The 91st Academy Awards show have come and gone, and what a show it was. Some new things happened this year. Thanks to some old homophobic tweets made by Kevin Hart, there was no host. Also, there was THC in the gift bags for the 1st time ever. Luxury gift bags get handed out to all of the Oscar nominees every year, but the bags this year contained cannabis-infused luxury truffles and it’s the first time the bags have contained edibles.
According to CNBC, “The gift bags carry a value of over $100,000, up from the $40,000 bags given out in 2018. They contained boxes of Coda Signature’s Crescendo truffle collection, with chocolates infused with 10mg THC. In addition, the bags will contain a moisturizer and face oil from High Beauty containing cannabis seed extract.” 10mg of THC is actually the recommended starting dose for most people when it comes to edibles so for gift bags it’s a nice sized treat. It’s a bit of a microdose for some hardcore cannabis fans with high tolerances but it’s still a nice gesture and you can always combine it with whatever else you’re consuming. The legality of gifting truffles containing tetrahydrocannabinol is somewhat iffy, since you’re technically not supposed to be distributing them outside of compliant and licensed facilities like medical or recreational dispensaries, but maybe no one really cares when they’re being handed out to Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Melissa McCarthy and Lady Gaga. No one seemed especially high during the ceremony.. Come to think of it, Melissa McCarthy, Chris Evans, Charlize Theron, Samuel L Jackson, Jason Momoa, Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Helen Mirren, Awkwafina, Michael B Jordan, and Paul Rudd all seemed pretty stoned but I don’t know if that means it can be attributed to the gift bags. They may have all been hitting vape pens backstage or something.
There was also plenty of cannabis themed product in gift bags at Oscar pre-parties throughout the weekend. I was at a special Oscar Party gifting suite at The W Hotel on Hollywood Blvd on Friday afternoon awarding The Best of Edibles Award for “Most Innovative Product” to Central Cali Caregivers for their THC infused eye drops. There were some great infused gifts being given including Tarantula kief infused joints by Ganja Gold and those are some of the best pre-rolls out there. I spoke to Buck Angel, and Pride Cannabis was including bottles of Buckshot CBD infused erection drinks in the bags at The BudTrader Oscar party. No doubt this was happening all over Hollywood and it’s only going to increase as we move forward to a future world of awards shows that are fully infused with cannabis.
Patrick Ian Moore