Former Medical Marijuana Caregiver Brings the ‘Funk’ Back to Michigan

MICHIGAN—Like so many Michiganders, Jujuan “Funk” Coleman first became acquainted with cannabis as a high school student—though his introduction to the plant was far from usual.

Fatigue and chronic pain from sickle cell anemia, paired with recurring doctors’ appointments, had forced Coleman to miss a lot of class, he said. And prescription opioids did nothing to help.

That’s when an unlikely source suggested an unlikely remedy: medical marijuana.

“One of my high school teachers asked me if I had heard of medical marijuana, and I didn’t know what it was at the time,” Coleman said. “I wanted something I could use instead of opiates throughout the day.”

That’s when Coleman started what would become a decade-long dedication to growing some of the state’s highest quality bud—with a particular knack for transforming his harvests into mouth-watering snacks and desserts.

“I’ve always had a passion for cooking with my mom and my grandma—so I just started seeing what would work well with weed,” Coleman told The MichiGanja Report.

For the uninitiated, “the Funk” is slang for good weed. And by 2010, Coleman had made enough of it to earn a nickname. His medical marijuana operation got so big that he even launched a delivery service for a range of THC-infused gummies and other sweets for card-carrying patients.

Thirteen years later, Michiganders from Detroit to the Upper Peninsula know Funky Extracts—the only pot brand in Michigan to incorporate a smelly gym sock in its logo.

Through a partnership with Pincanna, Coleman—who has since been hired as the director of processing for the company and its other brands in Pinconning—has been busy keeping shelves stocked with Funky Extracts products since 2020 at several dozen pot shops statewide.

And though Funky Extracts is now exclusively available on the licensed recreational market, the recipe for his famous medical canna-goodies hasn’t changed much over the years. 

Funky Extracts is among only a few brands in Michigan to only use full-spectrum cannabis oil in its edibles. Unlike distillate oil, full-spectrum oil preserves far more of the natural cannabinoids and terpenes from the plant itself, and reportedly leads to a longer-lasting, more potent high.

Most cannabis companies prefer using heavily processed oil because the terpenes also come along with distinct flavors and aromas—which don’t always taste great as a sugary snack.

But that’s where Coleman’s decades of expertise (and cannabis wizardry) come in.

With Funky Extracts, consumers won’t find any lingering, weedy, aftertaste. The Cookies N Cream rice crispy actually tastes like cookies and cream. The Watermelon Gummies taste like watermelon. And the new Hot Cheese Curls (you guessed it) taste like hot cheese curls.

Andrew Hall, chief operating officer for Pincanna, said his company acquired Funky Extracts and partnered with Coleman out of a desire to support—and tap into the expertise of—the medical marijuana caregivers who helped build the foundation of Michigan’s licensed market.

The delicious recipes were just a bonus. 

“It was about embracing this authentic caregiver market we already had in Michigan,” Hall said. “We want to provide people who helped build this industry an opportunity to be more successful, and build up that existing talent. Funky Extracts was a brand that already had some real momentum going behind it, and for us, it was just about pouring some gasoline on that fire.”

As the first licensed retailers open their doors this month in the city of Detroit, Coleman’s canna-goodies have officially come full circle. For the first time since the early 2010s, Funky Extracts are once again available in Detroit—this time with no medical card required. 

“It’s the first time where it’s actually 100% legal for anyone to walk into a shop and get my products, so that’s going to be awesome,” Coleman said. “Detroit has been a gray area for a while. There are not many Michigan-made small guys who actually made it to the legal realm of this industry. I feel like that experience really gives us a deeper connection with the consumer.”

A wide range of Funky Extracts edibles are available now at Pincanna’s three retail locations in East Lansing, Kalamazoo and Kalkaska—as well as dozens of other retailers across Michigan.

This article originally appeared in The MichiGanja Report, a free monthly newsletter from The ‘Gander about all things cannabis, written by political correspondent Kyle Kaminski. Click here to subscribe, and we’ll send the next edition straight to your inbox.