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Here Are 25 States Where Marijuana Is Available For PTSD Sufferers

It is no secret by now that marijuana is becoming one of the most popular medications in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, this savage condition, which most commonly rattles the psyche of war veterans and victims of sexual abuse, still goes mostly untreated through natural means since the federal government and most states still consider pot to be a blight to the portrait of civil society.

Fortunately, there are somewhere around 20 states and a couple of other U.S. jurisdictions that allow patients suffering from this severe anxiety disorder to use medical marijuana to help ease the symptoms. But regardless of the reports that have surfaced over the past several years showing PTSD sufferers are finding some reprieve from their illness due to the use of marijuana, some states, including Colorado, have all but refused to recognize this dastardly disorder as a legitimate health issue.

But the condition is finally gaining some credibility. Over the past year, a number of additional states, including Arkansas, Florida, North Dakota, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, have worked their magic, either in the state legislature or through the voter initiative process, to see that veterans and others with PTSD have access to cannabis medicine. Still, in some places, where marijuana is completely legal, patients with this condition are unable to get their hands on the herb without being forced to pay the ridiculously high taxes connected to buying cannabis products from the recreational sector.

In Colorado, there has been a push for the past several years to get PTSD added to the state’s list of qualified conditions, but, despite the recommendations coming from the healthcare community, the Colorado Board of Health has turned its back on the concept of incorporating the condition into the medical marijuana program. It is for this reason that State Senator Irene Aguilar recently introduced a proposal (Senate Bill 17) that would bypass the Board’s sandbag tactics and make PTSD a legitimate health condition by way of legislative force. The proposal was recently approved by a Senate committee in a vote of 5-to-0 and is now on its way to the full Senate for consideration.

If all goes well, it distinctly possible that Colorado could finally join the list of medical marijuana states to recognize PTSD.

Below is a list of states that allow medical marijuana for PTSD. Some of these areas list the condition under the language of the law, while others simply give physicians the right to exercise their own discretion when making recommendations for the herb.

Arizona: Qualified condition

Arkansas: Qualified condition

California: Up to the doctor

Connecticut: Qualified condition

Delaware: Qualified condition

Florida: Up to the doctor

Hawaii: Qualified condition

Illinois: Up to the doctor

Maine: Qualified condition

Maryland: Qualified condition

Massachusetts: Up to the doctor

Michigan: Qualified condition

Minnesota: Qualified condition

Montana: Qualified condition

Nevada: Qualified condition

New Jersey: Qualified condition

New Mexico: Qualified condition

North Dakota: Qualified condition

Ohio: Qualified condition

Oregon: Qualified condition

Pennsylvania: Qualified condition

Rhode Island: Qualified condition

District of Columbia: Up to the doctor

Puerto Rico: Up to the doctor

Guam: Qualified condition


Recaps: ‘Grow Op’ Episodes 1-3 Are Super Funny

What happens when the government grants a tier-3 cannabis grow license to an illicit marijuana dealer? What happens when a bon vivant like Kevin suddenly becomes a ‘legitimate’ businessman? What will this process look like?

Grow Op is a web series for those who are winging it.

Episode 1 – I Wanna Make A Reality TV Show

The first episode of the series introduces us to our main character and to the idea of developing a reality TV show of someone who doesn’t seem all that interested in participating. The opening moments give you a little bit of background on marijuana and how perspectives on the drug have changed, increasing the amount of users and making it a possibility for the legal cannabis industry to be worth over 30 billion dollars in the near future. Here we’re introduced to Crispin, a renowned figure in the cannabis industry, and to Charles, a filmmaker and weed lover who wants to document the ever expanding business of Cannabis. The snazzy cutting and comedic narration make the series an interesting watch, even if you’re not at all interested in the business of marijuana. Crazily enough, Grow Op seems more concerned with the people behind the plant than with the plant itself. The access that Charles has also provides interesting pieces of information for all kinds of viewers, giving you a deeper look into this giant business that’s only just beginning.

Episode 2 – Kevin’s Life Is Kinda Awesome

This episode introduces us to Kevin, a marijuana dealer whose life changed abruptly the minute marijuana was legalized and started popping up everywhere. Kevin introduces an interesting conflict to the series, showing us something that most people don’t even talk about: The “bad side” of the legalization of marijuana and the “victims” of this radical change. By giving us access to his child support issues and the fact that he’s almost broke, we sympathize with Kevin. It’s hard not to feel bad for a guy whose business model changed abruptly and who now has to try to figure out ways to sell his usual stuff for a much lower price. The episode also explains the types of marijuana licenses that are distributed, which change depending on the state you’re in and are super hard to get. In Kevin’s case, he lucked out and got one. Now the question is, what can he do with it?

Episode 3 – Smells Like…

The third episode brings back Crispin and his discomfort with the fact that Charles wants to follow him around, forcing him be the star of his reality web series. The comedic banter between them and their differing opinions make for fun viewing, but the episode also provides some interesting information from the minds of cannabis users who live in legalized states. Charles explains that real weed lovers still want to get their marijuana the old fashioned way, with their trusty dealer, due to the fact that it’s more accessible and you don’t have to deal with any of the new dispensaries’ obstructions. Kevin and Crispin meet, and their differences are clear from the get go. It’s an interesting encounter between the promising future of the marijuana business, and with the past illegitimate version of it, which will never ever be the way it was.

How To Eat The Ugliest Fish Ever: Sea Lamprey

Sea creatures are strange little critters. If we were seeing them for the  first time, our initial reaction might be to run away. Often, they have lots of sharp teeth, pulsating gills, scales, antennae and weird holes coming out of places. But the sea lamprey — that’s in a category of gross all its own.

This is a sea lamprey:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BReLN0TFHRQ

It kind of looks like it could be some sort of delicious tropical fruit upon first glance, but once the realization that this thing is actually a slimy parasitic fish and that those pointy things are teeth attached to a suction-cup mouth…well, eating it probably doesn’t seem fun anymore.

Some fun facts about the sea lamprey:

  • Sea lampreys are born blind.
  • Adult sea lampreys prey on other fish (including dolphins) by using their jawless mouth to suck the life out of the bodies.
  • Sea lampreys kill as many as 40 fish a year.
  • Male sea lampreys mate by literally squeezing the eggs out of females. Fun!

The Huffington Post has taken it upon themselves to publish an old recipe for sea lamprey, one of the most unappetizing creatures on earth.

The recipe is for Sauce Pour Lamprey is adapted from the mid-fifteenth century manuscript, “A Noble Boke of Cokery,” which you’d have to be high on in order to enjoy this thing, amiright?

If the direction of the recipe is any indication, it starts with:

Take a quick [living] lamprey, and let him bleed at the navel, and let him bleed in an earthen pot. And scald him with hay, and wash him clean, and put him [on a spit]; and set the vessel with the blood under the lamprey while he roasteth, and keep the liquor that droppeth out of him.

And that’s just Act 1.

The flavor of lamprey has been described as comparable to squid. Also, neither fish have bones, so can be cut up into chunks for cooking.  Plus?

Head to HuffPo for the recipe. And let us know how it tasted in the comment below.

Starbucks Is Now Selling Its Cold Brew With A Beef Jerky Twist

What has quickly become an incubator for “out there” drinks, the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Seattle had put something quite unexpected on its menu: a limited-edition Pepper Nitro with a Jerky Twist.

Starbucks describes the drink as freshly ground Congo coffee, slow-steeped as cold brew and served on draft through a nitro tap. It’s then infused with a sweet and savory malted fennel black pepper syrup and topped with a layer of honey cold foam and finished with a sprinkling of cracked pink peppercorn. But the pièce de résistance is the garnish — a bamboo skewer of natural beef jerky made with grass-fed beef.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXNq5oCgMC_

The idea behind the drink was to highlight the characteristics of Congo coffee. And, as it turns out, the sweet and herbal spice notes of the varietal naturally paired well with savory ingredients (aka beef jerky).

“With the first sip, you get a hint of the honey cold foam and the aroma of the pink ground peppercorn,” says Starbucks’ Raegan Powell, who helped create the new beverage. “The real surprise is the salty savoriness of the jerky garnish, an exciting complement to the smooth and sweet finish of the nitro cold brew experience.”

Since opening in 2014, the Reserve Roastery has introduced nitro cold brew, a spiked coffee drink, barrel-aged coffee, cold brew mocktails and was instrumental in bringing the cascara latte to market. But this is the first time they’ve introduced a garnish that would make any Bloody Mary jealous. What does it all mean???

These People Convincing Justin Timberlake To Hold A Baby Is The Most Absurd Thing You’ll See Today

What the hell is happening in this video?

It appears that this dad took his baby to a golf tournament (the first red flag, because who DOES that?) and decided to make the experience as annoying as possible.

As each golfer comes out through the waiting crowd, he accosts them: “Hold my baby! All these people here said you’d hold my baby!” It’s extremely unlikely that his fellow audience members actually did urge him into this, but they stay polite and silent anyway. A few uneasy laughs peel across the crowd as each golfer passes him by without, in fact, holding his baby.

And then Justin Timberlake comes out. Little-known JT fact: The former NSYNC hearthrob is super into golf. So here he is, trying to enjoy this tournament, and this dude is yelling from the crowd, “Hold my baby!”

Being a good person, Timberlake stops to hold the freaking child, probably just to get this dude to shut the hell up and make him stop dangling a baby in the air. He even takes a moment to do the Lion King move. The crowd cheers, also likely relieved that this dad will stop yelling now. Thank you, JT, for taking one for the team—and for denying dad the handshake. That was priceless.

Marijuana Extract Extended The Life Of This Girl Suffering From Zellweger Syndrome

Madeline, or Maddie, as most people know her, is four years old and suffers from a terminal genetic disease called Zellweger Syndrome. There is no cure or course of treatment and most kids with this devastating disease do not survive past their first year of life. Here is how whole-plant cannabis oil helped her.

Maddie is deaf, blind and completely dependent on a feeding tube. She also has osteoporosis, kidney stones, liver dysfunction, coagulopathy, anemia, adrenal insufficiency, low muscle tone, and in January of 2015 developed seizures.

The seizures immediately became life threatening; they were painful, daily hour-long events where she would stop breathing and require CPR. Within eight weeks of developing the seizures, she was on placed on 26 pharmaceuticals, lost what little motor skills she had gained, and was admitted into hospice with the expectation her life would end soon.

I could not accept that I would lose my baby, so during the weeks leading up to what we thought we be her final days, I began researching and found information on full-extract cannabis oil.

On the night we took her home, on what was supposed to be our last night with our daughter, we got her authorized to use cannabis. All we hoped was that the cannabis would keep her comfortable in her final moments. Instead Maddie began breathing on her own and her seizures began to reduce in frequency and duration.  Soon she was eight days seizure free.

Then we discovered her right kidney was full of stones and quickly realized Maddie was opiate sensitive (so much so she had an event requiring an opiate reversal and urgent intubation). A medicated cannabis cream on her chest helped get that tube out.

More About Whole-Plant Cannabis Oil Or FECO

Maddie uses a highly concentrated form of cannabis called FECO or full extract cannabis oil. Essentially you are using as much of the plants medicinal properties as possible.  Currently, Maddie takes 90mg. of CBD and 40mg. of THC every day. We tell people that CBD kept Maddie alive but THC-A brought her back to life.

Recently we have begun trying to rescue her from seizures with cannabis. For a couple days a high CBD, 18:1 spray that worked half the time. We then tried a THC-A isolate. One drop in her mouth, which by itself is unusual since she does not take anything by mouth, was tolerated extremely well, and two out of three seizures are stopped.

She has gone 15 days with no seizures and currently has not had a benzodiazepine (traditional rescue medication) in 22 days. She has been weaned off all but four pharmaceuticals, is off hospice, began relearning skills such as sign language, babbling, kicking her legs and is generally enjoying life again.

Cannabis is providing Maddie with a quality of life we never thought possible. Even more we are now effectively palliating the symptoms of a disease for which there is no course of treatment.


Oil-Free Jerk Tofu Summer Rolls With THC Sauce

Some don’t realize that there are Indians from India residing in the West Indies. Migration is such that when two distinct cultures are side by side, their tastes often start to play with each other. This is why the roti, a tasty and ubiquitous flatbread, is present on more than a few continents. In the Caribbean, roti are primarily had in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados, where ex-pat Indians have been living for some time.

Roti can be puffy and flaky like a paratha, torn and topped with meats like in Malaysia, or soft and thin with a layer of pea meal inside like in Trinidad. In many Asian shops, you can find Roti Paratha style in the frozen aisle. It’s a great meal addition or lifesaver when you run out of bread. It’s also hackable by defrosting and rolling up your toppings. Then when you pan-fry it, you can have a crispy, flaky crust without any added oil.

The filling can be anything you want, from fresh shredded veggies to leftover chicken from the night before, but my filling of choice is bringing the Caribbean flavor full circle, Jerk Tofu. For the marinade, I gave Chef Rasta Kream’s Antiguan Jerk Sauce a try, and it was spot on. Smoky, spicy, herb-rich, it was a really great take on the Jerk flavors I love so much.

Photo by Danielle Guercio

Jerk Tofu Summer Rolls

Danielle Guercio 2017
Makes 4 Rolls, 7mg of THC per roll

  • 4 Frozen Spring Onion Roti Paratha
  • 1 package extra firm tofu
  • 1 2 oz bottle *RastaKream Antiguan Jerk Sauce
  • 1 bunch scallions

 

Photo by Danielle Guercio

Wrap the tofu block in paper towels and press beneath a heavy pot to make ‘room’ for the marinade. After about 30 minutes, unwrap and slice the tofu in medium slivers.

Wash and quarter a bundle of scallions, put two in a thick 1 quart ziplock and reserve the rest for serving. Pour the sauce into the bag and add the tofu. Seal and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Photo by Danielle Guercio

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wrap a medium roasting pan in foil and add the tofu. Seal the top with foil. Roast for 30 minutes until there’s some caramelization on the edges. Remove from oven. Now take the paratha out of the freezer, it will defrost rapidly. Add ½ cup of the tofu mixture and roll like you would a burrito, tucking the sides in before a final flip. Heat a cast iron skillet, and brown the rolls on three sides. Serve with chopped scallion and any of the leftover marinade.

Photo by Danielle Guercio
Photo by Danielle Guercio

Now that you’ve mastered the marinade, you can deploy this strategy on any meats or veggies you like. Keeping frozen roti on hand are excellent for last minute dinners and for completing dinners that are missing something. The built in cannabinoids in Rasta Kream’s sauces take all of the guesswork out of both dosing and extracting, and the result is as island fresh as can be.

Photos: Danielle Guercio 

California Is Growing Way Too Much Weed, And It’s A Problem

California produces 14 to 16 million tons of marijuana, and Californians consume 1.5 million to 2 million tons of cannabis. That’s a lot of leftover weed.

As the cannabis industry continues to expand there will be growing pains. The expansion of any new industry in its adolescence requires such issues but one headline you’ve perhaps seen regards marijuana shortage in certain states or countries. To those more aware within the cannabis industry, this comes across as false alarms. The panic is mostly manufactured.

But it appears California might have the opposite problem—the state could have too much weed. So claims a recent report by CBS 5 in California, who detailed the unique circumstance the state faces. California produces 14 to 16 million tons of marijuana, according to the report. However, it claims Californians only consume 1.5 million to 2 million tons of cannabis.

You can perhaps deduce that some product won’t remain within California borders. On its surface, this is nothing new. However, California Growers Association Executive director Hezekiah Allen indicated that the 800 percent surplus will force farmers and growers to keep stricter tabs on where their product goes.

“In the past, when a product left the farm there’s a really good chance the grower had no idea where it was going,” Allen told CBS 5. “But in the future, every single license holder is going to need to know exactly where every gram of product is ending up and so conditions are going to change very quickly.”

While recreational marijuana law was passed, California residents won’t be able to enjoy recreational cannabis until January 1, 2018. Then regulations will force growers to get a license and perhaps keep excess marijuana in-state, or continue to move product beyond the state borders violate federal law under the radar.

“Nobody wants to operate under the radar. They want to do this legally, They want to say, ‘Hey, look, what I’m doing is okay,’” said Dr. Aseem Sappal, Provost and Dean of Faculty at Oaksterdam University in Oakland.

Again this is a report with caveats. Whether California will continue to have excess marijuana when recreational usage becomes legal next year is debatable, as residents who previously purchased on the black market and potential visitors could buy up that product. Instead, it shows to what degree the marijuana industry continues to define itself as it grows beyond its adolescence. Well, actually, from this report it seems growing isn’t the problem at all. Now it’s about doing so legitimately.

Gossip: Donald Trump ‘Personally Dictated’ Don Jr’s False Statement About Russian Meeting; Rob Kardashian Using Food To Cope With Depression

On the sidelines of the group of 20 summit in Germany last month, President Trump’s advisers discussed how to respond to a new revelation that Trump’s oldest son had met with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign — a disclosure the advisers knew carried political and potentially legal peril. The strategy, the advisers agreed, should be for Donald Trump Jr. to release a statement to get ahead of the story. They wanted to be truthful, so their account couldn’t be repudiated later if the full details emerged. But within hours, at the president’s direction, the plan changed.

Flying home from Germany on July 8 aboard Air Force One, Trump personally dictated a statement in which Trump Jr. said that he and the Russian lawyer had “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children” when they met in June 2016, according to multiple people with knowledge of the deliberations. The statement, issued to the New York Times as it prepared an article, emphasized that the subject of the meeting was “not a campaign issue at the time.”

The claims were later shown to be misleading. Over the next three days, multiple accounts of the meeting were provided to the news media as public pressure mounted, with Trump Jr. ultimately acknowledging that he had accepted the meeting after receiving an email promising damaging information about Hillary Clinton as part of a Russian government effort to help his father’s campaign.

The extent of the president’s personal intervention in his son’s response, the details of which have not previously been reported, adds to a series of actions that Trump has taken that some advisers fear could place him and some members of his inner circle in legal jeopardy. As special counsel Robert S. Mueller III looks into potential obstruction of justice as part of his broader investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, these advisers worry that the president’s direct involvement leaves him needlessly vulnerable to allegations of a coverup.
[From The Washington Post]

Rob Kardashian Using Food To Cope With Depression

Rob Kardashian is using food to cope with his depression and is now 300 lbs as sources say he’s ‘lost the will to live.’

The star, 30, is apparently so miserable after his recent online meltdown and the disintegration of his relationship with Blac Chyna that he’s turned to food to help cope, according to Radar Online.

‘He’s the biggest he’s ever been,’ a family friend says. ‘He’s well over 300lbs now – we don’t know as the scales don’t go up past that – and he’s a heart attack waiting to happen.’

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

Marijuana Works As An Exit Drug From Pain Medications

Zahra Abbas has epilepsy and went through seizures multiple times a day throughout her life, despite taking four different prescriptions. A few years ago she tried medical cannabis to combat the seizures on the advice of her doctor. She had never tried marijuana before, but it didn’t take long to see results.

Three days of cannabis and her seizures had stopped completely.

Cannabis was a last result for Abbas, who was scared by all the misinformation about the plant, misinformation that made it out to be a hard drug and to be avoided at all costs. Reefer madness is still alive and well, but all’s it takes is a little truth to stop it in its tracks. Abbas tried it because it had come down to either brain surgery or try pot first. It was weed for the win.

Now 30 years old, Abbas has taken up the cannabis cause and has been helping greatly in the efforts to free the plant. She speaks on panels and collects signatures for marijuana based ballot issues. This summer she is acting as an unpaid volunteer to get signatures for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol on the 2018 ballot in Michigan.

This brings Abbas all the way from pro-prohibition to full on legalization warrior. Though her use is medical, she believes everyone should have access to cannabis.

One of Abbas’ arguments for the naysayers is that while cannabis is seen by some as a gateway drug, it is actually helping people get off of other drugs. Cannabis is at the very least anecdotally known to help people get off opiates, combat alcoholism and even quit cigarettes. A new study came out of The University of California showing that indeed, people on pain meds were able to substitute cannabis for their pills with great success.

While changing minds about cannabis isn’t a done deal, the majority of the nation approves of legalization, a majority of states have some sort of pro marijuana laws and support for the plant continues to rise. It’s stories like Abas’ that are capable of changing minds and it’s also studies like the one out of California.

Cannabis IS a gateway: to health, holistic well being and a higher quality of life.

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