Hemp News, Laws & Product Updates

A curated news hub focused on hemp regulation and policy changes, cannabinoids (CBD/Delta-8/Delta-9/hemp-derived THC), lab testing and COAs, product safety, brands, and industry trends.

Federal & State Hemp Laws
THC Policy
CBD / Delta-8
Compliance
Lab Testing (COA)
Product Safety
Industry & Brands

Back to Chow420

https://hightimes.com/

Researchers Unveil New Study on Genetically Modified Hemp Methods

A recent study published in Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology analyzed the possibilities of genetically engineering cannabis to ensure consistency and targeting specifical cannabinoids. In “Using Advanced Biotechnological Techniques to Improve Cannabis Cultivars,” researchers from the University of Lethbridge’s Department of Biological Sciences in Alberta, Canada, explored the benefits of gene editing in cannabis. “Inherent breeding limitations, genetic instability, and psychoactive compounds have impeded utilization, however, application of biotechnology tools such as molecular breeding, tissue culture, and genetic engineering can advance cannabis research and applications,” the study authors wrote. “With recent advancements, cannabis micropropagation can substantially increase multiplication rates while preserving genetic lines.” Examples of genome editing tools include zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), or clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas systems, which can be used to manipulate or precisely modify a gene. Researchers noted that these methods of gene editing in cannabis are “promising tools” “for editing biosynthetic pathways to increase enzyme efficiency and the development of novel cannabis traits.” Traditional cannabis cultivation methods aren’t fully reliable when trying to create a strain with a specific cannabinoid in mind and is influenced greatly by the growing environment and various methods of cultivation. Also the hindrance of federal law that prohibits hemp growers from cultivating their crop by limiting the percentage of THC. If a grower’s crops are tested above the legal threshold of 0.3% THC, then the crops must be destroyed. According to researchers, the CRISPR method of editing could be especially useful in targeting specific cannabinoids. “A recently emerged CRISPR-based technique known as base editing holds significant promise for customizing alleles and comprehensively characterizing genes, leading to the creation of gain-of-function mutations” researchers wrote. The authors surmised that utilizing the CRISPR method would allow for scientists to manipulate the amount of CBD or THC in a strain, which could also potentially save growers from losing money on crops that would otherwise be destroyed due to the THC limitation. Ultimately, researchers stated that cannabis gene editing should be further explored for its potential. “In comparison to other profitable crops, cannabis stands out as exceptionally well-suited for bioenergy production, and it is attracting attention for its medicinal and economic prospects,” the study stated. “Biotechnology, with a primary focus on continually refining gene editing methods, presents the opportunity to unleash the complete potential of cannabis via genetic enhancements.” However, even with the projected benefits of gene editing, researchers prefer a recommendation to study cannabis gene editing further. “As our understanding of cannabis genetics and biotechnological tools advances, we can anticipate more effective and sustainable approaches for producing cannabis with specific characteristics, all while navigating the complexities of the modern cannabis industry,” the researchers concluded. In September 2023, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) gave approval to the cultivation of a strain that contains reduced percentages of THC and CBC. “APHIS found this modified hemp is unlikely to pose an increased plant pest risk compared to other cultivated hemp,” the agency wrote in its review. “As a result, it is not subject to regulation under 7 CFR part 340. From a plant pest risk perspective, this hemp may be safely grown and bred in the United States.” In March 2024, APHIS approved the hemp cultivators in Wisconsin growing a genetically modified hemp strain called Badger G. The modified strain was found to contain high percentages of CBG through the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technique, and lacks CBD and THC. Additionally on March 8, the USDA celebrated the second national “Biobased Products Day,” which is a day of awareness dedicated to showcasing biobased products that benefit the economy. “The Biden-Harris Administration supports and incentivizes biobased products because they are what consumers want — and what farmers, and our planet, need,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “American farmers, growers, biobased business owners and innovators are resilient and thriving. We are committed to celebrating them and the economic, environmental and health benefits of biobased products on National Biobased Products Day.” In honor of the day, the USDA released two reports, including one called “An Economic Impact Analysis of the U.S. Biobased Products Industry: 2023 Update,” and another called “Hemp Research Needs Roadmap,” which details industry necessities through “Breeding and Genetics,” “Best Practices for Production,” “Biobased Products Manufacturing for End-uses” and “Transparency and Consistency.” In the “Breeding and Genetics” section of the report, the USDA described the necessity of stable cannabis strains. “High-quality, consistent, and stable varieties are a necessity to establish value across the hemp industry,” the report stated. “Given the unique biological characteristics of hemp, both foundational and applied research will be required to unlock value, and it is critical that public-private partnerships are preserved to continually generate genetic gain.” The announcement also included an investment of $10 million into Oregon State University’s Global Hemp Innovation Center. The Center will be working with Native American Tribes to increase economic development in hemp-based materials and products.

https://hightimes.com/

South Dakota Adult-Use Ballot Initiative Approved, Giving Voters Third Chance

An initiative to approve adult-use cannabis will appear on the ballot in South Dakota. Is the third time the charm? South Dakota voters will have a third chance to approve a ballot initiative to legalize adult-use cannabis, this time, Initiated Measure 29, which will appear on the 2024 general election ballot on Nov. 5. On Monday, Secretary of State Monae Johnson’s office validated a measure that will appear on the November general election ballot. The campaign collected 22,558 valid signatures, which is about 5,000 more than is required for ballot placement. “Secretary of State Monae L. Johnson announces that a petition submitted for an initiated measure was validated and filed by her office today,” a June 3 press release reads. “This ballot question would legalize the recreational use, possession, and distribution of marijuana. The title for the ballot question will be Initiated Measure 29.” It will be the third time South Dakota voters have weighed in on the question to approve cannabis for adult use. The Associated Press reports that in 2020, voters passed a measure, Amendment A, to legalize adult-use cannabis. South Dakota’s voters approved an adult-use ballot initiative in November 2020 by a solid 54% margin, However, the referendum was reversed by litigation. The measure was ultimately struck down in court. Voters tried once again, two years ago. The campaign’s second initiative in 2022 was rejected by voters by 52%. (A medical cannabis initiative that was also approved by voters in 2020 was not challenged.) State leaders have stood in the way of cannabis reform, giving the agenda to legalize a fight. The push to strike down the amendment passed by voters in November was spearheaded by Gov. Kristi Noem. “South Dakota is a place where the rule of law and our Constitution matter, and that’s what today’s decision is about,” Noem said in a statement. “We do things right—and how we do things—matters just as much as what we are doing.” If passed, the bill would legalize adult-use cannabis for people 21 and older. Adults over 21 would be able to buy and possess up to two ounces of cannabis or 16 grams of concentrate, with a limit of six plants per person with a 12-plant maximum for a single household. In addition, possession of cannabis products cannot exceed 1,600 mg of THC. The bill imposed a limit of 2 ounces of cannabis in forms other than concentrate or flower. The measure also allows cultivation of plants, with several restrictions. Proponents plan to work with the Legislature to implement business licensing, tax and other regulations, if passed. Proponents remain hopeful that voters will approve the bill. “We firmly believe that South Dakotans deserve to make their own choices on how they live their lives, including the freedom to responsibly use cannabis,” Zebadiah Johnson, political director for the campaign to legalize adult-use cannabis, said in a statement. Protecting South Dakota Kids chair Jim Kinyon said the state’s voters already had a say on the issue and rejected recreational marijuana back in 2022. He criticized supporters’ repeated efforts to put the issue to a vote. “How many times does the state of South Dakota need to reject recreational marijuana before the industry will accept the decision of the state’s citizens?” Kinyon said. “I expect that the industry will triple down on their money to try and sway and disuade voters,” Protecting South Dakota Kids chairperson Jim Kinyon said. The road to the ballot is due to the efforts of advocates and canvassers who worked tirelessly. Last May, advocates in South Dakota turned in a batch of signatures to get the adult-use cannabis initiative on the ballot in November. South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws (SDBML) collected signatures (initially a 29,030 count) and submitted them on May 7, which was the deadline set by the Secretary of State Monae Johnson’s office. Out of that amount, 17,508 must be verified in order for the initiative to appear on the ballot. “Today is the culmination of seven months of hard work by advocates and volunteers across South Dakota,” said SDBML executive director Matthew Schweich. “We are very confident that we have collected enough signatures from registered voters to qualify for this November’s ballot.” Achieving this goal was partially due to the secretary of state’s office approval to pay canvassers to pass out ballot material and collect signatures, in addition to the organization’s volunteers, in December 2023. The campaign material they passed out included the title and ballot description. South Dakota voters will once again head to the polls to decide if the state will move forward and legalize adult-use cannabis. If passed, it would make South Dakota the 25th state to approve adult use.

https://hightimes.com/

Airbnb Cleanup Crew Finds 235 Pounds of Meth in Rental Home

Two suspects are accused of allegedly using an Airbnb rental to store a massive stash of drugs. According to the Alhambra Police Department (APD) in California, police officers found over 200 pounds of meth inside an Airbnb, leading to the arrest of two suspects driving a van nearby. Two suspects allegedly used an Airbnb as a place to stash hundreds of pounds of meth, but were unaware they were being recorded by a Ring camera that police were able to obtain. Officers posted photos and a description of the bust on Instagram. “Officers responded to the 1400 block of Ethel Ave. regarding boxes that were found by a cleaning crew in an Airbnb residence,” the APD posted on Instagram. “Upon arrival, officers located approximately 235 lbs. of methamphetamine. The suspects were caught on RING camera footage using a U-Haul van to transport the narcotics.” The post shows large bundles of meth containing smaller bags, lined up on the ground, spread out. Police said the van was approaching the residence to return, then did a 180-degree turn the other way when they saw police approaching. “While Officers were at the scene, the U-Haul van returned to the location, saw your APD, and quickly made a U-turn, thinking they would get away,” the post continues. “Ultimately, the two suspects were arrested and booked in APD Jail for transporting narcotics.” According to Alhambra Police Sgt. Efren Tamayo, police waited for the suspects to return to pick up their stash. Tamayo said that details on the case were limited, however a Ring camera captured footage of both the two suspects and the van that was used to transport the meth. Airbnb quickly responded, indicating that the service does not tolerate illegal drugs in any case. “The reported criminal activity has no place on Airbnb and we have removed a booking guest from the platform as investigations continue,” an Airbnb spokesperson told The Los Angeles Times. “Our team is working closely with the host to provide support, and we stand ready to assist the Alhambra Police Department with their investigations.” The identities of the suspects were not released. Drug solicitation isn’t the only problem at Airbnbs. Parties taking place at Airbnb rentals in California have become a nuisance, with out-of-control events taking place more often, and many times, it involves illegal drugs. A few weeks ago nearby in Long Beach, California, neighborhood residents got sick of parties and banned unsupervised Airbnb rentals over concerns about drug-filled parties taking place. Andy Oliver, of the College Estates neighborhood of Long Beach, filed a petition to the city’s Community Development Department after out-of-state tourists renting out unhosted houses, throwing parties with drugs and blasting music loud. A shooting victim ended up outside Oliver’s house at one of such parties. “People have to live with this knowing that your house, your safe place, has now been violated by violent crime,” Oliver told CBS News at the time. Due to Oliver’s efforts, over half of the approximately 800 homes in his area agreed to sign the petition. While drugs are not tolerated on Airbnb rentals, some find ways to incorporate hemp or cannabis in ways that don’t conflict with the law. Airbnb partnered with a Sonoma County-based cannabis farm in 2022 to offer exclusive one-night stays. The farm is located on 60 acres in Sonoma County, located southeast of Mendocino County, which is a famous region for prime cannabis cultivation. As is customary with Airbnb listings, this home’s official name is descriptive of what its hosts hope guests will experience during their stay: “Live the High Life at Sonoma Hills Farm.” Staying at the farm doesn’t connect guests directly with any licensed cannabis plants or products, however. “Due to regulations and legal limitations, guests will not be visiting a licensed cannabis marijuana grow or interacting with cannabis marijuana,” the Airbnb listing reads. “Guests instead have access to a neighboring private home, vegetable garden and cannabis hemp farm. These plants look and smell identical to the cannabis marijuana plants, but contain less than 1% THC and are federally legal. In addition, they’ll have access to all of the other produce on the property.” The listing does mention a selection of CBD products from various companies in California, such as Green Bee Botanicals, Potli, Rose Los Angeles, and Jane West, as well as candles from Garden Society. The listing also mentioned a partnership with Airbnb, which will be donating to a worthwhile nonprofit organization that strives to promote regenerative agriculture and restore climate stability. The rental was available for a limited time. Airbnb does not allow illegal drugs at any of their rentals.

https://hightimes.com/

The DNA of Dank

Most of the time, when we hear someone talk about cannabis genetics, the first thing that comes to mind is a pack of seeds. But it goes a lot deeper than that, and as cannabis continues to get more and more normalized across America, scientists are beginning to dive even further into the genetic traits that make the heat the heat. We sat down with LeafWorks to hear the latest in cannabis genomics and how they’re using science to create value for the industry. Ph.D.s Eleanor Kuntz and Kerin Law originally founded the company on the eve of California’s Proposition 64 vote that legalized cannabis for adult use in the Golden State. Kuntz brought the market experience from her work with natural product companies with a global footprint, while Law had just finished her Ph.D. in developing next-generation sequencing methodologies that would harness the power of the tech at more affordable rates. According to LeafWorks, its primary concern at the moment is cracking the genetic code of cannabis to offer a ton of DNA-based services regarding what plants are being bought, sold, bred, and grown. As they chase this dream, a huge backbone for continuing toward that goal has been the company’s cannabis plant sex tests, which can identify male plants early in the growing cycle. “I think it’s kind of always been on our radar, but it made sense to do something about it,” Kuntz said of the opportunities at the crossroads of cannabis and DNA testing. “In 2016, when we formed LeafWorks, it was really a more abstract concept at the time where we were looking at it more explicitly through the lens of natural products.” Kuntz pointed out how big identity is in natural foods markets. She used the metaphor of how irritated someone would be if they ordered green tea and got echinacea instead in comparison to cannabis that’s completely mislabeled. LeafWorks was one of the first companies to sequence the male and female genomes of the cannabis plant. This led to the company offering the first plant sexing test on the market. “That was really what’s been our bread and butter test for us,” Law told High Times. “And we focused on cannabis because, unlike a lot of these other major crops, there’s no infrastructure, no one to help people get ready to go. And so we built that for the cannabis industry, starting with the most fundamental issue as soon as seedlings pop up. Is this a boy or a girl? And then we’ve developed it outward.” With the sex test laying the foundation, they expanded further into pathogen identification and identity services. Law argued there are lots of different aspects of the cannabis industry that will benefit from genetic identification. That could mean proving something is that phenotype that dumps a lot of hash or confirming that a clone’s identity is what you’re being promised before buying it. Pathogens are also a massive issue in the cannabis industry. Whole nurseries have collapsed after grows were infected, and others have hit the brink but survived after unknowingly spreading pathogens. So, clean plants are a big deal if you’re trying to keep the boat afloat. Kuntz argued that we’re a lot further along than the days when you could sell anything. “The more refined your market gets, and the more saturated your market gets, the more quality and efficiencies within your own operation become important to you,” Kuntz said, noting how fundamental clean plants are to everything else being a success. “It’s really important to have clean plants because they survive better and they produce higher quality when you’re looking at the chemistry of the higher-quality product. And so I think there’s been a lot more attention and just a lot more knowledge about some of the detrimental effects of the pests and pathogens.” After LeafWorks’s sex tests, checking plants for hop latent viroid disease and other pathogens is the company’s most common service. The symptoms of hop latent viroid are devastating to a commercial crop. They include shorter internodal spacing, smaller leaves, stunting, malformation, reduced vigor, lower water intake, reduced flower mass, and fewer trichomes. Law said that at first, people tend to be hesitant to spend the money to get the hop latent viroid test, but some of LeafWorks’s steadiest customers have been people who didn’t test their moms and ended up battling hop latent for a season. “Since then, we have very steady customers who realize that early and consistent testing really pays out in the end because otherwise, you lose such a high percentage of your yield,” Law said. The pair estimated that roughly 80% of the growers they work with have come across plants with hop latent viroid. Kuntz described the situation as pretty bad everywhere. When people first started testing for hop latent viroid disease in the mid-2010s, it was a costly process. The earliest forms of testing would cost thousands of dollars to check an individual plant. LeafWorks’s pathogen test initially only cost $50 bucks when it was first launched. In the years since the economics of scale has allowed the company to cut that price in half to $25. “More testing makes it easier to lower costs. And I think it’s also important with the hop latent to make it at a price point where people can do the testing appropriately,” Kuntz said. Kuntz explained the issue with a latent pathogen is that you can test a single plant and still not identify the disease because you have to test the tissue that the virus is in, and the test sample may not contain it. And so if it is latent in the plant, you can test an aerial part of the plant (or any part that is above ground, such as stems, leaves, or flowers), and the tests can still come back as healthy because that particular tissue doesn’t have the virus in it. “But then as soon as you flip the lights or you stress the plants out, you overwater, you underwater it too much, UV, whatever it is, then all of a sudden the viroid explodes and moves through the plant,” Kuntz explained. “And then you can catch it more easily in all the tissue types. So I think it’s important to keep that price at a point where people can recurrently test their moms, especially so they can really know what’s going on with them.” When people think of laboratory testing and cannabis, they usually fall into two groups of thought. The first is the safety aspect of ensuring no heavy metals or pesticides. The second is understanding what’s in the plant and is less safety-oriented but more focused on how much THC or terpenes are contained within. We asked the founders what they think people overlook the most regarding cannabis lab testing. Law believes people are yet to truly embrace the value of sex testing even though it’s a big money space for the company. Law argues the upfront costs could save growers 20% on operational costs. One thing that held back cannabis DNA testing with growers occurred in 2019 when one company took private genetics from OG growers and promised them they would provide DNA markers to help protect their life’s work in the industry to come. The company ended up using the cuts to try and breed their own super strains, and as you can imagine, it left a horrible taste in people’s mouths. Another problem was knowing if the material that a testing company got was vetted. A person could give them anything and then claim to have the genetic markers for whatever strain they wanted. We asked the LeafWorks founders if those testing flaws have impacted what they’re trying to do. “Yeah, and you have the problem of false negatives and false positives, right? So things that are the same are called different things, and things that are different are called the same thing,” Kuntz said. “That doesn’t serve anyone, and it actually acts to erode the value of the immense amount of breeding work and specialization.” Kuntz further emphasized that she doesn’t think those past events hurt LeafWorks. “I think what you have to do is you have to actually interface with the community itself,” Kuntz said. “You can’t come from a top-down approach, and I think we’ve learned this in agriculture. That’s never how you do anything.” Our conversation moved on to discuss how far out we are from actually being able to test any cannabis material and have a deep genetic understanding of precisely what it is. LeafWorks recently received funding from the state of California to lay the groundwork for more in-depth genetic testing. They are working with Cal Poly Humboldt and the Origins Council on the Canndor Herbarium, a project that seeks to preserve the records of cannabis plants. “It’s really focusing on community-led research, and whereby legacy communities are bringing forward these important plants in our community. These are the definitions and the boundaries of these plants,” Kuntz said. “These are the breeding histories, and then we’re doing the work to do the botanical portions of those definitions so that the community itself can codify those naming systems.” Kuntz hopes that the Canndor Herbarium will help get the industry to a place where if you go into a store and buy something with a name attached to it, you always get the thing you’re expecting with the name on the container. Kuntz argued that if someone bought a bottle of merlot and a white wine came out, they would be frustrated. We asked about the agricultural variability aspect of cannabis. Sometimes the same things just don’t turn out the same for a variety of reasons. Kuntz responded with another question: What if the variability is that the plants were never the same? “The problem is if you have two more moving targets, how can you assess quality? Is it the fact that it’s the same thing and it’s cultivated differently? So that’s why they’ve got differences. Or is it that they’re not the same thing at all? So they’re never going to be able to get to the same point no matter how consistent the cultivation is in regards to location, inputs, whatever,” Kuntz said. Kuntz went on to argue that variability in biology is what makes specific years or vintage wine more impressive, more expensive, and more sought after long term. She thinks the same will be true with cannabis. There will be specific years for certain cultivars, especially with products that can be stored for longer periods, like hash, that will be more highly sought after and more expensive because it was a particularly good year for specific regions. Those following the space can expect to see LeafWorks continue to be at the cutting edge of cannabis and DNA. This article was originally published in the February 2024 issue of High Times Magazine.

https://hightimes.com/

Psilocybin Surge

A new study based on data collected by law enforcement agencies suggests the availability of illicit psilocybin mushrooms in the U.S. has risen significantly compared to prior years. This uptick in psilocybin seizures suggests that the mushrooms are now easier to find on the street. Researchers at New York University (NYU) uncovered a rapidly growing trend suggesting more Americans have access to psilocybin mushrooms, as the list of potential medical benefits grows. Published online in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, the study analyzed 4,526 psilocybin seizure reports from 2017 to 2022, and categorized the annual number of confiscations and weight of seized shrooms per state. The study shows that law enforcement seizures of psilocybin mushrooms in the U.S. skyrocketed from 402 seizures in 2017 to 1,396 in 2022. The total weight of psilocybin mushrooms seized also increased by 2,749%, from 226 kilograms (498 pounds) in 2017 to 844 kilograms (1,860 pounds) in 2022. Drug seizures by law enforcement are also what the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration uses to determine drug availability. The researchers noted that this data does not paint a clear picture of the exact amount of psilocybin in America, given all of the people who elude the police or go undetected. Confiscations of psilocybin are up in nearly every region of the country that was analyzed. Researchers found “significant increases” of psilocybin seizures in all four regions—the Northeast, West, South, and Midwest regions of the U.S., and shrooms are particularly growing in popularity on the West Coast. “We found that the number of shroom seizures and the total weight of shrooms seized annually increased through 2022, and the greatest weight of shrooms seized was in the West,” Joseph J. Palamar told High Times in an email. Palamar, a co-author of the study, is an associate professor at the Department of Population Health at NYU’s Langone Health in Manhattan. He explained that law enforcement data helps to explain how prevalent psilocybin is, but does not show the entire picture. It was impossible for the researchers, for instance, to determine if the shrooms were wet or dry, as police typically don’t make the distinction. “We don’t treat drug seizures as an indicator of use but rather more of an indicator of availability,” Palamar said. “This might seem a bit counterintuitive at first because seizures literally remove drugs from the market, but we believe seizures only represent a small sample of drugs available. We believe the increase in shroom seizures indicates an increase in availability. Seizures are far from being a perfect indicator of availability but it’s still an important focus.” Self-reported data on psychedelic use is very limited, but earlier research indicates that psilocybin is the most consumed plant-based psychedelic in the U.S. (This of course excludes cannabis, which some consider to be a mild psychedelic.) The prevalence of psilocybin use probably comes in waves, he said, with waves taking place in the 1960s and so on. This time around, psilocybin research is focusing on its potential medical benefits more than its harms, representing a sea change in the way psychedelic mushrooms are perceived. Starting with Denver, Colorado in 2019, numerous cities and the District of Columbia decriminalized psilocybin. At the state level, Oregon voters decriminalized psilocybin in 2020, followed by the entire state of Colorado two years later. Ketamine is another psychedelic that has recently risen in popularity in therapeutic settings, Palomar said. While it was restricted to Schedule III in 1999, a nasal spray was approved by the FDA in 2019, and now clinics in many states provide it. “All drug trends seem to come in waves, and it’s unknown whether this recent increase is being driven by positive media coverage of psilocybin research, but I strongly believe it’s a factor,” he said. “I anticipate a similar situation with respect to ketamine.” “Recent increases in use of hallucinogens, more broadly, may be associated with increased coverage of their perceived therapeutic benefits, based on a recent increase in clinical trials testing psilocybin, specifically, in treating psychiatric conditions,” researchers wrote. “Major trials suggest psilocybin’s efficacy in treating conditions such as major depressive disorder in particular, but also in treating conditions such as anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorder.” The researchers in this study said that recreational users frequently take too much, causing dysphoria. Generally speaking, 3.5 grams of psilocybin is considered a large dose, and 5 or more grams is considered a heroic dose. Powerful, profound, and confusing effects can arise even when people consume even just a few grams. However researchers like Matthew W. Johnson, a professor of Psychedelics and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins, suggested that heroic doses are needed for certain conditions. This article was originally published in the May 2024 issue of High Times Magazine.

https://hightimes.com/

High Five: Five Early Drug War Laws

The Harrison Narcotics Act was signed by then-President Woodrow Wilson on Dec. 17, 1914 and took effect on March 1, 1915, establishing a federal drug tax designed to generate revenue and curb the free trade of drugs. It was approved via three bills, H.R. 1966, H.R. 1967, and H.R. 6282. The bills focused on strictly regulating the trade of cocaine, morphine, heroin, and opium, imposing taxes and restrictions on distribution of drugs without fully banning them. Before The Harrison Narcotics Act, you could buy heroin and cocaine at Sears (then Sears, Roebuck and Co.), or a bottle of Coca-Cola with a pinch of cocaine in it at a gas station with nearly zero oversight. It was mostly enforced on businesses run by Chinese immigrants and Black Americans. The Uniform State Narcotic Law aligned state drug laws with federal law, first drafted in 1925 but adopted in 1932. Then-President Herbert Hoover signed it, fixing the loopholes in The Harrison Narcotics Act, and forcing state drug laws to adhere. Before then, state-level drug laws were often in conflict with one another. It was passed mostly due to the relentless lobbying of Harry J. Anslinger, the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics. In lobbying for the bill, Anslinger released announcements declaring that cannabis causes insanity and sexual assault. It was a major step in outlawing cannabis as a drug class at the federal level, but it was hard to enforce. H.R. 6385 was approved and became The Marihuana Tax Act on Aug. 2, 1937. The act was designed to blot out cannabis trade by establishing an impossible “tax” on the sale of cannabis. Cannabis users were taxed $100 per ounce—adjusted to $2,191.04 in 2024—unless they met a strict licensing criteria, with stamps to prove it, and that only reduced the taxes. Harry J. Anslinger’s early drug force, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics which predated the Drug Enforcement Administration, was in charge of enforcing the law. Samuel R. Caldwell and Moses Baca were the first two people who were arrested under the act just days after it took effect. The Boggs Act of 1951 installed mandatory drug sentences—notably for cannabis convictions. For a first offense conviction for cannabis possession, it established a minimum sentence of two to five years in prison and a fine of up to $2,000. $2,000 in 1951, adjusted for inflation, would be $24,539.68 in 2024, and obviously no one could pay it. It was signed into law on Nov. 2, 1951, by then-President Harry S. Truman. On Jan. 4, 1952, law enforcement agents arrested about 500 people in one day in a series of federal raids based on the new law. On June 8, 1973, the U.S. House approved Reorganization Plan No. 2 after a push from then-President Richard Nixon. The bill created the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on July 1, 1973, merging three agencies—The Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, the Office for Drug Abuse Law Enforcement, and the Office of National Narcotics Intelligence—into one mega-agency designed to stop the trade of drugs. They have failed so far, after more than 50 years of tactics.

https://hightimes.com/

Celebrating Bill Walton: A Giant for Justice

Bill Walton’s widespread impact on so many people in so many corners of life was evidenced by the universal outpouring of despondent grief and fond remembrance after the legendary college and pro center, innovative live sports broadcaster and emblematic Deadhead, truly one of the most unique Americans to have ever lived, sadly succumbed to colon cancer on May 27 at age 71. Bill was renowned for a myriad of accomplishments, but perhaps most impressive of all was his progressive stance against perceived social injustices, including America’s greatest military folly, the Vietnam War. Bill was arrested during a 1972 war protest on the campus of UCLA, the prestigious public college where Walton happened to be the nation’s finest basketball player for the dynastic Bruins hoops squad. In an ESPN Classic Sports Century documentary, Walton admitted, “One of the saddest days for Coach Wooden was the day he had to bail me out of jail after I got arrested in an anti-Vietnam (War) protest.” UCLA Coach John Wooden was the highly successful–but extremely conservative–”Wizard of Westwood” who guided the Bruins to ten NCAA championships (two of which were won with Walton). As Bill recalled, his coach acknowledged Walton’s political conviction in his response: “(Wooden) said to me, “Bill, I know you feel very strongly about this, but I just don’t think you getting arrested and taking part in this demonstration is what it’s all about.” Walton shifted from protesting to writing a letter to then-U.S. President Richard Nixon, demanding Nixon resign from office! (Nixon did actually resign in 1974, in the wake of the Watergate scandal). Walton’s participation in the protest that resulted in his arrest was even more impressively selfless when you consider he himself was at no risk of being drafted, as due to his immense size at 6-foot-11-inches, the military would have been unable to provide him with a custom uniform, boots, etc Thus, Walton’s actions were purely altruistic, and even potentially putting his pro career at jeopardy, though his supreme talent ensured he was still chosen by the Portland Trail Blazers as the #1 overall pick in the 1974 NBA Draft. Walton, who could pass the basketball as well as he could score it, led Portland to their only NBA title in 1977, and then he was named league MVP the following year. Severe foot and ankle injuries derailed Bill’s career until he made a storied comeback as “Sixth Man of the Year” (best player coming off the bench) and won another title with the NBA team many regard as the greatest ever, the 1986 Boston Celtics. On the day Bill died, the 2024 Celtics clinched yet another trip to the NBA Finals by beating Indiana, and their victory in the Eastern Conference Finals was dedicated to Bill Walton. For an added perspective on Bill’s life and legacy, we spoke with Grateful Dead historian David Gans, a recording and touring musician in his own right, as well as co-host of Tales From The Golden Road radio show on the Grateful Dead Channel on SiriusXM. Most people first saw Bill Walton on a basketball court, but for David Gans, it was appropriately enough at a Grateful Dead show, one which coincidentally took place 50 years ago last month: “I went to see the Dead at UC-Santa Barbara (on May 25, 1974). And we were sitting in the bleachers, and I remember my friends pointing to this giant red-haired dude walking around on the field. They told me he was a huge star for UCLA and that he was a Deadhead and that his name was Bill Walton. “It was remarkable, this giant college basketball star walking among us Deadheads. I didn’t know anything about basketball, so it was the first time I’d ever heard of him…but God knows it wasn’t the last. “Being a radio host, I’ve interviewed BIll on several occasions over the years. He and I had a sort of a low-key competition; every time I saw him: I’d say, ‘No, Bill, I’m the luckiest guy in the world.’ (Walton publicly referred to himself as “the luckiest guy in the world”). We agreed to disagree on that one.” Of course, this wouldn’t be a proper High Times profile without touching upon Bill Walton’s use and public praise of cannabis. While at UCLA, Walton had to be more discreet about his ganja consumption, although it’s been reported that Coach Wooden was acutely aware of his star center’s weed smoking, but realized there was little he could do to restrict Bill’s off-court activity. During his pro years winning awards and titles, Walton as well as his fellow UCLA center turned NBA superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the L.A. Lakers were both known to be prolific potheads. Walton overcame his public speaking difficulties (he was a stutterer) as well as debilitating injuries to become a professional broadcaster who brought a combination of insight and enthusiasm rarely seen behind the microphone. In addition, he often quoted Grateful Dead song lyrics, incorporating them in his on-air analysis. And despite being employed by a confining corporate entity like ESPN, Walton was not intimidated to express his views, such as during a Feb 4, 2015 college hoops game between Oregon and Washington on ESPN2, when Walton made a conceptual connection that no other sports broadcaster in history ever even contemplated, when he declared: “You know how I talk every week, (and) complain about the NCAA not modernizing the rules? There’s another rule they’ve got to modernize. This whole ‘war on drugs’ has been an absolute failure across the board. We’re looking for (then-President) Obama to step up and say, Why are we punishing people for things that are legal? Why are people languishing in jail for things that are legal?” This was followed by the classic moment in 2017 on the show ESPN Voices, when abruptly coming out of commercial, viewers were suddenly greeted by Walton dressed as the tallest Uncle Sam you’ll ever see, stating point-blank to his co-hosts (and by extension, everyone who was watching) that, “Marijuana should not be a Schedule I Drug, And all the people who’ve been in trouble for it for all these years, (President) Obama (should grant them) blanket amnesty, and just move on to the future.” Beyond his progressive activism, Bill’s greatest heritage may be his unification of the often divisive hemispheres of drug-friendly counterculture and straight-laced sports. When queried about that notion, David Gans quoted an interview he conducted with Bill from approximately 30 years ago: “Bill said, ‘The best thing anyone told me as a basketball player was that I made my fellow basketball players good.’ Bill and Jerry Garcia have many, many things in common, and Bill often compared his (basketball playing skills on a team) with Jerry’s (guitar skills in a band) in the sense of both being in a group doing collective improvisation. “It’s about recognizing that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And that you can be a very effective player by directing attention away from yourself and making the other guys look good, as Bill said. “And Jerry did the same thing; he knew all the eyes were on him, so he did what he could to direct attention elsewhere. He didn’t need the attention, so had the luxury and the gift of sharing the spotlight with (the other Dead members) around him and making them look good too. “Bill learned from the Grateful Dead, and showed us that basketball and Dead-style music are similar in the sense of being improvisations within a structure, in which that sense of team consciousness transcends and is more important than any individual consciousness. “That’s what the Grateful Dead taught Bill, and that’s what he in turn taught us about the connection between sports and music.” On a personal note, this author actually met Bill Walton in December 2003 before a concert by the post-Garcia iteration of the band then known as “The Dead”. This was outside of Oakland Arena in the “Shakedown” parking lot scene where fans do pre-show partying and acquire substances for getting even higher and tripping during the actual concert. Bill was the tallest person I ever stood before, but he was kind to me as we briefly discussed Celtics legendary power forward (and Walton’s former teammate) Kevin McHale. McHale was one of the Celtics teammates who famously attended a Grateful Dead concert with Bill in Worcester, Massachusetts in November, 1985, Bill’s first season in Boston. David Gans added his own final reflection: “The one thing I would want mentioned is that whenever I ran into Bill, he knew who I was and he was always effusive in his praise for me and (radio co-host) Gary Lambert. He really went out of his way to make people feel welcome and accommodated and appreciated. “His positive energy was genuine as a giant, supportive Deadhead. I just had the sense that Bill Walton was the real deal. He really was that thoroughly decent and joyous human being that he presented himself to be.” It was wonderfully appropriate that Bill lived long enough to see a major development in the struggle for pot legalization when the Dept of Justice announced this past May 16 its intention to reschedule cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. This means that the USA can move a step closer, as Bill had so openly wished, towards no longer punishing people for using a plant that has done so much good for so many, including Bill Walton himself.

https://hightimes.com/

Claims of Misconduct Mar MDMA Research for PTSD

Medical research into using the psychedelic MDMA to treat post-traumatic stress disorder is being called into question following allegations that a clinical trial investigating the treatment was potentially tainted by misconduct. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently conducting a review of the psychedelic commonly called ecstasy for patients with PTSD. The treatment is being developed by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and its public benefit Lykos, which has conducted clinical trials in a bid to have the therapy approved by the FDA. In 2017, the FDA designated the MDMA-assisted treatment for PTSD as a breakthrough therapy, indicating it may be a significant improvement over existing therapies and clearing the way for further research. The clinical trials tested MDMA in conjunction with intense therapy administered by a pair of therapists to a group of patients with PTSD. In one stage of the trial, 94 patients were given either MDMA or a placebo during three therapy sessions spaced one month apart. Participants also completed integration sessions to help them process their experiences during the drug therapy sessions. At the end of the trial, 71% of participants in the MDMA group had experienced an improvement in symptoms and no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Among the placebo group, 48% of participants had similar results. Some participants in both groups experienced adverse effects such as anxiety or heart palpitations, although none of the adverse effects were characterized as serious. “Consistent with PTSD, suicidal ideation was observed in both groups,” the authors reported in the journal Nature Medicine, “MDMA did not appear to increase this risk, and no suicidal behavior was observed.” While the research results are promising, an independent investigation of the clinical trial has determined that the findings may not tell the whole story. In a recent draft report, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), a nonprofit that evaluates clinical trials and drug prices, said the investigation found “substantial concerns about the validity of the results” of the MDMA clinical trials. Following the report’s release, a citizen petition filed with the FDA alleged that possible misconduct and ethical violations could mar the credibility of the MDMA research. The ICER report acknowledges that the research data shows that MDMA may be an “important addition to treatment options for PTSD.” But it also listed several factors that could cloud the results of the study. The report notes that it is not easy to conduct research into psychedelics because it is difficult to obscure which participants are receiving a placebo and which are receiving the active drug because of the unmistakable effects of psychoactive drugs. As a result, most of the study subjects correctly guessed which group they were in, according to a review of the research released by the FDA on Friday. Without proper blinding, the findings can be skewed by participants or researchers, many of whom see strong promise in the therapeutic potential of the compounds. “There’s the possibility that the data might not be representative of what’s actually happened in clinical trials,” Neşe Devenot, one of the authors of the citizen petition and a senior lecturer in the writing program at Johns Hopkins University who is involved in psychedelic research, told NPR. “I don’t think this has been publicly reckoned with.” Additionally, the report notes that “very strong prior beliefs” among therapists, researchers and patients influenced the results of the trial. “Concerns have been raised by some that therapists encouraged favorable reports by patients and discouraged negative reports by patients including discouraging reports of substantial harms, potentially biasing the recording of benefits and harms,” the report states. The research was also marred by allegations from a study participant that two therapists– a married couple– engaged in inappropriate physical contact while the subject was under the influence of MDMA during a treatment session in Canada. An investigation by MAPS determined that the couple had “substantially deviated” from the treatment protocol, leading the organization to notify health authorities in Canada and the United States. Additionally, the therapists were barred from administering MDMA-assisted therapy in affiliation with MAPS. The ICER report has not been finalized, but Dr. David Rind, the chief medical officer for the group says its investigation showed that “there’s still a lot of uncertainty” about using MDMA to treat PTSD. “You have a group of people who are very upset about how these trials went,” he said. “We couldn’t tell, even though we talked with people where this happened, whether that represents a tiny fraction of bad events or a number of bad events large enough to have rendered the trial just not believable.” Investigators involved in the research, however, have rejected claims that the study is flawed. Jennifer Mitchell, lead author of the published papers from the Phase 3 trials, says she stands behind the study’s findings. “I didn’t feel any pressure from the sponsor to come up with anything different than what the data was providing,” said Mitchell, a professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco and associate chief of staff for research at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. “I wouldn’t have continued to work with them if I had felt that.” The FDA review also expressed concerns about the safety of MDMA, including the risk of abuse and possible side effects that could harm the cardiovascular system and the liver. Lykos CEO Amy Emerson said the company stands by the quality and integrity of its research and development process. “Given there has not been a new PTSD medication approved in the United States in over two decades for the 13 million people living with PTSD, we are deeply committed to making a difference by bringing a potential new treatment to patients,” she said in a statement cited by the Washington Post. Shawn Hauser, a partner at the cannabis and psychedelics law firm Vicente LLP, said it is not surprising that the FDA’s consideration of new MDMA-assisted therapies is raising questions, noting that the use of a psychedelic drug in conjunction with therapy is uncharted territory for the agency. The FDA drug evaluation process is difficult to apply to certain substances and treatments including psychedelics and other compounds including botanical cannabis, although for different reasons. “The promising research makes clear the potential of this therapy for treating PTSD, and while there are certainly challenges in these studies (as with any study) and legitimate concerns that must be addressed, these must be considered in the broader context of the severe unmet treatment needs by patients with PTSD and the strong data on safety and efficacy,” Hauser wrote in an email to High Times. “The questions around this process clearly underscore that the FDA evaluation process requires modernization to appropriately evaluate treatments like MDMA-assisted therapy and substances like botanical and natural medicines.”

https://hightimes.com/

High Rhymes: Niontay

There’s a moment in Niontay’s “Thank Allah,” that feels like Sunday Service. Tay repeats, “Wake up in the morning, plot on gwuala, and thank Allah I’m alive.” Relief and tension thicken the song’s atmosphere with each breath. The Brooklyn-Florida emcee understands circumstance and thrives with the cards given. Last year, Tay released two projects: Dontay’s Inferno and Demon Muppy EP. While Niontay sounds relaxed, his lyrics often raise caution. On “Bac2highbac2reality,” Tay warns, “You can’t leave the field without taking a hit,” a stark warning and reminder over an uptempo dance bassline. It’s like dancing the pain away. That’s the allure of Niontay’s music: it sounds like the silver lining in a bad situation. Niontay was originally born in Milwaukee, moving to Florida at 5 years old. He’d go back and forth until his Dad passed when he was 10. “When you were young, you just going with your mama,” he explains. It took him some time to adapt to Florida due to having ten toes down in his Milwaukee roots. Even down to his music taste of Boosie, Juvenile, Cash Money Records. His parents had diverse tastes; Dad was into Juvenile, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Outkast, as well as Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Q-Lazarus. Tay describes his mom’s taste as “all over the place,” depending on how she was feeling. “Mama would be going through some shit, she got on the Jill Scott in the car, she got on the Musiq Soulchild,” he remembers. What would capture Tay the most would be his Grandparents’ influence consisting of artists like The Isley Brothers, The Stylistics, The OJs, and The Ohio Players. Niontay got into loads of trouble as a kid, taking on writing when grounded in his room. “My mama was the type of mama like, “Stay in your room, read, nigga. I’m going to take the door off the hinges. I’m taking this Xbox, nigga. Whatever in this motherfucker that I bought, I’m taking it,” he reminisces. The first beat he ever rapped on was the Alchemist-produced Jadakiss song “We Gonna Make It”. Tay came to terms early that rapping is his calling. “I had finally started realizing, just coming to terms that hooping not finna work, bro. You like 5’8″. You smoke weed all day, every day. You not finna make it to the league, bro. So I’m like, ‘Damn. All right. Let me fuck with this rapping shit.'” In a Zoom call, Niontay speaks with High Times about his early beginnings, his relationship with MIKE, and recording “Real Hip-Hop” with Earl Sweatshirt and El Cousteau. As a producer, what do you look for in the crates when you’re picking out vinyls for chopping up beats? I’m definitely looking for some shit that’s not too drum heavy. And it also depends on how I’m feeling. If I’m trying to just make a loop, I’ll use the drums in the sample and chop up that as best as I could. But most of the time, I’m looking for some shit that I could just straight rip the sample and throw my own drums on it. But I really like soul. I like soul shit. I don’t want to give up no sauce or nothing for myself personally, but gospel music be the hardest shit, low-key. You’ve previously spoken on how MIKE creatively inspires you. How has MIKE helped you, if any involvement, for the Demon Muppy EP? Shit, just playing the gang songs. Playing songs for gang and shit. I think that’s a very important part of the process of putting the project together. MIKE is somebody who I really respect their opinion on music, on life in general, but just especially… We talking about music. I’m not going to put a song on a project without playing that for MIKE. Not that he got to approve it because MIKE could be like, oh this is cool, and I love the song and I’ll still put it on there but I’m going to play it for my dog, you feel me? When did you first link up with MIKE? 2020. My nigga Sideshow. Shout out to Sideshow, my twin. He was in New York and me and Sideshow had kind of disconnected for a year or two, just fell out a communication type shit. It wasn’t no beef or nothing. I wasn’t on Instagram like that. That nigga wasn’t on Instagram at the time. It was before we was both rapping. Then he posted in New York and was just like, “Bro, I miss you, nigga. Link up.” Linked up. He like, “Bro, you got to meet this nigga who I know you would be cool as fuck with.” And I wasn’t too hip to who MIKE was. I knew who MIKE was but I ain’t know how hard a nigga was as a rapper, or just like how cool he was as a nigga. So I pulled up. I pulled up on MIKE with Sideshow. And after that, bro, I’ve been with MIKE for like 60% of the time. My life since then, nigga, shit is crazy. Dontay’s Inferno, the “Thank Allah” video was made via variety of public cameras. It looks like, what, Ring cameras? So what was the inspiration behind? I ain’t going to lie. I’m glad you asked that because niggas be trying to make think pieces about that video and shit bro. Me and the homie Carlos ain’t have no resources, ain’t had shit. I literally was like, all I had in mind was okay let’s do a Ring camera shot and then he had another Ring camera type thing over his garage. We was at the house in Florida and shit. I’m like, “Okay, those two shots I for sure know I want to do. I’m going to pull them up in the driveway. We going to get this shot and I’ll rap into the doorbell shit.” But we sat down, we edited that shit. I ain’t even have enough clips, for real. If you watch the video, it’s a lot of the same clips repeated. And then most of the video, I’m not even rapping to the song. It is just clips put together, you feel me? So that shit just some real makeshift shit, bro. One of your most recent records you team up with Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE and El Cousteau for Real Hip-Hop. How that track all came about? Shit, when we was at… Shout out to Tony. We was in Tony Seltzer’s studio. We had been kicking it for a little bit just in the stu. MIKE could do some. I’d run some. Thebe would run some… We was all just doing shit on our own in the same session type shit. But everybody had the day where they’d work on some shit. It got to the point where I’m like, “All right bro, we all in this motherfucker. There’s no way we finna end this era without a song.” And Thebe don’t even, he don’t live in New York. He don’t be in New York too often, but around that time, that nigga was in New York like a motherfucker. I’m like, “All right. Bitch-ass niggas.” I go in the studio. I’m like, “Tony load me up, bro. Punch me in.” I go in there. I spit the first three bars. I’m like, “Let me hear it back.” I heard it back. I’m like, “Oh yeah, I got one.” Punched the rest of that shit in, bro. And then off that, Cousteau… Cousteau is such a workhorse, bro. This nigga Cousteau have a verse he wrote god damn two weeks ago that fit the song perfectly. So he go in there, lay his shit in like 10 minutes, bro. He lay his. I’m like, “Damn, we just torched this motherfucker.” That’s low-key why MIKE got the shortest verse on the song, but low-key one of the hardest on that motherfucker. MIKE dropped his eight bars. Now we just waiting on Thebe. I seen the nigga writing. I know he got something but I think he had stepped outside. He was on FaceTime with his son. Come back inside. Bro, we low-key like impeding on somebody else’s session so we got to finish this shit. Fuck it. They can wait. I’m low-key like, “Damn nigga, hurry up so we can get out this bitch, get out these niggas’ way.” Thebe is just taking forever, bro. He’s on the phone with his son. So I’m like all right, cool. He get off the phone, he get to writing and shit. Me and Cousteau like, “We finna go to the store real quick.” He still ain’t lay shit yet. I’m like, “Bro, do your verse, nigga.” Nigga finally do his verse. That shit was done, bro. Fiftieth anniversary of hip hop, man.

https://hightimes.com/

Two State Police Groups Now Back Legal Weed

Two West Coast police groups have changed their positions and now support federal cannabis legalization efforts, marking the first time that a statewide police officers organization has called for an end to the nation’s prohibition of marijuana. In a recent announcement characterized as a “historic shift,” the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) and the Oregon Coalition of Police and Sheriffs (ORCOPs) expressed support for federal legislation creating a legal pathway for marijuana to be legalized from coast to coast. “The ship has sailed,” PORAC wrote in a policy position paper cited by SFGATE announcing the group’s call for legalizing weed at the federal level, “and for the vast majority of Americans, cannabis is legal and accessible.” The two groups represent thousands of law enforcement officers working for police and sheriff’s departments across California and Oregon. In an announcement from the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education, and Regulation (CPEAR), a cannabis policy group funded in part by interests in the alcohol and tobacco industries, the two police groups expressed their support for the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act. If passed, the legislation would amend the federal Controlled Substances Act to exclude cannabis activities undertaken in compliance with state or tribal regulations. “The STATES Act does what every federal bill should do –help all 50 states succeed in the policies they choose,” CPEAR executive director Andrew Freedman said late last year when the group endorsed the STATES Act. “Whether you are pro-legalization or anti-legalization, we can all acknowledge the current federal posture of having its head in the sand is not working.” “This bill will create the commonsense guardrails that will protect our youth, protect our roads, battle against addiction and psychosis, and keep cannabis out of communities that do not want it,” he added. “This legislation does not aim to open new cannabis markets. Instead, it simply aligns federal policy with state policy so that existing cannabis markets are safer, and federal efforts can be focused on keeping cannabis out of states where it remains illegal.” PORAC, the largest police officers professional organization in California and the largest statewide group in the nation, opposed Proposition 64, the 2016 ballot measure that legalized recreational marijuana in California after receiving more than 57% of the vote that year. But as cannabis became normalized in the state following legalization, the perception of many members has changed, leading the professional organization to change its stance on legal weed. “A fair amount of officers patrolling the streets nowadays know nothing other than legalized marijuana in the state of California,” PORAC president Brian Marvel told San Francisco Bay Area online news source SFGATE. “They are much more receptive to conversations on marijuana.” Marvel said that the STATES Act would allow federal agencies to coordinate their operations directly with local law enforcement to support legal cannabis farms while working to reduce unlicensed cultivation. “We’re not making a moral judgment as to whether you should smoke it or don’t smoke it, but we want to make sure [legal cannabis companies] aren’t being drowned out by the illegal market,” said Marvel. “We really need to do everything in our power to eradicate the illegal grows in California,” he added. Marvel said that the policy shift made by the two police officers groups is also relevant to the ongoing conversation regarding psychedelics policy reform. He noted that many of the group’s members are more concerned with how the drugs can be used safely rather than focusing on the continued prohibition of psychedelics. “Let’s not … bury our heads in the sand and just say ‘No no no, we’re going to be doing pure enforcement,’ when the reality is we should be focusing on violent crimes and making our communities safer,” Marvel said. The policy change by PORAC and ORCOPs was praised by leaders who are working to reform the nation’s cannabis policy. Republican U.S. Representative Dave Joyce of Ohio, a supporter of an updated version of the federal bill known as STATES 2.0, thanked the two police groups for supporting the legislation. “As a former prosecutor, I know firsthand that our law enforcement officers are already stretched thin – forcing these public servants to walk a discrepant line between state and federal policy not only defies state’s rights but is an inefficient use of precious law enforcement resources,” Joyce said in an announcement from CPEAR about the police groups’ endorsement of the legislation. “Most importantly, it does nothing to enhance public safety and, in many cases, works against it. The STATES 2.0 Act would address this confusing discrepancy and empower law enforcement in their efforts to enforce cannabis law and address the unique needs of the communities they represent.” The move by the two police groups to back federal cannabis policy reform was also welcomed by representatives of the regulated pot industry. Lex Corwin, the founder of California-based cannabis brand Stone Road Farms, said the “development is indicative of the changing ideological landscape surrounding cannabis.” “The California police group is right– the ship has sailed. More Americans are in favor of legalization than ever before and a majority of Americans live in a state with recreational or medical access,” Corwin wrote in an email to High Times. “It’s time for America’s law enforcement to focus on the actual crimes plaguing society. Violent crime is up across the nation and the sooner we shift our law enforcement resources from eradicating a harmless plant to solving real crime the better.”

https://hightimes.com/

Japan Government Opens Public Comment Period for Cannabis Reform

The Japanese government announced on May 30 that it would officially begin accepting public comments about its cannabis reform bill. One of the proposed measures would potentially loosen restrictions for the use of processing CBD in food products. In February, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW) published a proposal hinting changes to the amount of THC allowed in some products. “In order to prevent the occurrence of health and hygiene hazards, a maximum residue limit for THC remaining in trace amounts in cannabis grass-derived products shall be established,” MHLW said. AstraSana Holding AG managing director Yves Antoniazzi told Business of Cannabis that the company is in a beneficial position to help the CBD market expand in Japan. “We have been waiting a long time for this,” Antoniazzi said. “It is a huge milestone for the global cannabis industry. Japan is the first country to approve CBD in food, paving the way for corporate companies to list CBD products in retail chains.” The public comment period will begin now and last through mid to late June. The Japanese Ministry of Health began discussing medical cannabis legalization back in May 2022. In October 2023, the Japanese government amended its decades-old Cannabis Control Law. Later in November 2023, Japan’s lower House also passed the bill to move it forward, followed by the House of Councilors passing a revision to the law in December 2023. The revision included lifting a ban on cannabis-based pharmaceutical products and also reclassified cannabis under the country’s Narcotics Control Law. However, it also introduced revised laws regarding illegal use and stated that someone in violation of the law could serve up to seven years in prison. Prior to the reformed law, Japan only punished violations for import, export, cultivating, and possession. A recent report published by Euromonitor in April projects that Japan is poised to experience rapid growth between now and 2028. “Euromonitor International’s latest research in 2023 reveals a staggering growth in the Japan’s cannabis market over the past four years, expanding approximately sixfold from JPY $4 billion (USD $26.3 million) in 2019 to JPY24 billion (USD $173.8 million) in 2023,” the report stated. “This surge is attributed to the rising demand for products offering relaxation, sleep improvement, and stress relief.” The report explained that previously, Japan hasn’t been a target for cannabis market growth “due to legal uncertainty.” However after the Cannabis Control Law was amended in 2023, it opened up many unique opportunities. “This amendment is expected to significantly change the potential and accelerate the use of cannabidiol (CBD) in diverse fields, including medicine, health, beauty, beverages and edibles in Japan,” the authors wrote. Euromonitor estimated that 0.12% of Japanese people consume cannabis illegally at least once per year, which has led to an increase in both illegal cultivation and processing. According to Kyodo News in March, 6,482 people were being investigated for involvement in cannabis-related criminal cases in 2023. Numbers from 2022 showed that 5,702 people were involved in the same activity. The National Police Agency noted that this most recent data shows that the number of cannabis-related cases has now surpassed the number of cases involving stimulant drugs for the first time since 1958. A majority of this illegal activity is centered around an increase in youth involvement, with 3,545 in their 20s and 1,222 younger than 20. Data from 2019 showed that only 609 people under 20 were involved in cannabis-related convictions. The National Police Agency cited the “widespread use of smartphones” and spread of misinformation about cannabis has been the main reason why consumption has increased. Since 2013, the Osaka Prefectural Police has worked with gaming company Capcom to implement crime prevention awareness in an attempt to decrease youth crime rates. In December 2021, the agency partnered with Capcom to utilize characters and imagery from The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles to help deter youth cannabis consumption. “Capcom hopes to support crime prevention activities in Osaka and all of Japan through this program, which will see the production of 6,000 original posters, as well as 4,000 original flyers that will be included with individually wrapped face masks,” Capcom said in a press release. Japan has had a rich history in hemp cultivation, with the production of CBD with little to no THC being utilized in Shinto religious practices since 2016. In June 2022, The Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum of Barcelona in Spain debuted a special Japanese-themed exhibit entitled “Cannabis Japonica” which was defined as a “fashionable journey through Japan’s cultural ties with the cannabis plant.” The exhibit shared children’s stories about ninjas jumping over hemp plants, which can often grow to be anywhere from nine to 13 feet tall. “This children’s story is a testament to a time when cannabis was ‘big in Japan’. As spring approached, each rural household would plant four to five furrows of hemp seeds. The cultivated hemp was the family’s main source of fibre, used to weave cloth,” the exhibit explained. It also featured unique 120-year-old haiku poetry about hemp, as well as clothing samples and various artifacts.

https://hightimes.com/

DeSantis Likely To Veto Hemp Bill that Would Limit THC, Sources Say

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to veto a hemp bill that aims to severely limit the sale of hemp-derived products containing delta-8 THC, delta-9 THC, and delta-10 THC—a bill many say would essentially wipe out the hemp industry. Florida’s Senate Bill 1698, if signed into law, would restrict the sale of hemp products containing THC, “defining the term “total delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol concentration”; providing conditions for the manufacture, delivery, hold, offer for sale, distribution, or sale of hemp extract; prohibiting businesses and food establishments from possessing hemp extract products that are attractive to children; prohibiting the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services from granting permission to remove or use certain hemp extract products until it determines that such hemp extract products comply with state law, etc.” CBS News reports that if he vetoes it, DeSantis would be developing a strategy like “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” That’s because the hemp industry is in direct conflict with the cannabis industry as both are sources of THC. “It’s been flying under the radar, but he’s going to veto,” an unnamed source told CBS News. “The marijuana people are furious, and they are scrambling.” “There was never a thought the Governor would veto the bill,” said a second source. “But they are now signaling that they are going to veto, and I think it would be fair to say he is leaning toward a veto.” Supporting the hemp industry would be a strange move, given that DeSantis slammed a constitutional amendment to legalize cannabis in Florida. DeSantis attacked a bill to legalize adult-use cannabis—Amendment 3—which would legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older and allow individuals to possess up to 3 ounces, and up to 5 grams of concentrate. “The weed one is not just to decriminalize, it’s basically a license to have it anywhere you want,” he said. “No time, place and manner restrictions. This state will start to smell like marijuana in our cities and counties. It will reduce the quality of life.” In 2016, Florida voters approved medical cannabis, but patients must be diagnosed by a doctor with a qualifying condition. Then the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp and lawmakers accidentally legalized intoxicating compounds like delta-8 THC. The hemp industry has taken off all across the country. Politicians on both sides of the aisle seem to be in support of the hemp industry as well. Republican Party of Florida chair Evan Power, is spearheading the growth of the hemp industry. “I’ve had conversations with staff on the bill,” Power told CBS Miami. “And he is moving toward a decision. And we hope he doesn’t sign it.” Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried was a big supporter of hemp when she served as the state Agriculture Commissioner. “Expanding access to cannabis is a non-partisan issue with broad support in Florida,” Fried told CBS Miami. “Hemp products provide relief to millions of Floridians—including veterans, seniors, and patients with chronic pain. Any attempts at regulation should protect consumers, while considering the impact on accessibility for patients and the ability of small businesses to compete.” Florida’s vast potential for adult-use cannabis has been highly anticipated since the Sunshine State first moved to introduce medical cannabis in 2016. Trulieve contributed more than $40 million to the campaign, alongside an additional several million dollars from a handful of other medical cannabis treatment centers. In Florida, measures must gain 60% support in order to pass. A new USA Today/Ipsos survey suggests that a majority of registered Florida voters, 56%, support the measure, with 49% of Florida adults overall. Forty percent said that they would vote against it, and just 4% said that they were unsure. Democrats and independents were most supportive of the measure (69% and 63%, respectively), while 39% of registered Republican voters said they would vote in favor of the measure. The survey also found that support varied by region, with those in central Florida more likely to say they are in favor of recreational cannabis legalization than those in north or south Florida (54%, 49%, and 38%, respectively). While there are no differences in self-reported plans to vote for recreational cannabis legalization by gender or age, white Floridians were more likely than Hispanic Floridians to say they would vote in favor of recreational cannabis legalization later this year (55% vs. 32%, respectively). Other polls were a bit more hopeful: A November 2023 poll from the University of North Florida found that 67% of respondents said they would vote yes on a constitutional amendment to allow adults in Florida to purchase and possess small amounts of cannabis for personal use. It also notes that 70% of respondents supported recreational cannabis in Florida as of Spring 2023 along with 76% showing support in Spring 2022.

https://hightimes.com/

‘Cannabis Factories’ in U.K. To Be Cleared for Student Housing

Three years ago, police in a British city found that a pair of old buildings had been used as a massive cannabis growhouse. Now, those same facilities will be leveled to make way for housing for students. When life gives you lemons, right? BBC News reports that the “Southampton City Council approved plans for a 250-room student housing scheme at the site, which was raided by police in 2021.” The two “derelict city centre buildings, which were once used as cannabis factories, will be destroyed to make way for student accommodation,” according to the BBC. The BBC reported at the time of the raid that “1,782 plants were found…in two disused commercial properties on High Street and Castle Way,” and that two men who were “initially arrested on suspicion of producing Class B drugs, were now being treated as potential victims.” “We know that a lot people will think, it’s just cannabis, but we want to stress that any production of drugs is linked to hidden harm. Large scale operations like this are often run by organised crime gang. Those gangs are likely to engage in very serious violence involving weapons, such as firearms. They may also take advantage of vulnerable people, exploiting them or making them work in servitude,” chief inspector Ricky Dhanda of the local constabulary said in a statement back then. “The electrical requirement to grow this many plants is also really dangerous and can be a huge fire risk, putting neighbouring properties, and lives in danger. It is not just cannabis, it’s linked to serious criminality. That’s why we are really keen to hear from people who suspect there is cannabis cultivation or drug related activity going on their neighbourhood. Every call you make to us is logged and helps us build up an intelligence picture about what might be happening in your community. This allows us to take action and prevent your neighbourhoods from harm.” On Friday, the BBC reported that the vacant “three-storey and four-storey buildings fronting Southampton High Street and a former snooker hall on the Castle Way side will be bulldozed.” More from the BBC: “The applicant, Big Sur, said the work ‘would introduce an active frontage back into the street scene on two city centre streets. It added it would ‘contribute a significant amount of student accommodation which has been demonstrated as an identified need within the city.’ Plans would see the creation of a five to six-storey main block with 249 student bedrooms in a mix of cluster flats, studios and accessible flats alongside a second smaller three-storey complex for eight student bedrooms. The Old Town Community Forum objected to the proposal, with particular issues over the density of the scheme, the long-term viability of student housing and the design of the buildings. One of the buildings to be replaced is the site of the former Castle Snooker Club, which first opened in 1970.” The BBC added that one group, the Old Town Community Forum, “objected to the proposal, with particular issues over the density of the scheme, the long-term viability of student housing and the design of the buildings.” 2021 proved to be a big golden age for peculiar British busts. That same year, in London’s financial district, police there discovered a massive growhouse after responding to “reports of a strong smell of cannabis.” “A significant ‘cannabis factory’ of 826 plants has been dismantled and destroyed by officers from the City of London Police,” the cops said at the time. “The initial discovery was made on the afternoon of Wednesday 13 January, following reports of a strong smell of cannabis, and a warrant was obtained to enter the premises on Thursday 14 January.” Andy Spooner, the London detective who handled that investigation, said that the comparatively low amount of foot-traffic in the area at the time, a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, may have played a role in the operation. “This is the first cannabis factory in the City, no doubt being set up in response to fewer people being out and about during the pandemic who might have noticed any unusual activity,” Spooner said. “However, this demonstrates that City of London Police continues to actively police the Square Mile, bearing down on any crime committed here.” Then there was the discovery of a massive illicit grow operation made later in 2021 at a 17th century castle in Somerset. The Regina Leader-Post reported at the time that the owner of the castle, a “controversial British aristocrat” named Sir Benjamin Slade, “rented out Woodlands Castle in Somerset earlier this year.” “The castle is known locally as a high-end wedding venue and is situated just a few miles away from Slade’s other castle — an ancestral home that dates back to the 13th century. Woodlands has been closed for events since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the outlet reported then. “Slade had offered up the castle to the U.K. government to use as a medical facility at the height of the pandemic, but the proposal was evidently declined and he ended up renting out the property instead. So far, authorities believe he was unaware of any illegal activity being carried out on the property.”

https://hightimes.com/

High Five: 5 Low-Key Ways to Get Lit

Edibles are growing in popularity, but typically less popular compared to smoking as a delivery method because of the long onset of effects and unpredictability. Today many companies employ nanoemulsion technology in the development of their products to speed up the effects. Cannabinoids are broken into tiny particles around 100 nanometers in size, making them more easily absorbed by the body, as they can pass through the blood-brain barrier faster. Dosing is much easier in the regulated adult-use era, and you can calculate and predict your high within 5 mg dose increments of THC. There’s no smell and they kick in fast. You won’t always have a suitable place to grind up herb and pack a bowl or a bong, so travel sometimes calls for the use of vape pens. On the smell scale, most vape pens produce quite a bit less odor than smoking joints, pipes, or blunts. The weak vapor odors tend to dissipate quickly, in say, a hotel room, especially when the concentrate is encased in a cart. Dry flower vaporizer smells are even harder to detect after a few moments. The exceptions to this include sticky live resin, rosin, and various solventless pens and devices that are loud, pungent, and can also blow your cover, but you won’t have the smoky smell from combustion. This is pretty much the only feasible way to smoke dry flower if you’re say, backpacking through Europe or hiking in the mountains. Dugouts, batters, the Original Sneak A Toke, knockoffs, and other travel devices are great when you have to stick a pipe in your pocket. A dugout is a compact storage device designed to hold a small amount of pot and a one-hitter pipe. They have a compartment to store a small, bowl-sized amount of weed. A batter is a small metal one-hitter pipe that is often included with a dugout. Dozens of similar products can be found today. This delivery method is not quite as rock ‘n’ roll as smoking a doobie, but is the most low-key way to get high when you’re out and about. Nowadays you can buy tablets with THC, CBD, and so on in microdoses or full doses. Capsules provide effects that last hours longer than smoking or vaping. THC concentrate is often mixed with a vegetable oil, because THC is not water soluble. Different THC potencies usually range from 2 mg microdoses to 100 mg capsules. And yes, CBD capsules are clearly over-marketed but are also helpful for people with specific needs. Try Rick Simpson Oil (RSO) capsules instead of a cheap distillate capsule for full-spectrum effects and likely more health benefits. Or you could just smoke and lay low. If you live in a legal state and have a place to sesh, you still don’t want to be judged for smoking. Simple hygiene can rid yourself of the telltale odors and red eyes that can blow your cover. Fix those red eyes with some Visine or Clear Eyes. Smoking weed decreases blood pressure in places including your eyes, dilating the blood vessels and making them appear slightly red. Reduce the smell, too. The skunky pot odor might linger on your skin, so wash thoroughly, and add distilled vinegar or baking soda to your detergent to get rid of terpene scents that can linger on your clothes as well. This article was originally published in the March 2024 issue of High Times Magazine.

https://hightimes.com/

Back to the Source

The look in the eyes of new Ganjier students says it all, a mix of astonishment, reverence, and joy. They come from all over the world: Germany, Thailand, the U.K., and from all over the United States, from Southern California to Maine. They come from places where cannabis is still heavily criminalized, where consumers must still navigate the illicit market with little to no choice in what cultivars or cannabis products they can access. They are all ages, from all walks of life. And yet, they have something in common: their love and respect for the cannabis plant. And as they make the pilgrimage to Humboldt County, California, many taking multiple planes, buses, and rental cars to reach the towering redwoods, they know they are coming to a very special place. They are arriving in the premiere cannabis cultivation region of the country, and likely the world: The Emerald Triangle. The Ganjier is a cannabis sommelier certification program that brings students from across the globe to both be educated and become a part of a community that sees the immense potential of the cannabis industry. As a proud member of the Ganjier Council, I have been present for many of these arrivals. Weary from the trip, yet full of excitement, these Ganjier students take the time and effort to wind their way north because they want to experience cannabis in the context of authenticity and legacy. They know that becoming a “sommelier” for cannabis means that they must connect with the source, and traveling to Humboldt County gives them the opportunity to do just that. Part of the in-person training for the Ganjier program involves visiting a local farm. There is an array of sungrown legacy farmers in this region, and just like visiting the famous wine regions of France, there is no substitute for what they are about to experience. A visit to farms such as Huckleberry Hill Farms, home of the famous Whitethorn Rose cultivar, provides an opportunity to not only see a beautifully designed and sustainable sungrown cannabis farm, but to hear from Johnny Casali, a farmer who has spent his entire life in Humboldt growing cannabis with his family. He recounts the days of prohibition and having to hide in the woods to escape the helicopters and law enforcement, discusses his time in prison for cultivating, and how the community welcomed him back with open arms upon his release. His experience is emotional, and the students feel the magnitude of the place in which they stand. Many students are forever changed by this experience, ready to carry the message of craft cannabis and sungrown plants back to their homes. One of the goals of the Ganjier program is to educate and train those with reverence for the plant on the history, science, and culture that envelopes the plant and her role in humanity. The idea is that providing this experience will spread awareness about what quality cannabis is, and where it comes from. As cannabis continues to move in the direction of an agricultural commodity, we run the risk of seeing its fate go the way of industrialized agriculture, something that has been a scourge on the environment and on the public health of society. With federal legalization potentially on the horizon and with it the potential of interstate commerce and international export, the incentives to produce a lot of product as cheaply as possible will be tough to counter. Small farms like Huckleberry Hill will not be able to easily compete with large-scale industrialized operations. Whether or not they survive and continue the legacy of craft cultivation under the sun will likely depend on you, dear reader. Who do you want to benefit from legalization? Who do you want growing your cannabis? What impact do you want your purchase to have on the environment and on the farmers who have given their lives to the plant? There is still time to ensure the survival of farms like Casali’s, but their success will be up to people like you. People who value sustainability and craftsmanship over high THC. People who value the plant over industrialized commodities. This 4/20, let’s remember who took the risk during prohibition, and give them, and their harvests, the respect they deserve. This article was originally published in the April 2024 issue of High Times Magazine.

https://hightimes.com/

Betting on Yourself: the Story of Parlay

The regulated cannabis market has come a long way from its illicit roots, but the formula to succeed in this game never really changed for anyone paying close enough attention. I say this with particular regard to two factors: financing and company focus. In my humble opinion as a man who has spent most of his life around the plant, the best weed has always been grown by people who are self-funded and focused on quality of the weed itself with little regard for marketing strategy, sales gimmicks, mylar art etc. All those things are still important, but they should not be the top priority. Enter Parlay, a company cultivating in downtown Los Angeles with around 300 lights and a small team, who have been operating in the recreational space since May of 2020. I spoke to the owner of Parlay who respectfully asked to keep their name out of the public eye, about their perspective on the legal market. It was refreshing in that they are uber-focused on producing the best possible cannabis, for the best possible price, without breaking the unwritten rules passed down from the days of prohibition. “Parlay stands for sticking to the code. I don’t know how else to explain it. There’s an unspoken code of ethics in cannabis, and I feel as though we try to keep the standards high in all aspects,” the owner of Parlay said. “Whether it’s the quality, the way that we conduct ourselves, or how we treat our friends in the game… There’s just too much silliness that goes around nowadays, and we’re not into the gimmicks.” In the cutthroat recreational market of California, a big chunk of the larger companies out there have gotten where they are by cutting corners, screwing over competitors and putting together complex marketing schemes that are ultimately used to get customers to purchase sub-par flower. I do not believe Parlay to be in that group. Their work has received accolades from plenty of certified connoisseurs whose opinion I trust (check out First Smoke of the Day’s review of their MochiLatti) and they command brand recognition across a huge swath of the world for such a small company. Parlay also has some impressive collaborations under their belt with companies like BackpackBoyz and Runtz which is, in my opinion, a testament to the quality of their work, and an indicator that they’re doing good business. The big dogs have their ear to the ground, after all. They don’t tend to mingle with known rule breakers or mids pushers. Hell, most of them are in a group chat with each other. This is a tight knit community and bad behavior doesn’t tend to get very far without everybody hearing about it. Quality of the weed aside, the word Parlay has become a bit of a trend lately. I think it probably has to do with the emerging popularity of online sports betting wherein people who have never gambled in their life have been throwing a few bucks into parlay bets on the off chance they strike it rich. When it comes to doing business in the cannabis space, however, staying financially solvent at this stage of the game is often synonymous to throwing your life savings into a sports bet with slim to none odds of paying out. Between the lack of tax breaks, obscene overhead costs and the ever-fluctuating consumer market even growers with decades of experience under their belts have been bankrupted by the modern day recreational market in California. It becomes a big shitty game of chicken to stay afloat. You have to enter yourself into the race and go drop off the money for next months electric bill at the betting booth time and time again. “We’re all in. I have no business partners. I have no investors. All money in. ALL money in. All risk taken because we knew that this was a greater cause,” the owner of Parlay said. “I knew that this was gonna be a part of my life. I saw cannabis as a space where I see myself in the future – being a tastemaker, creating good product, and being a person with integrity to give people good medication.” Good medication in the recreational market has become increasingly more elusive as the California cannabis canopy expands and the market continues to mature, bringing tougher margins and higher costs with it every day. It has become a game of monocropping the money strains and expanding indefinitely until everyone’s weed ends up looking, smelling, tasting and smoking the exact same. It’s nothing sinister or complex. People have investors to report to, sales goals to hit and sky high electric bills to defend paying. That’s why the weed has to be special to stand out, and special weed doesn’t just fall out of the damn sky perfectly cured and ready to roll. It takes years of work, the scrutiny of an overbearing mother and a fair amount of luck to produce consistently. “We don’t spray any weed. We don’t put in any fucking PGR’s. We try our best not to cut any corners. We don’t even care about the yield. We just want the weed to smoke good, and then we want to just share it with our friends. It ain’t much more complicated than that,” he told me. Now while some of the CEO’s out there might attest that it is much more complicated than that, the mission statement doesn’t have to be. The proof is in the pudding. Keeping it simple and refusing to scale past a manageable point can work wonders if you’re dedicated to the craft. Refusing to take on investors and intentionally staying small until your work takes on a life of its own can lend itself to greater success later on. If you don’t believe me, just look at what happened to the big money multi-state operators that went too big too fast.

https://hightimes.com/

Consuming Cannabis Before Bed Doesn’t Cause Impairment the Next Day, Study Affirms

Cannabis does not cause “next-day impairment” researchers found in a new study published last week in the journal Psychopharmacology. Researchers found little evidence to suggest that THC can impact a person’s performance the next day, though any experienced smoker could tell you the same. Researchers observed 20 adults with physician-diagnosed insomnia who consumed cannabis irregularly, gathering existing data from a larger study investigating the effects of THC and CBD on insomnia. Since the participants were taking THC and CBD right before bedtime, it was a perfect pool of subjects to examine next-day effects. People received either a 2 ml dose of cannabis oil containing 10 mg THC and 200 mg CBD, or a placebo, being randomly selected. Within two hours of waking up, participants had to complete cognitive tasks and psychomotor tests. The study shows that people who took 10 mg of THC, the intoxicating ingredient, showed little to no impairment the next day, suggesting that it’s entirely safe to drive after taking cannabis the night before. People who took THC before bedtime nearly aced the test the next day. Participants showed “no differences in ‘next day’ performance in 27 out of 28 tests of cognitive and psychomotor function and simulated driving tests relative to placebo.” “The use of cannabis by night as a sleep aid is highly prevalent and there are legitimate concerns that this may lead to impaired daytime (‘next day’) function, particularly on safety sensitive tasks such as driving,” said the researchers at Macquarie University in Sydney, the University of Sydney, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Gold Coast-based Griffith University and Johns Hopkins University. The study was written by Anastasia Suraev, Danielle McCartney, Nathaniel S. Marshall, Christopher Irwin, Ryan Vandrey, Ronald R. Grunstein, Angela L. D’Rozario, Christopher Gordon, Delwyn Bartlett, Camilla M. Hoyos and Iain S. McGregor. Many are associated with the University of Sydney’s Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics, and have studied cannabis impairment in the past. “The results of this study indicate that a single oral dose of 10 mg THC (in combination with 200 mg CBD) does not notably impair ‘next day’ cognitive function or driving performance relative to placebo in adults with insomnia disorder who infrequently use cannabis,” the study reads. “Larger studies in patient populations are required to determine the effects of repeated dosing with THC (with or without CBD), and at higher doses of THC, on ‘next day’ function. Researchers associated with the Lambert Initiative have found data showing that impairment from THC lasts only hours, while drug test can detect THC for weeks if not months after consuming it, long after the effects have worn off. While researchers noticed minor but insignificant changes in cognitive function, further tests showed that there was likely no significant impairment. “Importantly, no significant difference in accuracy was observed on the more difficult ‘hard/incongruent condition’ of the Stroop-Word Test, which requires participants to match the meaning of the word presented, not the printed colour of the word,” authors added. “For comparison, the morning after alcohol consumption (i.e., the hangover state) produced significantly greater interference on the Stroop-Word Test, but not the Stroop-Colour Test, relative to the alcohol-free control group (i.e., no hangover state).” Recent studies have shown that levels of THC detected in the blood or breath of cannabis consumers is not a reliable indicator of impairment. Researchers also found that levels of THC in blood and breath did not provide reliable evidence of how recently a test subject had consumed cannabis. Neither the detection of THC in blood nor in breath is correlated with impairment of performance or recency of cannabis exposure, according to data published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports. Researchers wrote that “finding an objective measure of recent cannabis use that correlates with impairment has proven to be an elusive goal.” Some states have enacted laws that set per se legal limits on the amount of THC a driver may have in their blood, similar to the 0.08% blood alcohol concentration limit in effect nationwide. “These findings provide further evidence that single measurements of specific delta-9-THC blood concentrations do not correlate with impairment, and that the use of per se legal limits for delta-9-THC is not scientifically justifiable at the present time,” wrote the authors of the study. To conduct the study, the researchers recruited a group of test subjects, most of whom were daily cannabis users. The scientists then determined the THC levels in their blood and breath prior to and after inhaling cannabis. While any cannabis consumer with experience knows that the effects last only a matter of hours, science to show that impairment doesn’t last that long now backs it up.

https://hightimes.com/

Betting on Yourself – Parlay LA

The regulated cannabis market has come a long way from its illicit roots, but the formula to succeed in this game has never really changed for anyone paying close enough attention. I say this with particular regard to two factors: financing and company focus. In my humble opinion as a man who has spent most of his life around the plant, the best weed has always been grown by people who are self-funded and focused on quality of the weed itself with little regard for marketing strategy, sales gimmicks, mylar art etc. All those things are still important, but they should not be the top priority. Enter Parlay LA, a company cultivating in downtown Los Angeles with around 300 lights and a small team. They’ve been operating in the recreational space since May of 2020. I spoke to the owner of Parlay who respectfully asked to keep their name out of the public eye. Their perspective on the legal market was refreshing in that they are uber-focused on producing the best possible cannabis for the best possible price without breaking the unwritten rules passed down from the days of prohibition. “Parlay stands for sticking to the code. I don’t know how to explain. There’s an unspoken code of ethics for cannabis, and I feel as though we try to keep the standards high in all aspects,” the owner of Parlay said. “Whether it’s the quality or whether it’s the way that we conduct ourselves or whether it’s how we treat our friends in the game. There’s just too much silliness that goes about nowadays and we’re not into the gimmicks.” In the cutthroat recreational market of California, a big chunk of the larger companies out there have gotten where they are by cutting corners, screwing over competitors and putting together complex marketing schemes that are ultimately used to get customers to purchase sub-par flower. I do not believe Parlay to be in that group after speaking with them. Their work has received accolades from plenty of certified connoisseurs whose opinion I trust (check out First Smoke of the Day’s review of their MochiLatti) and they command brand recognition in a huge swath of the world for such a small company. Parlay also has some impressive collaborations under their belt with companies like BackpackBoyz and Runtz which is, in my opinion, a testament to the quality of their work and an indicator that they’re doing good business. The big dogs have their ear to the ground, after all. They don’t tend to mingle with known rule breakers or mids pushers. Hell, most of them are in a group chat with each other. This is a tight knit community and bad behavior doesn’t tend to get very far without everybody hearing about it (you might remember a failed little experiment called unpaid tabs). Quality of the weed aside, the word Parlay has become a bit of a trend lately. I think it probably has to do with the emerging popularity of online sports betting wherein people who have never gambled in their life have been throwing a few bucks into parlay bets on the off chance they strike it rich. When it comes to doing business in the cannabis space, however, staying financially solvent at this stage of the game is often synonymous to throwing your life savings into a sports bet with slim to none odds of paying out. Between the lack of tax breaks, obscene overhead costs and the ever-fluctuating consumer market even growers with decades of experience under their belts have been bankrupted by the modern day recreational market in California. It becomes a big shitty game of chicken to stay afloat. You have to enter yourself into the race and go drop off the money for next months electric bill at the betting booth time and time again. “We’re all in. I had no business partners. I had no investors. All money in. All money in. All risk taken because we knew that this was a greater cause,” the owner of Parlay said. “I knew that this was gonna be a part of my life. I saw cannabis as a space where I see myself in the future and being a tastemaker and creating good product and being a person with integrity to give people good medication.” Good medication in the recreational market has become increasingly more elusive as the California cannabis canopy expands and the market continues to mature, bringing tougher margins and higher costs with it every day. It has become a game of monocropping the money strains and expanding indefinitely until everyone’s weed ends up looking, smelling, tasting and smoking the exact same. It’s nothing sinister or complex. People have investors to report to, sales goals to hit and sky high electric bills to defend paying. That’s why the weed has to be special to stand out, and special weed doesn’t just fall out of the damn sky perfectly cured and ready to roll. It takes years of work, the scrutiny of an overbearing mother and a fair amount of luck to produce consistently. “We don’t spray no weed. We don’t fucking put in any PGR. We try our best not to cut any corners. We don’t even care about the yield. We just want the weed to smoke good, and then we want to just share it with our friends. It ain’t much more complicated than that,” the owner of Parlay said. Now while some of the CEO’s out there might attest that it is much more complicated than that, the mission statement doesn’t have to be. The proof is in the pudding. Keeping it simple and refusing to scale past a manageable point can work wonders if you’re dedicated to the craft. Refusing to take on investors and intentionally staying small until your work takes on a life of its own can lend itself to greater success later on. If you don’t believe me, just look at what happened to the big money multi-state operators that went too big too fast.

FAQ: How to use this hemp news hub

What topics does Chow420’s hemp news cover?

We aggregate and surface reputable coverage on hemp laws and enforcement, THC thresholds and policy proposals, cannabinoid products (CBD/Delta-8/hemp-derived THC), compliance, lab testing, recalls, and broader industry news.

Is this legal advice?

No. This page is for news and education. Hemp rules can change quickly and vary by state—always verify against the latest official guidance and consult qualified counsel for compliance decisions.

How do I evaluate hemp product safety claims?

Look for current third‑party COAs (Certificates of Analysis), clear ingredient labeling, and transparent sourcing. Be cautious with vague potency claims or missing lab reports.

Why do some articles mention Delta‑8 or “hemp-derived THC”?

These products often sit at the center of policy and enforcement changes. We track major updates so shoppers and brands can understand evolving requirements and market impacts.

How often is the news updated?

The crawler is scheduled to run daily. New items appear as sources publish updates.

CBD Forum by Chow420

Hemp News, Laws & Product Updates

Researchers Unveil New Study on Genetically Modified Hemp Methods

South Dakota Adult-Use Ballot Initiative Approved, Giving Voters Third Chance

Airbnb Cleanup Crew Finds 235 Pounds of Meth in Rental Home

The DNA of Dank

Psilocybin Surge

High Five: Five Early Drug War Laws

Celebrating Bill Walton: A Giant for Justice

Claims of Misconduct Mar MDMA Research for PTSD

High Rhymes: Niontay

Two State Police Groups Now Back Legal Weed

Japan Government Opens Public Comment Period for Cannabis Reform

DeSantis Likely To Veto Hemp Bill that Would Limit THC, Sources Say

‘Cannabis Factories’ in U.K. To Be Cleared for Student Housing

High Five: 5 Low-Key Ways to Get Lit

Back to the Source

Betting on Yourself: the Story of Parlay

Consuming Cannabis Before Bed Doesn’t Cause Impairment the Next Day, Study Affirms

Betting on Yourself – Parlay LA

FAQ: How to use this hemp news hub

Forgot your password?