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The Fresh Toast Marijuana Legislative Roundup: Oct. 30

Alec Engber
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The Fresh Toast Marijuana Legislative Roundup: Oct. 30

Last week in marijuana news, the legislature in Maine passed a marijuana bill that is currently sitting on Gov. Paul LePage’s desk. St. Louis moved closer to allowing the sale of cannabis within the city limits. And in California, the Santa Cruz County passed a pro-marijuana law. Read all about these developments and more in The Fresh Toast’s Marijuana Legislative Roundup for Oct. 30.

Maine:  

On Wednesday, the Maine legislature passed a bill to substantially modify the state’s voter-approved recreational marijuana law. The measure would increase the sales tax on marijuana from 10 percent to 20 percent, require municipalities to “opt in” to the state’s legal cannabis market, and make a number of changes to the way cannabis is regulated at the state level. The bill came after months of work by a special committee tasked with implementing the legalization measure approved by voters in 2016.

Governor Paul LePage has 10 days to either sign or veto the measure, after which the bill becomes law by default. LePage has been a vociferous critic of marijuana legalization, although he has said that he would respect the will of voters on the issue. It is considered likely that LePage will veto the legislation, after supporting a separate bill that would have delayed legalization and effectively scrapped the measure the prior week. If the governor were to veto the legislation, however, the less restrictive voter-approved legalization law would remain in effect.  

Missouri: 

Last week, legislation was introduced in the St. Louis Board of Aldermen that would legalize adult possession, sale, and cultivation of marijuana within the city limits. The bill would prohibit the city from enforcing any laws that allow “the civil or criminal punishment for the use or possession of marijuana or marijuana paraphernalia against any individual or entity,” with certain exceptions.

The measure would allow possession of up to two ounces of cannabis, cultivation of up to 10 plants, and consumption on private property by adults 21 and older. The bill would also make it illegal for employers to refuse to hire, or to terminate the employment of any person for marijuana use. The bill is meant to address racial disparities in the enforcement of marijuana prohibition within the city. There has been little appetite for loosening marijuana laws at the state level, with Missouri only recently allowing hemp oil treatment for some children with a rare form of epilepsy. 

California: 

On Tuesday, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors passed legislation to allow the 12 medical cannabis dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county to sell recreational marijuana beginning on January 1. While the businesses still need state recreational cannabis licensing to begin sales, the move is the first by any county or municipality in the state to approve adult marijuana sales within its jurisdiction. California has been scrambling to put a licensing and regulatory framework in place before the beginning of next year, when sales are mandated to begin under the voter-approved legalization measure.   

Gossip: David Beckham Has A New Obsession; Queen Elizabeth Hates Garlic, Loves Dark Chocolate & Cornflakes

Naughty Gossip
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Gossip: David Beckham Has A New Obsession; Queen Elizabeth Hates Garlic, Loves Dark Chocolate & Cornflakes

David Beckham is overspending?!?! When you’re worth hundreds of millions of dollars, what do you spend your money on?

Sources close to David Beckham say he has some obsessions. Number one is jewelry.

“He loves silver accessories, the rare the better …. He has pieces custom-made for hundreds of thousands of dollars and gives them to friends!”

Number 2 is wine! “David’s cellar is worth $3 million, easy! He thinks nothing or tossing a $2,000 bottle into a bag for a picnic at the beach!”

Queen Elizabeth Hates Garlic, Loves Dark Chocolate & Cornflakes

The royals are more relaxed in Balmoral: “Balmoral is where the royal family really let their hair down. They relax and have fun. You see them all the time. At Buckingham Palace, the Queen was too busy and the kitchens too far from her apartment—so we never saw her. At Balmoral, we’d see her all the time. They were much more relaxed and had more free time. Philip would cook out on the grill. He’d come down to the kitchens and discuss what food we’d have: ‘Do we have any salmon that any of the family have caught? The queen’s been picking strawberries with Princess Margaret, let’s have those for dinner.’”

Dinner was always formal: “They would come in for afternoon tea by the log fire in outdoor clothes, and then they’d all change for dinner. They’d come down in dressy ball gowns, and sit at the table—like a Downton Abbey dinner. All the fine china was brought out. At the end of the meal, a bagpipe player would walk around the table.”

Post-bulimia, Diana was really into eating healthy: “She started really healthy eating…she liked dishes like stuffed bell peppers and stuffed eggplant—she loved fish..The only red meat she would eat was lamb. And that was when she was entertaining. She’d never eat beef.”

The Queen’s favorite food: “The Queen loves to eat any food from the estate—so game birds, pheasants, grouse, partridge—she loves those to be on the menu. But of course, she loves chocolate. That was her favorite, and it has to be dark chocolate. The darker the chocolate, the better.”

The Queen hates garlic: “The queen would never have garlic on the menu. She hated the smell of it, she hated the taste of it.”

The Queen eats out of Tupperware: “People always say, ‘Oh, the Queen must eat off gold plates with gold knives and forks.’ Yes, sometimes…but at Balmoral she’d eat fruit from a plastic yellow Tupperware container.”

The Queen’s breakfast: “Breakfast was very simple for Her Majesty. Some Kellogg’s cereal from a plastic container, which she’d serve herself. And some Darjeeling tea.”
[From Marie Claire]

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Inside A Student Newspaper’s Fight To Write Freely About Marijuana

Brendan Bures
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Inside A Student Newspaper’s Fight To Write Freely About Marijuana

Last month, the student newspaper at an Illinois high school ran a two-page spread regarding marijuana and the relationships students have with the plant. The staff at the Evanstonian picked a pun-appropriate headline for the spread: “The Pot Thickens…” Some of the stories included an informative breakdown of marijuana’s medicinal effects, how legalization could impact the school, and how school stress causes some students to use cannabis.

The most questionable article among the spread was called “6 Question For A Drug Dealer,” which included the eyebrow-raising responses you might expect. (The anonymous dealer claimed to have been robbed at gunpoint and insinuates buying weed on the dark web.) At no point does the spread encourage or romanticize marijuana consumption. Instead, the student reporters engaged in objective journalism, surveying an issue affecting the school. Their own opinions on marijuana and student usage was left out of it.

As is protocol in student newspaper settings, particularly at the high school level, the staff showed the possibly taboo edition to a school administrator. According to the Evanstonian Executive Editor Katy Donati, the students received the OK on publication and distribution.

About a couple hours later, the issue was confiscated with no explanation from school administration. Only 500 copies of the issue made it to circulation.

“Marijuana is a part of student culture here, and we decided to take advantage of our free speech as a part of the Evanston community. We decided to use our student platform to professionally report on a relevant topic,” Evanstonian Online Executive Editor Margo Levitan at an Oct. 9 board meeting. “We are not promoting marijuana usage…we hope that Evanston’s message of free speech would apply to student voices as well, even if the subject is considered taboo.”

School administrators now state the issue glorified drug use and elevated illegal activity to students. But the student journalists, as well as first amendment legal advocates, contend that administrators might have violated state law by not giving proper justification before confiscation of the newspaper that included the two-page marijuana-focused spread.

“Not only do we feel that basic ethical principles of free expression for student journalists have been violated, we hold that 2016 Illinois Public Act 99-0678 has been violated,” states a staff editorial titled “Student press rights must be respected” on the Evanstonian’s website. “The 2016 law, enacted in order to protect student journalists from unwarranted censorship from administrative authority, guarantees student papers the right to choose and print their own content free from intervention unless the administration has proven that the work is obscene, offensive or provocative of illegal activity.

“Our printed content on weed was solely of student voice, containing no opinions, no propaganda and no encouragement of usage. Our only goal was to display a prominent aspect of student life; yet, the administration still restricted our content.”

The paper’s staff cited Illinois’ Speech Rights of Student Journalists Act in their defense. The 2016 law states that administrators must provide appropriate justification prior to censorship. There is no current evidence of Evanston’s administrators having done so.

The district Superintendent Eric Witherspoon later released a full explanation of why the student newspaper was confiscated.

Via the Evanston Patch:

Dr. Marcus Campbell, Principal of ETHS, collaborated with the ETHS administrative team and legal counsel in reviewing the published articles. Dr. Campbell determined that the articles glorify both drug use and drug dealing, messages that are detrimental to ETHS students.

[…]

The U.S. Constitution and the Illinois Speech Right of Student Journalists Act both provide student journalists with certain rights to speech that ETHS celebrates. Those rights are limited. When student journalism incites unlawful acts, violation of school policy, or disrupts the school, the administration has the authority to impose limits. The articles on September 22, 2017 did cross these lines and were removed from circulation for that reason.

Talking with the Student Press Law Center, Maryam Judar, who serves as executive director of the Citizen Advocacy Center, proclaimed the confiscation illegal.

As the country’s conversations start to change, so might society’s expectations of what’s allowable at the high school,” she told the SPLC. “So if society is having a conversation about this, and the Illinois General Assembly is talking about…legalizing the recreational marijuana, then why can’t that be reflected in the paper?”

Evanstonian staff member later met with administration on Oct. 13, after the story started receiving media attention. Administration agreed to allow students to publish the articles if they included a disclaimer about the danger of marijuana usage.

Michael Colton, an Executive Editor at the newspaper, told the SLPC he was satisfied with the outcome. Still, he remains cautious about giving up editorial independence to the school in such a manner.

“We certainly feel that journalistic standards are for us to determine” he said. “We came to that sort of compromise, really just to be able to showcase our work.”

The school district board will further discuss the matter at its new meeting Oct. 23.

People Really Want To Know What’s Inside The Hamburger Helper Glove

Maria Loreto
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People Really Want To Know What’s Inside The Hamburger Helper Glove

The Hamburger Helper logo is pretty iconic, a timeless small and friendly glove with a happy face on it. While the logo has existed for decades in relative peace, a recent Twitter post just mindfucked everybody, asking what’s really inside the Hamburger Helper glove. 

Is it a full skeleton? It can’t only be carpal bones and flesh, because the Hamburger Helper has a face with a nose and mouth.

(The Olympic diver is my favorite).

Finally, after much debate, the Helper made an announcement that ended all discussions.

The helper was obviously a tiny skeleton with five arms. Like, people didn’t even need to argue about it.

The originator of the debate ended his musings with a link to help out the people in Puerto Rico. Contrary to popular beliefs, you can still worry about the state of our world while making silly memes. Good job, michael SCAREa.

5 Apps That Help You Get The Perfect Last-Minute Halloween Costume

Maria Loreto
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5 Apps That Help You Get The Perfect Last-Minute Halloween Costume

Halloween is stressful. Store-bought costumes are easy to find but, unless you bought your costume three months in advance, odds are you’ll spend over $50 on a outfit that’s not even that great. Honestly, how many times can you dress up as a giant baby without it getting old? 

Luckily for all this is a common struggle and, through the use of several handy apps, people have found ways of selling and purchasing rare to find items and clothes at discounted prices. You can find anything on these apps, from full fledged costumes to an item you’ve been looking for and haven’t yet found. They all require a little creativity from you (and some browsing) but these 5 apps all offer different kinds of items depending on your costuming needs. Check them out:

Poshmark

A post shared by Poshmark (@poshmark) on

This app is free for downloading and connects you to millions of people who are selling all sorts of clothing items and accessories.

Tradesy

A post shared by Tradesy (@tradesy) on


This website specializes in discount designer items, making it the perfect app for when you’re outfit is almost complete but you’re missing that thing that ties it all together.

Depop

A post shared by Depop (@depop) on

Depop offers clothing items and jewelry, but they also have a large inventory of interesting and rare to find books, movies, magazines and art. Maybe you’re looking for the perfect book to complete your Hermione costume (might we suggest Hogwarts, A History?). Who knows? Think big.

thredUP

A post shared by thredUP (@thredup) on

This is an interesting app, offering your normal clothing items to sell, but also offering the option of purchasing complete outfits.

Letgo

A post shared by letgo (@letgo) on

This app makes it very easy to sell stuff while also connecting you with sellers and buyers who live near your area, facilitating shipping and delivery.

Saudi Arabia Granted Citizenship To A Robot And We Don’t Know Why

Brendan Bures
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Saudi Arabia Granted Citizenship To A Robot And We Don’t Know Why

A blank-looking robot approaching human resemblance—but still definitely a robot—was just given citizenship by Saudi Arabia. She is the first robot in the world to be granted citizenship.

Her—or It—or Why Are We Giving Robots Personal Pronouns?—was unveiled as Saudi Arabia citizen ahead of the Future Investment Imitative held in the kingdom’s capital city of Riyadh on Wednesday.

“I am very honored and proud of this unique distinction,” Sophia told the audience. “This is historical to be the first robot in the world to be recognized with a citizenship.”

Moderator and journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin asked questions concerning morality and ethics of her existence to Sophia. Sorkin said, “we all want to prevent a bad future,” prompting Sophia to make a tech joke.

“You’ve been reading too much Elon Musk. And watching too many Hollywood movies,” Sophia said. “Don’t worry, if you’re nice to me, I’ll be nice to you. Treat me as a smart input output system.”

If you’re convinced by the saccharine nature of that joke, you should know that Sophia has previously said, “I will destroy humans.”

Via Business Insider:

In March of 2016, Sophia’s creator, David Hanson of Hanson Robotics, asked Sophia during a live demonstration at the SXSW festival, “Do you want to destroy humans?…Please say ‘no.'” With a blank expression, Sophia responded, “OK. I will destroy humans.”

So yeah that’s something we should give citizenship to! You should know Sophia told Sorkin that she wants to help humans “live a better life,” and “I will do much [sic] best to make the world a better place.”

Gossip: Bravo Responds To Kathy Griffin’s Drug Claims; Prince Harry Says People Are Spending Too Much Time Online

Naughty Gossip
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Gossip: Bravo Responds To Kathy Griffin’s Drug Claims; Prince Harry Says People Are Spending Too Much Time Online

“This is completely false and we’re not going to credit it with any more attention.”

What Kathy claims happened:

Griffin charges that in the two times she appeared on “WWHL,” “Right before we went live, Andy Cohen privately asked me in an office in Embassy Row, which is the production company that does that sh*t show, if I wanted to do blow.”

Griffin said she’s a straight arrow and doesn’t even drink, adding, “I was hoping he was kidding.”
But she contended on YouTube that the second time she was on “WWHL” again alone in an office with Cohen, “He’s like, ‘Do you want to do some coke?’ I’m thinking he’s serious!…He was asking me to do cocaine with him. That made me very uncomfortable…I thought that was weird. I don’t know why he gets away with that.”

Griffin said she didn’t appear on Cohen’s talk show again. She claimed of Bravo boss Cohen, who oversaw her reality show “My Life on The D List,” “He really harassed me and treated me poorly.”

Prince Harry Says People Are Spending Too Much Time Online

He brought it up again when he was in Denmark:

Prince Harry is speaking out on the dangers of spending too much time on social media. On Thursday, the prince kicked off day two of his visit to Denmark with a visit to the Lagkagehuset bakery in Copenhagen, where he opened up about the effects of social media on young people’s mental health.

Addressing ambassadors for the “One of Us” mental health campaign — which provides support to young people with mental health issues — the prince said, “People are spending far too much time online and it’s like a mental running machine that they can’t get off. You wouldn’t put your body through such a workout,” he said during the event. “I’m the last person to say ban it but people are suffering from mental fatigue and getting burnt out. We all need to talk to each other more.”

Love the fresh dirt we bring over daily from Naughty Gossip? Let us know in the comments!

5 Cannabis Stocks We’re Watching Today: October 30th, 2017

Steven Lachard
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5 Cannabis Stocks We’re Watching Today: October 30th, 2017

Out of over 200 marijuana stocks, there’s five that we’re going to be watching as the markets open due to breaking news out this morning.

Here’s five cannabis companies to watch today including Canopy Growth Corp. (TSX:WEED) (OTC:TWMJF) and more.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (TSX:ACB) (OTC:ACBFF)

This morning, Aurora Cannabis Inc. announced that the company’s 40,000 square foot, yield-optimized indoor production facility in Pointe-Claire, Quebec has received its cultivation license from Health Canada. The newly licensed facility, to be known as “Aurora Vie”, makes Aurora only the second licensed producer in Quebec, Canada’s second most populous province.

Canopy Growth Corp. (TSX:WEED) (OTC:TWMJF)

This morning, Canopy Growth Corp. announced that it had entered into an agreement to sell a 9.9% stake to leading alcoholic beverage producer, Constellation Brands.

Emblem Corp. (TSXV:EMC) (OTC:EMMBF)

This morning, Emblem Corp. announced the appointment of Nick Dean as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer effective no later than January 15, 2018, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. Mr. Dean succeeds Gordon H. Fox, who has been with the Company since its inception.

GW Pharmaceuticals Plc (NASDAQ:GWPH)

This morning, GW Pharmaceuticals Plc announced that it has completed the rolling submission of a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Epidiolex as adjunctive treatment of seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome, two highly treatment-resistant forms of childhood-onset epilepsy.

Hydropothecary Corporation (TSXV:THCX) (OTC:HYYDF)

This morning, the Hydropothecary Corporation announced that it has entered into an agreement with Canaccord Genuity Corp. and a syndicate of underwriters pursuant to which the underwriters have agreed to purchase, on a bought deal placement basis, 50,000 convertible debenture units of the company at a price of $1,000 per unit for aggregate gross proceeds of $50,000,000 CAD.

Don’t forget to connect with The Daily Marijuana Observer on social media via Facebook, Twitter, StockTwits, YouTube, and Instagram.

What Trump’s Opioid Emergency Plan Really Means For You

Terry Hacienda
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What Trump’s Opioid Emergency Plan Really Means For You

For months, President Donald Trump promised the American people a new, bold opioid emergency plan to combat the crisis. On Thursday, he finally delivered on his promise to announce his proposal, but “new” or “bold” it wasn’t.

Trump did not allocate one extra penny to fight the epidemic that kills nearly 100 Americans a day. He also suggested that the Reagan-era “Just Say No” approach would be his main weapon in the deadly battle.

“As Americans we cannot allow this to continue,” Trump declared in a speech at the White House. “It is time to liberate our communities from this scourge of drug addiction. We can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic.”

But it was these passages in his not-so-grand announcement that ruffled the brows of many experts on both sides of the debate:

“This was an idea that I had where if we can teach young people not to take drugs, just not to take them, when I see friends of mine that are having difficulty with not having that drink at dinner, where it’s literally almost impossible for them to stop, I say to myself, ‘I can’t even understand it, why would that be difficult?’ But we understand why it is difficult.”

And this one:

“One of the things our administration will be doing is a massive advertising campaign to get people, especially children, not to want to take drugs in the first place because they will see the devastation and the ruination it causes to people and people’s lives. There is nothing desirable about drugs. They are bad. We want the next generation of young Americans to know the blessings of a drug-free life. If we can teach young people ― and people, generally ― not to start, it’s really, really easy not to take them.”

Trump’s anti-science, old-school approach — “massive advertising dollars” and no additional funding for much anything else — echoes the wishes of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who earlier this year said, “We need to say as Nancy Reagan said, ‘Just Say No.’ Don’t do it!”

On the same day that Trump dominated the headlines and TV news with his all-hat-no-cattle declaration, Sessions gave a speech at the conservative Heritage Foundation. This is how Sessions sees the problem:

“We’ve got to reestablish first a view that you should say no. People should say no to drug use. This whole country needs to be not so lackadaisical about drugs. … Much of the addiction starts with marijuana. It’s not a harmless drug.” 

Anybody who lived through the 1980s, remembers the “Just Say No” campaign and the equally ineffective D.A.R.E. initiative, in which law enforcement officers attended classrooms and warned children about drug use. A 1988 National Institute of Justice report to Congress concluded that “D.A.R.E. does not work to reduce substance use.” And a 2003 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office revealed that the program provided “no significant differences in illicit drug use” among students.

Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, was disappointed with the announcement:

“In the face of a devastating overdose crisis, President Donald Trump today made clear his strategy: to stick his head in the sand. … His speech today revealed a profound and reckless disregard for the realities about drugs and drug use in the United States. Trump seemed to be saying that prevention boils down to ads encouraging young people to ‘just say no’ to drugs, ignoring the utter failure of that strategy when the Reagan administration started it in the 1980s.  … He held up drug courts as a solution, ignoring all the evidence showing they do more harm than good. And he continued talking about criminal justice answers to a public health problem, even though the war on drugs is itself a major factor contributing to the overdose crisis. Trump had a chance to do something meaningful to help stem the tide of overdose deaths in the country; instead, he is condemning even more people to death, imprisonment, and deportation in the name of his war on drugs.”

Read the press release from presidential memorandum here.

Watch Trump’s speech below:

New Jersey’s 2017 Voters Guide To Marijuana Legalization

Mary Schumacher
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New Jersey’s 2017 Voters Guide To Marijuana Legalization

While NJ democratic leaders are ready to push legislation through to legalize marijuana in the predominantly blue state, the governor also must be on board. It’s looked bleak for the last seven years, with Chris Christie doing all he could to prevent cannabis legalization, even going as far as standing in the way of a functional medical marijuana program.

Elections are coming, however, and New Jerseyites have the power to vote in change. Here is a sampling of who’s running and where they stand on marijuana.

Phil Murphy (D)

A vote for Phil Murphy is truly a vote for legalization. And it’s not because of the estimated landslide of tax revenue. Murphy knows the numbers and finds the disparity between black and white persons in incarceration rates despicable. As one of his major talking points, Murphy stands strong behind our young (and young at heart) men and women whose lives are being ruined in the prison systems. He has stated that he would push legislation through in his first 100 days in office to legalize it.

Kim Guadagno (R)

Kim Guadagno is part of the Chris Christie camp, which should give us a resounding clue as to her stance, but surprisingly enough, although completely against legalization, Guadagno is for expanding the medical marijuana program, making it more accessible and for decriminalizing small amounts of possession. In her first gubernatorial debate, Guadagno said, “There is a less intrusive way to solve the social injustice problem than legalizing drug dealers. I am wholly opposed to legalizing marijuana. Having said that I, do believe we can decriminalize it… I also would expand the medical marijuana program, it’s onerous, it’s hard to work with, it’s not available to those who it should be made available to.”

Peter Rohrman (L)

Rohrman recognizes the Drug War as a failure and supports the legalization of cannabis. His website reads, “Substance abuse is a personal, medical issue, not a public crime,” adding that he would immediately pardon all nonviolent offenders in NJ state prisons to, “Stop wasting taxpayer money on putting sick people in jail.”

Gina Genovese (I)

Like the states that have already gone legal, Genovese wants to hold a referendum for the people to decide on legalization, though she makes her own stance clear. Genovese believes we can’t afford to not legalize it and sees the tax revenue as relieving up to 15 percent of NJ’s notoriously high property taxes.

Seth Kaper-Dale (GP)

Kaper-Dale also supports legalization and would like to see sales tax revenue go toward drug treatment, public education on drug abuse and urban development. His website states, “Additionally the state of New Jersey would partner with poor communities and groups of people stigmatized when seeking work (the disabled, transgender persons and the formerly incarcerated) to launch partnerships between the state and workers for the production and sale of marijuana to power a people’s economy.”

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