often than other places as it's the only one that won't take me an hour to drive to. However, the second something opens that has more options I will problem switch (unless they drastically change their business decisions).
Sadly Patriot Care seemed to sell more smoking accessories than they did marijuana and I'd much rather see them selling more marijuana than accessories. There are head shops practically everywhere in the state and into NH. It's just not necessary to try and compete in that market simply to fill your showroom and inventory. They should be filling their inventory with marijuana products that actually contain marijuana instead.
Also, I found the prices at Patriot Carer to be a bit high (it's about $56 for 1/8th) which is a bit higher than other dispensaries I've been to. It's not horribly high, but it's still more than I am used to paying. This coupled with lack of product puts this place very low on the list of dispensaries I'd like to shop at.