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British Cops Threaten To Arrest Facebook Users For Mocking Drug Bust

Brendan Bures
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British Cops Threaten To Arrest Facebook Users For Mocking Drug Bust

Let it be known that trolling a police department’s Facebook page won’t put you in good standing with the law. The West Yorkshire Police Department threatened to arrest users who were poking fun at a Facebook post from the law enforcement agency. According to the Daily Mail, West Yorkshire officers posted a picture regarding a laughably small amount of marijuana they’d picked off a young man.

“You’re a clown,” wrote one user. “Hope you manage to nail Pablo Escobar this afternoon” added another.

One user sarcastically commented, “Wow that’s put a dent in the war on drugs lol.”

As you might imagine police were none too pleased about the jokes. Individuals were banned from Facebook page and anyone who was “insulting, abusive, or offensive” would be located and prosecuted.

“Unfortunately we have had to ban a number of people from using this page today,” read the PD’s statement.

“I would like to remind everyone that this is a Police page and whatever your thoughts on one of my officers seizing drugs in the community, being insulting, abusive or offensive can and will result in a prosecution under the Malicious Communications Act 1988.”

You can no longer access the police department’s Facebook page, so maybe the trolls won this one?

Study: The Most Harmful Drugs Are Legal

Mike Adams
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Study: The Most Harmful Drugs Are Legal

While the great American population has been sold a spiel for decades that suggests legal drugs, like alcohol and tobacco, are safer than the bud and dust found on the black market, a new report serves to reiterate that we’ve all been had. Although the effects of both legal and illegal substances can bring about a variety of health problems, some of which are even life threatening, a paper from the society for the Study of Addiction shows that it is those people who smoke and drink in excess who are at the most risk of succumbing to the terrors of substance-related decline.

Researchers, however, were quick to point out that their findings are in no way intended to imply that drugs like cocaine and heroin are safer than beer, only that society’s cavalier attitude toward legal substances, those where the potential risks are masked by clever advertising and attractive labeling, is leading to more health problems than street drugs. This is not a supernatural occurrence, they said. It only stands to reason that the legal drugs consumed on a regular basis by the majority of the population are contributing to more of a downfall than those illicit substances used by few.

Nevertheless, from cardiovascular issues to cancer, alcohol and tobacco are driving more of the population to an early grave.

“Their health burden is accompanied by significant economic costs, namely expenditure on healthcare and law enforcement, lost productivity, and other direct and indirect costs, including harm to others,” researchers said. “Estimating the prevalence of use and associated burden of disease and mortality at the country, regional, and global level is critical in quantifying the extent and severity of the burden arising from substance use.”

Interestingly, contrary to what the headlines read, the American opioid junkie is not the biggest contributing factor to death and destruction among a culture of substance abusers. The largest portion of debauched society is actually taking place in Europe, researchers say, where the population is drinking and smoking itself into oblivion. But make no mistake – Americans are doing their best to fill the Earth with young corpses.

Although opioids are now responsible for killing off more than 60,000 people in the United States every year, the combined casualty list for booze and cigarettes still tops it – coming in at around 568,000 dead every year. This figure has stayed fairly consistent over the past several years. But it is getting worse. Yet, this death rattle of genocidal proportions has not prompted the federal government to declare a national emergency. It only offers a warning from the Surgeon General telling those people who dabble in these products, or use them on a regular basis, that smoking and drinking could cause health problems. The overall message of the latest study, which was published in the journal Addiction, is legal does not mean safe.

Poll: Most People In Georgia Support Marijuana Legalization

Amy Hansen
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Poll: Most People In Georgia Support Marijuana Legalization

A new poll out of Georgia reveals that most voters in the peach state are in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana.

In the exclusive poll commissioned by 11Alive News, 55 percent of state voters want weed legalized, up from 48 percent two years ago. Thirty-five percent think marijuana should remain against the law, down three percent from two years ago.

According to 11Alive News:

Voters also overwhelmingly support the idea of state-regulated cultivation of marijuana in order to produce legal medical cannabis oil, according to the poll, with 71% saying they’d be in favor. Only 16% said they don’t support state-regulated cultivation, and 12% said they weren’t sure. It is currently illegal to grow marijuana for any reason in Georgia.

It helps that medical marijuana has already laid the footwork since the state’s first medical marijuana bill was passed in 2015. And that Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal recently signed a bill expanding the law to include those suffering from PTSD.

Not only is marijuana possession in Georgia a criminal misdemeanor, the state has some of the harshest laws in the country when it comes to this offense, with those getting busted for less than an ounce of marijuana running the risk of being sent to jail for a year and paying fines reaching $1,000, as The Fresh Toast has previously reported.

How Technology Is Helping To Wipe Marijuana Convictions Off The Books

Terry Hacienda
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How Technology Is Helping To Wipe Marijuana Convictions Off The Books

As more and more states jump on the cannabis legalization bandwagon, one sticky problem is slowly being addressed: How does society make things right again for those who were previously convicted of marijuana possession? Individual states — and, indeed, individual cities — have come up with creative ways to solve the issue.

In San Francisco, the historic home of the medical marijuana movement, the district attorney’s office is turning to high-tech to erase the crime from the records of War on Drugs victims.

According to a report published in Fast Company, a machine-learning algorithm developed by the nonprofit Code for America “can read through charging documents, identify codes for various crimes, and then automatically determine which felony convictions can be downgraded to a misdemeanor (those who also committed violent crimes, for example, can’t have their records downgraded). Then the tool automatically fills out required forms that the district attorney can file with the court.”

When Californians overwhelmingly voted in 2016 for the Adult Use of Marijuana Act(Proposition 64), it also meant that citizens with previous non-violent marijuana convictions could petition to have those crimes removed from their criminal record or downgraded to lower-level crimes. But it was a hardship for many Californians because of red tape, bureaucratic hoops — and the need to hire a lawyer to handle the paperwork.

But, thanks to the code for America’s algorithm, the city’s district attorney’s office can quickly scan the records and do the bulk of the heavy lifting.

“If you have a felony conviction, or in many cases, if you have a misdemeanor conviction, there are many employers who will not hire you,” George Gascón, San Francisco district attorney, told Fast Company. “There are many landlords that will not allow you to rent or lease a place for them. There are certain types of student loans that you would not qualify because of the felony conviction. So we know that having a felony conviction – for offenses that have been legalized – still holds back a lot of people. Mostly, quite frankly, poor people, and people in communities of color.”

Federal government data shows that, although rates of marijuana use are similar in black and white populations, someone who is black is nearly four times as likely to be arrested for possession. In California, until marijuana use was legalized, black people were more than twice as likely to be arrested.

For Gascón, this is a matter of social justice — and just being a good citizen. “There are two major components to reducing the likelihood that people will commit crimes. One is employment and the other one is housing. If you have a steady job and you have housing, you’re less likely to engage in other criminal activity.”

San Francisco plans to share the program with district attorneys throughout the nation. “This entire system will be put in the public domain so anybody can use it,” says Gascón.

How Canadian Cannabis Will Help Fuel 2022 Beijing Olympics

Terry Hacienda
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How Canadian Cannabis Will Help Fuel 2022 Beijing Olympics

Over the years, cannabis has helped fuel some Olympic athletes, most notably British Columbia snowboarder Ross Rebagliati. But here’s a first: Cannabis will help build Olympic venues for the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.

The Calgary Herald reported this week that industrial hemp fiber grown in Alberta will be a main structural component of the bobsled and luge runs.

According to the Herald, 360 pounds (163 kilograms) of hemp was shipped last week to China to reinforce the concrete used to build the runs in Xiaohaituo, just outside of Beijing. Canadian Greenfield Technologies is the company responsible for growing and processing the hemp product called NForce-Fiber l.

Canadian Greenfield Technologies Corp. is led by an award-winning team of engineers and has been in business for more than 30 years, but this will be the company’s first Olympics. According to the company’s website, its hemp fiber products is a one-of-a-kind product currently being used in swimming pools and skateboard parks across North America.

But the Olympics are a big deal for Stephen Christensen, the company’s general manager. “I thought we’d be successful, but there aren’t a lot of concrete projects like a bobsled track,” he told the Herald. “We’re getting some international acknowledgment.”

A third-party testing process demonstrated hemp fiber’s superiority over plastic or glass as a reinforcement for concrete structures. “They tried doing it without fiber and got quite the number of cracks and came back to us,” he said. “They’ve got very stringent quality control.”

The company began researching hemp applications six years ago and produces gardening items, food preservers, beauty products and even cat litter.

Alberta is the hub of Canada’s $200-million hemp industry, which is an international export leader. The type of cannabis grown to yield hemp contains nearly undetectable traces of THC, cannabis’ psychoactive component.

6 Simple Tips For Super-Successful Online Dating

Rachel Krantz
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6 Simple Tips For Super-Successful Online Dating

No, but really — how does a person have have better sex or a better relationship? The Fresh Toast has enlisted Rachel Krantz, a sex writer and proud canna-enthusiast, to help readers out with some answers as its sex columnist. No question is off limits, and all questions will remain anonymous. Please send your sex and relationship inquiries to freshlove@thefreshtoast.com. Now, onto this week’s topic: simple tips for online dating. 

Q: Hi. I’m a guy who got out of a long relationship a few months ago. I’m ready to get back out there, and I signed up for OkCupid, but I feel like I’m not having the best luck. Do you have any tips for online dating successfully?

A: As it turns out, I met my partner on OKCupid. I’m a big fan of the site’s algorithm for finding matches — and I continue to use it, since we have a non-monogamous relationship and have kept up profiles for dating outside the relationship. Whatever you’re looking for, I think that certain tips for online dating could prove useful no matter what. Here are mine.

Solicit Feedback From Your Most Honest Friend

via GIPHY

Especially if you like women and are a man, I’d suggest that friend be your sister or other best female buddy who won’t mince words. Have her look over your pictures and what you’ve written, and ask what she’d change, or what doesn’t read as authentic. Tell her to be as honest as possible, and change anything you think is legit (though don’t let her convince you to do anything that feels inauthentic, either).

Answer Questions Authentically, Not Aspiration-ally

I think this is the only way to make OKCupid’s algorithm work for you — but it is also true for other sites with personality questions. You have to answer at least 100 questions as honestly as possible, based on how you actually feel and how you know you are — not the way you think others would want you to be, or you wish you were. Otherwise, the algorithm won’t work. On OKCupid, it’s also important to select “very important” to your preferred partner responses more often than you might think. If you say their answer is “irrelevant” or “only a little important” for each question in an effort to be accommodating, the algorithm won’t work as well. The more questions you can answer, the more accurate your matches will be.

If You’re Using An App That Pulls From Facebook, Be Sure Your Profile Is Up-To-Date

via GIPHY

Lots of apps like Tinder and Bumble pull from your Facebook to match you with people. They also note what pages you’ve liked and use that information to match you, so make sure any likes and groups on your Facebook are up-to-date. You’ll also want to be careful to consider whether you want your place of employment to be featured on the app, since that’s also pulled from your Facebook.

Don’t Use The Words “Baby,” “Sweetie,” Or Otherwise Be Lazy

I can’t tell you how many times guys open by calling me their “baby,” “sweetie,” “honey,” or otherwise opening with an empty physical compliment. You need to personalize each message based on actual ideas in the other person’s profile — the time you put in will mean a lot, especially to women, who are often overwhelmed by messages. Be confident, concise, polite, and always ask a question that could lead to further conversation. Make any compliment implicit.

For example, when my partner messaged me the first time, he said (among other things), “I’m curious about the sound of this unselfconscious laughter,” something I’d noted “I was good at” on my profile. The compliment, that he’d love to hear me laugh, was subtle and effective, and communicated he’d read my profile in full.

Don’t Try To Rush Into A First Date

via GIPHY

Exchange messages for a while. Wait till you get their number and text before asking them out. Suggest talking on the phone to see if there’s chemistry, even. Either way, the less you rush things, the more interested the other person will likely be. Keep the interest and effort going, but avoid seeming desperate or like all your eggs are in one basket. If the other person isn’t reciprocating with questions or enthusiastic responses, they might not be interested, and your time is better spent elsewhere.

Think Of Dating Like You’re Being Recruited

via GIPHY

I find it’s best to think of online dating like being recruited for a job — you’re not desperate for hire, but if you’re interested, you want to represent yourself well, be considerate, and ask plenty of questions to sense whether this would be a good next move for you. Thinking of a first date in this light — rather than as if you’re unemployed and desperate for work — will set you up for the most success in the longterm. Everyone wants to feel like they’re getting a good deal, but no one wants to deal with someone who’s arrogant, either. Sexiness lies in being confident in what you have to offer, demonstrating it, listening, and demonstrating deliberate, earned interest.

Best of luck to you, and remember: as much as it might feel otherwise sometimes, a message reply doesn’t determine your self-worth. Only you can do that.

US Supreme Court Gambling Decision Works In Favor Of Marijuana Reform

Mike Adams
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US Supreme Court Gambling Decision Works In Favor Of Marijuana Reform

It seems the United States is finally catching on to Aleister Crowley’s ages old ethos of “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” Well, perhaps the governmental grind isn’t quite ready unleash its citizens into an borderline anarchist society, but the people have been given a little more freedom than what they’ve had in the past.

Earlier this week, the U.S Supreme Court overturned the country’s prohibition on sports gambling. This means it might not be long before American citizens have the ability to wager on every sporting event imaginable. Interestingly, not only does the ruling serve to beef up the $100 billion gambling industry, removing it from the hands of criminal organizations, it is an encouraging in the grand scheme of marijuana reform.

In the case of Murphy vs. NCAA, the Supreme Court voted 7-to-2 to end the ban on sports gambling in the Untied States. “The legalization of sports gambling requires an important policy choice, but the choice is not ours to make,” the nation’s highest court declared. “Congress can regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each State is free to act on its own.”

The last part of Supreme Court’s verdict is important, as a move to uphold the outlaw status on sports gambling would have blown the states rights issue right out of the water. This could have been bad news for those jurisdictions that have legalized marijuana.

Although there are no guarantees that a weed war would have been waged, the decision could have given the federal government the ability to step in and shakedown the cannabis trade. But because the decision went in the appropriate direction, the marijuana issue is now less susceptible to challenges by the federal government.

It is possible for Congress to ban sports gambling nationwide, but it cannot dictate those terms at the state level,” legal experts say. States have the authority to essentially “do what thou wilt” without the risk of catching any heat from national law enforcement agencies. This includes marijuana legalization. The federal government cannot force states back into a prohibitionary standard. Although it has always been this way, the Supreme Court decision provides some much-needed clarity.

It’s funny how this case, which was filed by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, ended with some wise words from the one of the most ardent opponents of marijuana legalization in the country. Christie posted to Twitter on Monday: This is “a great day for the rights of states and their people to make their own decisions. New Jersey citizens wanted sports gambling and the federal Gov’t had no right to tell them no.”

Sharks Can Differentiate Between Different Types Of Music

Maria Loreto
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Sharks Can Differentiate Between Different Types Of Music

The best and most delightful news you’ll read today is the fact that sharks can chill out to jazz.

Mashable reports that researchers from Australia’s Macquairie University have demonstrated that sharks have a complex ear, being able to differentiate between different types of music. The study used baby sharks that were trained to associate music with food. The scientists would play jazz for the animals and they would swim towards their feeding station.

Sound has always been a big deal for aquatic animals, which is used to lead them to food and helping them avoid obstacles and other objects.While some animals, like dolphins, have particularly layered hearing, sharks’ capabilities have been less studied. Still, hearing is very important for them because they’re capable of listening to sound frequencies from 90 to 250 meters away.

This newest study consisted of playing different types of music on different stations, with jazz being the one where sharks get their food. While the experiment wasn’t a total success, 5 out of 8 sharks were able to recognize jazz and associate it with their food. If researchers played classical music then the sharks would simply get confused.

Via Animal Cognition:

It was obvious that the sharks knew that they had to do something when the classical music was played, but they couldn’t figure out that they had to go to a different location”

While sharks have always been perceived as simple animals, this study proves that there’s a lot more going on, and that maybe they’re smarter than what we give them credit for. They also like jazz, which is weirdly fitting.

Fast Food Puts Many People In A Crappy Mood After Eating It

Amy Hansen
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Fast Food Puts Many People In A Crappy Mood After Eating It

When we’re hungry, we are apt to think that grabbing some quick food will ease our low blood-sugar and turn our hangry appetite into a satisfied one. But there is a nasty side-effect to your drive-through urge.

Business Insider took a spin through a forthcoming book called The Happiness Diet and, according to author and mental health advocate Rachel Kelly, our gut produces about 90% of our serotonin, the chemical responsible for making us feel good. And, in a nutshell, fast-food hampers its production. According to Kelly, fast-food, salty snacks and margarine are just some of the foods to avoid for the sake of everyone around you.

https://giphy.com/gifs/thebachelorette-the-bachelorette-3o6Zt3KFoI4XUfWmZ2

If you didn’t already know, french fries are drenched in trans fats, which not only increases the risk of heart disease, it creates and imbalance of healthy omega-3 fat. And that, in turn, creates feelings of sadness, pessimism and aggression.

According to the study:

In a study of 106 healthy volunteers, researchers found that participants who had lower blood levels of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids were more likely to report mild or moderate symptoms of depression, a more negative outlook and be more impulsive. Conversely, those with higher blood levels of omega-3s were found to be more agreeable.

“A number of previous studies have linked low levels of omega-3 to clinically significant conditions such as major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, substance abuse and attention deficit disorder,” said Sarah Conklin, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar with the Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine Program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “However, few studies have shown that these relationships also occur in healthy adults.”

Soft drinks, which often accompany a burger and fries, is no better — even the diet variety. The artificial sweetener found in diet cola (aspartame) contains something called phenylalanine, which, according to the National Institutes of Health, has the power to mess up our levels of serotonin (a neurotransmitter that influences mood, among other things), which means you should probably opt for something more natural to drink.

Kelly says cereal and snack bars are also not a great choice, especially the ones with high sugar content. So when you’re in the grocery aisle, make sure to chose labels that have 8 grams of sugar or less. As we all know, sugar highs are followed by sugar lows. And when that happens, we get stressed and moody.

https://giphy.com/gifs/food-rhony-real-housewives-of-new-york-3oEduGGje17gAsD85y

Head to Business Insider to see more of the foods Kelly recommends you avoid.

Will These ‘Suits’ Stars Attend The Royal Wedding?

Brendan Bures
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Will These ‘Suits’ Stars Attend The Royal Wedding?

As the date of the royal wedding fast approaches, so does rapid speculation of who received an invitation to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s nuptials. Various sources have reported the guest list includes some 600 possible attendees and everyone’s wondering if their fave made the cut.

But what about Markle’s former “Suits” co-stars? Every bride- and groom-to-be makes tough decision (apologies in advance to that B-level college buddy who didn’t quite qualify) though in Markle’s case, she hasn’t forgotten her work friends.

According to sources, “The cast has been contacted in regards to invites from Kensington Palace.” What’s more, it appears “the cast and key executives from the hit U.S. show are on the invite list for the royal wedding.”

If you care about these types of things, you’re probably wondering just who did and didn’t receive invitations. And though we can’t definitively answer such an important question, social media does give us a clue because—*cue dramatic music*—some “Suits” castmates have been dropping heavy hints with nearby travel pics.

Last week, Patrick Adams was low-key flexing with some “totally spontaneous” motorcycle pics. His location? Morocco, which is a mere 32 hour drive away from the U.K.. Adams, in case you forgot, played Mike Ross, Markle’s husband on the show.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiWSfeLlVgF/?utm_source=ig_embed

Also we have Sarah Rafferty just “casually” posting some Instagrams with her daughter in Paris. Proud mom sharing an intimate moment with her child on a social media platform or a bat-signal suggesting she’s nearby for the royal wedding? You decide.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiuZ1wNFUOg/?utm_source=ig_embed

Then there’s perhaps the most blatant clue of all. That would be Jacinda Barrett. She’s married to “Suits” actor Gabriel Macht and you won’t believe where she’s posting Instagrams from. That’s right. Buckingham Palace, a.k.a. the home of the Royal Family.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Biu6y-6nYwU/?utm_source=ig_embed

Yeah, they’re totally not going to the wedding.

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