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States that have legalized adult-use marijuana sales have seen billions of dollars in fresh tax revenue from cannabis, according to a new study.

The recently published research, which comes courtesy of the Marijuana Policy Project, found that, as of this month, “states reported a combined total of $7.9 billion in tax revenue from legal, adult-use marijuana sales,” while “cities and towns have also generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in new revenue from local adult-use cannabis taxes.”

That reported figure includes the states of Colorado and Washington, where voters passed legalization measures in 2012 and where sales began in 2014.

In Colorado, according to the study, there is a 15 percent tax on wholesale and a 15 percent tax rate on special retail (neither of which apply to sales of medical cannabis in the state). Since 2014, Colorado’s estimated tax revenue from cannabis sales is $1,557,878,973, with “$404.5 million of the total revenue generated from cannabis taxes has been dedicated to improving Colorado’s public school system.” The estimated tax revenue does not include “local sales tax revenues, which have been significant,” according to the study. In Denver, for example, $210.6 million in local tax revenue has been generated as of last month.

In Washington, where there is a 37% imposed on retail since July 2015 and a 6.5% sales tax, estimated state tax revenue from cannabis sales rounds out at $2,568,728,290, and that total does not include the estimated $167 million generated between July 2014 and March 2021.

The process to make canna-butter and canna-oil are the same, but I prefer to make my extractions using whole buds, not leaves or stems because the better and stronger the cannabis you use, the better the final product will be. It is best to make a strong extraction and dilute it to personal tastes with plain butter or oil when you prepare a meal.

You can extract cannabis into any cooking oil, I personally choose coconut oil for its health benefits. Additionally, it has a high fat content which means it binds to a lot more of the cannabinoids you are trying to ingest.

Most of my recipes suggest a serving size that contains between 2-3 teaspoons of medicated butter or oil. If I am planning a progressive dinner I will use less in each of the courses so I don’t overwhelm my guests. On occasion I will offer a medicated garnish that is optional, some folks can use it if they wish.

Ingredients:

1 ounce dried cannabis flower
2 cups butter or two cups oil; coconut, canola, olive, peanut

Equipment:

Large saucepan
Wooden spoon
Large clear bowl or container
Cheesecloth
String, rubber band or tape

I grew up on the East Coast and my earliest weed dealers used to offer only two choices: Take it or leave it.

I always chose “take it.”

Nowadays I live in California and the modern marijuana retail experience offers so many strains, concentrates, edibles, topicals and delivery devices that it requires a concerted effort (and consistent product sampling) to keep it all straight — never mind stoned. So I included a special section on pot shopping in my book, “How To Smoke Pot (Properly):  A Highbrow Guide to Getting High.”

Whether you’re buying recreational weed in Colorado, marijuana in Michigan, or ordering off a coffee-shop menu in Amsterdam, the retail cannabis experience remains both delightful and disorienting to the unaccustomed. So here’s a few tips for keeping your wits about you when faced with all those wonderful choices.

Make a Budget for Getting Bud

Unless you grow your own, or have some lovely hookup, cannabis is most definitely a luxury item. And while it’s certainly OK to splurge on the herb from time to time, that’s a decision best made in advance, not once you’re faced with a menu of enticing strains, concentrates, and edibles. So decide how much you can afford to spend and how long it’s got to last in advance, and you’ll have a lot of fun weighing your options when the time comes, without stressing out about next month’s rent.

Just a little more than two months after Validcare released the preliminary results of a study on cannabidiol’s (CBD’s) effect on the liver, the company has announced the release of a separate report on CBD usage among Americans that it simultaneously conducted along with consumer marketing research company Cannabis Business Experts (CBE).

More than 1,400 CBD users from across the U.S. participated in CBE and Validcare’s “CBD Motivations, Use and Benefits Study,” including the 839 users that took part in the liver research. CBE and Validcare’s study. Researchers looked at various information about users, such as their age; sex; weight; the amount and frequency of their CBD usage; perceptions of the cannabinoid’s effect on various symptoms; and interactions with other drugs such as prescription and over-the-counter medicines, nutritional supplements, alcohol and tobacco.

In a press release announcing the report, CBE stated the study answers the question, “How do perceptions of general wellness change with CBD usage?” While those interested in learning those details will need to purchase the report, CBE co-founder Ashley Grace told Hemp Grower that users have reported an improved perception of their personal wellness—-in other words, they feel their wellness has improved since they began using CBD.

“I can share with you that the overall efficacy of the CBD working in that regard is quite remarkable,” said Grace, who was also the founding chief marketing officer of Charlotte’s Web and HempFusion. “It's helping just about everyone at least maintain their status, if not improve. There are very few, if any, observations where things are getting worse for CBD users, which is quite remarkable from a research standpoint.”

As will all THC products, reading labels carefully, asking questions, and understanding how cannabis affects the body are all important steps before partaking in the compound.

With new cannabis-based beverages hitting the market, dispensaries are seeing a rise of individuals asking for the liquid delivery method. Citing a $4.4 billion legal cannabis market, the Long Beach Business Journal stated that liquid-based cannabis sales are set to skyrocket.

“According to data from Seattle-based cannabis analytics firm Headset, sales of cannabis-infused beverages increased 40.3% last year compared to 2019 across all states where recreational cannabis is legal, meaning the submarket slightly outperformed in terms of growth the overall cannabis market, which increased 39.4% in the same time period.”

Photo by skeeze via Pixabay

For the average consumer looking for new ways to consume cannabis, liquid-based offerings can be exciting. With THC-infused beverages taking off in dispensaries and beyond, here are three things to know before you indulge.

New York Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes estimates that the first legal sales will begin between 18 months and two years after the signing of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), which occurred on March 31, 2021. That means that the first legal sales would start between September 2022 and March 2023.

In order for those sales to happen, New York must first establish a regulated marketplace. That’s because under the MRTA, a license is required to produce, process, distribute, deliver, or sell cannabis. Those licenses will be issued by the Cannabis Control Board (the Board) with significant input from the Office of Cannabis Management (the Office).

The website for the Office launched on April 2. The next likely step for the Office will be the appointment of an executive director. The executive director will be nominated by the Governor with advice and consent from the state legislature. In addition, the five members of the Board must be selected. The MRTA provides that the Governor shall appoint three members, with New York Senate and Assembly each appointing one of the remaining two members. Peoples-Stokes estimates that the Board will be “set and running” before the legislative session ends in June 2021, according to a report from The City.

Once the positions on the Board and the Office are full, these regulators will need to establish robust rules under the MRTA, governing adult-use cannabis, medical cannabis, and hemp in the State of New York. This will include establishing an application process and rules establishing a criteria for granting licenses.

The New York State Administrative Procedures Act requires that government agencies notify the public sixty days before adding, amending, or repealing rules. Agencies must also provide 60 days notice before holding a public hearing on a proposed rule. These time periods are called “notice and comment” periods and, as the name suggests, they are required so that the public can provide comment on proposed government regulations.

Humans have been consuming cannabis for thousands of years, that we already know. We also know we’re a population of animals that sure loves to eat! Put them together and you’ve got a fantastic market for cannabis edibles. But we’re not talking about any old edible right now. Here we’re looking at the most interesting edibles, and the most creative ways of eating cannabis.

Food is the best, and there are a million interesting edibles on the market for cannabis! Whether you like your edibles sweet, or salty, there’s something for everyone. Some are higher in CBD, some in THC, and some are made with delta-8 THC, the alternate form of THC on the market, which produces slightly less psychoactive effect, and a more energetic, clear-headed high. No matter how you like to consume cannabis, there are plenty of options, and that goes for delta-8 as well. If you have yet to try D8, check out our awesome Delta 10 THC and Delta-8 THC deals, and pick up a new kind of cannabis product.

How they used to do it

There are a lot of cool and interesting edibles on the market for cannabis, though its good to remember that cannabis has been eaten throughout history, just not as the edibles we know today. Back then, it wasn’t understood that cannabinoids are fat soluble, or that they can be leached out into substances like butter. One of the first mentions is from China back in 1,500 BC when cannabis was being consumed as a tea. The records from this time are actually written in the past tense, indicating this tradition might be even older than the dated records.

Cannabis became big in Hindu culture around 1,000 BC, when the drink bhang came into play. Not only is the drink still big today in India, but it was even the basis for the cording in the current international law that governs cannabis legality globally, the Single Convention on Narcotic Substances treaty.

A little less ancient history

Obviously, there’s a huge difference between edible cultures of ancient history, and the edible culture of today. Today’s edible culture started with an American in Paris. Enter Alice B. Toklas, the life partner of American author Gertrude Stein, who was a part of the Paris literary upper class in the early-mid 1900’s. Alice was famous for her cannabis fudge, which ended up in her 1954 cookbook, the Alice B Toklas Cookbook, which can still be bought today. The recipe for ‘Haschisch Fudge’ which shows up in the cookbook, uses ground cannabis, not hash, creates more of a fudge than a brownie, and apparently was not Alice’s own recipe, but had come from someone else.

Marijuana, while mild in comparison to other drugs, still packs enough of a punch in some cases to bring on a wealth of misery.

Marijuana is legal in a lot of places. Rest assured, that means there’s a stoner bro sitting around in a frat house somewhere staring down at a 1000mg cannabis edible while his college buddies double dare him to eat that sucker all at once. And in the spirit of the party culture, he’s probably going to do it, too. Little does he know, it’ll be worse than the worst mistake he’s ever made.

Although most states require cannabis dispensaries to sell edibles with a limited amount of THC (usually 10mg per serving), it’s common to find these products packaged with 10 servings — the equivalent of 100mg of THC. For the newcomer to the world of edible pot, 100mg is going to put them on their backside in a matter of hours and will likely induce enough panic to swear them off drugs forever.

Photo by Sarah Pender/Getty Images

There’s nothing stopping a consumer from buying multiple packages of pot edibles and devouring it in one setting. There have been accounts of pot journalists, many of which believe documenting their drug use makes them the next Hunter Thompson, eating 500mg to 1000mg of THC and sharing their experience with their readers. You can find these articles all over the internet, and they are written in such a way that cautiously suggest that a person shouldn’t be afraid.

While consuming copious amounts of THC might be okay for some, it’s not the most practical move for most. Forget about all the stuff you’ve heard about pot users being more active, creative, and functional. Eating 1000mg of weed will almost assuredly lead to drooling fear, total inactivity, a loss of creative control and you won’t even be able to pronounce the word functionality.

Safe to say, the comments have no sources or scientific backing to support them. - by Jessica Campbell

The debate surrounding the legalisation of cannabis has always been one prone to fiery debate and controversy and given the nature of drugs to divide social opinion, the path to decriminalise cannabis here in Australia has been rife with obstacles. While American states have led the way in making cannabis-related products available to the public and change the deeply entrenched stigmas surrounding the drug, Australia has been much slower to adopt such changes. But while the ACT has since decriminalised cannabis, the quest to do so in Victoria has now seen an interesting (yet bizarre) argument come forward from Drug Free Australia. 

Historically, cannabis was portrayed as the scourge of humankind. Films like ‘Reefer Madness’ were coupled with other forms of propaganda and spread throughout the world.

That propaganda had one goal – to demonize cannabis users. Cannabis consumers were portrayed in horrific ways that weren’t based in fact in an attempt to convince society that the ‘harms’ of cannabis were significant and factual.

The fact of the matter is that cannabis is much safer than many other legal substances, including and especially alcohol.

One study found that cannabis was 114 times safer than alcohol. A more recent study found that cannabis may actually be able to reduce alcohol cravings.

CBD and Alcohol Consumption Study

The cannabis plant is composed of dozens of cannabinoids, with THC and CBD being the two most popular cannabinoids.

Working out while enjoying a cannabis high is a popular habit for a reason. Here’s how to do it safely.

The influence of marijuana’s legalization has had wide ranging implications, from attracting a more varied base of users to the production of a larger selection of products. It’s also launched a growing “weed and workout” following.

Many people call their weed workouts invigorating and joyful, going against the harmful and pervasive lazy stoner stereotype. Cannabis has always been pretty malleable. Once you know how to use it, you can pretty much add it onto any activity and obtain positive results. Still, whenever you ingest a substance, it’s very important to prioritize your health and well being.

Here are a few tips that can make your workouts on weed safer and just as efficient:

Start off small

Photo by Alessandro Zambon via Unsplash

There seems to be a new bud on the block that people are turning to for a legal high in Texas.

It's called "Delta 8 THC" and for now... it's being sold legally at CBD retailers.

Delta 8 comes in the form of chips, gummies, chocolates, even bath bombs.

It's not just junk food feeding the craze either, it comes in all the old-school ways to get that ‘altered state.’

When asked, "Do these products get you high?" CloudPonics owner Toyice Garrett said, "Absolutely, yes they do."

Governor Greg Gianforte on Tuesday signed the Montana adult-use cannabis bill that will establish a newly formed recreational marijuana program in the state, months after voters in Big Sky country approved a measure to legalize pot.

Gianforte, a Republican in his first term as governor of Montana, attached his name to House Bill 701, which paves the way for the state to become the latest to implement a program overseeing legal adult-use pot sales. 

The Daily Montanan reports that the bill “implements and regulates the recreational marijuana program that voters approved in a ballot initiative last year and funds a substance abuse prevention program that the new governor has championed since his first days in office,” with sales for customers 21 years and older slated to begin in January of next year.

According to the Daily Montanan, “the half of Montana counties that voted for I-190, the ballot initiative legalizing adult-use cannabis, will have recreational in their borders by default, while voters in the the other half of counties will have to take an affirmative action to bring recreational marijuana in their boundaries if so desired.” 

Other provisions in the bill, per the Daily Montanan, include a tax rate of 20 percent on recreational pot sales (compared with five percent on medical marijuana sales), while also shifting “the operation and regulation of the state’s marijuana program from the Department of Public Health and Human Services to the Department of Revenue.”

This is obviously not good for CBD companies, though there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

If you’ve been reading our blog for the last few years, you know that California has taken a pretty absurd position on hemp-derived CBD for the last few years. Though the state led the charge to legalize cannabis (in California, “cannabis” is legally defined as only marijuana and not hemp), the state just can’t get its act together with anything that’s made from hemp.

In 2018, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) published an FAQ that said that hemp CBD could not be added to any kind of orally consumable product like foods, beverages, dietary supplements, or animal products, which has been the rule ever since.

You can read an older analysis of mine on the CDPH’s position here. In my opinion, the CDPH’s position was highly suspect – there is no law in the state that actually forbids adding CBD to anything; the CDPH just followed the federal Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) position. While the FAQ did not expressly say so, it appears that the CDPH actually took the position that CBD was an adulterant under the state’s Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law (which is similar to the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act laws that the FDA enforces).

Photo by pmv chamara via Unsplash

Researchers believe the only natural way to prevent getting hammered with cannabis-related health issues is to sidestep it.

Ever since marijuana started going legal in the United States, the news has been filled with countless reports of people getting their butts handed to them because of it. At first, much of the trouble was blamed on edible pot products — or rather, the average citizen’s ignorance over how much THC is too much to take at one time.

But then, the terror grew into the potential harms of vaporizers, how smoking was as bad as cigarettes and a slew of other hazards that one might encounter if they dance with the doobie. However, scientists now believe they understand how cannabis can be used safely, and they want to share their thoughts with the public.

Researchers from Canada recently published a list of guidelines in the American Journal of Public Health, providing cannabis users with 10 ways to increase their chances for survival in the modern stoned age. According to Dr. Benedikt Fischer, senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the team has uncovered “factual, science-based information” to help the average cannabis user avoid both short and long-term health problems associated with cannabis.

Photo by LordHenriVoton/Getty Images

Starting on July 1, Virginia residents will have the ability to possess small amounts of cannabis and use it in their homes. But that doesn’t mean those already in jail on similar charges will get a quick release.

The complicated process of expunging past criminal records and releasing current inmates incarcerated on marijuana possession charges could take as long as a year or more. That’s a disappointment to those who spearheaded the Virginia legalization effort.

“It makes no sense to me,” state Sen. Louise Lucas, who co-sponsored the legislation that led to legalization in Virginia, told the Virginia Mercury. “That was urgent to me, because now we’re going to be in a situation where you’ve got people still sitting in jail for the very thing that we’ve already legalized.”

An effort to speed up the process got removed from the legalization bill.

The Virginia Legislature voted to make adult-use marijuana legal in the state in April. Lucas and other supporters attempted to include language that would have granted resentencing hearings to people in jail on certain marijuana-related charges, such as possession. But other lawmakers would not approve those provisions.

Retail cannabis sales will not start in Virginia until 2024. But starting July 1, residents can possess up to one ounce of cannabis and grow up to four plants per household.

With much of the country vaccinated and summer around the corner, it might finally be time to dust off some of those vacation days you’ve been hoarding. After a year of travel bans and border closures, the European Union has announced that all vaccinated Americans will soon be able to travel freely to and from Europe – which is usually the most popular destination for international travel from the U.S.

But, ban or no ban, travel is always complicated for cannabis-enthusiasts. Cannabis is still federally illegal in the United States, and while an increasing number of countries in Europe are legalizing medical marijuana and decriminalizing recreational use, the way those laws are actualized varies wildly from country to country.

If you’ve got the travel bug but are reluctant to leave your pot behind, here are three things you should know:

1. Don’t try bringing cannabis into or out of the U.S. (even if it’s medicinal)

Even though recreational cannabis is becoming legal in states all over the country, medical marijuana and adult-use cannabis are both still fully illegal at the federal level in the United States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) abides by federal U.S. law, not state law – so, even if you’re leaving the country from California, a state where recreational marijuana is fully legal, attempting to enter another country with cannabis will be considered drug trafficking and a federal offense.

Drug trafficking is a much more serious crime than drug possession. Depending on the quantity found, it can lead to a hefty fine and anywhere between three to five years to life in prison – not exactly something you want to risk, even if you’re using cannabis for medical purposes. We reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection to find out what happens if you are caught smuggling cannabis on an international flight.

It’s entirely likely you or someone you know has made the unfortunate and all-too-easy party blunder of imbibing too much alcohol and then adding cannabis to the mix. What seems like a natural social combination of a few drinks and a few joints can quickly turn into nauseous, seemingly unending awfulness. The effects of both cannabis and alcohol can creep up on you unexpectedly, as your body interacts with the intake of chemicals at different speeds. I’ve certainly questioned on many a dark morning the plausibility of ever combining the two reliably, under any circumstances. The jury’s still out.

In the meantime, I can report firsthand that enjoying the two individually is the best plan. To take it even further, you can replace an alcoholic beverage with cannabis-infused mocktails, which is beneficial to your body, as opposed to the known havoc wreaked by alcohol. Instead of drinking a numbing poison for kicks, there is now the option of enjoying a plant that has been used throughout recorded civilization as a holistic natural medicine.

The question is, however, how can you enjoy cannabis consumption as innocuously and acceptably as drinking an alcoholic beverage?

Welcome to the world of “mocktails”: cannabis-infused drinks that are a delicious, effective and subtle alternative to an alcoholic beverage. Take extra care when drinking cannabis, as liquids are processed more quickly by your body than edibles, so you may feel the effects in as little as 10-20 minutes. Let it ride for at least 45-90 minutes before drinking more, to be on the safe side.

Remember: you can always drink more, but you cannot go back in time and drink less.