There’s been quite a sight to see on the grounds of Kensington Palace as of late. Prince Harry is teaching his American fiancé how to drive like a British person. That means driving on the left hands side of the road. He’s also giving her pointers on how to drive a stick shift.
After years of using an automatic, Markle is trying to obtain a British license. As The Daily Mail reports, visitors of the UK from outside the EU are eligible to drive a small vehicle for up to a year from the time they first become resident. They just need to have a valid license from their home country, which Markle has.
If Markle wants to continue driving as a Royal in the UK, she’ll need to get a British provisional driving license and pass a theory and practical driving test. Sounds fun!
The Daily Mail says Markle will also be taught “evasive driving techniques” as part of a general program of security training. And that it’s important for her to to be able to drive a manual should she need to in an emergency.
An insider tells the publication that Markle has been practicing inside the grounds of the royal palace, where she lives with Harry, and is reportedly excited to drive herself around like a commoner, because of course she is.
Man and the erection! It’s a lifelong adventure. There is no object in creation that some man will not venture to bring into juxtaposition with his penis. Trust us on this one.
This is particularly true with things men enjoy, like getting high. The primordial Oreo crumbs had barely fallen from the beard of the first caveman weed-smoker when he inevitably mused, “I wonder if this is good for my erection
For all the eons of diligent amateur research into this question, a clinical verdict has not yet been drawn. But a firmer scientific grasp of the issue may be taking hold.
Scientists have recently discovered the presence of cannabinoid receptors in the smooth muscle.
A 2009 survey of more than 8,000 Australians found that marijuana use can make men climax too soon, too late, or not at all. On the other hand, other evidence shows that cannabis slows the metabolizing of Viagra, so at least indirectly, it can have a pro-boner effect. However, by protracting vasodilation, a paper from 2002 admonishes, cannabis can also have an undesirable pro-heart attack effect.
But at last we may have a clearer path forward. Scientists have recently discovered the presence of cannabinoid receptors in the smooth muscle (that’s not an aesthetic judgment but a technical term for a sort of floppy, involuntary muscle) of the penis, suggesting that cannabis does have a physiological role in erection. According to 2011 study, cannabis may have an “antagonizing effect” on the cannabinoid receptors in the penis, making it more difficult for a man to achieve and maintain an erection. “This is a more serious effect on the erectile function,” said lead researcher Rany Shamloul, “because the smooth muscle makes up 70 percent to 80 percent of the penis itself.”
Is there such a thing as weed dick? The answer isn’t a simple yes or no.
As Playboy reported, studies on animals have shown that marijuana can inhibit receptors inside the erectile tissue of the penis that control erection. Whether this is true for humans is unclear, but like with any drug or alcohol, too much can impact sexual health in a number of ways.
For marijuana, especially, dosage is key. Too much and you’ll be too high to get to the bed, let alone get it up. For heavy users, erectile dysfunction is three times as prevalent, compared to those who don’t use cannabis at all.
The accumulated research exploring the effects of marijuana on male sexual functioning is pretty limited. While this research suggests that marijuana is likely to be an erection inhibitor, the answer is probably a bit more complicated than this, and we need a lot more hard data (pun fully intended) to understand why different guys report experiencing different sexual effects.
How you personally react to different strains, situations, and doses will differ, and only you can find your perfect scenario for getting sexy with weed. So get experimenting.
There are many things that can occur when mixing alcohol with other substances and cannabis is definitely one of the no-nos after you’ve been drinking. Sure, a casual cocktail or two with a puff or two isn’t likely to send you over the edge, head in toilet, unable to speak, but if you go a good four or five cocktails deep and then smoke a fat doobie, chances are you’re going to regret it.
But why? Alcohol and cannabis are two of the most widely accepted recreational mind altering substances there are. Shouldn’t they play nice together? The short answer is no, though of course, everyone’s bodies will handle the combo differently. Your reaction may not be so extreme, but you are a lot more likely to clam up, space out and maybe get the spins if you drink and smoke.
According to reporting by VICE, two studies on the topic, published by Scott Lukas, who is a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at Harvard Medical School, take a deeper look at what’s going on in our bodies when the two substances are imbibed together. One study examined how cannabis affects the absorption of alcohol, the other looked at how alcohol affects the absorption of marijuana, specifically the cannabinoid THC.
While the first study showed that smoking before drinking actually lowers your blood alcohol level, it turns out that if you drink before you smoke instead of smoke before you drink, your THC levels go through the roof. It seems that alcohol opens up the blood vessels in your digestive parts, welcoming THC through the expanded pathways and leading to an intense high.
So logic can only insist that dabbing, eating edibles or even vaping after drinking are special no-gos. The more THC you ingest, the higher that alcohol is going to get you and the more likely you are to get nauseous and, in the best case, feel a strong urge to lie down.
Just think before you imbibe, whether it be the alcohol/cannabis combo or one of the two substances respectively. If you have experience with one or both, you know your limits, at least separately. Just tone it down a few notches if the evening is going to get layered.
“If you’re sitting alone in your bedroom, and you’ve got pillows all around you,” explained Lukas, “and you’re well hydrated, and the bed’s not too far off the ground, the risk is low.”
So don’t take the risk! Don’t get intoxicated to the point of no return on alcohol and then think a few dabs before hitting your pillow-filled bedroom is a good idea. It just isn’t. Keep your head about you and enjoy responsibly.
After getting very very drunk, a guy decided that it was a good idea to take an Uber from West Virginia to New Jersey. That’s over 300 miles of driving for a price of $1,600.
Mashable reports that Kenneth Bachman was partying with his friends near West Virginia University when he felt like going home, so he ordered an UberXL. He doesn’t recall making the decision to travel so far.
Basically, I kinda just blacked out. The last thing I remember was being at the bar and then I just woke up in the Uber next to an older dude telling me I was an hour out from Jersey.
The 300-mile ride was over five hours long, so Kenneth had time to sleep off the alcohol.
According to the Chicago Tribune, this story ends well for Kenneth. Eat Clean Bro, a company with an awful name from New Jersey, announced that they’d pay for his Uber ride, commending him in avoiding drunk driving. Kenneth had previously started a GoFundMe campaign to pay for his Uber ride. The money that was collected will be donated to Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Few things are better on a holiday like 4/20 than finding a couch and watching movies. But sometimes it’s difficult to choose what exactly are the best films for such an occasion. Well, no worries. Our friends at Tribeca Shortlist, the streaming service curated by film industry stars, have helped compile the perfect slate of features to dive into, no matter your preference, on a day like this. Choose any of these movies and we’ll promise you won’t be disappointed.
Sightseers
A couple decides to take an idyllic cross-country road trip that flips on its head when they decide to kill any other travelers who annoy them. This Ben Wheatley-directed film teeters narrowly between dark comedy and misshapen horror, but if you’re a Quentin Tarantino fan, this is right up your alley.
Wristcutters
On the surface, this might seem like an indie romance you’ve seen before: Boy loses girl, then goes on a road trip to find his love once again. He meets some iconoclastic companions on the way to ostensibly help him. Here’s the twist: Everyone’s dead. Refer to the title and you could guess just how all these characters ended up dead.
This trippy cult classic stars Jared Leto as Nemo Nobody, who remains as the last mortal man on Earth. Facing his own life, he recounts how differently everything could have one if only he had chosen different paths. This is the move if you want to have ~*deep thoughts*~ on the holiday.
Punch-Drunk Love
Open Your Eyes
This movie might sound familiar to you if you’re a Tom Cruise stan: A man who has it all including money, recognition, and women, gets thrown into existential mystery following a car accident. That’s the plot for Open Your Eyes, which writer-director Cameron Crowe later remade for English languages as Vanilla Sky.
Still Smokin’
It’s classic Cheech and Chong, with a title like Still Smokin. You know what this about already.
The Day of the Dolphin
In perhaps the most bonkers film of director Mike Nichols’ career (which is saying something), a scientist teaches a pair of dolphins to speak and understand the English language. It all turns on him when these dolphins are stolen and to be used in an assassination attempt.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Max Mon Amour
This movie is billed as “the greatest ape romance since King Kong.” Here’s the basic plot: A British diplomat’s wife takes a chimpanzee as her lover. We won’t spoil the rest.
Bug
For if you have ever had those paranoid thoughts that the government is out to get you, this psychological thriller might feel relatable. A woman holed up in an Oklahoma motel becomes involved with a man who believes in conspiracy theories between the government and bugs. Follow the web from there.
How best to describe this movie? You probably have heard of its whispered cult status. A woman with teeth in her vagina sets out for vengeance against all men. If you’re into that sort of thing.
Microcosmos
Perhaps you’d rather live in reality on this holiday, and want to keep things small. Like really small. Explore the surprisingly complex world of insect and other invertebrates with this captivating documentary.
Delicatessen
Peacock
A quiet bank clerk has his secrets played out for the whole town when a train lands in his backyard. This psychological thriller might remind you of M. Night Shyamalan’s recent Split, which also stars a man with multiple personality disorder.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions admitted over the weekend that the Department of Justice simply can’t enforce the federal government’s marijuana prohibition even if he was so inclined.
Sessions clarified his murky position just two months after his Justice Department’s announced that it was rescinding an Obama-era policy that restrained federal law enforcement authorities from interfering with state cannabis laws.
“We’re not going to be able, even if we desired, to take over state enforcement of routine cases that might occur,” Sessions acknowledged. “Federal agents are highly paid, highly trained, and they work on cases involving cartels, international organizations, major distribution networks, large amounts of cash. And they deal with criminal organizations, RICO-type cases. And we’re not out there prosecuting those cases every day.”
Sessions said the Justice Department will focus on drug gangs and major illicit operations. Saturday’s comments appear at odds with the January policy change, which gave the US Attorney’s office the power to prosecute individuals for marijuana crimes, including possession.
“I am not going to tell Colorado or California or someone else that possession of marijuana is legal under United States law,” Sessions said, during a Q&A session at Georgetown University. Federal prosecutors “haven’t been working small marijuana cases before, they are not going to be working them now.”
Of particular interest are problems that federal authorities have tried for years to tackle, like illegal marijuana-growing operations on national parklands and gangs that peddle pot along with more harmful drugs. Some law enforcement officials in pot-legal states argue the legal trade has caused unintended problems like black-market marijuana growing and dealing by people who don’t even try to conform to the legal framework.
“Those are the kinds of things each one of those US attorneys will decide how to handle,” Sessions said.
Sessions’ comments may have intended to clarify federal cannabis policy, but many industry insiders are scratching their heads wondering what the DOJ policy actually is.
What a helluva run Jordan Peele is having. Get Out, written and directed by Peele, has become a cultural juggernaut since its release, adding terms like the “sunken place” into pop culture and millions of memes to boot. His upward climb culminated Sunday when Peele deservedly took home the Oscar of Best Original Screenwriting.
But before the Academy Awards, Peele also attended the Film Independent Spirit Awards a few days previous. There he won two prestigious prizes for his directorial debut—Best Director and Best Feature. During his acceptance speech, Peele revealed what inspired him to create Get Out and that marijuana was definitely involved.
“This project didn’t start as a statement, it began as me wanting to make film in my favorite genre,” Peele said. “I sat down, and I would smoke a little bit of weed while I try to write a mind-bending horror film. At some point, I just followed the truth and realized there are people that are locked up for smoking less weed than I smoked while I wrote the movie.”
Now for anyone who has followed Peele before his Get Out fame, you’d know he’s a big cannabis fan. Key & Peele is littered with weed comedy, as were some sketches Peele was in for MADTV.
One of the best of Key & Peele’s marijuana-related sketches is Peele playing President Barack Obama during his college years, a.k.a. when Obama admitted to using marijuana. You can check out the sketch below.
Are you a cannabis devotee who craves sweet and salty snacks? If answered yes, then you’ll go nuts (pun absolutely intended) for these cannabis candied walnuts.
A mixture of sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla extract gives the nuts an appealingly sweet flavor; the salt and earthy flavor of the cannabutter act as an appealing contrast to the sweetness. These sweet and salty flavor components work in tandem with the rich flavor of the nuts to form a truly addictive snack that packs a groovy cannabis kick. Bet you can’t eat just one!
Cannabis Candied Walnuts
Photos by Jessie Moore
Makes 6 servings
Ingredients
2-3/4 cups nuts (I used walnut halves, but you could also use pecans or almonds, for instance)
1. Set your oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Scatter the walnuts on top. Place the pan in the oven (you can put it right in while the oven preheats), and bake for 7-10 minutes, or until you can begin to smell a toasty aroma.
Remove from the oven and let cool; turn down the heat to 250 degrees on the oven (you’ll be using it again). This step will just help give the nuts a nice crispy texture later on.
Photos by Jessie Moore
2. Place the cannabutter, sugar, water, salt, and cinnamon in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly to keep the sugar from scorching or crystallizing. Once it comes to a boil and the sugar is dissolved, let it cook for 2 minutes without stirring.
Photos by Jessie Moore
3. After 2 minutes of boiling, add the vanilla and the nuts. Reduce the heat to low, and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture has thickened to the point where the nuts have absorbed most of the coating (a little bit of liquid with a thick, caramel-like texture is fine).
Photos by Jessie Moore
4. Scatter back on to the baking sheet (totally fine to use the same one, even if it has little flakes of nut “skins” on it). Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Any liquid from the coating may begin to bubble and solidify; totally fine.
Remove from the oven, give them one more stir, then let cool on the sheet. They will harden and likely stick together as they cool; break up any bits that are stuck together. You can serve immediately; store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month.
Photos by Jessie Moore
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.
Last week in marijuana legislative news, Nevada tabled plans for cannabis lounges, a decriminalization bill was introduced in New Mexico and regulations were eased for medical marijuana in Maine. Find out about that more in our weekly marijuana legislative roundup.
Nevada:
Last week, city and county officials announced that Las Vegas will postpone plans for social-use cannabis lounges until 2019 in order to monitor a pilot program being implemented in Denver, Colorado. A week prior, Denver licensed the first social-use venue under a tightly-controlled pilot program for cannabis lounges that approved by voters in 2016. One reason that officials cited to justify the delay was Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ renunciation of the Cole Memo in January.
On Monday, two Albuquerque city councilmembers announced legislation to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana in the city. If enacted, the bill would reduce possession of up to one ounce of marijuana from a misdemeanor criminal violation punishable by jail to a civil infraction punishable by a citation and a fine of no more than $25. To become law, the proposal will need a majority vote of the city council before going to the mayor for signature.
On Wednesday, the Health and Human Services Committee of the Maine Legislature voted in favor of a bill to ease regulations on medical marijuana in the state. The measure would eliminate the list of qualifying conditions, allow caregivers to take on more patients, raise the number of cannabis patients could legally possess to eight pounds, and license an additional six dispensaries. The bill will now go before a vote of the full legislature.
