The summer continues to provide new challenges for the COVID-19 outbreak. Are pools and lakes safe to visit?
Summer is finally here, meaning that thousands of people are desperate to get some sun. This warm weather yearning is made even worse after experiencing months of social distancing guidelines, which seem to have eliminated beach and pool trips for the time being. But, if you’re steering clear from other people and are being careful, how safe is it to swim in a lake, pool or ocean?
One of the positive things that scientists have discovered about the coronavirus is that people are much less likely to catch it when they’re in an open and outdoor space. Although there’s always a risk when you leave a controlled space (like your house), the fact that you’re in a pool, lake or an ocean doesn’t change much for experts, no matter the angle you wish to focus on.
In an interview with the New York Times, Dr. Ebb Lautenbach from the University of Pennsylvania said that people should worry about other people, not about water and it’s capacity to shuffle germs around. “There’s nothing inherent about ocean water or especially pool water that is risky. The bug isn’t transmitted via a waterborne route,” says Dr. Ebb Lautenbach. “Chlorine and bromine that are in pools inactivate the virus and makes it even lower risk in terms of catching it from the water.”
Photo by Marc-Antoine Roy via Unsplash
USC professor Paula Cannon shares these beliefs, explaining that lakes and beaches don’t pose a risk due to dilution. “You’d have to probably drink the entire lake to get an infectious dose of the coronavirus,” she told the Los Angeles Times.
The main issues with beaches, public pools and popular lakes is that most of these spaces get crowded when there’s warm weather, offering less space than public parks and other outdoor sports where people gather. Cluttered spaces and water also make it harder for you to wear the appropriate masks and face coverings and to stay 6-feet away from others.
Social distancing remains the same, whether you’re in a pool, lake or the ocean. If you visit a beach or your local pool during off hours, there should be no issues provided you’re careful, you wipe nearby surfaces and you stay 6-feet apart from others.
The National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws says the consequences of marijuana enforcement have damaging and sometimes fatal consequences.
Last week, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) delivered a powerful message about how communities of color are disproportionately affected by the enforcement of the War on Drugs. In response to “recent violent deaths of Africans Americans,” NIDA director Nora D. Volkow highlighted that systemic discrimination directly thwarts the federal institution’s effort to address addiction as a disease rather than a moral failing.
“[Our] mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability,” Volkow wrote. “Science has told us repeatedly that systematic, widespread discrimination of Black/African-American people is diametrically opposed to these aims, and what’s more, it is unacceptable and wrong.”
The National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws (NORML) applauded the statement, adding cannabis advocates know the truth of her statements all too well. But the group called upon NIDA and Volkow to take a step further and label marijuana prohibition as more detrimental than the plant itself.
“We believe that taking this public position would be consistent with NIDA’s mission to promote and enhance public health. NORML recognizes that, from a public health perspective, cannabis is not altogether harmless,” NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri and Deputy Director Paul Armentano wrote in a joint open letter. “It can be mood-altering; some consumers can become dependent upon it, and some can experience adverse effects.
“But we believe, and based upon your recent public statements we have faith that you do too, that marijuana’s potential public health risks to the individual adult consumer pale in comparison to the known public health burden imposed by its continued criminalization.”
NIDA’s Volkow noted white and black Americans use drugs at similar rates, but the latter group is four times as likely to be arrested for possession. But violating marijuana laws can often lead to damaging long-term effects. As NORML pointed out, consequences can include loss of employment, student aid, adoption rights, welfare benefits. It can also lead to probation, mandatory drug testing, lifelong criminal record, and more.
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As the Washington Post has reported, cannabis can be deadly in ways not often discussed in scientific and political circles. Low-level marijuana arrests can lead to fatal encounters with the police, as it did in the cases of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, Ramarley Graham in the Bronx, and Philando Castile in Minnesota. By condemning marijuana prohibition, NIDA would hold considerable sway in addressing criminal justice reform in the country.
“Will marijuana legalization and regulation alone fix over a century of systemic racism in America? No,” the NORML directors wrote in their letter. “But nonetheless we understand, all too well, the role that marijuana criminalization has played — and continues to play — in upholding the systemic racism that NIDA has now gone on record to condemn.
“That is why, in the interest of both enhancing public health and confronting the institutional racism that plagues our nation, we ask you and NIDA to publicly acknowledge that the perpetuation of the criminal enforcement of marijuana prohibition, as well as the stigmatization of those adults who use it responsibly, is far more detrimental to public health than is the behavior these policies are intended to discourage.”
Experts believe it’s important to be mindful of our decisions during this time, since these can affect our mental and physical health after the pandemic has passed.
Depression, grief and anxiety have been so widely reported during the coronavirus outbreak that it’s likely we all know someone who deals with at least one of these conditions on a daily basis. While there’s been a rise in teletherapy, it’s very important for governments to address these issues, especially since they’ll most likely continue to affect people long after the pandemic has passed.
Another aspect that a lot of people are questioning is the state of their physical health. Once life goes back to normal, whenever/if that ever happens, will our bodies look and feel the same? The answer depends on each person’s life and decisions, including their level of activity and coping methods.
Gizmodo spoke with several experts who provided their opinions on the subject. Most agree that what matters most is how you choose to cope with the pandemic. While there has to be some leeway and forgiveness for our behaviors during these strange and stressful times, at some point we have to get used to it and adapt to the new situation, hopefully making the right decisions for our bodies.
Eating junk foods, watching lots of TV, consuming more alcohol and going to bed late are habits that are growing increasingly common, a very concerning statistic for most experts. “We are almost certainly facing a small acceleration in the kind of chronic disease development associated with a sedentary lifestyle. And there’s the possibility that some of these negative habits will outlast the virus,” explains Mark Tremblay, professor of Medicine at the University of Ottawa.
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Now that a couple of months have passed and we’re growing accustomed to the current situation, it’s important to remind ourselves to stay moving and to practice healthy habits. As long as you’re practicing social distancing guidelines and following the CDC’s recommendations, there’s no need to stay cooped up inside, even if there aren’t restaurants or bars you can spend time with.
“I think this is actually an opportunity to become as active—or more active—than you’ve ever been before,” says professor of kinesiology Linda Pescatello. “If you develop the right mindset, and can get outside, and the weather cooperates, then this might be a time where you can become more active and avoid being inside.”
The coronavirus is challenging for everyone, but it’s also a great time for growth, for holding on to your friends and loved ones, and for adapting to challenging situations. While every week will likely provide a new set of challenges, your decisions matter.
Even in states where cannabis is legal for medical and recreational use, smoking weed in an apartment is more problematic than it is for those who maintain a private residence.
Apartment living is one of those necessary evils for a lot of us. It keeps the movers-and-shakers of the planet flexible, able to move around from place to place whenever they want. It also prevents them from having to shell out for costly repairs, pay property taxes, and it offers a plethora of other benefits that homeowners do not enjoy. But there are some downsides to this way of life.
Living in a condensed area where a resident is immediately surrounded by dozens of neighbors has been known to cause its fair share of trouble over the years. It’s the reason apartment dwellers often receive complaints about noise, pets, and, increasingly, the odor of marijuana.
Even in states where cannabis is legal for medical and recreational use, smoking weed in an apartment situation is just more problematic than it is for those who maintain a private residence. In fact, even before you move into most places, being a marijuana user is already stacked against you.
Most leases have policies against the use of illegal drugs, smoking and disturbing other tenants. And most of the time, these leases do not account for legal weed at the state level. So, while it might be perfectly legal next year in Illinois to possess and use marijuana, people who live in apartments are probably not going to be able to smoke freely without the risk of repercussions. Therefore, it is going to be necessary for those people to be somewhat clandestine in their cannabis use to keep the peace and reduce the chances of an eviction.
Of course, the best way to prevent hardships as a result of using marijuana in an apartment setting is to just refrain from smoking altogether. In legal states, where a person 21 and older can just step inside their neighborhood dispensary and buy retail weed, there are a variety of cannabis products where smoking is not involved. Edibles are always a smart way to go, as these little beauties are completely smoke-free. But for those people who prefer to smoke weed rather than eat it, there are more discreet products available that won’t reek up the entire apartment building like a joint or a bong. Vaporizers offer the smoking experience without the intrusive aroma that sometimes causes neighbors to complain. Even using dabs, which are concentrates, is a better option than burning raw flower. Your neighbors will never even know you smoke weed.
But if you must smoke marijuana the old fashioned way, you’re going to need to employ a little stoner ingenuity to keep things on the down-low. Remember, unless your lease clearly states that marijuana smoking is allowed on the premises, it’s probably not. And the last thing a renter wants is to start getting complaints that the pungent odor of marijuana keeps wafting into the common areas. These grievances might not get you into trouble with the law — at least not in a legal state — but they could get you kicked out of your home.
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So, make use of bathroom and kitchen fans, which will suck up the smoke and reduce the smell of marijuana. If in the bathroom, it also doesn’t hurt to turn on a hot shower, since the steam works to diminish odors. This is not full-proof, however, so you might also want to block the bottom of your doors with a towel to keep as much of the smoke as possible from escaping. If an exhaust fan is not available, try keeping your smoke session as far away from the front of the apartment as possible. It also doesn’t hurt to burn candles to mask the odor. Some longtime marijuana users even swear by a product called Ozium, which is a spray known to effectively eliminate the skunk.
Fortunately, marijuana smoke is not the same as tobacco smoke. So while consuming weed in this fashion goes against the grain of most leases, the odor of marijuana is not going to linger in the apartment long. Not like it would in a room inhabited by a person who uses cigarettes regularly. This is good news, since breaking the rules of a lease, even if the violation does not lead to eviction, can cause a renter to lose his or her security deposit when the time comes to move someplace new. Perhaps then you will be lucky enough to find a property owner who is a bit more weed-friendly.
My friends have kids who recently graduated, but I’ve been out of work for over two months and can’t afford a gift. What should I do?
Etiquette tips on how to interact in today’s world. Have a question for Mister Manners? Send your queries to info@whatmannersmost.com and look for replies in the coming weeks.
OKAY TO RECEIVE AND NOT GIVE?
Q: As do several of my friends, I have a teenager who’s a 2020 high-school graduate. Ideally, I would be giving gifts to their children in amounts similar to what they have each given my child. Unfortunately, I’ve been out of work for nine-plus weeks due to a coronavirus-related furlough and find myself struggling with matching certain friends’ generosity. What should I do?
A: If there’s one life lesson the Class of 2020 has learned it’s to take nothing for granted. Not their trig teacher who achieved the impossible and got them to like math; not having lunch with the same friends at the same table and in the same seats every day after third period; not taking selfies in the strapless dresses they picked out months ago for the senior prom; and yes, not even graduation presents that give them a jump start to their summers and whatever may lie ahead.
The fact is, though adults often feel obligated to match our friends’ largesse dollar-for-dollar (“Alice and Joe gave us $300 for our wedding; we should do the same”), the foundation of true friendships is not zero-sum-gain present exchanges.
Have a discreet word with your friends explaining your circumstances. If they are experiencing financial hardship themselves, they will likely be relieved, and you can mutually agree to ease back on costly gifts. If your friends still have the means and the desire to give exactly as they would have pre-Coronavirus, do not steal their joy. To decline their gift due to your own sense of pride is also unfair to your young graduate.
All of which brings us to what you can do about your desire to give when it’s in direct conflict with your bank balance. I urge you to think of creative ways to celebrate these graduates. Write them each letters sharing what you believe to be their most admirable traits. Provide advice you wish someone had shared with you at their tender age. And consider an IOU for a future gift, redeemable when your own circumstances change. And they will.
In the meantime, give your friends more credit than thinking they’ll think less of you for giving less. And give the Class of 2020 props for adaptability and acceptance in the face of circumstances none of us could ever have imagined.
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TIME TO GET AWAY… OR TIME TO STAY AWAY?
Q: We have a large beach home, and during long weekends in the summertime, my husband and I have always welcomed various groups of friends to stay with us. This year, although we want to carry on as usual, we’re also concerned about the possibility of getting our guests sick. And vice versa. Do we take a pass on inviting them in 2020?
A: I am all-in on the allure of the ocean—particularly after sheltering in place for what seems an interminably long and not terribly delightful spring. And yet you are right to be weighing the consequences of a friends getaway this summer.
As a starting point, how feasible will it be to remain six-feet apart if you are sharing a home for the weekend? No matter how spacious your abode, you will be gathering for meals and likely taking part in time-honored vacation-house rituals, starting with morning coffee and bagels and wrapping with sunset cocktails. Also consider this prospect: if the weather does not hold up, you yourselves will be holed up indoors.
Do your friends live within driving distance? If yes, perhaps you could invite them for a series of day trips throughout the summer. If they live farther afield, could they stay in a nearby hotel? This would permit you to meet up at the beach, where distancing and fresh air will greatly reduce the possibility of any unwitting COVID-19 transmission.
If these are particularly good friends and you don’t feel right suggesting a hotel, perhaps you might offer for them to use the house during a period when you will not be in residence. (As an aside, they should offer to pay for housekeeping following their visit.)
These are challenging times in so many respects, and normal standards of hospitality are being re-written by the week. But even more than making guests feel at home, ensuring their safety and well-being should be your number-one priority. If you have qualms about your ability to shield everyone’s health, this may be a year where taking a break from issuing invitations is not only defensible but laudable.
Mister Manners, Thomas P. Farley, is a nationally regarded expert who appears regularly in the media to discuss modern-day etiquette dilemmas — from how to split a check fairly to how to get a word in edgewise. Follow Thomas on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And for more insights, listen to his brand-new podcast, “What Manners Most,” which will be focused exclusively on Coronavirus-related etiquette for the foreseeable future.
Quarantine has frozen most sports programming, but that hasn’t stopped sports fans from watching anything that’s competitive.
It’s hard to rank what has been most negatively impacted by the pandemic, but live sporting events have a place high up on the list. Whether we’re talking about visiting a crowded stadium, going to a sports bar or even to watching a game from the comfort of your couch, all of these activities ground to halt once we realized the depths of the pandemic.
Now that live sports aren’t an option, what do fans watch? Research says that a little bit of everything.
Nielsen data shows that hardcore sports fans haven’t given up on TV. In fact, they might be consuming even more of it, filling their time with sports reruns, news coverage, Netflix, and more. There’s been a rise of eSports and, stranger still, marble racing. Here’s what sports fans are turning to while large events are in lockdown.
The Hollywood Reporter explains that Nielsen refers to serious sports fans as “heavy sports viewers.” During the first month of the pandemic, this demographic watched three times more sports than the general adult population. Since there were no live games, this content was made up of sports reruns, sports related programming and the like. These viewers were also watching more news and video on demand when compared to other adults.
eSports
During March, Time magazine reported that there was a 31% increase in Twitch traffic, the most popular website for competitive video streaming. While these events used to be held in large arenas with big crowds, people can continue to train, play and compete with others online. “This is a time where our fans need something to watch, need something to entertain them, need something to distract them from the things that are going on around them, even if it’s just for a short time,” said League of Legends Championship Series Commissioner Christopher Greeley.
The weirdest entry on this list is marble racing, an activity that has almost no human input, with the winners being decided by fate and gravity. These races are made up of very elaborate stages and events, held in different YouTube channels like Jelle Marble Runs. This account has organized events such as Marbula One and Last Marble Standing, which include commentators, crowds made of marble people, and impeccable video production. Over the past month, marble races were highlighted in “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” and were broadcast for the first time on ESPN. Humans will really watch and find meaning in anything.
Traffic searches, a longtime tool in the War on Drugs, dropped dramatically following marijuana legalization, new data reveals.
Two weeks have passed since George Floyd was killed while in the custody of Minneapolis police, sparking nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic injustice. National organizations and lawmakers have admitted that rolling back Drug War policies is an important step to fixing inequalities that exist in criminal justice.
That’s because, as data shows, legalizing marijuana changes the behavior of police departments. Colorado and Washington voters approved recreational cannabis in 2012 and a 2017 analysis by the Stanford Open Policing Project examined how this affected the focus of state police. Data shows that roadside searches dropped by nearly half post-legalization, with the most dramatic decrease occurring among Black and Hispanic drivers. In addition, Burlington police in Vermont released data last year that showed traffic searches dropped by 70% after the state legalized marijuana.
According to Stanford researchers, the threshold to pull over minority drivers is lower than it is for white drivers. Though traffic stops eventually dropped by more than 50% in both Colorado and Washington following legalization, that disparity between white and minority drivers remained.
“Searches where you don’t find something are really negative towards a community,” Jack McDevitt, director of Northeastern University’s Institute on Race and Justice, told NBC News. “Have a police officer search your car is really like, ‘Why are they doing this to me?’ And you get more pissed off. If you’re trying to do relationship building, it’s not a good thing to do a lot of searches.”
Photo by Sven Mieke via Unsplash
Roadside searches are also a known tool in the War on Drugs. Philando Castile’s death by Minnesota police started when an officer pulled him over for a busted taillight. The officer who shot Castile later said he feared for his life when he smelled “burnt marijuana” in the car.
Marijuana legalization also re-directs police attention to more serious crimes, according to a 2018 study published in Police Quarterly journal. Police clearance rates increased in Colorado and Washington after legalization in 2012, researchers found. Overall, police made more arrests for burglaries, violent crimes, property crime, and vehicular theft in both Washington and Colorado once marijuana possession arrests fell away.
The study’s authors wrote: “[I]n the absence of other compelling explanations, the current evidence suggests that legalization produced some demonstrable and persistent benefit in clearance rates, benefits we believe are associated with the marijuana legalization proponents’ prediction that legalization would positively influence police performance.”
The Garden State will be facing a budget shortfall through the end of the next fiscal year as a result of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Can marijuana legalization help?
Registered voters in New Jersey are expected to vote in favor of adult-use marijuana legalization in November — but uncertainty surrounds the pending legislation.
“Cannabis advocates looking forward to creating an adult use regulated and taxed cannabis marketplace have reason to be cautiously optimistic as we approach the consideration of the issue in the form of a public question on the ballot for the voters in November,” says Charles Gormally, co-chair of the Brach Eichler LLC cannabis practice group.
Early polling has shown consistent support for the question. Nevertheless, Gormally said he expects to see a large influx of pro- and anti-pot advocacy on the question in the months leading to the election itself.
“Since the early 1970s, we have created a significant number of stake holders in the failed cannabis prohibition regime that continues to dominate federal and state law enforcement interest groups,” he says. “In addition, advocacy groups touting the false narrative of cannabis as a ‘dangerous gateway drug’ are well financed and powerful forces that oppose cannabis law modernization.”
Democratic U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey has been trying to get marijuana legalized for years.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, elected in 2018, said he would get a marijuana legalization measure passed within the first 100 days of his administration. In November 2019, N.J. lawmakers rejected the bill.
NJ RAMP — an affiliate group of the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) — fought the measure then and pledges to continue that fight this year with the belief that recreational marijuana legalization outweighs the perceived social benefits.
SAM president Kevin Sabet spoke to Benzinga about the group’s opposition to the legalization effort in Trenton and praised the result of that campaign.
“The fact that legislators were forced to put this on the ballot speaks volumes to the effort of our supporters on the ground,” Sabet says. “The message against marijuana commercialization was and continues to be very powerful.”
Can Pot Offset New Jersey’s Budget Shortfall?
New Jersey is facing a $10-billion budget shortfall, according to State Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio.
Last month, the New Jersey Department of the Treasury issued its first projections on the potential shortfall the Garden State will be facing through the end of the next fiscal year as a result of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Based on a wide variety of economic assumptions, the State of New Jersey may be looking at a combined $10.104 billion revenue shortfall over the remaining months of Fiscal Year 2020 through the end of Fiscal Year 2021,” Maher Muoio said at the time.
Pot legalization won’t help solve that problem, says SAM’s Sabet.
“It amounts to less than 1% of state revenues in every legal state,” he says.
Colorado was the first state to approve marijuana legalization in 2012. From 2014 to April 2020, Colorado pulled in $1.3 billion in tax revenue from cannabis.
Today, 33 states allow medicinal marijuana use, while 11 states allow legal recreational use, and they generate tax revenue in their own right.
Sabet says these states have “routinely vastly overstated revenue projections and fail to account for the subsequent costs legalization will bring in the form of increased drugged driving deaths, increases in mental health issues, increased black market activity and other harms.”
Gormally, a legal cannabis advocate, doesn’t share the same sentiment and says the majority of voters won’t either.
“We expect these messages to resonate with some in New Jersey but not likely the majority,” Gormally says.
“At the same time we expect that out of state operators of successful cannabis businesses who are eyeing the largest prize in a cannabis portfolio — access to a core metropolitan marketplace — will be similarly motivated to invest in messaging and voter education to advance a YES vote outcome on the public question.”
Cannabis Narratives In The Garden State
Sabet maintains that “commercialization is not the way forward” and says SAM plans to continue encouraging “local communities to preemptively opt-out of legalization to send Big Pot the message that they are not welcome.”
But as election day nears, more polling data on the issue is expected to be released and drum up support for the pro-cannabis cause.
Brach Eichler is expected to release its own data about how these various messages are being received by the likely voters, Gormally says.
“Given the essential nature of the medical cannabis business and its importance of the improved access and supply, we believe this is an opportune time for New Jersey to address the multigenerational failure of leadership that has caused the expenditure of millions, and the imprisonment of generations of minority populations, by the failed policy of prohibition.”
Sabet says the ballot initiative is less about social justice and mired with “false narratives.”
“It is solely about profit for the industry that is overwhelmingly comprised of wealthy white males. In state after state that has gone down this road, grand promises of social justice and equity have failed to result in any tangible benefit for disadvantaged communities,” Sabet said.
Though California legalized marijuana to roll back unjust Drug War policies, cannabis taxes help fund police operations.
California Governor Gavin Newsom discussed during a press conference last week how the state plans to fix issues of systemic injustice and racism following widespread protests of police brutality. Newsom referenced California’s efforts to roll back the consequences and policies of the War on Drugs, including mandatory-minimum sentencing and the disparity between prosecuting crack vs. cocaine drug possession.
A major act of criminal justice reform, Newsom highlighted, was California legalizing recreational marijuana in recent years. The governor went so far as to describe legalization as a “civil rights” issue.
“That’s why the state was one of the early adopters of a new approach as it relates to cannabis reform—legalization around adult-use of marijuana,” Newsom said. “It was a civil rights call from our perspective.”
“I was proud to be out in front in those efforts,” he continued. “It was about addressing the disparities. It was about addressing incarceration. It was about addressing the ills of this war on drugs.”
Though Newsom is very proud of the state’s efforts, criticism remains around California’s cannabis legislation and its connection to the police. California voters legalized marijuana by approving Proposition 64, or Adult Use of Marijuana Act, which generates around $1 billion in tax revenue. According to Forbes, Prop 64 allocates 20% of cannabis taxes to boosting police efforts. Police budgets in states like Nevada and Colorado also benefit from marijuana tax revenue.
Photo by Felix via rawpixel.com
When marijuana stores needed protection by police, however, they were left empty handed. Major California cannabis retailers were looted by protestors over the past week, with some stores losing six figures in marijuana products. Nor has more tax money helped California police combat the marijuana black market. According to BDS Analytics and Arcview Market Research, the state’s black market operators made $8.7 billion in 2019. California’s legal market, meanwhile, made $3.1 billion.
However, Gov. Newsom isn’t alone in connecting drug policy reform with the larger civil rights movement occurring at the moment. Sen. Cory Booker noted last week that marijuana policy enforcement demonstrates the racist inequalities spurring nationwide protests.
“There are no differences between blacks and whites for using the drug, but there was more marijuana arrests in 2017 than all violent crime arrests combined, and blacks were four times more likely to be arrested for it,” Booker said.
“Each one of those data points impact the lives of people that are being destroyed — can’t get a job, can’t get a loan from the bank — for doing things that two of the last three presidents admitted doing.”
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX stated the obvious when he commented that it wasn’t fair to incarcerate people for possessing weed.
Elon Musk, billionaire and new father to a son with an unpronounceable name, tweeted Saturday that he’d get into a lot of trouble for voicing the following opinion: “Selling weed literally went from major felony to essential business (open during pandemic) in much of America & yet many are still in prison. Doesn’t make sense, isn’t right.”
Although Musk’s statement is true, it’s not exactly controversial, especially when you consider some of his past tweets. Twitter users took this as an opportunity to troll Musk, a relished activity among internet users.
Saying this might get me into trouble but I tell it like it is, so here we go: Being mean is not nice. pic.twitter.com/v8UYAHn69L
Back in March, when COVID-19 forced cities into lockdown, marijuana was deemed an essential business in states like Vermont, California, Oregon, Colorado and more, all with differing degrees of guidelines for people interested in making medical or recreational purchases.
This decision to consider marijuana as an essential business has caused some controversy, particularly among people who are opposed to legal marijuana.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX recently made history by launching it’s first ever man-manned rocket into space. This launch not only was the first American space launch in 9 years, it suggests that space travel and exploration is now fair game for private companies and billionaires.
