Tarukino’s office building in the no-man’s-land between Fremont and Ballard doesn’t look like the home of a future international cannabis conglomerate. Open the company’s front door, and you’re greeted by a dated interior and a dark staircase. But the luxury SUVs parked in front of the building, and the résumés of the people sitting in the offices upstairs, give credence to the globe-conquering plans the company is hatching.
Tarukino owns three brands in Washington’s legal weed market: Happy Apple weed sodas, Pearl2O vitamin water, and Velvet Swing cannabis lubricant. They are cannabis products with little resemblance to the pot of the Grateful Dead or Biggie Smalls. You don’t smoke them to get high, they’ve been stripped of weed flavors and odors, and their sleek bottles and packaging make them look like they could be sold on the shelves of Target or a health food store.
As of this past August, you can get these three brands not only in Washington’s pot stores, but also California’s. Which on first glance doesn’t seem possible. After all, one of the main rules of state-level legalization is that weed can’t cross state lines.
But Tarukino is operating aboveboard, and it’s following the rules. Tarukino is launching its Washington-born products in other states through a series of licensing deals. No weed crosses state lines, but Tarukino’s products still become available across the globe.
