Year after year, the Cookies team stamps new strains that go on to become all-time greats. From GSC to Gary Payton, here are Cookies’ most legendary contributions to the cannabis gene pool.
The post The top Cookies cannabis strains of all time appeared first on Leafly.
Until recently, all of the “big” social media companies banned U.S. companies from cannabis advertising on their platforms. At the same time, they imposed pretty unclear and inconsistent requirements on hemp advertising (in this post, when I refer to “cannabis” I mean only “marijuana” consistent with many states’ definitions of the term). All of this led to companies rolling the dice, posting things that rubbed right up against the edges of the bans, and sometimes losing their accounts without any real remedy. That is now changing, at least on Twitter.
Twitter has, for at least a few years, allowed limited cannabis advertising on its platform from licensed Canadian companies. In the U.S. though, it only allowed limited hemp advertising for things like topical hemp products. Its policy had extremely strict guardrails to ensure that advertisers complied with state law. Now a very similar policy is being implemented for cannabis advertising.
Twitter’s cannabis advertising rules are set out in the “Drugs and drug paraphernalia” section of its website policies. The policy merges hemp advertising and cannabis advertising restrictions into one unified policy, which has the following affirmative requirements:
The Twitter policy also states that cannabis advertisements and hemp advertisements may:
It’s clear that the Twitter policy does not give carte blanche to allow any kind of cannabis advertisements. Instead, cannabis firms may be able to advertise (but not for specific products) if they have licenses, are pre-authorized by Twitter (and it’s not yet 100% clear what Twitter will require to give its consent), only advertise to persons over 21, and do not engage in any of the prohibited conduct noted above.
The prohibited conduct section is interesting in that it seems to mix in concepts from hemp and cannabis regulation in ways that I do not think make a lot of sense. For example, advertisers are prohibited from making health claims. While this makes sense for hemp advertising given the FDA’s prohibition on health claims, it makes no sense for cannabis. Most states that authorize cannabis only authorize medical cannabis. Companies in those states will need to be extremely careful not to make any medical claims in their advertisements, even though their entire business model and licensing regimes are set up around the health benefits of cannabis.
Additionally, the Twitter policy prohibits cannabis and hemp advertising from encouraging interstate transport. This makes sense for cannabis advertising where interstate transport is not yet allowed. But it makes no sense for hemp advertising given that hemp is routinely sold in interstate commerce in ways that do not violate state law.
The bottom line is that the Twitter policy is less than perfect but is definitely a step in the right direction. Over time, we expect that the company will adopt changes to the policy to reflect the fact that the same rules cannot be easily applied to both cannabis and hemp. In the meantime, stay tuned to the Canna Law Blog for more updates on social media cannabis advertising.
The post Twitter to Allow Some Cannabis Advertising appeared first on Harris Bricken Sliwoski LLP.
Do you suck at rolling joints? You need not worry, because most likely, the majority of casual smokers fall into the same category. Laissez les bons temps rouler—French for “Let the good times roll”—is today’s unofficial mantra.
Mardi Gras—French for “Fat Tuesday”—falls on February 21 this year, always taking place on a Tuesday. You may not be heading south to New Orleans or Lafayette, Louisiana, but chances are there is a holiday sale at a nearby dispensary or a cannabis-themed Mardi Gras party. There are a lot (we checked).
You don’t have to possess the sleight of hand—the roll-and-tuck finger motions of rolling a joint or blunt—to get away with rolling a joint. Fact is, many of us do not possess that skill, even some of the ones who have smoked for years.
Before you graduate onto more advanced joints involving woven licorice papers and twaxxed out tips, here are a few hacks to get around the hardest parts of rolling a joint.
High Times put together not one but two newbie hacks for the rolling-impaired. And chances are that you’re gonna be impaired in some form today if you’re celebrating Mardi Gras. Plus, you might need some extra weed for the hangover.
Before you let your hair down and get your Mardi Gras beads, here’s some hacks if you’re too impaired to roll:
Credit Card Swipe Hack
The only tool you need for this hack is a debit card or a credit card—expired ones are fine in this case. I first learned this trick by watching the host of the TV show Wake and Bake with Dom Brown on @HiptrTV. Dom Brown called the trick a Life-Changing Joint Rolling Hack. He learned the trick while on tour in California with DJ Jelo, and swears that this hack changed his life forever. The main point of this hack is to avoid the roll-and-tuck step that causes some newbies to mess up.
You’ll need:
Credit or debit card
Rolling papers
Tips
Bud
Using a four-piece grinder or a mill, grind up your herbs into a crumbly consistency, but not quite sawdust powder. It needs to be ground up fine enough to not stab and tear the rolling paper, but you also don’t want it to burn up like tinder.
Grab your papers of choice, take one out, and make a canoe shape—first ensuring that the gum side is facing upwards, or in the right place it needs to be in order to seal your joint properly.
Get a crutch, filter, tip, or whatever else you call the end of your joint that goes into your mouth. You can use cardstock and make a spiral or accordion shape, or something more creative. Place it on the rolling paper canoe. You’ll have to roll it tightly around it to secure.
Fill the paper with your ground up bud. You don’t want to pack it too tightly or you won’t be able to suck the smoke through. Try to make a cylinder shape.
Then use the credit or debit card to tuck in the outside of the paper closest to you, sliding it down the length of the joint to tuck in the paper. As you can see in Dom Brown’s video, the paper will probably fold and that’s OK. It makes the roll-and-tuck part much easier, which is really the hardest part of rolling a joint.
The final step is the same as any joint: lick the stick edge and seal. Alternatively, if you’re germ-conscious, use a paintbrush with water or a sponge.
Backwards Pencil Joint Hack
Most likely you’ve heard about using a pen or pencil to roll a joint. Basically the core of this concept is that you do it backwards: You make the paper tube before you even put weed inside. Then you fill it with ground up bud. The downside is that it takes a bit of time and patience to pack in the weed in a manner that will burn consistently.
You’ll need:
A pen or pencil
Toothpick or skewer
Rolling papers
Tips
Bud
Using a four-piece grinder or a mill, grind up your herbs into a crumbly consistency, but not quite sawdust powder. It needs to be ground up fine enough to not stab and tear the rolling paper, but you also don’t want it to burn up like tinder.
Get a crutch, filter, tip, or whatever else you call the end of your joint that goes into your mouth. You can use cardstock and make a spiral or accordion shape, or something more creative.
Place the tip at the end of the pencil, holding together. Roll the rolling paper around the pencil or pen, wet, and seal. You want it to be semi-snug around the crutch but not too tight, or you won’t be able to pull the pencil out. Pull out the pen or pencil but leave the tip secured.
First, get a tray underneath your working area, because you’ll probably spill a lot of ground-up bud. Then slowly fill the paper tube. You’re going to have to use a skewer or a toothpick to pack the tube at about every half inch or so. Repeat this process until the whole tube is filled.
The post Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler appeared first on High Times.
Browsing through an antique bookstore in Quito, I stumbled on a book called Shabono: A Visit to a Remote and Magical World in the South American Rain Forest, written by an anthropologist named Florinda Donner. Published in 1982, I expected it to be like most academic texts: interesting but long-winded and dusty. Instead, I got a gripping adventure that puts even Indiana Jones to shame.
The book opens with Donner, a German immigrant studying anthropology in California, feeling hopeless. She’s spent weeks on the border between Venezuela and Brazil shadowing Indigenous healers who refuse to reveal the secrets of their trade. Preparing to return to the U.S. empty-handed, she befriends a kind but crazy old woman who wants to introduce her to her village, located deep inside the rainforest. The woman dies on the journey, and when Donner arrives at the village, she joins a ceremony where she drinks banana soup seasoned with the woman’s ashes.
And that’s just the first couple chapters. Later, Donner experiences existential hallucinations after snuffing epená, a tryptamine derivative, and narrowly avoids getting kidnapped by another tribe.
The story of Shabono is so compelling I found it hard to believe it was true, which – it turns out – it wasn’t. While the book was praised for its writing, it was torn apart for lack of academic rigor. Some anthropologists believe Donner made everything up, claiming she never left the U.S. and plagiarized the account of a Brazilian woman who had once been held captive in the same region of the Amazon.
As shocked as I was to learn all this, the rabbit hole proved to go much, much deeper.
It’s hard to separate the story of Florinda Donner from that of Carlos Castenada. Castenada, like Donner, was a California-based anthropologist accused of fabricating his studies on Indigenous healing. He claims to have met Don Juan Matus, the Yaqui sorcerer at the center of his bestselling 1968 book The Teachings of Don Juan, whilst waiting for a Greyhound bus in Arizona. Critics questioned Don Juan’s existence, and Castenada, who didn’t like being questioned, offered no help in trying to locate him.
Although The Teachings was shunned in academic circles, it made a huge impact on the general population. Castenada’s recollections of inhaling the dust of psilocybin mushrooms and turning into a crow after smoking devil’s weed were required reading for anyone involved in the sex and drugs culture of the late 60s.
Though he might have been a lousy anthropologist, Castenada was a masterful storyteller who knew how to use his gift to bewitch those around him. Following the publication of his third Don Juan book, Castenada – by then a multimillionaire – purchased a two-story house in Los Angeles’ Westwood Village. This is where his personal writerly following would flourish into what some would now consider to have been a full-blown cult.
One of Castenada’s followers was Gloria Garvin, who sought him out after reading The Teachings under the influence of pumpkin pie laced with hashish.
“You have always been like a bird, like a little bird in a cage,” Garvin recalled Castenada telling her during their initial meeting. “You are wanting to fly, you’re ready, the door is open—but you’re just sitting there. I want to take you with me. I’ll help you soar. Nothing could stop you if you come with me.” Staying in touch, Castenada urged her to study anthropology at UCLA, his alma mater.
Also from UCLA Castenada recruited Florinda Donner, whom he helped write Shabono and The Witch’s Dream, among other books.
Castenada referred to his favorite followers as his “witches.” The witches lived with him at the Westwood compound and wore identical, short haircuts. They also claimed to have met the semi-fictional Don Juan. Witches recruited other witches at Castenada’s L. Ron Hubbard-inspired lectures and seminars on shamanism and human transcendence – preferably “women with a combination of brains and beauty and vulnerability,” according to ex-followers interviewed by Salon.
To become a real witch, they say, you had to sleep Castenada, who presented himself as celibate in public.
Testimony maintains Castenada’s following had all the characteristics of a cult. Followers were pressured into cutting off contact with their friends and family. Only Donner, who was considered Castenada’s intellectual and spiritual equal, remained in touch with her parents, albeit sporadically. After being separated from their loved ones, Castenada encouraged them to quit their jobs to make them financially dependent on him. Conformity was rewarded, mainly in the form of his sought-after affection.
Despite his obsession with immortality, Carlos Castenada died of liver cancer in April 1998. “Befitting of a man who made an esthetic out of mystery,” the New York Times reported when news of his death was made public after being withheld for weeks, “even his age is uncertain.”
As soon as one mystery left the world, another entered. A day after Castenada’s death, Donner and three other women close to Castenada disconnected their phones and seemingly vanished into thin air. Patricia Partin, Castenada’s adopted daughter, also went missing. Her abandoned Ford Escort was found in Death Valley. Years later, her remains were found there as well.
None of the disappearances were properly investigated by the LAPD, and so far, every citizen journalist and internet sleuth attempting to uncover the fate of the witches has run into a dead end.
Ex-followers believe the women took their own lives. In life, Castenada often talked about suicide, framing death as the gateway to a higher plain of existence. When his health began to decline, the witches reportedly acquired guns. Taisha Abelar, one of the witches who disappeared alongside Donner, started drinking, but told those around her she wasn’t “in any danger of becoming an alcoholic” because, Salon quotes, “I’m leaving.” Also per Salon, Castenada had told Partin to take her Ford Escort “and drive it as fast as you can into the desert” if “you ever need to rise to infinity.” Suspicious, but ultimately inconclusive.
Those who survived Castenada are convinced he genuinely believed everything he preached. As one ex-follower told Salon, “he became more and more hypnotized by his own reveries.”
It seems the witches did as well. In Shabono, Donner parades fiction as fact. While she may have originally tried to parade fiction for fact in order to obtain fame and fortune, readers get the stronger impression that, the further the young anthropologist ventured into her own fantasy world of life and death and drugs and mysticism, the harder it became for her to separate the real from the imagined.
At any rate, it’s a really, really well-written book.
The post The Anthropologist Who Became a Shaman Cult Leader appeared first on High Times.
A few years ago I wrote a somewhat tongue-in-cheek blog post titled, “Cannabots – Are the Robots Coming For Your Weed,” which discussed the application of robotics to the cultivation of marijuana. In that post I cited several articles discussing the use of robots as farmers, restaurant workers, fashion models, and even lawyers. Just a few weeks ago my colleague, Hilary Bricken, authored a post, Will AI Replace Your Cannabis Lawyer? (I Asked ChatGPT) in which she discussed her conversation (?) with ChatGPT about being a cannabis lawyer, the ethical rules, and to draft a cannabis contract (ChatGPT declined to do so).
This morning I read Kevin Roose’s column for the NY Times, A Talk With Bing’s Chatbot Left Our Columnist ‘Deeply Unsettled, Even Frightened’ (paywalled), and decided to check out Bing’s competitor, ChatGPT, for myself.
I asked ChatGPT some questions about marijuana and I asked it to write a blog post. The results, below, are impressive, though less scintillating than the Roose piece. ChatGPT seems to follow a dry book report format. Ted Chiang’s recent article for the New Yorker on ChatGPT may explain why. In any event, ChatGPT is pretty fun! My queries are in bold and the unedited text that was generated by ChatGPT follows:
Legalizing marijuana at the federal level in the United States is a complex political issue, and there are several challenges that need to be addressed. Here are some of the greatest political challenges to legalizing marijuana at the federal level:
Political Divide: Marijuana legalization is a divisive issue among politicians and voters, with some advocating for legalization, while others oppose it. Republicans, in particular, have been more resistant to legalization efforts, and with the current political divide in Congress, it has been challenging to pass any significant cannabis reform legislation.
Federalism: The United States is a federal system, meaning that the powers of the federal government and state governments are separate but overlapping. This has created challenges for legalizing marijuana at the federal level because it is still illegal under federal law. As a result, some politicians and interest groups are concerned about the impact of federal legalization on states’ rights and the ability of states to regulate their own marijuana industries.
Public Perception: Despite the growing acceptance of marijuana in the United States, there is still a stigma associated with it. Some politicians and interest groups are concerned that supporting marijuana legalization could be viewed negatively by their constituents or could harm their chances of re-election.
Lack of Research: Marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, which makes it difficult for researchers to study its potential medical benefits. This lack of research has made it challenging to create evidence-based policy around the legalization of marijuana and has contributed to political resistance to legalizing marijuana at the federal level.
In conclusion, legalizing marijuana at the federal level in the United States is a complex political issue, with several challenges that need to be addressed. These challenges include political divide, federalism, public perception, and lack of research. As public opinion continues to shift, and more states legalize marijuana, there may be increasing pressure on the federal government to address these challenges and to move towards federal legalization.
Civil marijuana litigation refers to lawsuits that involve the legal use or sale of marijuana, including disputes between marijuana businesses, consumers, and government agencies. Here are four trends in civil marijuana litigation:
Product Liability Claims: With the increasing popularity of marijuana products, such as edibles, tinctures, and concentrates, there has been an uptick in product liability claims. These claims typically involve allegations of injuries or illnesses caused by defective or mislabeled products. For example, in 2019, a group of consumers sued a California-based vape company for allegedly selling tainted products that caused lung injuries.
Intellectual Property Disputes: As the marijuana industry continues to grow, there has been an increase in intellectual property disputes. These disputes can arise from claims of trademark infringement, trade secret misappropriation, or patent infringement. For example, in 2020, a California-based marijuana company sued a competitor for allegedly copying its proprietary strains of cannabis.
Employment Law Disputes: The legalization of marijuana has created unique challenges for employers who have to balance state laws that allow marijuana use with federal laws that still prohibit it. As a result, there has been an increase in employment law disputes, such as wrongful termination or discrimination claims. For example, in 2019, a Massachusetts court ruled that an employer could not terminate an employee for testing positive for marijuana because the employee was using it for medical purposes.
Governmental Regulation and Compliance: Marijuana businesses are subject to a variety of regulations, including licensing requirements, advertising restrictions, and quality control standards. Disputes can arise when businesses are accused of violating these regulations or when they challenge the legality of certain regulations. For example, in 2018, a group of marijuana businesses sued the state of Washington, arguing that the state’s advertising restrictions violated their First Amendment rights.
In summary, civil marijuana litigation is a growing area of law, and the industry faces unique legal challenges related to product liability, intellectual property, employment law, and governmental regulation. As the industry continues to evolve, we can expect to see more legal disputes and novel legal issues arise.
Oregon was one of the first states to legalize marijuana for adult use in 2014. Since then, the state’s marijuana industry has faced numerous challenges, including oversupply, regulatory issues, and a thriving black market. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the challenges facing Oregon’s marijuana industry.
Oversupply and Price Decline: One of the biggest challenges facing the Oregon marijuana industry is oversupply. The state’s legalization of marijuana for adult use led to a surge in production, and as a result, the market has become saturated. This oversupply has caused the price of marijuana to decline significantly, making it difficult for some businesses to compete and turn a profit.
Regulatory Issues: Another challenge facing the Oregon marijuana industry is regulatory issues. The state’s regulatory framework is complex, with numerous agencies involved in the oversight of the industry, including the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC), the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), and the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA). This complex regulatory environment has made it difficult for some businesses to navigate the rules and stay compliant, leading to fines and other penalties.
Illicit Market: Despite the legalization of marijuana in Oregon, there is still a thriving black market for marijuana in the state. This black market is fueled by the oversupply of marijuana, which has made it easy for unlicensed growers and sellers to sell their products at a lower price. The illicit market not only undermines the legal market but also poses public health and safety risks as the products sold on the black market are often untested and potentially dangerous.
Banking and Financial Services: Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, which has created challenges for Oregon’s marijuana businesses in accessing banking and financial services. Many financial institutions are hesitant to work with marijuana businesses due to the risk of federal prosecution, leaving many businesses with limited access to banking and financial services.
In conclusion, the Oregon marijuana industry faces several significant challenges, including oversupply, regulatory issues, the illicit market, and banking and financial services. Addressing these challenges will require a collaborative effort from all stakeholders, including regulators, industry leaders, and policymakers. By working together, it may be possible to overcome these challenges and create a thriving and sustainable marijuana industry in Oregon.
Yes, as an AI language model, I have the ability to browse and read online content, including the Canna Law Blog. The Canna Law Blog is a popular source of news and analysis related to legal issues in the cannabis industry. It covers a wide range of topics, including state and federal cannabis laws, regulations, and litigation, as well as issues related to intellectual property, taxes, and banking in the cannabis industry. The blog is widely read by industry professionals, policymakers, and legal experts, and is often cited in news articles and other publications related to the cannabis industry.
The post ChatGPT and Cannabis: Not Bad, Not Bad at All appeared first on Harris Bricken Sliwoski LLP.
Miley Cyrus has come a long way since her Disney days. Her new song, "Flowers" ties in self-love, heartbreak, and of course, cannabis.
The post Here’s why Miley’s ‘Flowers’ was most streamed song of V-day 2023 appeared first on Leafly.
Mexican authorities seized a massive cache of fentanyl pills this week in what they are describing as a record-setting bust.
The country’s Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday that the “Mexican Army personnel seized a fentanyl pill manufacturing center and the laboratory with the largest methamphetamine production capacity in the municipality of Culiacán, Sinaloa,” which is located in the northwestern part of Mexico.
The raid, which was carried out on Tuesday, yielded “629,138 pills of probable fentanyl, weighing approximately 68,576 kilograms,” government officials said in the announcement.
The Ministry of Defense listed the soldiers’ other findings in the raid: “Approximately 128.03 kg of possible granulated fentanyl; Approximately 100 kg of possible methamphetamine; Approximately 750 kg of probable tartaric acid; Approximately 275 kg of possible mannitol; Approximately 225 kg of probable caustic soda; [and] 28 organic synthesis reactors.”
“Due to the number of reactors, the laboratory is the one with the largest synthetic drug production capacity that has been recorded historically and during the present administration,” the authorities said in the announcement.
The defense ministry said that while “carrying out intelligence work to strengthen the rule of law in the country and detect criminal organizations with a presence in said federal entity, military personnel obtained information about a property and an area on the land that was used as a laboratory for the production of drugs in the Municipality of Culiacán, Sin.”
“Derived from the above and from the operational planning, elements of the Mexican Army carried out ground reconnaissance in the vicinity of Pueblos Unidos, municipality of Culiacán, Sin., where they located a production center and a clandestine laboratory for the production of synthetic drugs, for which military personnel implemented a security device,” the ministry said.
The announcement continued: “What was insured was made available to the competent authorities, in order to carry out the corresponding investigations and expert actions to confirm the type and quantity of drugs, as well as chemical substances.
These actions were carried out in strict adherence to the rule of law and with full respect for human rights. In this way, the Mexican Army reaffirms the indeclinable decision of the federal government to continue acting against organized crime, meeting the needs that society demands; Likewise, it endorses its commitment to ensure and safeguard the well-being of citizens, guaranteeing the peace and security of the population.”
The historic bust comes at a time when the United States is also struggling to contain the fentanyl trade within its own borders.
As CBS News noted, Tuesday’s bust “came on the same day that the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on the huge number of U.S. fentanyl overdoses that occur annually, currently around 70,000,” with the committee chairman, Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, pressing Mexico to step up its efforts to combat the problem.
“This means asking Mexico to do more to disrupt the criminal organizations from producing and trafficking fentanyl, although a politicized judiciary and incidents of Mexican security forces colluding with drug cartels will make that difficult,” the senator said, as quoted by CBS News.
CBS also noted that “Mexican drug cartels produce the opioid from precursor chemicals shipped from China, and then press it into pills counterfeited to look like Xanax, Percocet or Oxycodone,” and that people often “take the pills without knowing they contain fentanyl and can suffer deadly overdoses.”
According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than “150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.”
The post Mexico Seizes 630,000 Fentanyl Pills in Record Bust appeared first on High Times.
