Precious family heirloom now serves as stash box

COBOURG, ON—After surviving two World Wars, a perilous journey across the Atlantic Ocean, and a devastating house fire, a cherished family heirloom is now serving as a stash box for newly-minted medical marijuana licensee Tom Drezner, 20.

The wooden box, delicately handcrafted in 1861 by Mr. Drezner's great-great-great-great grandfather Josef, was a wedding present for his youngest daughter Frieda. The box quickly became one of the family's prized possession due in part to the intricate carvings depicting Frieda's favourite German fairy tale: Das Märchen vom harten Nuß (The Story of the Hard Nut) as well as the gold leaf gilding for which Josef was well known in the Northern Bavarian region.

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Throughout its long and storied history the box has served many purposes including the one time it was used as a weapon during a vicious badger attack, though more traditionally it's been used as a jewellery box. But in 1933 the cherished box cemented its place in Drezner family lore when it played a crucial role in helping Mr. Drezner's great grandparents and their young family find safe passage out of Germany and later to Canada, thanks to a fake bottom that successfully hid the family's passports.

It was the youngest Drezner however, who was the first to see its potential as a storage container for marijuana.

"When I found out I got my license I was super stoked, but then I was like, where am I gonna put all my dank weed?" said a visibly stoned Drezner, in between sips of a Monster Energy drink. "Everyone knows that government weed is skunky as hell, so I knew I had to find something with a lid and a tight seal, but I didn't want to copy my boy Dane and use a coffee tin, you know? That's when I remembered the box that my bubbe gave me before she died."

Drezner continued: "And once I moved into my own place I felt like I'd outgrown a lot of the alien dealer 420 stuff I bought at Woody's [Smoke Shop in Downtown Cobourg.] Plus Karen (Drezner's step-mother) is a real B when it comes to weed, so I really wanted something that would blend in with the space. Plus, the little drawings are pretty cool."

The family's decision to give Drezner the box did not come without controversy. The most vocal critic, Aunt Laura, often cited Drezner's well-documented carelessness and penchant for falling asleep with the stove on as key evidence against the young man receiving the handmade coffer. But Aunt Laura's arguments would not sway the late Mrs. Halpert (née Drezner).

And while it's uncertain whether the late Mrs. Halpert could have anticipated what her beloved grandson would do with the treasured heirloom that had served the family so well, she was always steadfast in her belief that despite most of the available evidence, he was indeed a good boy with a good heart, thus making him the perfect recipient for the wooden container so steeped in family history.

"Bubbe was super chill," Drenzer sighed. "I'm bummed we never got to roast a bone together."

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