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Surprising and Delightful Marijuana Edibles

Amy Hansen
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Surprising and Delightful Marijuana Edibles

As edibles become more mainstream (and visually appealing), the options are becoming more numerous. So much so that many canna-infused foods are taking risks far beyond cookie and brownie batters. So to make your day, here are 5 surprising and delightful marijuana edibles.

(Ed. Note: here comes the obligatory warning)

To quote ourselves, here are some things to keep in mind when eating edibles, including the edible “high”:

All highs are not created equal. In short, most edible marijuana is metabolized by the liver, which then produces a kind of THC that has a bigger psychedelic punch than the THC that reaches your blood plasma when you smoke it. So when you finally feel the edible’s effects, it will likely be more powerful than what you’d get from a joint – plus the high will last much longer, up to 12 hours!

Did you work up an appetite just reading that? Here are five unexpectedly unusual edibles you’ll wish you had in your hand right now.

Fremont Freaks

These light, low dose, all-natural THC fruit snacks from Craft Elixirs in Seattle come in several forms, including: dried candied apples, pineapples, lemons, oranges, limes & grapefruit. Each piece is approximately 1 mg of THC, and, according to the company’s website, “because it’s an alcohol based infusion, the flavors sing, and the effects are felt within an hour.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb7aQIOj9ft

Ripple

This water soluble edible is basically just powdered THC and CBD that’s tasteless and dissolvable in just about anything, from soup to cookies to water…to bacon jam. In fact, the company that makes it, Stillwater Brands, now offers infused instant coffee and teas with the same technology. Serving sizes range from 2.5 milligrams to 10 milligrams of CBD and THC.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhhEuk3F29J

Happy Apple Cider

Not a beer. Not a juice. This drink is somewhere in between and will definitely get you high.  Made with Washington apples, this 12-ounce bottle of carbonated pressed juice is finished with 10 mg of cannabis. If you ever want to swap that Prosecco for something a little stronger, this is it. And, omg it’s delicious.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgwNtpVBM54

Coda Signature Truffles

These aren’t edibles. They’re individual works of art. These stunning chocolates are created by Head Chocolatier Lauren Gockley, who studied at Valrhona before heading out to work at a string of Parisian pastry shops and more recently, Per Se. If that’s not a solid seal of approval, just look at these truffles! Each one tells a story through bright colors and bold flavors that, according to Coda, “harmonize seamlessly with impeccable craftsmanship and quality ingredients.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEkLE9KotPw

Cotton Candy

Cannabis cotton candy is quite possibly the best and most fun way to get an adult sugar high. And this version from B-Edibles is made with organic cane sugar and C02 oil. Says owner Vanessa Corrales, “If you’ve ever had cotton candy you know that it melts and melts fast, which is why it acts as a sublingual when consuming this edible.Your body processes it in your mouth and not in your stomach so you can feel the THC effects in a matter of 20-30min.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BeEP32RFbeX

 The company more recently launched a line of sugar cubes (10 mg) that are easy (and discreet) to pop into your morning latte.

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

Will The ‘Do Not Disturb’ Function On iPhones Really Save Your Life?

Amy Hansen
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Will The ‘Do Not Disturb’ Function On iPhones Really Save Your Life?

When iPhone took a giant step last year and included a “Do Not Disturb” auto text function for drivers on its iOS 11, it was assumed the feature would cut down on distracted driving.

In 2015, the National Highway & Transportation Administration reported that distracted driving killed 3,477 people and injured even more: 391,000.

But does the function actually work? Business Insider reports on driving data pulled from insurance comparison website EverQuote, which found that, yes, drivers who enabled the setting did use their phones less.

Everquote found that 70 percent of people in its study kept the DND While Driving feature turned on after Apple released it last September. And between September 19 and October 25 last year, people with DND on used their phones 8% less, according to the study.

The 2018 report, which examined 781 million miles of driving data, also found that states with laws prohibiting phone use while driving showed the least phone use while driving.

The states with the worst driving scores are Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The states with the best driving scores are Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska, and Idaho.

A surprising statistic: drivers age 17 and under were the most cautious when it comes to speeding.

According to EverQuote, drivers in the US, on average, used their phones on more than a third of their trips. And that among trips with phone use, the average drive time was 29 minutes and drivers spent more than three minutes on the phone. “To put this in perspective, taking your eyes off the road to read a text for just five seconds at 55 mph is like driving more than the length of a football field blindfolded.”

This App For Saving Water Can Help You Get Free Porn For A Week

Maria Loreto
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This App For Saving Water Can Help You Get Free Porn For A Week

Did you know Pornhub is super into saving the earth? So much so, they’re offering free porn. You read that correctly.

With the Save Water Challenge, the company is offering a week’s worth of RedTube premium subscriptions for users who contribute to the world by rationing their water. Both of these companies are owned by MindGeek, a media conglomerate that operates in Luxemburg.

The Save Water challenge is simple. By downloading the app, you’ll be able to record how much time you spend in the shower. The less minutes you spend there, the more points you’ll earn towards a premium subscription. Of course, you could trick the app since it sounds simple enough, but it’s a nice initiative from a company that’s trying to demonstrate how much every minute counts when it comes to water.

The video explains that by cutting 5 minutes off your shower time, you’ll help the world save 100 liters of drinkable water, which is so much, especially if a lot of people join the challenge.

According to Forbes, Pornhub collects around 81 million viewers a day, with over 25 billion views in 2017. It’s the 22nd most popular website in the world, and it also transmits more data than the entire contents of the New York Public Library.

Considering the amount of porn the world consumes, this idea is absolutely genius and could potentially save the world faster than any other measure we can think of.

Marijuana-Induced Memory Loss Is A Feature, Not A Bug

Adrian Devitt-Lee
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Marijuana-Induced Memory Loss Is A Feature, Not A Bug

Marijuana smokers have been stereotypically mocked for short-term memory loss, and there is genuine concern about memory impairment due to cannabis consumption, particularly among seniors who are considering cannabis as a therapeutic option.

But the importance of forgetting in mental health should not be underestimated.

There is a small but growing body of evidence that suggests cannabidiol (CBD), a non-intoxicating component of cannabis, can aid in addiction recovery due to its effects on memory. Work by Brazilian scientists at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina adds to our understanding of this process.

There are many facets to addiction, a word that is not used for medical diagnosis. (Instead, terms like dependence, abuse, misuse, and use disorders are used to describe slight differences in addictive behaviors.) Regardless of its exact definition, cue-induced cravings – whether due to the pervasiveness of alcohol at social events, for example, or the patterns one associates with smoking cigarettes – makes recovery from addiction difficult.

When someone is exposed to a drug-related cue, the experience of the drug is relived to an extent, and then reconsolidated so it can be recalled again later. CBD may specifically interfere with this reconsolidation process, reducing future cravings, according to a 2017 study published in the Journal of Addiction Biology.

This work was done in mice; an animal model for cue-induced craving is called conditioned place preference (CPP). First mice are conditioned to associate one setting with a rewarding drug like morphine and another with no drug. Their preference for the morphine-associated room is then measured in the absence of the drug. Although this model is simplistic it is associated with outcomes in humans, such as relapse.

When a moderate dose of CBD was given immediately after cue exposure, the reconsolidation of the cue was disrupted. Ideally, this would translate in humans to a disrupted reconsolidation of opiate cravings.

For the following two weeks, the CBD-treated mice preferred the morphine-associated room much less than untreated animals. Moreover, the single treatment with CBD retained this protective effect even when morphine was re-administered later (a model of relapse).

Other work has shown that CBD can reduce the rewarding effects of opiates specifically. This research suggests that CBD may aid in unlearning the habits from addiction, which lead to cravings and relapse well after withdrawal has subsided. For some, cannabinoids may be a path away from addiction rather than a gateway to it.

This story was first published by Project CBD.

The Safest Way To Consume Cannabis

Kyle Jaeger
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The Safest Way To Consume Cannabis

Recall your first experience with marijuana. It probably didn’t involve a CBD-rich topical cream generously spread on sore muscles, right? More likely, it involved a few hits, or a massive bong rip that knocked you off your feet.

I’m not here to lecture you about the right or wrong way to use cannabis, but if you care about your health — and how to incorporate cannabis in the most effective (and healthy) way, then we’ve got some expert advice for you.

Related: 8 High-Dose Cannabis Edibles That Can Help

There’s limited evidence indicating that inhaling cannabis smoke carries adverse health effects. There was a 2011 review cited by the University of Washington’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute that found long-term cannabis smoking may be associated with “an increase in cough, sputum production, airway inflammation, and wheeze — similar to that of tobacco smoking.” That’s for chronic users, however. When it comes to casual consumers, studies suggest that “marijuana use has not been associated with adverse effects on pulmonary function.”

Yes, putting smoke in your lungs can be bad. But if you live in a legal weed state, you know that joints aren’t your only options. There are tinctures, capsules, topicals… you name it.

I asked Dr. Peter Grinspoon—son of the historic cannabis researcher Dr. Lester Grinspoon and author of the memoir Free Refills: A Doctor Confronts His Addiction— about his thoughts on safe marijuana consumption methods.

To my surprise, his answer wasn’t “edibles.” I assumed that consuming cannabis orally—bypassing any kind of inhalation—would be safest. But Grinspoon pushed back on that assumption and, while peer-reviewed research is lacking, he recommended vaping cannabis for novice users.

“The thing is, each method of consumption has benefits and downsides in terms of health — but also in terms of the utility of using cannabis as a medicine,” Grinspoon told me. “Vaporization is much safer than smoking.”

When it comes to edibles — which includes those contained in capsule form, for example — there are still risks related to dosing that can alter your experience with cannabis. Vaping, on the other hand, has not yet been proven to cause adverse pulmonary issues. But the benefits are self-evident.

You have greater control when it comes to dosing. Take a few puffs, feel it out for yourself, and continue to dose until you reach your individual, desired effect.

“The good news about vaporization is that you can titrate your dose,” Grinspoon said. “One problem with edibles is that they’re a little bit more unpredictable about how much you get. And that can be a problem in terms of you can really alter your consciousness and that can make activities more dangerous.”

Related What Are The Benefits Of Full-Spectrum Cannabis Extracts?

He added: “People can take a puff from their vaporizer, and then if it didn’t have enough of an effect on their pain or whatever they’re trying to treat — their nausea — they can take another puff, whereas you can’t really do that with an edible because the effect won’t kick in for whatever — 45-minutes to two hours. You can’t titrate it. So it is safer in the sense to vaporizer in that inhalation gives you much more of an ability to titrate your dose.”

“The vaporization is safer physically and also gives you of an ability to titrate the medication, and if you were to take too much, it lasts far less long,” he said.

Weed-Flavored Beer Getting South Florida Breweries In Trouble

Brendan Bures
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Weed-Flavored Beer Getting South Florida Breweries In Trouble

Over the past couple months, marijuana-infused beer has become the hottest trend with South Florida breweries. This isn’t an uptick due to legalized medicinal marijuana either; brewers have been experimenting with cannabis terpene oil, which contains neither psychoactive THC or CBD, citing its flavorful aroma as an inspiration.

But that appears to be coming to an end. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau sent cease-and-desist letters to multiple South Florida breweries ahead of 4/20 brewery parties centered around their weed-infused beers. As the Sun Sentinel reports, the letters block the breweries from selling any craft beer infused with cannabis terpenes oil that hasn’t received federal approval.

The beer companies have been told they “should stop production of any fermented beverages [using cannabis terpenes oil] until you have obtained the appropriate formula approval,” a TTB letter mailed to one of the breweries read.

Here’s the catch: the breweries aren’t technically using controlled substances, but still require a sign-off from the feds. Twisted Trunk Brewing even had an independent lab test their terpenes oil and it had “zero-point-zero percent” THC and CBD, says one of the brewery’s co-owners. Beer recipes containing cannabis terpenes oil are approved by the TTB on a “case-by-case” situation, with the Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration sometimes making the final call.

“If you’ve used an ingredient, like [cannabis] terpenes oil, you would need to come to us for formula approval first, since that product isn’t recognized as a traditional beer ingredient,” Thomas Hogue, a TTB spokesman and director of the agency’s Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, told the Sun Sentinel. “We will not approve labels or formulas for products that contain a controlled substance.”

Two breweries canceled 4/20-themed events and others have halted production on the beers, reports the Miami New-Times. A couple breweries have submitted their beer formulas for federal approval.

Regardless, these brewers say they may have stumbled upon a brand-new innovation in the beer world. They say cannabis terpenes oil could be the ingredient they didn’t even know was missing.

“It’s kind of like the fifth Beatle,” one brewer said, in a reference to beer four primary ingredients of water, hops, grain, and yeast. “I was a naysayer in my mind, thinking it was going to taste too medicinal, or not smell like weed. But it’s potent. It’s aromatic. When we first sipped it, we were like, ‘Holy s—.’ ”

Sen. Chuck Schumer: It’s Time To End Marijuana Prohibition

Terry Hacienda
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Sen. Chuck Schumer: It’s Time To End Marijuana Prohibition

In a shocking announcement of global and historic significance,  Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Senate minority leader, said he will introduce a bill to decriminalize cannabis nationwide.

Schumer dropped the bombshell on Thursday in an exclusive interview with VICE News and followed up on Friday with an 11-tweet thread on Twitter which begins:

It’s official. Today, I am formally announcing my plan to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. It’s time we allow states, once and for all, to have the power to decide what works best for them.

I have long believed that states should function as their own laboratories of democracy. My bill is a step in the right direction aimed at removing the barriers to state legalization efforts.

The out-of-the-blue declaration from a longtime drug warrior is just one more in series of pro-marijuana developments in recent weeks. The writing on the wall suggests cannabis prohibition may be coming to an end.

“The legislation is long overdue,” Schumer said in the VICE News interview. “I’ve seen too many people’s lives ruined because they had small amounts of marijuana and served time in jail much too long.

The complete interview will be televised Friday night at 7:30 on HBO’s “Vice News Tonight.”  

  1. Related Story: Research Deep Dive: Little-Known Health Effects Of Medical Marijuana

In a first-person column in Medium, Schumer wrote:

I am not only announcing my support for decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level. I am also announcing that in the comings weeks, I will be introducing legislation aimed at achieving this goal. This legislation will allow each state to ultimately decide how they will treat marijuana. In addition to freeing up the residents of each state to make the decisions on what’s best for them, the bill will make targeted investments which are necessary to protect public health and safety and ensure that members of all communities are able to participate in the new and thriving marijuana economy.

The news was met with jubilation among marijuana reform advocates. “With this announcement, Senator Schumer has effectively made it clear that a legislative priority for the Democratic Party is to end the federal prohibition of marijuana,” Justin Strekal, political director of NORML, told Marijuana Moment’s Tom Angell. “As Democratic Leader, it is his role to ensure that the caucus as a whole falls in line with this public policy position — a position that is held by more than 60 percent of Americans.”

Here is Friday morning’s Twitter thread:

It’s official. Today, I am formally announcing my plan to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. It’s time we allow states, once and for all, to have the power to decide what works best for them.

I have long believed that states should function as their own laboratories of democracy. My bill is a step in the right direction aimed at removing the barriers to state legalization efforts.

So why have I changed my stance? Looking at the numbers helped. 2/3 of Americans believe marijuana should be legalized, meanwhile more than half of all drug arrests in the United States are marijuana arrests.

And under existing law, the federal government considers marijuana as dangerous as heroin and treats it less favorably than cocaine. That has to change.

In addition to decriminalization, my bill will invest critical resources into the THC research needed to prevent unintended effects on our youth and ensure highway safety.

It will also maintain federal authority to regulate interstate trafficking to ensure that marijuana from states that have legalized doesn’t pour into those that have not.

Now, I recognize that time after time when these sweeping changes occur, the little guys lose while the big guys continue to profit. We saw this with big tobacco and we could see it with marijuana as well.

That’s why this bill will inject real dollars into minority and women-owned businesses to ensure those disproportionately affected by marijuana criminalization can benefit from this new economy.

It’s clear that African Americans and Latinos have been disproportionately impacted; approximately 80% of people in federal prison and 60% in state prison for drug offenses are black or Latino.

This will not course correct the damage that’s been done, but it is a first step that can help to enable those historically harmed to have an opportunity to better compete in the industry as we make this change on the federal level.

Plain and simple: this is the right thing to do for America.

Let’s Talk About How Scotts Miracle-Gro Is Becoming A Major Player In The Cannabis Market

Terry Hacienda
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Let’s Talk About How Scotts Miracle-Gro Is Becoming A Major Player In The Cannabis Market

Scotts Miracle-Gro is quietly becoming one of the major players in the cannabis industry — and the 150-year-old multinational garden giant doubled down on its investment this week by purchasing a hydroponics company.

Scotts announced it will acquire Sunlight Supply Inc., the largest U.S. distributor of hydroponics products for $450 million, a deal the company predicts will more than double its sales to cannabis growers.

Three years ago, Scotts began gobbling up cannabis-related companies. In 2015, it spent $135 to buy two California-based businesses that sell fertilizers, soils and accessories to cannabis growers. In 2016, it forked over another $120 million on a Dutch lighting and hydroponics equipment company.

“We are creating a game-changing moment for Scotts Miracle-Gro, for Hawthorne, the hydroponic products industry and the users of our products,” said Jim Hagedorn, CEO of Scotts Miracle-Gro. “For a lot of conventional companies, I don’t think they’d want to take the risk,” added Hagedorn. “I mean I’ve talked to some other friends and CEOs who basically shake their head.”

Sunlight Supply will be part of Scotts Miracle-Gro’s wholly-owned subsidiary Hawthorne Gardening, which had sales of $290 million last year. Hawthorne now owns some of the biggest players in the hydroponic space, including Gavita, Botanicare, Can-Filters, and General Hydroponics. Sunlight Supply is America’s largest distributor of hydroponic products. In 2017, Sunlight opened a 350,000-square foot distribution center in Vancouver, Washington, and has eight other distribution facilities across North America.

“Combining Hawthorne’s industry-leading product portfolio with Sunlight’s unparalleled distribution capabilities and complementary portfolio will benefit consumers and all stakeholders in the hydroponic marketplace,” said Hagedorn. “It reinforces our confidence in the future of this industry and takes Hawthorne to a new level as a business with unique competitive advantages.”

Marijuana-Based Epilepsy Drug Is Close To FDA Approval

Brendan Bures
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Marijuana-Based Epilepsy Drug Is Close To FDA Approval

A marijuana-based drug received a unanimous thumbs-up from a panel of experts organized by the Food and Drug Administration. The panel voted 13-0 that the FDA should approve Epidiolex—the drug that utilizes pharmaceutical-grade CBD oil and treats rare forms of epilepsy from London-based GW Pharmaceutical.

It should be noted that the FDA is in no way bound by its expert advisory panels, though they usually follow their official opinions. The FDA is expected to make a decision on formal approval by June 27.

“In general, the risks associated with CBD treatment appear acceptable, particularly given the findings of clinical (effectiveness) in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome, which are serious, debilitating and life-threatening disorders,” the authors noted.

Via Forbes:

Epidiolex focuses on treating patients over the age of 2 with one of two particularly rare and serious forms of epilepsy: Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome. Both syndromes have onset in early childhood and are characterized by multiple seizure types that are difficult to control under existing drugs on the market. There are currently 6 drugs approved to treat patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome specifically, and there none approved for Dravet syndrome. About 30,000 people in the U.S. are estimated to have Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, according to the LGS Foundation.

A study involving children with Dravet’s syndrome saw five percent becoming seizure free while taking Epidiolex. None did so taking the placebo. Meanwhile patients experienced a significant reduction in convulsive procedures (39 percent) when compared to placebo. Another study demonstrated that LGS patients saw a median reduction in monthly seizure of up to 42 percent when using Epidiolex compared to a 17 percent drop for placebo.

This would be the first drug from GW Pharma to be approved in the U.S. Another cannabidiol-based product developed by the company called Sativex treats multiple sclerosis and has regulatory approval in 30 countries outside the U.S.

Medical Marijuana Could Be Available To Louisiana Patients By September

Amy Hansen
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Medical Marijuana Could Be Available To Louisiana Patients By September

Forty years after lawmakers approved marijuana for medical use, Louisiana patients could finally be getting their hands on the good stuff as early as September.

Earlier this week, officials from Louisiana State University and Southern University presented their plan to the joint House and Senate agriculture committee. According to Gambit Weekly, LSU will grow plants in an undisclosed 27,000 square foot building in Baton Rouge and Las Vegas-based GB Sciences will build a 5,000 square foot lab for research and production following the plants’ 8-10 week growing cycle.

Also this week, another hurdle was cleared: the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy finished handing out licenses to nine medical marijuana pharmacies throughout the state (a tenth will come at a later date).

Reports Gambit Weekly:

These moves follow 2015 and 2016 legislation that tasked several statewide agencies with coming up with the rules for medical marijuana in Louisiana. Those laws followed a dead-end 1978 medical marijuana law that sat dormant on the books without any legal infrastructure to back it up.

The goal is to produce a “plant that’s very low in THC and very high in CBD,” Bill Richardson, LSU Vice President for Agriculture and Dean of the College of Agriculture, told Gambit Weekly.

As to when the product will be available, that’s likely to happen in September, around the same time pharmacies will open.

But the plan doesn’t come without controversy. Some committee members worry about the possibility of legal conflicts with federal authorities, including how the state’s program is funded, and whether it conflicts with federal rules against marijuana.

Says Richardson, “I feel really good about where we are relative to the controversy between the state and feds. The complication for us is we’re the only university in the country that’s involved with this, with our counterparts at Southern.”

In 2016, Louisiana passed a law allowing the use of medical marijuana to treat certain conditions, including HIV/AIDS, Crohn’s disease, muscular dystrophy and epilepsy. And earlier this month, as The Fresh Toast reported, a House committee voted to add four more qualifying conditions for patients: chronic pain, PTSD, glaucoma and muscle spasms.

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