Cheech & Chong declare stoner comedy done. The age of a marijuana leaf representing everything that’s cool and counterculture is officially over. That’s according to Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, who made the statement after news broke that former Speaker of the House John Boehner would be joining the Board of Advisers at Acreage Holdings.
Cheech and Chong, who revolutionized the entertainment world with their “stoner comedy,” announced on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert they were done performing weed comedy, claiming “pot’s over,” alluding to the fact that when politicians enter the cannabis space, the party’s essentially finished.
“Actually Stephen, we think this news sucks,” Marin said. “I mean, pot used to be rebellious.”
Chong added to that, saying, “Yeah, now crusty old Republicans like John Boehner are into it.
“Pot’s over, man!”
But not to worry. Cheech and Chong may quit stoner comedy, but they’re not leaving the comedy world entirely. Instead they’ll move on to “edgier stuff, stuff that’s still illegal.” For example, the duo is now into “unpasteurized dairy products…importing exotic reptiles…taping and distributing football games without the express-written consent of the NFL.”
Cheech & Chong are a comedy duo founded in Vancouver and consisting of American Cheech Marin and Canadian Tommy Chong. The duo found commercial and cultural success in the 1970s and 1980s with their stand-up routines, studio recordings, and feature films, which were based on the hippie and free love era, and especially drug and counterculture movements, most notably their love for cannabis. It is interesting after all the years in comedy, Cheech & Chong declare stoner comedy done. Is it a by-product of mainstreaming?
Cannabis infusions have come a long way since the simple brownie. Not to knock a favorite in the least, but only to say that with the market expansion new, bold remedies are hitting the shelves in medicinal and legal states across the nation. Even edibles period are pretty well covered and explored. Yet there are so many more ways to get your healing on these days, we had to share our favorites. Here are 5 cananbis products you might not know exist.
Hey Ladies! It turns out that Whoopi Goldberg has got your back when it comes to period pain. The entire line of Whoopi & Maya is awesome and interesting, but what really sets them apart are the herbal infusions aside from cannabis. Tried and true, they combat PMS and the discomfort of menstruation to the core. The rub. is a real stand out, ready to be spread across your throbbing pelvic area. Pro tip: this balm is also amazing on everyday aches and pains.
CanChew Gum is the real answer to getting your daily dose of CBD. Because it is absorbed through the mucus membranes of your mouth, the CBD is delivered more efficiently than with traditional edibles. Plus, it was developed by a team of doctors, dentists and researchers and is well regarded. The minty flavor is classic and it’s extremely portable.
Though laced coffee isn’t new to the scene, Stillwater Coffee and Teas has come out with an individually wrapped, instant coffee. The THC and CBD are water soluble and they kick in quickly for an easier start to your day. Though 10mg of THC is likely not enough to get a daily smoker high per se, it is enough to quell anxieties, calm the stomach and to mix nicely with a hit of caffeine.
Transdermal cannabis patches by Manna Molecular Science offer all day relief from what’s ailing you or simply get you to the state of mind and body that you crave. Created by actual pharmaceutical scientists from MIT and Genzyme, Manna has found a way to get you elevated without any outwardly visible signs. Their website states that they’re even perfect for work!
Not a fan of chewing gum? Well there’s a mint for that. Kiva Confections’ Petra Mints are the champions of microdosing throughout the day. They won’t knock your socks off, but they will provide the other benefits of cannabis and they’re very discreet. The small amount of THC present in each mint goes right to work and you’ll be feeling fine in no time with these innovative beauties.
You know how it is: you’re lying down and want to sleep, your mind is racing and your wide eyes just won’t shut. You’ve tried sleeping aids and countless glasses of warm milk to no avail. You listened to music, you read a book and even tried to meditate, all without success. Insomnia, why must you be so damn ruthless? Seriously. Here are 10 types of marijuana to help you sleep.
Know that there are multiple ways to consume marijuana, you can eat or drink it, rub it into your skin, vape, smoke and much more. Ask the budtenders at your local dispensary which products have the strains listed and then pick how you want to put it into your body. Insomniacs rejoice.
This strain got its name in the 70s when it was used to treat patients going through chemotherapy. Woody and strong, this indica strain will put you right to sleep.
Lavender
Lavender in general, is soothing as hell, so it’s no wonder this indica strain is perfect for a goodnight’s rest. Sweet and flowery, this is the perfect bedside companion.
It’s in the name, this indica is KING. The pine flavors will relax you while the wooden aromas will have you drifting straight to cloud nine.
Blackwater
Not only is this indica strain perfect for pain and stress, Blackwater will mellow you all the way out. With this earthy bud, you won’t be able to make it through the opening credits of The Sopranos.
Vanilla Kush
This strong vanilla scent is just what you need. Whether you’re trying to take a lengthy nap or get in a good, long snooze, Vanilla Kush is your guy.
Shrek would be proud. Okay, no, that’s weird because that’s definitely a children’s movie. However, if you can get behind your marijuana tasting like a citrusy skunk, then Ogre is the one. It’s quite pungent and it will rock your bedtime world.
Mexican
Mexican isn’t really a strain, it refers to a bunch of different strains in the region. But if you can get your hands on some Oaxacan or something, you will probably have the best sleep of your life. Have some snacks bedside because this Sativa strain will also have you hungry.
Black Dahlia
We’ll admit, the name is kind of creepy, but this berry hybrid strain will relax you before a nice slumber. It kind of taste like a fruity cigar, so if you’re in to that, Black Dahlia is your girl.
Hope the 10 types of marijuana to help you sleep makes you snooze like a baby.
$ 5 billion a year is spent in the US towards helping couples conceive a child. Infertility is big business. More importantly, it creates stress and hardship for the approximately 15 percent of couples who have trouble conceiving.
With the increasing access to legal marijuana in the US and more users consuming the herb, researchers naturally wanted to know if fertility is reduced among couples in which one or both partners consume. The short answer is no, consuming cannabis did not show itself to affect the probability that a menstrual cycle resulted in pregnancy, otherwise known as fecundability.
The researchers conducted an online survey of over 4,194 women in the United States and Canada and 1,125 of their male partners. Participants were not using birth control nor any fertility treatment at the time. Both women and men participated in a baseline survey, and the female partners continued to submit data every 8 weeks for one year. 12% of the women and 14% of the men reported having used cannabis within the 60 days leading up to the study.
The data showed that, regardless of cannabis use, the chance of pregnancy was unchanged. It seemed to have no effect.
“Conclusions In this preconception cohort study, there was little overall association between female or male marijuana use and fecundability.”1
This is very interesting data for those of us who grew up hearing that marijuana lowers sperm count and may even cause atrophy, or shrinkage, of the testicles. Testicle shrinkage is a myth that caught the attention of many boys and men in the 1980’s, though it has no grounding in fact. The same myth was widely touted about Mountain Dew and Yellow #5 dye.
Now that cannabis is becoming locally legal for many Americans, we can no longer rely on the myths and half-truths that passed for information in the days of full bore prohibition.
Previous studies have pointed to cannabis as a cause of reduced sperm count and motility, or ability to move. The results of the recent study stand in opposition to studies like one conducted on lab mice in 2010 that showed that cannabis reduced sperm cells’ motility as well as the fertility of the male mice.
Widely respected MDs like Harvard’s professor emeritus of psychiatry Lester Grinspoon have been very vocal about past studies that point to a connection between cannabis consumption and reduced fertility. As he stated in an interview with WedMD:
“The fact of the matter is people have difficulty accepting the fact that cannabis is one of the least toxic substances known to man,” stated Dr. Grinspoon. “We keep searching with these microscopic lenses for things, but it just doesn’t show.”2
So, can we take this new study the absolute truth? It is probably a bit early for that. Researchers note one of the key limitations of this study is the fact that amount and frequency of cannabis use was not considered. Another consideration is the fact that the majority of citizens living the the US and Canada still do not have access to legal cannabis. This fact could be a very rational reason some participants may not want to admit to using the substance.
Funding for follow-up studies is bound to be available for follow-up research. Additionally, as more states legalize cannabis and the stigma is further reduced, it should be easier to find even larger groups of couples willing to contribute to this search for knowledge.
Let’s clarify something up front: this post is seriously NSFW. Because this story is about sex toys, specifically ones that involve some super popular superheroes. Last year, the Australian company Geeky Sex Toys launched a line of Star Wars-themed sex toys, in conjunction with the release of The Last Jedi. Never have you though C-3PO could be something so dirty.
In anticipation of Marvel’s upcoming Avengers: Infinity War, Geeky Sex Toys unveiled a similarly-themed product rollout. It’s for those of you who’ve ever wondered what happens to Bruce Banner’s dong when he morphs into the Hulk, or thought that the Infinity Gauntlet looked like the perfect object to shove up your booty hole. The whole collection has been dubbed “Indulgers: Pleasure War.”
It isn’t the first time the company has cross-referenced popular culture for sex toys. Previously, they’ve exploited Pokémon (or “Pokémoan”), Power Rangers (“The Mighty Moaning Anal Rangers”), Game of Thrones(“Game of Moans”), and another Marvel installment, Guardians of the Galaxy(“Orgasms of the Galaxy”). But these Infinity War toys really are in a whole different category.
If [the] enormous green “Incredible Dong” does not appeal, Geeky Sex Toys is also selling: Captain Anal and Arse Reactor butt plugs; Agent Getsmeoff, a Black Widow branded fleshlight; and, uh…the HawkAss, an arrow-shaped dildo intended for pegging a target just like the world’s greatest marksman.
We’ll leave it at that. How Geeky Sex Toys gets away with copyright issues is a story yet uncovered. (Gizmodo reached out to the company, but they didn’t reply.) One thing’s certain: never has there been a better time to be a geek. You literally have everything you could possibly ever need!
Graduation season is just around the corner and even though we stress over every aspect of the event, like clothes and parties, one of the most easily forgotten parts are the photos, which are really important once you’ve graduated. Graduation photographers don’t have time to stress over each individual photo; they take shots of the students, but whether you look good or not is mostly up to you.
In this era of smartphones, you really have no excuse for not snapping photos of yourself with your toga, graduation cap, family and friends. Here are 4 tips that’ll help you have the perfect pictures for your graduation ceremony:
Editing apps can solve simple or complex problems such as an ill-timed pimple or a photo bomb. These apps give you freedom to edit spontaneous photos and make them look like perfect snapshots of your graduation. Their filters also allow your images to look as if they were taken by a professional photographer.
Take advantage of natural light and try to avoid using flash, leaving you with images that are much easier to tinker with on editing apps and that look much better than the average graduation photo.
Customize Your Cap
https://giphy.com/gifs/crafts-MuJLOLAAAXJEQ
While some people opt for decorating their cap and gown, that sounds like a lot of work and maybe not the best look for your graduation. A better and less demanding option would be to only customize your cap, allowing you to add some personality to your graduation look. Some good ideas for cap decorations include adding photos of friends, or pictures and drawings that remind you of your career.
Your graduation is probably one of the last times you’ll hang around campus so take advantage of this and try to snap pictures in the places that were most important to you and your friends. Ditch the popular areas and try to find places that have most meaning to you. These images will be much better and meaningful than the ones taken in front of a dark background.
Do you wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, greeting the sunrise with cheer and vigor? Or are you up late into the night and dread the sound of your alarm clock? We call this inherent tendency to prefer certain times of day your “chronotype” (chrono means time). And it may be more than a scheduling issue. It has consequences for your health, well-being and mortality.
Being a night owl has been associated with a range of health problems. For example, night owls have higher rates of obesity, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Night owls are also more likely to have unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking, alcohol and drug use, and physical inactivity.
We study the health effects of being a night owl. In our recent study published in Chronobiology International, we found even worse news for the owls of the world: a higher risk of early death.
Your Very Own Biological Clock
Our bodies have their own internal time-keeping system, or clock. This clock would keep running even if a person were removed from the world and hidden away in a dark cave (which some dedicated researchers did to themselves years ago!). We believe these internal clocks play an important role in health by anticipating the time of day and preparing the body accordingly.
For example, as humans, we typically sleep at night, and our bodies start preparing for our habitual bedtime even before we try to fall asleep. Similarly, we eat during the day, so our body is prepared to process the food and nutrients efficiently during the daytime.
Our chronotype is also related to our biological clock. Morning larks’ biological clocks are set earlier. Their habitual bedtimes and wake times occur earlier in the day. Night owls have internal clocks set for later times. But are there any problems related to being a lark or owl, other than scheduling difficulties? Research suggests that there are; night owls tend to have worse health.
And, in our new study, we compared risk of dying between night owls and morning larks. In this study, death certificates were collected for an average of 6.5 years after the initial study visit to identify those who died. We found that night owls had a 10 percent increased risk of death over this six-and-a-half year period compared to larks. We also found that owls are more likely to have a variety of health problems compared to larks, particularly psychiatric disorders like depression, diabetes and neurological disorders.
The switch to daylight saving time in the U.S. (or summer time in the U.K.) only makes things more difficult for night owls. There are higher rates of heart attacks following the switch to daylight savings, and we have to wonder if more night owls are at risk.
Why Do night Owls Have More Health Problems?
Night owls’ health risks could be related to drinking, but they also could be due to loneliness. Jacob Lund/Shutterstock.com
We researchers do not fully understand why we see more health problems in night owls. It could be that being awake at night offers greater opportunity to consume alcohol and drugs. For some, being awake when everyone else is sleeping may lead to feelings of loneliness and increased risk of depression. It could also be related to our biological clocks.
As explained above, an important function of internal biological clocks is to anticipate when certain things, like sunrise, sleep and eating, will occur. Ideally, our behavior will match both our internal clock and our environment. What happens when it doesn’t? We suspect that “misalignment” between the timing of our internal clock and the timing of our behaviors could be detrimental over the long run.
A night owl trying to live in a morning lark world will struggle. Their job may require early hours, or their friends may want to have an early dinner, but they themselves prefer later times for waking, eating, socializing and sleep. This mismatch could lead to health problems in the long run.
What Can Owls Do?
It is true that someone’s “chronotype” is (approximately) half determined by their genes, but it is not entirely preordained. Many experts believe that there are behavioral strategies that may help an individual who prefers evening. For example, gradually advancing your bedtime – going to bed a little earlier each night – may help to move someone out of the “night owl zone.”
A gradual advance is important because if you try to go to bed two to three hours earlier tonight, it won’t work, and you may give up. Once you achieve an earlier bedtime, maintain a regular schedule. Avoid shifting to later nights on weekends or free days because then you’ll be drifting back into night owl habits. Also, avoiding light at night will help, and this includes not staring into smartphones or tablets before bed.
On a broader scale, flexibility in work hours would help to improve the health of night owls. Night owls who can schedule their day to match their chronotype may be better off.
It is important to make night owls aware about the risks associated with their chronotype and to provide them with this guidance on how to cope. We researchers need to identify which strategies will work best at alleviating the health risks and to understand exactly why they are at increased risk of these health problems in the first place.
President Donald Trump’s so-called “fixer” and personal attorney Michael Cohen is under investigation by the FBI for alleged shady business dealings. Among Cohen’s business deals includes $26 million in loans to a Ukraine- born taxi kingpin who is getting into the legal cannabis industry.
According to a report by the Associated Press, Semyon “Sam” Shtayner, a longtime associate of Michael Cohen’s father-in-law, created Nevada-based Cannaboss LLC the day before the 2016 election. In the story, AP reports:
“He personally manages over 500 taxi medallions, but he is looking to transition from the medallion business to the cannibas (sic),” according to the personal narrative Shtayner submitted last October to city officials in Henderson, Nevada, that was obtained by the AP under the state’s public records law.
It’s not clear whether Shtayner used any of the loans — $6 million of which have come directly from Cohen since 2014 — to finance his grow operation.
FBI agents searched Cohen’s hotel, office and home seeking banking records, as well as records related to his dealings in the taxi industry, people familiar with the probe told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Neither Cohen nor his attorney responded to phone messages or an email seeking comment about the loans. An attorney representing Shtayner had no comment.
Last year, Roger Stone, another associate of Trump, entered the legal cannabis business.
AP speculates that Shtayner has become disenchanted with his taxi empire as Uber and Lyft make inroads in major cities across the country. The value of taxi medallions has dropped in recent years from highs of over $1 million apiece in New York just a few years ago to nearly half that amount today.
A former manager of Cohen’s taxi business is being sued by creditors for hiding assets in financial disclosures to his bank — including a luxury apartment in a Trump skyscraper. Another former cab manager of Cohen’s has declared bankruptcy and is facing criminal charges from state prosecutors in New York, who accuse him of pocketing nearly $5 million in taxes.
Cohen has a fleet of 22 cabs in Chicago and, along with his wife and father-in-law, has owned some 30 medallions in New York after initially going into business with his father-in-law, AP reports.
Stories about marijuana being used medicinally are ubiquitous these days. News about hemp is less prevalent. Two graduate students from Sullivan University School of Pharmacy hope to change that. Sara Biela and Chase Turner studied the possible therapeutic potential of hemp to attack ovarian cancer. They will be presenting the findings from a new study at the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
There were two studies conducted. Both utilized a hemp-based extract. Hemp is the biological cousin to what is commonly referred to as marijuana. The important distinction is in the concentration of THC, the intoxicating compound responsible getting people high. Hemp, by definition, has only 0.3 percent of THC or lower, keeping any psychoactive activity too low to be noticed. While low in THC, hemp can be rich in CBD, cannabidiol, the non-psychoactive compound also linked to many health benefits.
In the first study, the extract was added in different amounts to ovarian cancer cells in a lab culture. The outcome was very apparent. The extract caused significant slow down of the growth of the cancer cells.
In a second study, the researchers studied the extract’s ability to protect against ovarian cancer. When it was introduced to ovarian cultured cancer cells it helped to slow the secretion of a substance known as interleukin IL-1 beta, which produces inflammation in association with the spread of cancer.
This is not the first time that CBD and other compounds found in both hemp and cannabis have been linked to tumor reduction. This effect has been explored by scientists around the world including California, Ohio, India and Israel to name just a few.
The active ingredient used in these studies is KY-hemp, a Kentucky produced hemp extract that creators claim is special because of strain variety, cultivation and extraction techniques. The fact that it is one particular hemp strain and extract is likely of less importance than those who produce it would have you think.
Charlotte’s Web strain gained national prominence about five years ago. It was marketed by growers in Colorado who had helped a little girl named Charlotte Figi reduce her seizures from Dravet’s Syndrome from over 300 a week to less than a dozen. The strain was most likely special not because of brilliant growers but because of its high CBD content. Other strains with similar THC to CBD ratios have shown similar outcomes.
Has Kentucky found the one hemp strain extract that can produce these anti-ovarian cancer outcomes? Probably not, but it has identified one with a profile that others will want to seek out and do more research on.
While we must be careful to not let a marketing message interfere with science, the published results of these two studies don’t mince words: hemp helped inhibit the growth of these particular cancer cells. Though it may take years for research to be completed on large sample sizes of human subjects, there is hope. And while the world of science figures this out, this news is likely to urge more cancer patients to seek to know more about both hemp and cannabis and speak to their doctors about it. That is progress.
In February he pled guilty to those charges and is scheduled to be sentenced in May. He faces up to 20 years behind bars. Hudek’s legal team used the edible as a defense for the rage that caused him to attempt to open the cabin door mid-flight from Seattle to Beijing.
Hudek was in First Class, using his mother’s benefits as a Delta employee. It took several passengers to restrain him as the 767 returned to Seattle, according to court filings. The FBI said, “Hudek did not seem impacted by the breaking of a full liter red wine bottle over his head, and instead shouted, ‘Do you know who I am?’ or words to that effect.”
The problem may have been that Hudek ate more because he didn’t get high quickly enough; it can take over an hour for an edible to start to hit you, and in that time, many people make the mistake of overindulging. Who among us hasn’t made the mistake of eating too much pot and getting way too high? While the particulars of the violent mid-flight struggle are shocking, there is a familiar pattern at play here.
Thankfully for the future Hudeks of the world, pot edibles don’t have to be this way. It takes forever for an edible to get you high because those edibles must pass through your digestive system and your liver before the THC gets into your bloodstream.
The judge rejected his explanation of mental incapacity, ruling he consumed the cannabis voluntarily, said one prosecutor.
From famed New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd’s horror-show experience to Hudek attempting to walk out on his flight, there have been numerous tales in the media about new, and seasoned users, succumbing to anxiety and paranoia because they didn’t know how to properly dose the cannabis. Impatience is, after all, a defining American trait.
The solution is practical. If you are trying a new edible for the first time, start low and go slow is the mantra. Be in a safe, calm place, preferably among friends (you know, kind of the opposite of a tans-Pacific flight). And most importantly: Don’t get impatient.
It is important to make night owls aware about the risks associated with their chronotype and to provide them with this guidance on how to cope. We researchers need to identify which strategies will work best at alleviating the health risks and to understand exactly why they are at increased risk of these health problems in the first place.
