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Standard Hotels Will Soon Be Stocking Something Surprising In Mini Bars

Amy Hansen
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Standard Hotels Will Soon Be Stocking Something Surprising In Mini Bars

The Standard has announced that their hotels will start stocking luxury CBD-infused edibles and lotions by Lord Jones , marking the first time a hotel group has offered CBD products to their guests. The company’s signature gumdrops will be available in minibars nationwide, alongside the brand’s high CBD Pain & Wellness Formula Body Lotions.

“The Standard has always been committed to delivering next level experiences to our guests, ” said Amar Lalvani, CEO of Standard International, by way of press release. “CBD has become a part of a daily health and wellness regimen for many people and we wanted our guests to have access to the finest available.”

The hemp-derived goodies will be available in the Hollywood and LA locations by April 10, with nearly 1,000 additional Standard Hotel rooms nationwide quickly following suit.

Lord Jones says their confections are “handmade in small batches using the finest ingredients. Our products contain no artificial colors or flavors and are lab-tested for potency to ensure proper, consistent dosage.” The edibles being provided for The Standard are infused with phtyocannabinoid-rich hemp extract.

According to a recent Lord Jones Instagram post:

For the first time, CBD infused products will be available to hotel guests inside their guest rooms. Later this April, Our signature Lord Jones old fashioned CBD infused gumdrops as well as our Lord Jones Pain & Wellness Formula body lotion will be available inside mini bars at all Standard Hotel locations in Los Angeles, New York and Miami. @thestandard the Lord salutes you as we make history together, the revolution continues…

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg98bSpnlC_

Lord Jones plans to launch its retail flagship within The Standard, Hollywood later this year.

 

Why Is Sonoma County Failing At Legal Marijuana?

Brendan Bures
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Why Is Sonoma County Failing At Legal Marijuana?

Many counties in the US that have legalized recreational cannabis sales are experiencing an influx of tax revenue that surpasses all expectations. Sonoma, California is not one of those places.

In a rare occurrence, revenue from cannabis taxes and business permits will fall $1.8 million short of initial expectations in the fiscal year that ends June 30, reports The Press Democrat.

It represents, as Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner Tony Linegar stated, a failure to bring in local cultivators into the legal market. This was not entirely unexpected, to be fair. Last year we reported that high taxes would likely force illicit growers to stay underground and potentially cripple the legal market. Angela Bacca also reported about the California Green Rush Blues last month for us, hearing why small-time growers and cultivators believe a bridge doesn’t exist into the legal market.

It has reached a contentious point in Sonoma, where wine country flourishes as cannabis farmers face numerous roadblocks, despite both being legal enterprises.

“If the overall goal of the program was to favor a corporate, big dollar, new money industry then we have succeeded,” Linegar said at a government meeting. “If the goal was to create a workable pathway for existing operators, then I think we have failed.”

But taxes and regulations aren’t the only obstacle for cannabis in Sonoma. Over the past two months a string of home invasions have rocked the bucolic neighborhoods.

Via Press Democrat:

A series of home-invasion robberies with out-of-state suspects coming to Sonoma County to steal marijuana, cash and guns have set some neighbors on edge. Robbers broke into five homes during the Feb. 8 and March 12 incidents, tying up residents and ransacking their homes. In one case, a man was killed and another man wounded by gunfire. The targets weren’t legal marijuana growers, according to investigators, but that brings little comfort to people uneasy about marijuana farms near their homes.

“We started to get worried,” said Steve Imbimbo, 59, a retired construction estimator who is trying to get the county to end cannabis cultivation in his remote community in the wooded hills west of Healdsburg. “What if guys come looking for it and come to our house instead? We see cars now up here we’ve never seen before.”

It doesn’t appear like things will improve anytime soon. Though Sonoma County supervisors have spoken lip service to connecting growers and the mainstream, their policies haven’t realized that rhetoric. Sonoma has an estimated 5,000 marijuana growers, but only provided permits for three cultivation programs that can operate in unincorporated areas. Applicants included county newcomers—demonstrating how desirous the area is—with no preferential treatment given to long-term local growers.

Juxtapose that with how Oakland reserves “half of the city’s marijuana licenses for low-income residents, those convicted of a cannabis crime or those living in a specified neighborhood with high drug enforcement.” Empowering local and disenfranchised groups is instrumental in maintaining the playing field for all—otherwise the resources of big-time corporations with win out. Sonoma County is just another example of that.

This Study Demonstrates The Amazing Promise For CBD

Terry Hacienda
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This Study Demonstrates The Amazing Promise For CBD

By now you know the incredible power of cannabidiol (CBD) — a non-psychoactive ingredient found in the cannabis plant. This powerful cannabinoid has been in the spotlight ever since TV doctor Sanjay Gupta extolled its virtues in a 2013 news special on CNN.

But even before Dr. Gupta’s investigation, the medicinal efficacy of cannabis has been proven in countless studies.

According to Project CBD:

Scientific and clinical research—much of it sponsored by the US government—underscores CBD’s potential as a treatment for a wide range of conditions, including arthritis, diabetes, alcoholism, MS, chronic pain, schizophrenia, PTSD, depression, antibiotic-resistant infections, epilepsy, and other neurological disorders. CBD has demonstrable neuroprotective and neurogenic effects, and its anti-cancer properties are currently being investigated at several academic research centers in the United States and elsewhere. Further evidence suggests that CBD is safe even at high doses.

And yet another report, this one published in the latest edition of the journal “Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research,” concluded:

CBD was well tolerated with no reported side effects. … No impairments to cognition were found, nor were there deleterious effects on psychological function. Importantly, participants reported significantly fewer depressive and psychotic-like symptoms … and exhibited improvements in attentional switching, verbal learning, and memory. … Greater benefits were observed in dependent than in nondependent cannabis users.

Prolonged CBD treatment appears to have promising therapeutic effects for improving psychological symptoms and cognition in regular cannabis users. Our findings require replication given the lack of a placebo control in this pragmatic trial, but suggest that CBD may be a useful adjunct treatment for cannabis dependence.

Dr. Taz Bhatia, an integrative health expert, agrees. “CBD is showing promise as a pain reliever, epilepsy treatment, and for wasting disease associated with cancer. It’s being promised to cure everything from anxiety to acne.”

“That’s the curious thing about CBD: It can treat nearly everything,” O’Dea told Women’s Health. “Not in a miracle cure, ‘it’s gone!’ kind of way, but in a calibration type of way, slowly tilting you back to center.”

How To Make Yogurt With Your Vagina

Maria Loreto
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How To Make Yogurt With Your Vagina

If there’s one thing we all know about vaginas is that they have tons of bacteria. Like, millions. The vagina is a small world where organisms cohabit and make friends with each other, causing unending stress for women who think that there’s something wrong with the abundance of little creatures that live within them. It may be weird, but these bacteria are normal, and for the benefit of our health we just have to learn to live with them.

There are some things you can do to create a healthier environment for your vagina. According to Larry Forney, a microbiologist from the University of Idaho, you can take probiotics orally and they’ll naturally affect your vagina, improving its environment and health. With this in mind, the people from Motherboard decided that making vaginal yogurt, and eating it, must be the best possible thing you could do for your vaginal health. They wondered, aren’t there tons of sperm treatments? Why aren’t there any vaginal ones? For some reason, people really stress out over these things.

The experiment was conducted by Cecilia Westbrook, a MD/PhD student from the University of Wisconsin. She made three different groups,: a positive control group made with yogurt as a starter culture, a negative control group made with plain milk, and a third group that contained her own vaginal bacteria with some yogurt. Left overnight, biology did it’s thing and the portions of yogurt increased in size.

According to Westbrook, when she ate her own yogurt, it didn’t taste that bad. In fact, it reminded her of Indian yogurt. But this turned out to be a bad idea. Forney claims that when you collect vaginal secretions, you also collect everything that comes along with that, including positive and negative bacteria, infections, fungus, and more.

In conclusion, vaginal probiotics are a no go. The FDA sums it up best, stating, “vaginal secretions are not considered ‘food’, and they may transmit human disease, a food product that contains vaginal secretions or other bodily fluids is considered adulterated.”

So now you know. If you’ve ever felt the impulse to cultivate your own vaginal bacteria for cooking, don’t, because it’s a bad idea. The vagina is not that magical.

How Marijuana’s CBD Can Fix America’s Depression Problem

Mary Schumacher
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How Marijuana’s CBD Can Fix America’s Depression Problem

Depression can be a devastating condition, one that has a person laying in bed for months or longer and feeling as if they just aren’t what they should be, or on the other side of the spectrum, bouncing off the walls with angst.

It’s saddening, but the NIMH estimates that a whopping 6.8 percent of the US population experienced depression in 2012 alone. It is also approximated that 1 in 8 middle-age women suffer from depression, putting them at the highest population considering age and gender in the US.

Prescription drugs and lifestyle changes are the immediate go-tos in terms of advice given to the depressed. But drugs for depression have negative effects – many of them boast suicide as a “side effect” of the medication. Plus, 33 percent of those depressed and medicated say the medication doesn’t even work. And lifestyle changes are easier said than done when you’re down. If motivation and self-worth are low, so are the chances of making it to yoga or making time to mediate.

Now there is growing evidence that points to CBD as a treatment, which is wonderful news for anyone suffering from depression, as it has no side effects, is impossible to overdose on and comes in many different forms in which to ingest.

THC is the psychoactive component to the cannabis plant, while CBD does not get you high, eliminating the risk of anxiety or increased depression. CBD does, however, fit into the CB1 receptors in our body’s and brain’s endocannabinoid systems and goes to work. CBD calms the mind without making it foggy, it eases aches and pains, which can easily come from too much rest, and it soothes the nerves so that a positive mind space can surface.

There is a rapidly growing body of evidence that CBD is indeed the proper treatment for depression. Between side effects of taking medication to the bed rest that can happen when not treated at all, it’s no wonder that a substance that is as tame to the psyche as it is a warrior in the body is rising to the top.

In 2010 there was an experiment with mice that showed that CBD did not only show immediate results in the mice, but their hyperactivity (another symptom of depression prevalent in humans) ceased in 30 minutes. In 2014 another study was conducted with a variety of animals who were put through stressful situations. The end result was that the animals who took CBD had much less stressful experiences than those that did not.

While it’s not advised to just give up one’s meds, adding CBD to the regimen and then seeing where it goes from there while working with a doctor or psychotherapist who’s down with CBD seem like a very comforting moves to make.

Slather This Cannabis Cream Cheese On Everything

Jessie Moore
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Slather This Cannabis Cream Cheese On Everything

Looking to elevate your morning bagel? This cannabis cream cheese is guaranteed to take “wake and bake” to the next level.

The recipe couldn’t be simpler: just let some cream cheese soften, whip it up with some cannabutter, and you’re good to go. The cannabutter imparts just the slightest herbal flavor to the cream cheese, yielding a genuinely tasty “schmear” that can be used for breakfast and beyond. This cannabis cream cheese can be used as a spread, to make cream cheese frosting, or in any sweet or savory recipe calling for cream cheese.

Photos by Jessie Moore

Cannabis Cream Cheese “Schmear”

 Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 brick (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened (see recipe note)
  • 2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp cannabutter
  • Spices or flavorings of your choice
Photos by Jessie Moore

Note: this recipe can be scaled up or down (for instance, you could halve it, or double it)

Photos by Jessie Moore

1. Combine the softened cream cheese and the cannabutter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

Photos by Jessie Moore

2. Mix together on medium speed for about 8 minutes (yes, that long). Pause the mixer 2 or 3 times during the process so that you can scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula; this will help ensure that no bits of cannabutter form a concentrated pocket in one portion of the cream cheese. The mixture may gain a little volume and will attain a soft, whipped texture. If desired, you can stir in spices or flavorings (some people like garlic flakes, for instance; choose your own adventure).

Related: Say Goodbye To Regular Cheese Puffs And Hello To Cannabis Ganjères

3. The mixture is ready to use right away; for storage, transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. Refer to the expiration date on the cream cheese packaging to determine how long it will keep.

A note on dosage:

I “dosed” this recipe with 1 teaspoon of cannabutter per serving. The strength of your finished product will depend on many factors, including the type of marijuana you used and how you made your cannabutter. For more tips on proper dosage, visit this post.

Recipe notes:

Be sure to give your cream cheese ample time to soften to room temperature. If the cream cheese is too cold, it will remain lumpy and won’t properly combine with the cannabutter.

Related: 5 Ways To Utilize Leftover Marijuana Pulp From Cannabutter

This recipe can be made with regular cannabutter or vegan cannabutter. In terms of the cream cheese, you can use any type you’d prefer: vegan cream cheese, low fat cream cheese, etc.

Marijuana Cancer Research Wins Science Fair For This High Schooler

Brendan Bures
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Marijuana Cancer Research Wins Science Fair For This High Schooler

Though many research institutions face regulatory limitations on cannabis research, one high school student in Pennsylvania decided to base his whole school science project on marijuana — and it earned him the highest honor at the regional science fair. Let this be a lesson for every underachieving child who recycles the cliché baking soda volcano at their school’s science fair.

Lancaster Catholic High School sophomore Daniel Baksh wanted to study what effects cannabinoids had on squamous cell carcinoma cells. Would the cancer continue to grow or would the cannabinoids have no effect?

Via Lancaster Online:

To [investigate], he created and tested cells to find out if the use of cannabinoids decelerated their growth. And they did.

Daniel’s conclusion: Marijuana could have a beneficial effect on squamous cell cancer by decreasing cell proliferation and growth.

Daniel said he wasn’t surprised by the results, as it aligned with his hypothesis, which he made about three months ago on, of all days, Christmas.

Baksh isn’t the first of his family to claim grand champion status at the North Museum Science & Engineering Fair — his older brother Sanjeethan earned the title back in 2008. Part of Baksh’s inspiration was personal, as his grandfather has prostate cancer and he believes medical marijuana has the potential to help those suffering from cancer or other ailments.

“There’s so many different types of cancer and I think that we as a society and a human race should keep on striving to find a cure,” Baksh told Lancaster Online.

California Edible Cannabis Cooks Get Bitter Taste of Legalization

Evan Eitzel
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California Edible Cannabis Cooks Get Bitter Taste of Legalization

There have been two overriding business visions of legal Cannabis. Craft — winemakers, microbrew — vs. commerce — Marlboro, Budweiser. A recent report finds in California, legal pot may be cutting into artisanal cottage industries.

GreenState.com reports that although an estimated $180 million worth of edibles was sold in California in 2016, this year only 28 licenses have been obtained to legally bake, or make, them.

A cannabis industry consultant, Sean Donahoe, said he expected the Golden State to follow a post-legalization path similar to Colorado’s. The business has consolidated into major players, due to regulation and consolidation.

“I’m seeing a lot of these similar things and then some,” Donahoe said. “And it didn’t have to be this way.”

California voters OK’d medical marijuana in 1966, with lawmakers refining the rules in 2003. Recreational cannabis became legal there this year. Colorado has allowed recreational use since 2014.

So far the major pain point for California’s cannabis bakers and chefs hasn’t been from Big Money. It’s the cost of turning a previously unregulated business into one that now has to follow health and processing codes. And a patchwork of local laws.

California law allows counties and cities the ability to regulate, up to outright ban, cannabis businesses in their jurisdiction. In December, an industry observer said simple retail sales would only be legal in a third of the state.

“It’s going to be months, maybe even a year before a majority of the state has access that is less than a half-hour drive away,” Nate Bradley of the California Cannabis Industry Association told the Los Angeles Times.

“It’s impossible to follow,” attorney Aaron Herzberg, whose firm represents California cannabis businesses and has a stake in a few, told the Orange County Register. “It’s just too hard to keep up with everything.”

And even in cities where it is legal, simple costs such as rent can hit former cottage industries.

Greenstate tells the tale of Gina Golden, an Oakland baker who has been making treats for 12 years under the Golden Goddess label. The city turned down her application for a legal business last year, deeming her commercial kitchen space didn’t meet legal standards.

“I took pride in being self-sustaining and not collecting food stamps, not becoming a statistic or dependent on the system,” she said. “Now I feel like I do need that help.”

5 Spring Cleaning Hacks That Will Ready You For Warm Weather

Maria Loreto
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5 Spring Cleaning Hacks That Will Ready You For Warm Weather

April signals the beginning of spring, which also means that you can finally leave your house without wearing 26 layers of clothing.

Spring is the best, striking the perfect balance between hot and cold weather, and allowing you reboot the year. Even though it’s kind of just starting, but whatever, winter is hard okay? This time of the year is great for you to do an in depth cleaning of your house and to get reacquainted with your priorities, and it can be overwhelming if you’re not organized.

The Chicago Tribune compiled a list of hacks that’ll help you make the most out of Spring cleaning. Check out 5 of our favorites:

Make A Checklist

https://giphy.com/gifs/the-to-do-list-rachel-bilson-amber-klark-lKiRNh0TS3Lqg

Making checklists is a good way to go through life and remember your duties, you know? They make things easier for everyone and they can also make you feel less overwhelmed, like things are under your control. This list will help you make sure that you have all the cleaning tools you need, and that you don’t forget about the little details.

Prioritize

Set the most important places of your house at the top of the list, including your kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms, but don’t forget about the laundry room or your closets. These areas will take up less of your time but you’ll still have to clean them at some point.

When cleaning, be sure to throw away and recycle all items that you’re not using. It’s hard not to be a hoarder, but your house will thank you for it later.

Buy The Right Tools

https://giphy.com/gifs/snl-saturday-night-live-holiday-l2JhucuqxI0UswQa4

You can’t clean your house if you don’t have the proper tools. Items like magic erasers and micro fiber cloths may not be laying around your house, but they’ll make the whole cleaning process a lot less painful and simple. Pumice stones are also a good option if you’re cleaning rust and hard-water stains.

Be Aware Of Which Surface You’re Cleaning

Be sure to use the right product for the surface you’re cleaning to avoid damaging your floors or counter tops. Be careful of using steam mops on wooden floors and avoid using magic erasers on walls, because it could take the paint off. Read the product bottle!

Don’t Stress

https://giphy.com/gifs/lifetimetv-adorable-babies-l1KVaj5UcbHwrBMqI

Cleaning can be stressful, but if you’re organized and have all the right tools then there’s nothing to worry about. If you’re working out your body too much by cleaning, then that means you are using the wrong product. Try using multi-cleaners, and let them sit for a while so they can do their thing.

Too Many ‘Star Wars’ Movies? Mark Hamill Thinks So

Brendan Bures
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Too Many ‘Star Wars’ Movies? Mark Hamill Thinks So

It’s a classic question: How much is too much of a good thing until it becomes a bad thing? When it comes to Disney mass-producing Star Wars sequels, the answer to that question will arrive sooner rather than later. In recent comments to Cinemablend, Star Wars godfather Mark Hamill (aka Luke Skywalker) stated his worry about running the well dry.

“I will say they should pace themselves, because you don’t want to over-saturate it. I said to Disney, ‘Really? Five months after we come out comes [Solo: A Star Wars Story]? Can’t you at least wait until Christmas?’” Hamill said. “But they’ve got things booked—they’re doing Marvel and their own movies, so that’s beyond my [purview.]”

Just a quick recap for the uninitiated: a Han Solo prequel titled Solo comes out this May, just five months after Rian Johnson’s moody and somewhat-polarizing The Last Jedi. Disney has also hired Johnson to develop his own Star Wars trilogy of movies outside the main narrative. They’ve also given Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff a trilogy, too. And Jon Favreau is currently writing and executive producing a live-action Star Wars TV show that’s in development.

So yeah, that’s a lot!

When Lucasfilm and Disney returned with The Force Awakens to launch the new trilogy, you could feel the vibration of excitement throughout the culture. We missed Star Wars because we had a chance to actually miss it—and it represented another opportunity to dismiss the prequels. Those were good times.

As Hamill said to Cinemablend:

Well, there shouldn’t be [a limit to the storytelling], as it’s a canvas that’s so infinite. With the standalone films they can all have their own identity. Rogue One can be gritty, and like a war film… I’m assuming, I don’t know, but I would assume that Solo will be more comedic-ly oriented because he’s a rogue, a scoundrel, and a gambler, and a womanizer and all those things. So I think the advantage of the standalone films is that they don’t have to follow the formula of a trilogy, so they can establish their premise, get it on, get it done and get out leaving the audience wanting more. So there’s infinite possibilities.

Only time will tell, though Solo will likely represent a distinct tentpole for exactly what we should expect from these “infinite possibilities” moving forward.

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