Cannabis For The Unconverted

How do you convince people who’ve had bad (or no) pot experience to consume your legal marijuana product? Charles Jones of LucidMood believes he’s cracked the code.

- Amanda Chicago Lewis

Two young men with bloodshot eyes walk into a Colorado marijuana dispensary. One of the store’s salespeople, known in the industry as a “budtender,” stands near the entrance at a disposable- vaporizer pop-up display and shakes his head when he sees them: No way would these guys buy anything from LucidMood, the vape pen company that is there this afternoon to pitch customers.

That’s because LucidMood is not like other marijuana ventures. The company isn’t trying to sell to stoners. In fact, its mild-potency products are specifically designed for the roughly 160 million Americans who never got into smoking weed—maybe because it left them too paranoid, too withdrawn, or too cloudy. So while two stoned guys in their late 20s might be the target demographic for most other items at this pot shop, LucidMood’s vapes are probably too weak to even get them high.

But Charles Jones, LucidMood’s crafty CEO, is always up for a sales challenge. “Give me a chance,” he tells the skeptical budtender, and then welcomes the pair of potheads with a warm smile.

“Hi, how ya doing?” he says. “Do you guys have girlfriends?”