The Shake: Don't Bogart That Vape, Congressman

A Denver judge tossed a class action lawsuit against a top Colorado cannabis retailer. A pair of consumers had sued LivWell, alleging the company inappropriately used Eagle 20, a pesticide that contains myclobutanil, which isn’t approved for use on cannabis in the state. But Denver District Judge J. Eric Eliff threw out the case, the Denver Post reports, saying plaintiffs “bought the cannabis and consumed it” without harm. “There are no allegations that the product did not perform as it was supposed to,” Eliff wrote. LivWell owner John Lord called the lawsuit “a public relations ploy.”

California wants to tax medical cannabis. A newly proposed law would set a 15 percent tax on medical marijuana and funnel that money to public programs. The bill comes on the heels of new cannabis laws that establish statewide standards for the industry (even though nobody can agree how they work). The proposed tax, which is similar to what would be imposed under recreational laws on the ballot in November, could bring California more than $100 million in new revenue. To pass, it will need support from two-thirds of the state Legislature.

A ex-judge wants Obama to commute the harsh sentence he gave. Paul Cassell, who as a federal judge sentenced a Utah music producer to 55 years in prison for bringing a gun to cannabis deals, is calling on the president to undo the sentence. Due to mandatory minimum sentencing laws, the judge said, the offender got a longer prison term than people convicted of crimes such as kidnapping, rape, and second degree murder.

Trump’s drug policies are getting dumber and dumber. The Chicago Sun Times compiled a collection of Trumpisms illustrating the presidential candidate’s radical shift on drug policy over the decades. “We’re losing badly the war on drugs,” he said back in 1990. “You have to legalize drugs to win that war.” Today, however, he opposes cannabis reform, having flip-flopped completely. On the campaign trail he said he’d solve the nation’s drug problem by building a wall at the U.S.–Mexico border — conveniently, also his solution to immigration.

Rubio’s policies might be even worse. The Republican presidential hopeful is keeping things simple, and stupid, when it comes to his stance on drugs. At a campaign event yesterday, he told voters he’s against legal cannabis “because this country already pays a terrible price for the abuse of alcohol.” Reassuring to know that the man wielding such razor-sharp logic might one day run the country.

Two Washington state cannabis producers face fines over pesticide use. Regulators temporarily barred New Leaf Enterprises and BMF Washington from selling products back in December, Tobias Coughlin-Bogue reports, pending an investigation into possible use of prohibited pesticides. Observers have questioned the state’s enforcement of pesticide rules in the past, and the penalties against New Leaf and BMF show regulators could be stepping up their game.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) took a defiant puff in Congress. He hit a vape pen at a House Transportation Committe hearing on Thursday as lawmakers considered a proposal that would ban vaping on airplanes. “There is nothing noxious about this whatsoever,” he told his colleagues, theatrically loosing a cloud and thereby undermining his whole point. Cannabis wasn’t part of the discussion, but whatever rules Congress adopts for e-cigarettes would likely also apply to legal cannabis products. No dice for Rep. Hunter, though — or anyone with dreams of one day vaping their way to the, uh, mile-high club. The measure passed.

QUICK HITS: The DEA raided an Oregon extract maker. No charges have been filed yet, but it’s a reminder the feds aren’t as hands-off in legal states as they claim. * Cannabis-related DUI arrests in Colorado are down. Overall, the number of people cited for driving under the influence of drugs fell 1.3 percent. * A U.K. man diagnosed with terminal cancer says his use of illegal cannabis oil has prolonged his life. * CV Sciences pushed back against this week’s FDA warning letters to marketers of cannabidiol products. The agency says it’s determined that CBD isn’t a “dietary supplement,” but CV, which makes hemp-derived CBD for use in consumer products, argues the warnings are “inapplicable” on technical grounds. * Medical marijuana in Florida could be a $1.5 billion industry by 2020, according to a new report. Voters will decide in November whether to legalize medical cannabis. * Don’t try singing “Smoke Weed Everyday” in Tunisia. Lawmakers there are considering plans to crack down on “public incitement to commit drug-related offenses,” which could make it illegal to even talk about cannabis.

Is the President Helping the DOJ Arrest Patients or Everyone?

Hawaii Cannabis News

Did the Federal Omnibus package from last year reduce “Medical Marijuana” Raids and compliance checks in Hawaii? Will the masked men in black be back soon in full force? “In addition, the 2017 budget proposes removing a section of the current law that stops the Justice Department from interfering with state medical cannabis legislation. In a departure from […]

Mea ‘Ai Sustainability Program.

Hawaii Cannabis Caregivers

We are stoked to get the word out about our Mea 'Ai Sustainability Program. We feel that this should happen in every… Posted by Denim Cretton on Thursday, February 11, 2016

US OR: Editorial: Study Cannabis In Oregon, But Not Yet

The Mail Tribune, 10 Feb 2016 – A state task force has recommended that Oregon create an independent institute for research into the medical uses of marijuana. The reasons for doing so are sound, and lawmakers should follow the recommendation. But not right away. The task force, created by the 2015 Legislature under the auspices of the Oregon Health Authority, issued its report Monday. The report recommends creating the Oregon Institute for Cannabis Research. The institute would conduct studies both within the university system and outside it, and would raise private funds as well as relying on a dedicate source of state funding.

PGT Episode #286- Sham Mozzal

Tonight- New bills have been introduced in the Michigan legislature that would affect cannabis users and limit the democratic process including HB 5402 and SB 776. Also Kansas attorney Sarah Swain, often referred to as a “bad ass” and “Wonder Woman” is currently representing well known patient and cannabis reform activist Shona Banda. Sarah was […]

Cannabis Science 101: The Complex Chemistry of the Bong

What’s going on in that bong?

Seriously. What is the science behind the water pipe? Are those bubbles actually making your toke any healthier? It’s complicated.

A couple things are happening. Burning cannabis produces a smoke stream that contains all the things you want — activated THC, CBD, other cannabinoids and terpenes — and a lot of things you don’t, like hot smoke, tar, and fine particulate matter, a.k.a. ash. “Tar” is a catch-all term for the hundreds of nasty compounds produced by cannabis combustion. Aside from nicotine, cannabis smoke is qualitatively similar to tobacco smoke, with a lot of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) you don’t want in your lungs. There is epidemiologic evidence that tobacco smokers who use a water pipe have a much lower incidence of cancer than those who smoke cigarettes or regular pipes. So clearly there’s some good filtration going on. (Too much cannabis smoking can harm the lungs in a number of ways, but despite decades spent looking for it, researchers have never found a link between cannabis smoking and lung cancer — a story for another day.)

The bong, a.k.a. water pipe, immediately cools the smoke by passing it through water, resulting in a smoother toke. The water also filters out any ash that might otherwise blow into your mouth or airway. There’s also a certain amount of tar filtration that goes on. That’s why the water eventually turns sickly brown.

That’s about the extent of agreement, though. “There’s a great debate about whether bongs actually filter effectively,” says Kenji Hobbs, manager at Uncle Ike’s Pot Shop in Seattle. “Studies in California have shown bongs filter more water-soluble psychoactive cannabinoids than tar and polycarbons, which means the user has to smoke more weed to get an effective high, because the tar-to-cannabinoid ration is now more skewed towards tar.”

Nobody’s sure exactly how much cannabinoid filtration is going on, though. “Those who are familiar with and work in cannabis extractions know that water, as a polar solvent, doesn’t do a good job of dissolving cannabinoids, terpenes, or waxes,” says A.J. Fabrizio, director of research for Los Angeles-are medical cannabis company Terra Tech. This is why homebrew concentrate makers use non-polar solvents such as butane, not water, as a solvent. (We shouldn’t have to say this, but: Please don’t homebrew concentrates using solvents. It’s illegal and people could die. Try making rosin instead.)

“Are you losing any cannabinoids or terpenes as the gas passes through water?” says Fabrizio. “Yes, but it’s negligible. The water will preferentially filter particulate matter and potentially solvate polar molecules, over the cannabinoids and terpenes, which have virtually zero water solubility.”

It’s not a one-way exchange, though. What’s in the water can also change the nature of the smoke. “If you’ve inhaled through dirty bong water, you know what happens,” says Fabrizio. “It tastes like dirty disgusting resin.” Further, “if the water has been chlorinated, that chlorine flavor will carry through.” That’s because the gas is absorbing denatured constituents from the dirty water, such as plant-based molecules that have been fully oxidized during combustion, and that exchange comes through the bubbles. It’s a two-way interaction. “This is why people talk about cleaning your bong — and it’s also important with dabbing too. You need to make sure that chamber and that water is pretty clean if you want to ensure an unadulterated flavor”

The gas-liquid exchange occurs only between the surface area of each bubble and the surrounding liquid. “Really big bubbles offer relatively low surface area to volume ratios,” Fabrizio explains. “A diffuser that produces a lot of smaller bubbles offer a relatively high surface area to volume ratio allowing for greater exchange between the gas and liquid,” and presumably a greater degree of filtration.

Does it make sense to use alcohol — vodka and such — in the chamber? “Not advised, or safe,” says Fabrizio. “Huffing alcohol fumes is toxic.” In addition, cannabinoids and terpenes are more likely to dissolve in alcohol than water, so you’re essentially stripping the smoke of its more desirable compounds. It’s also a nasty inhalation experience, as our Leafly testing team recently found in The Great Bong Experiment of 2016.

Very few studies have been done on cannabis and water pipes, and those studies have turned up curious data. That “California study” Hobbs, of Uncle Ike’s, referred to was carried out in the mid-1990s by Dale Gieringer, NORML’s California state coordinator, in association with MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. They wanted to test the effectiveness of bongs, joints, and vaporizers. They found that unfiltered joints actually outperformed the bong — by quite a lot. The bong, they reported, “produced 30% more tar per cannabinoids than the unfiltered joint.” The vaporizer — at the time, one of the earliest on the market — vastly outperformed them all, delivering far more cannabinoids per unit of tar. One of the problems, Gieringer wrote back then, was that the researchers were forced to use poor-quality marijuana supplied by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, with THC levels of 2.3 percent. (Today’s legal cannabis typically ranges between 15 to 25 percent THC.) That little detail matters, because it requires consumers to burn more leaf – and inhale more unwanted byproducts – to obtain the desired level of cannabinoid intake. “We were surprised and a little disappointed at the time,” Gieringer recalled last week. “But we learned that vaporization looked good, even with what was at the time a really crude device.”

Also in the mid-1990s, University of Wisconsin pharmacologist Nicholas V. Cozzi penned a literature review of past water pipe studies, mostly from the 1960s and 1970s. He found that the devices “can be effective in removing components from marijuana smoke that are known toxicants, while allowing the THC to pass through relatively intact.”

The conflicting results were puzzling, to say the least, and pointed out the need for further study. Unfortunately, further water pipe studies were not forthcoming. Researchers instead focused their attention on studies of vaporizers as a more healthy vehicle for cannabis dosing. In the meantime, Gieringer had a tip for those looking for a healthier form of intake: Consider more cannabinoids per unit of vegetable matter.

“The easiest way for most smokers to avoid harmful smoke toxins,” he wrote, “may be simply to smoke stronger marijuana.”

Effects of Cannabidiol on Marijuana-seeking in Humans

National Institutes of Health Medical Cannabis Research

Primary Outcome Measures: Marijuana Craving Visual Analog Scale (VAS) (Self-report measure) [ Time Frame: Change is being assessed. Marijuana Craving VAS administered at baseline 0900. Administered at 0945 and every 15 minutes until 1045, then every 30 minutes until 1245. At 1330 administered every 15 minutes until 1430, then every 30 minutes until 1630. ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ] Marijuana Craving Questionnaire […]

Investigation of Cannabis for Chronic Pain and Palliative Care

National Institutes of Health Medical Cannabis Research

The use of cannabis for severe medical conditions is being legalized in different states, increasing the mandate to make cannabis legal for medically ill patients. However, there is a lack of placebo-controlled studies investigating the efficacy of cannabis. Dronabinol (synthetic, oral Δ-9-THC) is FDA approved for the appetite stimulation in AIDS-related anorexia and nausea/vomiting in […]

The Shake: Roseanne Gets in the Biz, Chris & Carly Get Out

Senate bill coming: Aid reinstatement for students with drug convictions. Capitol Hill observers are expecting the introduction of a bill in the U.S. Senate this afternoon that would repeal the longstanding ban on financial aid to students with drug convictions. The Stopping Unfair Collateral Consequences from Ending Student Success (SUCCESS) Act would eliminate the drug conviction question on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). It’s the college student version of President Obama’s move to “ban the box” (the requirement that job applicants check a box if they have a criminal record) last year. It’s a big deal. Behind the bill are Sens. Bob Casey (D-Penn.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). The presence of Hatch, a longtime anti-cannabis drug warrior, as a co-sponsor marks this as a bill with a real chance of passage. Stay tuned.

No more finger-wagging from Chris Christie. The most openly hostile (to cannabis) Republican candidate throws in the towel after a poor 7 percent showing in New Hampshire. “Today, I leave the race without an ounce of regret,” he wrote on Facebook. Interesting choice of words from a man who bear-hugged the war on drugs at every whistle stop. Not even a gram of regret? Or a dab? We could go on. But the governor will not.

Also, Carly Fiorina dropped out. Did you even know she was still in? She was. Got 4 percent in New Hampshire — double Ben Carson’s total, and he’s still in the race! We’re pretty sure she was against cannabis too but never cared enough to really check. Clare Malone’s got a nice piece at FiveThirtyEight on the Fiorina blip. Anyway. Now she can go back to developing her CNBC pilot, America’s Scariest Bosses.

Elizabeth Warren tells CDC: Study cannabis to tackle opioid epidemic. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sent a letter to Dr. Thomas Friedan, director of the Centers for Disease Control, urging his agency to ramp up its efforts to combat the nation’s opioid crisis. Those steps, she wrote, should include looking at the “effectiveness of medical marijuana as an alternative to opioids” and the impact of legalization on opioid overdose deaths. We’re not sure if Sen. Warren wants the CDC to conduct those studies or just read the 2014 University of Pennsylvania study showing 25 percent fewer opioid-related deaths in states allowing medical marijuana. Either would be a start.

FDA tells CBD product producers to knock it off. Alan Brochstein reports that the FDA has sent letters to six companies producing products with cannabidiol (CBD), warning them that the agency has determined that CBD doesn’t fall under the legal category of “dietary supplement.” Claims that CBD can be used “in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease,” FDA officials wrote, could violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. We’re not sure if the FDA is more concerned about the presence of CBD, or the claims for its use as a medically efficacious drug. Interesting legal territory here, we’ll be keeping an eye on it.

QUICK HITS: St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister wonders if legal cannabis crops could replace the island nation’s ailing banana industry. * Wyoming balks at the teensiest tiniest cannabis reform, rejecting a bill to decriminalize an ounce of the drug. * Comedian and longtime cannabis advocate Roseanne Barr has invested in a licensed dispensary in Santa Ana, California, the Orange County Register reports. Yes! The same city made famous last year by its edibles-noshing police department and its “nub”-kicking ways. We’d like to see the video when the cops bust through the door on Roseanne’s shop. There’d be some nub-kicking, all right.

We Ride Along as Marley Natural Descends on L.A.

Atop the Hollywood Hills, overlooking the Sunset Strip and the sprawl of lights that is Los Angeles, a steady drumbeat emanates from an illuminated mansion. The Marley Natural launch party is pulsing to life. Guests filter in beneath a tree uplit in blue, past a patient-identification check, and up a flight of stairs. A high-ceilinged entryway opens onto a rear balcony, which affords access to a lower lawn and a stunning view of the city. The crowd, a mix of L.A. scenesters, celebrities, and reggae musicians, is abuzz with anticipation.

It’s an odd scene, with Rasta garb interwoven with L.A. chic. “I had no idea what to expect,” says Chloe Bertles. She works in the skateboard industry; she’s here because her boyfriend shoots video for Vice. “I kind of thought it was going to be a bunch of people sitting inside, like, a tent, smoking weed and listening to reggae. And it definitely isn’t that.”

There are a number of open bars set up around the grounds, generous plates of Jamaican-inspired food, and a rotation of live music and DJs. There are celebrities around, too, Bertles tells me, identifying Lake Bell and Rose McGowan. “This is the fanciest weed party — only weed party — I’ve ever been to,” she says. “It definitely has set a high bar.”

It’s the night of Saturday, February 6. Had he lived, this would’ve been reggae legend Bob Marley’s 71st birthday. Marley died in 1981, of course, so what we’re celebrating tonight is his legacy. Or at maybe a rebirth of his legacy. Marley Natural, a brand created through a partnership between the Marley family and Seattle-based Privateer Holdings, hopes to become one of the first global cannabis brands. (Full disclosure: Privateer is also the parent company of Leafly.) There are Marleys everywhere you look — Bob’s sons and grandsons — and their excitement is palpable.

“We wanted to launch on Bob’s birthday,” says Deidre Dyer, Marley Natural’s content manager. “We wanted to celebrate his life and celebrate his legacy and the trail that he blazed in legalizing cannabis and the herb.”

To Bob Marley, cannabis wasn’t cannabis — it was herb. Herb was universal, binding. It brought people together and facilitated community and focus. “Herb is the unification of mankind,” he once said.

That quote now appears on Marley Natural’s website above the company’s cornerstone products: a selection of sun-grown flower, smartly packaged in glass jars with bamboo stoppers.

Whether flower or concentrate, both lines offer four choices: Marley Gold, a sativa; Marley Green, a hybrid; Marley Black, an indica; and Marley Red, a high-CBD strain. At launch the strains were, respectively, Blue Mountain Fire, Girl Scout Cookies, Sensi Star, and C3PO, but Marley Natural says those will likely vary from market to market. Eighths of flower are being offered for $50, and cartridges for $40 — pricier than most of the L.A. market but less than premium, top-shelf bud.

I visit two of the three dispensaries that are hosting simultaneous Marley Natural launch events today. Each features a reggae soundtrack and a hands-on display that boasts the full line of Marley products: cannabis and vape pens, smoking accessories like a bubbler and pipes, and a line of hemp-based body care products.

All three shops are well established in L.A.’s roiling marketplace and are known for their efforts to comply with local laws. One, Los Angeles Patients and Caregivers Group (LAPCG), in West Hollywood, claims the title of oldest operating collective in L.A. County. Another, Studio City’s Buds & Roses, has a similarly sterling reputation. In what’s become a politically charged and volatile cannabis scene, Marley Natural carefully picked its friends.

Outside another dispensary, Green Goddess, located not far from the Venice boardwalk, Jeannie Herer smiles through rectangular eyeglasses, her gray bangs hiding her forehead. What brings the cannabis activist and widow of the legendary Jack Herer, author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes, out in a sweater on a balmy winter afternoon?

“I wanted to see Rohan Marley in person,” she says excitedly. “I wanted to see Bob Marley’s kids up close!”

Marley Natural staff shuttle between the dispensaries all day. I do my best to keep up. Across town from Green Goddess, at LAPCG, Jill, a middle-aged woman who declines to give her last name, is examining Marley’s line of walnut-and-glass smoking accessories and various balms and lotions (which, no, aren’t yet cannabis-infused). When she first heard about the new brand, Jill tells me, her big question was how the Marley family felt about it. “That was my number-one question,” she says. Learning the family is on board was reassuring. “It warms my heart to come in here and see a product that is honoring Bob Marley.”

While Marley, the man, is widely adored for his music and message of peace, Marley, the brand, hasn’t escaped heat from critics. Bob Marley means a lot to people, and some have accused the company of exploiting Marley and Jamaica for profit. On the other hand, it was the Marley family that began reaching out to possible business partners through its entertainment rep, Creative Artists Agency, as the family began to see cannabis legalization coming to both the United States and Jamaica. It’s hard to imagine investors not noticing.

Later that night, at the launch party, I ask one of Bob’s sons, Rohan Marley, how he feels about all this. “In anything you do, you need partners,” he tells me. “And in what we’re trying to do, you need real people who have integrity and are about doing something serious that can really make change.”

Marley Natural spent millions to develop, manufacture, and market its products. As prohibition continues to fall away, the company has aspirations to become one of the biggest cannabis brands in the market. Today its products are in three dispensaries (out of hundreds) in Los Angeles. But with states across the country considering both medical and adult-use legalization, Marley is looking at the L.A. market as a launch pad.

Perhaps the most surreal part of the night comes when medical patients trade in vouchers for their choice of either an eighth of Marley flower or one of the new vape pens. Before long, strangers are milling about, introducing themselves, trading strains, and discussing the nuances of what they’re smoking — a group behind me is negotiating how to divide their haul of flower, vape pens, and prerolls. The joints, filled with Jack Herer, aren’t currently being offered by Marley Natural, but it’s possible they will be soon. Privateer’s vice president of business development, Anton Albrand, tells me the Marley team is already hard at work on a second wave of products.

There are, obviously, hurdles to launching a global cannabis brand on a globe where only a handful of countries, much less U.S. states, allow cannabis. To Marley, cannabis was herb. To California, it’s medicine — and partygoers are patients. (If the state’s full adult use measure passes in November, future partygoers will only have to be 21 or older.) If Marley Natural tried to throw this kind of launch in New York, where the company is based, fewer than 669 patients across the state could’ve smoked Marley’s medicine.

But here, in Los Angeles, it feels like the epicenter of a burgeoning cannabis brand ecosystem. There aren’t many more prominent places to promote a new company. The night before Marley Natural’s launch, less than 100 miles away, at the High Times Cannabis Cup, rapper Wiz Khalifa, who’s announced his own line of cannabis products, stutter-stepped across the stage as hundreds of patients did free dabs at vendor booths. In L.A. it feels like prohibition has already ended.

As Stephen Marley, a Grammy-winning reggae artist and another of Bob’s sons, is getting ready to perform some of his father’s hits, I run into another musician by the pool. Rocky Dawuni, 47, is a Grammy-nominated Ghanaian singer. There’s a crowd smoking around us, but Dawuni tells me cannabis for him is sacrament. “I only use herb when I want to meditate,” he says.

“Some people it’s recreational, some people it’s medicinal,” Dawuni continues, “so everybody approaches it from a different place.”

Dawuni says he’s wary of how big business might influence cannabis culture. But the way he sees it, that’s all the more reason for the Marley family and others with connections to Rastafari to get involved. “Rastas have been talking about the benefits of herb for a long time,” he says. “The people who nurture the the culture and also use music as a tool to fight for the recognition of this plant shouldn’t be left out of the economic boom.”

It’s a pivotal time in history. “Commercialization, there’s going to be a lot of things that are lost in translation,” Dawuni says. “But I know that right now this herb is in the consciousness of the whole world.”

He sounds hopeful when he says it. And I realize it’s the same hope I saw in Jeannie Herer’s eyes outside Green Goddess — a hope that the storm of prohibition may have finally broken, that the countless benefits of the plant they love so much might finally be realized.

Before I leave the party, I ask Rohan Marley which of the new line’s accessories is his favorite. The “big plate,” he eventually replies, referring to the Marley Natural large tray, a slab of black walnut with a cutout corner for pouring ground herb and a wooden scraper that attaches with a hidden magnet. I ask Rohan why he picked that — a nice piece, but not some eyepopper like the Marley bubbler. His answer comes quickly and sounds like it could be a response to any number of questions:

“It’s just a nice platform, man, to start with. That’s the first thing you need, is a platform. Everything else you can add to that.”

Image Sources: Alexander Drecun

Investors at Risk with Med-X $15-Million Crowdfunding Campaign

New Cannabis Ventures reported that investors interested in participating in the Med-X crowdfunding campaign should read the offering circular. Unfortunately, most investors don’t bother with the fine print. In this case, that would be a very bad idea.

According to the article:

Here are 18 key points potential investors should consider before handing over their cash to Med-X:

The company’s most updated financials, from June 30th, indicate no sales to date and there has never been mention of any sales at all.  Why not?

As of June 30th, the book value (assets less liabilities) was just $369K

In addition to the 25mm shares the company intends to sell, there are 90mm shares that have been given as founder’s stock to the company’s insiders, mainly COO and President Matthew Mills, who received 60mm shares. About 2.4mm shares  have been sold to investors at $0.50), leaving a current total of about 117.4mm shares

Oddly, the CEO was given only 3mm shares, less than the the company’s lawyer, who got 5mm.

At $0.60 per share, the company is being valued at over $70mm! “The offering price of the shares of common stock has been determined by management, and bears no relationship to our assets, book value, potential earnings, net worth or any other recognized criteria of value.”

Of the $15mm being raised, the company will keep only $13mm, with $2mm in expenses (mainly marketing)

The company will spend all of the money within the next two years, with the largest portion, $4mm, going into its media property MarijuanaTimes.org, which currently heavily promotes this offering

The company is not focused, with initial efforts aimed at the media property, a natural pesticide, an extraction business, R&D on strains, a cannabis pharmacy automation project and a cannabis cultivation facility

The people behind the company are all involved with Pacific Shore Holdings (OTC: PSHR), a company that failed in its effort to become a publicly-traded company six years ago

The CEO is a practicing physician with many additional responsibilities

Information is very limited with respect to PSHR, which has failed to provide any SEC filings to the public since raising money in 2010.

“On August 7, 2013, the California Department of Business Oversight issued a Desist and Refrain Order (the “Order”) against Pacific Shore and Matthew Mills. The Order asserted that in June 2011, the respondents had offered shares from the State of California by calling a person with whom they did not have a pre-existing relationship. Respondents believe that this Order stems from the same facts as the Pennsylvania Order that was rescinded. The California Order stated that the respondents were to cease and desist from further offer or sale of securities in the State of California until qualification is made or unless the offer and sale are exempt from qualification. In October 2013, Pacific Shore commenced a private placement of common stock in compliance with Rule 506(c) of Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, which is exempt from qualification in California and permits general solicitation.”

The first product, Nature-Cide, is licensed from PSHR, which holds a royalty-free license from Matthew Mills, with limited details provided. “Making contracts and conducting business with Pacific Shore Holdings, Inc., an affiliate, creates conflicts of interest in negotiating terms and enforcing covenants, since the agreements are not made at arm’s-length.”

There is absolutely no guidance or goals given with respect to the revenue potential from any of the operations the company is pursuing, nor does Med-X provide any sort of valuation analysis relative to comparable companies

The company website presently points only to the crowdfunding website – why is there no website for the company’s potential customers?

Rather than invest in sales and marketing, R&D or any other value-creating position, the company pays only one employee, its head of investor relations, who earns $120K per year

There are no protections against massive dilution, with the shares authorized numbering 300mm and the company controlled by a non-independent board of directors

There is no guarantee that these shares will ever trade on an exchange – investors could be stuck in them just like the PSHR shareholders from 2010.

Click here to view the full report. 

The post Investors at Risk with Med-X $15-Million Crowdfunding Campaign appeared first on Investing News Network.

The Shake: A Cannabis Record Store and America's Cheapest Bud

Colorado sold a billion dollars in cannabis last year. Well, $996,184,788, to be exact. That’s a big gain from 2014’s $699 million in sales, thanks largely to more stores opening across more markets. All that business raked in more than $135 million in taxes and fees last year, more than $35 million of which is earmarked for school construction. Sales peaked in August and December, with a lull in early autumn. All told, legal sales across the U.S. soared to 5.4 billion last year.

Australia could legalize medical cannabis grows nationwide. A bill introduced today would establish a national licensing and permit scheme to supply patients with chronic conditions . Odds for passage look good, as the main opposition party has already pledged its support. If all goes well, it could become law by April. The country already grows a large number of medical poppy plants for use in prescription painkillers. Crikey!

Washington health officials aren’t keen on medical cannabis specialty clinics. The state Department of Health recommended against any plan to establish the clinics, which would “allow for the authorization and dispensing of marijuana to patients” and would have the health department certify prescribing doctors. Officials cited conflicts with the federal Controlled Substances Act and a lack of accepted protocols around medical cannabis.

Mormons vs. MMJ battle heats up in Utah. The Mormon church’s stance against medical marijuana (officials announced their opposition Friday, citing a fear of “unintended consequences”) hasn’t deterred Utah state Sen. Mark Madsen. A member of the church, Madsen vows to push forward with his medical cannabis bill in the state Legislature. “It would be immoral to back down,” Madsen said. (Cue Tom Petty, please.) Apparently nothing moves in the Legislature without the church’s approval, because some are already talking about taking the issue directly to voters with a ballot initiative. Tea Party member and legalization supporter David Kirkham says: “If the church is going to do this in smokeless back rooms, then we need to light some fires for the people in broad daylight.”

QUICK HITS: MarketWatch finds the cheapest legal cannabis in the country in Oregon, where the average ounce goes for $214. Prices rise as you go south and east, with Los Angeles clocking in at $269, Phoenix at $286, and Detroit at $282. Most expensive? Grand Rapids, Mich., where a medical ounce will run you $392. * Oregon ordered the removal of mite-control pesticide Guardian. In its announcement barring further sales in the state, the state Department of Agriculture said Guardian’s product label seems to have misrepresented its ingredients. * Twenty members of parliament proposed legalizing medical cannabis in Greece. The lawmakers, who belong to the radical left SYRIZA party, are also pushing the benefits of industrial hemp, noting its potential to spur the Greek economy. * The Berkeley record store Amoeba Records could sell cannabis after being named a finalist for the city’s fifth dispensary license. Amoeba owners in say the long-term slide in record sales has left them looking for “supplemental income.” If the shop lands the license, it would add a dispensary to the jazz room.

Image Source (curves, color balance, graphic overlay): Sara Nichols via Flickr Creative Commons

What It's Like to Live in Your Own Illegal Idaho: A Special Report

Idaho is an anomaly, an island of prohibition in a sea of legal cannabis. Two of its neighbors, Montana and Nevada, allow medical cannabis. To the west two others, Washington and Oregon have embraced recreational legalization. Even famously conservative Wyoming and Utah have laws allowing high-CBD strains. Idaho is the rare holdout. It’s a long, tough road for cannabis advocates working in a strictly illegal state. We got some insight last month into exactly how difficult it could be to turn this famously red state green.

Serra Frank & New Approach Idaho

It all started with a simple public meeting. In an effort to raise awareness about cannabis, New Approach Idaho, the group behind an Idaho medical marijuana initiative, organized a town hall meeting to debate legalization’s pros and cons. There were to be three pro-cannabis speakers and three anti-cannabis speakers. The meeting would be held on the Boise State University campus. But things didn’t go quite according to plan.

Bill Esbensen from New Approach Idaho and the Boise State University chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy helped organize the town hall forum, which was attended by Idaho canna-activist Serra Frank. Frank is well known for her activism in Idaho. She has a long history of fighting for her parental rights as a medical cannabis user. And she helped organize a New Year’s Day smoke-out this year at the Idaho Capitol, which law enforcement shut down.

“They gave me two tickets,” Frank recalled. “One was for possession of marijuana — it was a joint — and then possession of paraphernalia for the doob tube.” She now faces a year in jail and a $1,000 fine for each charge. The previous week she was written up for possession. “Once you invoke your rights in Idaho, they’ll arrest you for obstruction,” she said. “So now I’m facing up to four years in jail and $4,000 in fines for two incidents of merely possessing the only medicine that works for my condition, interstitial cystitis.”

The charges haven’t deterred her.

“I hope I get to go to court. It’s time for us to go to court, honestly,” she said. “I don’t think the people of Idaho believe that I, a disabled mother of two children, should be in jail for using medicine that helps me be a mother to my children.”

Marijuana Town Hall Forum at BSU

The New Year’s Day incident became the backdrop for the Boise State forum. Frank assembled a hodgepodge group of Idaho-based speakers to represent both sides of the argument.

She contacted the state’s drug czar, Elisha Figueroa, who directs the Idaho State Office for Drug Policy. Figueroa agreed to represent the anti-legalization side along with the Idaho State Police Lt. Brad Doty and Sgt. Jason Cagle.

Finding pro-legalization speakers wasn’t so easy.

Boise State University criminal justice professor Cody Jorgenson agreed to speak, but only on an “anti-Drug War” platform. Former state Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, who had supported hemp legislation in the past, was also booked for the event. Rounding out the pro-legalization side would be Russ Bellville, a.k.a. “Radical Russ,” a radio personality. Bellville runs his show, Cannabis Radio, out of Portland, Ore., but was born and raised in Idaho. He even attended Boise State University, where the forum was to be held.

As it initially stood, it was a strong lineup. A state official, two law enforcement representatives, a former legislator, an academic, and a radio-jock wild card.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last.

First, Trail, the former state representative, fell ill and cancelled. Organizers scrambled to find a replacement. They booked Inge Fryklund, a former Chicago prosecutor and current member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Fryklund also happened to be a former Idaho resident.

When SSDP informed Elisha Figueroa, the state drug czar, that she’d booked Fryklund and Bellville, Figueroa balked.

“There has now been the last minute addition of another radical speaker from out of state,” she wrote in an email to the organizers. “It has become clear that what was billed as a college forum for meaningful discussion has turned into a choreographed pro-marijuana rally.”

With that, Figueroa canceled her appearance. The other two legalization opponents followed suit. And like that, every speaker on the anti-cannabis side of the debate had vanished.

Leafly reached out to Figueroa and Doty for comment. Figueroa would say only that the event “changed from what it was billed as, as a forum for the balanced discussion on the issue of marijuana legalization, to more of a pro-pot rally.” She declined to comment further.

Doty responded more fully. “We believed that we could dispel the misconceptions about how the current law is enforced by [state police] and share the experiences that our troopers and detectives see every day about the effects of drug use in our communities,” he said. “When the final list of participants was distributed the day before the event, the event appeared to have become something different.”

Jorgensen, the criminal justice professor, said he was disappointed with law enforcement’s absence. “My students and I weren’t too pleased by this, because we were interested in hearing their arguments and justifications for maintaining Idaho’s policies regarding marijuana, which are some of the harshest in the nation.”

Bellville, who showed up to the forum as promised, downplayed Figueroa’s claim that organizers had hired “radical” speakers from out of state. “It’s hard to find pro-marijuana speakers who actually live in Idaho, because they’re terrified of being above ground,” he told Leafly. And while he lives out of state now, he was born in Idaho, went to high school and college there, and spent most of his adult life around Boise.

When Bellville saw the message from Figueroa denouncing the forum as a pro-marijuana rally, he scoffed.

“The only thing that makes it a pro-marijuana event is that the anti people didn’t show up,” he said. “Kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy, right? Her charge of “radical,” out-of-state speakers is a swipe at me because my nickname online is Radical Russ. It was kind of shocking to me, because when Elisha Figueroa was getting her degree at Arizona State, I was skateboarding on the campus of Boise State. I have far more Idaho ties than this drug czar does.”

The organizers decided to go on with the show. “Because they canceled, it did turn into a pro-marijuana event,” Frank said. “We had three pro speakers and three empty chairs on the other side. We had the debate, but there was no rebuttal. We are planning to have another forum, and we’ll invite them again and hope they come down. We’ll just keep inviting them. It just shows that they have no weight to their argument if they won’t come down and debate with us.”

The forum was held in the BSU Student Union Building, with about 150 people in attendance. Another 8,000 or so listeners tuned in via a Cannabis Radio livestream.

With no opponents to debate, Bellville downloaded the Idaho Office of Drug Policy’s fact sheet on marijuana and went through it, point by point, arguing against the office’s supposed facts one-by-one. The event ended around 9 p.m., and the crowd dispersed.

Then things really got interesting.

A Knock At The Motel Room Door

After the event wrapped up, Bellville and New Approach organizer Bill Esbenson headed out.

When Bellville arrived at his hotel, he checked into his room with the night manager. “There’s hardly anyone in the parking lot and none of the rooms next to me are booked,” he said he remembers thinking. “It’s pretty empty for a Tuesday night in Boise.”

He changed his clothes, flipped on Jimmy Fallon, and was singing along with the TV when he was startled by a heavy knocking at the door, he said.

“Who is it?” he called through the door.

“Probation and parole,” said the voice on the other side.

“Who?” Bellville turned down the volume on the TV and looked out to see a man and a woman wearing official-looking jackets.

“Probation and parole!” The voice was more insistent this time.

Bellville cut to the chase. “What do you want?”

“Could you open up the door? We just want to talk to you.”

“No, I’m not going to open the door,” Bellville said firmly. “I’m not on probation or on parole. What do you want with me?”

“We’ve got a woman who’s on probation who’s registered for your room and we just need to check to see if she’s in there. Could you just open the door up so we could see?”

“There’s no woman in this room. I’m the only here and I just registered here today.”

They repeated their request. “Could you just open the door so we can talk about this?”

“No, I’m not going to open this door. I’m not on probation or parole. You guys can go get a warrant if you want me to open this door.”

Mention of the magic word, “warrant” was enough to change the demeanor of the officers at the door.

“Look,” Bellville recalled the male cop saying. “We know you’re smoking pot in there and that’s your own personal business and we don’t really care, but we’ve got a bunch of people on probation and parole here and we don’t want to see you fuck it up for all of them, so you just take that shit elsewhere.”

Because there was no arrest, there is no official documentation regarding the incident. Bellville didn’t record the officers’ names, so Leafly was unable to confirm the incident through official channels.

Bellville didn’t open the door. The officers eventually went away. But the encounter left him shaken. He wondered if he would wake up to a pounding at the door at a later hour, this time with warrant-bearing cops.

“You wanna know why it’s so hard to get an in-state Idaho speaker to speak up for marijuana?” Bellville told Leafly. “It’s because the cops just might follow them from the event and bust them.”

An Island of Prohibition

Why has Idaho been so adamantly prohibitive? A number of factors figure into it. First, there’s a heavily Mormon population. Idaho contains the second highest percentage of residents belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints of any state in the U.S. after Utah. But even Utah has legalized low-THC cannabidiol oil for medical use.

Idaho’s lack of cannabis legalization isn’t for a lack of trying or support. A 2010 found that 74 percent of Idahoans support the use of marijuana for medical reasons. And yet time and time again, when legislators like Tom Trail would introduce medical marijuana or industrial hemp bills, or when voters would gather signatures for a marijuana initiative, inevitably the legislation would hit a roadblock or lack of action from the conservative, Republican-dominated legislature.

The most recent legislative effort, Senate Bill 1146, would have legalized CBD oil for patients and caretakers. It represents a bare minimum of assistance to patients. Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas have passed CBD-only laws. But in Idaho, even that was too much. Gov. Butch Otter vetoed the measure. When confronted with the indignation of voters, Otter agreed to allow only a limited CBD study for children with epilepsy.

We asked Serra Frank about why she thinks Idaho has been so reluctant to allow even the slightest cannabis reform.

“I’m sure it has to do with investments in things like private prisons and pharmaceutical companies,” she said. “When our CBD law came up, the governor vetoed it. After he vetoed it, one of the local newspapers did a report about who his donors are, and the majority of them were pharmaceutical companies. So that kind of tells us why we’re still stuck in the past.”

Otter’s campaign contributions indeed include a number of pharmaceutical companies as well as Monsanto, Altria and Reynolds American (major tobacco players) and Anheuser-Busch. Taken together, those contributions compose a significant portion of Otter’s overall funding.

Serra Frank’s parting words reflect the deep divide she feels between access to medicine and the state she’s called home for most of her life.

“Everyone says, ‘Welcome to Idaho, time to change your clocks back 30 years. Come to Idaho on vacation, leave on probation,’” she said.

“Our criminal justice system here is a giant machine, just an assembly line in a lot of places. I used to live in Washington and Oregon, and I lived that medical program. I’ve seen the dispensaries. I know what we could have in Idaho, and I’m on a mission to bring that home.”

Frank’s difficulties with Idaho’s powers that be have left her undeterred. She’s already planning New Approach Idaho’s next big event: the first annual Boise Hempfest celebration, on April 23 at Julia Davis Park. Frank and her fellow volunteers will be collecting signatures and educating the masses, against all odds.

Patient Advocates Bring Medical Marijuana Issues To United Nations

Today Executive Director of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), Steph Sherer, and Michael Krawitz, Executive Director, Veterans For Medical Cannabis Access will join organizations from across the globe at at the UN Headquarters to continue preparations for the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS 2016) on drug policy to be held April 19th-21st They

Rise in marijuana in U.S. use not as high as previously reported

Researchers report an estimated 12.5 percent of adults living in the United States use marijuana, but this research also shows that the rate of pot use did not double from 2002 to 2013 — as had been reported in the fall — but instead increased by about 20 percent. Meanwhile, the rate of problems related […]

US AK: OPED: Cannabis Clubs Provide A Valuable Service

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 09 Feb 2016 – Cannabis clubs have been in the news a lot, from the front page of the News-Miner to the top news story on TV to the community perspectives on the opinion page. It is a new industry, and the new business is causing some concern and trepidation. But very little has been said about why Fairbanks needs a cannabis club, and what such a business has to offer. AS 17.38, passed by the majority of Alaska voters, legalized recreational marijuana use and possession and set out guidelines for how much a person can grow at home and posses in public.

Colorado Sold Just Shy Of One Billion Dollars Worth Of Cannabis In 2015

At the beginning of 2015 a lot of people were estimating that Colorado would sell over one billion dollars worth of cannabis. Recreational marijuana became legal to sell in Colorado at the beginning of 2014, with a regulated medical marijuana system already in existence. The roll out of recreational marijuana sales took a bit to

First Times: Balancing Football and Cannabis with ex-NFL Lineman Eben Britton

I’ve spent most of my life in football. Everything I did from the age of twelve to twenty-seven was dedicated to the game. In the weight room, on the practice field, and in the film room, I did all I could to be a great football player. I ate right. I worked hard to get good grades. By my final year of high school, that hard work had turned into scholarship offers from universities around the country. I wanted to make everyone proud. And I was terrified of getting into trouble.

That said, I have often felt an affinity for cannabis. I don’t know where this feeling came from exactly, but I do know that for as long as I can remember I have had an interest, a curiosity. I have wanted to explore what the plant had to offer.

I imagined what it would be like to be high before ever trying it. The shamanistic allure of cannabis spoke to me. I wanted to know how this herb could shepherd the mind to other pastures of thinking or consciousness.

I remember the first time I smoked as if it were a dream. It was a Friday. I was a senior in high school. Captain of the football team and committed to the University of Arizona on a full football scholarship. The final football season of my high school career had ended two weeks earlier. I felt proud, I felt mighty. I was seventeen and excited for a rare Friday night without football.

A girl I knew invited my buddy Juan and I over for an afternoon smoke. Juan had been my best friend since sixth grade. What we didn’t know was that we would be joined by her older friends, a group of veteran stoners. Juan and I were as green as could be.

We sat down, and out came a gigantic bong. Everyone took a turn. I had no idea what I was doing. Someone had to light it for me. I pulled too fast and got a blast of white smoke, some bong water finding its way into my mouth. The excitement I felt earlier burned away in the back of my throat. I felt self-conscious and out of place.

As the bong went around, an elder prepared a blunt. After a couple of awkward hits from the bong, I was relieved when we transitioned to something else. The blunt smelled sweet, rolled with the traditional grape Swisher.

There were about five of us passing it around at first. Then I noticed the other three had faded out of the circle and it was just Juan and me passing it back and forth.

We finished it. The Beach Boys started playing. Wouldn’t it Be Nice. Juan, melting into the couch, smiled from ear to ear as he flipped through a copy of Better Homes and Gardens. My mouth dry. A burning in my throat and chest. My body felt like a heavy suit trapping my soul.

I’ll get a drink, I thought.

But, I don’t know where the kitchen is, I don’t really know who these people are, oh my god, I think I’m…

“Where’s the kitchen?” The words bumbled out of my mouth as if I’d never used them before.

“Right over there to the left.” One of the girls pointed out the doorway in a hooking motion.

The afternoon sun was sinking. The house was getting dark. Rays of yellow light filtered through the window above the sink. I found the biggest cup in the cupboard and filled it to the brim. This’ll do. I gulped the water and filled it again.

I sat for a moment. The music was too loud. One guy I didn’t know was looking at his phone. Another person was weirding me out. I drank more water and felt it swirl down the hole. I had come to the bottom of my psychological descent. I was the do-no-wrong football player. I didn’t belong here. I writhed in my skin.

“Juan, we gotta get outta here.”

“What?”

“We gotta get outta here dude. Like, now.” My anxiety ramped into a slow panic. The song was too loud and people were noticing that I was freaking out.

“Hey man, just chill, we’re just chillin’.”

“Nah, I gotta go.”

I stumbled out of the smoky den. Sixty ounces of water sloshed in my stomach. I grabbed our backpacks and turned to see our host approaching me, trying to calm me down. Blue wings sprung from her back. Lines came over objects. I flung the front door open and threw up the entire contents of my gut in her front yard. I could feel neighbors watching in horror. Juan walked up behind me.

“Oh shit, are you alright, Eb?” Juan said, grabbing his backpack.

“Yeah, I’m good. Let’s go home” My face was hot, my vision blurred by tears.

We started the long trek home. It was probably two miles. In that moment I dreaded that walk as if we were about to cross the Serengeti.

The late afternoon sun hung below the tree line. Trees looked like skeletons against the fall sky. I was high as hell for the first time in my life. I felt like an astronaut walking on the moon. My consciousness heightened. We took our first steps down the road.

We walked lazily, gliding through the streets of our southern California suburb. I fought against it. I wanted to run away from it. The stigma of the drug hung with me, weighing heavily on my high. It was new and it scared me. What I thought were hallucinations subsided and I went deep into myself.

Juan and I finally made it home. I sent a text to my buddy, Greg, the only one of our friends with a car. I felt an urge to go and see my mom at her work. Like I had to confess my highness.

There was a knock at the door. Juan, motionless, kept melting into the couch. He’d switched over to watching HGTV. I worked myself out of the chair. Opened the door. It was Greg. I swung the door open and sat back in the chair. Greg stood in the doorway, confused.

“Would you take me to Mom’s work?” I asked.

Greg wasn’t sure whether he should be amused or concerned. “Are you insanely stoned?”

Here I was, stoned out of my skull for the first time in my life. I was in shambles. I crumpled in Greg’s car seat like a newborn puppy. So high, I didn’t know what to do with myself. So high, the only thing I can think of is to find my mother to bring me down.

As we pulled up to the antique shop where she worked, I laughed and remembered that we left Juan, alone at the house, on the couch watching HGTV. I walked in the store.

“Mom, I need to talk to you,”

“What happened honey, is everything okay?”

“Yea, yea, I, uh, I smoked weed, and I think I smoked a little too much.” The words brought immediate relief. The high began to dissipate.

She laughed and raised an eyebrow. “You drove here to tell me that?” She says, “Go home. Order a pizza. We can talk about this later.”

I couldn’t tell if she was pissed or not.

Whether the stuff we smoked was laced or not I cannot say. But after that night, and throughout my career, I learned that weed wasn’t something to fuck around with. It was powerful. I spent the next ten years focusing on my life as a football player. After four years at the University of Arizona I went on to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears. I was responsible in my cannabis consumption, never testing positive for marijuana on any drug test, ever.

Cannabis helped me through periods of intense pain during my six-year career as a professional football player. Through the dislocated shoulder and the herniated disc. It became my preferred method of pain management.

I have had experiences with other drugs. Pharmaceutical painkillers and anti-inflammatories were commonly prescribed to help players like me deal with daily pain. In my years of coping with major injuries, I learned they do nothing good for me. I have never had a good experience taking them.

I used marijuana because I hated the way the pills made me feel. I never felt much physical relief from the painkillers. They made me irritable and angry. Instead of walking around in pain, I was an asshole walking around in pain. Cannabis relieved the physical pain, but it did more—it soothed my psychological state and enhanced my spirituality. It is incredibly stressful to be injured. I have to thank marijuana for keeping my mind intact through my years in the game.

My first experience was not at all what I had anticipated. It was much more real than I thought it would be. The experience was altering. The way I thought about things would never be the same. The way I saw the world would never be the same.

Rising Popularity of Medical Marijuana Extracts Highlights the Advancement of Best Practices in Extraction

This article is sponsored by Tilray, one of the largest and most sophisticated producers of premium medical cannabis in the world. Tilray is dedicated to providing safe, consistent and reliable products to patients and furthering clinical research.

There are several reasons why cannabis extracts are one of the fastest-growing segments in the medical marijuana industry. For one thing, the ability to formulate specific dosages with precise levels of various cannabinoids and terpenes is invaluable to maximize the medical benefits of cannabis to address an array of conditions. Once formulated, medical cannabis extracts are often capable of offering consumers longer-lasting effects than other means of consumption. Furthermore, extracts can generally be consumed in ways that avoid the difficulties or health concerns associated with other consumption methods, such as smoking.

“We’ve seen a dramatic shift toward extract-based products; they’re now primary products over flower, and consumers are preferring them,” says Joshua Eades, chief science officer for the Nanaimo, B.C.-based medical cannabis producer Tilray. In addition to supplying flower to medical patients across Canada, Tilray has been shifting its product development focus over the past several months to include cannabis extracts. The simple fact that patients deserve the sorts of choices that cannabis extracts afford them has driven the category into the spotlight of late. And as it’s happened, best practices in extraction have been evolving alongside the products themselves.

Building a State-of-the-Art Extraction Program

Though it’s a simple concept to grasp, extraction itself isn’t easy. “At a very basic level, you’re taking a solvent that dissolves cannabinoids and pushing it through the plant material,” says Eades, “but it’s a very high-tech process. We’ve spent a lot of time trying different extraction methods to determine the ones that let us pull out the compounds we want, and leave behind the ones we don’t want.” On a team like Tilray’s, it takes several chemists, botanists, horticulturists, and other Ph.D.-level scientists working together to lead the charge in developing new extracts. The team must weigh the benefits and drawbacks of each possible extraction method and steer clear of any that could raise toxicity concerns. And regardless of their collective expertise, they would be unable to create high-quality extracts on any viable scale without a world-class laboratory. Equipment, upgrades, and the facility to house them can cost would-be producers hundreds of thousands of dollars before product development ever begins.

“This field, which is really so new, is wide open in terms of things to be learned and figured out and developed,” says Eades, who holds a doctorate in biology and biochemistry. “To have the resources to invest in equipment and people and all of that to blaze a trail is pretty amazing.” He also emphasizes the importance of hiring experts in their fields, rather than attempting to start from scratch. “When you look at all the licensed producers in Canada,” says Eades, “you can probably count on one hand the number that have invested in this level of equipment and capacity.” He believes that this ability to control the extraction process all the way from the sourcing of plant matter to the ultimate testing of extract potency is invaluable to the outcome of the product.

Best Practices in Cannabis Extraction

With great power comes great responsibility, and as medical cannabis extracts gain traction in the market, the discovery and adoption of best practices in extraction is vital to patient health as well as to the long-term viability of the product category as a whole. To ensure quality, Tilray, for one, has adopted the processes and stipulations laid out by the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification, the international standard by which pharmaceutical manufacturers must abide. “It’s an overall quality system approach,” explains Eades, who says that adoption of these standards and regulations are one of the main characteristics that differentiates Tilray in the industry. “We treat our products the same way that pharma companies treat a drug they’re developing, carefully documenting our steps along the way … so we know that those end products that we’re selling are essentially pharma-grade products.”

Once extracted, products are tested for chemical contamination, solvent residue, comparative levels of constituent compounds, and final overall potency. Due to the fact that the field of third-party cannabis testing is as young as the cannabis industry itself, third-party results are still indisputably prone to error, so at Tilray testing occurs both in-house and through independent laboratories to ensure a combined level of accuracy that many third-party labs still struggle to guarantee on their own. Meticulous records are kept documenting the exact chemical makeup of every batch of extract.

While many would expect that this attention to detail would be customary, Eades says that in fact strict guidelines are lacking in the Canadian cannabis industry, and some standards have yet to evolve even to the level of food-grade manufacturing. “There needs to be an elevation of the expectations,” he says. “I do think the industry will move in that direction, and I think that Tilray is leading the charge in that regard.” As this evolution occurs, medical patients will continue to both demand and look forward to ongoing advances that push cannabis extracts to an ever higher level of quality.

Image Souces: Tilray

The Shake: Bernie, CannaCups, and D.C.'s Homegrow Boom

Cannabis finally a hot issue in New Hampshire. On the day of the primary, the Chicago Sun-Times wonders if Bernie Sanders’s pro-legalization stand will win him voters. “Marijuana is ripe for reform in New Hampshire, and pro-reform candidates might see that pay off with primary voters,” says the paper. Meanwhile, Chris Christie doubles down on the crazy, telling a questioner at a Manchester, N.H., town hall: “Get high now, because when I’m president, it’s over, buddy.” We think something else may be over after tonight, Gov, and it ain’t legal consumption.

Suddenly everyone’s a farmer in Washington, D.C. Reuters describes what happens when you allow people to use cannabis but not sell it. “Sales of pot-growing equipment have boomed,” writes Ian Simpson. Capital City Hydroponics reports that it “now sells as many starter kits in a day as it did in a typical week before legalization.” Washington, D.C. famously legalized cannabis in 2014, but Congress has blocked the city from enacting rules regulating cultivation and sales. Advocates estimate that 500 to 1,000 people are now growing in the District. “All walks of life come in here, young to old, all classes, all creeds and colors,” said Capital City clerk John Diango said. Despite that fact, Reuters chose to illustrate the piece with a photo of a sketchy-looking white dude sucking a joint in Canada in 2014. Go figure.

Minnesota’s MMJ program brings “wonders, worries.” The Minneapolis StarTribune takes stock of the state’s medical cannabis program six months on and finds successes and problems. The problems aren’t the usual reefer madness fears, though. The main problem seems to be the state’s ban on smokable leaf, which has left patients with only higher-cost oil, pill, or liquid options. “Of the people I’ve certified, somewhere between 20 to 30 percent have not obtained medical marijuana because of the cost,” one doctor says.

Shinnecock Nation to develop medical cannabis program. Newsday reports that the Shinnecock tribe in New York intends to contract with an outside developer to cultivate and sell medical marijuana on the tribe’s reservation near Southampton, on Long Island. Tribal Trustee Chairman Bryan Polite told the Southampton Press that the tribe’s project will be “coextensive” with the New York State Compassionate Care Act which, like Minnesota, does not permit smokable leaf.

Will we ever see CannaCups? Beantown business tech site BostInno tracks the progress of Massachusetts-based CannaKorp, which has raised $375,000 to bring a Keurig K-Cup–like cannabis vaporizing system to market. CannaKorp got a flurry of press last fall with the release of a cool, animated “single-use, pod-based cannabis vaporizer system.” We’d call this a pipe dream except for the fact that CannaKorp CEO Dave Manly was formerly a senior VP at Keurig Green Mountain. It’s an exciting idea. Can we have a demonstration, Dave?

QUICK HITS: Facebook restored the pages of two New Jersey medical cannabis dispensaries after the operators deleted price lists and photos of the plant. * Rhode Island considers adding PTSD to its list of qualifying MMJ conditions. * And finally, London’s Evening Standard reports that “an elderly hippy” will run for mayor of London on a legalization platform. Lee Harris, a 79 year-old grandfather and onetime friend of Allen Ginsberg and Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones, owns a head shop on Portobello Road and is backed by philanthropist and drug reformer Paul Birch. Not that anybody asked, but here’s our vote: We be for Lee.

Image Source (curves, graphic overlay): Gage Skidmore via Flickr Creative Commons

West Virginia Veterans For Medical Cannabis Rally Is Wednesday

There is a rally occurring in West Virginia on Wednesday. American veterans deserve to use medical cannabis and shouldn’t be forced to use harmful pharmaceuticals if they don’t want to. Below is more information about the rally via the event’s Facebook page: Sign the petition! http://actionnetwork.org/petitions/support-our-troops-west-virginia-veterans-for-medical-cannabis We are uniting at the West Virginia State Capitol

High NY: The Next Generation Of Cannabis Leaders

I came across a cool event today. It’s an event geared towards the next generation of cannabis leaders, which is something that I always support. I was once a young activist, and it’s only because of the efforts and mentoring from previous generations of activists that I’ve been able to navigate a gauntlet of chaos

Reminder – Cannabis Lobby Day At The Oregon Capitol Today

If you are near Oregon’s capital today and don’t have to work, you should attend the cannabis lobby day. This is going to be a very, very important session, and Oregon’s legislators need to hear from cannabis patients and supporters. There are a lot of proposed changes to the OMMP this session, with more on

Polls Show Support for Legalization on the Rise: The Leafly Roundup

Here’s what’s happening in the cannabis world: California’s rush to regulate medical marijuana has had an unintended negative effect, and one elected offical is working to fix it; New Orleans’ cannabis penalties may soon be reduced; Missouri is trying for a medical bill but the sheriffs are against it; recent polls indicate unprecedented support from both New Mexico and Virginia in favor of full adult use legalization; and a study from Mexico shows how much legalization could hurt drug cartel profits.

U.S. News

California

  • California’s attempts to regulate the medical marijuana market are causing cities and counties to impose their own moratoriums on cannabis businesses. A typo in a new law gave cities and counties the option to ban marijuana businesses, but only if they have a local ordinance on the books by March 1. This sent dozens of municipalities scrambling to pass hastily written laws — in most cases, bans — while growers and dispensary owners watch their livelihoods disappear. Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, who co-authored the original medical marijuana legislation, is now offering a fix in the form of Assembly Bill 21, which would repeal the deadline and slow the onslaught of municipalities prohibiting cannabis. The bill gained the support of the Senate, as well as the League of California Cities and the California Association of Police Chiefs, although its passage does nothing to repeal the many cultivation bans already enacted.

Louisiana

  • Cannabis laws in New Orleans may receive an upgrade (or a downgrade, as it were) if a proposed ordinance is adopted. New Orleans City Councilwoman Susan Guidry has introduced a measure to reduce penalties for cannabis possession in the city. A first infraction would merit a verbal warning, a second offense would earn a written warning, and a third offense would mean a $50 civil fine. Under current law, a first-time offender in Louisiana faces a $500 fine and up to six months in jail. Were the ordinance to pass, New Orleans police could choose whether to enforce the laws according to the state or city law. Guidry previously passed an ordinance in 2010 that allows officers to issue a summons rather than arrest those in possession of small amounts of cannabis, a change that resulted in a 50 percent reduction in related arrests.

Missouri

  • Campaign group New Approach Missouri has begun collecting signatures for a medical marijuana bid. Organizers will need to gather 160,000 valid voter signatures within the next four months to qualify for the November ballot. New Approach is hoping to hire a professional signature-gathering firm to assist with the effort. There are already signs of stiff opposition: The Missouri Sheriffs Association released a statement that its membership would actively oppose any measure, legislative or voter-initiated, to legalize marijuana for any purpose whatsoever. To support Missouri’s medical marijuana proposal, contact New Approach Missouri.

New Mexico

  • A recent phone survey, commissioned by the Drug Policy Alliance and conducted by Albuquerque-based Research & Polling, found that 61 percent of respondants would support legislation to legalize, regulate, and tax the sale of cannabis to adults 21 and older. State Rep. Bill Camley, D-Las Cruces, introduced House Bill 75, the Cannabis Revenue & Freedom Act. No action has been taken yet. This isn’t the first attempt at legalization in the state; last year McCamley introduced House Bill 160, which contained similar language but didn’t pass. McCamley reintroduced his legislation in spite of comments from Gov. Susanna Martinez, who has said she would veto the bill if it makes it to her desk.

Virginia

  • A new poll out of the University of Virginia shows strong support for cannabis legalization and for criminal justice law reform. The poll asked 931 adult Virginians about their attitudes toward cannabis and found that 62 percent of Virginia respondents support legalization for recreational use. An even larger majority, 78 percent, support reducing penalties for marijuana possession to a $100 fine rather than a misdemeanor. The last Virginia legalization poll found that 54 percent of Virginians supported cannabis legalization, a sign support is growing the swing state.

Puerto Rico

  • Puerto Rico has adopted draft regulations that will allow the cultivation, processing and distribution as part of the U.S. territory’s new medical marijuana program. Smoking and cultivating cannabis for personal use will remain a crime, however. Officials are emphasizing that the only forms of cannabis that will be available to medical cannabis patients will be pills, creams, patches, and oils. The Puerto Rico Department of Health will be implementing a seed-to-sale tracking system for the program and is planning to issue licenses to doctors and private companies. All samples and products are slated to be tested through a third-party laboratory. The program could be operational as soon as the end of the year.

International News

Mexico

  • A recent study from the Belisario Domínguez Institute found legalization would cut Mexican drug cartels’ cannabis profits by 15 to 26 percent. The institute is responsible for performing research studies to support decisions being considered by Mexico’s Senate. In its latest study, the institute determined that legalizing cannabis for medicinal or recreational purposes would cause significant financial damage to drug cartels, particularly the Sinaloa cartel, headed by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who was recaptured on Jan. 8. It’s estimated that as recently as 2008, Mexico provided more than 65 percent of all cannabis in the United States, but since the rise of medical and recreational legalization, those numbers have dropped to between 30 and 50 percent.

The Scientist

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Marcus Musante Announces California Congress District 44 Campaign At High Times Cannabis Cup

Marcus Musante, Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney, launched his highly anticipated campaign for California’s 44th Congressional District this weekend from the High Times So-Cal Cannabis Cup, announced Musante campaign strategist and CA GOP Associate delegate Jason Aula. “I don’t always campaign for a Democrat, but when I do they will have the stand on the

Adult Use Initiative Debate

Originally published by The Emerald Cup on Jan 11, 2016 Frustrated with decades of chaos and a disorganized and fractured community we came together at the 12th Annual Emerald Cup to discuss if there was any point to run an effort with the impending Sean Parker initiative that appears to have the necessary funding. After […]

Integrated Pest Control and Mold Management

Hawaii Cannabis Caregivers

The ecological, economical, and biological sound practices of developing a diverse Integrated Pest Management program to further diminish the use of pesticides and herbicides inside our industry. Resources from Natural Farming Hawaii – Scientifically Proven to Reduce Costs While Growing in Harmony with Nature

Lab Science and Standards: Myths Facts and Creating a Unified Consensus

Hawaii Cannabis Organization

Key questions related to Hawaii’s Controlled Substances Act (329) and Chapter 11-850 of the Hawaii Administrative Rules with respect to required laboratory testing: Is Patient, product and public safety achieved through laboratory testing? Will the testing laws developed by legislators, law enforcement and the Hawaii Department of Health Approved Testing Laboratories detect everything in Cannabis from licensed dispensaries. […]

Hawaii Medical Marijuana Dispensary License List of Applicants

Hawaii Cannabis News

Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) released the list of applicants for Medical Marijuana Dispensary Licenses. Sixty-six applications were received during the application period of Jan. 12, 2016, 8 a.m., Hawaii Standard Time (HST) to Jan. 29, 2016, 4:30 p.m. HST. The names of all individual applicants and applying entities as well as the county applied for […]

Viral Hit: Gwenevere Tries Cannabis Oil

The folks over at Collective Evolution captured a heart-wrenching and ultimately inspiring story about a little girl in Canada whose life has been transformed by the use of cannabis oil. From the first, heartbreaking shot of a little girl seizing on the ground with a desperate dad watching helplessly, through a metamorphic transformation during which little Gwenevere gains comprehension and basic speaking skills.

This video left us with tears in our eyes and we hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did.

The Real Cannabis Culture (Video)

I have never been to the Emerald Cup before. I know, I know. It’s definitely something that I don’t have a good excuse for. I have always wanted to go and am very hopeful that I’ll make it to the next one. WeedMaps recently released a video recap of the last Emerald Cup. It’s a

Cannabis Lobby Day At The Oregon Capitol On Monday

Below is an event that is happening at the Oregon Capitol on Monday, via the event’s Facebook page: Come join our rally and let your voice be heard! Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp (CRRH), along with several other cannabis organizations, will be participating in Cannabis Lobby Day at the Oregon State Capitol

How Mexican 'Herbolarias' Transformed Hemp Into Psychoactive Marijuana

Historian John Charles Chasteen provides a brief global history of cannabis in his new book, Getting High: Marijuana Through the Ages. Best known for his studies in Latin American history, the University of North Carolina historian retraces the history of cannabis from today’s legalization era back to Neolithic times. Along the way he unearths broad patterns of use and cultivation that carried the crop around the world. One mystery is the plant’s apparent transformation from common hemp into psychoactive “mariguana,” discussed in the following excerpt for Leafly. Getting High will be published later this month by Rowman & Littlefield.

Where did psychoactive marijuana come from?

We know marijuana came to the United States from Mexico in the early 1900s. After months spent chasing Pancho Villa and his men, American soldiers returned home and brought with them packets of grifo, mildly psychoactive Mexican cannabis. At the same time, Mexican laborers brought marijuana with them as they migrated north.

But how did it get to Mexico? It’s not an easy mystery to unlock. The entirety of knowledge about the history of cannabis in the Western Hemisphere prior to 1850 would probably fit on a couple sheets of paper. By piecing together the evidence we can see that the story went something like this.

In the 1530s, one of the Spaniards led by Hernan Cortes set his forced indigenous laborers to planting Spanish hemp in the highlands around Mexico City. The historical record is sparse, but there are scattered mentions of hemp production on a modest scale through the 1760s. In the 1770s, the Spanish Crown launched a campaign to foment hemp production in Mexico. This met with indifferent success.

By the 1770s, though, another kind of production had quietly taken off. A priest of the Central Highlands by the name of Jose Ramirez learned that indigenous people not far from Mexico City were consuming preparations that they called pipiltzintzintlis, concoctions that gave them access to the spirit world.

Fearing pagan idolatry, the priest acquired a bit of the mysterious pipiltzintzlis and found to his amazement that, as far as he could see, it was simply the leaves and seeds of Cannabis sativa, or European hemp.

The hemp that European colonizers introduced throughout their North and South American colonies had never been used to get high. Although commercial hemp production never had much success in colonial Mexico, indigenous people continued to cultivate the plant for something other than fiber. When officials seeking cordage and sailcloth for the Spanish Empire asked Ramirez where they could find hemp seeds in Mexico, Ramirez told them. Go to the marketplace, he said, and ask for pipiltzintzintlis. Look for the indigenous herbolarias, the herb dealers.

Religious specialists among the indigenous people had used psychoactive substances for many centuries before the arrival of the Spanish. The Catholic Church condemned the use of pipiltzintzintlis, peyote, and teonanacatl because they represented the competition, so to speak–access to a religious experience outside the strict confines of the church. Therefore Mexico’s spiritual users of psychoactive cannabis kept a low profile.

The question remains: How did hemp develop into psychoactive pipiltzintzintlis? Apparently, between the 1530s and the 1780s, when commercial hemp production was fizzling, there nonetheless had been subsistence cultivation of Cannabis sativa, a few plants here and there in rural kitchen gardens. Mexico is one of the world’s hot spots of plant domestication. Corn, a Mexican creation, is a prime example. Domestic corn constitutes a triumph of early bio-engineering, entirely transformed from its wild progenitors. These botanical wizards also had experience with hallucinogenic flora that gave privileged access to the spirit world.

Anthropologists believe that the New World has so many more known hallucinogens than the Old–roughly ten times as many–not because it was providentially endowed with more, but because New World people were better at identifying and cultivating them. They gained this ability, hypothetically, by migrating through so many different climate zones to populate the Americas.

In view of all this, we shouldn’t be surprised if ten generations of indigenous Mexican botanists, aided by the blistering tropical sun, were able to discover and cultivate the psychoactive potential in European hemp.

Oddly, Ramirez’s discovery of pipiltzintzintlis was soon forgotten. Not until the 1840s does one find further evidence that marijuana existed in Mexico. And then, there it is: In 1846, the Mexican Academy of Pharmacy published a national pharmacopeia that registered the existence of two separate Mexican strains of cannabis: sativa, listed for its “emulsive seed,” and “Rosa Maria,” used for its “narcotic leaves.” Another name for Rosa Maria was a word that first appearance in print in the pages of the 1846 pharmacopeia: mariguana.

Within the next decade, a pharmacist of the University of Guadalajara mentioned that Rosa Maria was smoked in cigarettes, the first mention of that practice. (Pipiltzintzintlis seems to have been eaten. It was, in a sense, the original edible.) Further references followed in the 1860s and 1870s, as the word marihuana gradually became familiar to readers of Mexican newspapers.

Marijuana was very far from being a universal of Mexican life, however. Little known in the cities before 1850, it grew widely in the countryside, and the smokers of it were poor country people and mestizos, people in the not-Indian, not-European category of cultural/racial in-between-ness by which Mexicans increasingly defined their national sense of self.

Though not illegal, smoking Rosa Maria was considered un-Catholic. The innocent-sounding name was a reminder of the need to blow some smoke, so to speak, when mentioning the drug. The young rural men who gathered to pass a marijuana cigarette from hand to hand were not doing anything religious, not divining the future or gaining access to the spirit world. They were using marijuana more as a cheap substitute for pulque, a fermented beverage made from the maguey plant. And yet, the idea that marijuana was a “devil weed,” the idea that it was a bit pagan, that it produced madness and unholy violence–that had not completely vanished, either.

Then populations mixed. Beginning in the 1860s, national upheaval and war, followed by a period of rapid economic growth, stirred things up in rural Mexico. Soldiers and workers moved around the country. Along the way migrants passed through growing towns. These travelers were young men with zero years of schooling, jostled loose from tiny, traditional villages, now far from home, willing to try their hands at anything. They landed in the army, in labor camps, in rough neighborhoods where homeless drifters go to spend the night. Often they got in trouble for fighting. It was a commonplace belief that marihuana, like pulque and tequila, made them do it.
Prisons and military barracks were the two places most associated with marijuana smoking in Mexico by 1900. We should be clear about what that means. Marijuana had not turned these conscripts into soldiers, obviously, and neither had it turned them into prisoners. Rather, prisons and barracks created the ideal conditions for marijuana to substitute for pulque. Compared with alcoholic drinks, marijuana was much more easily smuggled and consumed. Prisons and barracks were also places of tough masculine society where the “devil weed” reputation could even be a plus. So “prisoner” and “soldier” were the most frequently mentioned identities of early marijuana users in the Mexican press. Other descriptors applied in print were lower class, degenerate, thieves, Indians, social dregs, and revolutionaries–along with various references to women, such as herbolarias, prostitutes, and soldaderas. The denizens of Mexico City’s underworld were said to loiter at cheap cafes smoking grifos and drinking coffee laced with cane liquor. Finally, there were also some middle-class dandies who dabbled with marijuana. A group of young dandies was said to meet at night in the shadowy cloisters of an abandoned convent, decorated with symbols of occult spiritualism, to smoke marijuana and read poetry.

Some women smoked marijuana, but press reports provide good evidence that men outnumbered them twenty to one. Women appear in the press reports much more often as suppliers than users. Herbolarias were not supposed to sell marijuana, but they remained the chief source of it for the urban population. Soldaderas, who traveled with soldiers to cook for them and take care of them in various ways, could be described as prostitutes or as soldiers’ sweethearts, overlapping categories at the time. Getting marijuana from the herbolaria and sneaking it to her man in a jail or a prisonlike barracks was a routine chore for such a woman, who may never have smoked it herself.

Mexican press accounts from the turn of the twentieth century present marijuana as a substance that turns smokers into homicidal maniacs after exactly three puffs. Here, in article after article, we find the origins of the “reefer madness” image later publicized in the United States by Harry Anslinger’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics. It’s an open question how much this “social script” influenced the behavior of the young men who were smoking the stuff. Did they feel themselves possessed by a devilish influence that made (or allowed) them to run amok? Press descriptions of fights under the influence of marijuana don’t differ much, in fact, from descriptions of similar fights under the influence of drink. Mention of alcohol in such accounts was twenty to a hundred times more common. And yet the Mexican press had absolutely nothing good to say about marijuana, whereas alcohol was a different, more complex story.

Alcohol was the active ingredient of lower-class pulque, but also of champagne and cognac, symbols of European chic in a country whose better-off citizens yearned for Europe. Only a smattering of bohemian middle-class Mexicans dabbled with marijuana, but all social classes drank. Immigrant families of German brewers were beginning to produce excellent beer in Mexico. Consequently, grisly murders, described with lurid detail in the yellow press, could not define the entire social meaning of alcohol, only its lowlife pathology, for the Mexican reading public. But they could, and did, define the entire meaning of marijuana. and marijuana’s indigenous image only made matters more embarrassing for the Mexican middle class, by reminding them of a Mexico that they preferred to forget.

All this gives us a much better picture of the backstory of marijuana smoking in the United States. The U.S.-built railroads that were stirring up the Mexican countryside also hired many Mexican workers and carried them north to the U.S. border. U.S. mining and ranching interests in northern Mexico wanted more strong young men with zero years of schooling, and soon U.S. labor contractors were signing them up to repair track or pick peaches north of the border. Nobody but the young men knew they smoked marijuana, until they got into fights…and the rest is history.

Now we can understand why Pancho Villa’s soldiers sang about marijuana, why migrating workers kept the stuff under wraps, and why respectable Mexican Americans had not the slightest interest in defending it. Finally, we can see where Harry Anslinger got the idea of promoting the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 by showing congressmen pictures of mangled corpses. It had all happened before, to powerful effect, south of the border.

Hawaii County Dispensary Applicants Named

Hawaii Cannabis Dispensary Applicants

By KIRSTEN JOHNSON Hawaii Tribune-Herald Fourteen Hawaii County Dispensary Applicants are vying to open the first medical marijuana dispensaries on Hawaii Island, according to information released Friday by the state Department of Health. Seven of the dispensary applicants listed in the state’s business registry have Hawaii Island mailing addresses, and five have Oahu addresses. Two applicants […]

Marley Natural Debuts New Line of Cannabis Products

With great anticipation, the cannabis world has waited to see the debut of Robert Nesta Marley’s new collection of unique cannabis strains, accessories, and infused lifestyle products.

Marley Natural (owned by Privateer Holdings, the parent company of Leafly) came into existence with the blessing of the late reggae pioneer’s surviving family, and is dedicated to preserving the memory of Bob Marley’s Jamaican roots. Each product was designed with genuine respect for his legacy, based on his belief in the power of the herb to heal and inspire the masses.

The Marley Natural products include four new cannabis flower strain lines:

  • Marley Green: Hybrid strains recommended for people beginning their journey with cannabis. Marley Green strains have balanced levels of THC that combine the cerebral effects of sativa with the physical relaxation of indica. Marley Green strains are appropriate for anytime use.
  • Marley Gold: Sativa strains that offer energetic, uplifting effects that may produce a more cerebral experience compared to other cannabis strains. Marley Gold strains are appropriate for daytime and nighttime use.
  • Marley Red: CBD-rich strains that combine CBD and THC in a beneficial ratio. CBD-rich cannabis is frequently reported to provide patients and consumers with anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and anti-anxiety properties without the psychoactive effects of strains high in THC. Marley Red strains are appropriate for anytime use.
  • Marley Black: Indica strains recommended for connoisseurs seeking a more physical, full-body experience. Marley Black strains are high in THC and are appropriate for nighttime use.

All Marley Natural cannabis flower and oils are locally sourced, sun-grown, and pesticide-free, in addition to being tested and labeled for potency, purity, and safety.

A naturally-derived line of botanical body care products will offer the moisturizing power of cold-pressed hempseed oil rich in essentially fatty acids and infused with classic Jamaican botanical scents such as ginger, lemongrass, turmeric, and cerasse. These products will be available nationwide through the Marley Natural Shop and will be available at select retailers soon.

Arguably the most beautiful part of the Marley Natural design comes in the form of a carefully and lovingly designed American Black Walnut wood and glass collection of accessories for smoking, preparation, and storage. The collection includes a taster, a classic spoon pipe, a steamroller, a bubbler, grinder, prep tray, and storage devices.

If herb is the healing of the nation, then let this nation be healed and remember: “When you smoke the herb, it reveals you to yourself.”

Image Source: Marley Natural

Andrew Sullivan Tells Leafly How to Poop Without Your iPhone

You may be familiar with Andrew Sullivan: author, essayist, editor, public intellectual. The British expat, long ensconced in America, all but invented the professional blog with The Dish, his influential platform on politics and culture that thrived from 2000 to 2015.

You may not know Sullivan as one of the intellectual pioneers of the legalization movement. But back in 2009, when adult-use legalization was a dream still years away, Sullivan devoted an extraordinary amount of space in The Dish to serious considerations of legal, regulated use. That work was later collected in a groundbreaking book, The Cannabis Closet, edited by Sullivan and Dish editor Chris Bodenner, which collected the stories of everyday, non-stereotypical cannabis consumers. (You can still find it online, published by Blurb.com.)

Sullivan will be speaking at the International Cannabis Business Conference in San Francisco next weekend (Feb 13-14), along with an eclectic lineup that includes Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Tommy Chong, and former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders. I caught up with him in a phone conversation a couple weeks before the event.

I wanted to know what got him thinking about legalization seven years ago. “There were two things,” he said. “One was my own experience in the AIDS epidemic. I know people alive today who wouldn’t have survived without cannabis. It allowed them to tolerate the crazy amounts of medication we were given in the mid-nineties. I found it intolerable that the government would actively prevent people from saving their own lives.

“The other thing was this: I’ve always had a libertarian instinct. I genuinely believe people should be able to treat themselves as they see fit. Especially if it’s not fatal, and has been shown to be safe.”

The Cannabis Closet was one of the first books to present cannabis use as something other than the main ingredient in a stoner comedy. That came about, Sullivan said, “because we wanted to counter the stereotypes. We wanted to relay the experiences of completely middle-class American pot smokers.” Sullivan has often written of his own experience as a gay conservative Catholic, and he saw parallels between the LGBTQ struggle and the cultural presentation of cannabis consumers. “The parallel with the gay story is there,” he said. “There are a lot of stereotypes” that kept the drug war at a fever pitch.

In a way, he argued, the connection between cannabis and comedy has undermined the fight to address legalization as a serious issue. “The humor is an obstacle,” he said. “When people talk about weed in the United States, they giggle and make munchies jokes. Nobody ever makes jokes about someone doing heroin. There’s been a strange disconnect between the way people talked about it, and the way the law and public debate was constrained around it.

“I’m a huge fan of stoner comedy and stoner culture,” he added. “I don’t mean in any way to disparage them. But in some ways it’s become an unwitting way of deflecting, of missing the point. If it’s only funny, then why the hell are we locking up god knows how many people a year for merely possessing it? Let alone the racial question, which is overwhelming and shameful.”

Long known for his biting political commentary, Sullivan is closely watching the legalization initiatives moving toward the November 2016 ballot. “That’s the key, the November vote,” he said. “The marriage equality parallel is interesting. Once we only had Massachusetts” as a marriage equality state, he said. “We knew if we went to federal court and only had two or three states behind us, it would be a harder push.” By the time the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide with its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, some version of marriage equality existed in 38 states and Washington, D.C. A similar dynamic could play out with cannabis legalization, Sullivan said. “Once you get a critical mass—especially adding a state like California—then I think we’re in a whole new ballpark.”

It’s been a year since Sullivan announced the retirement of The Dish—fifteen years left him fairly exhausted—and since then he’s been thinking and writing a lot about “the culture we live in, which is a culture of mass distraction,” he said.

“Nobody is safe from the endless torrent of Tweets, emails, Facebook updates,” he said. “We’re in a constant distracted state of mind, and it renders us more tired, depressed, and irritable.

“I think the new popularity of weed is related to that,” he said. “I think people feel the need for space in their lives that is calm. They need something that will get them out of that constant reactive, on-edge feel that information overload is providing us. I think we’re self-medicating, and I think weed is particularly effective in tricking our brains into escaping that constant state of alert anxiety.

“It’s become incredibly hard to stay sane in this culture. Our heads are jerking with distraction. No one even takes a shit anymore without looking at their phone.” I laughed. “I’m serious,” he said, chuckling, “this didn’t happen ten years ago. We took a shit easily ten years ago, enjoyed the moment. That’s what I think weed does. Gets us off the phone and allows us to enjoy the moment.”

California Passes Bill to Fix Medical Cannabis Legislative Error

The emergency bill, AB21, was introduced by Assemblyman Jim Wood of Healdsburg, The Associated Press reports. “Now that we have given local officials the time to take a thoughtful approach to regulating medical marijuana, I hope they will maximize that time by engaging with the public and having thorough discussions,” said Wood. Read More

US CA: Column: Defining Craft Cannabis

Boulder Weekly, 04 Feb 2016 – Skywalker OG. Sour Diesel. LA Confidential. With dozens of different strains available to choose from, each emitting a different aroma and promising a different high, it is hard to remember that it is all just one thing – cannabis. With one ingredient served up in dozens of different ways, it can paralyze a consumer, but for a grower, it’s an innovative paradise. “It almost feels like it’s never been done before,” says Stephen Lipton, general cultivation manager of Boulder dispensary The Farm. “I guess because it really hasn’t. Before it was a black market thing, and now that it isn’t there is a high level of experimentation and ingenuity going on that you just can’t deny anymore.”

New Strains Alert: White Smurf, Arctic Sun, Titan's Haze, God's Bubba, and More

Check out the cannabis strains recently added to the Leafly database! While they might be new to our strain Explorer, some of these have been making it around the market for a while now. If you’ve come across any of them before, write a strain review! Otherwise check the links below to see if they’re offered at a shop near you.

1. White Smurf

The Cannabis Cup People’s Choice winner in 2000, White Smurf is a hybrid strain bred from a Northern Lights x Skunk #1 female and a pure Dutch sativa male. Wonderful smells of fresh citrus fruit will entice you as accents of orange pistils and dusty white resin stand out in a sea of green. This strain is a great choice for social butterflies to lounge out to after a nice dinner.

Click here for a full list of locations carrying White Smurf

2. Titan’s Haze

Bred by Flying Dutchmen, Titan’s Haze is sativa cross of Haze and Skunk #1. This strain brings a powerful cerebral rush that sativa connoisseurs crave with the smell and flavor of herbal spice. It’s a go-to hybrid for creative minds looking for that stimulating and energizing buzz during daytime hours. These plants fare well in high humidity or dry climates and have proven resistant to pests and molds.

3. God’s Bubba

Bred by Jordan of the Islands, God’s Bubba is an indica cross between two hefty parent strains, God Bud and Pre-98 Bubba Kush. Potency, a compact stature, and heavy harvests are what these breeders aimed for, to the delight of commercial growers and consumers with stubbornly high tolerances. Indica lovers will appreciate the tranquilizing qualities God’s Bubba has to offer, especially those treating pain and insomnia.

Click here for a full list of locations carrying God’s Bubba

4. Arctic Sun

Cultivated by Flying Dutchman, Arctic Sun is a 60/40 sativa-dominant hybrid of Skunk #1 and White Widow. These two crosses create a pungent fuel-like tang with floral undertones. When consumed, a robust burst of euphoria and energy comes through, stimulating both social interaction and creativity. Patients often look to this strain for relief of chronic pain, sleeplessness, and muscle spasms.

Click here for a full list of locations carrying Arctic Sun

5. In The Pines

From Aficionado Seeds comes In The Pines, a sativa-dominant strain bred by crossing Pineapple Thai, Master Kush, and Pineapple. Tropical fruity flavors activate on the inhale and usher in this sativa’s invigorating, active effects. Clear creativity comes alive as the senses sharpen, making In The Pines the perfect companion strain for hobbies and productive afternoons.

Click here for a full list of locations carrying In The Pines

6. Bronze Whaler

An 80/20 indica-dominant strain bred in Australia, Bronze Whaler gives off the sweet smell of fruit with distinct tropical overtones. Awarded 2nd place at the Sydney Cannabis Cup in 2002, this dense, compact bud produces an abundance of fine white pistils that turn to a bronze hue on upon maturing. For patients seeking long-lasting relief from pain and stress, this nighttime strain is ideal.

7. Alaska Thunder Grape

From Sonoma County comes Alaska Thunder Grape, a hybrid strain that balances genetics from Matanuska Thunder Fuck and Grape Ape. With floral flavors of lavender and hibiscus, Alaska Thunder Grape delivers heavy euphoric effects that promote rest and relaxation.

Click here for a full list of locations carrying Alaska Thunder Grape

Browse through other new strains that were added recently to the Leafly Explorer or check out last week’s newest additions!

PGT Episode #285- Hartwick Gagged for So Called Trial

Contributions from Rick Thompson from The Compassion Chronicles, Jamie Lowell from Third Coast   Tonight- Updates on Max Lorincz, and the Amsdill family. Interesting development in People v Hartwick. Gov. Snyder attempts to offer a “positive spin” concerning the Flint water crisis on social media, and the cannabis community arranges a water drive and dinner […]

Ep. 45 – He makes infused topicals; He's a compliance expert

Published: Feb 4, 2016, 2:12 pm • Updated: Feb 4, 2016, 2:12 pm Cannabist Staff Featured guests: Apothecanna founder James Kennedy and Cannabis Business Alliance board member Mark Slaugh. Podcast: Play in new window | Download LOTS TO TALK ABOUT • For people who are new to using cannabis topicals, what should they expect to feel […]

BREAKING: Federal Bill Would End Postal Service's Cannabis Ad Ban

A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate on Thursday would allow written marijuana advertisements in states where cannabis is legal. Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley joined with Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici to introduce the Marijuana Advertising in Legal States (MAILS) Act, aimed at overturning a U.S. Postal Service ban on newspapers containing cannabis ads.

The ban came to light last December when the Postal Service sent out a memo to newspaper offices in legal states, warning them that printing paid advertisements for cannabis could be a violation of federal law.

The bill would amend the Controlled Substances Act so that restrictions on advertising would not apply to cannabis-related activities that are in compliance with laws at the state level.

Wyden introduced the bill to protect “law-abiding Oregonians and small business owners” to and address concerns from local and federal officials from legal states.

“Our bill updates the federal approach to marijuana, ending the threat to news publications that choose to accept advertising from legal marijuana businesses in Oregon and other states where voters also have freely decided to legalize marijuana,” he said.

Merkley also spoke out against federal regulations that limit the capabilities of legitimate cannabis companies:

“Oregon voters have made it clear that they support marijuana legalization, but in area after area, federal regulation makes it difficult for legitimate marijuana businesses to operate. It’s time the federal government starts updating its rules and regulations in states where marijuana is now legal.”

The bill came swiftly on the heels of a letter sent to the Postal Service by the same group of lawmakers asking the agency to identify the statute that gives the USPS the authority to restrict advertisements for businesses that are legal at a state level.

In addition to the Oregon Congress members, the bill is being cosponsored by a pair of bipartisan cannabis supporters from California, Reps. Jared Huffman, Democrat, and Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican.

Why One Ex-Chicago Prosecutor Changed Her Thinking On the Drug War

“Part of what bothers me the most about whole the war on drugs is the sheer intellectual dishonesty of it,” Inge Fryklund says as she rattles off a brief history of prohibition. Cracking down on drug users can score political points or justify outsized police budgets, she continues, but rarely does it actually solve problems.

For five years, Fryklund supervised criminal appeals in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Living in Chicago her view on drug policy began to shift. Later she spent almost five years in Afghanistan working with the legal system and advising national, provincial, and municipal governments. In both areas, she saw violence and corruption — the unintended consequences of hardline prohibition. She’s now a member of the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, or LEAP.

Drugs carry risks, Fryklund acknowledges, but many of the consequences of the war on drugs stem from prohibition itself. Establishing a legal, regulated market, she argues, is the best way to minimize harm.

As part of Leafly’s ongoing effort to include the voice of law enforcement in the cannabis conversation, we spoke to Frykland about cannabis and prohibition. In the interview, she touched on the experiences that changed her mind on drug policy; the policies she’s paying attention to in Oregon, where she now lives; and why she thinks concerns about driving under the influence of cannabis are “bogus.” Here’s an edited transcript of the conversation:

Leafly: What experiences as a prosecutor encouraged you to take a public position on cannabis?

Inge Fryklund: I was a prosecutor in Chicago in the 1980s. At that time there was a great deal of gang violence. We were running about 900 murders per year. A lot of it was simply fighting over drug territories. This was kind of my first foray into anything having to do with drugs. I thought, Gee, drugs are bad. These people are dealing drugs, so they deserve to get locked up.

But over those five years, I saw more and more of the damage. One of the things that really struck me was that the vast majority of the people who were being arrested were black. And even though the drug use statistics are pretty similar across racial and ethnic groups, somehow all the criminal justice apparatus was coming down on lower-income and minority populations.

We’d also see the same people coming in month after month. I’d look at the rap sheets —multiple pages — all these arrests and convictions, mostly for drug offenses. And you knew that this person was never going to get a job in the legitimate economy. All we were doing was making it more likely that he was going to have to go back to the drug economy as the only income source. We were putting a lot of public resources into all this arrest-and-conviction machinery, but we weren’t changing the picture. If anything we were just making it worse because we were cementing people further into the drug economy.

Another thing I noticed was the police reports. Far too often the same thing was being cited: When police approached, defendant dropped a bag of something on the ground. Well, that seems pretty unlikely for defendants to be doing this, and we really got to wondering about the honesty of the police. The kind of impunity, lack of accountability, anything to get a conviction — the attitude that we’re seeing now in the Chicago Police Department — I think a lot of it has its roots going back a couple of decades to the war on drugs. Our war on drugs has promoted disrespect for the law on the part of the people who happily want to use marijuana, and it’s promoting disrespect for the law on the part of the people who are supposed to be enforcing our laws. This whole thing is just a lose-lose-lose proposition.

Things are certainly different today in Oregon, where you live now. What are you watching in terms of how legalization rolls out?

I was very involved in Measure 91 two years ago to get this legalized, and now we’re hashing out exactly how it’s going to work. It was only a few weeks ago that the Oregon Liquor Control Commission started taking applications for retail outlets. It’s just barely gotten off the ground.

Unfortunately, the law now says that cities and counties that voted more than 56 percent against Measure 91, can locally vote to prohibit [cannabis businesses]. And virtually the entire eastern half of Oregon has voted to prohibit it. That’s something not generally known.

I’ve noticed that, too. Even in legal states, a lot of municipalities seem to want to keep cannabis out. What’s your take on that?

A couple months ago I went out to Ontario, which is way east, almost to Idaho, to testify before their City Council. There were probably 150 people in the room, mostly elderly. I’m 69, so I’ve been fighting this one for a long time, but these people were impassioned about the damage caused by drugs. They talked about how they don’t want this in their community, they’ve got problems with heroin, therefore let’s ban marijuana. Very emotional arguments. We’ve so demonized drugs that it’s hard to get people to think about, Hey, it’s the illegality that’s killing you.

At that same meeting in Ontario, they voted to legalize two more liquor stores on Main Street — in a town of 11,000 — with no discussion. So there are huge cultural differences, and I suspect that’s going to take a while to change. It’s been helpful to see that the sky did not fall in Colorado. All these fears about all the terrible things that were going to happen [but] turned out not to happen! We’re digging our way out from under two generations of demonizing drugs.

Interesting what you say about illegality being the killer. Can you explain what you mean?

People see families and lives destroyed because of drug use. This is true. But how much of the problem or the inability to treat it is because it’s illegal?

When my son was a junior in high school in Chicago — he’s now 35, so this was a while ago — one of his classmates died of a heroin overdose. I and the other parents found out about it when we were invited to the memorial service. The kids knew something about this, but nobody talked to the parents. I don’t think 16-year-old kids understand either addiction or the finality of death or how it’s going to affect the family, but they sure know you don’t rat on your friends to the Chicago Police Department. This kid died of the war on drugs. If it had been something legal but really stupid, it could’ve been dealt with openly. He too now could be 35 years old and long since past whatever was upsetting him back then.

What about decriminalization?

Decriminalization is essentially what our policy was back during alcohol prohibition. It was perfectly legal to drink, you just couldn’t legally buy it. All the sales were by people who were criminals and had every incentive to adulterate their product.

One reason that prohibition of anything is a sheer fantasy — you know, “a drug-free America” — it’s like cats with catnip: They’re built to go for the stuff. If there is any substance on the planet which can be brewed, fermented, smoked, distilled, ingested, to produce some elevated effect, human beings have tried it. There’s some archeological evidence that we had the gene to metabolize alcohol 11,000 years ago. So humans are like cats. I can’t talk my cats out of going for the catnip, so the idea that somehow we can ban all of this or somehow remove it from the planet, you know, we would have to remove every single fruit crop, juniper berries, potatoes, rice, barley — you name it. It simply is not possible. Instead of pretending that we are some other species, let’s acknowledge the fact that humans tend to go for exciting stuff. Then figure out how to manage and regulate it so we minimize the damage.

There’s a lot of talk, especially by politicians, about “nonviolent” drug offenders. You don’t like that distinction. How come?

We keep hearing this phrase. It’s something I worry about us getting sort of hung up on, as though, Oh, nonviolent people are OK, violent people aren’t OK. But when a substance is illegal, this means that violence is inevitable. People cannot go to court to resolve their disputes. If you’re in a legal business, you go to court. You sue the other side and sort it out. But when it’s illegal, you have to turn to extrajudicial enforcement to resolve normal business disputes. During the 1920s, part of what Al Capone provided was enforcement services. In an illegal enforcement regime, there aren’t too many options about what to do. You can say please or break kneecaps, and then you shoot them.

I spent a good bit of my adult life in Chicago, and memories there are still current. The day prohibition was repealed, all the beer distributors with franchise area disputes took their cases to the circuit court of Cook County, and the mafia lost market share. So as long as we insist that not just marijuana but everything else be illegal, we can expect that there’s going to be violence. That’s just the way it works. We can’t say, “Oh, we’re going to keep it illegal but we won’t charge the nonviolent offenders.” There are always going to be some nonviolent offenders, but we’re going to keep generating an unending supply of violent defenders.

Instead of trying to draw a distinction between violent and nonviolent offenders, let’s just clean the whole thing up and let the marijuana dealers take their dispute to court and have legal contract enforcement.

There’s a lot of consternation around driving under the influence right now. What’s your take?

I think it’s kind of a bogus issue, for this reason: Except for the occasional sweeps that police do where they’ll stop every single person at a roadblock to see if they’ve been drinking, there is no systematic screening of drivers to see what they’re high on. Instead, police pull people over if they’re weaving in and out of traffic, going too fast, or doing something erratic. So behavior is the trigger for stopping them.

I hear police in Oregon say, “Oh, we’ve got to have a test for this before we can have it be legal because we don’t want people driving while high.” That strikes me as just kind of an excuse to oppose marijuana. If people are driving erratically, pull them over. Get them off the road. But if you want to prosecute, that’s a different issue.

You said your experience as a prosecutor led you to your current stance. If they see what you see, why do so many other law enforcement officers still oppose legalization?

There are a number of reasons. A good rule in almost any investigation is: Follow the money.

You’re familiar with the 1033 Program, [through which] the Pentagon gives excess military equipment to state and local law enforcement. This was first authorized in 1997, specifically for fighting the war on drugs. Later on, an amendment reauthorizing it also added terrorism, but how many terrorism things are actually going on in small towns? Something like $4.3 billion has been passed out since ’97. And there are now small cities, like my small town of Bend, Ore., 80,000 people — police have got an MRAP. These are the mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles that were developed for Iraq.

I spent five years total in Afghanistan, where I was licensed to drive a Humvee. They’re a lot of fun. There’s a powerful incentive for people to get their hands on this stuff because it’s neat. They’re all kinds of fun to drive and makes you look, you know, like you’re part of the armed forces rather than some local police jurisdiction. You only get that if you can argue that you’re going to fight the drug war.

To be a little bit charitable, there are some police officers who genuinely see the problems that heroin has led to and think, my God, we’ve got to prohibit this. You get that if you are so up-close that all you’re seeing is day-to-day. You’re not seeing the forest for the trees. But if you step back a bit, most of these problems arise because of the illegality.

At the Drug Policy Alliance conference in November I really noticed the number of European countries that have gone to harm reduction and heroin-assisted treatment. Ever since ’94, the Swiss have allowed any self-described addict to go to a government clinic and shoot up with pharmaceutical-grade heroin. Their deaths and usage rates have dropped dramatically, HIV-hepatitis rates are way down, crime is down. And in the U.S., where we vigorously prohibit heroin and insist that people go clean, the latest figures I have my hands on are from 2013 when we were up to about 8,000 deaths a year from heroin. We’ve been running 3,000 to 4,000 for years, and now it’s spiked up. With a lot of those heroin overdose deaths, it’s not so much the heroin itself, it’s the completely unknown quality and potency. There’s so much stuff on the street that’s cut with whatever, because people in the illegal market, what the hell, they’re not going to be prosecuted by the FDA for adulterated product or consumer product labeling. So it’s the illegality that is driving a lot of our problems.

Image Souce: Inge Fryklund

Earl Blumenauer And Barney Frank To Be Honored In Portland On Sunday

I was lucky enough to meet Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)late last year at an event hosted by the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA). I have admired Mr. Blumenauer since well before I co-founded this blog in 2010. He is absolutely a champion of justice in my book. Just this week Earl Blumenauer was part of

This One Chart Captures Everything Wrong With NYC Cannabis Arrests

Here’s the good news: In 2015, cannabis arrests in New York City plunged to their lowest levels in 20 years. Police in the five boroughs recorded 16,590 arrests last year, down from more than 26,000 in 2014, and down significantly from the 50,000 arrests tallied in 2011.

The bad news: Police made 16,590 arrests even after New York Mayor Bill De Blasio’s November 2014 announcement that city police would de-prioritize cannabis and treat possession of less than 25 grams with a summons, not arrest.

The worse news: Even as arrest figures dropped, racial disparities show no sign of going away. In 2015, black or African-American New Yorkers were eight times as likely to be arrested for cannabis as white New Yorkers. That’s twice the national arrest disparity, as calculated by the ACLU in a 2013 report.

Black and African-American New Yorkers make up about 23 percent of the city’s population but accounted for 50 percent of cannabis arrests in 2015. Thirty-three percent of the city is white, but white people accounted for only 8 percent of cannabis arrests.

“Seventeen thousand is a lot of people; the numbers are still very high,” Kassandra Frederique, director of the New York policy office at the Drug Policy Alliance, told Leafly. The DPA obtained the arrest data earlier this week from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services.

“It’s incredible to see how far we’ve come in a few years. But it’s very sobering to know that we have a lot more to do.”

The racial disparities in the arrest data are especially troubling. This is the second report in the past month that showed a dramatic decline in arrests but no improvement in closing the gap in racial differences. Last month a report on cannabis in Oregon found that possession charges dropped by more than half between 2011 and 2014, but black or African-American Oregonians remained 2.3 times more likely than whites to be arrested on cannabis charges. Between 2011 and 2014, that disparity had not changed.

In announcing his November 2014 policy change, De Blasio promised the new attitude toward cannabis “will certainly be good for New Yorkers of color, and particularly young people of color.”

That’s true in terms of overall numbers. Arrests continue to decline. But “the arrests are still racially biased,” said DPA’s Frederique. “That’s why it’s so important for marijuana reform to be comprehensive. De-prioritizing marijuana doesn’t automatically translate into de-criminalizing young people of color.”

ICBC Is A Stand-Out Cannabis Event Among A Sea Of Conferences

ByDon Fitch It seems that everywhere you turn these days there is a another cannabis conference popping up. They seem to be a trend, as of late. One thing we all know about trends is that they don’t last. The International Cannabis Business Conference (ICBC) was one of the first on the scene and is

Emerging Markets Update: New York Might Double Dispensaries

What’s happening this week in states breaking into the medical and recreational scene: Alaska’s lieutenant governor signed off on recreational regulations, Hawaii legislators are trying to restrict home cultivation for patients, Illinois dispensaries are struggling with too few patients, Maine’s legalization initiative qualified for the November ballot, and one New York assemblyman wants to double the number of dispensaries in the Empire State. The details:

Alaska

  • On Jan. 22, Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott signed the final marijuana establishment regulations, which will go into effect on Feb. 21. The state’s Department of Law pointed out that cannabis testing, which is required by the new rules, could present an issue because of the state’s access and transportation issues. Many rural growers don’t have access to roads, and the Federal Aviation Administration frowns upon transporting cannabis to testing labs via air freight. In trying to address the issue, state lawyers found the statute’s language to be too vague and left the issue unresolved. The Alaska Marijuana Control Board will begin accepting license applications for cannabis businesses on Feb. 24, with licenses to be issued beginning on May 24.

Hawaii

  • State Rep. Marcus Oshiro, D-Oahu, introduced House Bill 1680, a measure that could change the way Hawaiian patients access medicine. The bill would prohibit patients from growing their own cannabis, instead requiring them to obtain it from newly licensed state dispensaries. If the law passes, it would go into effect July 1, 2017, one year after dispensaries are slated to begin distribution.As the law is currently written, Hawaii’s caregiver program will cease to exist as of 2018.

Illinois

  • Twenty-two Illinois dispensaries are licensed and fully operational today, but without a significant increase in the number of patients, leaders in the Illinois cannabis industry are worried they won’t be able to stay in business. When the program was devised, state officials expected 30,000 registered patients by this point. Today’s reality: Fewer than 5,000 patients are registered, which has left the industry unstable.
  • Despite concerns and pleas from patient advocates, the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, Dr. Nirav Shah, rejected requests to expand the list of qualifying conditions. The decision goes against the advice of the state’s Medical Cannabis Advisory Board, which had recommended eight conditions be added to the list of qualifying ailments, including autism, irritable bowel syndrome, osteoarthritis, post-traumatic stress disorder, and multiple types of intractable pain.

Maine

  • The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Maine (Regulate Maine, for short) is now the official campaign for legalization in in the state, having joined forces with Legalize Maine. The campaign has turned in 103,115 signatures, well over the 61,123 needed to qualify for the November general election. Campaign leaders report that they’ve received more than $334,000 in contributions to date. The initiative would allow adults 21 and over to possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis and grow a limited number of plants at home.

New York

  • New York Assemblyman Richard Gottfried has introduced Assembly Referendum 9151, which would double the number of medical marijuana manufacturers and dispensaries in the state. The law currently allows five organizations to operate 20 dispensaries in 13 counties. That leaves 49 counties unaccounted for and makes for only one dispensary for every 978,000 New Yorkers. Under the proposed legislation, the state health commissioner would be allowed to reconsider medical marijuana applications submitted last year, and the Department of Health would have to authorize five more organizations by Jan. 17, 2017.

Ex-Lineman Kyle Turley on NFL Cannabis Ban: 'This Whole Thing Has To Change'

During his ten-year NFL career, offensive lineman Kyle Turley was known as a tough, passionate, and ferocious player. He may be most remembered for flinging Jets defender Damien Robinson’s helmet during a game (though to be fair, Robinson had just committed a vicious penalty against Turley’s quarterback). Turley played the game in the trenches, where knocks to the head came with every snap.

After retirement in 2007, Turley turned to music, releasing an album of power country called Anger Management. He never forgot his football roots, though. Turley donated part of the proceeds from album sales to the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, which provides assistance to the retired NFL players who built the league into the powerhouse it is today.

That work with Gridiron Greats ultimately led Turley to create the Cannabis Gridiron Coalition in late 2014. He saw the need for a treatment center for former NFL players, and he knew from his own experience that medical cannabis can be a positive option for those dealing with debilitating football-related conditions. Over the past year, the Coalition has become a leading voice advocating for a change in the NFL’s cannabis ban, with Turley often joined by former players Nate Jackson, Ricky Williams, Eben Britton, and others.

“Football is a dangerous game,” Turley said in a recent interview with Leafly. “And, inherently, you’re going to have injuries, which come with a lot of pain. As a professional athlete who is expected to earn his contract, it pressures players into using these high-powered medications. And these doctors, in the era I played in, they gave out medications without concern for addiction.”

But for Turley, now 40, it was the neurological issues he feels were brushed under the rug that posed the most danger to him and his family.

He first started experiencing bouts of vertigo during his rookie year. Though team doctors suggested a battery of tests, they never encouraged him to get a brain scan. He didn’t receive his first MRI until a year after he retired, in 2008, when he was rushed to the hospital after passing out in public. (At the time, his vertigo had worsened and was accompanied by episodes of rage and heavy depression.) The test results weren’t surprising, considering the number of concussions he’d suffered over his decade in the NFL.

“There was this big blurred mass that matched up very evenly with the areas of contact on my football helmet,” he recalled.

Doctors prescribed a series of psychiatric drugs — and that’s when the real trouble started. Wellbutrin, an antidepressant, caused him to nearly commit suicide by jumping out the third-floor window of his house in Nashville. Another psychotropic drug, Depakote, kept his condition in check for nearly six years. But eventually even massive 1,000-mg doses weren’t doing the trick. Turley believes the chemicals in those drugs and the injuries to his brain were a volatile mix.

“Maybe they could work for people who just have psychological issues, but giving these types of medications to someone whose brain is damaged, that is something I found nearly killed me,” he said.

“It was getting worse and worse, and I was like, I need to talk to someone about this and find a drug that works. And that’s ultimately what I found in cannabis.”

Since February 2014, Turley has sworn off all prescription medication in favor of marijuana. He and his family moved from Kansas City to California, where medical cannabis is legal and accessible, and he has pinpointed the strains that work best for him. Among his life savers are Jack Herer, a sativa-dominant hybrid that he finds eliminates light sensitivity, anxiety, and depression. “I find one joint lasts through the day until you need it at night,” he says.

His “God strain,” as he calls it, is San Fernando Valley OG, another sativa hybrid. “I use that when I really need to get my mind straight,” he says.

Turley hadn’t used cannabis in high school or college. During his rookie year with the New Orleans Saints, though, the pressure of being a first-round pick set in. He began having trouble sleeping. “One of my teammates rolled me a joint,” Turley recalled. “I was nervous. I told him, ‘I don’t want to jeopardize my career.’ But I never had a better sleep in my life. After I used it as a medicine, I knew there was something to it.”

While Turley has used marijuana to get off the opiates that he believes nearly killed him (“God gave me a gift,” he said), he finds it frustrating that he had to search through the various strains on his own to find his perfect match. Even in 2015, and even in Colorado, the vast majority of physicians aren’t knowledgeable enough about cannabis to be able to help their patients use it effectively. Many of those who are knowledgeable remain fearful of losing their medical licenses because of confusion involving federal law.

“I’ve got all these issues, and I’ve found strains of cannabis that have resolved these issues like no synthetic drug I’ve ever been given by a normal doctor,” Turley said. “This whole thing has to change.”

Image Sources: Tim Pickett via Flickr Creative Commons

What’s the impact of new marijuana laws? The data so far

How has new legislation affected marijuana use in the United States? The best available data suggest that marijuana use is increasing in adults but not teens, with a decrease in marijuana-related arrests but an increase in treatment admissions, according to researchers.

US: Agency Told to Track Its Monitoring of Cannabis

Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 02 Feb 2016 – (AP) – The Government Accountability Office says the Justice Department needs to better document how it’s tracking the effect of marijuana legalization in the states. In a report Monday, investigators noted that the department said in 2013 it would allow states to regulate marijuana for medical or recreational use, as long as they meet federal law enforcement priorities that include keeping pot away from children and keeping criminal organizations out of the industry.

The Cannabis Collaborative Conference Starts Tomorrow, Tickets Still Available

I have heard from several people that attended the Cannabis Creative Conference that it was one of the best organized and well run cannabis industry events of all time. The amazing people behind that event are back with a second installment, the Cannabis Collaborate Conference, which starts tomorrow in Portland, Oregon and goes from 9:00

Polish Rapper-Turned-Politician Introduces Medical Cannabis Bill: The Leafly Roundup

What’s up this week: On the medical front, Alabama, Georgia, and Kansas are considering expanding their limited programs, while New Hampshire’s still working to launch a medical cannabis program of its own. As far as full legalization goes, Arizona faces an uphill battle against reluctant lawmakers, Maine’s dual organizing efforts have joined forces, and a Kentucky senator is hoping legalization could help curb an epidemic of opiate-related deaths. Internationally, a Polish rapper-turned-politician has introduced a bill for medical marijuana. And based on the polling numbers, it may actually have a chance.

U.S. Cannabis News

ALABAMA

Carly’s Law, passed in 2014, created a pilot CBD-only program run by the University of Alabama, with the school distributing cannabidiol oil to patients who suffer from seizure disorders. It didn’t quite work out. The Youngs, a family that campaigned strongly for the law, discovered their daughter, Leni, didn’t qualify for the pilot program. So Amy Young packed up and took Leni to Oregon for treatment. After Leni began receiving regular doses of cannabis oil, her situation improved immensely — her seizure frequency dropped from dozens daily to fewer than one a month. Alabama Rep. Mike Ball, R-Madison, who was instrumental in passing Carly’s Law, has taken it upon himself to draft what is now known as Leni’s Law in order to expand access for so-called medical refugee patients who leave their home states to seek treatment where cannabis is legal.

ARIZONA

Rep. Jay Lawrence, R-Fountain Hills, introduced House Concurrent Resolution 2019, which would amend Arizona’s medical marijuana regulations to make the program more restrictive. The measure would prevent naturopathic and homeopathic doctors from recommending medical cannabis and would require patients to renew their status (and pay subsequent renewal fees) every six months instead of every year, as is currently required. The resolution drew protests from patients across the state and highlighted a deep divide in Arizona: Even as campaign organizers collect signatures in favor of expanding legalization to include recreational use, Arizona lawmakers continue to take steps in the direction of prohibition.

GEORGIA

There are seven cannabis-related bills on the state Legislature’s docket this session, but one in particular stands out. House Bill 722, sponsored by Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, would expand the Haleigh’s Hope Act that was signed into law last year. The current law allows patients who suffer from qualifying conditions to legally possess cannabis oil, but it offers no legal avenue for patients to obtain medicine. HB 722 aims to expand the law to include more qualifying conditions, such as Alzheimer’s, HIV/AIDS, intractable pain, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The bill would set up an infrastructure similar to Minnesota’s for the manufacture and distribution of medicine. For more, check out our interview with Peake on the future of cannabis in Georgia.

IDAHO

Last week’s Boise State University town hall meeting to discuss cannabis legalization was eventful, even if it was missing a few key players. Idaho Office of Drug Policy Director Elisha Figueroa canceled her appearance the day of the event, as did representatives from the Idaho State Police, offering no explanation for their absences. The remaining speakers included Oregon anti-prohibition advocate Inge Fryklund, cannabis radio personality Russ Bellville, and BSU criminal justice professor Cody Jorgenson. Idaho voters interested in legalization efforts can find the petition for Idaho’s New Approach to Cannabis citizen’s initiative here. The campaign needs to collect 47,623 signatures by April 30 in order to qualify for the November ballot.

KANSAS

The Senate Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee last week approved a bill that would reduce penalties for cannabis possession and allow very limited use of cannabis for medical reasons. The measure now heads to the full Senate floor. It would reduce the first penalty for possession from one year in jail and a $2,500 fine to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. The bill also includes a stipulation that the second possession offense would no longer be a felony. It would allow individuals with severe epilepsy or seizure disorders to possess and use CBD oil derived from hemp, and would set up a medical research program to study the clinical benefits of hemp and hemp-derived products.

KENTUCKY

Sen. Perry B. Clark, D-Louisville, introduced the Cannabis Freedom Act. The bill would completely repeal Kentucky’s longstanding prohibition of cannabis and create a regulatory framework “designed to promote public safety and responsible” adult cannabis consumption. Clark says he’s concerned about the number of opiate-related deaths in Kentucky, which have grown at an alarming rate. “I don’t personally care about using cannabis. I just know that these laws are outdated and negatively affecting our state, our citizens, and it’s ridiculous,” Clark told LEO Weekly. “What we’re doing right now to combat this problem isn’t working, but you can see in places where they implement medicinal marijuana and decriminalization laws, that there is a reduction in prescription and opiate overdose deaths, and those amazing numbers are lives being saved.” The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to consider the bill on Feb. 3.

MAINE

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol announced it’s collected 103,115 signatures, far surpassing the 61,123 signatures needed to qualify its legalization initiative for the November ballot. Although there were initially two legalization efforts, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol and Legalize Maine, the groups have joined forces in a push to legalize. It’s not the first time Maine has been in the spotlight for legalization: In 2013 the city of Portland voted to legalize cannabis for adult use (though the vote was later overturned by authorities). Could it be time for the entire state to follow suit?

NEW HAMPSHIRE

In 2013 Gov. Maggie Hassan signed legislation to create New Hampshire’s Therapeutic Cannabis Program, but patients have faced a long and arduous wait for the program to become operational. New Hampshire cancer patient Linda Horan sued the state in November to obtain her patient registry card, and the court ruled in her favor. The state issued her a patient card in order to visit a Maine dispensary, as New Hampshire’s first licensed dispensary, Alternative TLC, isn’t slated to open until March 2016. In the meantime, advocates are also hoping to expand the qualifying medical conditions to include post-traumatic stress disorder and combat the Granite State’s ongoing battle against opioid addiction. State lawmakers are also considering a bill that would decriminalize the possession of up to half an ounce of cannabis, reducing the penalties to a civil fine of $100.

Sadly, Ms. Horan passed away earlier this week from her battle with stage 4 lung cancer.

International Cannabis News

POLAND

Polish member of parliament Piotr Liroy-Marzec, who dominated the airwaves in the 1990s as a rapper called Liroy, has introduced a draft bill to legalize medical marijuana. In July, an independent survey from the PBS agency found 68 percent of Poles favor legalization for medicinal purposes. The same proportion, 68 percent, said that denying access to cannabis is “cruel” and violates patients’ rights to healthcare.

Image Sources (cropped, logos removed): Wojewódzki Ośrodek Animacji Kultury w Toruniu via Flickr Creative Commons

CTE in Professional Football Players, and the Potential of CBD to Address the Crisis

This article is sponsored by CW Botanicals. CW Botanicals is the exclusive supplier of Charlotte’s WebTM products, the World’s Most-Trusted Hemp Extract. CW Botanicals’ mission is to provide products of the highest possible quality and purity, while contributing to the sustainability of the communities they have the privilege of serving.

The Charlotte’s Web line of high-cannabidiol (CBD) cannabis extract products first began to make headlines three years ago with its ability to effectively reduce seizures in pediatric epilepsy patients. Now, CW Botanicals extracts are being studied as a means of addressing a condition affecting a completely different demographic: retired professional football players suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, also known as CTE.

The Science and Politics Behind CTE

As described by Boston University’s CTE Center, “[CTE] is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including symptomatic concussions as well as asymptomatic subconcussive hits to the head…[This] brain degeneration is associated with memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, and, eventually, progressive dementia.”

With an ever-present stream of head injuries on the field, and an ongoing off-field discourse over the safety of the sport, the topic of brain damage in football has been spending more and more time in the spotlight. This has only been accentuated by the release of the movie Concussion, which tells the story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, who discovered the link between CTE and football in 2002. The same topic, as well as the extent to which professional football’s governing body sought to obfuscate it, was brought to light by a Frontline investigative documentary in 2013.

As the surge of CTE research and media attention has brought the public’s eye to the seriousness of the issue, studies demonstrating the neuroprotective and neurogenerative properties of CBD have suggested that this cannabinoid may have the potential to treat those suffering from CTE. At the same time, professional football players both retired and active have been expressing their discontent with the fact that cannabis – medical or otherwise – remains on the league’s list of banned substances.

CBD as a Potential Treatment for CTE

“What we do know are that the symptoms of CTE include memory loss, depression, and aggression and that CBD is proven to benefit the endocannabinoid system, which regulates a variety of physiological process in the human body, including mood and memory,” says Ryan Kingsbury, Chief of Strategy for CW Botanicals. “Based on this it’s reasonable to presume that the use of CBD could prevent or at the very least delay the progression of CTE.”

To investigate this hypothesis, CW Botanicals has partnered with Realm of Caring (ROC), a Colorado-based non-profit that focuses on advancing CBD research. “When you look at the research with regards to CBD as a neuroprotectant, I think that’s what should be very exciting for current players, former players and [the league] in general,” says Heather Jackson, CEO of ROC. “There’s not a lot of research specific to CTE yet, but we’re hoping to change that and lead that effort.”

Over the coming months, ROC will be working with Johns Hopkins University to develop a large-scale study investigating CBD’s impact on individuals affected by CTE, and Jackson especially hopes to focus on football players in these efforts. “We know that CBD modulates neurons, says Jackson. “We know that it acts on the receptor 5-HT1A. It acts on the opioid receptors. It enhances adenosine. New research is suggesting it increases bloodflow. We know all of these things, and they all relate to the symptoms of CTE.” With regard to professional football, she continues, “We need to get more [professional football league] players using it…the system needs to change, and this needs to be on their approved substance list.”

“Changing the Face of Cannabis”

Though players are informed during the season of upcoming drug tests – allowing them to discontinue use in preparation for these tests, and suggesting that the league is aware of the widespread consumption of cannabis products among its players – a positive test is still grounds for fines, suspension, and even dismissal from the league. The fact that cannabis use is punished more harshly than domestic violence charges has brought harsh criticism upon the league over the last two seasons.

“[Professional football’s governing body] has always been concerned about its public image, but when it comes to cannabis they’re really misinformed. The league is largely run by older, wealthy men who grew up hearing about the evils of cannabis so there’s a generational gap to contend with,” says former professional football tight end and New York Times bestselling author Nate Jackson. “Let’s see what happens when the league is presented with a study showing the effects of cannabis use on its players and comparing the results to what the opiates and other league-approved pharmaceuticals, which are passed out like candy, do to players.”

Activism has been fomenting via organizations like the Gridiron Cannabis Coalition (GCC), whose mission statement demands consideration of cannabis’s potential to fill the void of non-addictive treatments for ailments that plague American football. Meanwhile, a growing number of former professional football players have spoken openly about using CBD supplements like Charlotte’s Web.

“Since I started taking CBD regularly, there are no more slow-moving, dreadful days with headaches, joint stiffness and wandering thoughts” says Jake Plummer, former professional football quarterback. “I feel as if I’ve stopped aging since taking [Charlotte’s Web].”

Realm of Caring CEO Heather Jackson believes cannabis has great potential to help football players. “[Football’s governing body] has stated publicly that they will follow the research on this,” she says. “As we continue to show them the science, they are going to have to acknowledge it. The players are going to be instrumental in that…One of the things we are doing is changing the face of cannabis.”

Plummer adds, “What the Realm of Caring is doing cannot be overlooked by [the league] if they are serious about the long-term mental and physical health of their current and former players. CTE is a serious condition and CBD could be the answer.”

Image Sources: NPR

Kings of Pain: Watching a Broncos Game with Ex-NFL Player Nate Jackson Will Lay You Out

Playing in the NFL is dangerous. Smoking cannabis is not. So why won’t the NFL allow its players to use a substance with proven pain-relieving properties — even in states where it’s legal? Leafly writer Rod O’Connor met up with former Denver Broncos tight end Nate Jackson in the Mile High City, at a Broncos game, to discuss the pain inherent in America’s most popular game and the hypocrisy of the NFL’s continuing ban on cannabis.

Nate Jackson remembers his first injury as a football player: He was playing receiver for Pioneer High School in his hometown of San Jose, Calif., and a linebacker crushed him as he was cutting across the middle on a passing route. Boom! His young body gave out, crumpling like a cheap suit. Concussion.

It was the 1980s. Injury protocols were decades away. “I know now that it was [a concussion] — because I couldn’t get up for two minutes and I had a headache for a week,” the former Denver Broncos tight end tells me. “I got laid the fuck out. I think it was a fateful coincidence that I started smoking weed at the same time I started playing football. I think it actually protected my brain in the long run.”

Jackson and I are sitting on the back flap of a classic hardtop pickup in Section J of the parking lot of Sports Authority Field at Mile High. It’s a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in mid-November. The Broncos crazies are out for today’s tilt against the division rival Kansas City Chiefs. Until a few weeks ago Denver had been undefeated, the team’s stingy defense masking the accelerated downslide of legendary quarterback Peyton Manning. A three-point loss to the Colts the previous Sunday has done little to dampen the enthusiasm of the orange-clad tailgaters.

With the sun shining down as he sips his pale ale, Jackson, 36, seems to be enjoying himself. He doesn’t keep in touch with many ex-players, but Jake Plummer, the quarterback who tossed him his first NFL touchdown, is an exception. It’s Plummer’s truck that Jackson is resting on when I find him. He’s sporting a dark beard, a Cali-style flat-billed hat, and an orange-and-blue striped T-shirt. Jackson now lives in California but maintains a house in the Denver suburbs. He’s excited to be hanging out with his old pal Jake “the Snake,” who lives an hour away in Boulder.

As players, both carried themselves a little differently. They bonded over their shared iconoclasm, their determination to maintain some semblance of free thinking amid the military-like rigor of professional football. In recent years Jackson and Plummer have also urged the NFL to change its zero-tolerance policy toward marijuana. Jackson has spoken publicly about the issue as a member of the Gridiron Cannabis Coalition, a group dedicated to the advancement of medical marijuana as a treatment option for injuries and illnesses. He and Plummer have argued that the medical benefits they experienced from using it should be open to all players, not to mention the general public.

Since retiring in 2008, Jackson has attended only two NFL games. This will be his third. He still loves football, but his relationship with the game and the NFL is complicated. “[There are] a lot of complex emotions,” he says. “Not that I’m trying to avoid them.” Still, he seems excited to revisit the field where he carved out a solid, six-year career.

When Jackson suggested we meet at a tailgate party I expected a private VIP affair. But that’s not how Jackson rolls. The other attendees at our modest gathering include a couple of friends he met through Plummer. Shortly before we head into the game, former Broncos wide-out Charlie Adams, another ex-teammate, pops by and offers Jackson sideline passes. “I’ve got extras if you’re interested,” says Adams. But Jackson declines without giving it a second thought. Today he’s hanging with me in the nosebleeds.

Over the past few years the connection between cannabis and pain relief has become impossible to ignore. In 2012, a series of randomized clinical trials at the University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR) found that “cannabis significantly reduced pain intensity.” Those results are consistent with last year’s findings from McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, which deemed medical marijuana a safe treatment option for pain. And back in 2011, a study from the University of California San Francisco showed that patients suffering from chronic pain experienced greater relief when they added cannabinoids — the main active ingredient in cannabis — to an opiates-only treatment.

Cannabis-based pain medications are already approved in Canada and in some parts of Europe. Even the U.S. government, which demonizes marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, holds a patent on the use of cannabinoids as neuroprotectants, helpful in the recovery and regeneration of the nervous system in sufferers of strokes and other traumatic injuries, such as concussions. And yet for NFL players, the only way to experience these benefits is in the shadows. Those who get caught are punished with suspensions, lost paychecks, and career setbacks.

As game time approaches, Jackson locks up Plummer’s truck — the Snake decided to head in early — and Jackson and I amble toward the turnstiles. Jackson enjoyed six seasons as a Bronco, but he’s anonymous among the fans in the security line. That is, until a guy in his late 20s wearing an old-school Broncos cap recognizes him. “Nate Jackson! I really dug your book,” says the young dude, referring to Jackson’s entertainingly gonzo 2013 memoir, Slow Getting Up: Life at the Bottom of the NFL Pile.

“Thanks man,” Jackson says. “Thanks a lot.” He seems genuinely appreciative. Unlike other ex-jocks who trawl for endorsements and milk their past glories, Jackson is committed to having a second act of his own choosing. “You have to figure out who you are outside the NFL or else you’re going to be carrying water for them the rest of your life,” he tells me. These days, he sees himself first and foremost as a writer. And he should — he’s a damn good one. His book, about his longshot tenure in the NFL, is honest and hilarious, profane and poignant. His byline has appeared in the New York Times and on Deadspin, and his second book, which he tells me has something to do with fantasy football, hits the shelves later this year.

With the health of football players becoming a front page issue — whether it’s the concussion crisis or the class-action lawsuit from ex-pros alleging the NFL illegally pushed dangerous painkillers — Jackson’s voice has become a vital one in a battle between the league and its players.

Clearly, many current players are already using cannabis. You only need to glance at the ever-growing list of NFL players suspended for positive marijuana tests — even names from Denver, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., where it’s legal. Jackson and other former players have estimated that at least half the players in the NFL consume marijuana in some form. But to truly understand why a substance with analgesic benefits and powerful neuroprotective properties remains outlawed by a league populated with the very men who stand to benefit from them the most, Jackson says you have to consider the cultural and institutional bubbles that professional football players live in.

“Really, marijuana is about choice,” Jackson says as we climb the stairs toward our 500-level seats. “And these guys,” he says, speaking of the players stretching below us on the field, “don’t have a choice. The food they eat, the plays they run on the field, the medicines they take … this is all predetermined for them.”

To most fans, NFL players are disposable characters, gladiators who don’t bleed. But once you start to think about those gladiators as real people (and especially if you sit down and talk with one), you begin to understand the freedoms they relinquish to keep their NFL dreams alive.

One of the first pieces of autonomy they forfeit, Jackson says, is their freedom to choose the best treatment for their constant, unrelenting pain. “Based on the condition of their bodies, NFL players could go to any doctor in this city and get a prescription for [marijuana],” he says.

“The interesting thing about football is, there are very few industries that you know [that there’s a good chance] you’re going to get a brain injury,” he adds as we reach our seats in the second-to-the-last row, which is almost literally in the clouds. (It takes me a minute to catch my breath, but I take solace in the fact that Jackson, who has stayed in solid shape after his playing days, also needs a moment to recover.) “And [studies now show that marijuana] helps the brain heal. The NFL might be acting negligibly by not studying it and denying it to players. Instead, they get pushed into the arms of more dangerous products.”

From the league office to the team doctors to coaches and players, the winning-is-everything culture of the NFL has created a system geared toward getting injured players back on the field at whatever cost. That means pills. Lots and lots of pills.

“The anti-inflammatories were always something I took without question,” Jackson tells me. “I finished those bottles. But the Vicodin and Percocet I didn’t really like. They made me feel high and slow and dreamy. And that’s not how I want to be.”

So after a game or practice, Jackson would fire up a joint, replacing as much of his opiate cocktail as he could with cannabis. “I used it to let my mind and body escape,” he says. “My body always healed very fast. I’m not going to say that it’s because of cannabis, but I think it helped.”

What about before a game? I ask him.

“I would never smoke weed and go into work,” he says, emphatically. “But I never took pain pills before work, either. Football is high alert all the time. I needed to be sharp.”

[Football] was the most violent, visceral, emotional part of my life — and weed helped me deal with that.

A majority of Americans now believe that marijuana’s outlaw status is absurd. A 2015 Pew poll found that 53 percent believe marijuana should be legalized. But cultural change often moves at a glacial pace. Until, of course, it doesn’t. On issues ranging from gender equality to marriage rights, the federal government eventually caught up to shifting public opinion.

Don’t look for the NFL to embrace that change anytime soon, though. Jackson believes the NFL will likely remain one of the last holdouts when it comes to medical marijuana. Why? Look at the commercials that air on most Sunday afternoons: big pharma ads pushing boner pills and drugs that combat opiate-induced constipation. Two years ago NFL commissioner Roger Goodell promised that the league would “follow the science” on medical marijuana. Some read that as a sign of thaw. But for now the league appears very comfortable with the status quo.

“[The NFL’s] constituency is old-school America — right wing, with, generally, more conservative sensibilities,” say Jackson. “It’s [about] cultural fear: What does it mean to be a marijuana user? [To some], it’s a group of thugs, smoking blunts in the corner with their pants sagging, about to harass some white grandma.”

“They’re definitely not going to be ahead of the curve,” he adds. “They are going to wait until they have to do it.”

After settling into our seats for a few series, I hail the beer guy for two Coors Lights. While Jackson locks in on the action on the field, I strike up a conversation with a young couple sitting in front of us. Based on their comments, the NFL’s feet-dragging on the issue might not be the smartest move if it wants to appeal to the next generation of season ticket holders.

“If it’s something a team doctor could get credentials to prescribe, then I think it makes sense,” says Owen Diver, a 21-year-old Denver University student wearing a Champ Bailey jersey.

Jazz Lahsaizudeh, a fellow student wearing a Broncos knit cap, puts in more bluntly: “If you’re good enough to be a professional athlete, you should be able to make the call as far as what you want to do after a professional football game,” she says. Just then, the Broncos quarterback tosses a wobbler that the Chiefs’ Sean Smith picks off.

Diver, irritated and sounding a little drunk, turns around again and interjects. “But, if you told me that Peyton was using medical marijuana right now, I’d be pissed,” he says. “The way he’s playing, at least he would have an excuse.”

Mile High Stadium — I still can’t make myself say “Sports Authority Field” — is a fantastic place to watch a football game. I soak in the scene of downtown Denver in the distance, sprawled along the high plains on the eastern edge of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains. Jacked up by high-energy tunes, the crowd cheers every hit by the Broncos defense. But every time the offense takes the field, there’s a sense trouble is afoot.

After a promising 7–0 start, Denver’s season is suddenly looking shaky. The fans aren’t confident that Peyton Manning can make it through the next game, let alone the rest of the season. Today’s start offers little assurance. The game has barely started and he’s already thrown his first pick. He redeems himself a few minutes later by offering the fans a piece of history: Manning completes a three-yard pass and breaks Brett Favre’s all-time yardage record. By the end of the first quarter, however, the cheers turn to boos as another feeble toss is intercepted.

“Oh no!” Jackson exclaims, gasping alongside the two old-timers sitting next to him. Jackson puts his hands over his face, barely able to look. Manning is imploding.

This being my first Bronco game, I’m surprised by how quickly the stadium is turning on the future Hall of Famer. “I thought Bronco fans would be more forgiving,” I say.

Jackson takes his hat off and flips it around. He’s felt that heat before. “They’re spoiled is what it is,” he says. “They’re rabid, but they expect perfection.”

Nimble second-stringer Brock Osweiler soon replaces the hobbling 39-year-old veteran, who has been nursing a series of injuries all year. This too may be a piece of history, though not one any of us wanted to see. We may be witnessing the end of Peyton Manning’s career.

Jackson nods in sympathy with Manning. “Football guys are tough guys,” he says. “They don’t tell you when they’re hurt. The guys who make it the furthest are the ones who endure it the best. That’s the culture. To move up the ladder, you don’t show pain.” Or, in Manning’s case, you have to fight through lingering foot, neck, and rib injuries to stave off the young, mobile heir apparent.

Chart Source: National Football League

Jackson played for Menlo College, a small Division III school near his home in San Jose, and landed with the Broncos as an undrafted free agent. He lived a very different football life than the celebrated Manning, a No. 1 draft pick who became one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. What they shared, however, was an unnatural ability to endure pain.

“Look at those guys,” he adds, motioning toward the Chiefs as they line up to punt on fourth down. “This is their frequency. It’s flight or fight.”

“So, at this point in the game, how banged up would you feel?” I ask him.

He glances at me with a look that says, You have no idea what you’re asking about, do you?

“I never felt pain during a game. You don’t feel pain while you’re playing. But, you come home and your adrenaline goes down. And then you feel it. Everyone does.”

When he was down there on the field, a special teams play like this was Jackson’s bread and butter. To prove his worth as a nonstarter, he had to make an impression — so he didn’t hold anything back when he went screaming down the field to crush the return man.

In fact, when I ask him his favorite memory as a player, he doesn’t recount his first touchdown catch or his first experience lining up as a pro. “There was never, like, this one moment,” he says. Instead, he talks about the strange allure of the physicality and violence that’s inherent to the game.

“You become desensitized,” he says. “And that’s something you have to adjust to” in life after football, he says.

I enjoyed contact. I enjoyed the banging. I enjoyed fucking somebody up. It felt good to me. I didn’t mind being hurt.

That’s a good thing, because he was hurt a lot. By the time Jackson’s playing days were over, his medical file looked like a dictionary. Over six years, he shattered his left ankle, broke his right wrist, crushed his ribs, suffered multiple shoulder separations, popped his groin off the bone, and tore both hamstrings. Those were the major ones. The minor were too numerous to recall.

“I just couldn’t stay healthy,” he tells me. “It was so frustrating. But you are pushing yourself to do things on the field that aren’t natural. You’re trying to go further every time … until your body doesn’t want to do it anymore. And that’s what a lot of these [players] do. They keep doing it until they snap.”

And when they do, there’s a team doctor waiting to get them back onto the field, pronto. “The medical attention is very good,” says Jackson. “But they might not always tell you what’s going on in a way that allows you to make the best decision for yourself.” They’re called team doctors — not player doctors. “They have the team’s best interests in mind, not necessarily the player’s.”

By the fourth quarter, the jolt of enthusiasm provided by Osweiler’s fresh legs starts to wane, and the reality of the 29–13 deficient sinks in for Bronco fans. All around us, the seats start to empty. Across the row, a guy in a floppy orange hat and an Ed McCaffrey jersey is talking on his phone with his feet kicked up. Ironic clapping accompanies any positive yardage. No one could have predicted they would see the first-ever benching of Peyton Manning’s career. A few weeks later, these same fickle fans will embrace the old workhorse when the tide turns and a second-string Manning leads a comeback against the Chargers. That win would ultimately spark the Broncos’ improbable Super Bowl run — and the chance for the great Manning to follow the path of Broncos legend John Elway and ride off into the sunset a champion.

But today, less than a week from Thanksgiving, the mood in Denver is cold as the mountain chill that overtakes this once-glorious day. As the game staggers to a finish, Jackson and I bond not over football, but about the grind of the writing process.

Jackson says he writes for four hours every day, usually in the morning. I tell him that reminds me of Hemingway’s writing regiment. Papa was a stickler for getting words down on the page early, before heading out into the world to fight, drink, and fish. I ask Jackson how he got into writing, and he opens up about about how he used to write for his high school newspaper, how he’s kept a journal since he was 19.

“I’m going through a new phase of my life, learning new parts of myself,” he says. “The words are just pouring out of me right now.”

With eight minutes to, we decide to abandon ship. Jackson is unfazed by the home team’s poor performance. He’s more interested in talking with the woman sitting behind us, in the black bangs and leather jacket. She kicked him with her suede boots in the second quarter — and hasn’t stopped chatting him up since.

Throughout their flirtation, Jackson never plays the ex-jock card. In fact, he messes with me a bit and tells the woman and her friends that I’m a famous writer. “Watch what you say in front of this guy,” he says, smiling broadly. When I let them know that Jackson used to play for the Broncos, they laugh. They don’t believe me.

And that’s how he likes it. Walking anonymously among the fans who once cheered him, Nate Jackson can be himself, not the former gladiator who sacrificed his long-term health for their game-day pleasure.

As we continue down the concourses toward the exits, I think I see Jackson struggling to walk a bit. Earlier that day, I’d asked him how his body was holding up these days.

“I had an ankle surgery a few months ago to get rid of some old bone spurs,” he told me. “My hamstring’s not great. I have some other aches and pains that pop up every once and a while. But, for the most part, I’m pretty good.”

Unlike many other ex-players, Jackson has been able to not only survive, but thrive after living through the NFL meat grinder. He doesn’t have a peer-reviewed study to prove that marijuana was responsible, but it certainly seems to have been a factor. Now he wants to give the guys who came after him a fair and legal shot at something that’s still too elusive: a healthy life after football.

Alcohol Effects on Driving-related Skills of Young Drivers

National Institutes of Health Medical Cannabis Research

Primary Outcome Measures: Secondary Outcome Measures: Subjective alcohol effects [ Time Frame: Approximate Time Frame: 30 minutes before drinking, 5, 15, 30 minutes and 1, 2, 3, 24 and 48 hours post-drinking ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ] Visual analogue scale measures how participants feel before and after drinking alcohol. administration. Cognitive testing [ Time Frame: Approximate Time Frame: 30 minutes before drinking, and 1, 24 […]

Reminder: FREE Cannabis Career Readiness Workshop In Portland Tomorrow

Oregon is home to some of the best cannabis companies on the planet. It’s a very exciting time to work in Oregon’s industry, especially with full recreational marijuana licenses coming later this year. If you are trying to get into the industry, there is a free job fair and cannabis readiness seminars tomorrow in Portland,

Georgia: 4th Annual Cannabis Awareness Day On March 2nd

If you are in Georgia, check out the following event which is taking place on March 2nd from 9 AM to 3 PM at the Georgia State Capital. Below is more information, via the event’s Facebook page: Atlanta GA: Georgia C.A.R.E. Project is pleased to announce the 4th Annual Georgia Cannabis Awareness Day at the

Puffs and Pappardelle: Inside Top Chef's Hosea Rosenberg's Latest Cannabis-Paired Dinner

If you’re not a cannabis consumer, you may be surprised to learn the ways it’s becoming more infused into our culture. Side industries are stemming from the rapidly-growing cannabis industry. Weddings, for instance, are starting to feature cannabis bars and other canna-friendly touches. You’ll find the plant working its way into yoga sessions. And cannabis-friendly accommodations are opening around the world, making it easier for visitors to come and consume.

But what to do if you’re a newbie to partaking in cannabis? Wandering into a dispensary and knowing what to buy, how much to use, and where you can use it can be overwhelming. Luckily, there’s a creative company out there making this prospect possible: Mason Jar Event Group, a Colorado-based event planning organization that hosts elegant farm-to-table meals (among other events) with cannabis pairings. These events are the perfect opportunity for a non-smoker like me to give it a try. And so, I did.

On Thursday, January 28, I boarded the event shuttle to Shupe Farm in Longmont, Colorado, for a farm-to-table experience called simply “Winter.” On our way we stopped at Headquarters Cannabis Co. to pick up our pre-assembled goody bags for the evening.

The Leafly-designed bag contained:

  • A Strawberry Cough rolled joint from Headquarters Cannabis Co.
  • Cannabis-infused rosemary parmesan crackers from Love’s Oven
  • Canna-Tsu from Headquarters Cannabis Co.
  • Rolling papers from Headquarters Cannabis Co.
  • Cannabis-infused toasted marshmallow drops from Canyon Cultivation
  • Marley Coffee
  • A lockable goody bag by Anonymous Bags
  • Sunglasses from Headquarters Cannabis Co.
  • A lighter

Once everyone was outfitted for the evening, we continued our trek to the farm. The building looked lovely with twinkle lights on the trees and fire pits blazing outside the barn, and the interior resembled a beautiful winter wedding reception venue. To my right was a large fireplace surrounded by lit Christmas trees. To my left was a long bar surrounded by professional people making up a spectrum of ages and career fields, chatting and drinking.

I headed straight for the bar in search of a little something to take the edge off since I had no idea what I was in for this evening. Craft cocktails by 3 Chicks Bartending were flowing — some sort of strawberry jalapeño concoction — and they were delicious. A perfect way to start the evening.

Servers floated about the room with plates of delicious pork cheek empanadas — warm and flaky. I wandered around a bit and chatted with a few strangers until a friend pulled me outside to a nearby fire pit. A pungent, yet sweet, smell hung in the air. Several people were enjoying the Strawberry Cough joint from their goody bags. The strain is known for delivering an uplifting cerebral euphoria, offering a great start for this buzzing event.

Soon, a soft ringing bell sound floated out the door. Dinner, catered by talented chef (and season 5 Top Chef winner) Hosea Rosenberg’s Blackbelly Market, was about to served. Two long dining tables were filled with beautifully mismatched glassware resting atop layers of antiqued linens. Earthy beetle-kill pine disks served as chargers or placemats made of stitched together slim sticks. Tall floral arrangements protruded from wooden vases. A smooth jazz band played in one corner of the room, providing the perfect mellow score for the evening’s activities.

The first course was a rust-colored roasted red pepper soup, which paired nicely with the rosemary parmesan bite-sized crackers from Love’s Oven. With only 10 milligrams of active THC each, the crackers were the perfect treat to keep the buzz going. Table talk was engaging, with the diverse crowd making its way to the fire pits and back to the tables again throughout the evening.

“Winter” served its second course, roasted organic winter brassica salad, in large bowls to be passed family style. The seasonal flavors of Brussels sprouts, Romanesco, and broccoli with sweet, crisp apple and dates exploded in my mouth.

The dinner paced nicely, offering time between courses to make a trip outside or to visit the vape bar where you could enjoy a nugget of Canna-Tsu from your treats using Healthy Headie’s PAX2 vaporizer — the only form of smoking allowed inside the building. Wine pairings mysteriously appeared before me thanks to the quick, quiet event staff.

Blackbelly’s main course was a hearty coq au vin with pappardelle on the side. It, too, was served in large dishes passed family style among the neighbors I was getting to know at my table. With each new course, I found myself more and more pleased with the entire experience. I had a gentle buzz going, as did everyone else in the room.

By the time dessert rolled around, I was bowled over. The dense chocolate torte with caramel and sea salt melted in my mouth. Coffee was served with a dash of chocolate liqueur for the final pairing of the evening: cannabis-infused toasted marshmallow drops. What better treat than s’mores to round out a decadent evening?

Clinging to the final minutes, I was happy to chat with Kendal Norris, the woman behind Mason Jar Event Group, and creator of the trendy cannabis parties. From my experience, these events will skyrocket in popularity as out-of-staters and more professional individuals look for ways to enjoy fine food, fine company, and fine cannabis.

Image Source: Mason Jar Event Group

Fundraiser To Support Show-Me Cannabis Tomorrow In Denver

This is a reminder that there is a fundraiser for Show-Me Cannabis tomorrow in Denver. The event is being put on by Vicente Sederberg LLC.Below is more information about the event, via the event’s Facebook page: Join us on the evening of Tuesday, February 2nd from 5:30-7:30 PM as we celebrate and support the efforts

Study on Cannabinoid Receptor Expression in Gastrointestinal Diseases

National Institutes of Health Medical Cannabis Research

Verified March 2016 by Medical University of Graz Sponsor: Information provided by (Responsible Party): Medical University of Graz ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02735941 First received: February 1, 2016 Last updated: April 6, 2016 Last verified: March 2016 The purpose of the study is to investigate phospholipid ligands and their receptors in inflammatory bowel diseases and colon cancer. […]

US WA: Pot Shops Sue State, Call Licensing Process 'A Mess'

Seattle Times, 30 Jan 2016 – Several longtime Seattle medical-marijuana businesses filed a lawsuit Friday against the state Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) alleging that regulators are not following their own rules in issuing a new round of licenses for retail stores. At issue is the process of bringing medical businesses into the state’s licensed recreational-retail system. The Legislature last year gave the LCB authority to license new stores, with priority given to longtime medical players seen as good actors, in following rules and paying taxes.

Weekend Weirdness: Men Driving with Illegal Cannabis Call the Cops on…Themselves?

Idaho is one of the most restrictive states in the union for cannabis, a fact two self-proclaimed “dumbasses” must have known as they were driving through it with 20 pounds of product. The men were making their way from Las Vegas to Montana when, convinced they were going to get pulled over in Idaho, they threw up the white flag and called 911 on themselves to “just end it” and get arrested already.

The car was not, in fact, being followed by police officers, but the men’s guilt seemed too much to bear. Said one of the men, Leland Ayala-Doliente, to the 911 dispatcher:

“Hi, uh, we’re the two dumbasses that got caught trying to bring some stuff through your border and all your cops are just driving around us like a bunch of jack wagons, and I’d just really would like for you guys to end it. If you could help me out with that, we would like to just get on with it.”

Listen to the 911 call below:

When the police arrived at the location where the call was made, Ayala-Doliente and his friend Holland Sward were already standing with their hands behind their heads and proclaimed that they were “surrendering.” Now the two are each facing a felony charge of cannabis trafficking, which can carry a penalty of three years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

Do Cannabis-Infused Suppositories Actually Work? We Put One to the Test

If you’re one of the approximately 3.4 billion women on Earth, you recognize that awful, all-too-familiar feeling. Each month, your monthly visitor “Auntie Flo” comes to visit and your uterus basically explodes.

As a female of child-bearing age, I am no exception. It was “that time of the month,” when abruptly during my workday, I became aware of a terrible sensation in my gut. My inflamed uterus had expanded and my entire midsection began cramping, leaving me feeling bloated, nauseous, and generally uncomfortable.

I couldn’t help picturing that scene from Alien, only with my uterus as a sentient being, trying to forcefully rip itself through my stomach. Or perhaps it had transformed into a personified cartoon, complete with ovaries as fists – “Quit hitting yourself! Quit hitting yourself!” My reproductive organ was being a total bully.

Thankfully, I may have had a solution to my cramping. Foria, the makers of an arousing cannabis-infused pleasure spray for women, recently debuted a new product called Foria Relief.

The Product

In Foria’s own words, Foria Relief is a cannabis-infused suppository “intended to maximize the muscle relaxing and pain relieving properties of cannabis without inducing a psychotropic ‘high.’” Each serving contains 60mg of THC and 10mg of CBD, and is designed to be inserted vaginally to deliver the dose as close to where the discomfort and cramping is originating as possible.

Admittedly, I was wary to try this new product. Just the word “suppository” brings to mind awkward connotations, but by the end of the day I was desperate and ready for relief. Assuaging my trepidation was the suppository’s ingredient list, which contained only three items: organic cocoa butter, CO2 distilled THC oil, and CBD isolate.

The Experiment

Once home, I immediately consumed a cannabis-infused edible, hoping the analgesic effects of therapeutic THC might also help soothe my angry womb.

Upon carefully reading the instruction booklet, I popped the suppository into the freezer for 15 minutes to make sure it was firm (and therefore unlikely to dissolve too quickly upon insertion).

At this point, my significant other arrived and I informed him of my intention to insert 60mg of THC straight up into my honey pot. He didn’t seem fazed by the idea, but then again, when you’re dating a cannabis writer, even the most ridiculous concepts induce a blasé reaction.

I opened the packet to reveal a small, white, pearl-sized bullet. It was a slippery little devil, and I was glad I’d taken the extra step of freezing it so it didn’t dissolve in my hand. My first impression was that it reminded me of a tiny torpedo on a fast track to my cervix.

Then I noticed the scent, and so did my partner. We both noted that it smelled ahhhhh-mazing, like creamy, buttery chocolate and coconut.

I leaned back and inserted the little white torpedo, lifting my hips with a pillow for full effect, as recommended. As we waited for the full effects, we watched true crime documentaries and snuggled.

My S.O., kind soul that he is, offered to rub my back and neck while we were waiting, knowing that this is one of my favorite activities and would help put me at ease.

As he stroked my neck and hair, I began to feel the effects of the Foria. The combination of the edible I’d eaten earlier with the massage and the suppository began to work magic on my internal organs. Warm, golden waves emanated from my vagina throughout the rest of my body.

All of the muscles that had been cramped and clenched so tight gradually released and my body relaxed. Where I had been painfully aware of every inch of my midsection, suddenly it felt as though I had no midsection at all. From my waist down to my thighs, it was almost as if my groin had simply dissolved and was floating in some galaxy far, far away.

It’s important for me to note here that although Foria Relief promises no psychoactive effects, I cannot speak to the truth of this as I tainted the experiment when I consumed an edible ahead of time. I can say that for the experienced cannabis consumer seeking relief from menstrual cramps, the combination of the two was spectacular.

I laid back and closed my eyes, letting the waves wash over my body. After a day of constant disruption from my inflamed internal organs, the relief was palpable and pronounced. The only downside was that the feeling was unfortunately short-lived. It takes about 20 minutes before you begin to feel the effects, which, for me, lasted a little less than an hour. But what a glorious hour it was.

The Conclusion

If you suffer from debilitating cramps, I cannot recommend this product highly enough. It was absolutely worth the cost and if it’s available in your area (currently only in California and Colorado), do yourself a favor and take a chance by diving (figuratively) into the great unknown.

Also, it made my crotch smell delicious.

Reciprocity, Baby: Leafly's Medical Cannabis Guide to Las Vegas

Nevada isn’t the only state to recognize out-of-state medical marijuana cards, but it is the most permissive, and its enormous tourist trade has made it the most visible test case for MMJ reciprocity. The state’s first dispensaries opened last August, and they’ve seen a steady flow of fly-in traffic.

“Our patients are about 50 percent out-of-state,” Las Vegas ReLeaf co-owner Al Fasano told me recently. Fasano and I were talking in the upscale, club-like atmosphere of his dispensary on Paradise Road, in the shadow of the Stratosphere tower. It was a Thursday afternoon, and Fasano’s budtenders were bustling.

Dispensaries like ReLeaf are likely to get even busier. About 11,000 medical-card holders live in southern Nevada, but Las Vegas welcomes 40 million visitors a year. If only 1 percent of those tourists hold MMJ cards, that’s a potential market of 400,000 patients.

The state sparked fierce competition when it earmarked 12 dispensary licenses for the city of Las Vegas. Applicants were graded in a host of categories — security, financing, environmental plan, etc. — and the most robust business plans won the coveted licenses. For patients, that means the dispensaries are well financed, beautifully designed, and expertly managed.

Stepping into a Vegas dispensary, in fact, can be a jarring experience. Outside might be a gritty, sun-blasted streetscape or an obscure strip mall, but push through the door and you’ll enter a plush, upscale retreat. Las Vegas ReLeaf features modern lounge seating and a massive, flat-screen menu. Sahara Wellness, just up the street, has the cool feel of a destination medical resort. “We wanted the interior to be respectful, safe, clean, and comfortable,” Sahara Wellness co-owner Brenda Gunsallus told me. Behind us, a water feature burbled down the wall. “We wanted to offer a calming effect when people come in.”

Vegas is known for its cutthroat competition, but so far the dispensary business runs counter to that vibe. “This industry is still so small here,” Gunsallus said. “We’re in the same business, but we’re not really competitors. We had one guy run out of bags last week, and we all pitched in to help him out.”

What to Know If You Go

  • Valid MMJ cards from all medical marijuana states are accepted. You’ll also need to present government-issued ID.
  • Purchase limit: 2.5 ounces every 14 days. Your purchase will be entered into a state database with real-time tracking, so you’ll be denied if you try to exceed the limit. Calculating flower is easy, but it gets tricky when you start adding edibles and other products. One-on-one budtender consultations are essential.
  • There are odd state rules regarding product touching in the dispensary, so take it slow, don’t grab, let your budtender guide you through the process. Just like table games at the casino.
  • As in other states, public consumption is illegal.
  • Product selection is a little limited, as producers and processors are still ramping up. A variety of flower strains, edibles, topicals, tinctures, transdermals, and concentrates are available.
  • Prices are higher than Colorado, Washington, and Oregon patients are used to. The $18 gram is common here.
  • Nevada has weird regulations. It’s illegal to water ski or surf while under the influence of medical marijuana. Not a joke. Also illegal to possess a firearm while under the influence. Also illegal to “embark on an amusement ride.” So if you’re medicating, maybe skip the SlotZilla Zip Line.
  • Nevada has tough DUI laws. Its blood level per se limit is 2 nanograms per milliliter, which is far below the 5 ng/ml of Washington and Colorado. Nobody should be driving in Vegas anyway. Nothing good can come of it. Uber or cab it, always.

Some of our favorite dispensaries are located near the northern end of The Strip, not far from the Stratosphere. Las Vegas ReLeaf remains one of the most popular, with budtenders who know how to handle the lively, out-of-state trade. Sahara Wellness, which just opened this week, features a female-friendly, patient-centered vibe, more spa than club. Coming soon: Essence Vegas, the first dispensary actually on Las Vegas Boulevard (aka The Strip), which expects to open in early March.

Leafly Recommends

Las Vegas ReLeaf

2244 Paradise Rd.
Las Vegas, NV
702-209-2400
11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Sunday – Thursday
11 a.m. – 10 p.m. Friday – Saturday

“Things were slow in the beginning, but as you can see, people are now flowing in,” Las Vegas ReLeaf co-owner Al Fasano told me during my visit last month. He ain’t kidding: On its first day, ReLeaf saw a grand total of eight patients. Those days are over — ReLeaf is now one of the most popular dispensaries in the city. “We had to adjust a little,” Fasano said. The shop originally opened at 8 a.m., but this city doesn’t stir till noon. “So now we’re open at 11 a.m. and it seems to work out.” ReLeaf stocks flower from Green Life Productions, one of Nevada’s most visible up-and-coming grow operation, and stocks a number of familiar brands: Dixie tinctures, JuJu Joints, and Mary’s Medicinals CBD patches.

Distance from Bellagio Fountain: 2 1/2 miles north
Vibe: Where the experienced California MMJ patient shops
Look for: High-quality flower and an expanding line of concentrates

Sahara Wellness

420 E. Sahara Ave
Las Vegas, NV
702-379-7817
10 a.m. – 7 p.m. daily

If you’re not deep into cannabis culture, don’t worry. Neither was Sahara Wellness co-owner Brenda Gunsallus. “When we found our location two years ago, we didn’t even give the address a second thought,” she said with a smile. “We didn’t know what 420 meant!” Gunsallus, a former tennis pro, came to cannabis through adult friends who found medical relief from seizures. After looking into the medical research, she found her calling. She and her business partners took over an old gold-exchange building on Sahara Avenue and gave it a radical makeover, with warm weathered-plank walls, water features, artwork, and a calming atmosphere. “We want to spent time with our patients, get to know them. I’m in this industry to help people,” she told me. “We’re going to focus on high-quality CBD, maybe not the highest THC,” she said. “A lot of our patients are managing glaucoma, PTSD, and anxiety disorders. We want this to be a warm, welcoming place for them.”

Distance from Bellagio Fountain: 2 3/4 miles north
Vibe: Female-friendly Sahara caters to patients who want a little more consult time at the counter.
Look for: Expanded line of high-CBD products, topicals, tinctures

Image Source: Las Vegas ReLeaf

Fundraiser To Support Show-Me Cannabis Next Week In Denver

There is a fundraiser going on next week that supports Missouri activism efforts. What is really cool is that the event is taking place in Denver, and is beinghosted by Vicente Sederberg LLC. The people at Vicente Sederberg LLC helped lead reform efforts in Colorado, and I think it’s awesome that they are also helping

5 Tips for Hosting a Fabulous (and Safe) Cannabis Wedding

Two weeks ago, I attended the Cannabis Wedding Expo in Denver, CO. This event was the first of its kind and showcased the diverse facets of the increasingly popular cannabis wedding industry. When some folks first hear of cannabis weddings, they gasp in horror at the idea of their conservative relatives being exposed to such “illicit” activity. Others, however, see it as a welcome addition to the pervasive trend of alcohol consumption.

One reaction we haven’t heard is what a huge impact this seemingly novel concept can have on the political landscape. While I was at the event, I spoke with industry expert Lauren Gibbs, owner of Rise Above Social Strategies and the brains behind the social media for Women Grow and Willie’s Reserve. She explained:

“Because a lot of people attending your wedding may not be exposed to cannabis on any other occasion, this is an opportunity to change their minds, and that could result in them changing their vote if cannabis legalization is on the ballot in their home state.”

Gibbs is planning a cannabis-inclusive wedding later this year. She said, “This may be the first time most of your guests will be exposed to open cannabis consumption in a normalized setting. So that means that you have a responsibility to do it right. Doing it right doesn’t mean you have to spend a lot of money, but it is important to educate people on how to consume responsibly.”

How can you host a cannabis wedding responsibly, and in ways that are within your comfort level? Here are some ideas and tips I encountered at the Expo. The suggestions range from discreet and subtle to proudly extravagant, because as Gibbs pointed out, “You don’t have to smoke a bowl with your vows to have a cannabis wedding.”

Offer Variety with Safety in Mind

If you’re going to offer cannabis to guests, include multiple options for imbibing (e.g., smoking, vaping), and include options with varying potency. Make sure you have at least one low-THC, high-CBD strain option for the timid but cannacurious to experience the medicinal effects. A CBD tincture can also be helpful if someone overconsumes. Hire a budtender like Andrew Mieure from Top Shelf Budtending to be your lifeguard on-duty to monitor guest consumption and provide education on best practices for enjoying cannabis.

Pro tip from Gibbs: “If you’re having children at your wedding, DO NOT SERVE EDIBLES unless you’re having an adults-only celebration; otherwise, it’s too risky that a child could accidentally consume, and that’s the last thing you want at your wedding. If you’re serving edibles to adults, make sure they’re low dose (5mg servings). Bec Koop, owner of Cannabis Concierge Events, provides “token tokens” at her events. Every guest receives two wooden coins for edibles, so no one can consume more than 10mg.

Incorporate Cannabis into Your Fashion and Accessories

Did you know you could have your wedding gown made from a silk hemp blend? Janay A Eco Bridal offers custom wedding gowns for the fashion-minded cannabis enthusiast. Couples often scramble to find the perfect gifts for their wedding attendants, and Winky and Dutch offers bracelets, cufflinks, and other awesome jewelry and small gift options with cannabis leaves on them.

Take Your Cannabis Consumption Offsite

If you don’t want to have to hunt for a cannabis-friendly venue, look into party bus and limo options for a ride around the block. The laws in Colorado allow adults to imbibe cannabis in vehicles as long as they have a chauffeur. Alternatively, by setting up a dedicated cannabis consumption lounge, you can ensure that all the guests are over 21 and can consume discreetly before returning to the main reception.

Create Cannabis-Friendly Decor

Incorporate buds into your flower arrangements or centerpieces using a florist like Buds and Blossoms. Many folks find cannabis aesthetically pleasing, so this is a great way to add cannabis to your day in a decorative way.

Set Up a Vape Station and Supply Vape Pens

Offering a vape station for your guests is a great way to highlight non-smoking consumption options. For those who love sparkle, definitely check out Crystal Cult vape pens, which can be customized to fit in with your overall wedding color scheme. Other event planners offer premium vaporizer rentals, so you can focus on the flavors of the flowers and keep that distinctive cannabis smoke to a minimum.

Would you have cannabis at your wedding? In what capacity? Personally, even if I never get married, I’m going to have a huge cannabis-friendly party for my friends, because this sounds like too much fun to miss!

US CA: Column: The Cannabis Legalizers Opposing Legalization

SF Weekly, 28 Jan 2016 – “They didn’t even call me,” says Dennis Peron, perched on one of the fold-up chairs arranged around his Castro District kitchen table on a recent evening. “Why not even call?” “They” are the people who are continuing Peron’s work, his life’s mission: to make marijuana legal. At 70, his hair white and his speech still rapid but softened by a stroke, Peron has been at it for almost 40 years – ever since he arrived in San Francisco fresh from Vietnam, his Air Force duffel bag stuffed with southeast Asian ganja. And his body bears the scars.

US CA: Column: Dissed By The Dispensary

Sacramento News & Review, 28 Jan 2016 – I am wondering what recourse patients have if they feel that a collective has taken advantage of them? I recently made a purchase, and when I got home I noticed that several items were missing. I called the dispensary and they pretty much gave me the runaround. I tried to ask for a manager, but I have had no success resolving this issue. I am very upset. Cannabis is expensive and I need it for my various medical issues. Any advice? – -Holden D. Bag

Dispensary Showcase: CHR in Los Angeles, California

California has long been a proving ground for cannabis. Every time I return to Los Angeles and the surrounding areas, I’m reminded of the pungent, piney stronghold that OG Kush has on the region. Every dispensary shelf is lined with a seemingly endless count of OG phenotypes and spin-offs of the famed West Coast favorite. The shelves of California Herbal Remedies (CHR) are no different. But their commitment to quality flower, the finest shatters, and live resins — along with their focus on patient care — give CHR an edge over other shops nearby.

Where to Find Them

CHR is located at the north end of the 710 freeway. The dispensary is situated right behind Cal State Los Angeles at 5470 Valley Blvd.

Their Philosophy

CHR is dedicated to making sure that every patient leaves happy and with the best meds for their needs. Most of their regulars know what they want when they arrive, but the friendly folks at CHR are happy to help find the right strain for newcomers, too. Lexi, a manager at CHR, explains:

“If they don’t know what they want, then we have our awesome budtenders here to help them out.”

Why We Love Them

CHR goes above and beyond to show that their patients are appreciated. They regularly host patient-appreciation celebrations at the dispensary, featuring deals, giveaways, and celebrity guests such as rapper Too $hort. Aside from their great patient parties, CHR lists over 70 lab-tested strains on their menu, including shop favorite CHR Super OG.

Learn More About Cannabis Dispensaries Near You

Looking to find out more about the cannabis dispensaries near you? Check out the Leafly List to find some of the best places to access medical and recreational cannabis.

Obama Punts on Cannabis Reform

Really putting the lame in “lame duck,” the Obama administration on Friday suggested the president has no plans to push for cannabis reform during his remaining time in office.

As far as President Obama is concerned, any effort to loosen federal restrictions on cannabis would need to come through Congress, White House press secretary John Earnest told reporters.

Obama expressed a similar position a day earlier to Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., one of a number of federal lawmakers pushing for legal reform. Cohen related the exchange to Chris Ingraham at the Washington Post:

Obama’s answer on the rescheduling was “disappointing,” Cohen said in an interview. “On marijuana, he gave the same answer as when I asked him seven years ago: ‘If you get me a bill, and get it on my desk, I’ll probably sign it,’ ” Cohen said (emphasis his).

After Friday’s briefing, Earnest sounded almost dismissive when he responded to a reporter’s question about rescheduling:

“There are some in the Democratic party who have urged the president to take this kind of action, and the president’s response was, if you feel so strongly about it and you believe there’s so much public support for what it is that you’re advocating, then why don’t you pass legislation about it and we’ll see what happens.’”

The president’s past offers to work with Congress on rescheduling have always been coy. I’m on board, he seemed to say, but don’t expect me to stick my neck out.

Obama, remember, was the presidential candidate who told us he “inhaled frequently. That was the point.” Early on he seemed willing, even eager, to challenge the kinds of stereotypes and misinformation that have perpetuated the war on drugs. But since taking office he’s sent mixed messages on where he stands.

The White House website says the president “steadfastly opposes legalization,” but he told the New Yorker‘s David Remnick, “I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol.” The Justice Department under his watch has zigged and zagged. Prosecutors first announced a hands-off approach in states where cannabis was legal. Then they shuttered hundreds of dispensaries in California. Not exactly stewardship of a cause.

With one hand Obama giveth, commuting the sentences of 46 drug offenders. With the other he taketh away.

Unhappy with Obama’s weak stance cannabis? Expect more of the same from Hillary Clinton.

Tommy Chong Endorses Trump! (Just Kidding, He's Feeling the Bern)

In the least shocking news of the week, the coveted endorsement of everyone’s favorite cannabis celebrity, Tommy Chong, has gone to none other than Bernie Sanders.

Chong is feeling the Bern and wants the world to know it. In a quote that could only come from his lips, Chong offers the endorsement of the century:

“Bernie’s like a kush, like the best kind of weed you can get, because he’s the answer to all our problems.”

Rocking a Bernie shirt, Tommy Chong has released a catchy, heartfelt endorsement video throwing his support whole-heartedly behind the wild-haired presidential candidate from Vermont.

Chong’s video is fairly tongue-in-cheek, making references to the “Commander-in-Kush” (new strain name, anyone?), and using clips from old Cheech and Chong movies to illustrate his point. But his support for Bernie extends beyond the obvious.

“Only one candidate that has said things I truly believe in, like supporting the legalization of…” he trails off and looks knowingly at the camera before continuing, “a fair and human immigration policy.”

“The legalization of…a real living wage.”

And of course, he finishes, the legalization of “the super-medicine” known as cannabis.

This is the first official stance from the actor-comedian-activist, though he was recently quoted likening Bernie Sanders to “Donald Trump with brains, he’s like a Donald Trump with a soul!”

Comedian @tommychong: @BernieSanders is “Donald Trump with brains” http://t.co/y0wplQ5995 http://t.co/RxW77QWjzk

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 29, 2016

Sanders is easily the strongest competitive candidate in support of cannabis, having not only pledged to legalize cannabis at a federal level, but even introducing legislation to that effect.

After a rousing speech last October, Sanders sponsored a federal bill, the “Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2015,” which would remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act entirely, effectively legalizing marijuana federally. Unfortunately, the bill still lacking support from his fellow members of Congress. Still, if Sanders is elected, he’ll face high hopes from supporters that he’ll end prohibition while in office.

Take this as a reminder to register to vote! Chong knows it: 2016 will be a big year for cannabis.

Hawaii Lawmakers Enacting Stricter Medical Marijuana Rules

Hawaii has had a medical marijuana program for 15 years. But now, stricter regulations are being thrown on the program. In Hawaii, edibles, accessories, vape pens and pre-rolls are not permitted. Dispensaries are not even permitted to sell rolling papers or cones. Advertising is also not permitted. Hawaii is considered to be a national leader […]

US CA: Column: California Medical Cannabis Regulations Fire Up

East Bay Express, 27 Jan 2016 – The medi-pot industry is racing to professionalize itself and lobby Sacramento before new rules remake the multibillion-dollar sector. California’s medi-pot industry is racing to organize itself and lobby Sacramento lawmakers before local and statewide rules remake the Golden State’s multibillion-dollar legal weed sector.

Oregon Medical Marijuana Program Too Expensive for Patients

Photo Credit: (Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian)

“The proposed rules are a direct assault on the (medical marijuana) program and the small family farm,” said Prozanski. Oregon’s medical marijuana advocates say the state’s proposed rules for production impose expensive and unnecessary burdens on growers and will ultimately harm patients who rely on the drug to cope with a wide range of health […]

5 Smartphone Hacks for Better Cannabis Photos

We can all agree that cannabis is an absolutely beautiful plant. However, it can be difficult at times to capture that beauty through photography. Whether you’re a consumer who wants to share your gorgeous buds on social media or you’re a cannabis business wishing to showcase your inventory in the most appealing way possible, the quality of your photo will make a huge difference. But how can you get professional-looking results without having to invest in thousands of dollars of camera equipment?

Believe it or not, the technology we need to take better pictures of our cannabis is in our very hands. Our smartphones are perfectly equipped with the tools we need to get our trichomes sparkling in the spotlight. With the help of these five hacks, you can take your smartphone bud shots to the next level.

1 Stabilize Your Phone

There are several ways to prevent camera shake when taking pictures with your smartphone. The first is to invest in a tripod. There are plenty of inexpensive smartphone-specific tripod options available online; though if you don’t feel like shelling out the price for one, try using a kickstand or even propping/wedging your phone up in front of your subject. This will eliminate most of the camera shake, allowing for crisp and clean details to shine through in your photos.

2. Use Your Earbuds as a Remote Trigger

Using the touchscreen, or even a button, on your phone to take a photograph can create enough camera shake to compromise a photo. iPhone users, did you know that you can use the earbuds included with your phone as a remote trigger while taking photographs? The process is simple: Just plug your earbuds in and use the volume control buttons to take pictures while in the camera screen. Using both of these first tips together will ensure that your photos are tack sharp and free of blur.

3. Shoot in a Dedicated Photography App

There are a myriad of applications in the marketplace that will help you to edit photographs after you have taken them. But did you know that some applications can actually help give you even more control before your picture is even taken? While in most default camera screens you don’t have the option to adjust exposure settings such as shutter speed and ISO, these applications, like Manual for iPhone (pictured above), open up the controls back to you so that you can snap a pic of your perfect dab while also letting the perfect amount of light into your smartphone camera.

4. Use Soft Light

Try to stay away from your camera’s default flash setting. This flash will guarantee an overexposed and blown out final shot. When the only white you want to see in your shot is the head of your trichomes, it’s best to use softer light. Direct light is very harsh, casting nasty black shadows and overexposed patches where direct light hits your subject. To combat this, use indirect light, or bounce your light off a white surface. Also, try diffusing your light with a white, semi-opaque, surface like a paper towel, sheet, or some printer paper.

5. Consider Using a Macro Lens

A macro lens is fantastic in that it allows you to get extremely close to your cannabis, thus opening up an entirely new universe of colors and details. With a macro lens touting 15x or more magnification, you can cover an entire frame with just one trichome covered pistil. Some of the most creative cannabis shots utilize macro lenses. Luckily, today you can find a macro lens for your smartphone for for relatively cheap. If you do a simple search online, you will find a variety of options at virtually any price point. Don’t worry about dishing out mega bucks; you wont need to. The cheaper models work perfectly fine for taking bud shots.

Looking for more great tips to make your cannabis business stand out? Check out Leafly’s marketing services! In the meantime, good luck and happy shooting!

Congress Members to VA: Let Veterans Smoke Marijuana

A group of 21 Senators and Representatives send letter urging VA to permit doctors to discuss and recommend marijuana as a treatment option in states where it’s legal Under the current system, VA doctors are not allowed to give recommendations for patients to receive medical marijuana, even in states that have legalized it. January 27, […]

PGT Episode #284- Velvet Ditch -Live From Omara’s

  Hosted by attorney Michael Komorn from Komorn Law and Chad from Birmingham Compassion Contributions from Rick Thompson from The Compassion Chronicles, Jamie Lowell from Third Coast Tonight- Autism and cannabis treatments. Update on Max Lorincz, Amsdill family, Al Witt and their respective legal cases from around the state. Tonight’s guests will include Dr. Christian […]

Halogen Technology in Cannabis Vaporizers: How NASA-Level Science Revolutionized Vaping

This article is sponsored by Herbalizer, one of the leading suppliers of table-top vaporizers. Herbalizer provides you with the ultimate vaporizing experience as you honor your flower with our power. Check out Herbalizer’s exclusive Leafly discount offer here.

Given that his last job was as a prime contractor to NASA – a position that amounted to a great deal of autonomy, with decisions based heavily on technical merit – we asked Herbalizer’s Chief Technology Officer Bob Pratt if people thought he was crazy to start working on vaporizers.

“Absolutely!” he exclaimed. “[NASA] was a really, really fun job. Everything was a new design, and you could take a lot of license to do special things. I say to people, ‘You’ll never guess what I’m doing now’ – and they never do.”

So what drew him away from a successful career in the aerospace industry? A sense that vaporizers could be done better, coupled with the idea that doing things better would make a difference. “People truly receive almost one-of-a-kind relief,” says Pratt of cannabis vaporization. “Some of the stories are amazing. When I hear about people who have used vaporization and gotten off a prescription drug regimen that negatively influenced their lifestyle, it’s impactful.”

Building a Better Vaporizer

The first thing that clued the Herbalizer team into the fact that there might be room for improvement in the tabletop vaporizer field was the fact that in 2011, when brainstorming began, nothing groundbreaking had been released in years. “Usually your best guide as far as what’s possible [in an industry] is what the competition’s doing,” says Pratt. By those measures, reaching operating temperatures in under four minutes would have been lofty enough. Given their background in microelectromechanical systems, the team members set their sights higher, honing in on concrete goals of reaching operating temperature in under 30 seconds and filling a bag with vapor in under a minute – which, Pratt admits, “seemed like pie in the sky.” The ultimate objective was an incredibly responsive device that coupled ease of use with unprecedented accuracy.

With goals laid out, the team set about brainstorming, which is how the idea of halogen technology surfaced. As Pratt explains, “The halogen bulb actually is kind of interesting. They’re not necessarily utilized in our society in the best way – they’re a much better heater than they are a light source.” This is because the electromagnetic spectrum devoted to light is very small – the majority of the electromagnetic byproduct put out by halogen bulbs is not light, but heat.

“There were alternatives on the table,” says Pratt of the brainstorming process. “Inventing our own heater was one of them. But when we looked at it, the halogen bulb was almost an epiphany-type moment. It is very very fast to heat up, so you can get a lot of power. It basically makes our unit behave like a Ferrari, if you like performance analogies.”

Having settled on the superiority of halogen technology, the new challenge became to control it. A microprocessor and a custom control algorithm entered the picture. These modifiers govern the amount of heat available as the air moves through the device, which allows for the ultimate heating of the herbal material through convection. A small blower was put in place to push air past the halogen bulb, which is cloaked in glass. Air, in close proximity to the halogen bulb, is heated quickly and precisely, then transfers this heat to the vaporizer’s magnetic bowl, where the herbal material awaits. Important to note is the fact that the path through the vaporizer is completely inert – liner materials like glass, ceramic and stainless steel ensure that nothing undesirable is volatized into the airstream.

The final result? The team exceeded its original goals for speed and temperature control alike. “Nothing is perfect, but we guarantee temperatures within five degrees of the goal temperature – and I can tell you that realistically, it’s generally in the order of plus or minus one degree,” says Pratt. The patented thermal reaction chamber hits its operating temperatures in less than 15 seconds.

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Herbalizer – Relief By Design

We once believed man would never walk on the moon.Meet Bob Pratt.A former NASA engineer. He has spent his entire career creating things most people only dream about.He dreamed of putting technology to use, to create a healthy, more beautiful world. So something healthy and intensely beautiful was born. There is nothing else like it on Earth. For centuries we’ve been using herbs to relieve pain, anxiety, stress and all sorts of discomfort. And now we use technology in a very simple yet powerful way. Beyond anything that’s currently available. The most effective means ever imagined of delivering instantaneous relief with herbal remedies. For the first time you can control the intensity and effect of your experience.Temperature controls quality. Whether you’re using lavender, peppermint, concentrates, extracts, or anything else.It also diffuses essential oils making it a unique aromatherapy tool as well.It is more accurate to call it an aromatherapy vaporizer it prevents combustion giving you the smooth smoke free effect that you want.The question is what kind of experience do you want? Mild and uplifting? Or heavy and intense? Lower heat produces light vapor with lots of flavor and gentle effects. Higher heat a dense cloud with lots of intensities. Precision temperature control dictates what you extract from the herb. That determines how you feel. Because it heats up instantly, you achieve immediate results. It’s good for pain, it’s good for relief, and it’s good for a party. This level of control is critical for people who are hurting out there. Not only an aesthetic marvel, the Herbalizer delivers a superior vapor therapy experience that represents a revolution in all-natural herbal relief. Herbalizer, the world’s first smart vape.

Posted by Herbalizer on Thursday, January 14, 2016

The Effects of a Controlled Vaporization Experience

So why should cannabis consumers care about these achievements? Aside from the ability to access to the benefits of cannabis at the touch of a button, temperature control affects the psychoactive experience. Different cannabinoids are released at different temperatures, meaning that by selecting varying temperatures for vaporization, consumers can control the compounds entering their bodies. “Because of the extremely tight temperature control, you have the ability to really tailor your experience,” Pratt explains. “There are about 28 well-known cannabinoids with varying concentrations available with most flower. You can experiment, find something you like, and then repeat it. The next time you vaporize the same strain at the same temperature, you’re going to have exactly the same ingredients entering your lungs. There’s all kinds of things to get into as far as selective extraction.” For medical consumers, especially those who consume cannabis on a regular basis, this level of jurisdiction over the experience can be invaluable for addressing specific conditions while maintaining control over quality of life.

The Herbalizer was released early in 2014, and although the team continues to work on refining the product, customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and Pratt confesses that he’s equally happy with the product. “Surprisingly enough for someone who always wants to tinker with things and improve them, we did a really good job of hitting most of the bullet points that we wanted,” he says.

Has he ever looked back to his days of working with stealth bombers and satellites? Not so much. “The whole venture has been kind of a life-changing thing…to do something outside the box was such a leap of faith that it’s liberated me, in that regard, for life,” says Pratt. “If I had to do it all over, I’d do it the same way.”

Oregon Sees Consumption Rise, Arrests Plummet

When we first put humans into capsules and shot them into space, we weren’t exactly sure what would happen. So with electrodes and blood-pressure cuffs we meticulously tracked astronauts’ vital signs as they ventured into the unknown.

The same thing, in a sense, is happening in Oregon. As the state blasts into the cannabis frontier — recreational markets opened Oct. 1 — officials want to keep tabs on the vitals. This month the Oregon Health Authority published its first-ever report on cannabis use by residents, full of brightly colored charts and detailed demographic information. It’s meant to be a snapshot of attitudes and behaviors at the dawn of a new era.

“The purpose of this report was not to lay out any policy,” Oregon’s state health officer and epidemiologist, Katrina Hedberg, told Leafly. “The policy is being discussed, and I believe strongly that it’s important to ground that in data.”

Hedberg, who oversaw the report’s production, said at least one takeaway is clear: Oregon loves its cannabis. In the past decade, while consumption in the rest of the nation rose just a smidge, the percentage of Oregonians 25 and older who use cannabis regularly has more than doubled. It stands at 11 percent, according to the latest available numbers, much higher than the U.S. average of 7 percent. “There are different attitudes out here in the Pacific Northwest,” Hedberg said.

A grain of salt: Those numbers, from 2013, already are stale. More current surveys suggest adult use nationally had climbed to 11 percent by mid-2015. And the most recent numbers from Colorado, where cannabis is also legal, show 13.6 percent of adults consume regularly — a big increase from less than 8 percent reported back in 2012. Given how fast the cannabis landscape is changing, how much should people trust the report’s numbers?

“I don’t think that anybody should look at these figures and say, ‘Aha!’” Hedberg said. The health authority plans to release reports annually, with certain data being updated more often. “It’s less about what’s the absolute number and more about what are the trends.”

Trend-wise, it’s safe to say more Oregon adults are using cannabis. But what about the kids? Most adults surveyed said they worried legalization would boost underage consumption. Has it? No.

Use among young people in the state has actually fallen in recent years, both in absolute terms and with respect to the rest of the country. Nine percent of surveyed eighth graders and 19 percent of 11th graders had used cannabis within the past 30 days, the report found.

Oregon’s data add to the limited but growing evidence that more tolerant policies on adult use don’t translate to higher rates among teens. Plenty of eyes will be watching those numbers.

Another promising sign: Cannabis arrests have plummeted. Possession charges dropped by more than half between 2011 and 2014, from 4,223 to 2,109. In 2011, an average of 140 people out of 100,000 were arrested on cannabis charges. By 2015, that fell to about 36.

Unfortunately, racial disparities are still striking. In 2014, black or African-American Oregonians were 2.3 times more likely than whites to be arrested on cannabis charges. That difference, the report notes, “did not significantly change from 2007 to 2014.” There may be good reasons to believe legalization can address racial inequality, but Oregon has yet to see it.

Driving remains another sticking point, both for youth and adults. Nearly half of 11th graders who use cannabis reported driving within three hours of consumption. And roughly two-thirds of adults, 63 percent, said they didn’t know when it’s legal to drive after using cannabis. Seventy-five percent of adults, however, agreed that driving under the influence increases the risk of a crash.

Sixty-two percent of eighth graders said they have easy access to cannabis, reporting that it’s easier to obtain than cigarettes but harder to get than alcohol. Whether they actually want cannabis is another story: Not only are fewer kids choosing to consume, they’re also more concerned about its dangers. Health fears among students in Oregon were greater after legalization, in 2015, than they were just two years before. (Separate data, from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, indicate teens nationwide are actually less concerned about health risks than they were in 2010. That survey, however, polled students about monthly use, while Oregon asked about weekly use.)

One of the biggest challenges for policymakers, Hedberg said, is trying to educate kids about the potential consequences of cannabis use without resorting to war-on-drugs–era scare tactics.

“There are a number of studies to show that, at least for young, developing brains still in high school, regular use is not going to be beneficial for them,” she said. “How do you give a message about moderation that doesn’t say the sky is falling?”

Breaking down Oregonians’ use by demographics, the survey found some groups stood out. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults used cannabis at nearly three times the rate of straight respondents — 30 percent to 11 percent, respectively. People with disabilities also consumed at a slightly higher rate (14 percent), though the report didn’t clarify how much of the use was for medical reasons. Only 6 percent of veterans said they were current users, roughly half the rate of the general population.

Medical patients made up less than a third of total adult users, with 3 percent of all surveyed adults identifying as patients. Most who did apply for a medical card were approved. On average, only 4 percent of applications since 2001 were rejected.

So what does it all mean? Is the Oregon Health Authority a friend to cannabis, or a foe? Hedberg says neither. “At this point, we actually tried pretty hard in this for the report to have just the facts and not to spend a lot of time talking about policy implications,” she said.

A government body making decisions about cannabis based on facts? How refreshing.

We Speak with Rep. Allen Peake, Georgia’s Medical Cannabis Bulldog

Georgia isn’t known for being particularly cannabis-friendly, but one state lawmaker has made it his personal mission to bring medical marijuana to the notoriously conservative state no matter what.

Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, was a vocal proponent for House Bill 1, known as the Haleigh’s Hope Act, which faced numerous objections and revisions before becoming law last April. The measure legalized low-THC cannabis oil for epilepsy patients, allowing possession and use. But in order to gain support from opponents, the bill was amended to leave out manufacturing or distribution.

This legislative session, Peake is back with a vengeance. House Bill 722 would set up a dispensary system modeled after Minnesota’s and expand qualifying conditions beyond epilepsy to include post-traumatic stress disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, intractable pain, HIV/AIDS, autism, and terminal illnesses.

Leafly spoke with Peake, known to some as the godfather of the medical marijuana movement in Georgia, about what inspired him to take action and what’s next for medical cannabis in the Empire State of the South.

Leafly: What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced during the fight for medical marijuana in Georgia?

Rep. Allen Peake: I’m a conservative Republican in a very conservative state, and a guy that has never done any drugs whatsoever. Never. Never smoked marijuana, wouldn’t know what a plant even looked like two years ago. [laughs] I’ve got plenty of other vices — some of them have been documented — but drugs was never one of them, so for me to jump into this thing two years ago, I was just completely out of my element.

For me, it was the story of this four-year-old little girl named Haleigh Cox. Looks just like my granddaughter. And when I saw her and heard her story and her family’s story, I had to ask the question that any of us would have to ask: “What would I do if this was my child?” And that’s what spurred me into action. The more I got to know the family, the more I got to know their story, the more I got to realize that this is beyond politics, that this is worth any political risk, any potential cost it might be to me to try to find a solution for not only this little girl and her family, but, as I come to find out, there are hundreds of other parents with children in the exact same situation.

That’s what has motivated me over the last two years. And I was able to learn more about the medical cannabis industry and the impact it can have on lots of different diagnoses.

The biggest challenge — I mean, there’s a multitude. For one, it was having to overcome my own bias and perceptions, but then it became, OK, I’ve got to convince my colleagues, the majority of the Legislature and the Governor, to think like me — that this is a route we need to go down. It’s been a huge challenge, a huge learning curve, a huge education for all of my colleagues. The great news is that last year, they got it. They realized that we ought to find a solution for kids with seizures and other hurting Georgians.

We’ve had a challenge with law enforcement, who have said all we’re doing is opening the door to legalizing for recreational use, which is an absolute no-go, no-starter in Georgia. We’ve had challenges from the faith-based organizations, including a church group that I am a member of has come out against us. We’ve had it from all fronts.

And then I also have people mad at me because they don’t think I’m going far enough. Some of the angriest people have been those who have said I won’t support you because I don’t think you’re moving the ball far enough.

I’ve read reports that you’ve brought medical cannabis back to Georgia from other states, essentially breaking federal law. Is there any truth to that?

Well, I’ve got to be very careful what I say. This is what I’ve told folks: We’ve made sure that the parents and citizens that are properly registered with the state have gotten access to medicine that they can legally possess within the state.

Do you ever feel you’re risking your career?

There is absolutely a certain amount of risk in this, but it’s no greater risk than every other parent and every other citizen who are properly registered and want access to medical cannabis, not any greater risk than what they’re facing.

Me putting myself on the line just shows the lunacy of our laws to make criminals out of parents and citizens that only want medicine to improve the quality of their life. At some point, we’ve got to wake up to that — not only in Georgia, but in our country.

I can tell you this: Any risk I’ve taken has been worth every bit of it. When I check with the mom of a child whose life has been transformed — not healed, not made completely whole, but their quality of life has been made better through the use of medical cannabis — I’m telling you, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Gov. Nathan Deal has said he’s against your proposal to expand medical cannabis. Do you think he would veto HB 722 if it passes?

We’re working diligently with the governor and his team to try to come up with a bill that he could get comfortable with. We’ve decided to address all of the concerns and the issues that he has expressed. Most of those have to do with law enforcement concerns, so we’ve tried to address those. And so I’m hopeful that we can get to a point that he could, if not wholeheartedly support, not veto. But I’ve got a tough road ahead of me to get there. We’ve gone down this path with the governor before, where he had concerns in the bill that we had started to introduce last year and we were able to get to a compromise solution. A step one, if you will. I’m hopeful that by working with the governor to address his concerns and working with my colleagues, we’ll come up with something that does work, that allows access to safe, lab-tested, consistent product here in Georgia.

There are currently seven pieces of cannabis-related legislation pending in the Legislature. Do you support any others?

I can tell you this: I am laser-focused on one, and I think that mine is the most comprehensive and has the best chance of passage. It has the support of the Speaker of the House [David Ralston] who just made a very courageous decision to support this next step, the next logical step for Georgia. I’m going to stay focused on that. Any others, if they get to the House floor for a vote, then we’ll debate them and consider them at that time.

You’ve come to be known as the godfather of the medical marijuana movement in Georgia. Have you heard that one before?

I have. [laughs] I’ve heard a few things. It’s almost comical, the idea. A conservative Republican, never smoked marijuana in my life, to be now known as the godfather of medical cannabis is really quite comical. I’ve been captured by the plight of families and citizens that are hurting in Georgia, and all they want is access that could potentially improve their quality of life, and that’s what’s captured me.

The courage that these families show who have special needs children is just overwhelming. They face challenges and difficulties on a daily basis that most of us cannot even relate to at all. To see them fight for this issue and to fight for their children and the courage that they show, it’s made me very proud to be even a very small part of their lives, and it challenges me to keep fighting what I’m facing: nearly insurmountable odds. That’s been a very special part of this process.

One thing Leafly advocates for is a change in federal policy, rescheduling cannabis from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule II (or lower) substance, which would open the door for medicinal cannabis in all states.

You know, we hadn’t talked about that yet, but that’s the logical answer for a lot of the challenges Georgia faces and a lot of other states are facing. We need action at the federal level. Believe me, we are working our senators and our [representatives] and congressmen, but you know what? We can’t wait on them. Because while we’re waiting for the government to act, children are dying. Citizens are suffering. Grandmothers with multiple sclerosis are hurting.

And so, while the ultimate solution is some congressional action, we’ve got to control the destiny for our own citizens here in Georgia by passing logical, sensible, safe legislation for access to medical cannabis here in Georgia.

Is this a legacy issue for you?

I have to say it’s not the legacy I had in mind! I’ve done banning texting while driving, I’ve done stuff for Alzheimer’s. Never thought this would be what I was known for. But it’s been worth it, every bit of political capital I’ve spent. It’s been worth every bit of financial resources that I’ve invested, which has been significant, helping some of these families go to Colorado and come back. We started an organization called Journey of Hope, where we provided six months of rent and airfare and accommodations for these families to go to Colorado and back, when our original legislation failed in 2014.

You can do tax law all day long, but boy, being able to be a part of legislation that changes the quality of people’s lives? It doesn’t get any better than that in politics.

Medical Cannabis Headed Back to Florida Ballot

After narrowly failing to legalize medical cannabis in 2014, advocates in Florida are headed back to the ballot. Organizers announced Wednesday they’ve secured more than enough signatures to qualify a measure for the November election.

The matter will appear on the ballot as Amendment 2. If approved, it would allow cannabis use by patients with the following conditions:

Cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or other debilitating medical conditions of the same kind or class as or comparable to those enumerated, and for which a physician believes that the medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the potential health risks for a patient.

Production and distribution and would be regulated by the state health department, which would also be responsible for issuing cards to patients and caretakers. The complete ballot language is available here.

“Every day, doctors prescribe dangerous, addictive, and potentially deadly narcotics to their patients but can’t even suggest the use of marijuana, which has never killed a person in thousands of years of human civilization,” campaign manager Ben Pollara said in a statement. “Very soon, Florida doctors will finally have that option.”

A similar effort won 57.6 percent of votes just two years ago, but as as a constitutional amendment it needed 60-percent approval to pass. This time around, however, proponents are convinced public opinion has shifted in their favor. On its website, the group claims that over 70 percent of voters support legalizing medical cannabis.

“We feel very good that 60 percent plus of Florida voters will finally approve a true medical marijuana law,” Pollara told the Associated Press.

The campaign has set up a contribution page to accept donations.

Ep. 44 – He's a pot policy pro; She leads women in industry

Published: Jan 28, 2016, 11:49 am • Updated: Jan 28, 2016, 11:49 am Cannabist Staff Featured guests: Marijuana Policy Project communications director Mason Tvert and Women Grow founder Jane West. Podcast: Play in new window | Download We’re talking about the ways states can get marijuana legalized; new developments in the push for social pot […]

Marijuana survey finds medical users more likely to consume edibles and vaporize

A new study provides some of the first evidence about patterns of marijuana use in states that have legalized medical marijuana. It finds that medical marijuana users are more likely to vaporize or consume edible forms of the drug than recreational users. Researchers also found that 41 percent of people reported having used marijuana recreationally […]

Investigation of Cannabis for Pain and Inflammation in Lung Cancer

National Institutes of Health Medical Cannabis Research

Primary Outcome Measures: Change in pain ratings using The McGill Pain Questionnaire [ Time Frame: 6 weeks ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ] Participants will be asked to rate their pain over the 6 weeks of receiving active cannabis vs placebo. Change in sickness-related impairment using the Sickness Impact Profile Questionnaire [ Time Frame: 6 weeks ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ] Participants will be asked to rate physical symptoms for […]

Oregon Edibles May Soon Be Half-Strength

Oregon doesn’t want people to end up like Maureen Dowd.

In 2014 the prim and prolix New York Times columnist, staying in a Denver hotel and tickled by the prospect of legal cannabis, “nibbled off the end” of an infused candy bar. It sent her spinning:

I was panting and paranoid, sure that when the room-service waiter knocked and I didn’t answer, he’d call the police and have me arrested for being unable to handle my candy.

Oregon politicians think that’s a bad look for cannabis. So state health officials are tinkering with cutting edible THC limits in half. Proposed rules would curb single servings of THC to 5 milligrams — yes, half the currently allowed limit in Washington and Colorado. The limits wouldn’t apply to medical products.

Under the proposal, whole chocolate bars could contain no more than ten servings, or 50 milligrams of THC. Again, that’s half of what’s allowed in other states. Drinks, ice cream, and other products that aren’t easily separated into single servings would be limited to 20 milligrams per package.

Edibles aren’t yet available to recreational buyers in Oregon, but the state hopes to adopt rules by summer. The Oregon Health Authority, tasked with overseeing serving sizes, packaging, and labeling in the state, still hasn’t decided which limit to go with.

“I don’t know, truly, whether we’ll end up at 10 milligrams or 5 milligrams,” Dr. Katrina Hedberg, Oregon’s state health officer and state epidemiologist, told Leafly. “I don’t know.”

The goal is to give consumers what they want while still addressing common concerns, Hedberg said. Plenty of edibles in other states — chocolate bars, jelly beans, Sour Patch Kid knockoffs — no doubt look familiar and appeal to kids. Officials want to minimize both risks to children and newcomer horror stories like Dowd’s. “We do focus on particular concerns about the edible market because we’ve heard so many stories about it,” Hedberg said.

Of course, it’s not clear whether potency limits would actually fix problems. A rookie might still ignore instructions, and a toddler who downs an entire bag of gummies, half-strength or not, would still be in for an uncomfortable night. Will cutting potency in half mean fewer instances of youth use or overconsumption? “Very good question,” acknowledged Hedberg, “and I don’t know the answer.”

“Even though cannabis has been around for millennia, there’s a lot in terms of modern science which we’ve not been allowed to do because it’s Schedule I at the federal level,” she continued. “We don’t know the answer. What we see is what some of the problems are, and we’re faced with: How do we try to address what those problems are while avoiding reefer madness?”

Advocates for the cannabis industry call the rules well intentioned but ineffective. Bakers, chocolatiers, and ice cream makers aren’t as likely to sell as much product, they argue, because customers won’t be as interested in a watered-down buzz. “I mean, a lot of this is really just proper parenting,” John Bayes, owner of Green Bodhi, told the Oregonian.

Today, even in Colorado, where 10-milligram limits are in place, the state encourages beginners to be cautious. Informational cards at dispensaries read: “Start low. Go slow.” Friends and budtenders are quick to warn beginners to eat or drink a small portion and then wait — and keep waiting — until they’re sure it’s kicked in.

A cannabis overdose, while uncomfortable, won’t kill you. It’s a drug, yes, but its extremes are less extreme than overdoses of alcohol. If you’ve had too much, there are a number of ways to help ease what you’re going through.

One lesson, maybe, is that it’s more important to have information than limits. Dowd was by her own admission a “novice” consumer. First she nibbled “and then, when nothing happened, nibbled some more.”

The health authority had a public hearing on serving sizes earlier this month, and they’re hoping to finalize rules by spring. If all else fails, Hedberg at the Oregon Health Authority has at least one fallback option in mind to keep children far from cannabis.

“Put in in caviar!” she quipped. “No kid in their right mind is going to eat caviar. Put it in spinach!”

Treating MMJ Patients in Illinois: One Doctor’s Perspective

Illinois’ medical marijuana pilot program is finally off the ground, with 25 dispensaries now operating. Since the program’s November debut, the state has recorded more than $1 million in sales. Some are worried, though, that the program could be in trouble before it’s had a chance to succeed due to low patient enrollment. Although there are over more than 4,000 patients registered, officials anticipated that there would be closer to 30,000 patients at this point in the implementation process.

To gain a better understanding of the inner workings of the state’s Medical Cannabis Pilot Program, Leafly had a chance to speak with a qualifying general practitioner registered to make medical marijuana recommendations, Dr. Rahul Khare of Innovative Express Care in Chicago.

Leafly: What have been some of biggest challenges you’ve faced in entering the medical marijuana sector?

Rahul Khare: Honestly, it’s that there are a lot of conditions in Illinois that are not considered qualifying. It’s been incredibly difficult to have so many patients coming to me asking for help, but who are unable to get a recommendation for medical marijuana based on their condition. It’s an unfortunate situation. Many patients come to me as a general practitioner, rather than their own [doctor], which is frustrating for me to see. Often, they have asked their own physician about medical marijuana. For whatever reason, their doctor does not feel comfortable certifying their patient. The patients often get frustrated, ask their family or friends, and somehow come to me to switch their primary care to someone who is open to [cannabis] as a medication.

Leafly: Have your peers been surprised to find out that you’re working with medical marijuana patients?

Khare: It does surprise some, but I’ve been more surprised by how supportive my peers have been. Many of my colleagues work for hospitals, which are considered federal institutions, and they can’t get certified. Many people that I didn’t think would be supportive – friends, family – so many have reached out to me and are grateful to have someone who can answer their questions. I was hesitant to make it known to everyone, but everyone is very excited.

Leafly: One of the more controversial issues in Illinois concerns the expansion of qualifying medical conditions. If you could personally expand the qualifying conditions for the program, which additions do you think patients would most benefit from?

Khare: I’ve thought about this a lot, actually. If I could expand the qualifying conditions, I would include:

  • Dysthymic disorder – otherwise known as clinical depression
  • Panic disorder – I would much rather see patients using cannabis to manage their symptoms than addictive drugs like Xanax or “benzos” [benzodiazepines]
  • Intractable pain
  • Neuropathy, particularly in diabetics, can cause a constant, stinging sensation
  • Lyme disease – after the acute illness, patients experience chronic pain and aches, which has not been considered [as a qualifying condition]

These are the main conditions I would like to see included.

Leafly: What made you decide to get certified to recommend marijuana to begin with?

Khare: I had many patients who came to me asking about medicinal marijuana. I’m an advocate of medical marijuana – I’ve been to California and Colorado and heard a lot of success stories. These patients [who asked about medical marijuana] are taking large amounts of narcotics and opiates. There are studies coming out that show a decrease in the use of narcotics with the legalization and use of medical marijuana.

Leafly: Are patients worried about signing up? What is the general attitude that you see?

Khare: There are two groups of patients that I generally see. There are patients who are fearful of medical marijuana, some who have teenage children and want to be discreet – those patients are very aware of the stigma attached. The second group is those who are aware that there is a huge, nationwide discrepancy between federal and state laws. This is the group that questions, “Will this be taken away from me?” They recognize that it’s a very gray area, because it is, technically, a federal offense, but in all practicality a patient is very safe with a medical marijuana certification.

Leafly: Do you think the Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program will be extended beyond the 2017 deadline?

Khare: I believe so. The state of Illinois is in financial trouble and the amount of revenue they’re already seeing from the program is encouraging. There hasn’t been a lot of backlash from patients or opponents and this has already been done successfully in other states. The truth is that the dispensaries, the laboratories, the lobbyists, the physicians, they all want more people to have access and in that regard, the medical marijuana industry is much more aligned than the pharmaceutical industry. We are all in the same boat and there’s no conflict of interest. It’s interesting to see, right now, that all the people involved in the medical marijuana industry want the same thing: more patients signed up for medical marijuana. That will all change when there’s competition for patients, but for right now, they all want to help qualified patients to get certified for medical marijuana.

Broncos Strains vs. Panthers Strains: What to Consume for the Big Game

As this year’s wild ride of a football season winds up for a super-sized finish, the 50th iteration of “The Big Game” is taking place on February 7. Now the question remains: Which cannabis strains should you enjoy while you watch to see who will take home the trophy?

Like last year, we have a few suggestions up our sleeves. Whether you’re a ride-or-die Broncos supporter, a fanatical Panthers fan, or simply want to see what happens, we’ve lined up five strains for each team, plus three that are perfect for football regardless of who you support. Shout out the team you’re rooting for and what you’re planning to consume on Super Sunday in the comments!

For Broncos Supporters

303 OG

It won’t surprise anyone that this indica-dominant strain, which pays homage to the Broncos’ home area code, is Colorado-born and -bred. Its euphoric effects would pair perfectly with a home team victory.

Cat Piss

Broncos fans can only hope that their big-cat opponents are a little nervous for the Big Game. Cat Piss, a social sativa, is thus the perfect accompaniment to any game day party.

Do-Over OG

When Denver faced Seattle two years ago in the historic first championship to pit two legal states’ teams against one another, the term “bowl game” took on new meaning – but unfortunately, Denver fans’ hopes went up in smoke that year. Here’s to a do-over.

Kryptonite

After watching “Superman” build momentum in leading the Panthers to two big playoff wins thus far, Denver fans could do worse than stocking up on plenty of Kryptonite for Super Sunday.

Trifecta

With this year’s trip to Levi’s Stadium, the Broncos tie the record for most championship appearances ever, with eight. Unfortunately, they also hold the record for most losses ever, with five. This year, they aim for their third championship win to date.

For Panthers Fans

Blue Blood

Die-hard Panthers fans already claim to bleed blue blood, so they won’t have any trouble getting behind this spirited indica-dominant strain.

Orange Skunk

Facing off against a team with far more championship appearances under their belts than the Panthers themselves can count, Carolina fans will nevertheless be hoping that the team in orange gets skunked on February 7.

Pink Panther

Anyone looking to pay homage to Carolina’s mascot this weekend should stock up on this Panther-friendly hybrid strain, which promises euphoric effects to pair with a Panthers win.

Super Blue Dream

In the 20 years since their team was founded, the Panthers haven’t yet been able to bring the Lombardi trophy home to Charlotte. This year, their Super Dream is a Blue victory.

Superman OG

It’s no secret that Cam Newton, a.k.a. Superman, has led his team in blazing a trail to this year’s championship game. Pay homage to his suitable nickname with a strain that matches up.

No Matter Who You’re Supporting…

Bay Dream

As fans of all affiliations make their way to the Bay Area for Super Sunday, light up this social sativa and gear up for some football. Bonus: it provides an appetite boost, meaning you’ll be able to snack on the usual chips, dips, pizza, cupcakes and more classic football fare all day long.

Face Off OG

This indica-dominant strain promises relaxing effects, so if big sports games tend to be stressors for you, here’s a perfect way to enjoy yourself as Colorado and Carolina face off on-field.

Game Changer

If you just want to watch, and don’t care one way or the other, make a game of the Big Game and take a hit of this hybrid every time a touchdown is scored. No matter the outcome, given Game Changer’s euphoric effects you’re guaranteed to have a good time.

Mettrum Health Corp. Launches Premium Cannabis Oils Product Line

Mettrum Health Corp. (TSXV:MT), a fully-integrated licensed producer of premium cannabis products, launched its much-anticipated line of Mettrum Cannabis Oils.

As quoted in the press release:

Mettrum Cannabis Oils will be priced at $90 for one 40 ml bottle, which contains the equivalent medicinal content of five grams of dried marijuana. Mettrum produces whole-flower cannabis extracts using state-of-the art supercritical fluid CO2 extraction technology. The process extracts the major cannabinoids (THC and CBD), as well as the minor cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids that contribute to the overall medicinal value of medical cannabis. The result of this process is a highly concentrated resin. This extract is then suspended in an oil to make it easier to administer orally.  Mettrum uses medium chain triglyceride oil (MCT) in our formulations.  MCT is naturally occurring and used widely in the food, pharmaceutical and natural products industry. It is highly stable, flavourless, odourless, and allows for increased absorption making it ideal to use in cannabis oils.

Today, Mettrum is launching three oils in the Red, Blue, and Yellow categories, in line with the Mettrum Spectrum™, a trademarked system that helps physicians and their patients select the cannabis strain or strains that are most appropriate for their particular medical need. The Mettrum Spectrum™ allows for the categorization of medical cannabis products based on different ratios of key medicinal cannabinoids: cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The Blue and Yellow category oils are notably unique as they are derived from rare strains of cannabis with a high ratio of CBD to THC  ̶  making them a relevant treatment for an expanded population of prospective patients. In the coming weeks, additional products will be added to broaden the selection across the categories that make up the Mettrum Spectrum™.

The launch comes on the heels of the announcement that Mettrum received a license from Health Canada for the production of cannabis at its new 60,000-square-foot production facility in Bowmanville, Ontario.

Mettrum Health CEO, Michael Haines, stated:

As Canada’s second LP to receive a license to sell cannabis extracts, we’ve been working hard to deliver accessibly priced, premium oils for our clients. We are responding to the demand from patients and health care professionals alike for alternative consumption methods of medical cannabis.

The post Mettrum Health Corp. Launches Premium Cannabis Oils Product Line appeared first on Investing News Network.

How a Top Cannabis Investor Looks at Your Company

Since entering the cannabis space in 2013, Leslie Bocskor and his Las Vegas-based investment firm, Electrum Partners, have become high-profile oracles, investors, and advisers. It’s not just because Bocskor looks cool. He’s a passionate, demanding, clear-sighted financier who’s grounded the cannabis investment world in old-school virtues like research, market analysis, and due diligence.

Bocskor cut his teeth as an investment banker during the 1990s dot-com boom. He’s lived through investment mania, bubbles, and bursts. He’s been called the Warren Buffett of cannabis, but he’s more like Warren Buffett gone Burning Man. (Bocskor was, in fact, a regional coordinator for the festival in its early days.) In 2014, Cannabis Business Executive ranked him 58th on their list of The 100 Most Influential People in the industry. Last year the ArcView Investment Network named him its most valuable member.

I first met Bocskor three years ago at an ArcView meeting in Seattle. Cannabis investment conferences now draw thousands, but back then you could stuff all the willing financiers into a Tuff Shed. There were about 20 investors in attendance that day, and the only two who weren’t already running dispensaries or baking edibles were Bocskor and a retired pilot from Yakima. I don’t recall the pilot’s name. But Bocskor was memorable because— well, look at the guy. He’s not exactly trying to blend in. He never has.

During a swing through Las Vegas last week, I sat down with Bocskor in Electrum’s offices in downtown Las Vegas, about four miles north of The Strip. I wanted to know how he decided where to invest his money, and how the cannabis investment world had changed over the past three years. And, frankly, it’s just fun to hear him talk.

What follows is an edited version of our conversation. For the unexpurgated version, click on the embedded audio below.

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Download the full interview with Leslie Bocskor

Leafly: What do you look for in a potential investment?

Leslie Bocskor: We look at the team. I’d rather bet on an A team with a B project than a B team with an A project.

This is what I want to know: Have they gotten to previous exits before? Have they had successes? Are they working in a space in the cannabis industry that is based upon experience, best practices, knowledge, and relationships they’ve had before?

Example: Tom Quigley of The Gluu.

Tom is building a web-based platform for the distribution of products in the legal cannabis industry that don’t touch the plant. Think Cisco Foods for the cannabis industry. Think smoke shops, convenience stores, and, eventually, dispensaries, cultivation centers and processing centers. They all have certain needs that are specific to this industry. They also have needs that are not specific to the industry: toilet paper, copier toner, things like that. The way Cisco provides everything to a restaurant, Tom can provide everything to these shops.

He’s done it before. He built Krush Communications, got it to $25 million in revenue selling prepaid phone cards to smoke shops. So this is just rinse and repeat for him. I love finding a guy who’s had a team, a person who’s had success like that in a specific area, who is now migrating into this industry.

Here’s another example. If somebody has run a nursery and now they’re going to be running, let’s say they’re going to be creating the cannabis plants in their veg stage and then ship them to a grower who’s got a flowering limit, or has a canopy limit. One of the efficiencies people have been exploring is this: Maybe one licensee produces only veg plants, and then other licensees raise only flowering plants. So that way you take advantage of your canopy, you can be most effective, you don’t have to try to do two things. If somebody has experience running a nursery, and then they’re going to move into that space, I’m going to favor that company. Because of their previous experience, they’re going to know things that somebody who’s coming into it new won’t.

Second, I look at the value proposition.

I’m looking for the people who have the big vision. I’m looking for people who are going to be able to scale up a very large size. So someone who is looking to, like Tom Quigley, put together something that can achieve that size. Or another company I like, GrowBlox Sciences, they have ideas about creating cultivation technologies that will be usable not only in cannabis — which is going to be gigantic — not only in hemp, which is going to be gigantic, but in other industries and agricultural verticals as well. This is a business that could rapidly grow from something that is small, to hundreds of millions in revenue in a few years, because of all of the energy that the cannabis industry brings in.

Third, I look for people who have a very good understanding of the market. I want to speak to people who are walking, thinking, speaking rocks. They have it down. They know what the market that they’re entering looks like. They know what the nuances are. They’re aware of the agility needed to deal with the rapidly changing regulatory environment and the business issues that come from that. They have their due diligence solid and all referenced. I’m not looking for people who have assumptions and gut instincts. I’m looking for people who can reference why their gut instincts and their assumptions have meat on the bone.

Knowing the market includes knowing the competition. I want someone who’s looked at the competition and has a very clear and objective assessment of what the competitive landscape looks like. I’m not looking for someone who’s going to sugarcoat what they’re doing. I want them to be able to say: Here’s who we are, here’s what we have going for us, here are our challenges; here’s what the competition is, what they have going for them, and here’s our strategy to deal with that.

I want someone who’s thinking about the exit strategy. I don’t want people who are only in it to win it quickly. But I want them to understand that there’s got to be a terminus that you’re thinking about from the beginning. Am I building this company to sell it? Am I building it to be profitable and create dividends for shareholders? Am I creating this to look into the public markets? I want to know how they’ve looked at all of those questions.

Those are my criteria.

How is the cannabis investment market different than it was two or three years ago?

The market? The word of the day is agility. We’re migrating a massive black market into a regulated market. Relative to GDP, the economic impact of the end of cannabis prohibition will be substantively bigger than what alcohol meant to our economy relative to GDP in 1933. That’s because of industrial hemp. That’s because of medical marijuana. That’s because of pharmaceuticals being developed based upon the cannabis plant. That’s because of nutraceuticals and supplements that are going to be based on the cannabis plant. That’s because of recreational and what it represents to the industry.

There was a RAND report I read, a ten-year study from 2001 through 2010, that did a look back, and when it was published in 2011, they stated that the size of the illegal recreational market was $50 billion a year. For scale, I think when you look at the NFL, NHL, MLB, and NBA together they bring in around $35 billion in revenue a year. That gives you an idea of scale.

Why does this reference back to agility? When you’re migrating a deregulated market to a regulated market, you’re dealing with the patchwork issues of the different regulatory frameworks in each jurisdiction, both domestic and international, and the fact that these markets are just evolving.

Look at Nevada. Nevada passed a medical marijuana law in 2001. It allowed for cultivation and consumption, but no market. You couldn’t buy or sell. There was no way to create any type of economy. As such, it wasn’t fair to the patients. Because if somebody gets diagnosed with a disease, they don’t want to have to become a botanist to treat themselves.

Then in 2013 Nevada passed another set of legislation that created what is the best regulatory framework for cannabis in the entire world. That was an evolution. You have to have the agility to anticipate those shifts, to be able to deal with those shifts, understand the business issues that those shifts represent, and make sure you’re going to adapt.

Federal illegality is making it so that each state is creating its own “ringed fence” market. Interstate commerce does not apply with regard to anything that touches the plant. You have to have the agility, the nimbleness, to work in many different states. If you’re really looking for the long play, the big win, you have to be able to play in Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, California, as each state evolves.

You mentioned Nevada as the best framework for cannabis in the world. What about Nevada leads you to say that? Is it the entire package? Are there specific parts of it that are done particularly well?

There are a couple parts that are done well. First of all, Nevada has more experience in developing regulatory frameworks for things that are illegal or quasi-legal in other jurisdictions than any other jurisdiction in the world. We invented regulated gaming here in this state. We’ve spent years figuring out how to do it right.

I like to give this example: When was the last time you heard a story about a casino cheating a patron? It doesn’t happen. Not because the press doesn’t publish it. They’d love to publish it if they could find it. But Nevada is so diligent in making sure its operators color within the lines, you don’t hear about it. Because there’s no reason to do it. You’re going to win as long as you play by the rules — so why play outside the rules? That’s why there’s a saying here: It’s easier to become a Secret Service agent covering the President of the United States than it is to get an unlimited gaming license in the state of Nevada.

So in developing the regulatory framework for the cannabis industry, the legislators and the regulators drew upon their experience with gaming. They wanted to make sure we had a business-friendly environment, a transparent system, a fair system. We wanted to make sure it was going to be good for consumers and good for the state.

So what differentiates Nevada? We’re the only jurisdiction in the world that has medical marijuana reciprocity. That’s a game changer.

If you have a recommendation from anywhere in the world, you can come to the great state of Nevada and go to one of our dispensaries and become a customer. Nowhere else has anyone used that common sense — not even Hawaii. You would expect that Hawaii, a state where tourism means so much to their economy, would have done that. Yet they will not include reciprocity until 2018.

New York, which has 55 million tourists a year, is essentially telling people who are medical marijuana patients: “If you’re going to come to New York, we do recognize medical marijuana and have a program, but you’re either going to have to break the law and fly with it or travel with it across state lines or go to the black market when you get here, because we won’t let you go to our dispensaries even if you have a recommendation from another jurisdiction.” To me, that’s just patently absurd.

The growth over the past three years in the number of investors interested in cannabis has been phenomenal. Are you seeing smart money come in, or are these conferences filling with a lot of people who are, maybe, not doing such intelligent things with their money?

We’re seeing smart money coming in. Very smart.

The level of due diligence, the level of decision-making, has been amplified dramatically. I’m now speaking to people who are talking about commodities and commodity pricing. I’m speaking to people who come out of the finance world. Traders. Fund managers. They’re not bringing their funds in. They’re bringing their personal money in. These are smart people who for years have been studying investing, and now they’re coming to this industry to invest, individually.

So, smart money. And a lot of it.

I was in New York recently. I held a little dinner with ten guests. One of the guests was an attorney who’s a partner in a firm that represents over 1,000 funds. And there were three family offices represented at that dinner. These are extremely sophisticated investors.

Now, are there still people who are just throwing money around? Maybe a little bit. But I’m finding that investors are making smarter decisions in this industry than they did in investing in the internet back in the mid to late nineties when I was working in that area.

Why? Is the fact that it’s cannabis making them more cautious?

Yes. Because of federal illegality versus state legality, the complex regulatory issues, the consideration of the risks, the stigmas attached to it, the political risk, the social risk, the business risk that’s attached to being involved in it. All these considerations are forcing people to spend more time on their research and their due diligence.

It’s still very hard for the individual investor. Let’s be candid. Investing in anything as an individual investor, it’s very hard to win. That being said, people are being very, very diligent.

The quality of the companies and the quality of the investors has dramatically changed at ArcView. Not that it wasn’t good. But now it’s got many more investors and a higher benchmark in terms of what’s expected and what people are delivering.

Image Source: Will Yakowicz via Flickr Creative Commons

Why Has Arkansas’ MMJ Initiative Been Rejected 7 Times?

What’s going on in Arkansas?

News out of the Razorback state last week had Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge rejecting a seventh marijuana ballot initiative since taking office in 2014. As with her previous rejections, Rutledge said her latest denial was based on the “ambiguous language” of the proposal. David Couch, the attorney who submitted the most recent proposal, has had his two previous proposals rejected based on ambiguous language as well.

The Arkansans for Compassionate Care, or Arcompassion, has been working for years to try to get a medical marijuana initiative before voters. The campaign came within inches of success with Issue 5 in 2012, when it lost by a slim margin of 49 percent in favor to 51 percent against.

In 2014, Arcompassion came back with the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act, a ballot initiative approved during the final days of former Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s term in 2014, before Rutledge took office.

When reached for comment, a spokesman for the office, Judd Deere, released the following statement to the media:

“Attorney General Rutledge states, ‘neither certification nor rejection of a popular name and ballot title reflects my view of the merits of the proposal. This Office has been given no authority to consider the merits of any measure when considering the sufficiency of a proposed ballot title.'”

The Attorney General’s statement reflects an awareness that her office is coming under increasing scrutiny for rejecting multiple marijuana proposals during her brief time in office. But rejecting proposals based on ballot titles is nothing new in Arkansas, according to the advocates at Arcompassion.

Ryan Denham, the Deputy Director of Arkansans for Compassionate Care, isn’t surprised at the constant pushback from the AG’s office. His group endured extraordinary delays during its effort to get a signoff on Issue 5 in 2012.

“When we applied back in 2012, we weren’t approved either the first time,” Denham told Leafly. “We had to resubmit our initiative four times before it was approved on the fifth try. I think the Attorney General just wants to make sure the ballot title accurately reflects the law, especially when the bill is a dozen pages long.”

The current medical marijuana campaign has been gathering signatures in preparation for the 2016 ballot and will need to obtain 67,887 total signatures in the next six months in order to qualify, but Denham is hoping to exceed that number.

“We want to get 150 to 200 percent of the signatures that we need,” he said. “We have approximately 55,000 signatures in hand right now and we want to gather another 40,000 before we turn them in.”

The Arkansans for Compassionate Care’s initiative, the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act, is the most likely bet for a medical marijuana bid in 2016. The campaign will hold a Super Tuesday Signature Surge on March 1st at locations around the state, so sign up as a volunteer if you want to see change for Arkansas this year.

“Arkansas has seen states like New York and Illinois legalize,” Denham said. “We’ve seen that the sky hasn’t fallen, terminally ill people are gaining access to medicine, and it’s generating tax revenue. Arkansas borders seven states, which have almost no cannabis laws… This is more than just a local or state issue, this is a national issue and we’re hoping that we can influence some of the more conservative states around us.”