Pot Matters: Obama Supports Legalization

In an interview with Rolling Stone, President Obama has acknowledged that marijuana should be legalized and regulated like alcohol and tobacco.

Better late than never.

The president told publisher Jann Wenner that “I am not somebody who believes that legalization is a panacea. But I do believe that treating this as a public-health issue, the same way we do with cigarettes or alcohol, is the much smarter way to deal with it.”

Many have wondered why Obama never rescheduled marijuana. Based on a misunderstanding of the federal Controlled Substances Act, many believed he could remove marijuana from Schedule I by way of an executive order.

In the interview, the president explained: “Typically how these classifications are changed are not done by presidential edict but are done either legislatively or through the DEA. As you might imagine, the DEA, whose job it is historically to enforce drug laws, is not always going to be on the cutting edge about these issues.”

Obama won’t reveal what he will do in respect to drug policy when he becomes a private citizen. However, he described the current conflict between state and federal law as “untenable over the long term” because it is nearly impossible for the Justice Department or the DEA “to be enforcing a patchwork of laws,” where the sanctions for marijuana sales vary so widely from state to state.

“This is a debate that is now ripe,” he continued. “There’s something to this whole states-being-laboratories-of-democracy and an evolutionary approach. You now have about a fifth of the country where [marijuana] is legal.”

The president’s comments represent a major milestone in the history of marijuana law reform—this is the first time a sitting president has endorsed marijuana’s legalization. More important, his comments are likely to have a profound effect on Democrats holding and running for political office around the country.

President Obama is the most popular Democratic politician in the America. One of the reasons Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election was her inability to turn out voters who had supported Obama in 2008 and 2010.

As the Democratic Party looks for ways to reassemble the Obama coalition, they should acknowledge and embrace the president’s latest position on marijuana legalization.

Previously in Pot Matters: Trump’s Reactionary Anti-Pot HHS Secretary

For all of HIGH TIMES’ culture coverage, click here.

from
http://hightimes.com/culture/pot-matters-obama-supports-legalization/

Vaping Drugs—Not Just Cannabis and Nicotine—Is on the Rise

The rise in vape technology is not the first time that scientific innovation has changed the way we use drugs.

The invention of the hypodermic needle allowed purified morphine and cocaine extracted from their natural origins (the opium poppy and coca leaf respectively) to be delivered with previously unimaginable efficiency and dosing accuracy. The drive for both extraction and purification of the drugs, as well as the development of the needle, was not to intoxicate but to medicate. Western medicine relies heavily on being able to replicate dosing regimens that require knowing exactly how much of a particular drug you are giving to optimize the balance between therapeutic benefit and harm. A bit of heroin kills your pain, too much kills you.

While the drive behind vaping has been in part public heath (the driver behind e-cigarettes) and medicinal (offering medical cannabis users a way of using cannabis concentrates such as Butane Hash Oil without having to smoke weed is great), there’s no doubt that vaping cannabis concentrates offers cannabis users another way of getting high. It also offers huge business opportunities for new vape tech companies (the profit potential of which often results in them being snapped up by the big tobacco companies).

In previous Global Drug Survey (GDS) research, we have explored some of the pros and cons of BHO and vaping, and through GDS2015 and GDS2016, we conducted the largest studies on its use in the world. While its use may be associated with a less positive effect profile and perhaps a greater risk of unwanted effects among some users, there is little doubt that the use of BHO supports tobacco-free routes of use and exposes users to less tar and carcinogens than when cannabis is combusted.

This year GDS wants to move away from what we know to explore the relatively new phenomena of vaping drugs other than cannabis or nicotine.

Yep, you can vape other drugs, and you don’t need fancy tech either. Many heroin users already vape—though we incorrectly term it smoking—when they heat heroin on a foil and inhale the vaporized fumes. But that’s not what we are interested in. We want to find out what other drugs people are vaping, why they vape and how they think it affects their enjoyment and patterns of use.

So if you vape drugs (editor’s note: we vape weed!) and want to help us conduct the biggest study of drug use in the world, take part anonymously and confidentiality on your phone, tablet or laptop HERE.

Another editor’s note (same editor, second note): Still confused about this whole “vaping other drugs” thing? Here at HIGH TIMES, we love a good vape pen—check out our 2016 Vape Pen Review—but sometimes you really need to delve into the science of something to understand it. Thankfully, the folks at GDS have our backs! Check out their Essential Guide to Vaping Science and learn how almost any drug can be inhaled (yes, even LSD, although it’s often completely ineffective).  

For all of HIGH TIMES’ culture coverage, click here.

from
http://hightimes.com/culture/vaping-drugs-not-just-cannabis-and-nicotine-is-on-the-rise/

Bolivia, Ecuador Give U.S. the Finger

 

In open defiance of the international ban, Bolivia has just announced that it is preparing to export coca-leaf products—initially mates (herbal teas) and liqueurs—to its Andean ally Ecuador. Didi Mercado, head of the Industrialization Unit at Bolivia’s Vice-Ministry of Coca, told the Bolivian Information Agency Nov. 28 that exports are to begin under a trade deal signed a week earlier in La Paz.

Mercado said that with Bolivia producing an annual 600 tons of legal coca leaf, it can easily meet the internal demand of both countries. And demand is expected to grow, with exports of coca-derived soft drinks, syrups and cereals foreseen.

The pact was signed by the two nations’ respective foreign ministers, Bolivia’s David Choquehuanca and Ecuador’s Guillaume Long. In the same Nov. 21 ceremony, Long was officially decorated with the Order of the Andean Condor, Bolivia’s highest honor, “in recognition of his efforts to strengthen the ties of friendship and cooperation” between the two countries.

With South America’s anti-imperialist bloc in crisis amid reversals for left-wing governments in Brazil and Venezuela, smaller Bolivia and Ecuador remain stalwart in their posture of opposing the US-led drug war on the continent.

A report on the signing ceremony in Ecuador’s La Republica casually notes that “international commerce in the plant [coca] is banned by the UN anti-drug convention because it contains alkaloids that can be used to fabricate cocaine.” That’s the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs—the same that mandates the illegal status of cannabis.

Under President Evo Morales—himself a former coca-grower—Bolivia has long pressed the United Nations to drop its prohibition on coca leaf, and in 2011 formally withdrew from the Single Convention over its failure to do so.

It is starting to look like Ecuador might be next.

Check in daily for all of  HIGH TIMES’ marijuana news.

 

from
http://hightimes.com/news/bolivia-ecuador-give-u-s-the-finger/

Puff Puff Pass: The Tale of THC

Why do people smoke pot recreationally? The most obvious answer is to get high.

But what does it mean to be high? Being high on marijuana has been described as feeling “…euphoria, relaxation and changes in perception,” often accompanied by an inexplicable fascination for colorful images and psychedelic fractals.

We do it because it’s fun, but  have you ever considered what “being high” means on a physical/chemical scale? What is happening to our brains when we smoke the devil’s lettuce? Let’s take a journey into the body—and follow the ever famous THC molecule.

We start our journey on the fruit of the cannabis plant, the part that we smoke. Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid  (THCA) exists both inside the plant, as well as on the surface in crystal structures known as trichomes. You may think this is the molecule that gets us high; you would be mistaken. THCA is an inactive form of the molecule, it does nothing for us psychotropically speaking.

The active form of the molecule has a carbon dioxide (CO2) group removed. Worry not, there are a few ways to activate it. Certain animals, such as dogs, can use a molecular machine, known as an enzyme, to bind with, and activate THCA. However, humans do not contain said enzymes. THCA can also be activated via heat, thus the reason we smoke and/or cook weed!

THCA spontaneously converts to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) when the temperature around it exceeds 240°F, luckily it vaporizes at 315° F. It is then inhaled down the throat, and into our lungs.

Though THC can be absorbed by any mucus membrane (i.e. slimy tissue), most of it is absorbed into our blood via the alveoli, broccoli like structures in our lungs. Here, THC is circulated throughout the entire body, via the heart, and binds to cannabinoid receptors all throughout the body. Despite THC’s promiscuity (it goes everywhere!), we are focused on the best organ of all, the brain.

In order for THC to enter the brain, it has to pass through the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB), which essentially is a fairly impenetrable wall that keeps most things out of the brain, kind of like heavy duty border patrol—though some molecules like THC can sneak past!

Now, we are in the brain. Due to the vast complexity of the human brain, THC has many targets and activates/deactivates many pathways. The primary path associated with THC is its positive effect on dopamine, the “feel good” neurotransmitter.

After THC enters the brain, it finds cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1). You can think of CB1 as a guard to a gate. When THC interacts with CB1, the guard opens the gate allowing calcium out of the neuron. This stops the neuron from working. Without the calcium present in the neuron, it cannot release its inhibitory molecule. Think about inhibitory molecules as a dam on a river; if the dam is present, water will flow much less than if it were absent. In our scenario, the dam is the inhibitory molecule, and the flow of water is the movement of dopamine throughout the brain.  

With all of this excess dopamine in the brain, we have many senses heightened and experience the “high.” Obviously, this effect will not last forever. THC does not permanently bind to CB1; it attaches and releases at a certain rate.

While THC is not bound, it has a chance of being swept away by our bodies regulatory systems and eventually exits the body. With the THC cleaned out, our brains resume normal function.

When we are stoned we let our minds wander. We find ourselves entranced by the world around us. Yet the underpinnings of the “high” often escape our thoughts.

from
http://hightimes.com/medicinal/puff-puff-pass-the-tale-of-thc/

High Horoscopes | Dec. 1, 2016

The HIGH TIMES weekly astrological forecast, complete with strain recommendations!

Ask Aelie anything! Find her on Facebook and Twitter.

ARIES
You have been held captive in an emotional cage for a while now; susceptible to the extreme mood swings created by your disturbed relationship. You’ve tried every way out: bargaining, pleading, hiding in the corner, arguing, and calling out. Nothing helps: in fact, every new tactic makes it worse. But soon, something within you will click. This will be the sound of the cage unlocking. Suddenly you will be magically immune. You can see now from an outside perspective, and a peace will descend upon you. The relief will be palpable, and not felt just by you, but by everyone who cares for you. Strain recommendation: Honey Comb

TAURUS
Some friendships are more labor intensive than others.  When one of them suffers, a part of you suffers. When one is caught in repetitive behavior, you feel frustrated. When one is released from pain, you feel lighter. You have come to your limit with a friend who continually talks about the day his ship will come in. His empty promises and excuses have finally pushed you over the edge and now a confrontation needs to happen. Please keep in mind that no matter how annoying it is to listen to, it must be doubly worse to live through. Approach the conversation with sympathy but stay firm. This is the best gift you can give, to both of you. Strain recommendation: Super Snowdawg

GEMINI
Your dualistic nature causes no turmoil for you; it is others that have trouble understanding it. Paradoxes are unsettling to those who need a singular story line to follow, a dependable reality to count on, a constant beat to drum to. You, however, are capable of holding many truths within you at the same time. This skill will come in handy this week as you negotiate a particularly complex time of your life. Layers upon layers of meaning and intent will shift and morph, as will your feelings about it. You are the most capable sign of the zodiac to manage travelling between parallel emotional universes. Good luck! Strain recommendation: Fortune Cookies

CANCER
Random acts of randomness! This is your weekly mantra, should you choose to accept it. Prance about with a tutu on your head, write a letter to your local representative demanding daily viewings of Pee Wee’s Playhouse at all the major banks, make a corn-and-dill flavored popsicle. You’ve been adulting too much lately, and while it’s terribly useful, it’s also a great way to lose your sense of humor and universal awe. Shake loose and go fancy-free, take no prisoners, and wear polka dots with plaid! Strain recommendation: F.O.G.

LEO
Dialect Coach Erik Singer has put together a wonderful YouTube video in which he dissects the accent work of 32 actors, from the disaster of Costner in Robin Hood to the mastery of Streep in Sophie’s Choice. So many actors put their efforts into doing the sounds correctly, but forget to not just to listen to the way a native speaker talks, and also watch the way they move their jaw, tongue, and hold their lips. You are doing a passable interpretation of a happy person right now, but unless you carefully observe and mimic the minute details of how their faces genuinely radiate joy, you will be found out. And what’s so bad about that? Will everything absolutely be ruined if people know you don’t feel totally ok right now? I posit that not only will the sky not fall, but also you will find some sympathetic shoulders to lean on. Strain recommendation: Herojuana OG

VIRGO
If you look up tone-deaf in the dictionary, you will see some words about the inability to distinguish musical notes, and you will see pictures of Tatiana Navka, the wife of Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, and her skating partner doing a routine dressed as holocaust prisoners, complete with massive gold stars. The soundtrack of barking dogs and gunshots was laid upon a saccharin song about smiling when things are bad, and after the blond Russians with dark eye-circle make-up mimed their journey through the camps on ice, they were awarded perfect scores. Now, you are not as oblivious as this by any means, but you’re not quite woke these days either. I’d suggest a societal temperature gage reboot before you unintentionally insult too many more people. Strain recommendation: Haley’s Comet

LIBRA
Sometimes when retelling an old story you’ll find that your perspective on the event has changed. A friend of mine once realized mid-story that the man she saw at a bus stop, dressed all in white, playing oddly with a dog bone in his clothes was in fact flashing her, but being only ten years old when it happened she was too young to understand it at the time. The revealed memory made her realize that she may have other suppressed memories, something she always thought of to be the stuff of make-believe. You are well-situated cosmically this week to see old fuzzy memories with more clarity. Take a mental inventory of the old and weird stories of your past, and see if there is a new way to look at any of it. Strain recommendation: Swiss Cheese

SCORPIO
I’m not usually a fan of Meaghan Trainor’s music, but recently I saw a YouTube exercise video by “The Fitness Marshall” who used her song “Me Too” expertly, and I now have her hook “If I was you, I’d want to me too” on a steady earworm loop. It’s damn catchy, but the idea behind the song is also pervasive. It features an it-girl who doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks cause she’s the bomb. Not an original concept, but what makes it interesting is that real life Trainor seems to be a down-to-earth woman without a ridiculous superiority complex. So, I’m left wondering if this is a parody or if she genuinely has this kind of self-confidence and still manages to be humble. Super strong self-confidence without the usual accompanying arrogance: maybe give this a shot this week? Strain recommendation: Blackberry Hashplant

SAGITTARIUS
A wise almost 5-year-old I know says “to catch a cold is a silly way to put it, because it’s the cold that catches you”.  Well, I’m afraid more than just a cold will be hunting you down this week; a bad mood, some lame news and some tummy disturbances, to mention but a few things. It might be one of those write-off weeks, so if you can cancel any evening plans now, it would be best.  Settle down with your favourite feel-good people and things and take the time to self-comfort. If you must go out, I suggest using perk-me-up substances to help plaster a smile on your not-so-chuffed face. People don’t want to be dragged down by your crap-ass attitude this week, even if it is well warranted. Strain recommendation: Henry VIII

CAPRICORN
Researching my family tree, I came across a photo of a young man who was conscripted in the early 19th century. Looking at his young face I realized that if he shook out his horrific hairdo he’d match the hipsters desperately engrossed in their online world, sitting in the cafés around town. And not that long ago that was me: with a book sporting the most esoteric title possible. Before that: my father, with a cigar perhaps. Every generation is essentially the same besides our trappings du jour. What is your item of significance? What is always in your bag just in case you find yourself facing an awkward moment with nothing to do but BE? Try leaving it at home this week and see what your hands do when there is nothing in them. Where does your gaze land… and can you pull this off without looking like a psycho? Strain Recommendation: Quick One

AQUARIUS
Sleep is everything. We forget how much we need it to be consistent and uninterrupted. We all know that without REM, humans go a bit batty, but we forget that even pushing the envelope a bit here and there can result in behavior we wouldn’t be proud of otherwise. To be honest, you’ve been a little bitchy lately, with a shorter fuse and a bucket load of complaints. Please, we (the rest of the zodiac) collectively beg of you to go to bed early for a few nights. Cuddle up and snooze it all away. Strain recommendation: Vanilla Kush

PISCES
According to Malcolm Gladwell, you only need 10,000 hours to master a skill: I wonder what I could have accomplished if I had put all the hours I spent playing computer solitaire and watching TV towards some good. I could be a multi-lingual violinist by now. It’s sad to think of all the time I’ve wasted on frivolous endeavors, though sometimes that’s exactly what my body, mind and soul needed. Our society needs to appreciate that down time is when all the work gels and new ideas form. What kind of silly activity can you get up to this week that will relieve your stress while allowing your load of meaty ponderings to simmer into a nice curry? Strain recommendation: Huron

from
http://hightimes.com/culture/high-horoscopes-dec-1-2016/

America’s Earliest Wake ‘n’ Bake Still Being Held Back by Lawmakers

There has been a lot of talk in Cannabis news about the unincorporated U.S. territory of Guam and how its people have begun to throw off the yolk of prohibition by legalizing medical marijuana.

Unfortunately, that is not quite the full story.

To find the 212-square-mile island on a globe, trace lines due south from Tokyo and due east from Manila. Where the lines intersect (about fifteen hundred miles in each direction) will be pretty much right on top of Guam, at the latitude and longitude of 13.4443° North, 144.7937° East, to be overly specific—which, indeed, the local legislators here were not when voters passed an open-ended medical marijuana referendum put forward by the Guam Senate that simply asked if cannabis for medical use should be legal.

The proposition was overwhelmingly approved in 2014, leaving the details of how the proposal would be implemented up to the elected officials, with some of them being very enthusiastic about the idea. 

The wrangling began immediately over how the anticipated cash cow would be butchered. The local grandees, who are Guam’s nexus of political and economic power, tried as hard as they could to completely control the coming bonanza. The Guam Senate put forth a plan based upon Arizona’s first failed attempt to legalize, which outlawed homegrown reefer, along with the same self-serving stipulations to ensure all the money would flow into the pockets of people in their circle of influence.

It seemed like a solid plan to the folks who put it forth, but the people wouldn’t have it and the public rebelled.

The idea that you couldn’t plant your own “Garden of Eden,” and in fact would still suffer under penalty of law if you did, went down hard but unfortunately not fast.

After years of letters to editors, public hearings, TV talking-heads blathering on and all the rest of the burble of political discourse, a seemingly reasonable six plant homegrown allowance has been proposed, and perhaps finally (we would hope) ganja will sprout among the taro, bread fruit, plantains and bananas out beyond the international dateline—”Where America’s Day Begins!”

You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ marijuana news right here.

from
http://hightimes.com/news/americas-earliest-wake-n-bake-still-being-held-back-by-lawmakers/

Coming: Official Hunter S. Thompson Cannabis!

Hunter S. Thompson—an outsized character with an intellect to match—was a man with a keen appreciation for the finer things.

Though he is most famous today for Gonzo journalism—the hellbent brand of first-person, possibly drug-induced writing immortalized in Fear and Loathing and Las Vegas—and for having an insatiable appetite for most of the intoxicants known in the western world, Thompson was a very serious journalist. He is responsible for introducing the straight world to the Hell’s Angels (and to Tom Wolfe), wrote one of the definitive dispatches on the Haight-Ashbury’s Summer of Love, and possessed a prescient political acumen that rings true today.

He also had one of the finest marijuana supplies then in existence. Thompson’s head stash was so fine that he was happy to inform NORML founder Keith Stroup that Stroup’s supply was trash by comparison. “He always told me my marijuana was dirt-weed, something no reputable stoner would ever be caught smoking,” Stroup once wrote.

That must have been some epic shit. What, exactly, did HST have his hands on? The world will soon know—and will get to smoke it.

Following Thompson’s death by self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2005, his widow, Anita Thompson, held on to his weed supply. She apparently kept it in such good condition that she knows its genetic composition, and she’s partnered with cannabis producers who say that clones of the good doctor’s head stash will soon be available in Colorado dispensaries.

“I have found a legal method to extract the DNA from Hunter’s personal marijuana and hashish that I saved for 12-15 years,” she wrote in a recent Facebook post. “I am in the process of making the strains available to those who would like to enjoy the authentic Gonzo strains in legal states.”

Proceeds from the sales will go to help create a writers’ retreat and “private museum” on the grounds of “Owl Farm,” the modest home in Woody Creek, Colorado where Thompson lived and worked for almost 40 years.

Despite intense and probably everlasting interest in Hunter Thompson’s life and work—and his notorious lifestyle—Anita Thompson had until now resisted pasting her late husband’s name and likeness on whatever consumer products came along.

She has spent the last decade making sure his legacy is mostly about the work, and also negotiated a deal to take over direct ownership of Owl Farm earlier this year.

With the real-estate situation settled and scholarships now secure for journalism students at the University of Kentucky in his home state, and for military veterans at Columbia University, where Thompson briefly studied on the GI Bill in the 1950s, a turn to commercialism can begin.

Gonzo-branded cannabis will be the first such offering under the official HST label, an enterprise Anita Thompson is undertaking on her own terms after having rejected similar offers out of hand.

“Since it became legal I get approached probably once a month by cannabis growers, dispensaries,” she told the Aspen Times. “I’ve had probably 10 meetings in the last three years and I always ended up saying ‘No’ because it’s the same story every time: somebody wants to slap Hunter’s name on their strain.”

There’s no word on exactly what the strains are—hybrid? Indica? Sativa? Landrace?—or when they’ll be made available. Suffice to say interest will be intense—and aficionados of fine cannabis as well as appreciators of HST’s life and legacy can rest assured that proceeds from sales will go towards Anita’s efforts to preserve Owl Farm.

Mahalo.

Here’s the good doctor talking about one of his favorite subjects:

 

from
http://hightimes.com/news/163944/