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Colorado Homeless: $12.3 Million In Weed Tax For Wrap-Around Services

Al Olson
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Colorado Homeless: $12.3 Million In Weed Tax For Wrap-Around Services

First-time visitors to downtown Denver normally comment on two things: The growing number of marijuana stores and the growing homeless population.

In a bold move, Gov. John Hickenlooper this week announced a plan to take tax revenues from marijuana sales and use it to help solve Colorado’s homeless crisis.

“My argument … is we spend more than twice as much … perpetuating lives of misery by letting people live under bridges than we would getting them into housing and giving them wrap-around services — by which I mean, job training at the top of the list, counseling for addictions and medications for mental health,” Hickenlooper said.

Hickenlooper’s plan would take $12.3 million in marijuana tax revenues and spend it on housing units for the state’s homeless population. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Colorado had more than 10,ooo homeless citizens. At full capacity, the state currently has only 7,000 beds to offer.

Colorado is not unique. Nationally, more than 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year. More than one third of the homeless population are families with children, which is the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. Nearly 25 percent are military veterans.

But Colorado would become the first state to use tax revenue from marijuana sales and use it to help solve homelessness.

The state already sends $40 million in taxes collected from cannabis to school construction programs. The rest of the taxes have been earmarked for health care, substance abuse prevention and treatment programs and law enforcement.

According to the Denver Post, Hickenlooper’s proposal would put $16.3 million in marijuana tax revenues and another $2 million in general tax collections a year toward three new programs to address affordable housing and homeless issues. The package includes:

  • $12.3 million to build 1,200 new permanent housing units for chronically homeless individuals and 300 additional units for those with periodic homelessness in the first five years.
  • $4 million to acquire or construct 354 housing units paired with behavioral health services.
  • $2 million in incentives to add 250 affordable housing units for senior citizens and those facing rising prices from gentrification.
  • The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless lauded the creation of a dedicated source of money for these programs.

One Colorado city, Aurora, already spends some money from cannabis sales to help its homeless population. The state’s third-largest city announced earlier this year that it will set aside $1.5 million to assist in city efforts to help the homeless.

Highway is an essential source for cannabis science, how-to stories and demystifying marijuana. Want to read more? Thy these posts: The Majority Of Americans Now Want Legal Marijuana, Seattle’s Swankiest Marijuana Store Opens Its Doors, and Opioids Out, Cannabis In, Top Medical Research Journal Says.

We Can’t Stop Watching Lin-Manuel Miranda Slur Through ‘Drunk History’

TFT Editors
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We Can’t Stop Watching Lin-Manuel Miranda Slur Through ‘Drunk History’

Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has had an incredible 18 months. He wrote and starred in the most popular Broadway musical in years (perhaps of all-time), hosted Saturday Night Live, signed up for a bajillion prestige post-Hamilton projects (including, most recently, adapting Pat Rothfuss’ fantasy book trilogy The Kingkiller Chronicle for TV), and played a role in in the surreal event that led to a Twitter tantrum from President-elect Trump. And now he’s starring in an episode of Comedy Central’s Drunk History series that focuses on, who else, Alexander Hamilton.

The episode features an inebriated Miranda narrating Hamilton’s rise to power and life as Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat portrays the Founding Father. Parks and Recreation alum Aubrey Plaza also stars as Hamilton’s eventual killer Aaron Burr, Fargo‘s Bokeem Woodbine plays George Washinton, and Veep’s Tony Hale is James Monroe. The show also snagged Foo Fighter Dave Grohl and The Roots’ drummer Questlove for cameos. Watch Questlove’s appearance and two clips from the show below, and then check out the full episode on Comedy Central’s website.

 

What About High History?

The episode got us thinking: What would High History look like as a TV show? Some of the cursing and interruptions would be similar to Drunk History‘s, but there would likely be a lot more drawn-out pauses as important parts of the story sloooowly returned to the narrator’s memory.

There would also be more tangents and rambling musings triggered by minor plot-points and inconsequential characters. Also, fits of giggling would occasionally and repeatedly disrupt the episode, which could be entertaining and fun at first but would quickly become annoying. Or perhaps—if the kush is too strong—the episode would be filled long silences because the narrator suddenly became too paranoid to carry on with the story. Hmm. Maybe Comedy Central and the Drunk History creators should just stick to their original idea.

The More You Know: Tortoises Last Longer In Bed Than Your Partner

Brendan Bures
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The More You Know: Tortoises Last Longer In Bed Than Your Partner

Ever worry about not lasting long enough in bed? Of course you do. But that isn’t a problem for tortoises, who if these photos from The Daily Mirror provide any indication, might be the slowest mating breed in the natural world.

The Look So Happy!

Paul Williams is a producer and director who has worked with the BBC Natural History Unit since 2002. He was lucky enough (is lucky the right word?) to catch two tortoises in the act. The animals were not affected by the attention they garnered, continuing their steamy romp as if no one was watching.

Williams found the mating pair in the midriff of Karoo, South Africa. Though Williams has filmed and shot in more than 30 countries from around the world, this was an experience surely unlike any other.

The lesson as always: The tortoise always outlasts the hare. Even in bed.

The most essential daily news, entertainment, pop culture, and culture coverage. Want more? Check out “ ‘Arrival’ and ‘Nocturnal Animals’ Showcase Amy Adams As One Of Our Best Actors” “Here Are The “Best” Black Friday Fight Videos of 2016” and “5 Singing Dogs To Make You Feel Better About Life”

Police Set Up Cameras To Track Mountain Lion, Find Bigfoot Instead…Wait

Taylor Berman
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Police Set Up Cameras To Track Mountain Lion, Find Bigfoot Instead…Wait

After hearing reports of a mountain lion on the prowl near a park, the Gardner (Kansas) Police Department installed two trail cameras to monitor the area. The idea sort of worked, in that the department caught some very unusual wildlife on video, including a coyote, a skunk, and… apparent drunkards dressed as gorillas, Santa, and some sort of monster.

The department wrote on their Facebook page that they were “surprised by some of the images that the cameras did take” and that it’s now “attempting to identify some of the wildlife and activity in these images.”

From what we can tell, they recorded one coyote, one skunk, one person in a weird monster mask with long hair, one person in what appears to be a Sasquatch suit, one person in a white coat with a walker, one Santa Claus holding a beer, one person in a full radiation suit/mask, one little raccoon, one woman wearing a terrifying Krampus mask, and at least two people crawling around on the ground in white gorilla costumes.

“We would like to sincerely thank the persons responsible as it made our day when we pulled up what we expected to be hundreds of pictures of coyotes, foxes and raccoons,” the department wrote on Facebook. “Thank you to the citizens who noticed the cameras. Your effort and sense of humor are greatly appreciated.”

The best news of all? The department found no evidence of mountain lions, though to be honest the one monster mask is scarier than any sort of natural predator.

The most essential daily news, entertainment, pop culture, and culture coverage. Want more? Check out “ ‘Arrival’ and ‘Nocturnal Animals’ Showcase Amy Adams As One Of Our Best Actors” “Here Are The “Best” Black Friday Fight Videos of 2016” and “5 Singing Dogs To Make You Feel Better About Life”

Fined $10 Million By NFL, Players Continue Fighting For Marijuana

Al Olson
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Fined $10 Million By NFL, Players Continue Fighting For Marijuana

The National Football League has a drug problem and more and more of its players are speaking out about it.

Jack Brewer, a retired safety who played for four NFL teams, is the latest to address the league’s apparent hypocrisy. Brewer, who endured nine surgeries and countless opioid treatments as a result of his chosen profession, wrote a thoughtful, first-person story for CNBC under the headline “Why isn’t marijuana an option for professional football players?”

Good question … and one that has been asked quite a bit lately. The NFL, this year alone, has fined 20 players more than $10 million for violating its substance-abuse policy — and most of those of these incidents are marijuana related.

Crohn’s Disease? Too Bad

Just this week, Seantrel Henderson, an offensive lineman for the Buffalo Bills, was suspended for the second time this season for using cannabis to help combat Crohn’s disease, a debilitating inflammatory bowel disease that caused Henderson to have two operations.

According to a Washington Post report:

In January, 2 1/2 feet of [Henderson’s] colon were removed and in April he underwent surgery to reattach his intestines. In the interim, he wore an ileostomy bag and lost 50 pounds. He chose not to appeal the four-game suspension he received in September, his first of the season.

But Henderson is expected to appeal what would be a 10-game suspension for this second offense for using a banned substance. The NFL is expected to decide his punishment this week and NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports that Henderson may take the matter to court.

According to an ESPN survey earlier this season, more than 60 percent of players believe the use of pharmaceutical opioids would be reduced if the NFL OK’d marijuana for pain.

Still A Nope From The NFL

But the league is reluctant to budge. “Marijuana is still governed by our collective bargaining agreement,” George Atallah, the NFLPA’s assistant executive director of external affairs, said in a statement. “And while some states have moved in a more progressive direction, that fact still remains. We are actively looking at the issue of pain management of our players. And studying marijuana as a substance under that context is the direction we are focused on.”

In his CNBC story, former player Brewer is dubious. It was his experience that the league’s primary focus was the product on the field, not the players’ safety. He writes:

Keep in mind that, in the NFL, we didn’t pick up a prescription from the local CVS, or have a doctor consultation to discuss side effects. We were asked if we could take the pain of a needle, we pulled down one side of our pants, took the shot of Toradol in the butt and hustled out to the field following the national anthem.

The NFL’s reliance on opioids to treat its employees is starting to create problems. More players are retiring earlier than normal in order to prevent long-term damage to their brains and bodies.

And it’s not just a problem for high-priced athletes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 14,000 people died from overdoses involving prescription opioids in 2014.

As Brewer relates in his piece:

The facts relating to cannabinoids as an alternate are pretty clear: “You can’t directly die from taking a cannabinoid, the way tens of thousands of people are directly dying from opioids each year in the U.S.,” says Dr. Daniel Clauw, a professor of anesthesiology at the University of Michigan. If you ask me, pushing addictive pain meds on young pro athletes should be criminal.

This Is Unacceptable

“It is absolutely unacceptable that Roger Goodell and the NFL Players Association continues to punish players for using medical cannabis to treat severe pain and other state approved illnesses, while turning a blind eye to far more serious issues such as prescription drug addiction and domestic violence,” said Sam Chapman, who runs New Economy Consulting. “Players should be allowed to use medical cannabis in states that have legalized it, period.”

Brewer concurs. “It’s well past time for the NFL to get with the program and consider marijuana as an option for the treatment of pain.”

Highway is an essential source for cannabis science, how-to stories and demystifying marijuana. Want to read more? Thy these posts: The Majority Of Americans Now Want Legal Marijuana, Seattle’s Swankiest Marijuana Store Opens Its Doors, and Opioids Out, Cannabis In, Top Medical Research Journal Says. 

QUIZ: Test Your Food Phobia IQ With These 8 Delicious Questions

Jillian Peterson
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QUIZ: Test Your Food Phobia IQ With These 8 Delicious Questions

Nothing takes the joy out of a good ol’ social situation like an obnoxious food phobia. There is an anxiety disorder associated with just about every part of the dining experience, from dark colors and social interaction to food itself. How well do you know your food phobias? Test your IQ with these eight questions.

[qzzr quiz=”303633″ width=”100%” height=”auto” redirect=”true” offset=”0″]

Marijuana Can Help: $1 Billion To Combat America’s Opioid Problem

Al Olson
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Marijuana Can Help: $1 Billion To Combat America’s Opioid Problem

For a Congress infamous for deadlock and division, passing a massive and groundbreaking $6.3 billion piece of legislation would appear to be an impossible task. But the 21st Century Cures Act, a bipartisan effort to overhaul the nation’s healthcare system that includes throwing $1 billion at America’s opioid problem, is being fast-tracked in the House and is expected to pass this week after years of debate and disagreement.

There is no question that America has a serious problem dealing with opiate addiction. In 2014, more than 28,000 U.S. citizens died of an overdose of some form of opiate. That alarming statistic likely has gone up in the past two years. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, heroin overdose rates doubled in 28 states from 2010 to 2012. American death rates from prescription opioid pain reliever overdoses quadrupled during 1999–2010, the CDC study found.  Medical experts estimate that our nation’s abuse of opioids cost over $72 billion in health costs each year.

Clearly, the $1 billion is needed to do something to solve this crisis. But studies have revealed a less expensive treatment readily available: marijuana.

In a groundbreaking article released earlier this month, one of the nation’s leading medical journals suggests that cannabis can be a helpful tool to combat America’s opioid addiction problem.

A RAND study last year found that states with medical marijuana have lower rates of opioid overdose and abuse. Another study this year in Health Affairs found that medical professionals are less prone to prescribe prescription opioids in states that allow marijuana.

The current opioid measure will likely touch the lives of nearly every American, is a mixed bag of regulations targeted at a wide range of issues from reforming mental health to Alzheimer’s research to cancer treatment. But the biggest headline out of the law is the $1 billion earmarked for dealing with America’s growing abuse epidemic.

Under the broad measure, the federal government will reward states with grants to help fight opioid addiction, including providing greater access to treatment programs.

“It’s encouraging that even in this politically charged moment, Republicans and Democrats have been able to reach a compromise to allow a comprehensive mental health reform bill to pass with major new funding to confront the nation’s opioid crisis,” said Sen. Christopher S. Murphy (D-Conn.). “This package will means hundreds of millions of dollars in new care for the mentally ill and those in the middle of crippling addictions.”

Rep. Susan Brooks (R-Ind.) agrees. “More Americans are dying of drug overdoses than car crashes today. Heroin and opioid abuse is overburdening our child welfare systems, crippling newborn babies with addiction, and impacting our veterans at alarming rates.”

Highway is an essential source for cannabis science, how-to stories and demystifying marijuana. Want to read more? Thy these posts: The Majority Of Americans Now Want Legal Marijuana, Seattle’s Swankiest Marijuana Store Opens Its Doors, and Opioids Out, Cannabis In, Top Medical Research Journal Says. 

You Will Soon Be Able To Smoke Strains From Hunter S. Thompson’s Personal Stash

Brendan Bures
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You Will Soon Be Able To Smoke Strains From Hunter S. Thompson’s Personal Stash

It was approaching the late morning when the news began to take hold. Soon, we’d be able to participate in the cannabis strains from the good doctor himself. Dr. Gonzo that is.

That’s right. Anita Thompson, widow to famed writer Hunter S. Thompson, announced she would soon be cultivating and selling marijuana strains cloned from Thompson’s personal stash. While stating you’ll soon get as high as Thompson feels like an overstatement—the normal human body can’t handle that consumption—you can at least share in his haze.

Anita Thompson broke the news to the Aspen Times, detailing her future plans regarding the Owl Farm, Hunter’s secluded and “fortified compound” as he referred to it. Hunter S. Thompson had established a trust before his passing that allowed Anita to live there for the rest of her life, but it would be owned by the Gonzo Trust.

However, Anita purchased the rights to full ownership of the property back in June. The deal included Anita also gaining complete ownership over the “Gonzo” logo and to Hunter’s likeness, though she gave up her rights as beneficiary to Hunter’s book sales.

Are You Ready For This?

One of her first projects with regards to Hunter’s likeness involves the aforementioned weed strains. Anita said she’d been approached previously by distributors and growers “to slap Hunter’s name on their strain,” but she refused every time. Instead she has six strains the good doctor toked himself, and will work with cannabis companies to sell them or hybrids of the strains to public.


via GIPHY

“I have found a legal method to extract the DNA from Hunter’s personal marijuana and hashish that I saved for 12-15 years,” Anita wrote in a follow-up Facebook post. “I am in the process of making the strains available to those who would like to enjoy the authentic Gonzo strains in legal states.”

The sales would go to support plans to turning Owl Farm into a private museum of sorts, as well as writer’s residence. Anita previously was hesitant to promote Hunter’s larger-than-life lifestyle, and wanted fans to focus on his writing and craft.

“I was always steering toward his work and away from his lifestyle, but now I feel like I can talk more openly about his lifestyle,” she said. “I’m proud to do it now. Before, it was a little too risky.”

Or as she more frankly put it: “I’m looking forward to being a drug lord.”

Winning? 50-Year Ban On Haggis To Be Lifted, Dish Coming To US

Amy Hansen
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Winning? 50-Year Ban On Haggis To Be Lifted, Dish Coming To US

Just the name is enough to send some folks into a fit of nausea: haggis.

The dish, made popular by the Scots, is a “savory pudding” made from ground up sheep organs (heart, liver, lungs), along with oatmeal and spices. And it’s all encased in the sheep’s stomach. It may sound disgusting, but once the stomach is slit open and the contents are served, it looks a lot like ground meat. And let’s face it, ground meat (especially commercial hot dogs and sausages) are no ingredient picnic, either.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNH9bDlBL3d/

For those licking their lips over the description, good news: a nearly 50-year ban on this traditional meal may soon be lifted.

It all started in 1971 when the U.S. Department of Agriculture ruled that “livestock lungs shall not be saved for use as human food.” And the whole mad cow disease scare in the late 90s didn’t help matters.

But now, a milestone is said to have been reached between the U.S. and Scottish governments, and that the ban could be lifted by early next year.

Still not sold on the haggis idea? America’s unofficial voice of food reason, Anthony Bourdain, is here to talk some sense into you.


Watch A Giraffe Stomp All Over A Lion In Shocking New ‘Planet Earth II’ Clip

Taylor Berman
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Watch A Giraffe Stomp All Over A Lion In Shocking New ‘Planet Earth II’ Clip

We’ve already written about how amazing ‘Planet Earth II’ appears to be based on its extended trailer, a horrifying clip of a lizard outrunning dozens of speedy snakes, and a video of very good bears dancing/scratching their backs on trees to “Jungle Boogie.” Now, the BBC has released another preview of the documentary series, which is currently airing in the UK and will debut on January 28, 2017 in the U.S.

In the clip, a lion appears ready to pounce on its prey but then slowly begins to back away before leaping into the air as a big-ass giraffe gallops into the frame at full speed. The lion lashes at the giraffe with its claws, but it’s no use; the long-necked creature plows right over the predator and then tramples it with its hooves. The lion bounces back upright and appears to be considering giving chase to the giraffe when the video fades out. 

Who knew giraffes could ruin a lion like that? Not us, that’s for sure.

And here’s a video of a giraffe attacking a woman who’d wandered to close to it.

The lesson is: Don’t fight or walk near a giraffe, even if you’re a lion.

 

 

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