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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.

RELATED: How Drug Use Is Changing For Better—And Worse—Under Quarantine

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.

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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.

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“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?

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.

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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.

RELATED: 5 Things To Know Before Hiking With Weed

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

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
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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

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.

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“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.”

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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.

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“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

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.

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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.

Photo by Mihaela Muntean/Getty Images

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.

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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

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
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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

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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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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. 

5 Things To Know Before Hiking With Weed

Hiking is a great summer activity on its own, but it’s especially satisfying when you add in a little extra.

Now that summer is upon us, it’s time to get back to one of the world’s best pairings: marijuana and the great outdoors. This simple pairing brings out the best in weed, getting you in touch with nature and allowing you to relax and enjoy your trek in surprising ways.

While there are many approaches to get high on a hike, some are less complicated and fumbly than others. We’ve compiled a brief list of things you should consider before going on your hike to make the process easier, safer and more fun. Here are 5 things to know before hiking with weed.

Pack all the necessary tools

Before you leave your house, make sure to pack all your necessary items in discreet and convenient places. If you’re taking a pipe, pack one that you wouldn’t mind losing or breaking, since accidents (tripping, falling, etc.) are common while hiking. If you’re planning on smoking a joint, make sure you’ve prepared it ahead of time and stored it somewhere that protects it and keeps the smell contained.

Be discreet

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No matter the state where you live, cannabis is still considered a Schedule I drug, meaning that if you’re caught with it in a national park, you’re still breaking the law. Also, not everyone enjoys the smell of weed so be considerate of others and smoke in an area that’s secluded and private.

Pack water and snacks

You should always pack water when hiking, but you should do so especially if you’re considering bringing weed. Remember to pack your favorite snacks in case you get hit with the munchies and still want to be able to enjoy your hike.

Always travel with someone

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Photo by Eddy Billard via Unsplash

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No matter how experienced you are with marijuana, it’s really important to be with someone if you’re planning on consuming somewhere other than your house; you don’t want to get too stoned and then be unable to make your way back home.

If you’re an inexperienced hiker or if you’re trying out a new trail, being with a companion is even more important. It’s also more fun to converse with someone, high or not, while on the trail.

Don’t litter

After you’re done smoking, snacking and hiking, make sure to take your trash with you and leave the space as you found it. Remember that fires are particularly easy to start in the summer, never mind when you add in a half-lit roach to the equation.

Cory Booker: Marijuana Enforcement Typifies Same Racist Inequalities Spurring Protests

Black Americans were four times as likely to get arrested for marijuana possession as white Americans in 2017, despite similar usage rates, Booker noted.

In a new interview with MSNBC, Sen. Cory Booker underlined racial disparities in marijuana enforcement as just one example of the failings in America’s current justice system. Booker’s response comes as Americans have protested against police brutality and social inequities in multiple cities this week following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

These protests highlight deep, institutionalized flaws in our current system, Booker stated, and require ongoing efforts by Americans to correct.

“I’ve seen this pattern play out where you see an uproar of outrage, but then we get back into a regular system where we don’t understand that this is not a sometimes thing,” Booker said. “This kind of racism, this kind of bigotry is so institutionalized that it puts so many of our fellow countrymen and women at risk every day.”

These disparities play out in issues like the enforcement of drug policies. One example, as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has noted, is the minimum sentencing gap between possession of crack and cocaine. Distributing just 5 grams of crack results in a minimum 5-year federal prison sentence. That same sentence is applied to anyone distributing 500 grams of cocaine.

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“Because of its relative low cost, crack cocaine is more accessible for poor Americans, many of whom are African Americans,” the ACLU writes. “Conversely, powder cocaine is much more expensive and tends to be used by more affluent white Americans.”

Cory Booker: If Marijuana Is 'Essential Business,' Legalize It Federally
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Booker noted similar imbalances in marijuana enforcement, which disproportionately targets black Americans.

“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.

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“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,” he added.

Booker has sponsored legislation that would legalize marijuana at the federal level. The bill includes social equity programs that include expunging the majority of marijuana-related arrest records. The National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws (NORML) released a statement earlier this week that while marijuana legalization will not solve racial injustice in America, it can be “an important part of this emerging discussion.”

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