Photo: Steve ElliottTHCO offers about 20 strains of medical marijuana, as well as a nice selection of edibles?After just two months in operation, The Healing Center Organization, a medical marijuana dispensary at 511 N. 85th Street in Seattle, has already built up a client base of 250 patients. The secret to their speedy success? Stick with the basics, and get it exactly right.I visited THCO on a quiet Sunday afternoon and was immediately impressed with the friendly welcome and comfortable lobby. Once I was invited back to the bud room, less than five minutes later, I saw a selection of 20 strains of cannabis in big glass jars, all sharing an across-the-board price of $10 a gram or $270 an ounce.Pure(ish) indicas include Blueberry, Afgoo, Romulan, Skunk, Seattle City Lights, White Widow Max, and Greenberry Kush. Sativas are Sour Diesel, Durban, Maui Wowie, and Koala. There are 10 indica/sativa hybrids to choose from, including Blue Bastard, NYC Diesel, Lemon Diesel, and Tangerine.Photo: Steve ElliottTHCO’s cannabis cookies are a good buy at three for $10.?The medibles display case is equally impressive, featuring a strong selection of sweets including delicious Magic Bars (containing “gram” crackers and coconut), spectacular white chocolate macadamia cookies with Craisins, and Puffin’ Pecan cookies, along with more run-of-the-mill fare like chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies. (The medicated cookies are a nice buy at 3 for $10.)THCO also has so-called “cancer cookies,” (although co-owner Brandon duBois admits he isn’t crazy about that name), nicknamed because patients suffering from nausea favor their small size (you don’t have be hungry to eat one) and potency (just one of these lil’ fellows will do the job for two or three hours).I mentioned $10 a gram as the uniform price for herbal cannabis at THCO, but there is one exception. Dog Shit (I know, I know), a potent sativa strain, is available at $12 a gram, but that doesn’t indicate it’s “better” than the $10 strains, duBois told me. The slighly higher price is due to the fact that this particular pungently named strain takes longer to mature for harvest, averaging close to 12 weeks of flowering time instead of the usual eight weeks.Despite Brandon’s caveat, the unreformed pot snob in me went directly for the $12 strain, because I wanted to try the best weed in the place. The Dog Shit didn’t disappoint. Its floral essence is much more pleasant than its name would indicate; I would’ve named it something else, but what do I know?In any event, the medium-sized DS buds revealed lots of sticky, pungent goodness and the crystalline catch-in-the-throat sensation of the first couple tokes quickly turns into the warm, energetic glow of high-potency sativa. This is a good daytime smoke, when you need to get rid of nausea or pain but there are still things to get done.I also sampled Seattle City Lights, a locally bred indica strain (UW Med x Northern Lights) with gorgeous fuzzy, sparkly buds. The weed (hold on, let me rip a bong hit) does Seattle proud, revealing its indica heritage with the very first toke. Hashy trichome dankness results in a smooth, powerful buzz, quickly and effectively steamrolling over body pain and reducing it to the status of a mental footnote. Of course, as with any powerful indica, it’s going to take an act of will to get up off the couch if you take more than a couple tokes.THCO is open Monday through Friday from 10 to 7, and from 10 to 4 on weekends. Call (206) 829-9435 or email thcgroup@gmx.com. Patient authorization and Washington ID are required.Toke Signals wants to review your dispensary. E-mail tokesignals@seattleweekly.com.Steve Elliott edits Toke of the Town, Village Voice Media’s site of cannabis news, views, rumor and humor.