Get yours HERE!
New swag in the Merch Vault!
Tag: cannabis
SCOTUS Case Involving Cannabis Fraud Highlights the Illogic of Federal Drug Testing Mandates
The U.S. Supreme Court last week considered a case involving a trucker, Douglas Horn, who lost his job because he tested positive for THC after consuming a CBD tincture that was advertised as completely free of that psychoactive compound. Horn sued the companies that made and marketed the tincture under the Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organizations (RICO) Act, arguing that he was “injured in his business or property by reason of” the defendants’ mail and wire fraud.
The issue in Medical Marijuana Inc. v. Horn is whether the economic losses that Horn suffered fit that statutory language, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit held last year. But the case also highlights the weak scientific basis for the federally mandated drug test that Horn failed, which reflects the ongoing conflict between state and federal marijuana laws.
In 2012, Horn bought Dixie X CBD Dew Drops 500 mg Tincture to treat the pain and inflammation caused by hip and shoulder injuries he had suffered in a truck accident. Since he was well aware that testing positive for marijuana would endanger his job, he investigated the product to make sure it did not contain any federally illegal substances. He says he was reassured by Dixie’s claim that its CBD extract was made from hemp containing less than 0.3 percent THC (the federal limit) and that, after processing, it contained “0.00 THC.”
According to a High Times article that Horn cited in his 2015 RICO lawsuit, the tincture was produced via “a proprietary extraction process” from “a strain of high-CBD hemp grown in a secret, foreign location.” The article said the resulting tincture “contains 0% THC and up to 500 mg of CBD.” Tripp Keber, Dixie’s managing director, averred that “we are importing industrial hemp” that is “below federal guidelines for THC, which is 0.3%,” and “extracting the CBD.” Keber said Dixie had “meticulously reviewed state and federal statutes,” and “we do not believe we are operating in conflict with any federal law as it’s related to the Dixie X (hemp-derived) products.”
Keber offered similar assurances in several YouTube videos, saying those products were “THC free” and contained “no THC.” Just to make sure, Horn says in a Supreme Court brief, he contacted a customer service representative, who “confirmed that Dixie X contained ‘zero percent THC.'”
Based on those assurances, Horn’s brief says, he “purchased and consumed Dixie X in
September 2012.” A few weeks later, he was dismayed to learn that he had tested positive for marijuana in “a routine random drug screening.” As a result, “his employer immediately fired him.” He “lost his career and income,” which meant “financial ruin” for his family.
Most People Don’t Trust The Government For Marijuana Information, Federally Funded Study Shows
American adults typically don’t get their information about about marijuana from government or medical sources, instead relying mostly on friends and family, according to a new study that was partially funded by a federal agency.
The nationally representative survey of 1,161 adults found that government agencies were the least popular source of cannabis-related information (4.7 percent in the probability-weighted results). And while health and medical care providers were also among the least common sources, at 9.3 percent, they were higher on the list than budtenders (8.6 percent).
The most popular sources of marijuana information, meanwhile, were friends and family (35.6 percent) and websites (33.7 percent).
The study, which received support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and was published this month in the Journal of Cannabis Research, concludes that most people “draw healthcare information about cannabis from friends and family or online, with very few consulting their healthcare provider or government agencies.”
Notably, people who reported using cannabis for medical reasons were significantly more likely than others to cite healthcare professionals as a source of their marijuana-related information compared to other respondents (16.4 percent versus 5.2 percent, respectively).
Given the trend toward liberalization of cannabis policies in the U.S.—and what the paper describes as potentially “broad effects on public health outcomes related to cannabis” if marijuana is moved from Schedule I to Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act—the paper urges more attention to ensuring healthcare providers are educated on cannabis-related matters and that government messaging is handled with care.
“As cannabis accessibility and legality is increasing,” it says, “there is a strong need for better clinician education, public outreach strategies, and improved communication between patients and clinicians about cannabis.”
NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said of the new survey findings that cannabis use “is not a new phenomenon and is not going away” and that sources like healthcare providers and government agencies have a responsibility to seek out and provide accurate information.
JD Vance Says ‘Bags Of Marijuana’ And Candy Laced With THC And Fentanyl Are Coming Across The Border, Blaming Biden-Harris Immigration Policy
Former President Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), is accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of failing to stop marijuana and fentanyl disguised as Nerds candy and other popular brands that appeal to children from coming across the border.
At a Faith & Freedom Coalition event in Atlanta last month, the senator talked about being invited to the evidence room of a sheriffs department where he says he saw “every drug you can possibly imagine,” including “bags and bags of marijuana,” pressed fentanyl pills and meth.
“I say, ‘Guys, what is going on here? You’ve got all these drugs here that looks to me just like a box of candy—a box of Nerds candy,” Vance said. “And they say, ‘Well, sir, that’s actually THC and fentanyl.’ But I say, ‘Wait a second, the cartels have disguised deadly fentanyl to look like child’s candy so that they can make it easier to get into our country?’”
“Yet we know that one of those packets of fentanyl is going to end up in one of our neighborhood streets,” he said. “One of those packets of fentanyl is going to end up in a child’s playground. One of those packets of what looks like Nerds candy, but is actually a deadly substance, is going to end up in our schools, and a kid’s going to open up a packet of candy, take a piece of candy out and lose their life because of it.”
“Now that is a sick and deranged human being that would do anything like that. But it’s a sick and deranged human being who would give that person power over the United States of America, and that’s exactly what Kamala Harris has done,” he said. “She has given these drug cartels free reign over our country, and now they’re smuggling in deadly drugs that look like child candy.”
‘Lesser-Known’ Marijuana Components Like CBG And THCV Are ‘Promising’ Treatments For Parkinson’s And Alzheimer’s, Study Shows
A new scientific review on the potential benefits of marijuana in treating brain disorders says that in addition to THC and CBD produced by the cannabis plant, “a diverse array of lesser-known phytocannabinoids, along with terpenes, flavonoids, and alkaloids” may also “demonstrate diverse pharmacological activities” and could offer therapeutic applications.
Such compounds include THCV, CBDV and CBG.
“Their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and neuromodulatory effects position them as promising agents in treating neurodegenerative disorders,” says the report, authored by a pair of researchers from the Center for Dementia Research at the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research in New York and released last month through Preprints.org.
Authors evaluated available scientific literature about minor cannabinoids and conditions such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease and substance and alcohol use disorders. They found evidence not only of neuroprotective effects but also other beneficial outcomes.
“The therapeutic potential of Cannabis sativa extends well beyond the widely studied CBD,” the report says, “encompassing a diverse range of lesser‐known phytocannabinoids that show promise in addressing various neurological disorders.”
“While research has extensively examined the neuropsychiatric and neuroprotective effects of Δ9-THC,” it adds, “other minor phytocannabinoids remain underexplored.”
Marijuana Components Show ‘Promising Potential As Anticancer Agents,’ Study Finds, Though Mechanisms Of Action Are Still A Mystery
A new scientific review on cannabis and cancer concludes that a variety of cannabinoids—including delta-9 THC, CBD and cannabigerol (CBG)—”show promising potential as anticancer agents through various mechanisms,” for example by limiting the growth and spread of tumors.
But authors acknowledged that obstacles to incorporating cannabis into cancer treatment remain, such as regulatory barriers and the need to determine optimal dosing.
“Cannabinoids, including Δ9-THC, CBD, and CBG, exhibit significant anticancer activities such as apoptosis induction, autophagy stimulation, cell cycle arrest, anti-proliferation, anti-angiogenesis, and metastasis inhibition,” says the report, published late last month in the journal Discover Oncology. “Clinical trials have demonstrated cannabinoids’ efficacy in tumor regression and health improvement in palliative care.”
The workings behind those apparent benefits, however, are still largely unknown. “Despite the evident anti-cancer properties of cannabinoids from numerous experimental results,” the review says, “the exact mechanisms of action still require extensive research.”
It adds: “Despite the positive outcomes of using cannabinoids in cancer therapy, there remain significant gaps in knowledge regarding their modes of action, effects on the tumor microenvironment, and the physiology of the signaling pathways they affect.”
Russian Arms Dealer and “Merchant of Death” Viktor Bout Who Joe Biden Exchanged for Pot-Smoking Brittney Griner Is Back in Business Selling $10 Million in Arms to Houthi Rebels
Another major foreign policy failure by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris
Nothing ever seems to go right for this ridiculous, tyrannical administration.
The infamous “Merchant of Death” Viktor Bout, who Joe Biden traded for WNBA pot-smoking star Brittney Griner, is allegedly back in business. Bout reportedly was caught selling $10 million in arms to Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to The Wall Street Journal.
WNBA star Brittney Griner was found guilty of drug smuggling with criminal intent in a Russian court in August 2022.
The 6’9″ basketball star was accused of possession of vape cartridges containing cannabis oil at a Moscow airport in February, during the lead-up to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine later that month. Griner’s defense team said she was prescribed marijuana by a doctor for pain treatment.
Russia released Brittney Griner in exchange for international arms dealer Viktor Bout, the notorious “Merchant of Death.”
Vikor Bout is a former Soviet military officer, who was serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States on charges of conspiring to kill Americans, acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles, and provide material support to a terrorist organization. Bout has maintained he is innocent – via CNN.
Bout armed terrorist groups in some of the most violent conflicts in the world.
Bout was arrested back in 2008 in Thailand and extradited back to the United States. His arrest was linked at the time to FARC rebels in Colombia.
Marijuana Enhances Enjoyment Of Music, New Study Finds, Confirming What Every Stoner Already Knows
Underscoring an anecdotal observation common among cannabis consumers, a group of researchers in Canada have released a new study indicating that marijuana can make music more enjoyable, concluding that “the impact of cannabis on the auditory experience may be overall enhanced” compared to sober listening.
Authors, from Toronto Metropolitan University, wrote in a preprint that the research “highlights the profound yet idiosyncratic effects of cannabis on auditory experiences among experienced recreational cannabis users.”
“This study provides a framework to understand the complex interactions between cannabis, hearing, and musical experience,” the report says.
Participants were recruited through the university as well via flyers at 38 marijuana retailers in and around Toronto. A total of 104 people completed an online questionnaire, 15 of which were interviewed further on hourlong individual Zoom calls.
According to their self-reported experiences, participants showed “significantly higher levels of state music absorption while high…compared to sober.”
More Than 200,000 People Were Arrested Over Marijuana Last Year In The U.S., The Vast Majority For Possession, New FBI Report Shows
Even as more states continue to legalize marijuana, new FBI data shows that at least 200,000 people were arrested over cannabis in 2023—and simple possession again made up the vast majority of those cases. Those figures are likely understated, however, given inconsistencies in the federal data and ongoing questions about the agency’s methodology.
At a time when the public and both major party presidential nominees find themselves aligned in their opposition to criminalizing people over low-level marijuana offenses, advocates say the federal data released on Monday further underscores the need to urgently change course.
The 2023 data, according to FBI, comes from more than 14 million criminal offenses reported to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, which is submitted by over 16,000 state, local and tribal agencies whose jurisdictions comprise more than 94 percent of the country’s population. That’s slightly more data coverage compared to the FBI’s crime report from the prior year.
Because not all agencies provide data for the complete reporting periods, FBI has explained that the bureau calculates estimated crime numbers, essentially extrapolating “by following a standard estimation procedure using the data provided.” In terms of total reported arrests for “drug/narcotic,” for example, FBI said there were 879,118 arrests.
Those numbers, however, aren’t consistent throughout the FBI report. In a section on arrests by region, FBI said there were 746,292 total drug arrests in 2023. In a separate analysis of historical trends, meanwhile, FBI reported just 635,066 drug arrests last year. Another section on racial breakdowns says there were 726,623 drug abuse violations.
The agency further reported that there were 1,544,907 crimes involving a person’s suspected use of drugs other than alcohol in 2023.
Using the agency’s estimated numbers, the 870,874 arrests for drug abuse violations account for about 12 percent of the approximately 7.5 million estimated arrests nationwide in 2023, according to one section of the report.
Of all total drug-related arrests in the new report, FBI said, 23 percent were for marijuana possession—more than for possession of any other listed substance. Arrests for selling or manufacturing cannabis, meanwhile, made up 2 percent of total drug arrests.
According to the data, 200,306 estimated arrests occurred for marijuana possession and another 16,844 estimated arrests were for cannabis sales or manufacturing in 2023. The numbers are down from 2022, but advocates say the continued criminalization at the current scale remains unacceptable, especially in the face of growing public consensus in favor of legalization.
At the same time, frustrations over FBI’s inconsistent data reporting on cannabis and other drug arrest trends have persisted.
Using Marijuana Increases ‘Positive Parenting’ Behaviors, New Federally Funded Study Indicates
A new federally funded study on cannabis use and parenting finds that parents typically don’t consume marijuana while their kids are present. Those who used cannabis, however, were also significantly likely to report positive parenting behaviors in the same timeframe that they consumed the drug.
But the relationship between marijuana and parenting is a nuanced one, wrote authors from the University of Tennessee, Ohio State University and San Jose State University, and appears to also rely heavily on who else is present at the time.
Overall, the findings “reveal a complicated relationship between cannabis use and parenting among a sample of cannabis users,” authors wrote. But the results nevertheless provide “some information on ways parents can engage in harm reduction to support positive parenting.”
The study, funded by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant and published this month in the journal Parenting: Science and Practice, analyzed survey responses from 77 parents recruited by research assistants at Sacramento area cannabis retailers. On average, participants were 32 years old, and nearly three quarters (72 percent) were mothers. About half (50.6 percent) were either married or “living in a marriage-like relationship,” while the remaining half were single, widowed or divorced.
Participants were asked to complete a baseline survey and then five brief surveys per day for a 14-day period, followed by a final survey on day 15. They were asked “a battery of questions,” the study says, “pertaining to parenting behaviors, stress, cannabis use, alcohol use, and context.” Participants received small financial incentives for filling out the surveys, with a total possible incentive for each participant of $190.
Hellbound and Down 
You must be logged in to post a comment.