Cannabis Taxes feeding lots of money into Illinois public schools

Illinois has a program called R3, which stands for restore, reinvest, and renew, that is funneling funs made from marijuana services into paying for public schools in the state, according to Ganjapreneur.
In total, about $858,669 has been allocated so far. This money is going towards legal aid for students, helping incarcerated youth back into society, career coaching, reproductive education, and more programs to help students.
“R3 is so important to me because I felt that it was critical that if we were going to be legalizing a product that has been used for the last 80 years to penalize largely Black and brown people, it was incredibly important that we took some of the resources of the sale of this product and begin to reinvest it in repairing some of those same communities that had been torn down by the war on drugs,” said State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, who aided in the creation of the R3 program.
And that six-figure amount is only what has been allocated for public schools. In total, the program garnered about $31 million of funding for the state, and they expect the number to potentially raise to $65 million in the next year.
Read the source at Ganjapreneur.

Reactions to marijuana legalization in New Jersey

NJ.com put together some reactions to weed becoming legal in the state, and they’re pretty fun to go through.
Here are a few:
Joey Diaz

Its time to celebrate……I’m about to smoke a number with Governor Murphy………..Thank you NJ!!!! pic.twitter.com/4WqbHg201s
— Joey CoCo Diaz (@madflavor) February 22, 2021

It’s a very happy #MoaMonday here in NJ as weed is now legal 👍👍 hope everyone is having a good day today pic.twitter.com/TRWtLdqkgK
— Paul A (@QuispyBacon) February 22, 2021

Kevin Smith

Jay & Silent Bob have asked meto make a statement on their behalfon this historic day:
“You took away our fuckin’ livelihood!”
Excuse them. Eventually, they’ll be thankful to you and the voters ofNew Jersey for both legalizationand decriminalization.I thank you all too! https://t.co/voVcfgaaNW
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) February 22, 2021

Redman

WHO ALL SMOKN TONIGHT ?? pic.twitter.com/YHsqGmYTkX
— Redman (@therealredman) February 21, 2021

Comedy Central

TFW legal weed comes to New Jersey. pic.twitter.com/VhxnQmgytP
— comedycentral (@ComedyCentral) February 22, 2021

Alex Grubard

✅Tye Dye everything in my sock drawer.✅Eat 2 burritos in a row.✅Get really quiet in the middle of a conversation. https://t.co/NJaqX9EBcz
— Almost Grubard (@Alexgrubard) February 22, 2021

So New Jersey legalizes weed and we’re all just supposed to finish the workday as if nothing happened??? pic.twitter.com/mPmZC7ysZ5
— WEED IS LEGAL IN NEW JERSEY!!! (@L_DiPaolo) February 22, 2021

New Jersey finally passes marijuana legalization

In a very long delayed move, New Jersey has finally passed legal marijuana after their Governor signed multiple bills this morning.
Governor Phil Murray was waiting on a proposal that detailed punishment for underage users, and once that reached his desk, he signed all of the bills into law. This is included cannabis legalization, decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana possession, limiting the use of previous marijuana convictions, and creating a regulated cannabis marketplace.

Marijuana will now be legal in NJ.
We’re one step closer to ending this unjust, failed war on drugs that has systematically targeted Black & Brown people & the poor across our state & nation.
Grateful for @GovMurphy, NJ leadership & advocates who fought so hard for this day. https://t.co/nJprUIYq9s
— Sen. Cory Booker (@SenBooker) February 22, 2021

The legislation has been delayed and pushed back on ever since it was approved by voters in November, but things were looking good last week when Governor Murphy signaled he would sign the law as long as specific and appropriate punishment was detailed for those underage caught with marijuana. A written warning and small fine was eventually agreed upon.
Congrats, New Jersey!

Why is sex better when you’re high?

In a super fascinating article over at InsideHook, we get a glimpse into why exactly sex gets that extra bump from being high.
Of course the main difference is the awareness, which is much more acute while high.
“Terpenes (the perfumey bouquet of smells that often accompanies a strain, with names like Limonene and Myrcene) are responsible for things like those energetic and uplifting feelings or that deep body buzz just after ingestion, while cannabinoids (the chemical compounds found in THC, CBD, etc.) activate and communicate with specific receptors within the Endocannabinoid System,” Michelle Mendoza, a Head Buyer at Sweet Flower tells InsideHook. “Together, they produce the entourage effect that equals the sum of its parts and your very individualized experience.”
But in particular, it acts as a “vasodilator” which means that it makes sensitive parts of the body extra sensitive. Orgasms are improved and sex drive is maximized all because of increased blood flow to these parts of the body.
Because of this pretty clear link between being high and good sex, the market has opened up for products that seem almost specifically catered for heightened sexuality, be it micro-dosed drinks, chewables, weed lube, and even some edibles.
Read the story at InsideHook.

New California bill tackles legal psychedelics

Following in the footsteps of Oregon, California is potentially opening up the market to psychedelics.
Legislation filed on Wednesday by Senator Scott Wiener looks to “end the failed War on Drugs approach to addressing psychedelics while building on the science and research in the psychedelic field to create the potential for a therapeutic framework that could help people struggling from the effects of depression, anxiety, PTSD and other health conditions.”
It would also free up those with prior criminal records due to possession or use of psychedelics.
In particular psilocybin, LSD, DMT, MDMA, ketamine, mescaline, and ibogaine would all be under the umbrella of this bill.
It’s yet to be determined if this bill will pass the senate, but there are also plans to get psilocybin legalization on the ballot in 2022, so it seems just a matter of time for this state to see some form of legal psychedelics pop up at a storefront near my fellow Californians.
Read more at Marijuana Moment.

Former Eaze CEO being charged for transaction laundering

Jim Patterson, Eaze’s CEO until 2019, is under legal woes for “deceiving banks into processing $100 million worth of credit and debit payments for marijuana products,” according to MJBizDaily.
He will plead guilty tomorrow, thereby waiving an indictment.
The two men who were in charge of the online marketplace for Eaze were both indicted in March of 2020 for the scheme.
“The indictment alleged that the two, operating the Online Marijuana Marketplace, created fictitious online merchants that sold dog products, dive gear, carbonated drinks, green tea and face creams to route the marijuana transactions and get around cannabis banking restrictions,” again from MJBizDaily.
In the meantime, Eaze as a company is looking to put this all behind them and distance themselves from the controversy. A spokeswoman for the company wrote in an email to MJBizDaily, “as reported, we are cooperating with relevant authorities, Jim is no longer with the company and Eaze is not a defendant in this matter.”
Read the full story over at MJ Business Daily.

Why do we call marijuana “weed”?

It’s definitely a fun little exercise to go through the list of cannabis nicknames we’ve all accrued in our lexicon, and right at the front of that list is “weed”. The most stigmatized, loaded, meaning-drenched of the nicknames. It means something different to everyone.
Well a nice little article over at Greenstate dives into some of the titles, and where they came from. Although not the most thoroughly researched, it still has some nuggets (another one!) of interest.

“[Weed] was first listed as one of the “new words” for cannabis in the 1929 edition of “American Speech.” At the time, there were only two widely-used terms for marijuana in the U.S. – the English term, “hemp,” and the scientific word, “cannabis” – so canna-lovers were experimenting with new names to avoid being discovered.
The nickname “weed” didn’t exactly hit at first – mostly because the more exotic term “marijuana” infiltrated the American lexicon in the ‘30’s. It wasn’t until the early 2000’s that it really became popular, according to Google search records. Some speculate this is because millennials needed an alternative to their parent’s hippie nicknames, like “grass” and “flower.””

Kind of an ingenious way to get the authorities to lose interest–who cares about some random weed the kids are gushing over.
Another fascinating one in the article is “Dope”. “It comes from the 19th century Dutch word ‘doop,’ meaning ‘thick dipping sauce.’ Originally a cooking term, it eventually became synonymous with a thick-headed or slow person.”
“When semi-liquid opium became popular around 1889, the word ‘doop’ was first used in reference to narcotic stupefaction – A.K.A., getting stupid high.”
Check out the article for more on the origin of “reefer,” “marijuana,” or “grass,” and feel free to act like a total smart ass next time you get high with your friends.

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