Don’t Bogart That Ice Cream

At the Vermont Hemporium, there are huge balls of hemp twine. There is honey-chocolate chip ice cream made from hemp, sandals, shorts, hats - all constructed of cannabis.

Wow, man. Far out.

But not illegally far out. The Hemporium sells everything made from hemp except the thing that might interest the authorities.

Not that owner Joe Shimek objects to hemp’s most infamous use.

Dry the weed’s leaves and flowers, grind them, and you have marijuana, and that’s just fine with him.

“I do smoke pot, and I’m proud of it,” Shimek said.

But he doesn’t sell bongs, or anything else used to smoke the weed.

“I wouldn’t confuse the issues,” he explained.