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My story today comes from WASHINGTON POST, and I am happy to say there is no trigger warning at all with this story except if you happen to allergic to sticking it to The Man. Remember a few years ago in California when people got around the problems of selling weed without a license by selling something else and then gifting the weed. Also, apparently in New York, The Man is throwing a shit fit that people would have the nerve to do this. But down in DC, fuck it! Gifting is a Go! “TO ‘GIFT’ MARIJUANA, D.C. COMPANIES MUST SELL SOMETHING. THIS ONE SELLS MOTIVATIONAL SPEECHES.” THE SCOOP There’s a clever fellow In Washington DC named Ryan Ha. DC-native, 33 years old, whose last major gig was managing a comedy club in China. Which, if your name is Ha, seems like a dangerous thing to do. Ha! What? Ha! What? Five bucks says that's the 1,000th time that lame joke has been told... but when he came back to DC, the laws about possession of cannabis had changed. Sales weren’t legal (still aren't, thanks Uncle Joe), it was legal to grow your own, to give away up to an ounce. The gifting concept had worked in other places, so Ha created a gifting company called “Dreamy DC.” As for employees, he was turned on by how Traders Joe’s greeters were so cheery. He thought of them as having the “ideal personality type”. So now all he needed something to sell so he could gift the weed. My guess is he was broke at the time, so he tried to answer the question, “What is an intangible good that will sell?” And you have to appreciate the logic. It’s like John Cusack in that movie “Say Anything”. The girlfriend’s father asks him “What are your plans for the future, Lloyd?”, and he says “I’ve thought about this a lot, sir. I don't hg to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed. Or process anything sold or bought.” What I really want to do is “spend time with your daughter, and kickboxing. Sport of the future.” But for Ryan Ha the answer to his question wasn’t “kickboxing”, it was HUGS. But “No one wants to hug their drug dealer!” Ha said. DreamyDC launched in 2016, offering a product that is so sustainable, it generates no waste at all: MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES! They are “sold” by Dreamy DC “speakers,” like this: Speaker Liz Sluchak riders her bike for deliveries. “On a street corner not far from Nationals Park, she finds Malcolm Bell, an account manager who has paid $60 to hear her read a Victor Hugo quote: “Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.” Bell contemplates them. He says the quotes “always connects him with something that I’m going through,” and feel especially good after COVID era. Sluchak, now in her personal capacity, hands Bell the equivalent of an eighth of an ounce of marijuana. Authorities take note: The weed is not Dreamy’s product, it’s an unrelated gift. THE LOOP BACK In DC, you can sell T-shirts, pizza, juice, cookies, paintings by German Shepherds, or motivational quotes and then get a little cannabis gift to help you enjoy it. And in the case of Motivational Quotes, who’s to say which is the product and which is the gift? Image source: https://www.twoscotsabroad.com/quotes-about-sunshine

Marijuana Moment posted this uplifting story today: “Ann Arbor Could Decriminalize Drugs With Student-Led Effort” “A student group has launched a campaign to decriminalize drug possession and low-level distribution in Ann Arbor, Michigan, (home of the University of Michigan Wolverines) after months of consulting with members of the community. The University of Michigan chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) drafted the Ann Arbor Resolution to Advance Sensible Drug Policy. The “RESOLUTION” is 1 page of statements about the failure of the War on Drugs; and 4 pages of resolutions that the City Council should undertake. Gotta hand it to the kids – they’re driving the conversation in a new and sensible direction. THE DEEP DIVE Three of the big ideas contained in the students’ Resolution are A shift needs to be made from Law Enforcement of drugs, toward a Healthcare-based solutions, such as have been successfully instituted in Portugal, and more recently in Oregon where it got “58% of the vote, and is supported by the majority of voters in the United States:” “The group’s consultations with various community stakeholders led to a suggested permitted threshold of 15 grams of any drug, and … To “shift the possession of drugs to be the lowest priority for local law enforcement. It would ban use of city resources to criminalize possession and use of drugs—and do the same for distribution of drugs in quantities below that 15 gram threshold, while acknowledging that federal and state drug laws would still apply on paper. The kids are putting out an aggressive agenda and 90-day timetable to get stuff done: “AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That the Ann Arbor City Council shall convene a working group comprised of people who use drugs, community justice advocates, public health professionals, students, and representatives from municipal departments, to determine the most sensible path of implementation of this resolution, and creation of a full ordinance within 90 days of the passage of this resolution. Acting in accordance with a public health approach to substance use, police department personnel and prosecutors should not hold seats on the working group, but may be consulted by working group members regarding the implementation of the resolution” THE LOOP BACK Pretty ballsy, kicking law enforcement to the curb like this. But realistic: we’ve all seen what happens when they’re involved: years of squabbling about “traffic accidents” and “public safety” that are not borne out by facts. The PoPo want to protect their power and authority, and their BUDGETS. That battle is not likely to end soon. And while this may sound ambitious for a CITY to push for drug reform, remember that in the US, states are more than 25 years ahead of the federal government on cannabis reform, and this Resolution is simply pushing a City ahead of its State. Detroit and Seattle are among the cities that have taken similar steps. And so has Ann Arbor. In 2020, the city voted to make entheogens—including psilocybin mushrooms, peyote and ibogaine—the “lowest law enforcement priority.” The city has since started a yearly Entheofest. LAST WORD: State Senator Jeff Irwin supports the initiative: “I’m proud to join SSDP in their campaign to decriminalize drug possession in Ann Arbor… The ‘War on Drugs’ has been a complete failure. Addiction is a health issue, not a crime. We need to focus on treatment and rehabilitation.” Go Wolverines! Image source: https://www.thefire.org/schools/university-of-michigan-ann-arbor/

The Albany Times Union reported that the Planning Board of the Town of Wawarsing in Ulster County gave approval to Cresco Labs to create a 380,000 square-foot facility during a meeting on Tuesday, March 15. "Cresco Labs received final plan approval for a 380,000-square foot facility to cultivate, manufacture and distribute cannabis. The Town of Wawarsing Planning Board gave the green light for the nearly $9 million project at its March 15th meeting. The decision was unanimous, with one absention." The new facility promises hundreds of new jobs. READ MORE:

I spied a salacious headline that smacked of propaganda from the UPI, United Press International. It turned out to be mostly a re-write of the summary page from study posted by the Journal of the American Medical Association. “Medical Marijuana Use May Lead to Addiction, Not Aid Health, Harvard Study Finds” STRANGE STUDY, THOUGH... Not only does the "Harvard study" NOT contain any real news, but the primary QUESTION & GOALS are plain odd: “What are the risks and benefits of obtaining a medical marijuana card for adults who seek medical marijuana for pain, insomnia, and anxiety or depressive symptoms?” And the primary goal(s) of the "Harvard study": to assess The effect of cannabis on targeted symptoms and ... “Particularly the development of cannabis use disorder (CUD).” We'll get to "cannabis' effectiveness of cannabis on targeted symptoms" in a moment, but first, let's be clear that the parameters of "cannabis use disorder" are so vague and subjective as to be akin to cannabis' continued inclusion on Schedule 1 of the DEA's Schedule of Controlled Substances. In other words, largely hooey. I’m no Harvard scientist but I could have saved them some time about addiction. It is well known that about 9% of people who use cannabis are likely to become addicted. We know this from the Center from Disease Control and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, but you can poke around any of a number of sites trafficking in the same data set, articles from 2011, etc. It therefore defies belief that the Harvard study purports to have revealed a 50% rate of reported cannabis use disorder symptoms. It's so far out of the realm of reality that one must consider some fault in the study, the data... something went wrong. Welp, plenty went wrong with this study, as you'll soon see. But before we move on from "cannabis use disorder" let's recall which (totally legal) substances are REAL KILLERS: Approximately 14.5 million people aged 12 or older had an alcohol use disorder and 88,000 Americans die as a result of alcohol every year. We also know that “Smoking cigarettes is the cause of over 480,000 deaths every year in the United States” and that 20% of regular tobacco users are also heavy drinkers. And don’t get me started on opiates, which killed 100,000 Americans last year. But the one thing you won’t find in this study or any other, is overdose statistics on cannabis, because it has failed to kill anyone by overdose in 12,000 years. STRANGE STUDY, THOUGH... #1: Not only was this "Harvard study" limited in its scope, and twisted in its findings, but it was also limited by the number of participants – a grand total of 186, in Massachusetts, over three years. Here’s what they did: they divided their 186 people into 2 groups. Group 1 was given medical cards right away. The Group 2 was asked to wait 12 weeks to get their cards. During that 12-week period, they found more cannabis use disorder in the group that got access to cannabis vs. those that didn’t. Is that a Harvard-level conclusion? I doubt it very much. #2: The "Patients" in the "study" self-reported to be suffering from chronic pain, insomnia, anxiety or depression. You got that? Self-reported symptoms. In other words, the patients told the doctors what was wrong with them, and the doctors believed them. Is that Harvard-quality medicine? I doubt it very much. #3: And back to the "EFFECTIVENESS OF CANNABIS IN TREATING SYMPTOMS", the "Harvard study" also found that, except for the insomniacs, the cannabis didn’t work. Gee, why could that be? “Participants from both groups could choose their cannabis products, dose, and frequency of use …” And here’s a kicker: “…all participants could choose a variety of cannabis products with input from licensed medical marijuana dispensaries or elsewhere.” Got that? THE "HARVARD STUDY" FEATURED: NO CONTROLS ON PATIENT DIAGNOSES; AND NO CONTROLS ON THE MEDICATION. ... AND YET THE CLAIM IS THAT THE MEDICATION DIDN'T WORK. PREPOSTEROUS!! CONCLUSION: Cannabis has been legal for medicinal use for more than 25 years hardly and this is the best that THE ANTI-CANNABIS PROPAGANDA MACHINE can come up with? Image source: Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

"Alabama State Sen. Larry Stutts (R) introduced a bill this week that would require women “of childbearing age” to present proof that they’re not pregnant in order to purchase medical cannabis products," according to a story published in The Fresh Toast "Alabama Senator: Women Need To Prove They’re Not Pregnant To Buy Medical Marijuana" If passed, the bill would amend Alabama’s 2021 medical marijuana law by requiring dispensaries to ask women between the ages of 25 and 50 to provide “a negative pregnancy test either from her physician or documentation from a certified medical lab that has been ordered by a physician licensed in Alabama.” Over at Marijuana Moment, who also covered the story, "Alabama Bill Would Force Women Who Want Medical Marijuana To Show Negative Pregnancy Tests": “The documentation must be dated within 48 hours of purchase before she may purchase any medical cannabis except in the capacity as a registered caregiver,” it says, adding that breastfeeding women would also be barred from purchasing medical cannabis products." "In addition, the bill stipulates that no dispensaries could be located within 1,000 feet of a daycare center or two-year or four-year “institution of higher education.” Emma Roth, a staff attorney at National Advocates For Pregnant Women (NAPW), told Marijuana Moment that the bill “would violate women’s right to privacy and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.” “It’s another attempt to police pregnancy in the name of the fetus when medical marijuana poses no greater harm than other common exposures during pregnancy,” Roth said. “And where would the state’s reach end? Would a negative pregnancy test be required to be around smokers, to drink coffee or to work a factory job?” Image source: Photo by Ömürden Cengiz via Unsplash

Sometimes you get lucky and are able to participate in something that changes the world just a little bit. When I volunteered to become a member of the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) in 2021, I didn't know I was joining a 100+ year old organization that is responsible for creating standards for things that need standardizing such as train tracks and street signs. The more I read about this esteemed group, the more I was impressed, even intimidated. I volunteered because I had heard that ASTM was getting ready to vote on a 'universal symbol for products that contain intoxicating cannabinoids' that was intended to appear on every package of cannabis around the world. I saw the draft design. I had never been so certain that something was headed in the wrong direction. So I volunteered for the Cannabis Technical Committee to participate in the process. The necessary first step was to stop the current design. I had to be prepared to bring every ounce of persuasion that I had ever learned. Including, if necessary, bringing the roof down on our own heads. I spent several days researching and writing my remarks. I rehearsed it again and again. And when the day of the big Zoom call finally arrived, and then my opportunity to speak, let's just say the Universe gave me the words and images and righteous anger to get my point across, stop the former symbol, and get the group headed in a better direction. ASTM International members David L. Nathan, M.D. and Eli Nathan designed the symbol with the group of volunteers from the D37 led by Martha Bajec, PhD of HCD Research. Hats off to them for the skill, precision and diligence to pull all the details together and perfecting the symbol you see here. Says Dr. Nathan, who founded Doctors for Cannabis Regulation, “The symbol has the potential to facilitate a spirit of collaboration among experts, regulators, and all other stakeholders in the cannabis industry.” "Darwin Millard, subcommittee vicechair for ASTM D37.04 and subcommittee co-chair for ASTM D37.07, says this is perhaps one of the most important standards to come out of the committee. “It serves to establish a harmonized warning symbol that is truly international,” says Millard. “It is not intended to replace symbols that have already been established, rather it is intended to be used by marketplaces that have yet to establish a symbol.” As more and more marketplaces adopt the symbol, the hope is that markets with their own symbol will harmonize with the ASTM symbol over time." "The IICPS became the official symbol for the state of Montana as of January 1st. New Jersey and Vermont have also incorporated the IICPS design into their state symbols, already making it the most widely adopted cannabis product symbol in fully legalized states. Alaska and other states are currently discussing use of the symbol as well."

TRIGGER WARNING: if you have a problem with racist Reefer Madness propaganda you might want to take a break right now, because this article is going to catch your hair on fire. Cannabis Now, an industry publication I like and respect - well-designed, diverse topics, well-written, etc. - has put out an article so full of logic-breaks that if it were a map, you'd never arrive at your destination. I don't typically go after anyone on the home team (industry folk), but I'm confused and disturbed by “Are States Redlining Cannabis Dispensaries?”, dated 24 February. The article leads with this: “Urban decay” in America speaks a universal language, a vernacular seen and heard in movies, political ads and in real life. It sounds like this: Broken windows, vacant buildings, graffiti-covered walls and doors. Ne’er do-wells loitering outside liquor stores and pornography merchants (less visible in the online era but still a part of this classic trope)" (Yes, Cannabis Now actually printed “Pornography merchants” in 2022...) “... But thanks to cannabis legalization, struggling areas in America have another feature: legal cannabis dispensaries. The higher concentration of dispensaries in America’s lower income areas may be due to the destructive practice of “redlining.” The author seems to be suggesting that dispensaries are located in poorer parts of American cities and towns NOT because of the greater availability and lower cost of real estate in these parts of town, but because of the machinations of a cabal of white people who have banished them to "the other side of the tracks" such as happened by banks and related businesses that successfully designed neighborhoods and whole towns to make black ownership of real estate and black wealth development next to impossible. Think I'm crazy? Read on: "According to recent research out of Washington state and published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, along with other elements “polite society” may deem unsavory, cannabis dispensaries also tend to coalesce in lower-income areas, which in turn—since race so often correlates with class—also tend to be less white.” It's important to follow the links. This "study" (which you can rent for $36 for 2 days like a Blockbuster video), seems to have been drafted alongside the playbook of our enemies aka “Don’t Tell Your Children” (the original name for "Reefer Madness"). From the summary: “This study examined impacts of local area-level factors on CANNABIS USE IN YOUNG ADULTS.... ... PERCEIVED access to cannabis was higher among those living near cannabis retail outlets (is this science or opinion?) Neighborhood disadvantage was associated with cannabis use and PERCEIVED acceptability Area-level PREVENTION STRATEGIES may be warranted to reduce cannabis-related harms." This is not a study, it’s an ANTI-CANNABIS AGENDA, which is by definition a racist agenda. It links cannabis with poverty in loose and suggestive ways that suggest causation - i.e. that cannabis causes harm when poverty is the real culprit. This is the "why can't you pull yourself up by your bootstraps?" logic that conservatives use when lecturing black and brown people about how it is their own failures - not decades or centuries of racism - that is responsible for their poverty. Not done yet: "Keep in mind how cannabis legalization was pitched to policymakers and the public after decades of cannabis-centered drug war overpolicing and incarceration. The fact that these cannabis businesses are more often than not owned by white investors and entrepreneurs who are extracting revenue that once went to “traditional market” sellers from Black and Brown communities only further highlights what’s yet another shortcoming in marijuana legalization’s social-justice mission." The bold text throughout is mine, and this one is particularly insidious: did you catch it, black and brown people? You're the street dealers (and also the arrestees and prisoners at a rate of about 4x the rate of white people, who apparently never dealt drugs). And by the way, if white people own all the cannabis businesses now as you say here, and white people are being redlined, isn't the irony worth mentioning? I'll give the author credit for the following observation: "Study authors noted it wasn’t immediately clear if people in low-income areas smoked cannabis because that’s where the cannabis was, or if coping with the stresses of living a disadvantaged, over-policed area meant more cannabis use." Finally, correlation does not equal causation, chicken does not follow egg. But back to real estate, which is what this article is supposed to be about. Why do cannabis businesses really locate in poorer parts of town? Real estate is less expensive, and cannabis businesses are largely start-ups or early stage companies in a very competitive industry, where expenses are critical. Manage expenses; this is simply sound business. Richard Florida, author of the seminal work on urban development “The Rise of the Creative Class” observed that downtrodden sections of great cities in America have been economically reinvigorated by a similar and predictable process: First, gay people move into a downtrodden neighborhood Then, Artists and other creatives get the idea and start to move in Finally, when this downtrodden part of town is recognized as “cool”, Investors come and the redevelopment begins in earnest. I'm not saying that gentrification is kind or fair, but Richard Florida ain't no slouch and at least a decade of urban development strategies sprung from his theories. So how about this: cannabis businesses are not being redlined, WE ARE THE VANGUARD OF URBAN REDEVELOPMENT and bring: Jobs and the secondary businesses that grow up to support employees Life-changing and legal medicine to people who need it Emotional relief products that are less addictive than anything else, and non-deadly, unlike nicotine, alcohol, opiates, and sugar - - the big 4 killers in low-income communities Customers with Cash, who tend to stay and shop in the neighborhood, increasing economic activity more broadly Bodies and eyeballs, which reduces crime and increases personal security Eventually, new investment and economic resources to those communities. Cannabis Now, please don't forget that WE ARE THE CREATIVE CLASS in virtually every way. And you are, too. Usually. Image source: https://bit.ly/3tX2wes

My story today comes from THE LOS ANGELES BLADE, which is Southern California’s LGBTQ News Source: “Wiener Introduces Legislation to Restore Access to Medicinal Cannabis” “Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced Senate Bill 1186 this week, which will restore voter-created access to medical cannabis across the state by requiring cities and counties to provide consumers access to purchase medicinal cannabis products... “Under SB 1186, jurisdictions must allow either licensed medicinal cannabis retail stores, licensed medicinal cannabis deliveries, or both. Cities will be able to choose what kind of medical cannabis business they allow, but they must allow at least one form, as a matter of medicinal access.” Like so many things in life, when a solution comes along that is so simple, so elegant, as this one, I have to facepalm and say “Why didn’t anyone think of this before?” Maybe they have and I missed it – maybe some of you on the stage will remember similar efforts, and I hope you’ll weigh in at the end. Wiener’s bill addresses two issues cleverly: #1. If you’re not from California, you should know that Prop 215 - also known as the Compassionate Use Act -came first, in 1996. Twenty Six Years ago(!) Prop 215 started the legal cannabis revolution that has swept the nation, where cannabis is now legal for medicinal purposes in 37 of 50 states. So powerful is our movement that cannabis was recognized as “essential medicine” and cannabis workers were considered “essential workers” during the worst of COVID. Twenty years after that, “Prop 64 granted cities local control to ban adult-use businesses. Prop 64 did not grant local control to ban medical cannabis businesses. However, the Legislature — without being required by the voters to do so — also granted cities the ability to ban medical cannabis businesses. The result of Prop 64 is that “People who need cannabis as medicine are thus denied access and forced to rely on the illicit market for their medicine. They are less safe as a result." Imagine you are a cannabis patient who got legal access to cannabis in 1996. In 70% of the municipalities in California, including massive rural areas in our big state – your right to legal medicine was taken away in 2016. This new bill aims to right that wrong, and I believe we should all support it, regardless of political party. “SB 1186: Respects the voters’ intent of Prop 215 Ensures that Californians throughout the state have timely and convenient access to safe, effective, and affordable medicinal cannabis and cannabis products” Ensures that the will of the voters is not undermined by local jurisdictions that have essentially prevented medicinal access by banning medicinal cannabis retail stores or delivery services.” #2. Shrinking the illicit cannabis market and creating new opportunity for cannabis companies: a. Almost 70% of California’s municipalities opted-out of Proposition 64, which has encouraged an illicit market that dwarfs that of every other state. I’ve heard estimates that California’s illicit market is now TWICE AS LARGE as the legal market which means illicit cannabis is $8 Billion per year. It is caused by massive over-production and also massive under-representation at the retail level – the squeeze is killing the industry for many who have devoted their lives to it. b. This is a legislative failure of epic proportions, and though this new bill does not solve the illicit market issue, it does right an injustice that was done to medical patients across our great state. c. And that alone is reason to support this bill If you’d like to contact State Senator Wiener to show your support, his website is https://sd11.senate.ca.gov

He’s got one degree from Stanford and one from Harvard, but after five years he’s been fired from his job working for Senator Dianne Feinstein. Jamarcus Purley was given a pink slip for various infractions but to hear him tell it, being black in the Senator’s office was an impossible mission. “The Senator cares more about her dog than Black people," Purley said in a staff meeting. What’s Purley’s famous for this week is a YouTube video he posted while smoking a blunt in Feinstein’s office which is as tame of a 'tirade of a disgruntled employee' as you'll ever see. (Axe-grinding media site Breitbart slandered the PG-rated action as an "insurrection", but Dear Readers and the rest of the world would scoff at any comparison with the actual attempt at insurrection last January 6th.) Still, you may wonder what Jamarcus Purley, one of the most educated and articulate people of his generation, has been through to cause him to take these steps? Today, in an exclusive interview on THE STATE OF CANNABIS NEWS HOUR on Clubhouse, Rico Lamitte (founder of Canivision and co-producer of the SOC News Hour) interviewed Mr. Purley. I was present for the conversation between Lamitte and Purley, and it's one of the most fascinating, revealing, heartbreaking interviews you'll likely hear. Ever. Do yourself a favor and listen to this man's story in the raw. It will change you. Image Source: State of Cannabis News Hour and which includes clips from YouTube.

One of the greatest dispensaries in Downtown LA was raided yesterday – that’s right, a legal, licensed dispensary was raided in broad daylight for – get this – unpaid taxes. The whole scam was reported in High Times, "L.A. Cultivators, Jungle Boys, Raided Over Bogus Late Fees" To be clear, JUNGLE BOYS paid $18 Million in taxes last year alone – that should tell you how successful the shop is – BUT they had one outstanding bill, which couldn’t be paid during COVID when the tax office was CLOSED. The fee owed could not be paid because the office could not accept the cash. Cash is required because the cannabis industry is largely un-banked due to federal banking regulations. So here's yet another reason that cannabis banking needs to be approved - - the coppers from 3 or 4 separate agencies rolled up on Jungle Boys, guns drawn. in Downtown Los Angeles, broad daylight, during business hours. THIS IS AS CLEAR AN EXAMPLE AS POSSIBLE ABOUT HOW DRACONIAN SCHEDULE 1 DRUG LAWS PUT THE PUBLIC AT RISK. That bill mentioned above was for $66,000 and the company had a hearing date scheduled. Read it again - the hearing was already scheduled with the tax collection office. In other words, everything was letter-of-the-law. AND STILL The CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF TAX AND FEE ADMINISTRATION (or someone else?) AUTHORIZED AN ARMED RAID ON A LONG-STANDING, LICENSE-HOLDING, TAX-PAYING, CITIZEN-EMPLOYING BRICK AND MORTAR BUSINESS. Johnny Law busted in the doors yesterday, guns drawn, and stole – you heard me – stole $174,000 from Jungle Boys, including the cash in the tip jars. Have you ever heard of SWAT teams storming a legal business over a tax bill? Now that’s that song from Compton…? ### Image source: pexels-jakson-martins-2230885 and https://pevgrow.com/blog/en/jungle-boys-history-varieties-and-dispensaries-of-instagrams-royal-growers

The traffic is called the Orange Crush, the county line is called the Orange Curtain, and apparently the California's 3rd largest county of 3.2 million residents is also a CANNABIS DESERT, according to Chris Casaccchia @ MJ Biz Daily. Yes, I’m talking about Orange County. And it’s really got a lot of groovy stuff. But no ganja, maybe? If you had a post card collection of classically “California stuff”, a lot of those cards would be Orange County. It’s home of beaches, Disneyland, professional sports teams, and a whole lotta Republican fundraisers coming soon… But even though the majority (25 of 34 cities) voted in favor of Prop 64 in 2016, it still has only 117 cannabis businesses. "By contrast, LA, San Francisco, Alameda and Humboldt counties have thousands." The writer tries to pin it on Orange County’s massive red blob of Republicans, but come on now, Republicans smoke weed. It tries to pin it on NIMBY-ism, Not In My Back Yard with those stoners and freaks! - - and fair enough, there’s plenty of Reefer Madness to go around. THE DATA: Santa Ana has 67 cannabis businesses Costa Mesa has issued 36 licenses but none are permitted yet Anaheim – 0 Irvine – 0, although Weedmaps and Gold Flora live there Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach – 0… THE DEEP DIVE: This article is a bit goofy, though and ignores a few basic facts. It’s a bit of a nothing muffin, I hate to admit remembering Herman Munster when he wanted to become a pop singer. First, if you happen to live in Orange County, chances are fair that you commute to a job in Downtown LA. It’s a little farther to go, but you might even work in San Diego. Cannabis is legal in both, so you just shop for weed in your lunch hour. Also, the biggest dispensary in the whole state – Planet 13 – is located in Santa Ana, smack in the middle of Orange County. And you might be thinking “Well that’s such a long drive….” But everything is a long drive in Orange County. It’s a county, not a city. Also, if you just go to Yelp, you can find pages and pages of delivery companies. It’s not the same as going to a shop and learning what’s good from a cool and trained budtender, but it’s like buying clothes from Amazon… when the package arrives you just go with it. THE LOOP BACK So I don’t know, Orange Country is big but it’s actually typical of the scandal of California’s cannabis industry – that municipalities were allowed to opt-out of legal cannabis businesses and almost 70% of the state did… which fuels the illicit market, which fuels massive police budgets for massive raids, which fuels the absolutely horrible state of our industry. We got 99 Problems, but Orange County ain't one... Photo by Nina Hill from Pexels

Time to put on your asbestos panties, folks. I’d like to pound the living hell out of whoever wrote this headline in Edinburgh Live: “Edinburgh Mum's Joy After Three-Year Campaign for Cannabis for Son Brings 'Great News' “ It’s pure BULLSHIT. And it wouldn’t be so infuriating if it weren’t also so cruel. How do I know this headline is a big fat cow-pie? Because 2 days earlier, on February 27th, the very same publication ran this headline: “Edinburgh Family Say UK Government 'Broke Their Promise' on Medication for Son” There is NO JOY in the UK when it comes to medicinal cannabis. It’s been more than 3 years since cannabis was legalized for medicinal use in the UK in 2018, and only 3 people are now approved to be covered for cannabis medicine by their National Health Service. Here are a few more from the British press, from among dozens: "I Thought I Was Going to Lose My Son, the Government Did Nothing" “Doctors said they’d report me to child protection” “Mother Vows to Go on 'Hunger Strike' for Son's Cannabis Oil Treatment” “Smuggling Nightmare Ends for Murray’s Cannabis Oil” The ‘Edinburgh Mum’ mentioned in the EdinburghLive stories is named Karen Gray. Her son Murray is 9, and a type of epilepsy called “Doose Syndrome” that he was diagnosed when he was 4 years old, “…was suffering from up to 12 seizures a day and was even confined to hospital for the best part of a year when his seizures meant that he was in a constant state of status.” Let's be clear: for a whole year, big Pharma had no answer for this little boy, forcing the Mum to take lifesaving measures: “To help her son, Karen smuggled Bedica and Bedrolite oils from the Netherlands which worked brilliantly at allowing Murray to lead as normal a life as possible." Although the family were eventually able to have the medicines prescribed in the UK, they HAVE TO PAY £1,400 PER MONTH OUT OF POCKET - Without this medicine Murray’s life would be placed at risk, but it's crippling the family financially. What a choice to make! The ”Joy” that the scoundrels at EdinburghLive published, is simply an announcement that the UK government will introduce two clinical trials on epilepsy which will compare results of Pharma drugs against CBD drugs, CBD+THC drugs, and placebo. And God help the poor children who receive placebos from this government, instead of medicine they sorely need to have any semblance of normal life. It is barbaric to put these children and these parents through this, many of whom have already identified the medicine that works for their children. Whatever the specific blend that works depends on the child’s unique body chemistry. Government Ministers are not doctors! Here's another headline from the UK Press: IT’S BEEN THREE YEARS SINCE CANNABIS WAS MADE AVAILABLE ON THE NHS. WHY HAS SO LITTLE CHANGED? "Imagine having chronic pain so severe you can’t risk expending the energy it would take to get a glass of water – or what it’s like to hold your baby as they have their 100th potentially fatal seizure of the week. You know there’s a medicine that could help – that would allow you to live, not merely survive. It would keep your child seizure-free. It’s a medicine legal for prescription since 2018, that’s supported by thousands of studies proving efficacy, that has an unrivalled safety record, that’s widely available in over 50 countries and that’s been re-classified by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in recognition of its medical value. "And that’s the thing in the UK – “You know this medicine exists but you’re prevented from accessing it because – behind the scenes – the avenues to do so have not been set up. Despite being legal for prescription [since 2018], the supply framework for NHS access to cannabis is essentially a con.” says the UK Independent. “Although officially available on the NHS, General Practitioners aren’t authorized to prescribe it… Instead, GPs must refer their patient to a consultant, who then defers to a panel advised by pharmaceutical companies that actively lobby against cannabis access. "And there it is, the devious under-dwellers of Reefer Madness Hell: Big Pharma. Is anyone surprised that they would sentence children to a lifetime of suffering to protect their profits? What a torture chamber the British have concocted for their own citizens. It’s an outrage and I’m amazed the mothers of these poor children have not stormed Parliament! Image Source: Unsplash and Jack Lucas Smith