New Year’s is a great time to set up some new goals and to plan for your future. Even though some resolutions are hard to maintain, setting up goals and objectives is a good way of motivating yourself and to figure out what you want for the new year.
The most common New Year’s resolutions are always pretty vague: losing weight, studying more and getting a better job are always popular and worthy objectives. The problem is that they’re too broad and complex. By setting up concrete and achievable goals with a simple plan that you can track, you’ll actually have a shot of accomplishing these objectives. Check out five New Year’s resolutions that are useful and achievable for the coming year:
Learning new things can help you feel motivated and excited, be that if it’s learning a new language or a sport. This is a very popular resolution that can also get complicated and easily forgotten if you don’t have a plan to follow. During the first days of the year be sure to sign up to online courses or to pay for a service; doing this makes you accountable for your new hobby, pushing you to learn the new skill while you’re inspired and interested.
Whether you want to quit smoking or reduce your alcohol intake, it’s important to set realistic milestones and to think about the long term plan. According to James Clear, expert on human habits and potential, you should replace bad habits with other habits that are more positive, finding something that fills out that same function in your life. If you want to quit smoking, replace the habit with chewing gum or with a fiddling toy, progressively decreasing your intake and looking to achieve the most realistic and better results.
Cultivate your relationships
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The holidays remind us of how busy we are and how tough it can be to make time for your family and friends. If you want to see your parents more often then plan for your trips and getaways ahead of time to get the best deals possible and ensure that you won’t forget later on.
Reducing your social media and cellphone use is a valid objective that can be much harder than you expect. Family therapist Kate Stoddard spoke with The Huffington Post and said that when you look through your social media feed you should spend 10 seconds on each post, deciding if you want to keep going or not. The more time you spend on each post the less mindless the whole act becomes. “You get to control how and why you use it, not the other way around,” says Stoddard.
Cooking is a time consuming activity that can get very boring, but it’s also a necessary one that can help you stay healthy and save money. Psychologist Ryan Kelly says that in order to cook more you need to set some goals, scheduling your weeks in advance and declaring how many times you’ll be eating out and how many days you’ll be cooking in. “It’s likely that the stress relief of saving some money and the pride of cooking healthy meals will increase the likelihood of success,” says Kelly.
Jack Herer may be an uplifting, sativa dominant strain that’s popular pretty much everywhere, but the reason it exists is the man himself, Jack, the Hemperor. More than simply an inspiration for some dank weed, this legendary figurehead of the hemp and marijuana movement was the inspiration for activists across the globe. While those same cannabis activists celebrated this month when the 2018 Farm Bill effectively legalized industrial hemp, none of that would’ve been possible with Herer’s early trailblazing.
In 1973, Herer came out with the infamous coloring book, G.R.A.S.S.: Great Revolutionary American Standard System. The pot-centric offering went viral before going viral was a thing and spawned countless letters from hippies and activists who wanted to share more information about the plant itself with Jack and his cohorts.
Those letters kicked the once Goldwater Republican into high gear. He and his partner Captain Ed Adair conceived of Herer’s soon-to-be seminal work: The Emperor Wears No Clothes. Practically required reading for all hemp and cannabis advocates, The Emperor is a mish-mash of cannabis facts, government and corporate corruption, the many, many, many uses for the hemp plant. It also included a big claim that would forever enmesh Herer with hemp.
Jack’s entire premise was that hemp could save the world if we’d only let it and in his book he put a $100,000 “reward” for anyone who could prove him wrong. No one ever tried collecting on the offer.
Hemp for fuel, hemp for fiber, hemp for health, it was all in Jack’s radar and he preached the miracle of cannabis wherever he went and to anyone who wanted to listen. Activists sat for hours, smiling and listening, while Herer went over his key talking points. And if they hung around long enough, they’d even get a demo of how his creation, the “Double Barrel Double Venturi Ricocheting Vortex Effect Pipe works.” The pipe burns bowls evenly and to a perfect ash utilizing airflow.
Herer suffered a massive stroke and minor heart attack in July of 2000. Though it wasn’t a quick path to recovery of his speech, he credits the psychedelic mushroom Amanita muscaria with reconnecting pathways and prompting a good recovery. Jack was unstoppable, even post-stroke and was backstage, getting ready to preach his mission at the Hempstock Festival in Portland, Oregon in December of 2009 when he had another heart attack. He would pass away in April 2010 at the age of 70 from complications due to the cardiac arrest.
Herer’s gumption, wisdom, soul and passion for the plant will live on in the hearts that knew and admired him. The Emperor will remain a classic work of cannabis research and literature. Herer is a major reason that awareness rose around hemp and deserves recognition for inspiring those who worked on the 2018 Farm Bill, which paved the way to a more sustainable future. It only took a couple decades, but Herer might finally be proven correct all these years later.
Now that we officially made it out of 2018 alive, presumably with a little more to love around the middle, we can pat ourselves on the back for completing the final leg of the Eating Olympics: the New Year!
Glossy magazine covers have been showing their support of this time honored calorie-fest since October, featuring elaborate pie art, straight up pools of butter in various root vegetable purees, pumpkin pie spiced everything, and motivational headlines like “ Time to Indulge!”, “ The Holidays Are Here!”, “Top 40 Best Pies You Should Try!” And so we do. We eat all the pies.
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Then the shift comes. Right about…now. Your Instagram feed starts to feature hot yoga class discounts, skinny peppermint mochas, and the latest half-marathon registration. We are getting not-so-gentle reminders in our Facebook side bar that it’s officially time to fit into our normal clothes again.
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Titles like “Fat Free Cookie Indulgences!” or “How Not to Eat an Entire Wheel of Grocery-Store Brie” start working their way across the once white chocolate-covered and candy cane-striped magazines in check-out aisles. And I totally subscribe. I read all of the articles and start to plan out my three sips of eggnog I am allowing myself at the week-after-next’s post-holiday “holiday” party. I have to plan on eating all of the celery off of the vegetable platter before I even look at the bleu cheese dip. (I swear it looks at me first). I get it. Time to become a regular human being again instead of a calorie dumpster.
But, must we be so dramatic in swinging so far to the other side to overcompensate for our over indulgent eating?
I personally would love to be the gal that eats whatever she wants whenever she wants, but I am not a fembot, so yes, I fall into the category of winter wonderland of splurging. As a chef, and one that touts organic, colorful, nutrient dense, real, food fare, I can fall off the wagon around the holidays. Hard.
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The fresh and leafy greens, herbs and edible petals aren’t growing right outside my door, the chickens have stopped laying their perfectly imperfect eggs, and the ground is too cold to dig up the last of the root vegetable. The over indulgent dishes of winter and the holidays have found me.
If I am being honest with myself, it is more of an emotional and lazy reaction I have to this season than actual desire for all of these rich treats. I can turn off my brain to the fundamentals of what brought me into the world of culinary in the first place; the challenges and creativity it takes to prepare tasty and healthful dishes has gone idle in my brain. For me, melting cheese all over everything is an “easy” way out. It is easy to rattle off holiday dishes that are sugary, delectably fattening, dense, without many — if any — nutritious elements. It actually feels like I am cheating when I menu plan this way. Congratulations, if you put heavy cream in absolutely everything. It tastes delicious and we can all be chefs! Woo hoo!
The truth is, my body actually enjoys dark green and cruciferous vegetables, 100% grass fed beef, vitamin D loaded mushrooms, blue green algae smoothies, all the teas, and bone broths, etc. It’s just that my efforts becomes a bit scarce — and my creativity stifled — by buttered mashed potatoes and sparkly Christmas cookie pin boards! My online algorithm-based advertising is pretty spot on this last week especially. You are correct, Amazon ads. I do want a Groupon to those hot yoga classes, and that sparkly dress isn’t exactly my thing, but I think Imma buy it anyway! And on top if it all, I don’t feel all that great after those cookie exchange party binges!
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It is my job to create menus. I was feeling particularly uninspired, tired and gross, and looking for some inspo before I started to prepare a big holiday-esque menu for a big guest cheffing gig I have coming up early in the New Year. As per usual, I called my mom to bounce some ideas off her. We were lobbing different dish ideas back and forth and we realized that we were getting full and lethargic just thinking about them. Mom suggested we shift our perspective. She reminded me that my dinner is bound to bring a table of about 60 guests who are just as stuffed and depleted as we are by the overindulgences of the family gatherings and holiday parties. Sugar, fat and salt should perhaps take a supporting role. We went back to the drawing board. How do we breath some life back into my menus without making us feel sluggish just thinking about them?
Let’s remember to feed our bodies and to replenish our health. Let’s dust ourselves off, and hop back on that wagon of what we do know: seasonal, healthy, real, food.
Winter brings us flavors of citrus and its zest, pops of pomegranate pink, and sturdy berries, like currant and cranberry to liven up our cozy winter meals. Juniper, coriander and allspice brines, pressed seed oils and butters, salted, preserved and cured items. Eating seasonally in the winter means featuring these kind of items. It is the time to break into the properly stored, canned, jarred and preserved harvests and to demonstrate the sustainable nature of seasonal eating in the winter months.
The veil has lifted. Winter is a time for introspective, and reflection, and of course, yes, a little joyful indulgences along the way. We celebrate this season with cozy and warming meals. Being together with friends and family. Usually around a table sharing something tasty. We have had our delicious creamy everything, sweets and treats galore, and how boring to monitor every little bite after that, right?
I am ready to bring light, bright, and still luxurious dishes to the table. Nourishing, warming, thought provoking, and a little exotic too.
So step aside refined sugar and empty carbs, I will see you next year. What I want now is a few dishes to muse over with great conversation, family, and friends. And — oops! — a cocktail or two.
Grapefruit and Fennel Salad
(Feeds 4-6)
Photo by Ryan Ross
3 grapefruit, any kind you’d like. Peel and pith away, supreme or slice into disks. Remove any seeds you can.
2 fennel bulbs, sliced thinly, reserve fronds.
About 2 cups, very loosely packed, wintered greens and leaves; kale, Brussels sprout leaves, raddicio, anything sturdy.
Dressing:
2 limes
1 Tbsp honey
¼ cup avocado, olive, macadamia nut oil, or a blend
½ tsp sea salt
Whisk together, season to taste.
Topping:
¼ t sumac ( bulk herb, spice and tea sections typically)
¼ t poppy seed
hand full of pomegranate seeds
handful of macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
* NOTE once sliced, fennel will oxidize. Store in a bit of fresh citrus juice and cold water if you are not using immediately.
In a large bow, toss together grapefruit, fennel and fronds with your selected leafy and wintered veggies. Dress and garnish beautifully.
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Chef Ryan Ross is a private chef who also runs Supper Corps, the name of her dinner party series that is hosted in uncommon spaces. She grew up in her mother’s organic health food store in Virginia, got her culinary degree from The Natural Gourmet Institute of NYC, and currently resides with her husband in the Skagit Valley of Washington.She is a recipe writer, product developer and has consulted for plant-based restaurants all over the world. She also won the “Light Makes Right” episode of Choppedon the Food Network.
The Sixties counterculture mantra “Turn on, tune in, drop out” needs a fresh, 21st century update. How about “Turn on, tune up, drop weight”? Forget the tired trope about lazy stoners, couch-locked in their living room eating Zesty Cheese Doritos while watching SpongeBob SquarePants reruns. The new trend is marrying marijuana with exercise.
“Marijuana relaxes me and allows me to go into a controlled, meditational place,” champion triathlete Clifford Drusinsky told Men’s Journal. “When I get high, I train smarter and focus on form.”
But you don’t have to be an elite athlete. Weekend warriors are finding that cannabis not only aids in the actual workout, it is an amazingly effective post-workout tonic. Instead of drinking a post-race beer, try a low-dose edible or beverage. Your body will thank you … and you’ll likely be smiling a bit more.
As for weight loss? A 12-ounce bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale has 175 calories. Let’s say you had two bottles of ale after an enjoyable 30-minute jog. Well, congratulations! You just added back all the calories you just burned off. Cannabis? Zero calories.
Looking for a way to partake and participate in athletics with a group of cannabis enthusiasts? Check out the 420 Games, which promotes the healthy and responsible use of cannabis. (Don’t worry beer lovers; the 420 Games events include craft brews after the competiton.)
NOTE: If you are using cannabis BEFORE your workout, it is highly recommended that you use a sativa strain. Indica strains, typically, are more effective for post-exercise recovery and relaxation.
Here are four reasons cannabis may be helpful to keep your body fit:
Stay In The Zone
Have you ever experienced the runners’ high? What you’re feeling is your endorphins kicking in. Think of exercising with cannabis a different way of getting a similar feeling.
“The endocannabinoid system works like endorphins,” according to Andrea Giuffrida, an endocannabinoid expert at the University of Texas Health Science Center. A study at the university demonstrated that after high-intensity running, people have elevated levels of naturally occurring endocannabinoids in their bloodstream. So, if endorphins help you push through an intense workout, these endocannabinoids could increase your pain threshold to do the same.
Studies in mice have shown that even small doses of THC increase motor activity — so a pre-run toke may result in a little boost in your pace. A French study discovered that when THC hits the brain, it produces more pregnenolone, the chemical that is a precursor to steroids produced by the body. This interaction may increase energy and reduce fatigue.
“It may help some athletes get into a zone and put their bodies through very tough physical activity,” says Mark Ware, a professor at Canada’s McGill University. “Many long-distance runners admit to using vaporizers or edibles before participating in a marathon, because the cannabis enables them to remove the monotony and stay in a steady rhythmic zone for keeping at a competitive running speed.”
Raise Metabolism
According to a study recorded in Men’s Journal: The compounds in marijuana may help raise metabolism, speed fat loss, and lower cholesterol.
“American Journal of Medicine researchers have discovered that pot smokers actually have 16 percent higher levels of fasting insulin in their bodies than those who abstain from marijuana. In addition, the study indicated that cannabis users have 17 percent lower insulin resistance levels as well as significantly smaller average waist circumferences than their non-smoking counterparts,” the report states.
Want more energy and increased weight loss? Then pay close attention to your controlled insulin levels.
Reduce Anxiety
“We have cannabinoid receptors throughout our brains, and when the THC hits those receptors, it triggers a system that reduces anxiety,” says Keith Humphries, a professor at Stanford School of Medicine and a former senior policy advisor at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University discovered that cannabinoid receptors, through which marijuana enters your body, assist in regulating anxiety and the flight-or-fight response.
Muscle Recovery
Marijuana is an anti-inflammatory medicine. Pure and simple. The U.S. government owns Patent 6630507, which describes the antioxidant, neuroprotectant qualities of cannabis.
Here is what ultramarathoner Jeff Sperber told Runner’s World: “When you’ve been running for that long, you’ve got swelling muscles and aching joints, and you’re tired. You can take an Advil, which will help the swelling and inflammation, but it’s also very taxing on your liver. I can’t do that stuff and function as a normal human being. As a weed smoker, I can function.”
After a strenuous workout, you still will feel the burn. But cannabis will help ease the pain.
So hit the trail. Go to your yoga studio. Play tennis. Do whatever gets your heart pumping. Stay hydrated. And enjoy your cannabis. It does a body good.
Why even pretend otherwise: January fitness is a mix of holiday self-loathing and goals for a fresh start to the new year. That annual tradition of requesting workout gear for Christmas never seems to crack the formula. And trying the same failed workout strategy again this year isn’t persistence, it’s madness. If you didn’t kind of suspect that, you wouldn’t be reading this article.
Don’t worry—this is a shame-free zone. We’re here to help. Follow these 10 fitness hacks and this year, just maybe, you’ll break the rut.
Develop A Routine
A common mistake about returning to exercising is that should include some discomfort. No pain, no game, right? So you lock yourself into the gym for two hours a few times a week, staying until it hurts. Here’s a better approach: Small routine. Just 30 minutes of cardiovascular activity five times a week can do wonders. Don’t kill yourself just to live healthier.
Are you the type of person who likes working out first thing in the morning? But then you wake up and you’re cozy in your jammies and maybe just hit snooze once more. One habit of fit people: Sleeping in their workout clothes. This creates an expectation. This is also why you should carry a gym bag around all day if you plan a lunch break run or post-work gym session.
Plan Ahead With Your Jams
A study from Harper’s Fitness concluded that men waste about 21 minutes on non-exercise activities for every hour spent at the gym. Meanwhile, the same survey found that 55 percent of participants wasted time from their workout to pick the perfect song or playlist while working out. Don’t drag out the process. Choose ahead and plan a playlist that lasts exactly as long as you want to work out.
Make Fitness Entertaining
Before I seriously dove in, I considered running a dull, monotonous activity. I’m just jogging with nothing to occupy my brain begging me to quit? Then I discovered podcasts and it unlocked everything. Explore some of your topics of interest or find a great audiobook and promise only to listen while working out.
Gamify Your Workout
It’s pretty easy to poke fun at Fitbits and Apple Watches and every fitness app out there. But tracking your exercise with firm data points allows you to track the progress you’ve made and set up future goals. In short, they work.
Exercise is a lifestyle. How you prepare and supplement your workout matters almost as much as the workout itself. A study in the Journal of Exercise Science and Fitness shoed that consuming a single teaspoon of ginger daily can help you lose about 4.1kg of body fat, over 10 weeks, if it’s combined with strength training. Remember: ginger is your friend.
Weights First, Cardio Second
Most of us think about hitting the treadmill or bike as a warm-up before working out. But as celebrity trainer Lacey Stone told Daily Burn, “It’s vital that you lift before your cardio workouts, because you will have the most power and the most strength to lift heavier loads, which in turn will make you stronger.” That muscle will help you burn more fat and your cardio afterwards won’t suffer from the weight training.
Shorter Breaks
If your goal is to burn fat, then maintain a higher heart rate is key. As Men’s Fitness writes, “The first method is simply to burn as many calories as possible, in which almost continuous exercise with little to no rest between sets (such as circuit training) is ideal.” The magazine also suggests alternating sets that work different parts of the body.
As much as we pretend otherwise, working out for health benefits alone isn’t enough to get most of us off the couch. So instead of wasting money on an expensive gym membership, save the money you would’ve spent to buy yourself that will keep you going when you otherwise wouldn’t.
Dance, Dance, Dance
It isn’t just a fun activity to participate in while at the club. “Dancing provides physical, psychological, and social benefits galore,” as Berkeley Wellness concluded. The publication added, “It has been shown to reduce depression, anxiety, and stress and boost self-esteem, body image, coping ability, and overall sense of well-being, with the benefits lasting over time.” So if everything else isn’t working, the answer is simple: dance, dance, dance.
It’s that time of year, when people start planning their workout routine to accommodate extra caloric intake over the holidays; when thinking shifts from moderate exercise to overkill. But what if we told you that putting more effort into your workouts could actually be sabotaging your weight loss plan?
Extra effort in the gym can cause something called adrenal fatigue, which includes symptoms like exhaustion,digestive problems, body aches, restless sleep, and lightheadedness.
Personal trainer Liz Letchford, MS, ATC tells POPSUGAR that putting your body through more strenuous exercise is not the way to go:
Exercising at a high intensity for an extended period of time, especially in addition to the stress of work, life, relationships, and body image, can throw you into adrenal fatigue.
She says the body can only respond so much to the “fight or flight” mode of exercise, “especially high-intensity, long-duration exercise. This throws your hormones out of balance, causing fatigue, poor performance, fogginess, and weight gain, especially around your middle.”
And you can forget about trying to get in multiple workouts a day, she tells POPSUGAR.
Stay away from two-a-days as part of your normal workout regimen, and take those rest days. Your body needs it to recover from all of the breaking down that has been happening during workouts.
Letchford says if you do end up overworking yourself, you can readjust yourself with intensity/duration reduction and proper nutrition. But, guys, you’re body is better off not sweating the holidays all together. Go about your normal workout routine and relax a little. That’s what this time of year is ultimately all about: peace, remember?
An upsurge in e-cigarette use among middle and high school students occurred nationally between 2011 and 2018, with nearly 21 of every 100 high school students surveyed reporting e-cigarette use in the past 30 days, according to data from experts at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The FDA has announced efforts to impose restrictions on flavored e-cigarettes and tobacco products. FDA recognizes the high rates of e-cigarette use among young people as a public health concern, and sees the urgent need for stricter product access.
Part of the agency’s plans call for restricting young people under the age of 18 from accessing flavored e-cigarettes via retail establishments and online websites. The FDA is seeking to have retailers move flavored e-cigarette products – excluding mint- and menthol-flavored products – to age-restricted areas in stores, and the FDA is proposing to heighten practices for age verification online. Agency officials have also called for removing e-cigarette products that are marketed to kids, among other measures.
And with the announcement that tobacco giant Altria paid US$13 billion for a 35 percent stake in Juul, the vaping company that uses flavors to market its e-cigarettes, the need to impose youth restrictions on flavored tobacco products takes on even more urgency.
Flavors change perception of risk
Studies have suggested that flavoring tobacco and other smoking products leads to a perception that they are not as dangerous. Bartlomiej Magierowski/Shutterstock.com
Using a survey of young adults aged 18 to 26 recruited through an online crowd-sourcing tool, our group of researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine found in a study published in PLOS ONE that cigarillo pack flavor descriptors, such as grape and sweet, and colors such as pink and purple resulted in more favorable product perceptions among young adults. These pack attributes had a greater impact on how people who had never used cigarillos perceived product flavor and taste, compared to current cigarillo users, and people who have previously used them.
Further, we conducted a systematic review of all the scientific literature through April 2016 examining the impact of flavors on tobacco product perceptions and use behaviors. Important findings from this study, published in Tobacco Control, suggested that flavored tobacco products have a strong appeal to youth and young adults because of the variety and availability of flavors; that flavors are a reason for use; and that flavors play a primary role in the use of e-cigarettes, little cigars and cigarillos, and hookah among younger people.
Two studies within our systematic review found that packs containing flavor descriptions were more likely to be rated as having a lower health risk. Another study of smokeless tobacco packs in the United States found that young adults were more likely than older adults to report that packs without flavor descriptions would contain more dangerous chemicals. Research is clear that flavored tobacco products have the potential to undermine progress gained to reduce youth tobacco use in the United States.
Importance of flavors in product use
Research and survey data have shown that tobacco habits in this age group are changing. Youth cigarette smoking rates have declined substantially in recent years, with the National Youth Tobacco Survey showing current use of cigarettes declining from 15.8 percent in 2011 to 7.6 percent in 2017 among high school students, according to data from experts at the CDC and FDA. Meanwhile, e-cigarettes were the most commonly used product in that population in both middle and high school students in the survey data.
While traditional cigarette smoking has declined, patterns of dual (that is, use of two or more tobacco products in 30 days) and poly tobacco use (or the use of three or more tobacco products in 30 days) have emerged. In 2013, in a survey of North Carolina high school students, almost 30 percent reported use of any tobacco product, according to a study from our team published in 2015 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Within this sample, 19.1 percent used multiple tobacco products, compared with just 10.6 percent of the sample who were single product tobacco users. Youth predominately used cigarettes in combination with little cigars and cigarillos, or cigarettes with e-cigarettes. While there is substantial racial variation in multiple tobacco use patterns over time, in 2015, e-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product among single product users across all racial groups, according to one of our studies published in Nicotine Tobacco Research.
Using data from the 2015 North Carolina Youth Tobacco Survey, we found in a study published earlier this year in Preventing Chronic Disease that among survey respondents who were not susceptible to smoking cigarettes, 26 percent were at “high risk” for future e-cigarette use; 11.3 percent were classified as “susceptible” to using e-cigarettes; 10.4 percent had already tried an e-cigarette; and 4.5 percent were current e-cigarette users.
Using school enrollment figures, we estimated that 55,725 high school students in our home state of North Carolina were at low-risk of smoking cigarettes, but at high risk for e-cigarette use – which meant that they were susceptible to using e-cigarettes, had experimented with e-cigarettes, or currently used e-cigarettes. On a national scale, these findings are a considerable public health problem.
Specifically, high school students who believed that e-cigarettes and secondhand e-cigarette vapor were not harmful, or only somewhat harmful, were more likely to be susceptible to using e-cigarettes than students who thought e-cigarettes and secondhand e-cigarette vapor were harmful, our study found.
Moreover, exposure to e-cigarette vapor in indoor or outdoor public places was associated with greater odds of being susceptible to using e-cigarettes. This could mean that restricting secondhand exposure to vapor of e-cigarettes in public places, such as in school buildings, stores, restaurants, school grounds and parks, and mass media efforts to educate youth about the harms of e-cigarette use could be just as necessary as restricting access to these products.
We know that adolescents and teenagers are very vulnerable to the influence of tobacco marketing. The use of appealing packages and flavors has a significant impact on young people, causing them to perceive these tobacco products as less harmful and, in turn, making them more likely to experiment and continue using tobacco products. As research on the impact of flavored tobacco products builds, I look forward to increased action to help prevent youth tobacco use.
Rand Corporation took a look at a recent study on teen cannabis use since Washington state legalized weed and found that better data was needed to follow youth use. However, usage amongst 8th and 10th graders did go down and use in 12th graders stayed the same. The percentages weren’t staggering, but substantial nonetheless.
A research letter published in JAMA Pediatrics states that representative surveys should be used to determine increases, decreases or steady usage of cannabis among teens. “The effect of legalization on youth marijuana use is an important public health question that needs to be revisited using a multitude of data sets,” said Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, co-author of the study as well as co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center.
“This work underscores the importance of understanding who is being captured in each data set so we can better understand how representative the sample is when trying to draw policy conclusions from the analysis,” she continued.
It is the ever present question among many cannabis curious or even doubters, “What about the children?” and it is a valid concern. Worried parents have every right to be wary about what their children are ingesting and at what age. These new figures show that teen use goes down in legal states, or at least in Washington, as compared to non-legal states.
Prevalence fell from 2014 to 2016 compared with 2010 to 2012, dropping 2.5 points in 8th graders and 2 points in 10th graders. Researchers and many teachers and parents see these results as encouraging, though they are reticent to say definitively that legalization is fully responsible for the drops.
“These findings do not provide a final answer about how legalization ultimately may influence youth marijuana usage. A variety of factors may influence the behavior of adolescents and those factors are likely to influence behaviors in different ways over time,” said Pacula.
Researchers also say that the commercialization of cannabis is more likely to influence teen usage than actual laws. Marijuana has been readily available for decades, despite its long history of prohibition. If teens wanted to use more, they would, but for now at least it seems that some of the mystique may be wearing off or that at least pot use is in decline in the younger population.
It looks like The Queen mum is going to have to find another home soon. And at the age of 92, packing up and getting settled into a new house is likely not preferable.
2025 is just around the corner, and at that time, The Queen will have to vacate Buckingham Palace along with the Duke of Edinburgh. No, it’s not because she can’t make rent. It’s because the palace is undergoing renovations — about $468 million worth (or £369 million). Not only that, but the upgrades will take about a decade to complete.
A royal source revealed to The Mirror that, “The Queen is immensely pragmatic and she wants to stay in the palace. She said, ‘Let me know where you would like me to go.’”
The Duke of Edinburgh was very involved in the 1992 restoration of Windsor Castle. He is keen for us to follow a phased approach in the re-servicing project [at Buckingham Palace], and said, ‘You will learn from your mistakes.’
No word if the two other royals, Her Maj, 92, and Prince Philip, 97, who are also currently residing in apartments in the Palace will also vacate or just relocate to another wing. Yes, Buckingham Palace is that big.
According to The Mirror, the renovation will replace some of the old guts of the building, like electrical wiring, lead pipes, and boilers that are a potential fire hazard. But the palace will remain open for state visits and other royal events during construction.
Buckingham Palace was built in 1703, about 60 years before being acquired by King George III.
This Week’s Music is a weekly column that discusses the weeks’ best, worst, and most interesting songs. We try to select songs of different artists and genres to keep things interesting and to please a variety of music fans.
This week’s column features Sam Smith’s latest tearjerker, another Post Malone drone and Twin Shadow’s experimental EP. Check them out!
Pop
Sam Smith – Fire On Fire
Sam Smith is back with “Fire On Fire,” the official song of the new Netflix mini-series “Watership Down.” The show, based on Richard Adams’ beloved children’s novel, tells the story of a group of adorable bunnies that are forced to leave their home due to humans’ development plans. They make their way onto Watership Down, a warren that’s supposed to be safe, and encounter all sorts of dangers along the way. “Fire On Fire” is fittingly sad and melancholic, thus a perfect vehicle for Smith’s vocals and powerful lyrics which grab you by the throat at the most unexpected of times. The song is filled with poeticism, metaphors and vivid images that make it a stand out among Smith’s ouevre, especially when you compare it to his work on other movie scores. Keep a tissue nearby. Or a box.
Post Malone’s “Wow.” is a trippy song with an even trippier Christmas themed video. That’s about it for compliments. It’s an okay couple of minutes, if only a little empty and bro-ish, but I don’t think that matters when it comes to how many views and listens the song will acquire. “Wow.” is yet another one of Post Malone’s anthems that discuss money, alcohol and girls, showing off just how wrong people were when they didn’t believe in his success. It would be sort of inspiring if I hadn’t heard it before or if it were done in a different style, but I have and from the same singer. No matter how much talent and followers Post Malone has, it’s a shame that he only has one song to sing.
Indie
Twin Shadow – Broken Horses
Twin Shadow is one of the most interesting rising artists, having worked with HAIM and Rainsford on his previous album. “Broken Horses” was released in an EP that features two different versions of the same song, the Santo Domingo and the Port Antonio edit, while also including their instrumental counterparts. Both versions are very similar, with slightly different vibes. The Santo Domingo edit is the most interesting and fun of the two, leaning heavily on it’s Caribbean and Reggaeton-like rhythms. You can listen to the full EP on Spotify.
