Friday, December 19, 2025
Home Blog Page 854

Wells Fargo Terminates Account Of Political Candidate Who Supports Medical Marijuana

Sara Somerset
-
0
Wells Fargo Terminates Account Of Political Candidate Who Supports Medical Marijuana

Wells Fargo terminated its banking relationship with a political candidate in Florida, citing a “political platform” that included advocacy for “patient access to medical marijuana.”

Democratic Agriculture Commissioner candidate Nikki Fried spoke to the media at Florida Capitol on Monday morning to address the bank’s decision, which her campaign office views as an action against a candidate’s “fundamental right to free speech.”

This is an inaccurate interpretation of the bank’s ruling. Fried is free to say whatever she wants; however, she is no longer free to bank at Wells Fargo. This means her first amendment rights remain unaffected, especially considering she was free to denounce the bank’s decision in a press release.

Fried wanted to “call attention to the out of touch institutions, laws and politicians that allowed this transgression to occur in the first place,” according to a press release sent by Fried’s camp.

According to the release, Democrat Nikki Fried filed to run for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services on June 6, 2018 and opened her account with Wells Fargo a week later.

On July 11, a bank representative reached out to the campaign via email saying they had “uncovered some information regarding the customer’s political platform and that they are advocating for expanded patient access to medical marijuana.” The email from Wells Fargo went on to ask if the campaign would receive “funds received from lobbyists from the medical marijuana industry in any capacity?”

Fried was herself a lobbyist for the medical marijuana industry prior to becoming a candidate for office. In a July 17 response, the campaign answered the questions from Wells Fargo, additionally telling the bank of Fried’s own professional representation of the medical marijuana industry.

On August 3, a Wells Fargo representative called the campaign’s compliance manager to let her know the bank was terminating its relationship with Fried because of her relationship with the medical marijuana industry. On August 14, the campaign received a letter from Wells Fargo, dated August 3, formally terminating its banking relationship with Fried, citing its need to “oversee and manage banking risks.”

Money laundering, or accepting deposits from not-legally-earned funds, is a common concern for risk assessment analysts in all major financial institutions.

There is a hidden caution in the fine print of most financial institutions, such as JP Morgan Chase, advising people who are opening new accounts that the bank can “terminate their relationship with a client for any reason.”

Usually, if and when an account closure occurs, the bank does not bother to provide a reason. They simply close the account and send a check with the funds to the former account holder within thirty days.

Wells Fargo purged scores of fake bank accounts last year.

Former Wells Fargo subsidiary Wachovia was exposed for laundering money for Mexican Drug Cartels, according to The Guardian.

This blight on the bank’s reputation could partially explain why their risk analysis experts are showing hypervigilance against opening accounts which potentially harbor drug funds, or in Fried’s case, campaign funds potentially donated by cannabis businesses.

Most major financial institutions are apprehensive about entering the marijuana marketplace while the issue of legalization remains in constant flux. As a result, many legal medical marijuana dispensaries are cash only operations.

JP Morgan Chase quietly closed many of its accounts held by foreign diplomats to the United Nations, and has a revised policy which strictly prohibits cash deposits.

Considering the Wells Fargo account belonged to a candidate for a Floridian public office, and not for a medical marijuana business, whether or not this was an unnecessary precaution on the part of Wells Fargo is debatable.

Keanu Reeves And Winona Ryder Might Accidentally Be Married

Brendan Bures
-
0
Keanu Reeves And Winona Ryder Might Accidentally Be Married

Who among us hasn’t accidentally married someone in Romania while we were young? According to Winona Ryder, that’s what happened between her and co-star Keanu Reeves while filming Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 film Dracula.

This little bit of news came out during the press tour for the upcoming rom-com Destination Wedding, which will be the fourth time Reeves and Ryder have appeared onscreen together. Because of the movie’s focus, EW asked the co-stars about their feelings regarding nuptials. That’s when Ryder revealed their accidental marriage.

“We actually got married in Dracula,” Ryder said. “No, I swear to god, I think we’re actually married in real life.”

While filming the wedding scene between Reeves’ and Ryder’s character in Dracula, “Francis [Ford Coppola] used a real Romanian priest,” Ryder added. “We shot the master and he did the whole thing. So I think we’re married.”

In classic Keanu fashion, this came as news to Ryder’s co-star. “It’s lovely to see you again,” Reeves jokingly said to his potentially legitimate wife. He seemed to be taking the story in stride despite not remembering it, but Ryder insisted on jogging his memory, reminding him they even said “I do” to each other.

“We said yes?” Reeves asked, according to EW.

“Don’t you remember that? It was on Valentine’s Day,” Ryder added. To which, Reeves responded, “Oh my gosh we’re married.”

Let this be a lesson to all millennials: If you’re going to film a Dracula remake with Francis Ford Coppola, make sure to get a receipt from your fake wedding. Otherwise you’ll have to wait 25 years to find out you have a husband or wife.

Here’s How You Can See Meghan Markle’s Wedding Dress IRL

Amy Hansen
-
0
Here’s How You Can See Meghan Markle’s Wedding Dress IRL

Whether you loved the design or not, Meghan Markle’s wedding dress was a spectacle as she walked down the aisle of Windsor Castle on May 19 to marry Prince Harry. And now, the same venue where she said “I do” will display her elegant gown.

The iconic Givenchy dress, custom made by British designer Clare Waight Keller, is worth around $255K, and, according to the Daily Mail, will be part of an exhibition to be launched at the Queen’s residence later this year.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi9eG5iA5qJ

The decision to put the gown on display comes on the heels of a tourism spike at Windsor Castle — bookings have risen by 92 per cent this summer — thanks to the royal nuptials earlier this year. And it’s expected that the dress will attract thousands more visitors.

According to the Daily Mail, Windsor Castle is poised to see a record-breaking year for tourism. It received 1.4 million visitors in 2017 — the second-highest figure for the attraction.

And while royal sources confirm the addition of the dress, the Royal Collection Trust, which manages the public openings of the Queen’s official residences, told the Daily Express that any announcements would be made later this year and that, “We have nothing to announce at present.”

Marijuana Legislative Roundup week of August 13

Alec Engber
-
0
Marijuana Legislative Roundup week of August 13

Here is the marijuana legislative roundup for the week of August 13. While the recess and upcoming November midterm elections continued to put a damper on marijuana reform efforts at the federal level, the last two weeks nonetheless saw a number of important developments. Among the most significant were the submission of signatures to put recreational cannabis on the ballot in Oklahoma, ballot certification for a recreational legalization question in North Dakota, and opposition by California cities to the state’s plan to permit cannabis deliveries. You can learn about all that and more in this week’s Legislative Roundup!

Oklahoma

On Wednesday, August 8, a group seeking to legalize recreational cannabis for adults in Oklahoma submitted signature to put the issue to voters in November. However, the fate of this effort is still far from certain because the group, Green the Vote, does not know how many signatures it even submitted, much less how many of those were valid. The Oklahoma Secretary of State will now count the valid signatures and make a determination as to whether the question qualifies for the November midterm election ballot. Green the Vote had announced that it had obtained the more than 124,000 signatures necessary, but later retracted that statement, saying that number was “inflated.”

That same week, Governor Mary Fallin signed off on a new set of regulations for medical marijuana in the state. The rules, which are among the least restrictive in the United States, come after the state legislature had sought to essentially replace the voter-approved medical marijuana law with a tightly restricted system. Lawmakers were forced to drop that legislation after the state Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional.

North Dakota

On Monday, August 13, North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger announced that supporters of recreational cannabis had submitted more than the enough signatures to put a legalization question on the November ballot. Legalize ND submitted 14,637 out of a necessary 13,452 signatures for a proposal to legalize the production, sale, and use of cannabis for adults 21 and older in the state.

California

In an open letter to state regulators Monday, the League of California Cities denounced recently-released draft regulations on home deliveries pf cannabis products. In the letter, the organization, which represents all municipalities in the state of California, argued that the rules would effectively circumvent the voter-approved cannabis law by allow unlimited home deliveries in localities that have banned marijuana businesses.

California’s most recent set of proposed regulations significantly loosened regulations on deliveries to allow businesses to operate under the so-called “ice cream truck” model, wherein delivery trucks essentially operate as fully-stocked mobile dispensaries, filling orders as they come in, rather than having to stock orders at a store and carry only what was ordered prior to departure.

DEA Will Increase Marijuana Production For Medical Research In 2019

Mike Adams
-
0
DEA Will Increase Marijuana Production For Medical Research In 2019

While the goons of ganja control over at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration have spent much of the past few decades restricting cannabis production in the United States, the agency now seems to be opening up to the idea of growing more weed in the Land of the Free. The nation’s leading dope henchmen have given the green light to increase cannabis production for medicinal research purposes, according to a new filing in the Federal Register. Meanwhile, opioid manufacturers are taking it on the chin.

This does not mean that the DEA is all of a sudden cool with cannabis. Not even close. Despite a growing body of evidence showing that marijuana comes with a wealth of therapeutic benefits, the agency still considers anything derived from the cannabis plant a Schedule I dangerous drug—in the same rank as heroin.

This means the herb has “no known medicinal value” and drug agents will swoop down from the sky and nail your ass to the wall if it is grown without their permission. But since 1968, the DEA has allowed marijuana to be produced by a single supplier—the University of Mississippi. This is the only facility currently permitted to grow the weed used to explore the pros and cons (mostly cons) of this popular plant.

But the DEA is ramping up pot production in 2019. The agency has approved the cultivation of 5,400 pounds of marijuana, which is a substantial raise considering the measly 1,000 pounds being grown this year.

Although the DEA has been working to put more cannabis suppliers to work, it is not immediately known whether the increased pot production will result in any of the reported 25 interested cultivators climbing on board. The last we checked, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had stymied the concept of bringing on more facilities to grow government weed.

In addition to pushing forward with greener times, the DEA is also curbing the production of popular opioid painkillers, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and fentanyl.

“We’ve lost too many lives to the opioid epidemic and families and communities suffer tragic consequences every day,” DEA Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon said in a statement. “This significant drop in prescriptions by doctors and DEA’s production quota adjustment will continue to reduce the amount of drugs available for illicit diversion and abuse while ensuring that patients will continue to have access to proper medicine.”

So, what does all of this mean in the grand scheme of progress on the federal drug reform scale? Not much. As far as we know the DEA’s requested increase in pot production will continue to be supervised exclusively by the University of Mississippi. There have been a number of problems stemming from this antiquated relationship, including poor quality weed being distributed to researchers looking to explore its medical benefits. The only positive takeaway from this change in production is the fact that the DEA has deemed it necessary to make some advancements with respect to medical marijuana.

Why Are Marijuana Advocates Getting Pushed Out Of Florida’s Cannabis Industry?

Mary Schumacher
-
0
Why Are Marijuana Advocates Getting Pushed Out Of Florida’s Cannabis Industry?

While many other states and regions are putting legislation in place so that those impacted most by the drug war can now benefit from it, Florida is just saying no to applicants who either love weed or who have been convicted of anything at all, including cannabis violations.

A passion for consuming marijuana is just not something to bring up at a job interview for budtender, dispensary manager or any other cannabis related job in Florida, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Apparently, some low-level, simple possession cases will possibly make it into the fray, but for the most part if you’ve got caught toking, your chances of working in the Florida industry are slim to none.

The powers that be have their reasons, like that money handling takes a lot of concentration. But as the Sentinel reported, working in the cannabis businesses grants workers slightly higher pay than other industries in Florida, thus creating an incentive for those with pristine records to apply. It’s yet another way that those who care about the plant can get pushed out of participating in the industry’s growth.

It’s a sad bit of irony. Activists and advocates have fought a long time to get us where we are now with cannabis, and one of the platforms they’ve stood on is to either free non-violent offenders, expunge their records, or at least give them a second chance. Just recently, Sacramento became the fourth city in California to make sure that 50 percent of their hires in recreational cannabis were of those most impacted by the Drug War.

It doesn’t seem fair that if you’ve been convicted of what is no longer a crime that you should still be penalized for it. Especially if the offense is cannabis, the job is cannabis related and we’re operating under the ospis that this is a compassionate movement.

Really, the Florida industry doesn’t need to hire people with experience in weed, as applications are pouring in by the hundreds for all different positions and employers have their pick of the cream of the crop. Just not the crop they’ll be peddling.

The medical marijuana industry in Florida is projected to bring in $456 million in sales this year alone and by 2022 the Sunshine State is estimated to create up to 25,000 jobs in the industry. Sadly, that’s a large market that will be ironically furthering a stigma about a plant business owners plan to profit on greatly. As Rodney Dangerfield would say on behalf of Floridian pot imbibers, “I get no respect around here.”

This Environmental Program Is Teaching Girls How To Be Scientists

Maria Loreto
-
0
This Environmental Program Is Teaching Girls How To Be Scientists

Encouraging young women to take part in the sciences has been an important activity for the US in the past few years. With evolving perspectives on women’s issues and damning statistics that claim that women make up only 14% of the physicist population and 24% of STEM jobs, groups and organizations within the country have been trying to get to the root of the issue of why women aren’t involved in these areas of work.

Green Girls, a program run by the City Parks Foundation, started off in 2002 with the goal of encouraging women to pursue the sciences. At first, it was a three week program with a few girls. Now, it lasts five weeks and it runs throughout the year.

Mashable reports that the most important thing that Green Girls does is to give confidence to young girls, allowing them to work in the field. Different studies suggest that a big part of why girls aren’t involved in the sciences is the fact that, from a young age, they see math as too complicated, with everything in their lives reinforcing this and making them quit. Administrators of the program are well aware of this gender bias, so they focus on creating a safe space where girls have role models and are given the opportunity to learn, grow, and make mistakes.

“Female students and students of color have gotten messages in different ways that, when it comes to science, they should step back and shouldn’t put themselves out there,” says Chrissy Word, Green Girls Director of Education.

A post shared by City Parks Foundation (@cpfnyc) on

Classes are taken outdoors where girls are free to get their hands dirty by interacting with trees and bugs, making the whole experience feel like summer camp. “You may think it’s boring to learn about the environment, but you’re probably not learning about the details,” says 12 year-old Mritika Rahman.

While it’s true that women in the sciences have to deal with a lot of sexism and racism – more so than women in other areas of work – programs such as Green Girls suggest that things can change, and that maybe there’s a chance for equal opportunities in the future.

K2 Laced With Fubinaca Causes Mass Overdoses In New Haven

Sara Somerset
-
0
K2 Laced With Fubinaca Causes Mass Overdoses In New Haven

Emergency responders in New Haven, Connecticut dealt with more than 110 overdose cases from individuals who consumed K2 laced with fubinaca. Most of the doses and the people who took them were passed out in a local park.

No fatalities were confirmed at the time of our reporting. However, they discovered dozens of people who had overdosed on “K2,” between last Wednesday and Friday near the Yale University campus on the New Haven Green. Officials expect they will see more occurrences among those who accepted the drug but saved it for later use.

“It’s very reminiscent of a mass casualty incident,” New Haven Office of Emergency Management Director Rick Fontana told the New Haven Register.

K2 is mostly “plant matter,” sprayed with various chemicals. It is commonly referred to as a “synthetic marijuana.”

An infamous early version of synthetic marijuana was called “Spice.” Synthetic marijuana can also be called K2, Spice, Kush or Klimax interchangeably. By any name, it is a mix of herbs, sprayed with a revolving host of dangerous chemicals, whose effects purportedly mimic the high from regular marijuana when it isn’t making humans drop like flies, as was the situation with this  tainted batch. Some users have reported effects similar to LSD.

Fubinaca is an indazole-based synthetic cannabinoid that is a powerful agonist for the body’s cannabinoid receptors. It was originally developed and patented by big-pharma company Pfizer in 2009 as an analgesic medication but was never pursued for human use. The Drug Enforcement Agency says AB-Fubinaca is found in myriad synthetic cannabinoid products smoked for their psychotropic effects.

New Haven Police have arrested and charged three people in connection with the case, and the investigation is currently ongoing:  John Parker, 53, Felix Melendez, 37, a third suspect whose name has not been released. However, New Haven Police Chief Anthony Campbell said the latest suspect is male and has “a history” with the department.

Chief Campbell also alleged that the two suspects are known for selling K2 and both have previous arrests.

The Hartford Courant reported court records list there was an outstanding warrant for Parker’s arrest for allegedly selling K2 at the green in February. There was also a warrant out for Melendez, a convicted felon, who had previously been arrested for dealing.

According to Campbell, the alleged perpetrators were selling the drug to some people and giving the drug away for free to others in the park, in an attempt to get people addicted in the hopes they would become repeat customers. The drug dealers’ strategy apparently worked because some users who were treated in the hospital and released, returned to the park only to wind up OD’ing again.

Chief Campbell told reporters the short-term effects of K2 incited many of the people treated at the hospital to return to the park for another hit. Some were brought back to the hospital “up to four to five times,” he said. A few returned to the hospital for repetitive treatment while still wearing the identification bracelet from the previous hospital visits.

It was previously misreported the K2 had been tainted with the often-fatal synthetic opioid fentanyl; however, only a few people had fentanyl in their systems which was potentially was consumed in addition to the fubinaca-laced K2.

Either way, the tainted K2 should not be taken and the police have issued an advisory.

“We’ve been trying to get the word out to make sure people understand please not to use this K2, it is clearly contaminated,” Chief Campbell stressed to reporters outside City Hall. “One of the chemicals is fubinaca, which is really supposed to be, for whatever reason, knocking people down and taking them out.”

Dr. Sandy Bogucki, an emergency medicine specialist for Yale-New Haven Hospital, told the Courant the batch of K2 was a rapid, but short-lived version of the drug.

“People who smoked it or ingested it tended to go down very fast, almost right in their tracks,” she said.

As of Monday, no fatal K2 overdoses were reported, though many smokers had to be resuscitated after ingesting it, according to Dr. Bogucki. Chief Campbell told reporters on Friday that the epidemic of K2 overdoses, which gripped New Haven for 48 hours, seems to have abated. No new reports came in over the weekend.

“It is our hope and our prayer that we have come to the end of this crisis,” Chief Campbell said.

According to the emergency medical responder’s website EMS1, a spokesman for the mayor put the exact number of K2 overdosed and subsequent hospitalizations at 114.

Power Of The Plant: Growing Your Own Medical Marijuana

Trey Reckling
-
0
Power Of The Plant: Growing Your Own Medical Marijuana

You just may find yourself with a better awareness of how the plant affects you, a more distinguished palette, and a higher expectation for your medicine. 

For millennia, humans have understood the curative properties of cannabis. Anthropologists have found mummified remains of shamans buried with stores of cannabis for a pleasant afterlife. As recently as the early 1900s, doctors used it for everything from asthma to promoting uterine contractions in childbirth. 

I like growing tomatoes and having their fresh summer fruits, but I really love growing my own medicine. As a registered patient in the state of Washington, I grow at home, sourcing good genetics and grow organically as possible. The process continues to teach me lessons I just don’t learn anywhere else. For many people, the idea of growing for healing is a novel idea. But, as author Michael Pollan reminds us in his book, “The Botany of Desire”:

For the most part of their history, after all, gardens have been more concerned with the power of plants than with their beauty – with the power, that is, to change us, for good and ill.

We live in a day of single compound medicines, synthetic molecules, magnetic imaging systems and genetic manipulation. Many of our great-grandmothers knew volumes more about natural healing than we do. Often we accept that medical knowledge is something that belongs to surrogates and sometimes take a passive role in the process.

Related Story: Chronic Pain Patients Are Ditching Opioids In Favor Of Marijuana

Home growing involves the patient and allows for a greater level of input and control. Jerry Whiting has worked with medical cannabis patients for years. He is the co-founder and president of LeBlanc CNE, specializing in cannabis genetics, formulations, product development and education and is quite passionate on the matter:

It’s important for patients to grow their own medicine to have control over what they ingest. It alleviates fears about unwanted fertilizers and pesticides. Not only does it save money but citizen-farmers play a vital role in preserving vintage heirloom genetics that large commercial farmers ignore. Growing your own cannabis is as important as making your own tinctures, topicals and edibles.

That is why the chance to grow your own medicine is unique. If you are in a position to home grow legally in your state, I encourage you to do so. You may get occasional pests and may even accidentally kill some plants. But in the process, you just may find yourself with a better awareness of how the plant affects you, a more distinguished palette, and a higher expectation for your medicine. 

Everything You Need To Know About Cannabis Oil

Mike Adams
-
0
Everything You Need To Know About Cannabis Oil

Cannabis oil has been a hot topic of discussion for the past few years. The term became popular after Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported on the magical effects of CBD oil in epileptic children. Now, it seems like every state apprehensive about implementing a comprehensive medical marijuana program has put into place a restrictive scheme that allows epilepsy patients to have access to low-THC cannabis oil. But the term cannabis oil is really just a basic description.

There are different types. Some are designed for cooking, while others are used to treat serious health conditions. What’s more, not all cannabis oil is non-intoxicating. Here is a quick run down.

Cannabis Oil

Cannabis oil is an infusion of marijuana and cooking oil. It is dark green (almost brown) in appearance. This type of oil is generally produced using strains of marijuana that are packed with the psychoactive component of the plant known as THC.

RELATED: The Only CBD User’s Manual You Need

Cannabis oil is extremely versatile. It can be used to make medicated meals or topical solutions for the skin. The oil can be made easily in about an hour using a Magical Butter machine. But it can also be manufactured using basic household appliances.

Hemp Oil

Hemp oil is not something that can be made at home. It is produced through a process in which hemp seeds are pressed to obtain the oil. The finished product is packed with vitamins and it is commonly sold in health food stores as a dietary supplement. Only small traces of THC can be found in this product, so it cannot get the user high. Hemp oil is also multipurpose. It can be used in a variety of industrial products from lubricants to paints. But, unlike cannabis oil, it is not optimal for cooking.

Butane Hash Oil

Butane hash oil (BHO) is one of the most popular cannabis extracts. It is a solvent oil that is manufactured using oil and alcohol. It has a lighter color than regular cannabis oil and is sticky. A little dab will do you when it comes to using BHO. It allows the user to achieve a stronger high without much effort. Although BHO is relatively easy to make at home, it can be a dangerous process. Butane is highly flammable and has toxic fumes.

CO2 Oil

C02 oil is made for vaporizers. This extraction method ensures that all of the components of the cannabis plant stay intact – providing the user with the cleanest oil available on the market today. But this oil is not something that can be made in the average kitchen. It requires expensive equipment. What is most interesting about the process of producing C02 oil is the product can be fine-tuned. It can be made to pack a punch of THC or have no psychoactive effects whatsoever.

Rick Simpson Oil

Rick Simpson oil (RSO) can be used orally or topically. It was developed in the early 2000’s as a way to treat skin cancer. The manufacturing process behind this oil is simple, as well. All it takes is about an ounce of dried cannabis and some isopropyl alcohol and a couple of buckets. But, due to fumes and flammability, it can be dangerous to make.

RELATED: CBD Coffee Is The Easy Way To Pain-Free Mornings

A man named Rick Simpson is responsible for the development of this product. It is also known as Phoenix Tears. On his website, Simpson says RSO can “cure or control cancer, MS, pain, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, infections, inflammation, blood pressure, depression, sleeping problems and just about any other medical issues that one can imagine.”

CBD Oil

CBD oil is a powerful medicine. Although it does not have any stoned effects, it has a number of therapeutic benefits. In fact, this is the product most people are referencing when they talk about cannabis oil. You may have heard it called “Charlotte’s Web,” which is one of the most popular brands of CBD oil. It can be made using high quality oils, C02 or solvents. The most crucial aspect of the process is ensuring the use of marijuana high in CBD and low in THC. Although CBD oil can be made at home, it is typically purchased from a dispensary in legal medical marijuana states. When it comes to life saving medicine, it is best to leave it to the experts.

1...853854855...1,460Page 854 of 1,460

Don't Miss Your Weekly Dose of The Fresh Toast.

Stay informed with exclusive news briefs delivered directly to your inbox every Friday.

We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe anytime.

The Fresh Toast is an award-winning lifestyle & health platform with a side of cannabis. We work hard each day to bring uplifting and informative information about culture, weed, celebrity, tech and medical marijuana.

© Copyright @2020