Sunday, December 21, 2025
Home Blog Page 892

W!NK Is Set To Become The Avon Of Cannabis Beauty

As various sectors of the cannabis industry receive casual valuations of millions and billions over the next several years, people are scrambling to hit just the right entrepreneurial note. W!NK is a by and for women venture since its conception. Now they want to pass that torch to women who are hoping to profit from and spread CBD’s healing properties.

The W!NK women first launched a female designed and inspired microdose vape company. While the first steps were being taken, the brand was already dipping their toes into the cannabis infused market and started crafting all sorts of CBD and THC integrated products.

The company is currently in the process of launching their latest venture, SheW!NKS. Think of it operating like Avon or Mary Kay would, except for one important factor—all of the beauty products, creams and serums are infused with imported European hemp plants. This allows the company to guarantee its products will include 0.3 percent or less of THC while also creating high-quality CBD oils.

“W!NK is all about empowerment,” explained Stacy Verbiest, Founder and CEO of W!NK, in a press release. “I started this business in answer to a friend’s struggle with the effects of her cancer treatments and medications. Like so many others, she wanted a way to manage pain that wasn’t overbearing and was discreet. As women, we carry many loads, from work to home-life, sickness and social outlets. We deserve to execute as many (or as few) of these roles as we want, however we want.”

Women who decide to take on the endeavor are encouraged to sell at their own pace, full-time or once a month or whatever works for their schedules. They are provided training, wholesale prices and ongoing education on the medical benefits of CBD. As with any entrepreneurial undertaking, much of one’s rate of success rests on attitude and gumption along with genuine product knowledge.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming intelligent, independent and entrepreneurial team members to W!NK,” stated Verbiest. “The CBD market is expected to gross more than $3 billion within the next three years, and I believe we can all help each other prosper within this rapidly expanding industry.”

These female empowerment-bent businesswomen may be onto something big here. CBD is being used from vape pens to gummies to beauty products and everything in between. The demand is high and this could be a great opportunity for women with high-minded social circles and the wont for entrepreneurship.

Angela Ponce Becomes First Trans Woman Crowned Miss Universe Spain; Madonna Ordered To Stop “Harassing” Neighbors

As Pride Month comes to a close, history was made in Spain Friday night as Angela Ponce won the Miss Universe Spain pageant to be her country’s representative at this year’s Miss Universe competition.

She is the first transgender woman to win the crown in her country

The 25-year-old has previously competed in the 2015 Miss World Spain competition representing Cadiz but failed to take home the crown that year.

At the time, she told the Daily Mail she felt like a winner anyway saying, “I have the regional crown on my head and I will keep fighting to make us seen, to make us heard and to demonstrate that I am already a queen with my own crown.”

“Society is not educated for diversity and that is what has made me go public,” she added. “Here I am and I’m not weird, I just have a different story.”

The Miss Universe competition has allowed transgender contestants to compete since 2012.

Madonna ordered to stop harassing neighbors

The New York Daily News reports:

A Manhattan judge has told Madonna to take a bow from her suing her co-op board. The pop star can no longer seek documents from her Central Park West co-op board explaining why they changed the rules to bar her kids from using her posh $7.3 million pad, a state supreme court judge ruled Friday.

Madonna, 59, sued Harperley Hall at 1 W. 64th St. in April 2016 because they changed her lease two years prior, to stop her children from living there unless she was “in residence.”

“Plaintiff does not need those materials anymore to prove a case that, by law, she is no longer allowed to prove,” Lebovits wrote. “To seek the records at this phase is merely harassing fellow residents.”

How Vermont Made History Legalizing Recreational Marijuana

Vermont has officially become the ninth state to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The new law took effect over the weekend and gives residents certain rights with respect to the cannabis plant. However, it doesn’t as far as enlisting a taxed and regulated scheme like other legal states. This means there are no retail dispensaries like in Colorado and California, according to a recent report from the Burlington Free Press.

The way Vermont went about legalizing the leaf is important in the grand scheme of cannabis reform. Instead of cannabis advocates pushing an expensive initiative through the ballot measure process, the state legislature took on the issue at the Capitol. Vermont is the first state to legalize in this fashion. Other states have tried and failed to legalize in this manner due to the inability of lawmakers to reach consensus on what exactly legalization should look like. But there is hope that now that one state legislature has found a way that others will follow suit.

Still, the Vermont Legislature did not create a perfect system. The state’s recreational law gives adults 21 and older the freedom to possess up to 1 ounce of weed and grow as many as two mature (four immature) cannabis plants at home for personal use.

There are no provisions built in to allow weed to be sold to adults in a manner similar to beer. Therefore, the only way for residents to get their hands on marijuana is to either grow their own or continue to lean on black market sources. In other words, the new law does nothing to chisel away at the business of illegal street dealing. Any person caught selling marijuana is subject to arrest and prosecution.

All in all, not much is expected to change throughout the state. The only difference is a lot less people will be going to jail for simple possession. There might even be more residents compelled to start growing their own cannabis crops. It remains illegal to smoke weed in cars, on Lake Champlain, beaches, parks or anywhere else in public view. The law basically gives adults permission to conduct cannabis activities behind closed doors.

“I’m not sure that we’re going to see a sea change here,” Governor Phil Scott said ahead of the state’s official launch date for recreational marijuana. “I think a lot of what I was reacting to was what’s happening today so I’m not sure that we’re going to see anything different come Monday than we were seeing yesterday. Well, except for maybe Sunday.”

The new law is a start. Cannabis advocates will soon begin pressuring lawmakers to introduce legislation aimed at establishing a full-blown cannabis market. There is hope that lawmakers will see just how much tax revenue the state stands to lose under the current setup and move to deliver more legitimacy to the system by opening it up to commercial growers and sellers. After all, this is the only way to put a dent in black market activity.

Science Shows How Dogs Understand Language

Who’s a good boy? What kind of question is that? Don’t be patronizing. The question’s rhetorical, and they know it.

Scientists rolled some very good doggos into an MRI machine and watched their brain activity as trainers spoke to them.

“Dogs care about both words and intonation,” the researchers explain in a video about their study. Their brains use the left hemisphere to process word meaning, and the right to suss out intonation. When dogs are praised, it activates their reward centers — but only if both intonation and word meaning are praising.

But don’t expect your dog, who’s probably somewhere schnozzle-deep in a litter box or another dog’s butthole right now, to display the same kind of comprehension these intensively-trained dogs do. You’ll still be able to sadistically trick your pupper into going happily to the vet with a perky, “Let’s go for a car ride!” Do it enough times, however, and she might start to learn that those noises in that tone don’t always go together.

“‘Understanding’ is a tricky word,” one of the study authors Adam Miklosi told Scientific American. “Studies using brain imaging technology cannot firmly say that the activation of a specific brain area indicates ‘understanding.’ For sure, dogs in this study reacted to the meaningful words, that is, to those words that their owners often use when they want to attract the dog’s attention or provide a positive feedback for the dog. So in this sense our dogs recognized these words as familiar and probably meaning something good.”

So they’re not ready to have a fulfilling conversation with you about the subtle bouquet of blackcurrant and pear in your neighbor’s pug’s butt, but when you ask, “Who’s mama’s clever handsome furbaby!?” they get the gist.

How Marijuana Mac & Cheese Helped Ease A Senior’s Alzheimer’s

My name is T. Norton. I’m a 31-year old, 17-year career chef. Recently my stepfather has fallen ill with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and I have been able to work on some infused recipes, since he cant really handle cannabis in any other form.

I have been in kitchens over half of my life and have also been a regular user of medical marijuana and an advocate for its uses.

About a year ago when my stepfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s stage 3, the doctors immediately put him on numerous pills — some of which were even experimental. In a very short amount of time, the medication seemed to be doing more damage than good, and then came the diagnoses of Parkinson’s. With that second diagnoses came even more experimental pills.

There was a day when my step dad was feeling nauseous and had a headache for days in a row.  I made the suggestion to my mother that we should try some weed brownies.  After seeing how my stepdad was feeling, we were both ready to try anything.

I made an infused oil and a batch of brownies for him.  After eating a good dose, he was up and out of bed within two hours for the first time in days.  From there, I dove head first into the MMJ movement. I even flew out to California with a friend of mine for two months just to learn more about whats really happening in this industry.

After coming back to the East coast, I have been amazingly motivated to put all my culinary knowledge to more than just making food.  I want to make medicated food for people that need it.  The picture that I’m including is of me, my mother, and my Step-dad in the middle.  This picture was taken about two weeks before the diagnoses was presented to us.

Everyone loves Macaroni and Cheese. It’s one of those comfort foods that has the ability to warm your soul. It’s also a great vessel for infusing some cannabis and personalizing just the way you want it. The following is a recipe for a delicious baked macaroni and cheese infused with a coconut based cannabis oil. I have also included a very simple way of making a potent oil, which can then be used on any recipe you would like. This mac-and-cheese is delicious as is, but leaves you the freedom to add your own favorites to the mix like bacon, Jalapenos, caramelized onions – whatever your favorites are!

Baked Mac-n-Cheesein’

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups Dry elbow pasta
  • 8 cups Wwater
  • 1/3 cup Cannabis oil*
  • 1/3 cup AP flour
  • 1 qt Milk
  • 10 oz Shredded cheddar cheese (sharp or mild)
  • 2 tsp Salt
  • 1 Tbs Black Pepper
  • Stock pot
  • large Casserole dish
  • med-large Sauce pot
  • Rubber spatula
  • Strainer
  • Whisk

*Cannabis Coconut Oil

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of Coconut oil
  • 6-7 grams (about a quarter ounce) Cannabis flower
  • Water
  • Mason jar with lid
  • Stock pot
  • Cheese cloth

Place the coconut oil and the cannabis oil into the mason jar and secure the lid. Put the jar into the stock pot and fill with water up to the bottom of the lid on the jar. Turn on heat and let water come to a boil. Let the jar simmer in the water for two hours (one major benefit of this method is that you can set it and forget it. The cannabis and oil will be safe from over cooking in the jar.) CAREFULLY remove jar from the water. Once cooled enough to take the lid off, remove the lid and strain contents through the cheese cloth. Discard the cooked cannabis flowers and put the oil in a safe container (the mason jar is a great start).

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Bring the water to a boil in the stock pot. Once water is at a rolling boil add the elbow macaroni. Stir and cook for 5 min, pour through strainer, put the cooked noodles into the casserole dish and set aside. Heat the cannabis oil in the sauce pan on low-medium, once the oil seems to loosen put the flour in. Use the rubber spatula to press the lumps out of the mixture until you have reached the consistency of wet sand. Then turn your burner up to med-high heat. (You just made a roux!) Slowly add the milk to your roux whisking constantly. Bring to a boil and cut the heat down to med-low. Continue whisking for 8-10 min. The sauce will begin to thicken. Once it is able to coat a clean spoon without running off the tip, begin to add 6 oz of cheese (Like 3/4 of the cheese), reserving the other 4 to top before baking. Turn off heat.

Once the cheese has melted pour the sauce over the macaroni and mix well. Sprinkle the rest of your cheese on the top and place in the oven for 20-25 min. or until the cheese on top is a golden brown and bubbling.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 min before eating. Serves 4-5 adults.

Marijuana Legislative Roundup: Weeks Of June 18 & June 25

The past two weeks saw a number of significant legislative developments at both the state and national levels. A bill to increase banking access for marijuana businesses died in the Senate, while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced his long-awaited cannabis reform bill. Maine, Massachusetts and Oklahoma also made strides in their reform efforts. Find out more in our weekly Marijuana Legislative Roundup.

National

On Thursday, June 21, the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee voted 21-10 to reject an amendment to provide access to banking for state-legal marijuana businesses. The legislation is designed to shield banks from federal regulatory penalties and criminal prosecution for providing financial services to licensed marijuana businesses operating in compliance with state law. While access to financial services has improved somewhat in recent years, many banks remain unwilling to serve cannabis businesses for fear of running afoul of federal regulators, forcing many legal producers, distributors, and retailers to operate exclusively in cash and leaving them vulnerable to robbery. The move follows the defeat of companion legislation in the House Appropriations Committee the prior week.

New York Senator Charles Schumer introduced a bill Wednesday that would effectively legalize marijuana at the federal level and provide small loans for some marijuana businesses. The Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act would remove cannabis from scheduling under the Controlled Substances Act, while dedicating an unspecified amount of income tax revenue derived from marijuana businesses to small loans to marijuana businesses owned by women and minorities. The bill faces little chance of coming to a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate before the November midterm elections.

Oklahoma

On Tuesday, Oklahoma voters approved a ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana. The law will create one of the least-restrictive medical cannabis programs in the country; it contains no restriction on the number of marijuana business licenses and physicians will be allowed to prescribe cannabis for any ailment. Governor Mary Fallon announced that she will call a special session of the Legislature – which has the power to modify laws passed by ballot referendum – to construct a regulatory system. As a result, the final law could be quite different from the one passed by voters, as happened with recreational cannabis in Maine and Massachusetts.

Maine

On Friday, June 22, an amendment was introduced in the Maine legislature that would allow municipalities to exercise more control over medical marijuana businesses within their jurisdiction, attempting to reign in the dozens of “caregiver shops” that have sprung up around the state to circumvent the limit of eight medical cannabis dispensaries allowed under state law. The measure comes as Maine seeks to overhaul its medical marijuana laws to align more closely with the new recreational legal framework.

Massachusetts

On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission outlined a preliminary proposal for the creation of a “social equity” program to provide training and resources for communities that have been disproportionately harmed by the so-called “War on Drugs” to participate in the state’s new legal marijuana industry. The program will provide eligible individuals and businesses with job training for management and employees, assistance in creating a business plan and raising funds, and instruction in industry best practices, accounting, sales forecasting, and tax and legal compliance. To be eligible, a person must have been convicted of a drug offense or had a spouse or parent with such a conviction, or they must have lived in a community with a disproportionately high number of arrests for five of the prior 10 years. The state is also granting priority marijuana business licensing to applicants that meet similar criteria. The program, which voters approved as a component of the legalization ballot referendum, will be the first of its kind to be implemented on a statewide basis in the nation.

Canopy Growth CEO: Transforming Marijuana Into Products Is Key

Marijuana will be legal in Canada in October and the CEO of the country’s largest publicly traded medical marijuana company has his sights set on products. Bruce Linton told CNBC that products are the future of the cannabis industry.

Linton says in regards to Canada that “by 2020 or 2021, there will be too much cannabis produced. If I’m still selling primarily an ingredient, I have completely dropped the ball. You want to transform it.”

He specifically wants to produce beverages, just like Constellation Brands, which owns Lagunitas Brewing. The California-based company announced earlier this week that they are launching an infused sparkling water, and Linton is taking notes. He told CNBC, “I find that people would like to have a beverage that makes them more positive, uplifted and has a feeling of having a beer or glass of wine. And the real kicker is — how would you like to have zero calories?”

“When I look at an opportunity to transform the ingredient into finished goods, the margins are way better, the format’s more acceptable,” said Linton. “And I think what it turns into is Canada, this really governed, boring place, is the world’s model.”

When asked if he thinks beverages are becoming the preferred delivery [of cannabis] over vaping, edibles, and topicals, Linton said,

We’re going to do all of them and let people decide. But I fundamentally believe the reason we learned how to make pottery was so we’d have some place to put the wine. And so it goes back a long time, where we’ve been thinking about beverages as a way to mood modify and socialize. I don’t think it’s a big social jump. It’s for sure more normal than gummy bears.

Linton told CNBC that Canopy is also working on a sleep aid, which he describes a as a potential “disruptor to Ambien.”

Are You Addicted To Coffee? You Might Live Longer

If you know more about your barista than you do the last person you dated, you might live longer. And science is here to prove it. Yes, your expensive addiction just may be protecting you from some serious old age issues and could actually be helping you live longer.

Scientists from Stanford Medicine found that the chronic inflammatory process that occurs in our golden years may trigger cardiovascular issues that can potentially be subdued by a cup of coffee.

“More than 90 percent of all noncommunicable diseases of aging are associated with chronic inflammation,” said the study’s lead author, David Furman, PhD, a consulting associate professor at the Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection:

It’s also well-known that caffeine intake is associated with longevity. Many studies have shown this association. We’ve found a possible reason for why this may be so.

Furman’s colleague, Mark Davis, PhD, a professor of microbiology and immunology and the director of the Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection, says their findings show a correlation between “an underlying inflammatory process” associated with aging and cardiovascular disease as well as “molecular events that we may be able to target and combat.”

And according to the study:

Notably, this inflammatory mechanism was found to be activated only in some, but not all, of the older study participants. Those in whom it was relatively quiescent tended to drink more caffeinated beverages. Laboratory experiments revealed that the mechanism was directly countered by caffeine and associated compounds.

Basically, coffee can help protect you from heart disease and deterioration that often accompany old age.

The study was published online in Nature Medicine.

 

A Timeline Of 200 Years Of CBD

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is a botanical compound extracted from cannabis and hemp that betters bodies but doesn’t mess with minds. Here are timeline highlights of CBD’s use, from the crampy queen of the Victorian age two centuries ago to epileptic children in the age of legalization today.

1800s

https://giphy.com/gifs/bones-booth-brennan-26gs6jWEXGu4pAYDK

CBD in cannabis relieves Queen Victoria’s menstrual cramps.

1940

CBD is isolated at the University of Illinois. Researchers called CBD “very toxic” and stated “it is not active in cannabis.” Researchers said CBD had no role in the human body and admitted they did not fully understand CBD.

1946

CBD and THC tested on lab animals. Researchers find that while THC induced trance-like effects in rabbits and mice,CBD appeared to produce no observable behavioral effects.

1964

CBD’s structure determined by Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, a chemist at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, opening research into CBD’s hundreds of medicinal benefits.

Late-1960’s

CBD and THC tested on lab primates by Dr. Mechoulam’s team. THC, not CBD, was deemed responsible for intoxicating effects.

1973

https://giphy.com/gifs/sudden-realization-5AKUXoS6qA8vu

CBD, Brazilian scientists said, reduced or even prevented convulsions caused by epilepsy in animals. Research into CBD’s effects on humans was inconclusive.

1974

CBD, Brazilian scientists now said, functions as an anxiolytic,lessening epilepsy symptoms.

Mid-1970s

CBD demonstrated to reduce cancer patients’ nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy. CBD’s sedative effects also discovered. Other studies confirmed a phenomenon discovered in animals: CBD improves sleep in patients suffering from insomnia.

British Pharmacopoeia, a publication of quality standards for medicinal substances in the UK, released a licensed cannabis tincture containing CBD.

1980

CBD diminished convulsions suffered by children with epilepsy, according to results of double-blind trials conducted by Dr. Mechoulam and Brazilian researchers.

1982

CBD shown to have antipsychotic effects.

1995

https://giphy.com/gifs/jon-stewart-the-daily-show-11NGHc6dNM8Uy4

CBD first administered openly during a clinical test whose participants reported remarkable improvements.

Late 1990s

CBD found to be a powerful cellular antioxidant by researchers at the National Institutes of Mental Health. Other studies found CBD’s neuroprotective properties.

1998

CBD history made when the British government licensed GW Pharmaceuticals to grow cannabis and develop a precise and consistent extract for use in clinical trials. GW Pharmaceuticals co-founder, Geoffrey Guy, convinced the government that CBD-rich plants could produce cannabis-based medicine with little or no psychoactive effect.

1999

CBD medication Epidiolex by GW Pharmaceuticals begins trials.

2003

CBD is patented as a neuroprotectant by the United States government (U.S. Patent #6,630,507)

2006

CBD-rich cannabis strains emerge in California, led by dispensaries like Harborside in Oakland.

2008

CBD-rich Cannatonic seeds by renowned Resin Seeds debut at Spannabis.

2010

https://giphy.com/gifs/finally-atlast-itsover-J3hSvKHJC7d28

CBD’s largest nonprofit educational clearinghouse, Project CBD, launches, serving physicians, scientists, growers, cannabis-testing laboratories, patients and retailers.

2011

CBD, studies find, can be used to treat diseases like epilepsy, anxiety, cardiovascular diseases, schizophrenia and cancer.

2013

CBD captures the media spotlight when cable television network CNN reports the story of 6-year-old epilepsy patient Charlotte Figi, whose multiple daily seizures were treated with CBD.

2014

CBD is legalized for medicinal purposes by 11 states in which medicinal cannabis was not legal — Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin.

2015

CBD-infused foods and treats for humans and pets emerge, from cannabis edibles-makers and other manufacturers, sold both in cannabis stores and some alternative retailers.

2016

CBD oils, tinctures and infused food and candies sold by retail giant Walmart.

2017

CBD oil sold by major retailer Target. CBD oil no longer sold by Target.

CBD, according to a statement by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, “is being illegally produced and marketed in the United States in violation of two federal laws.”

2018

https://giphy.com/gifs/mtvawards-2018-mtv-movie-and-tv-awards-5z9K7xPIUV3O8pUYLq

CBD remains effectively outlawed after a federal appellate court in California rejected an industry challenge to a DEA rule in May.

CBD medication Epidiolex by GW Pharmaceuticals receives FDA approval on June 25 for sales and use starting in 90 days.

CBD products are approved for sale in Canada under Cannabis Act details released June 27.

Here’s Everything You Need To Know About ‘Wonder Woman 2’

Wonder Woman came out in 2017 and broke all sorts of records. As the first female-led superhero movie, or at least the first good female-led superhero movie, it was imperative for Wonder Woman to get things right, paving the way for other movies where women hold pivotal roles.

Directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot, the film managed to surpass everyone’s expectations, becoming one of the most successful movies of the year. Wonder Woman did something incredible; stuck in the middle of a flawed cinematic universe, it managed to be fun and positive and introduce us to an iconic character that had never been featured on the big screen. While the Warner Bros. DC Universe has had little critical success and has lost famous actors, Wonder Woman remains as the company’s best film.

The sequel was confirmed last year and it’s one of the most buzzed and expected blockbusters in sight. Check out this roundup of everything you should know about the film.

It’s Called ‘Wonder Woman 1984’

Warner Bros. announced the title of the film, which references the date and time period where it’s set. With this release of information, many people have speculated that the film will tackle the Cold War and that it’ll also be set in the United States.

Kristen Wiig Will Play A Villain

One of the most interesting developments of Wonder Woman 1984 is the fact that it cast Kristen Wiig as its main villain. Wiig will play Barbara Minerva, an archeologist also known as The Cheetah. This character has been around since the 1940s and is one of Wonder Woman’s biggest and most iconic enemies.

While Wiig is known for her comedic performances, she’s done successful dramatic roles in the past. In 2017,she had a brief and scary appearance in Mother! that was one of the film’s biggest and most jarring twists.

It’s Directed By Patty Jenkins

After the success of the first film, Warner Bros. made sure to hire Patty Jenkins again, making her the highest paid female director in Hollywood. Jenkins is very involved with the making of Wonder Woman 1984, having developed the initial treatment of the film, and co-writing the script with David Callaham and Geoff Johns.

The Film Will Also Feature Chris Pine And Pedro Pascal

Pedro Pascal, known for his roles in “Game Of Thrones” and “Narcos,” was cast in a pivotal role even though no information has been released. Jenkins also confirmed the return of Chris Pine via Twitter, sparking a lot of confusion since his character died at the end of the first film.

The Movie Will Be Released November 2019

Wonder Woman 1984 is scheduled to shoot this summer in locations that include the Canary Islands, Virginia, Washington D.C., and the U.K..

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.