Dear Stoner: Why does smoking weed make you hungry? Like, does science know why?
Stewie
Dear Stewie: The munchies are real, man. Although no one could definitively point to a brain reaction and say “There it is” for a long time, by 2015 marijuana’s ability to increase appetite was already widely accepted enough for it to be used as medicine for eating disorders in over twenty states. Science finally gave the munchies its stamp of approval last year, when a study from Yale University discovered that marijuana tricks the brain by increasing the production of cannabinoids and lipids that stimulate our appetite, whether we’re full of food or not.
When you’re a solid six out of ten in the looks department, you have to break outside the box to get a pretty, popular girl’s attention. I’ve tried acting like the funny guy or Mr. Sensitive, to little avail. And, of course, I’ve played the “Everyone thinks you’re hot but I don’t” card, which just led to another losing hand.
I used the same tactic when the Girl Scout Cookies strain was so hot. In 2011, everyone wanted to smoke anything with the word “cookie” in it, and I was getting sick of the fad; it was like the planking (remember that?) of the weed world. But then I actually smoked some.
No, this isn’t a super-happy cult: It’s a cannabis and yoga class put together by the master of relaxation himself. We recently interviewed Yogi D about his upcoming 420 Yoga Retreat, happening at Aspen Canyon Ranch on September 30 through October 2.
For a taste of what’s to come, Yogi D invited Westword into the sacred and spiritual realm that only the pairing of yoga and marijuana consumption can tap into. The class took place in Cluster Studios, an artist space that hosts cannabis-friendly events at 3881 Steele Street. The late-night crowd was comfortable, and people only got more comfortable as one-hitters were passed around in a circle outside the front door. The atmosphere was welcoming to even the most novice of beginners.
Big-money investors are starting to see the upside in going “green.”
It’s the largest cannabis raise yet.
The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
New York-based Tuatara Capital has raised $93M to invest in the industry. It’s the largest known cannabis investment fund, so far.
It’s possible that Canadian cannabis companies could list on U.S. stock exchanges before American ones, since the Canadian outfits would have the support of their federal government. Last month, Ontario’s Canopy Growth became the first cannabis producer to trade on a major exchange (Toronto).
In Tampa, Regions Bank furnished a $100,000 credit line to nutrient and equipment business Efftec International. The bank’s parent company Regions Financial is a Fortune 500 company that trades on the New York Stock Exchange.
A member of the local health board wants Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, Calif. to be the first hospital in the country where MED is used “openly and transparently.”
A lab at Stanford is working on a saliva test for police to use on drivers. PLOS describes a newly discovered anti-psychotic mechanism for CBD.
Missouri is suing two stores for providing CBD-oil without a license. Following the DEA announcement, Time listed seven questions scientists want to study.
A European study found no correlation between cannabis use and an elevated need for health care services.
A Minnesota MED patient tells the story of her quest to relieve disabling back pain.
Denver lawyer Robert J. Corry writes that some patients do need 75 plants. Colorado recently limited the number of plants patients can have to 75, and suspended four doctors for recommending higher plant counts to hundreds of patients. Without special permission, Colorado patients can have six plants at home. The four doctors, who didn’t violate an established rule, have asked for their suspensions to be lifted.
A new law will allow Canadian MED patients to grow a “ limited amount” at home. A Canadian mom says hospital nurses in Toronto refuse to administer MED to her very ill son, due to opaque regulations.
Legalization in Canada could be the end of the country’s formal MED program.
Two dozen were treated after eating edibles at a festival in Ohio. There was a similar incident at abachelorette party in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.
A photo from the Clinic Charity Classic tournament in 2014.
The folks at O.penVAPE, a Colorado-based manufacturer of vaporizer devices, cartridges and other marijuana-related products, were disappointed when the Denver Broncos declined to consider their proposal to purchase naming rights for Mile High Stadium.
But that doesn’t mean that representatives of the firm are putting distance between them and the NFL — or at least former NFL players who advocate for the use of medical cannabis.
There’s a new marijuana competition in town that aims to crown the best cultivator in Colorado. “We hope you guys are ready to grow some really fire weed,” says Sohum Shah, co-founder of The Grow Off, the self-proclaimed “quantitative quest for the best.”
The Grow Off is designed as a cannabis competition for the industry. In its inaugural year, the three founders plan to send a mystery strain of solid genetics (non-hermaphrodite) cannabis to fifty growers around the state. After documenting the growing process over the course of six months, the contest will determine who qualifies as the best marijuana cultivator in Colorado.
Update: In July, supporters of the Neighborhood Supported Cannabis Consumption Pilot Program, which would allow the social use of marijuana at participating businesses in Denver, began collecting signatures to get their proposal on the Denver ballot in November; see our previous coverage below.
The results of these efforts, which spanned a period of less than a month, will be touted at a press conference this morning.
According to the campaign, more than 10,800 signatures will be submitted to the Denver Elections Division — more than double the 4,726 required to qualify for the ballot.
At SFWeekly, I argued that the 2016 Presidential candidates have dodged their responsibility to discuss legalization.
Ohio is looking for an experienced pot grower to help write the state’s MED rules. The successful applicant will likely have to pass a drug test.
The National Conference of State Legislatures endorsed rescheduling.
North Dakota will vote on MED in November. Arizona will vote on REC. Supporters of the Oklahoma MED initiative are “ cautiously optimistic” that they gathered enough signatures to make the ballot.
Two MED initiatives could qualify for the Arkansas ballot. The question of which one voters get to decide may end up in court. The Arkansas Farm Bureau and the state’s Chamber of Commerce oppose both.
Denver’s limited public use initiative collected more than double the number of signatures needed to qualify for a vote in November.
Nashville may decriminalize. The Chicago Tribune visits a grow house, and catches up on the Illinois industry.
High Times lists its “ hateful-eight,” the country’s most influential legalization opponents.
Illegal drug sales on the so-called dark web have tripled since the 2013 closure of the site Silk Road.
Watch out for knock-off vaporizers.
In Oregon, some Craigslist sellers ask for payment in cash or cannabis. Minnesota’s two MED producers are both losing money.
Baker started out like most startups: with an idea.
Roger Obando had already been in the startup world for nearly twenty years when he started thinking about marijuana and how new technology could improve the industry. He was living in New York in 2014 when a medical marijuana law passed in that state, and he began to research what would soon become a booming industry.
Joel Milton and David Champion were working on a different startup at the time. The three had discussed working together, but it wasn’t until Obando overheard a conversation they were having about the marijuana industry that they realized they shared a passion. They immediately sat down and started brainstorming, Obando recalls.
Announcing yet another lawsuit filed against a sketchy local business selling the dangerous synthetic drug “kush” under the counter, city, county and state officials gathered Thursday to renew calls to end the drug’s epidemic.
On Tuesday, the City of Houston and the Texas Attorney General’s Office busted Spice Boutique with a deceptive trade lawsuit, seeking an immediate temporary restraining order against the business to stop it from selling any more kush. Spice Boutique may also have to pay hundreds of thousands in damages, depending on what a potential jury may find appropriate as punishment.
In addition, two men in their forties who ran the operation, Minh Dang and Tuan Dang, have been arrested and charged with engaging in organized criminal activity. Police recovered 30 pounds of illegal narcotics and thousands of dollars in gold during the investigation, which began in June just after 16 people, many of them homeless, overdosed on kush in Hermann Park. It was an incident that prompted Mayor Sylvester Turner to start cracking down on kush in Houston.