Slideshow

Slide Show: You Put Your Weed in It

June 24, 2014

When prostate cancer left a neighbor bedridden and stage IV liver cancer was claiming a close friend, Alison Draisin mixed marijuana into some old family recipes to help alleviate their pain.

Photography by Andrew Waits

She had plucked the recipes from a book, parts of which had been passed along for five generations, starting with her great-great-grandmother Ethel Goldstein.

Photography by Andrew Waits

Draisin's baked goods helped increase the cancer patients’ appetites and assuaged the pain and nausea caused by chemotherapy.

Photography by Andrew Waits

She eventually perfected the recipes, using strong flavors like cinnamon, cloves, and peanut butter to mask the taste of cannabis.

Photography by Andrew Waits

Draisin knew she wasn’t going to save lives, that the patients were up against the clock. But after her neighbor "laid there and said to me, ‘Promise me you’ll do something with this,’ meaning the edibles," Ettalew's Medibles was born.

Photography by Andrew Waits

Ettalew’s calling card: Grandma’s seven-layer bar, made with graham cracker, coconut, butterscotch, chocolate, pecan, and marijuana.

Photography by Andrew Waits

What was once a childhood treat is now potent medicine.

Photography by Andrew Waits

Draisin and her team now make the bars every Sunday in an industrial kitchen in Ballard.

Photography by Andrew Waits

On the label: “This is strong medicine! Start with ¼ of the treat and wait 45 minutes. If necessary, add a little more until desired result is achieved.”

Photography by Andrew Waits

“The joke in my family,” says Draisin, “is that I’ve taken grandma’s food to another level. My brother’s like, ‘Man, I wish Grandma used to put this stuff in.’”

Photography by Andrew Waits

Grandma’s seven-layer bar and other treats are now sold in more than 30 dispensaries throughout the state.

Photography by Andrew Waits

On the package of each cookie, cupcake, and muffin Draisin printed her brand name, chosen in honor of her grandmother Ethel and her grandfather Louis.

Photography by Andrew Waits

Seattleites are pushing the limits of the newly legal frontier of marijuana edibles.

Cooking, Initiative 502, Marijuana

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Slide Show: You Put Your Weed in It

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