Author: Benjamin M. Adams
[ad_1] Cannabis resin world capital Morocco is struggling to reconcile its historical but illegal cannabis production region with the emerging legal market. According to the United Nations (UN) Office on Drugs and Crime, the northern Rif Mountains region is the world’s top producer of cannabis resin. Cannabis has been tolerated in Morocco’s kingdom for hundreds of years, however it has been illegal in all forms since the county’s independence in 1956. In 2021, with a goal to improve poverty-stricken regions in Morocco, the kingdom’s ruling party decided to officially approve Law 13-21, a bill legalizing the production of cannabis for…
[ad_1] Built-in structures to incentivize jacking up drug prices in pharmacies, and prey on seniors, could soon be whittled down. Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) were among those who voted Wednesday to advance a bipartisan bill she personally helped develop to reduce the rocketing cost of prescription drugs and the way pharmacy managers benefit from rising drug prices. The Modernizing and Ensuring PBM Accountability (MEPA) Act, which passed the Finance Committee July 26 on a bipartisan basis, reduces the cost incentive for pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to prioritize more expensive drugs because they receive higher payouts for…
[ad_1] An employee of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) pleaded guilty to using COVID relief designed for small businesses to fund an illegal cannabis operation. A NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) employee agreed to plead guilty to defrauding a government loan program developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. He admitted that he used part of the proceeds to fund an illegal cannabis grow operation, the Justice Department announced on July 24. “Armen Hovanesian, 32, of Glendale, a cost-control and budget-planning resource analyst for the JPL, a federally funded research and development center operated by the California Institute of Technology for…
[ad_1] Minneapolis, Minnesota is set to become a haven for people who turn to psychedelics for depression, anxiety, and other conditions. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced that he had signed an executive order on July 21, supporting entheogenic plant practices and ordering law enforcement to deprioritize the practice of arresting people caught with psychedelic compounds. It’s the mayor’s first executive order in 2023 and his fifth under his administration. Executive Order 2023-01 requires the investigation and arrest of people planting, cultivating, purchasing, transporting, distributing, and engaging in practices with, or possessing entheogenic plants or plant compounds to be the “lowest…
[ad_1] The Sonoran Desert Toad, with glands secreting a venom rich in the hallucinogens 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenin, is invading Arizona now that monsoon conditions have kicked in for the late summer. They can measure up to 7 inches long and have a low-pitched croak that inevitably serenades the night in multiple states during hot wetter months. Local news stations are reporting a surge in Sonoran Desert Toad populations now that the rain has started. Reporters focused on the poison danger to pets, and well as the temptation for teens to try it for its psychedelic properties. “Also known as the…
[ad_1] Tupac Shakur’s still-unsolved murder mystery was revived—over 30 years later after his murder at the peak of his career in 1996—as police agents in Las Vegas, Nevada executed a new search warrant Monday. A gunman in a white Cadillac rolled up and shot Shakur four times while he sat in a black BMW with Death Row Records CEO Marion “Suge” Knight at a stoplight in Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996. He died from his wounds six days later in the hospital on Sept. 13, 1996. The prime suspect, outlined in documentaries, was long-believed to be Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson,…
[ad_1] A New York state senator wrote a letter to the state’s Office of Cannabis Management, urging leadership to engage in “aggressive action” on unlicensed cannabis retailers after witnessing them in his own neighborhood. State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and representing New York’s 47th State Senate District on Manhattan’s West Side, is tired of unlicensed cannabis stores and dispensaries popping up across town. Hoylman-Sigal wrote a public letter on July 17, addressed to Office of Cannabis Management Executive Director Christopher Alexander and Tremaine Wright, chair of the Cannabis Control Board, urging action immediately. “In the…
[ad_1] Psychedelics reform is uniting even the most unlikely allies: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) and Dan Crenshaw (TX-02) are making some progress despite a few setbacks in House committees. “This is a real wild coalition,” Crenshaw said, Fox News reports. Ocasio-Cortez, aka AOC—the youngest woman to serve in Congress and a progressive firebrand—and Crenshaw—former Navy SEAL and conservative voice—both have pushed for similar psychedelic provisions in the past despite agreeing on little else on the political spectrum. Friday the House Rules Committee advanced the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with psychedelics research language previously attached in the House Armed Services…
[ad_1] Attacks on dispensaries in the Los Angeles area in California are getting more and more brazen and in some cases, violent. The latest incident involved suspects who drove a carjacked vehicle directly into an illegal cannabis dispensary in downtown Los Angeles in a smash-and-grab incident. On July 12, a group of suspects carjacked a vehicle and robbed an unlicensed dispensary in the downtown L.A. area. “Los Angeles police officers responded to a report of shots fired near Hooper Avenue and 15th Avenue in downtown L.A. at about 4 a.m. Wednesday,” CBS News reports. “A black car was driven through…
[ad_1] An unlicensed psilocybin mushroom shop in Montreal, Quebec in Canada was raided during its opening day Tuesday, but the shroom shop owner says he’s nowhere near done with his business venture. CTV News Windsor reports that several police officers descended on the FunGuyz (pronounced fungi’s) shop hours after the company opened their first location in the province of Quebec in Montreal’s Sainte-Marie district. The shop was raided during its opening day, so day one of sales was likely not a secret. Four people were arrested, police say, and their investigation into the shroom dispensary is ongoing. FunGuyz sells products…
[ad_1] Major social media platforms continue to gradually warm up to cannabis. As Meta rival Twitter announced it will allow some CBD and THC ads last February, Meta is taking steps as well by continuing to loosen up restrictions for CBD-related ads. On July 11, Facebook posted an announcement, unveiling Meta’s new policy on CBD and related products in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and changing some of the language from hemp to CBD. “We want people to continue to discover and learn about new products and services on our technologies,” Facebook wrote. “Effective today, we are renaming our advertising…
[ad_1] Citing former president Richard Nixon, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) celebrated the 50th anniversary of the agency’s creation and the War on Drugs, wrapping up 50 years of failed attempts to curb drug abuse, according to a July 5 announcement. The DEA’s tactics are not working: Decades of research indicates that drug use is up in just about every category. Nixon created the DEA to combat the “menace” of drug abuse on July 1, 1973. That’s just four years after Gallup first asked Americans if they’ve tried smoking pot, and only 4% said they had tried it in 1969.…