A Message From Marijuana Policy Project ED Steve Hawkins

JJ McKay

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June 6, 2020

Dear readers, we wanted to share a message from Marijuana Policy Project ED Steve Hawkins as one of our partners and leaders in the legalize cannabis movement.

“I decided to join MPP because I believe that we will not fundamentally change policing practices in this country until we put an end to the war on drugs, and it starts with ending the prohibition on cannabis.”

I just spent the last two nights immersed in work that is sadly too familiar. I found myself once again providing assistance to lawyers representing an African American family who had lost a loved one at the hands of the police. So often, I am drawn back to where my career began over three decades ago as a young civil rights lawyer taking on cases involving police brutality and the death penalty. For me, there was little distinction between Black and Brown people losing their lives on the street to the police and those same people being strapped to gurneys and put to death. Both serve as forms of state-sanctioned murder disproportionately applied to people of color in the United States.

The murder of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers is merely the latest chapter in a long and ugly history of racial oppression that has defined our nation since its inception. I have spent my life fighting against this legacy and striving for racial justice in multiple ways — through the courts, at the United Nations, in the halls of Congress and state legislatures, and on the front lines of protest. Indeed, that journey is what led me to serve as executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project two years ago.

Since 1970, when President Nixon listed cannabis as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, this plant has been at the epicenter of a vicious drug war. This war has been waged on communities of color over the last half century, taking the form of oppressive policing in which African American and Latinx lives have proven to be expendable. We have seen this in deadly police encounters, such as the killing of Philando Castile, where the police officer rationalized the shooting because he smelled “burnt marijuana” in the car and “thought I was gonna die.”

This cannabis-consumption-as-justification has been used repeatedly, as we saw with Trayvon Martin (trace amounts of THC in his system as grounds for asserting he was under the influence), Michael Brown (recent use of cannabis), and Sandra Bland (found hung in her jail cell). Further, a quarter of all deadly “no-knock” drug raids, such as the one that resulted in the recent police shooting of Breonna Taylor, involved cannabis during a seven-year period (2010-2017) according to The Washington Post. Those killed include James Wescott (.2 grams in his possession) and Henry Magee (12 plants in his home) — both African American men. All of these lost lives represent intolerable crimes of racial injustice perpetrated by law enforcement under a system that has weaponized cannabis against people of color.

Trial After Marijuana Bust — Photo by qimono via Pixabay

I decided to join MPP because I believe that we will not fundamentally change policing practices in this country until we put an end to the war on drugs, and it starts with ending the prohibition on cannabis. The latest FBI statistics show that there were over 660,000 cannabis arrests in 2018 — one every 48 seconds — with blatant racial disparities in arrest rates. Take that number and increase it by a magnitude of four or five and you peek into the window of millions of police encounters where Black and Brown youth are subject to harassment and intimidation each day, sometimes with fatal consequences. I witnessed this firsthand with my nephews — Joshua and Isaiah — growing up in Yonkers, New York, as their feelings of self-worth and dignity were diminished by the numerous times they were stopped, questioned, searched, and insulted by the police.

There are many ways that policing will have to change in the United States to protect Black and Brown lives. That includes proper training on racial bias and use of force, a reward system for de-escalating conflict, independent prosecutors and autopsy examiners in police shootings, and federal laws to bar chokeholds and other forms of deadly restraint. But we must add to that list the legalization of cannabis — and not just its decriminalization. Only through legalization do we dramatically end arrests for cannabis-related offenses and rid ourselves of the number one pretext for thousands of police stops that happen daily in communities of color. While cannabis legalization alone will not save Black and Brown lives, it offers an opportunity to re-center policing away from a focus on the drug war to a focus on community healing and positive relationship-building. In that, there is hope.

In solidarity,

Steve Hawkins
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project

Why Prince William Wants Harry And Meghan To Move Out Of LA

Patricia Wallace

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June 6, 2020

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Why Prince William Wants Harry And Meghan To Move Out Of LA

Los Angeles isn’t for the faint of heart, and it’s certainly not for anyone uncomfortable with fame and intrusive media.

It wouldn’t be a royals story without some family drama. In this episode, Prince William is worried about his brother and sister-in-law living in Los Angeles. For obvious reasons, L.A. isn’t exactly where you move to when you want to escape the paparazzi, and apparently, William is the only royal who understands that.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been staying at Tyler Perry’s $18M sprawling compound in Beverly Hills since they stepped away from their royal duties earlier this year. Finding their own home has been challenging, with a global pandemic taking place right now, among other things. But staying in an exclusive, gated community where nobody can gain access to you has its drawbacks.

As the Observer reports, there have been at least five incidents in which drones were illegally flown just 20 feet above Perry’s home in order to capture photos of the couple with their son, Archie.

meghan markles 5 best looks — Photo by Chris Jackson/Staff/Getty Images

While the move to Los Angeles has been pretty seamless for Markle, who was raised in the City of Angels, Harry has been leaning on his older brother for emotional support, especially now that he’s living in an area known for its celebrity worship.

A source told Us Weekly that Wills has “advised Harry to return to London or move elsewhere” and that “he’s concerned about his brother’s well-being and safety.”

The insider also said that Harry had “unrealistic expectations” of life in Los Angeles and “saw L.A. through rose-colored glasses.”

Dark Web Marijuana Sales Soar During Pandemic

Brendan Bures

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June 5, 2020

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Dark Web Marijuana Sales Soar During Pandemic

The continued global crisis makes it difficult to know how black-market consumer behavior will change in the future.

The coronavirus pandemic caused an uptick in doomsday hoarding behavior, with Americans stocking up on toilet paper, frozen poultry, and hand sanitizer. They also bought a bunch of marijuana.

Previous data showed legal cannabis sales skyrocketed when Americans became serious about the pandemic around mid-March. But now we have a better idea of how COVID-19 affected black market sales.

The European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) studied dark web marijuana sales with findings published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine, as WIRED first reported. The number of dark web cannabis sales increased more than 30% in the first three months of 2020, which coincided with when the pandemic first impacted Europe. EMCDDA analysts aren’t sure why this jump in sales began as early as it did in Europe.

“It’s possible that buyers were trying to stock up for the weeks to come, or there’s just a larger group of cannabis users discovering online as a convenient distribution channel when social contact is limited and they have limited means to reach out to their usual dealer,” EMCDDA’s principal scientific analyst, Teodora Groshkova, told WIRED.

What surprised Groshkova’s team is how this affected revenue. In January, the predominantly Europe-based purchases made 11,036 weed purchased on Europe’s three biggest dark web markets. In March, that number was 14,289. None of which resulted in a huge jump in revenue. The pandemic inspired a mass of personal stash buys, but large-quantity wholesale faded significantly at the same time. Sales on Cannazon, a marijuana-only market, dropped from $2.1 million in January to $1.7 million in March.

4 Tips To Help You Avoid Online Shopping Scams — Photo by Westend61/Getty Images

Groshkova suggested local black market dealers who sourced their sale supply from the dark web couldn’t justify mass purchases once human contact diminished. In turn, it could also mean black market customers just bought directly from the source.

“When the offline opportunities for resale is limited, these people are not so interested to get hold of this type of larger amount,” Groshkova told WIRED. “They see that they’re going to have difficulty shifting these products.”

Still the findings do have limitations in drawing long-term conclusions. The global coronavirus pandemic continues, which makes it difficult to know how black-market consumer behavior will change in the future. And as some states propose marijuana legalization as a quick injection to the economy, the black market could change in unpredictable ways moving forward.

Is It Safe To Road Trip This Summer?

Maria Loreto

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June 5, 2020

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The coronavirus has halted most travel, which is not ideal during the summer months. Is taking a trip by car a safe option?

Travel has often felt like a luxury for many, and now, that feeling has been amplified. While it’s certainly not the most pressing issue right now, it’s one that affects almost everyone — from those who want to visit family to those who need a much-needed (physical and mental) escape from their homes. While airports and airlines are still functioning, a lot of people are wondering about road trips and whether that’s a safer option than getting on a plane.

Answers regarding the coronavirus change on a regular basis. Medical experts and the Centers for Disease Control are learning as they go and analyze the progress of the virus, meaning that what we might think is safe could turn out to be less safe in a short period of time.

Traveling by car seems like a much safer option than any form of public transportation or air travel. But experts stress that what we should all keep in mind is where we’re coming from and what we plan to do once we arrive to a new place.

Where you come from is important information. In early March, experts determined that travelers from New York were largely responsible for spreading coronavirus infections across different states in the US..

roadtrip — Photo by Rucksack Magazine via Unsplash

If you’re traveling from a city with a significant amount of COVID-19 cases, the safest thing you could do for the community you’re visiting is to stay quarantined for a period of 14 days. This is a lot to ask of people who are traveling in order to visit family members or moving to a new city for a new job opportunity.

While on the road, try to limit your stops as much as possible, whether they’re for pumping gas, buying food or bathroom breaks. When you stop, be sure to wear a mask and use hand sanitizer or wash your hands often. Remember to follow social distancing guidelines and be aware of the fact that when crossing state lines, people may have different attitudes and reactions to virus safety measures. It’s better to be safe and respectful than sorry.

As always, evaluate your own situation and the people you’ll be exposing. Ask yourself if anyone you’ll be exposing (or potentially exposing) is at risk. Before making a decision, be sure to look through each state’s guidelines, including the state you are coming from and the one you’ll be arriving in. Try your best to comply with these rules and to keep other people safe.

What New Guidelines For Serology Testing Mean For COVID-19

Kate-Madonna Hindes

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June 5, 2020

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What New Guidelines For Serology Testing Mean For COVID-19

These blood-bases tests could help healthcare professionals identify individuals who have developed an adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2 — the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

“Serology tests detect the presence of antibodies in the blood when the body is responding to a specific infection, like COVID-19. In other words, the tests detect the body’s adaptive immune response to the infection caused by the virus rather than detecting the virus itself.” (FDA)

History is filled with ancient battles between warring armies, where flags displayed a coat of arms. In the current war against COVID-19, the flag for serology indicates an important measurement in the fight to treat and to diminish the coronavirus. Like the historic flag, it’s important for the warriors in this present pandemic to understand what the colors signify.

To turn the tides of battle, the ultimate goal is for the medical professional or the medical researcher to understand how COVID-19 is spread, how people developed it and how it is spreading among the general population. As the coronavirus crisis started its rapid rise earlier this year, those were the questions being asked by both federal and state health officials.

In that vein, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just released new guidelines around serological test performance as well as approved an Emergency Use Authorization for manufacturers offering antibody testing. While serology testing helps determine, for example, how many infections have occurred at different points in time, until just recently healthcare teams and public health advocates didn’t have the ability to see who had already been infected — only who was currently infected.

Understanding New Rules Around Serological Testing — Photo by cicerocastro/Getty Images

Here are three important key points the FDA released about COVID-19 serology testing:

The FDA does not currently know the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibody positive individuals in the U.S. population, and prevalence may change based on the duration the virus is in the country and the effectiveness of mitigations.
Prevalence may vary widely between locations and between different groups of people, such as health care workers, due to different rates of infection.
A second test, typically one assessing for the presence of antibodies to a different viral protein, generally would be needed to increase the accuracy of the overall testing results.

The FDA also released resources around serological testing success rates and authenticity, which you can view on the agency’s website.

Study Finds No Association Between Marijuana And Stroke Risk

Brendan Bures

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June 5, 2020

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Study Finds No Association Between Marijuana And Stroke Risk

While more research is necessary, a new study concludes that there is no association between stroke risk and marijuana use.

Google “does marijuana increase risk of stroke,” and you’ll likely become confused. Some research, released earlier this year, indicates heavy marijuana consumption doubles the risk of stroke for young people. Other studies have indicated that data used in this research is closer to correlation than causation.

But a new study published in the journal Neurology Clinical Practice aims to put the matter to bed. American Academy of Neurology researchers claim there is no link between stroke risk and marijuana use, based on recent findings.

“Previous studies that investigated cannabis use and risk of stroke have had conflicting results, some showing a decreased risk and others showing a greatly increased risk,” the study’s lead author Dr. Carmela San Luis said in a statement.

“Our observational study looked specifically at recent cannabis use by reviewing drug testing data for people admitted to the hospital. While more research is needed with larger numbers of people, our study lends support to the studies showing that cannabis use does not increase the risk of stroke.”

A Doctor's Advice On How To Manage The Imperfect World Of COVID-19 — Photo by Negative Space via Pexels

For their research, San Luis’s team collected data from 9,350 patients admitted to the hospital who also received a urine test for drug use. (Those who tested positive for drugs other than marijuana were excluded from the study.) A total of 1,643 people of the group (18%) had marijuana in their system, according to the drug test. They found those who tested negative for marijuana were twice as likely to have had an ischemic stroke than those who tested positive.

When researchers adjusted for other significant stroke risk factors, blood pressure, obesity, smoking, and more, they reported no link between recent marijuana use and the likelihood of suffering a stroke. As the researchers emphasized, this was an observational study. That means scientists can’t definitively say smoking marijuana has no impact on stroke risk. Instead, it shows there’s no association between the two.

“Our research adds to the list of studies with conflicting results, so it is important to continue to investigate stroke risk and cannabis use,” San Luis added. “Future studies are now needed in larger groups of people that not only include data from drug screenings but also dosing amounts as well as a person’s history of cannabis use.”

How Cannabis Can Help With OCD’s Compulsive Behaviors

Brea Mosley

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June 5, 2020

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How Cannabis Can Help With OCD’s Compulsive Behaviors

According to science, cannabis can be an alternative solution to trichotillomania, a hair-pulling disorder that affects more than 200,000 Americans annually.

Trichotillomania (TMM) is a disorder that involves pulling out of body hair. It isn’t just limited to scalp hair either — eyebrows, eyelashes and even arm hairs are not exempt. The disorder, which affects more than 200,000 Americans each year, is treatable, but let’s be real: traditional medications don’t always work.

However, according to science, cannabis can be an alternative solution to the compulsive disorder. This is good news considering the psychiatric disorder has no FDA approved treatments yet.

In a 2011 pilot study, researchers administered 14 females with a mean age of 33, with 2.5 to 15 mg per day of the cannabis compound dronabinol. This compound is usually used to treat nausea and vomiting in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

In the 12-week open label experiment, scientist collected data between November 2009 to December 2010. All the subjects underwent pre- and post-treatment assessments.

The study was one of the first of its kind to examine the effects of a cannabis agonist on trichotillomania and the results were pretty exciting. Researchers used the Massachusetts General Hospital Hair Pulling Scale (MGH-HPS) and measured success by the decreases or increases in the baseline score and endpoint score.

At the end of the study MGH-HPS scores decreased from a mean of 16.5 at baseline to 8.7 at the end of the study. In other words, the 12 subjects (2 had to drop due to unforeseen circumstances) saw a serious improvement in their TTM symptoms and 9 of those 12 subjects saw “much or very much” improvements.

Subjects received an average dose of 11.4 mg per day. The best part of the study is that none of the subjects reported serious effects on cognitive abilities.

In other words, people with trichotillomania may have found help in a very unlikely partner.

5 Techniques To Find Calm During An Anxiety Spiral

Maria Loreto

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June 4, 2020

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5 Techniques To Find Calm During An Anxiety Spiral

Many of us are battling anxiety right now, and it’s not easy. Here’s how you can manage your thoughts and feelings during stressful times.

For people who suffer from anxiety, stressful moments in time — like the ones we’re going through right now — can be especially taxing. Anxiety prompts fight or flight reactions from our bodies, something that’s natural and necessary for survival when faced with an immediate threat. The thing about anxiety is that you don’t have to be facing a lion in order to experience it.

It can be hard to pinpoint the moment when your anxiety gets of out control, which is why anxious people sometimes find themselves going through different scenarios in their heads, each one more unlikely than the next, yet all equally distressing.

To prevent these thoughts — or at least to manage them — it’s important to notice your personal patterns. Here are 5 things you can do to reign in an anxiety spiral:

Deep breaths

Deep breathing — or diaphragmatic breathing — can help you manage your anxiety since one of the symptoms that first affects us when spiraling is shallow breathing. Deep breaths, especially the ones pulled from your diaphragm, will oxygenate you and ground you in the present.

In order to learn how to use your diaphragm for breathing, put a hand on your chest and a hand on your stomach and start taking deep breaths. The hand on your stomach should move with each breath, while the hand on your chest should remain relatively static. Try these breathing techniques whenever you’re anxious.

Monitor your thoughts

benefits of weed journaling — Photo by Thomas Martinsen via Unsplash

Keeping track of your thoughts can help prevent anxiety spirals by learning what your trigger points are. Try to pay attention to your moods. Are you feeling irritated? Did someone else’s behavior stress you out? Noticing how you’re feeling in the moment will allow you to find what triggers your anxiety. Tracking behaviors is a very common and helpful thing to practice, allowing you to know yourself better and to avoid any sneak attacks by your feelings.

Do a physical chore

If you’re feeling anxious and jittery, try completing a physical chore, like cleaning the dishes, mowing the lawn or organizing your closet. These tasks allow a brief escape from your thoughts, creating some distance between yourself and the story that your brain is working so hard to tell you.

Distract yourself

netflix reveals most watched tv shows and movies — Photo by Pinho . via Unsplash

Depending on the type of anxiety you’re dealing with, you could also try other types of distractions, like watching a movie or listening to music. If you need something more engaging to keep your thoughts from running away from you, try playing a video game with headphones on. Video games ask of you to use your body and your brain simultaneously, which is why so many people find them as ideal distractions.

Try staying present

Experiment with different methods that help you stay in the moment, whether that’s closing your eyes or contracting and releasing your muscles. These techniques are very common for keeping you grounded and in the moment, something that can put a stop to anxious thoughts that are keen to distance you from what’s going on right now.

Why Not All CBD Health Claims Are Treated Equal

Nathalie Bougenies

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June 4, 2020

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Why Not All CBD Health Claims Are Treated Equal

Independent consumer assessments, including online reviews and social media posts, fall outside the jurisdiction of the FTC, even if they contain health claims otherwise punishable if made by CBD companies.

If you read this blog and keep a close eye on the cannabidiol (“CBD”) industry, you know that the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) takes issue with advertising tools containing egregious, unfounded claims about the health benefits of CBD products. Yet, you might be surprised to read that the federal agency does not go after every actor that promotes the therapeutic value of these products. This post explains why.

The FTC is empowered under the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTC Act”) to regulate advertising to protect the public from unfair and deceptive claims made in any medium. Under the FTC Act, companies must support their advertising claims with solid evidence. This is especially true for businesses that market food, dietary supplements, and other health-related products. The objective of the FTC is to ensure that consumers get accurate information about these products so they can make informed decisions.

In reviewing health claims, the FTC gives great deference to the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) – the agency tasked with regulating these products. The FTC follows the FDA’s determination of whether there is adequate support for a health claim to be made.

As we have written at length, the FDA treats any CBD products marketed as having therapeutic value as a drug. Drugs are tightly regulated and subject to FDA pre-approval for safety and effectiveness purposes before introduction into interstate commerce. With the exception of Epidiolex, no product containing hemp CBD has been approved as safe and effective for medical use.

Accordingly, to align with this FDA policy, the FTC mandates that any person who makes any health benefit claim about CBD products must possess and rely upon “competent and reliable scientific evidence.”

In simple terms, “competent and reliable scientific evidence” means tests, analyses, research, and studies conducted and evaluated by experts in the field that substantiate that the representation is true. Yet, given the limited number of scientific studies on the health benefits of CBD, virtually no advertiser making medical claims about these products could possibly defend its representations under the federal standards.

Can CBD Help Seniors With Insomnia? — Photo by Oliver King via Unsplash

These standards, however, only apply to people directly involved with the advertising of these products. This means that independent consumer reviews, which are reviews made by individuals who have no connection to the product manufacturer or distributor, are exempt from such regulations. This explains why publications like Forbes and Vogue frequently release articles ranking “best CBD products,” which are filled with all kinds of medical claims.

RELATED: Is Synthetic CBD Legal?

This, of course, is premised on the assumption that these publications and their journalists are expressing their personal opinion and fondness for a particular CBD product and have no endorsement deal with any of the CBD companies whose products they are reviewing.

If these publications and journalists did have some sort of sponsorship or endorsement deal — let’s say, the journalists receive free CBD products from the company, then these journalists and the CBD companies would be subject to the FTC rules and would need to disclose their relationship. Regulators would view the journalists as part of the CBD company’s marketing program, which is essential in helping consumers evaluate the review and the quality of the product. In addition, the company would need to ensure that the journalists do not make any health claims that would open them up to enforcement actions by the FTC, which are no longer limited to issuing warning letters.

In sum, honest, independent consumer assessments, including online reviews, social media posts and video, fall outside the jurisdiction of the FTC, even if they contain health claims otherwise punishable if made by CBD companies. The primary goal of the FTC is to protect the public from deceiving companies which hold a financial interest in a product, not to silence people’s free speech.

Nathalie Bougenies is an attorney at Harris Bricken and this article was originally published on the Canna Law Blog.

FDA Has Approved A New At-Home Test For COVID-19

Kate-Madonna Hindes

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June 4, 2020

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FDA Has Approved A New At-Home Test For COVID-19

This new method of collecting saliva eliminates the risk to those handling the samples and keeps front-line laboratory workers safe in the midst of a pandemic.

“Authorizing additional diagnostic tests with the option of at-home sample collection will continue to increase patient access to testing for COVID-19. This provides an additional option for the easy, safe and convenient collection of samples required for testing without traveling to a doctor’s office, hospital or testing site.” — FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, M.D

The potential to expand the availability and accessibility of an at-home saliva test to combat COVID-19 has taken a step forward. The test approval, in a boon to the process of serology (or antibody) testing, was announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in conjunction with Accurate Diagnostic Labs (ADL), the largest independent New York-New Jersey area testing laboratory.

The FDA announcement on May 8 was an extension to the emergency use authorization (EUA), expanding it to include the saliva test. The EUA bypasses the normal labyrinthine process of government approval and authorization. This strategically important approval expands beyond the already approved at-home tests using a nasal swab and saline.

“For the past month, we have focused on providing solutions to health systems, first responders, and essential employees,” said Rupen Patel, CEO of New Jersey-based ADL. “Completing these studies and receiving this approval will allow us to continue that mission while expanding our capabilities to begin to test more people that may be spreading the virus without knowing it.”

The Rutgers Clinical Genomics Laboratory received an expanded approval for their COVID-19 laboratory developed test; this is the first saliva test to win FDA approval. This will allow testing of samples self-collected by patients at home using the Spectrum Solutions LLC SDNA-1000 saliva collection device.

With the rapid spread of COVID-19, there have been several weeks of high risk exposure to the virus — a risk that resulted in the loss of thousands of lives (including hundreds of medical personnel), ensuring that the urgency of this step forward.

The new method of collecting specimens is the first-of-its-kind due to a unique way in storing the sample, explained Dr. Shaila Nayak, Medical Director of Accurate Diagnostic Labs. The design eliminates the risk to those handling the samples and keeps front-line laboratory workers safe in the midst of a pandemic.

FDA Crackdown On Coronavirus Medical Claims: CBD Companies, Take Note! — Photo by fotograzia/Getty Images

As overall deaths from the coronavirus have passed the 100,000 mark, there are significant benefits to new specimen collection and serology breakthroughs; especially when the test mitigates biological hazards to laboratory workers.

The FDA authorization is limited to testing performed at the Rutgers Clinical Genomics Laboratory using their molecular LDT COVID-19 authorized test for saliva specimens collected using the Spectrum Solutions LLC SDNA-1000 Saliva Collection Device.

There has been a focused round-the-clock effort by all of the collaborating organizations and their research and medical personnel, together with the FDA to focus on not only finding new ways to combat the virus but add numbers to needed data patterns to understand its spread.

The Fresh ToastThe most trusted name in cannabis

A Message From Marijuana Policy Project ED Steve Hawkins

“I decided to join MPP because I believe that we will not fundamentally change policing practices in this country until we put an end to the war on drugs, and it starts with ending the prohibition on cannabis.”

Why Prince William Wants Harry And Meghan To Move Out Of LA

Los Angeles isn’t for the faint of heart, and it’s certainly not for anyone uncomfortable with fame and intrusive media.

Dark Web Marijuana Sales Soar During Pandemic

The continued global crisis makes it difficult to know how black-market consumer behavior will change in the future.

Is It Safe To Road Trip This Summer?

The coronavirus has halted most travel, which is not ideal during the summer months. Is taking a trip by car a safe option?

What New Guidelines For Serology Testing Mean For COVID-19

These blood-bases tests could help healthcare professionals identify individuals who have developed an adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2 — the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Study Finds No Association Between Marijuana And Stroke Risk

While more research is necessary, a new study concludes that there is no association between stroke risk and marijuana use.

How Cannabis Can Help With OCD’s Compulsive Behaviors

According to science, cannabis can be an alternative solution to trichotillomania, a hair-pulling disorder that affects more than 200,000 Americans annually.

5 Techniques To Find Calm During An Anxiety Spiral

Many of us are battling anxiety right now, and it’s not easy. Here’s how you can manage your thoughts and feelings during stressful times.

Deep breaths

Monitor your thoughts

Do a physical chore

Distract yourself

Try staying present

Why Not All CBD Health Claims Are Treated Equal

Independent consumer assessments, including online reviews and social media posts, fall outside the jurisdiction of the FTC, even if they contain health claims otherwise punishable if made by CBD companies.

FDA Has Approved A New At-Home Test For COVID-19

This new method of collecting saliva eliminates the risk to those handling the samples and keeps front-line laboratory workers safe in the midst of a pandemic.

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