Friday, March 6, 2015

Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Pot Brownie Ice Cream?

Will this ice cream become "Really, Really
Baked, Man" ice cream if the idea of a pot
infused flavor takes hold? 
Could a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream give you the munchies instead of satisfying your hunger?

It's within the realm of possibility, as the idea has been floated to create a weed-infused Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor.  

Don't go rushing down to your supermarket freezer section just yet. It's so far just a silly idea, and nothing that's been marketed yet. But you pot heads out there can dream, right?

All this came about during a HuffPost Live interview with Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the founders of Ben & Jerry's. The interviewer asked them about the idea of making pot-infused ice cream.

"Makes sense to me," Cohen said. "Combine your pleasures."

See? That's why Ben & Jerry were such great entrepreneurs.  Give the customers want they want in more ways than one. Get 'em baked, and cool them off with ice cream at the same time.

Greenfield suggested pot ice cream wouldn't be such a great stretch for them. "Ben and I have had previous experiences with substances," he said.

Oh, I bet they have. For creative and marketing purposes, I'm sure.

While so far, there's no such thing as pot infused Ben & Jerry's, they've come close in naming flavors. Time magazine points out we've had "Satisfy My Bowl" and "Dave Matthews Band Magic Brownies Encore Edition."

There would be significant hurdles to seeing Weed Ben & Jerry's on store shelves anytime soon.
Greenfield and Cohen sold Ben & Jerry's to Unilever back in 2001. So that company would have to decide whether to go forward.

Said Greenfield: "It's not my decision. If it were my decision, I'd be doing it, but fortunately, we have wiser heads at the company that figure those things out."

The market for legal weed Ben & Jerry's is still small, since pot is legal only in Alaska, Colorado, Washington and I think the District of Colombia (though Congress is meddling in DC's legalization.)

Also,  Ben & Jerry's main manufacturing plant is in Vermont, where pot has not yet been made legal. Which means it wouldn't be legit to make pot Ben & Jerry's here.

They're headquarters is in Waterbury, Vermont, but their main manufacturing plant is in my fair city of St. Albans, Vermont.  Since their plant is right down the road from my house, this makes me wonder if I should start growing pot in my back yard and become a Ben & Jerry's supplier.

Note to the DEA: I'm joking. I'll probably grow (extremely legal!) snap peas, lettuce and cucumbers in my garden this summer but definitely not pot.

Anyway, hope springs eternal for people who would love the idea of weed Ben & Jerry's and I bet there are a lot of such people.

The Vermont legislature has been toying with the idea of making pot legal in the Green Mountain State, though that process is really slow. 

Vermont is also hurting for tax revenue, and is facing a budget shortfall. Ben & Jerry's could be a source of a tax windfall if they used a lot of pot to make ice cream.

Maybe the pot lobby will seize on this idea and convince the Vermont legislature to go ahead with legalizing weed. And the Unilever marketing department might be developing ideas.

Maybe they should start by just smoking a bowl.

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