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"Would be great to hear from you," the police service tweeted.

There was nothing sweet at all about cannabis-infused treats found hidden inside a hedge that could have proved dangerous if discovered by children.

A treasure trove of cannabis sweets was found in a suspicious package tucked away in the hedge on a residential street in Ivybridge by a citizen. The person then handed in the cannabis products to the Devon and Cornwall Police in the U.K.

Each packet reportedly had a cannabis warning. The treats contain cannabis that has “been through a distillation process,” notes another tweet by Watkins.

Distillation and isolation is a process that “take place in the final stages of creating a cannabis oil extract,” notes Alberta-based Maratek, a company that engineers solvent recycling and cannabis/hemp extraction technologies.

If cannabis reform is an incremental process, and it is, then this past year has shown the industry just how much can be accomplished in state-level legislation.

Following the watershed election in 2020, state legislators across the U.S. got down to business this year. As detailed in a new report from NORML, state legislatures have passed and enacted more than 50 cannabis reform laws since January. 

At the top of the list: Virginia, Connecticut and New Mexico, which passed adult-use legalization measures. New York and New Jersey also crossed that line by passing the laws that would enact voter-approved adult-use measures passed last November.

Beyond that, state legislators drafted, debated and passed laws to further expungement efforts, broaden the parameters of “diversity” in the cannabis industry and expand medical cannabis access.

If cannabis reform is an incremental process, and it is, then this past year has shown the industry just how much can be accomplished in state-level legislation. No doubt, there’s more to come.

“State lawmakers took unprecedented steps this year to repeal marijuana prohibition laws and to provide relief to those millions of Americans who have suffered as a result of them,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said in a public statement.

Retail marijuana will not be coming to Greenport in the near future.

Village trustees voted 3-2 Monday night to opt out of allowing on-site marijuana consumption and retail dispensaries within village boundaries, ahead of the state’s Dec. 31 deadline. The village may choose to opt in later, reversing the decision, but it will never again have the opportunity to opt out. 

Mayor George Hubbard, Deputy Mayor and Trustee Jack Martilotta, and Trustee Mary Bess Phillips voted in favor of the opt out, emphasizing regulatory concerns. Trustees Julia Robins and Peter Clarke voted against.

“I’m not opposed to it either way, I just think that we’re really not prepared for this,” Mayor George Hubbard said. The village can choose to opt in six months from now with more research after seeing “what the state is going to do.”  

Trustee Mary Bess Phillips took a similar stance, emphasizing that whether residents smoke marijuana is not the issue.

Over the course of the past decade, the public perception of adult recreational cannabis use has shifted dramatically.

Ever since Colorado legalized marijuana for recreational use back in 2012, it’s been no secret that it could create a financial windfall for both cannabis businesses and the state itself.

A decade later, multiple other U.S. states have followed in the footsteps of the Centennial State in allowing their citizens to purchase cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol or liquor.

People are seeking new alternatives to alcohol

No one has been caught more off guard by the high demand for cannabis products than beer, wine and liquor companies. Sales tax revenue for alcohol has been surpassed by those of recreational marijuana.

According to David Feldman, CEO of Skip Intro Advisors, a strategic consulting firm for up-and-coming cannabis brands, there are numerous reasons why tax revenue for cannabis has surpassed alcohol.

When Lisa Capitani decided to start a small business to educate and guide medical marijuana patients, she knew she’d need some advice.

Cannabis is a growing part of the holidays

The South Dakota Supreme Court has sided with the state’s anti-pot governer, overturning a broad state cannabis initiative passed by voters last year, saying the amendment violates the state constitution. The court ruled 4-1 last week that the initiative, Amendment A, approved by ballot in November 2020, violates a narrow “single-subject” rule that applies to constitutional amendments.

The decision at least temporarily imperils adult-use marijuana in South Dakota but does not change laws in effect that allow medical marijuana and industrial hemp. As a whole, the amendment embraced those two sectors along with adult-use marijuana.

Republican Gov. Kristi Noem, who has said the amendment was “the wrong choice for South Dakota’s communities,” launched a legal challenge immediately after the state’s voters passed it by referendum in last year.

No effect on hemp

The court’s ruling, while a setback for adult-use marijuana, does not affect Measure 26, which separately authorizes medical marijuana and passed with the support of 70 percent of voters independently last November. It also has no effect on South Dakota’s hemp program, which was established and received U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) clearance last year.

The court agreed that most of Amendment A, including parts that address licensing, regulation and taxation of cannabis production and distribution, are confined exclusively to the legalization of recreational marijuana. But the judges ruled that provisions instructing the legislature to authorize medical marijuana and cultivation of industrial hemp addressed separate additional subjects, thereby violating the state constitution.

One of Thailand's major fast food chains has been promoting its "Crazy Happy Pizza" this month, an under-the-radar product topped with a cannabis leaf. It's legal but won't get you high.

Veterans of the backpacker trail, familiar with the legendary pizza parlors of neighboring Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh that offer powerful marijuana as an optional condiment, might feel downright cheated.

"Of course, they cannot get high," Panusak Suensatboon, general manager of The Pizza Company, said in an interview this week. "It's just a marketing campaign. and you can taste the cannabis and then if you have enough, you maybe get a bit sleepy."

The Crazy Happy Pizza is a mashup of toppings evoking the flavors of Thailand's famous Tom Yum Gai soup along with a deep-fried cannabis leaf on top. Cannabis is also infused into the cheese crust and there's chopped cannabis in the dipping sauce. A 9-inch pie costs 499 baht (about $15). Customers preferring a do-it-yourself variety can choose their own toppings, with a 100 baht ($3) surcharge for two or three cannabis leaves.

In recent years, a kind of middle-ground product has emerged: cannabidiol, or CBD, a chemical found in cannabis that can be processed into what is touted as a cure-all medicine. CBD can be separated out from tetrahydrocannabinol — THC — the chemical in cannabis that produces marijuana's high.

To understand how rapidly New York overhauled its marijuana laws, look no further than its impact on the criminal justice system.

Fewer and fewer people are being arrested on marijuana offenses in New York, underscoring the major effect of the drug’s decriminalization in 2019 and, ultimately, its legalization this past March.

From April through October of this year, just 116 people statewide were arrested on a top-level misdemeanor or felony charge related to marijuana possession or sale in New York, data compiled by the state Division of Criminal Justice Services shows.

The drop-off in marijuana arrests has been stark as state lawmakers and then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo reshaped the state’s laws related to the drug.

In 2020, after New York lawmakers took steps to decrease marijuana penalties but before they legalized certain amounts of the substance, there were 2,720 misdemeanor or felony marijuana arrests. Compare that to 2017, when there were 28,239 misdemeanor marijuana arrests alone, according to a study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Health officials in Connecticut are issuing a warning about fentanyl-laced marijuana which is being eyed in a rash of overdoses throughout the state.

Since July, 39 overdoses requiring the use of naloxone for revival have been reported. In each of the cases, the person involved said they had only smoked marijuana, but officials said they exhibited opioid symptoms.

“This is the first lab-confirmed case of marijuana with fentanyl in Connecticut and possibly the first confirmed case in the United States,” said Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani.

A new cannabis film documentary entitled Lady Buds, releasing this weekend, explores the lives and challenges of female business owners.

The cannabis industry has heavily benefitted from niche documentaries, which present a professional way to educate viewers about the stigma of cannabis, its history on the War on Drugs or its effectiveness as a medicine. Films such as WEED (2013), featuring CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta, who opened up the conversation about medical cannabis to the nation. Weed the People (2018) explores the effectiveness of medical cannabis for children. Grass is Greener (2019) examines the history of music and its depiction of the War on Drugs.

Now it’s time to enjoy a new cinematic adventure in the form of Lady Buds—a unique perspective about female cannabis business owners from all walks of life.

High Times conducted an exclusive interview with Director, Producer and Writer Chris J. Russo in the High Times’ November Issue, aka the Women’s Issue, where she offered an inside look at her film and what kind of experience it presents to audiences. According to Russo, Lady Buds is the first of its kind—and it all began with a statistic about women in the industry that stuck with her. A few key studies have produced some shocking data about women in the industry, or lack thereof.

Pharmacy chains will be appealing the verdict that they created a public nuisance by contributing the Ohio’s opioid crisis.

A federal jury in Ohio on Tuesday found that pharmacy giants Walgreens, CVS and Walmart contributed to the opioid crisis in that state, a verdict that could serve as a bellwether for thousands of similar cases pending from coast to coast. The decision is the first verdict returned by a jury that holds a pharmacy retailer responsible for its role in the devastating epidemic of opioid overdoses that has plagued the United States for decades.

In the lawsuit, Lake and Trumbell Counties in northeastern Ohio maintained that the pharmacy retailers had recklessly distributed more than 100 million opioid pain pills in the counties, leading to addiction, death and a strain on public services. Between 2012 and 2016, more than 80 million prescriptions painkillers were dispensed in Trumbull County alone, or about 400 pills for every resident. During the same period, approximately 61 million opioid painkillers were dispensed in Lake County.

“For decades, pharmacy chains have watched as the pills flowing out of their doors cause harm and failed to take action as required by law,” a committee of attorneys representing local governments in federal opioid lawsuits said in a statement. “Instead, these companies responded by opening up more locations, flooding communities with pills, and facilitating the flow of opioids into an illegal, secondary market.”

Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the actions of the pharmacies amounted to a public nuisance that cost the counties about $1 billion each to address. Mark Lanier, an attorney representing the counties, said that the pharmacies failed to hire or train enough employees and implement systems to prevent suspicious orders from being filled.

“The law requires pharmacies to be diligent in dealing drugs,” Lanier said. “This case should be a wake-up call that failure will not be accepted.” 

Pharmacy chains will be appealing the verdict that they created a public nuisance by contributing the Ohio’s opioid crisis.

A federal jury in Ohio on Tuesday found that pharmacy giants Walgreens, CVS and Walmart contributed to the opioid crisis in that state, a verdict that could serve as a bellwether for thousands of similar cases pending from coast to coast. The decision is the first verdict returned by a jury that holds a pharmacy retailer responsible for its role in the devastating epidemic of opioid overdoses that has plagued the United States for decades.

In the lawsuit, Lake and Trumbell Counties in northeastern Ohio maintained that the pharmacy retailers had recklessly distributed more than 100 million opioid pain pills in the counties, leading to addiction, death and a strain on public services. Between 2012 and 2016, more than 80 million prescriptions painkillers were dispensed in Trumbull County alone, or about 400 pills for every resident. During the same period, approximately 61 million opioid painkillers were dispensed in Lake County.

“For decades, pharmacy chains have watched as the pills flowing out of their doors cause harm and failed to take action as required by law,” a committee of attorneys representing local governments in federal opioid lawsuits said in a statement. “Instead, these companies responded by opening up more locations, flooding communities with pills, and facilitating the flow of opioids into an illegal, secondary market.”

Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the actions of the pharmacies amounted to a public nuisance that cost the counties about $1 billion each to address. Mark Lanier, an attorney representing the counties, said that the pharmacies failed to hire or train enough employees and implement systems to prevent suspicious orders from being filled.

“The law requires pharmacies to be diligent in dealing drugs,” Lanier said. “This case should be a wake-up call that failure will not be accepted.” 

Who Needs a License? New York Weed Dispensaries Are Already Opening

The most hyped weed spot in upper Manhattan right now is a hitched trailer parked on the side of a busy intersection. Approach its dual windows during daylight hours and, under an LED banner, you’ll find two friendly brokers of THC tidings ready to dish out bags of pot or edibles for the correct amount of cash. A whiteboard behind them does not list prices, per se, but “Suggested Donations,” starting at $20. The packages offered in return are thank you “gifts.”

“We don’t sell anything,” says one register operator at Uncle Budd’s weed truck, speaking under a condition of anonymity. “Every donation is going back into the community.”

A ‘world first’ trial assessing a cannabis-based drug to treat an aggressive form of brain cancer is to go ahead, a charity has announced.

Members of the public backed an appeal by the Brain Tumour Charity to raise £400,000 to fund the three-year trial.

Olympic champion Tom Daley also backed the campaign.

The gold medal-winning diver’s father Robert died aged 40 from a brain tumour in 2011.

The trial will begin recruiting 230 patients at 15 hospitals across the UK early next year.

If the trial proves successful, researchers hope it could represent one of the first additions to NHS treatment for glioblastoma patients in more than a decade.

Small-holder farmers meant to benefit from South Africa’s new cannabis dispensation to unlock a potentially huge economic sector may be left out in the cold because of stringent regulatory requirements. 

At the end of October, the Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development Department announced the opening of applications for hemp cultivation permits, a move welcomed by 

organisations that have been waiting to kick-start this new economic sector. This followed the declaration of hemp as an agricultural crop under the Plant Improvement Act, which allows its importation, exportation, cultivation, sale and research.

Both hemp and marijuana are from the cannabis plant, but marijuana is associated with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which causes the “high”, and hemp with cannabidiol (CBD), which is associated with health benefits. 

People in many rural parts of South Africa have been cultivating cannabis for hundreds of years, but studies show that this was predominantly for recreational consumption by an adult marijuana market.