WeedLife News Network

Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of the passage of I-502, the ballot initiative that Washington voters approved 56–44% in November 2012, becoming – along with Colorado – the first states in the nation to take the plunge into marijuana legalization.

I-502 created a regulated market that generates hundreds of millions in tax dollars for the state through the sale of small amounts of marijuana and other cannabis products to those 21 and over.

A lot has changed in the last nine years, but some key aspects of the policy remain the same, and the industry says it is time for updates.

From CBD healing to epic highs to gourmet meals, Black entrepreneurs are revolutionizing cannabis (again)

Cannabis has been a significant staple in Black culture for generations. Its decriminalization has allowed many Black entrepreneurs to legitimately sell the world’s most popular and once-stigmatized recreational drug.

If you’re looking for a Christmas gift this year that puts your loved one on “Cloud 9”, here are 12 Black-owned cannabis companies that you should consider:

 “Please do not make us play this game!” A ski resort about 70 miles northeast of Fresno is warning visitors about using marijuana on its property.  In an Instagram story posted on Sunday, China Peak Mountain Resort said its plan to “crack down on its use” was brought on by complaints over the weekend. 

After noting marijuana use is legal in California, the resort wrote, “Use is illegal at our resort, as we are 100% on United States Forest Service federal land and must operate by their FEDERAL rules.”

Visitors who use marijuana at China Peak will face consequences, the resort said. 

36% want clean stores; 32% say variety of THC percentage options and 31% say educated sales associates are important

With 2021 legal cannabis industry sales nearing $31 billion, and the challenges presented by a growing cannabis black market, most Americans (76%) said they expect in-store cannabis dispensary shopping to equal traditional retail store experiences, according to a recent Harris Poll online survey commissioned by Urbn Leaf, California's premier cannabis retailer. Thirty-six percent say a clean store environment is one of the most important factors for a positive shopping experience; 32% want a variety of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) percentage options, and 31% want educated sales associates.

While recreational cannabis sales are legal in California, they are banned throughout most of Kern county, including Delano, City Council revisited that rule Monday night

“We’ve have known that it’s been trafficked in our community on both sides of town, this just allows us to put up a sign with a green cross that says, ‘buy it now, buy it here,’” expressed one member of the public.

Colorado Department of Corrections officials say there is a scourge of narcotics flowing into the state’s facilities, including ultra-potent, hard-to-detect synthetic drugs that can be absorbed into paper and mailed to inmates.

The Limon case, which came before the arrests of five prison staff accused of smuggling drugs into the facility, was one of at least three fatal drug overdoses inside a Colorado prison in the past 13 months. The deaths underscore what the CDOC says is a scourge of narcotics flowing into the state’s facilities, including ultra-potent, hard-to-detect synthetic drugs that can be absorbed into paper and mailed to inmates.

3 Top Marijuana Stocks To Watch Before Christmas

Investors are hoping marijuana stocks see a better year of trading in 2022. Since the beginning of 2021, the cannabis sector has faced a long drop in the market. This has given many the chance to find top marijuana stocks to buy. To which many have done in preparation for the future trading of cannabis stocks. With this past year being one of more losses than gains 2022 is being held to a high standard.

Lafayette-based food and grocery delivery app Waitr may soon become "ASAP," as the company completes its rebrand. The company is required to change its name as the result of a legal settlement, and the company is planning to become known as ASAP, which it said better represents the company's attempts to diversify its services. Waitr also announced it is moving ahead with its plans to begin delivering legal cannabis, agreeing to purchase an inventory and compliance software that serves dispensaries.

Waitr announced on Friday that it signed a letter of intent to buy Cova, a software that helps streamline cannabis sales for dispensaries. According to a press release, the sale would be for $90 million.

Several of the California's leading cannabis companies have banded together to direct a dire warning to Gov. Gavin Newsom this week. In a letter sent to the governor’s office and leaders of the state legislature, business leaders warned that the state’s legal cannabis industry is on the verge of collapse.

"It is an emergency," said David Goldman, who sits on the board of the San Francisco dispensary, The Green Cross.  

Congressional Democrats are gearing up for a sweeping set of initiatives aimed at decriminalizing marijuana that they plan to take action on this spring.

The federal proposals seek to establish 21st-century banking services for the nearly $18 billion industry and purge the criminal records of thousands of marijuana offenders.

“The growing bipartisan momentum for cannabis reform shows that Congress is primed for progress in 2022, and we are closer than ever to bringing our cannabis policies and laws in line with the American people,” Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) wrote in a memo to the Congressional Cannabis Caucus on Thursday. 

The memo is a road map to dozens of bills that seek to reimagine the role of the federal government in every aspect of the cannabis industry, with some measures receiving GOP support.

Bills like the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, sponsored by Lee and Blumenauer, seek to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substance Act and purge records for those convicted of using marijuana.

What do you do when you feel the “Grim Reefer” revealing yourself to yourself? The first thing you should do is isolate yourself from whatever is going on in your immediate environment.

Like it or not, one of the potential negative side effects of cannabis can be paranoia and in some cases, panic. The latter is typically set off by the former, but throughout my years of smoking cannabis and engaging with the user base – I have personally witnessed a few people who “lost their bananas” on weed. The stress of holiday season can bring some strange reactions to your normal weed enjoyment, too.

A few times, I also found myself tip toeing the fine line of sanity as a direct result of weed. Once, because I over consumed on edibles which sparked a deep 18 hour trip I’ll never forget. Another time I smoked some dank weed in Santa Monica from a stranger who claimed to be a dispensary owner. It was certainly some of the more potent stuff I’ve smoked in my life and made “the way back” a lot more difficult than I had imagined. The public nature of the expedition was what added a level of difficulty. Some cannabis strains may induce the “paranoia” feeling more than other marijuana strains.

Panic, anxiety, paranoia can happen if you’re in the wrong place, or with the wrong people. When you don’t feel safe or in an environment that you can relax in, one of two things can happen. Either you run down a rabbit hole of paranoia and fear, or you sober up and get the heck out of there.

In most cases, when my gut tells me to get out of a place, I listen! However, sometimes you can be smoking alone when panic sets in. I once had a friend of mine freak out at the realization that we’re on a rock floating in space. His mind was able to perceive the smallness of his being compared to the infinite expanse of the universe and as a result, he started to hyperventilate.

What this did was quickly expel all of the CO2 from his blood that induces hypocapnia, which in turn can begin to produce symptoms that exacerbate the narrative in your head.

People who use cannabis during pregnancy and lactation choose it to manage pregnancy-related symptoms and pre-existing conditions, such as nausea and vomiting, mental health problems, insomnia and more, according to new research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

"Our findings have very little resonance with evidence on motivations for cannabis use identified in nonpregnant populations, suggesting that motivations for use during pregnancy and lactation are unique," writes Dr. Meredith Vanstone, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, with coauthors. "The reasons for use provided by our participants more closely match those identified in studies of medical cannabis use, such as for controlling pain, anxiety, depression, muscle spasms, nausea or appetite, and for sleep, with many using cannabis to manage multiple symptoms."

The study included 52 people recruited from across Canada, of whom 51 were women and 1 identified as nonbinary. All had used cannabis before their pregnancy. At the time of the interview, 30 people were pregnant and the remaining 22 were breastfeeding. The reasons that participants gave for using cannabis changed when they became pregnant. Some people stopped out of fear of harm to the fetus when they found out they were pregnant. Other people stopped because of social stigma, guilt and health reasons. Those who kept using cannabis described their motivation as related to managing symptoms of pregnancy and conditions that pre-existed pregnancy. After they gave birth, their motivations for using cannabis changed, more closely resembling the reasons they supplied for using cannabis before becoming pregnant.

These findings have implications for clinical practice, including counseling of pregnant and lactating people on the potential harms of cannabis use and alternative approaches.

"I think it's important for physicians to understand that people who use cannabis during pregnancy are often doing so because they perceive important benefits of cannabis for controlling a variety of symptoms. There's an opportunity here for exploring the benefits that pregnant patients are getting from cannabis and helping them find alternatives that we know are safe for both mom and baby," Dr. Vanstone concludes.

Before a person considers taking cannabis as a way of managing disease, it’s important to talk to a doctor.

Cannabis is a multipurpose plant. Depending on moods, method, strain and more, the plant can have different effects. The compounds in cannabis, called cannabinoids, are known as immune-modulators. This refers to them having some kind of influence on the immune system, thus producing a wide variety of effects.

Research conducted on mice with cancer found that cannabis causes apoptosis, which means that it kills cancerogenous cells. Another study conducted on humans with AIDS/HIV discovered that the patients who consumed cannabis ended up with stronger immune systems and had higher CD4 counts (these are T cells that kill the HIV virus).

For people with an autoimmune disease, where someone’s immune system doesn’t work as intended and may attack the healthy cells in their bodies instead of the infections, CBD can provide some benefits, such as reducing the strength of these symptoms. Autoimmune diseases include HIV, diabetes, fibromyalgia, and more, all of which are difficult to treat.

There’s plenty information out there, but there’s still not enough research to definitively explain cannabis’ role in peoples’ immune systems. Like most things cannabis-related, the way in which it interacts with the body is highly individualized and needs much more research than what is available now.

The holidays present numerous opportunities for surprise situations that can make life awkward or stressful. Here’s how to cope.

Getting high is always enjoyable, but getting too high can present a myriad of problems. Even worse is the fact that nothing can blow a high faster than becoming the center of attention inadvertently.

Doing so during the holidays when there are numerous family and work functions to attend can be exceptionally embarrassing, too. Fortunately there are a few supplies that cannabis enthusiasts can keep nearby that can subtly offset the consequences of overindulgence.  

Lemonade

Most people who regularly use cannabis already know that having a drink handy is a good idea for multiple reasons. Lemonade is particularly useful because the citrus can be effective in helping to offset the effects of THC due to the presence of the limonene terpenes that promote alertness upon consumption.

Though it may seem unlikely, lemonade could be the best aid in helping to manage a seemingly uncontrollable high.

Sarah Jessica Parker’s character appears to covet the Genius Mini cannabis pipe that makes two appearances in the first couple episodes of the Sex and the City reboot.

The makers of high-end, sometimes bespoke Genius Pipe for cannabis must have been tickled pink when they noticed that it was on screen for all to see in the Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That, now airing on HBOMax.

Though the product was not named, the mystery about the origin of the unusual cannabis device has now been solved, according to a press release from Genius, whose pipe is said to offer great taste, fine herb, a unique cooling and filtering functionality and, in step with all things Sex and the City, plenty of style.

In the first episode, Parker’s character, Carrie, can be seen trying to ignore (but perhaps longingly recalling) the Genius Mini as Che, played by Sarah Ramirez, steals a few puffs as the two share an elevator ride.

After a night gone bust, following Berger’s break-up with her via a Post-it, Carrie is ready to pack things in and go home when Samantha, played by Kim Cattrall, casually slides a joint from inside her dress to save the night.

“We are getting closer to passing the MORE Act, which would remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act,” lawmakers wrote.

U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Barbara Lee (D-CA) released a memo on behalf of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus that they co-chair. The memo lists the numerous pieces of marijuana legislation filed on Capitol Hill and explains which should be among the reform priorities for 2022, reported Marijuana Moment.

Blumenauer said “the table is set and the time is right for comprehensive cannabis reform, which will make a huge difference for people around the country. We’ve watched this issue gain more momentum than ever with the American people—almost 70 percent of whom, including a majority of Republicans, want to see federal reform.”

Priorities for 2022

Federal descheduling of marijuana remains the first priority. “We are getting closer to passing the MORE Act, which would remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act,” the lawmakers wrote. The memo also states that it is “imperative that the Biden administration utilize power available to the executive to pardon and commute sentences for individuals with cannabis-related offenses.”

“It’s important that the federal government not waste resources with any state-legal interference. That means redirecting the Department of Justice must not interfere with state-legal businesses before we secure the SAFE Banking Act through the U.S. Senate,” concluded the memo.

Senators overwhelmingly approved a bill to expand Ohio’s medical marijuana program to other conditions, some of which were rejected for medical pot by state regulators in the past.

“We’re here, and the last bill before our Christmas break and we can end on a high note," said Sen. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City), as laughter broke out in the chamber.

Minority Leader Kenny Yuko (D-Richmond Heights), a longtime medical marijuana advocate, got in on the joke too, saying when he wanted to propose the idea when he first arrived in the legislature, "all I heard was, 'Hey, Yuko, how many joint sponsors have you got?'"

The bill would allow medical marijuana to be recommended for arthritis, autism spectrum disorder, chronic muscle spasms, migraines, opioid use disorder and for people in hospice care or with terminal illnesses. The Ohio State Medical Board has twice rejected adding autism to the list of conditions.

Members of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office arrested a man in Mckinleyville on Wednesday after discovering a hash oil lab in his home, and for illegally owning an alligator.

According to HSCO, members of the marijuana enforcement team served a warrant to a residence located on Cochran Road, where an indoor lab was discovered.

The HCSO said that 42-year-old Ronnie Miller was reportedly operating the BHO. Deputies found over 509 pounds of processed cannabis, 499 pounds of bud, 364 pounds of shake, and 165 pounds of butane hash oil. Along with that, deputies also located three guns; including what the sheriff's office called a "ghost gun" assault rifle. All of this, while Miller's two children were living next to the operation.

Additionally, California Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens located an illegally-owned dwarf alligator being showcased in a tank at the residence. The CDFW is working to coordinate the safe removal and re-homing of the alligator.

Mexican drug cartels are horning in on America's burgeoning multi-billion-dollar marijuana industry, illegally growing large crops in the hills and valleys of Northern California.

The state legalized marijuana in 2016 for adult recreational use, yet the black market continues to thrive with thousands of illegal grows. Criminal syndicates, in turn, are cashing in across the U.S. on the "green gold rush."

They're undercutting prices of legalized products offered by permitted farmers who follow the rulegs and pay taxes.

Lured by America's push toward legalized cannabis, cartels have abandoned many decades-old marijuana farms in Mexico, moving their operations to Northern California where they can blend in seamlessly alongside legitimate grows, said Mike Sena, executive director of Northern California's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task forces.

"Why try to bring that bulk marijuana into the United States, when you can just grow it in the United States in remote locations like Mendocino County and then move it across the entire country?"