A new report commissioned by the state found marijuana legalization to be “slightly positive” for Florida.
Thanks to its white beaches and theme parks, Florida already ranks high as a travel destination for most Americans. But if the state wants to pull more money into its economy, it should legalize marijuana. If voters agree in the 2020 election, legal marijuana would pump $190 million into the state’s economy from taxes and tourism.
That view comes courtesy of a recent financial analysis of the ballot initiative to legalize adult-use cannabis in Florida, reports The Miami New Times. Commissioned by the state, the report determined that introducing legal marijuana to Florida would be “slightly positive” to the economy. It’s worth noting how much of an endorsement that is from the state, as Florida was once a major battlegrounds for the war on drugs.
Perhaps more surprising, that $190 million figures qualifies as a conservative estimate, says Michael Minardi, the Florida attorney behind Regulate Florida, one of three ballot initiatives to end prohibition in the state. Minardi told the New Times he believes the commission used the state’s standard 5-6% tax placed on all sales. For comparison, Colorado taxes marijuana at 15%. If the state followed regulation from other states, the revenue brought into the economy could increase significantly.
Photo by Yarygin/Getty ImagesThe report was slightly down on how that would impact Florida’s budget. Analysts believe it will cost around $1.5 million to establish regulation for the marijuana industry, plus $9.1 million annually to continue running it. While state would offset these costs through licensing fees and taxes, it would only result in 0.1% increase to the budge.
However, Floridians have shown they’re ready for legal weed in the state. Following a slogging bureaucratic battle, medical marijuana patients were allowed access to smokable cannabis flower this March. According to a report from the state Board of Medicine and the Board of Osteopathic Medicine, 128,040 patients order over 1.82 million ounce of cannabis flower during a six-month period. Translated, reports The Miami Herald, that amounts to 113,922 pounds, or 57 tons, of flower.
Weed is great, but it’s not the best companion for high-stress situations.
Marijuana is popular for a reason. Aside from the medicinal value, it’s been a treasured source of excitement for millions of people, primarily because it improves activities that would otherwise be average. Watching a comedy, eating a large meal or completing an intense workout can feel completely different when you’re high. But the reverse is also true. Being high transforms something simple into a highly stressful activity. Take shopping for instance.
Now that Thanksgiving is around the corner and you’ll hopefully get a much needed super long weekend, it can be tempting to light up the minute you’re off work. Sure, you could do that, but it also helps to remind yourself that some activities, like cooking, grocery shopping and Black Friday, are also on the radar.
Here are 5 reasons why shopping while high might not be your brightest idea.
Getting high will give you the munchies, and a grocery store full of junk food is not the place you want to be with when you get the munchies. Your parents might send you out for carrots and you’ll most likely return with everything but carrots. Try to keep the weed to a minimum dosage on these instances, especially since these stores tend to be packed during Thanksgiving week.
Crowded stores can feel crazier
If you’re shopping on Black Friday, you might need to be on top of all of your senses, at least when purchasing the important stuff. Smoking weed before, especially copious amounts, might make you rethink your priorities and decide that you don’t really need that present your dad has been asking for a couple of months. Nope, you’ll get him a scarf instead.
The holiday season is a time of monetary and emotional stress. If you have a large family or tons of friends, you’re going to have to buy a ton of presents. Now it’s not the time to buy random things that might seem cool in the heat of the moment. Stick to a shopping list.
You might feel judged by the cashier
If your cashier is judging you because of your red eyes, they’re probably an idiot, but what if you think they’re judging you and they’re just trying to get through the day like the rest of us? You’ll never know. Being super high can really alter your perceptions of people.
It’ll take you hours to get your shopping done
Photo by Free-Photos via Pixabay
Thanksgiving week is a total collapse in terms of traveling, shopping, family dinners, etc. Don’t you want to get done everything quickly and efficiently, especially when there’s hundreds of people trying to get the same thing you’re buying?
Don’t stare at Tucker Carlson’s latest marijuana hot take too long, or it might blind you with its idiocy.
Is Tucker Carlson is more focused on making news or making memes. The Fox News host has now made it his express mission to deliver the hottest takes imaginable when it comes to marijuana. So hot that, like the sun, to stare at them too long will cause you to go blind.
Following the recent Democratic presidential debates, Carlson pinpointed why many candidates now support marijuana legalization at the federal level. It has nothing to do with marijuana as a medicine, or reversing the damage done by the war on drugs. Nope, Carlson believes Dems want you high all the time, so you don’t realize how poor you are.
Tucker Carlson says Dems support marijuana legalization because they want you to be too high to know you have student loan debt pic.twitter.com/PDrRSQBkQM
“When you’ve shafted young people so completely that they can’t even buy cars, because they’re so deeply in debt to colleges that fund your campaign, which is what happens, you want them to be as high as possible,” Carlson said. “That way they don’t even know how badly you screwed them.”
Carlson, by the way, took a similar stance when Congress passed the SAFE Banking Act earlier this year. Lawmakers didn’t pass the bill because they wanted to give small marijuana business and corporations the same advantages and loans other small businesses and corporations use to create profit in America. Nope. They approved the legislation because they “want you to be dumb” from smoking weed.
Furthermore, Carlson blamed America’s recent mass shootings on marijuana legalization as well, trying to link smoking marijuana with mass acts of senseless violence. It makes you question if Carlson might be high himself when he says things like this.
This week’s meme takes something historic and gives it a comedic twist.
This week’s most prominent meme is goes further than your average screenshot superimposed to a funny and fitting situation. “Gonna tell my kids” takes something kind of historic or embedded in our brains and shifts the perspective, resulting in something that makes sense and that’s funny.
For the meme to work you simply have to use the “gonna tell my kids” template, choose an image and think of a fitting scenario. Like Baby Yoda and Danny DeVito, because it’s genius and it also capitalizes on one of the week’s biggest trends: Baby Yoda, not Danny DeVito.
The meme works so well because, like the best memes, it requires a bit of internet and pop culture knowledge. If you don’t know who Baby Yoda is, or god forbid, Danny DeVito, this particular version of the meme is not going to do much for you.
Here are some of the funniest entries we found on Twitter:
The cannabis industry needs to be both “rational and rationalized” to gain investor support, Cramer said. As it stands today the market is neither, he said.
The cannabis sector no longer represents an “incredible opportunity” for investors, as the industry is “not what it was cracked up to be,” CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Thursday on “Mad Money.”
What Happened
The bullish case for the pot industry was based in part on the market’s small size and large potential to expand globally. But now that recreational legalization in Canada has played out for more than a year, the opportunity is “much smaller” than initially thought, Cramer said.
The legal cannabis market is seeing a combination of declining purchase prices and expanding production, he said.
The “equilibrium price for cannabis” is also lower than expected, which represents another “major change” for investors, the CNBC host said.
Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Staff/Getty Images
Why It’s Important
Pot stocks have lost much of their buzz, including a 50% drop in one of Cramer’s top picks, Canopy Growth CorpCGC 9.57%, since former CEO Bruce Linton was fired over the summer.
The Canadian market is “flooded” with too much marijuana, and the consumer can produce their own strains at home with minimal equipment, he said.
“The problems in the Canadian market are structural and they won’t be going away anytime soon.”
What’s Next
The cannabis industry needs to be both “rational and rationalized” to gain investor support, Cramer said. As it stands today the market is neither, he said.
For sentiment to improve, companies need to close, funding needs to “dry up” and mergers have to take place, the CNBC host said.
“Until then, these stocks are now sell-in-the-strength detritus,” Cramer said. “A casualty of a market not yet ready for prime time or anytime, for that matter.”
Big-box retailers plan to enter the cannabis market by selling you all the marijuana accessories you’ll ever need.
Zane Witzel thought Bloomingdale’s was mistaken. This past summer, a Bloomingdale’s rep contacted Witzel about carrying his company’s product — a humidor, like the one cigar aficionados swear by, but for your weed. Witzel, the CEO of Cannador, couldn’t understand why. In his mind, Bloomingdale’s sold khakis and cologne, not cannabis accessories. They had the wrong idea, Witzel told Bloomingdale’s, and pushed back against any possible sale.
Lucky for Witzel, Bloomingdale’s insisted otherwise. In select stores, they planned to stage a special holiday gifts section with the intention of placing Cannador products front and center. A pot box was the item Bloomingdale’s believed would most catch customers’ attention while Christmas shopping. Later, Witzel asked the Bloomingdale’s sales team if they’d ever sold any cannabis-related accessories or products in their stores. Nope, they replied, the Cannador would be the first one.
“This was crazy to me because we’d been fighting an uphill battle with everything for years,” Witzel told The Fresh Toast. “For us to call somebody or talk with them about Cannador, even to advertise about it or put it on social media, we’ve always been walking on eggshells.”
Department stores like Bloomingdale’s previously avoided all things marijuana, due to the plant’s federally illegal status. Companies feared possible retribution, either from customers or the feds, if they were seen tacitly supporting the business of marijuana. Witzel didn’t approach big-box retailers in the past for this reason, thinking it was a waste of time. Now they were knocking his door down.
Marijuana has never been more popular. Despite a nationwide vaping crisis, support for marijuana legalization reached an all-time high last month, according to a Gallup poll. In addition, the majority of presidential candidates have called for federal marijuana legalization this election season. Legal marijuana was a $10.4 billion industry last year and projections tag legal cannabis as a $22 billion-plus industry by 2022.
Photo courtesy of Cannador
Big-box retailers and department stores want in, though they still won’t do business with companies that touch the plant. This gives a huge advantage to companies like Cannador and Magical Butter, the latter of which just received its first purchase order from none other than Walmart. Yes, the biggest name in retail will now sell a device that allows consumers to create their own marijuana-infused edibles and tinctures at home. Magical Butter CEO Garyn Angel told The Fresh Toast to expect more partnerships with big-box retailers in the United States and Canada to be announced soon.
“Many big box retailers have limitations on cannabis, CBD and, and accessories, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to sell products to that audience,” Angel said. “They just don’t know how to do it yet. Magical Butter’s ecosystem presents a friendly introduction to those customers.”
Photo courtesy of Magical Butter
If you talk with some within the cannabis industry, you’ll find dour moods and diminished expectations. Many marijuana stocks have underperformed and the biggest names in the industry, like Canopy Growth, have had to reset and reshuffle C-suite leadership. But cannabis accessories have enjoyed newfound success in this climate, as their products allow a bridge between marijuana consumers and traditional retailers that couldn’t be built otherwise.
Furthermore, when cannabis-related products are sold on the same shelves you find gardening tools and designer jeans, it makes marijuana one step closer to true normalization.
“[Cannador being sold in Bloomingdale’s], it’s very small in the grand scheme of thing,” Witzel told The Fresh Toast. “This is a grain of sand, right? Like whoop-de-doo, your weed products are sold at Bloomingdale’s. But for those in the industry, it’s like, okay, this is one more step. It’s a baby step, it’s a tiny step. But it’s a step.”
For Angel, this moment represents an opportune Trojan horse for marijuana businesses, both big and small. They have something everyone wants, but it’s upon brands to ensure they get it to customers.
“Even though it seems like a tumultuous time in the industry, I actually feel it’s the exact opposite,” Angel told The Fresh Toast. “Right now is the f****** opportunity, man. You go. If you’re not in people’s faces right now, getting your product on store shelves, and pulling it off with a high conversion, you’re missing the opportunity.”
Instead of eating until you’re full, you should eat until you’re not hungry. Easier said than done.
As the holidays quickly approach, the thing on almost everyone’s mind is eating, how much can I eat, how many more days until I can stuff myself and just how much can I eat? But here’s some advice according to a dietician that might help you feel less stuffed than the poor bird you’re likely to consume on Thanksgiving.
According to one expert, the best way to prevent overeating is to simply listen to your body. Sounds simple enough.
Kristin Kirkpatrick R.D.N, a consultant for the Cleveland Clinic, tells Men’s Health that instead of eating until you’re full, you should eat until you’re not hungry. This is a pretty simple rule, yet one that we break almost all of the time. Food is a source of relief for most of us, something to turn to when we’re bored, alone, stressed out or have nothing better to do.
There are a million reasons behind why we choose to eat when we’re not hungry, with each of them varying depending on the day and our mindset. What matters most is listening to your body and learning the difference between being hungry and having some other type of feeling.
Photo by Arminas Raudys via PexelsKirkpatrick says that we should think of hunger on a scale, with 1 being extremely hungry and 10 being extremely full. You should only eat when you’re on a 2 or a 3, and should work hard to stay at this level throughout the day, consuming foods that are healthy and filling. “You don’t want to be full, and you don’t want to be hungry; you want to be at a status quo,” Kirkpatrick says, so you should steer clear from numbers above 7 on the hunger scale.
Having this structure at the forefront of your mind when you’re out eating in a restaurant or at a party can help you monitor what you consume.
Habits like this one have existed for a long time, with people eating “mindfully” or until they’re “80% full.” By not advocating for a strict diet of items you’re supposed to eat and foods you’re supposed to avoid, these plans tend to work best since they’re adaptable from person to person.
Many traditional topicals contain ingredients that would be treated as drugs if accompanied by health or therapeutic claims. These products include but are not limited to essential oils and menthol.
As we have previously discussed, the sale and marketing of hemp-infused cannabidiol (“Hemp-CBD”) cosmetics, such as salves, lotions and creams (collectively “Topicals”), present the lowest risk for businesses wishing to enter this booming industry. We have quite a few clients pursuing this path, from small-batch manufacturers to national retail outlets.
Generally, a Topical may be lawfully sold in interstate commerce if it is not (1) adulterated (i.e., unsafe) or misbranded; and (2) intended to be used as a drug. A drug is defined as an “article[] intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body or man or other animals.” Consequently, any Topical marketed as providing therapeutic values will be deemed a drug (possibly a drug and a cosmetic if the product is also advertising as beautifying or cleaning the body) by the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”).
If you follow our blog, you know that the FDA has taken issue with Hemp-CBD companies that have made health claims about their products. This is because drug products cannot be marketed without having undergone the FDA’s drug approval process. Accordingly, we have repeatedly advised our Hemp-CBD clients to mitigate the risk of enforcement by avoiding any claims about human health in marketing their products. This precautionary measure has proven particularly important for Hemp-CBD Topicals.
Indeed, many traditional Topicals (i.e., free of Hemp-CBD) contain ingredients that would be treated as drugs if accompanied by health or therapeutic claims. These products include but are not limited to essential oils and menthol.
Because cosmetics are not as heavily regulated as foods, dietary supplements and drugs, the FDA has taken more limited enforcement actions against cosmetic companies, which seems to have emboldened the cosmetic industry to make certain health claims about its products. Statements such as “get glamorously beautiful and enjoy rejuvenating health with menthol crystals” and “our peppermint oil will help you boost energy and aid digestion” have become common on traditional Topical labels.
Photo by Moose Photos via Pexels
Given the common use of the statements on Topical labels, it is only natural for Hemp-CBD companies to assume that such claims are safe and acceptable. However, the agency’s growing concerns towards the use of CBD and its scrutiny of the Hemp-CBD industry, have heightened the risks of enforcement actions against Hemp-CBD companies that are making any health claims, even claims other companies have gotten away with, and that do not address the medicinal values of CBD.
This point is highlighted in some of the warning letters issued by the agency against Topical companies that promoted the therapeutic value of their product ingredients, including essential oils, menthol and CBD. For example, in 2018, the FDA took issue with the following statements made by Signature Formulations LLC:
“Included in the Herbal Muscle Mist formula are menthol and camphor for pain relief, invigoration of tired muscles and joints, and cramps. MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) provides sulfur and methy (sic) groups that are used for healing and repair by our joints and connective tissue. Clove Oil and Sweet Birch Oil may help to stimulate circulation and reduce tension and spasms in muscles. Also included are the essential oils of peppermint and eucalyptus to help reduce inflammation and soothe aching feet and irritated nerves.”
and…
Fast absorbing gel reduces inflammation and pain quickly with triple active ingredients. Our gel combines the natural anti-inflammatory power of CBD with the soothing effects of Camphor and Menthol. CBD Gel helps relieve arthritis pain and sore, overworked muscles.
As the agency explained in the letter, Topicals that contain essential oils and menthol and that are marketed to temporarily relieve minor aches and pains of muscles and joint are treated as over-the-counter (“OTC”) external analgesic drug products. Because OTC external analgesic products are drugs, their use in a product marketed to temporarily relieve minor aches and pains of muscles and joint or other medical conditions violates the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
Note that the same products if free of health claims and strictly advertised to cleanse the body or make a person more attractive would be treated as a cosmetic. Consequently, any Hemp-CBD company wishing to infuse their Topicals with ingredients such as essential oils or menthol have a legal pathway to do so long as they refrain from making any therapeutic claims about their product, to ensure that they remain within the confines of “cosmetics” as defined under federal law. Note that in addition to not being intended as drugs, these products may be lawfully sold and marketed in interstate commerce if they are safe/properly manufacturer and comply with FDA labeling requirements.
For more information on this issue, feel free to contact our regulatory team.
Cannabis and cannabinoids like THC and CBD can deliver various medicinal benefits and relieve many painful side effects caused by this injury.
What would you do if, one day, you couldn’t feel your arms or legs anymore? What if you couldn’t perform your regular work and life activities and instead, you had to rely on others to make it through each day? Although one may be able to imagine themselves in this situation, it’s nothing compared to living it.
According toBrainandSpinalCord.org, each year, as many as 5 million Americans are impacted by a spinal cord injury (SCI). At this moment though, around300,000 people are living with a SCI in the U.S.. On average, spinal cord injuries are often debilitating, and they take a toll on an individual’s quality of life. On the bright side, cannabis and cannabinoids like THC and CBD can positively impact one’s well-being by delivering various medicinal benefits and relieving many painful side effects caused by this injury. Read on to learn more about spinal cord injuries, their prevalence, how cannabis can help treat their side effects, and how cannabinoids can improve one’s quality of life.
The Purpose of Spinal Cords & The Causes and Prevalence of Spinal Cord Injuries
There are various causes of spinal cord injuries including sports, violent events/trauma, falls, and motor vehicle accidents. It turns out that around42 percent of all SCI are due to motor vehicle accidents. SCI can affect anyone of any age, but the majority of SCI affect people from ages 16-30, and about80 percent of those cases are men. As mentioned above, annually, 4-5 million Americans are diagnosed with SCI. Overall, once the spine is impacted by trauma, one experiences a loss of many functions including a loss of sensory motor function.
In addition, the spinal cord is a vital part of the central nervous system. Thepurpose of the spinal cord is to control, coordinate, and synchronize various activities within our bodies. Also, our spinal cord has different jobs with one of them being the communication of messages between the brain and the body. As a result, this gives us the opportunity to move about and feel different sensations. When it comes to SCI, the severity depends on the cause, and based on where the injury is exactly and its height, the severity of it will differ. Generally, SCI affect one’s sensory motor function in addition to delivering painful side effects.
Photo by Olenka Kotyk via Unsplash
Debilitating Side Effects Caused by SCI
Aside from different forms of paralysis, those with SCI often experience negative complications and side effects including chronic pain, sleeping difficulties, and muscle spasms. Out of all side effects caused by SCI, themajority of SCI patients experience chronic pain regularly. Those with SCI can experience pain in regions where sensations are in addition to areas where there aren’t any sensations. The different types of pain that are felt by SCI patients includeneuropathic, musculoskeletal, and visceral pain. As a result, many of these individuals suffer from a decline in their quality of life and overall well-being.
Cannabis as a Natural Treatment Method for SCI: How It Can Help
Fortunately, though, different research findings have shown that cannabis, CBD, and THC can help deliver relief to SCI patients. Not only can the cannabis plant help reduce the side effects and complications caused by SCI, it’s also believed that the plant can help the body fix itself. For centuries, cannabis has been used as apain-reliever, and to this day, cannabis and CBD are used as natural analgesics. It has been discovered from one study thatcannabis works to regulate pain perception amongst those suffering from different levels of pain. Anotherstudy found that when cannabis is combined with massages, the most pain-relief was experienced by SCI sufferers.
Although the cannabis plant is an effective pain-reliever, it can also deliver many other medicinal and therapeutic benefits. For example, from one study, numerous researchers suggest thatcannabis can arouse a neuroprotective response. The following was stated in conclusion of thestudy, “Our results suggest that the endocannabinoids acting through CB1 and CB2 receptors are part of an early neuroprotective response triggered after SCI that is involved in the spontaneous recovery after an incomplete lesion.” Thus far, since cannabinoid usage delivers analgesic properties and aneuroprotective response, there’s hope for SCI patients.
Research Findings about Cannabis Helping Treat Muscle Spasms: A Common SCI Side Effect
Although the study’s participants were MS patients, these results are noteworthy, and they represent potential for the treatment of muscle spasticity due to SCI. Additionally, researchers concluded the following about anotherstudy related to muscle spasticity and pain: “…Cannabis extracts have shown effectiveness to relieve some symptoms of the patients with Multiple Sclerosis mainly for pain and spasticity.” Also, there’s a significant amount of anecdotal evidence and stories regarding cannabis’s ability to help SCI patients.
Cannabis’s Ability to Help Treat Sleep Disorders Due to SCI
Besides pain and muscle spasticity, those with SCI often experience problems with sleeping. Specifically, themajority of SCI sufferers experience sleep disorders like sleep apnea. Unfortunately, a lack of sleep can weaken and damage the body’s immune system. However, onestudy revealed that cannabis can help improve one’s quality of sleep and the length of it. Then, anotherstudy found that the combination of CBD and THC can help those struggling with various sleep issues.
Improved Mobility Due to Cannabidiol Usage
Usually, a SCI is permanent, and it significantly impacts one’s daily mobility. However, onestudy discovered that CBD improved mobility in rats that had spinal cord injuries. The study’s researchers concluded bystating the following about these findings: “Cannabidiol improved locomotor functional recovery and reduced injury extent suggesting that it could be useful in the treatment of spinal cord lesions.”
Although this study hasn’t been conducted on humans yet, these findings represent the positive impact CBD can have on sensory motor and functioning in SCI patients. It’s also possible that different cannabinoids can help restore functioning, which can dramatically improve the quality of life of SCI patients.
Overall, despite varioustraditional treatment methods available for SCI like physical therapy, therapeutic massages, acupuncture, cognitive restructuring, and psychotherapy, they aren’t effective for everyone. Oftentimes, certain medications are prescribed for pain management, but many SCI patients have turned away from them due to their slew of side effects and addictive profile. Besides cannabis being a natural treatment method, it can also relieve numerous painful side effects due to SCI while also improving one’s quality of life and ability to be themselves again. Further research should be conducted on the link between cannabis, CBD, THC, and spinal cord injuries, but the research findings that have been released so far are both significant and hopeful.
Fox Media is trying to trademark the phrase in order to adapt it into a TV series.
“OK, Boomer”, otherwise known as “that meme that’s become the most efficient way of burning anyone over the age of 50” is officially positioned to become a TV show. What will it be about? No one has a clue.
The Guardian reports that Fox Media is attempting to trademark the phrase for entertainment purposes, as if the meme in its original form wasn’t funny and transcendent enough. Although nobody seems to know what a TV show based on a meme will look like, according to the filing, the series would be a reality, comedy or game show called “OK BOOMER.”
FOX has filed a trademark application for “OK BOOMER.”
The media giant filed the application on November 11th.
According to the filing, FOX intends to launch a reality, comedy and/or game show called OK BOOMER.
Fox isn’t the only player in the game. Ever since the news broke, there have been other businesses interested in reaping the benefits of “OK, Boomer”, trying to make money in the shape of clothing, stickers, a stage play, you name it.
Internet fads and memes don’t make for the most inspiring stories, especially since they’re so intrinsic with the way in which we communicate online. The magic of “OK, Boomer” and memes in general is the fact that anyone can make something go viral if they come up with a good enough version of the joke. But, hey, who are we to judge what Fox does with its money?
Let’s hope the show doesn’t end up becoming a sort of meme-ception, one that likely boomers put together and that ends up being embarrassing because it tries too hard to hang out with the kids.
