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U.S. Teens Prefer Pot to Binge Drinking

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By on News, Uncategorized

In Europe, they drink much more than they smoke cannabis.

The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.

U.S. teens are more likely to smoke pot than to binge drink according to a new study. A government study says Miamians are more anti-weed than residents of any other U.S. city, a finding at odds with a visit to Miami.

Vice says legalizing can mitigate problems associated with synthetic cannabis.

LAWeekly talks to Dr. Francis D’Ambrosio, an orthopedic surgeon turned pot activist. “Is the medicine working?” he asked a patient. “Well, then it’d be criminal of me not to renew your prescription.”

The long awaited PTSD study for veterans is recruiting volunteers.

A New York doctor is accused of trading a prescription for the powerful opioid Suboxone for a few grams of pot.

Police in Baton Rouge, La., have reduced their enforcement of narcotics offenses since Alton Sterling was fatally shot on July 5.

Marco Vasquez, police chief of Erie, Colo., spoke in favor of legalization at a national law enforcement conference.

Forbes explains how a Congressional career offender provision got Tennessee grower Paul Fields sentenced to 15 years. It was Fields’ third offense. For the second one, he was sentenced to 100 days.

Hundreds of doctors in Georgia have registered to recommend low-THC, high-CBD cannabis oil but there’s no official directory. Word of mouth is the only way to find one of the doctors.

Bruce Schulte, former chair of Alaska’s Marijuana Control Board, was fired by Gov. Bill Walker (Ind.). Schulte said the state is trying to “subvert” the industry.

Anti-REC activists in Arizona say the state’s upcoming initiative would  block employers  from firing people for cannabis use. In fact, the proposed law says the opposite.

Portland City Council appears ready to undo some of the restrictions governing dispensary operations. Humboldt County, Calif. growers are divided on a proposed excise tax.

Dear Stoner: What Can You Do With a Broken Vape Pen?

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Dear Stoner: I bought a disposable hash pen, and it broke. I took it back to the dispensary (they were great about it and gave me a new one), but the budtender said I could keep my old one and use the liquid for topicals. What did he mean by that?
J Money

Dear Money: Let’s hope that one day these hash pens reach a true level of consistency; I occasionally get one that leaks, too.

You have several options with a leaky pen. If you want to vape the oil, you can buy a pen battery and refillable cartridge at a vape shop and try to siphon the oil from your disposable pen into the empty cartridge. If the budtender suggested using the liquid as a topical, he probably meant that you could mix it with something to rub on your aching joints or muscles for pain relief. The topicals you see at dispensaries are all infused with cannabis oil, which is pretty much the same stuff in your pen (without the vaping liquid), but they come in the form of balms and lotions for easy application, as rubbing hash oil on your body can get messy. However, topicals infused with cannabis oils are high in CBD, not THC. CBD doesn’t get you stoned; it’s used for sleep aid, pain relief and inflammation. So unless you bought a high-CBD pen, rubbing concentrated THC on your skin probably won’t do much more than make it glisten and smell like hash. Perfect hippie bait.

DEA’s Marijuana Rescheduling Announcement May Not Come in 2016

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Update: It’s unofficially official. A senior executive at the Drug Enforcement Administration has confirmed that the DEA will not be rescheduling marijuana in 2016, says a local attorney who spoke with him late last week. “The DEA is not going to reschedule marijuana this year … they aren’t issuing a public announcement about the change,” the attorney adds.

Many marijuana advocates — and the legislators who support them — have been hoping that the DEA would reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule II substance. The reclassification would acknowledge that the drug holds medical value and allow for more research.

How to Make Your Own Cannabis-Infused Butter

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By on Products, Uncategorized

Cannabutter is a core ingredient in many edibles recipes, from traditional pot brownies to more elaborate cannabis-infused dishes. Learning how to make your own cannabutter is a great way to understand the process of how THC is extracted from cannabis and infused into butter and oils — so we’re here to help, with a recipe for homemade cannabutter.

The most important factors in this recipe are time and heat. The mixture needs to be hot enough for the THC to break down and bind to the fat molecules, but not so hot that it begins to scorch the herb or fry away those precious cannabinoids. So keep an eye on the saucepan to make sure the liquid stays at a long, low simmer and doesn’t hit a full boil.

Before long, you’ll have a jar of cannabutter available to use in your favorite recipe or simply spread on some warm toast.

Pot Industry Employs More Than 100,000

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By on News, Uncategorized

And that’s the low estimate.

The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.

The industry employs between 100,000 and 150,000 Americans according to the Marijuana Business Factbook. Ancillary businesses that don’t touch the plant account for about 40 % of jobs.

In Massachusetts, cities are awarding recommendations for state licenses to dispensaries that promise payments in return.

Canada’s Canopy Growth Corp. will list on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the first cannabis producer to trade on a major exchange. It also announced plans to start selling MED in Germany.

The IRS is auditing 30 Colorado pot companies, mainly related to large cash deposits. (Cannabis companies still struggle to find bank accounts.) Criminal charges may follow.

Lots from New Cannabis Ventures: Social network MassRoots is launching a dispensary finder to compete with Weedmaps and Leafly. Ackrell Capital, the investment bank, is starting a cannabis business accelerator called Cannavator in Oakland. Nationwide there are at least three others. Canadian grower Aphria raised $25M.

NCV founder Alan Brochstein is skeptical of Cultivation Technologies Inc. which has a big project planned in Coachella, Calif. A guest post at the site recommended that companies create budget brands for lower income customers.

Gateway incubator co-founder Carter Laren says start-ups still confront the “ghost of Nancy Reagan.”

Data firm Headset determined that the average user in Washington state spends $647 on legal cannabis per year. Marketwatch has more data from the study.

An investor is suing California edibles company Altai for spending his cash on private jets, luxury hotels and personal legal bills.

The publishing industry is putting out a slew of weed books, including the Complete Idiot’s Guide to growing.

Entrepreneur spotlights the industry in Boulder. Despite difficulties in Pueblo, Colo., businesses continue to invest big there.

A British Airways flight turned around shortly after departing London due to an unexplained cannabis smell.

David Schmader on Jokes, Jam Bands and Weed: The User’s Guide

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David Schmader talks pot at TEDx.

David Schmader is a legend in Seattle, where he writes for alternative newspaper The Stranger and serves as creative director for an award-winning nonprofit writing center, the Greater Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas. He’s also an essayist, performance artist, podcast guest (listen to him on Dan Savage’s 500th episode of the Savage Lovecast) and marijuana connoisseur. His new book, Weed: The User’s Guide, has gotten rave reviews – and although you don’t need to know anything about weed to find it entertaining, it’s also very enjoyable to read while you’re consuming cannabis.

We recently talked with Schmader to get his take on jam bands, Jesus, and why Weed was the “best Mother’s Day gift ever!”

Poll: Republicans Favor Legal Weed

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By on News, Uncategorized

Politicians have not caught up with public opinion. 

The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.

A new poll found that for the first time, Republicans narrowly favor legalizing marijuana, 45% to 42%. Last week, however, Republicans voted against including support for MED in their party platform. As far as I saw, the plant went unmentioned at the convention.

Hillary Clinton named Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (D) as her running mate. Speaking at a high school in April, Kaine said he favors “drastic changes in sentencing laws…[but] wouldn’t vote for a law at the federal or state level that would decriminalize marijuana.” Kaine has a NORML rating of F.

Donald Trump has a NORML rating of C+. Hillary Clinton gets a B+. Libertarian Gary Johnson scores an A+.

Leafly meets Ann Lee, founder of Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition (RAMP). Lee, 86, attended the GOP convention as an alternate in the Texas delegation. Her son Richard Lee founded the trade school Oaksterdam University in Oakland.

Decriminalization appears to have support from the Texas Association of Business and  bipartisan support in the Texas legislature. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) opposes legalization.

Marijuana.com digs up that the DEA has reduced the size of its 2017 cannabis order from last year. This hints, the piece suggests, that the agency will not reschedule. The DEA gets its weed from a facility at the University of Mississippi, the only federally legal grow in the country.

Fifty-one percent of voters oppose Massachusetts’ REC initiative and 41% percent support. The numbers are similar in Arizona.

An Arizona judge will hear cannabis-opponents in a case that could block the upcoming REC vote. They argue that the 100-word petition voters signed didn’t adequately explain the effects of legalization. Plaintiffs include Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery (R), Phoenix’s lead prosecutor.

Last year, before a weed convention in Phoenix, Montgomery offered “An aside, just a polite warning to folks traveling here…I can’t confirm or deny whether or not local or federal law enforcement may be on hand in an undercover capacity. So welcome to Phoenix, enjoy your stay, but be careful.”

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) opposes the state’s MED initiative. In Wisconsin, a poll found that REC legalization has 59% support. Activists are collecting signatures for a MED initiative in Oklahoma.

Florida’s first CBD dispensary opens this week. The state is expected to vote on MED in November.

Dear Stoner: Does the Pot Industry Need Civil Engineers?

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By on Uncategorized

Dear Stoner: My dad has expressed an interest in getting in on all this marijuana business; as a supportive daughter, I’m wondering if there is any opportunity for a veteran civil engineer in the industry.
Marisa

Dear Marisa: Your dad is probably overqualified for 99.5 percent of the jobs in the marijuana industry at the moment — but he could still find ways to use his skills, and there may be more opportunities in the future. Depending on what sort of civil engineer he was/is, he could help design the exteriors of grow houses. With all of the energy that hydroponic systems use in warehouses, I’m sure commercial growers and environmentalists alike would be interested in maximizing efficiency and minimizing energy use.

State-of-the-art grow warehouses will be more in demand as other states legalize pot. And if the federal government ever reclassifies it, big business will get involved — and will need people like your dad to make sure it’s not wasting money. If this whole legal-weed thing stays around long enough, businesses might even want to invest in artistic or sustainable cultivation operations, similar to what breweries and wineries do. How cool would it be to become the Frank Lloyd Wright of commercial pot cultivation?

California Cops Fear Rise of Big Marijuana

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By on News, Uncategorized

Legalization troubles some cops.

Excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.

LA Weekly asked cops why they oppose the Adult Use Marijuana Act (AUMA) California’s REC ballot initiative. “This is not a law-enforcement jihad or Reefer Madness,” Ken Corney, Ventura’s police chief and president of the California Police Chiefs Association said. “Proposition 64 isn’t about green, leafy marijuana that people smoke at home or pass across the aisle at a concert. It’s a for-profit play to bring the commercialization of marijuana to California.”

The piece continues: “[Corney] subscribes to the theory, so far unproven, that the proposition’s biggest financial backer, Holmby Hills tech billionaire Sean Parker, is in it to open the door to Big Marijuana profits for rich folks like himself.”

The group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition endorsed AUMA.

Three Santa Ana, Calif. cops who were caught on video last year snacking and mocking an amputee (“I was about to kick her in her fucking nub”) during a dispensary raid are no longer with the department. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office has filed petty theft charges against the three officers.

The three had argued that they believed police had already disabled all of the cameras and therefore “had a reasonable expectation that their conversations and actions were no longer being recorded.”

Art Way, Colorado state director for Drug Policy Alliance writes:

Those with vested interest in the devaluation of black life and the criminalization of black                            communities need the drug war for political cover. Those who want to end state sanctioned                        murders should consider joining forces to end the drug war. 

This is a war waged to keep the black, brown and poor disenfranchised all while using their bodies as commodities for a prison industrial complex similar to the human commodification witnessed during slavery. ( H/T Word on the Tree )

A small but growing number of Canadian RCMP officers (the equivalent of FBI agents) are getting their MED reimbursed by the government.

In the Philippines, imprisoned drug lords have raised a $21 million reward for whoever kills the country’s new president Rodrigo Duterte. For his part, Duterte offers bounties of $1 million for drug lords killed and $600,000 for drug lords captured. According to his administration, 75 percent of the drugs in the country were manufactured inside its largest prison.

Industry hub Pueblo, Colo. has seen quite a few drug busts.

A Pennsylvania man has been charged with abuse of a corpse after blending weed with brain embalming fluid.

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