CBD maker Elixinol Global has acquired German CBD brand CannaCare Health GmbH as it executes its strategy to pursue market opportunities in Europe. Elixinol said it is buying the company for 3 million euros in cash ($3.6 million) plus 6 million euros in Elixinol shares ($7.2 million). The deal calls for Elixinol to pay up […]
Black people make up 12 percent of the population but 32 percent of marijuana arrests.
The post Pennsylvania: Police Arrested 20,200 Adults for Marijuana Possession During Pandemic appeared first on NORML.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer along with Senators Cory Booker and Ron Wyden, recorded a video outlining their plan to introduce comprehensive legislation to repeal federal marijuana criminalization and expunge the records of those with federal cannabis convictions. From the porch of the US Senate, with the Washington Monument visible in the background, these three […]
Right now, the USPS is accepting public comment until March 20th, and the fix is relatively simple. The USPS simply needs to clarify that these new changes do not include non-nicotine vaporization devices.
The post Congress and USPS Inadvertently Restrict Consumer Access To Vaporizer Cartridges, Batteries, Etc appeared first on NORML.
Today a trailer for Demi Lovato’s new Youtube Series “Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil” was released, along with more information she reveals in the actual series.
One of the sticking points has been the revelation that Lovato is no longer sober. From Entertainment Tonight:
“I’ve learned that it doesn’t work for me to say that I’m never going to do this again… I know I’m done with the stuff that’s going to kill me, right?
“Telling myself that I can never have a drink or smoke marijuana, I feel like that’s setting myself up for failure because I am such a black-and-white thinker.
“I had it drilled into my head for so many years that one drink was equivalent to a crack pipe… [I’ve] been smoking weed and drinking in moderation.”
Although I have not seen the series, this confession comes off extremely brave.
The stigma around a “moderation” option as opposed to sobriety is understandable. If you’re allowing yourself some leniency, who’s to say it would stop there? Wouldn’t the boundary just continually get pushed further?
Of course it’s possible, but moderation can work for some. It seems the most integral part of the process has less to do with moderation or abstinence, and more to do with community. As long as your support group is strong, compassionate, and free of judgment, you’re ahead of the game no matter what road you’re traveling down.
Demi Lovato’s admittance of moderation will hopefully shed light on the many options. Some see sobriety as too steep a hill to climb, therefore resist help. Hopefully someone like Lovato, with the large platform she has access to, can enlighten people to other ways forward.
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I guess we’ll join in on the Ricketts hate train. But only to use him as an example.
Governor Ricketts of Nebraska made national news this week with the quote, “If you legalize marijuana, you’re gonna kill your kids.”
This is followed by him saying it is backed by data. When asked to clarify, his office pointed to studies that only provide association. Nothing even close to causal, let alone correlative.
Yesterday, Ricketts continued his venting process, showing how it has affected elementary school kids in Colorado.
Weed is coming to Nebraska. A vote to legalize will probably be coming in 2022, and another proposal was introduced by a State Senator that would create a framework for legalizing, according to the Journal Star.
That legislation is unlikely to pass, but time and time again we see that when it comes to the public, voting in favor of legalization will be the outcome.
This is why the lashing out over on Team Ricketts. His tactics are classic fear-mongering. You’re gonna kill your kids. The “data” cited is flimsy and the language used is just as effective as it is dangerous, as we’ve seen from over fifty years of prohibition. In this world there is no middle ground. There is either banishment, or your kids will die. No such thing as regulation and control.
Thankfully, this time feels a little different. It feels more like the lashing out of someone who is losing ground quickly as opposed to someone who can influence actual policy. His framework is being questioned, and only effort left is hyperbole.
These folks answer to their shareholders, At NORML, we answer to you.
The post Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco Coalition Emerges to Shape Legalization in Their Favor appeared first on NORML.
Cannabis is rapidly growing in relevancy across the world.
In an article at Bloomberg, writer Tiffany Kary describes just how important that Mexico legalization is.
“With a population approaching 130 million, Mexico is on the cusp of becoming the largest legal recreational market in the world,” says Kary. “That could pressure the U.S. to follow suit, since it will be sandwiched between Mexico and Canada, countries that both allow cannabis use.”
She also states that Mexico is especially suited for exporting cannabis, considering many multinational pharmaceutical, alcohol and consumer products companies are already in the country. This means high-quality manufacturing can happen with less cost.
Growing optimism is also seen in recent deals, including Curaleaf, the largest manufacturer in the US, buying Emmac Life Sciences in order to start expanding into the European Union. They’re expected to start selling CBD and cannabis products quickly in the continent.
As promise grows for the viability of legal pot, more large scale deals like this will be more and more common.
Read the source here.
A new study is getting published in the Journal of Adolescent Health that will report findings on the danger of cannabis vaping.
While it’s not out yet, a report was written over at University of Michigan that sheds light on how the findings were studied.
The researchers compiled self-reported symptoms from a sample of adolescents between 12 and 17 years old from the “2016-2018 Wave of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Healthy Study.” They were looking for symptoms like wheezing, chest whistling, dry coughs, chest illness, etc.
Those who vaped marijuana were twice as likely to report wheezing and whistling.
It should be noted this is a survey, with very little control, and MUCH more research needs to be done in the field, but still fascinating to see that marijuana vapes are not the healthiest of alternatives, despite marketing and common understanding. Maybe that good old fashioned flower is still the way to go.
“Future studies need to assess if it is the combination of vaping both nicotine and cannabis that is creating so many respiratory issues,” says Philip Veliz, University of Michigan research assistant professor of nursing. “It may be the combination of vaping cannabis along with smoking cigarettes is what leads to the high rates of respiratory symptoms among youthful marijuana vapers.”
Read the original here.
We had written an article about the complexities that occur after weed becomes legal in a state, and a new article at Asbury Park Press pretty much takes the cake.
In Massachusetts, there’s concern that there won’t be any spaces to smoke weed in public, but the saving grace has always been that you can just take the weed home with you, smoking peacefully in your living room.
However, the way the marijuana bill in New Jersey was written up, there’s an option for property owners to ban smoking on their properties, which would include individual units.
That’s 37% of citizens of the state who are potentially within this ban.
Smoking indoors is quite commonly prohibited indoors in signed leases, so it’s not out of the question for marijuana smoking to become targeted.
The fines associated are $250 for the first offense, $500 for the second, and $1,000 for every offense after that. This money would go to the state, not the landlords.
The problem here is more associated with the smoke itself, so things like edibles are still on the table. And while many of us renters have smoking bans already written into our leases, of course there are ways to hide the act (which I’m not condoning!..kinda), but still, the knowledge of your habit being prohibited can linger in the back of your mind. It’s not always the most pleasant.
Read the full story at Asbury Park Press.
