WeedLife News Network

A couple of Michigan cannabis dispensaries are in the spirit of giving back with clothing and toy drives this holiday season. They’re also offering discounts, giveaways, and free prerolls to anyone who makes a donation. So get your Christmas trees (we're talking cannabis, not pine, duh) while donating to families in need this holiday season.

If you want a free preroll, donate to the Toys for Tots drive at Pharmhouse Wellness in Grand Rapids until Dec. 23. Toys must be unopened and valued between $10 and $15. The company told the Metro Times they’ve gotten about 50 toys donated so far and have still have plenty of prerolls to give out, so get in while the getting's good.

Kaizen Extracts offers Cold Cure Rosins and high-quality vaping and smoking solutions; just read this review to learn more.

The method you select while curing your rosin can have a vast effect on the flavor and consistency of your final product.

While warm curing is usually done at temperatures ranging from anywhere between 90 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit, cold curing is usually done in a sealed jar between the temperature of 40 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The jar is left sealed for anywhere between 24 and 72 hours.

Sacramento police are investigating a series of burglaries targeting local cannabis distributors.

The thieves are breaking into warehouses in the early morning hours and taking off with up to $100,000 worth of marijuana.

A bent and busted iron fence was just some of the damage left behind by a crew of cannabis crooks.

“They cut gates, they drove vehicles through walls, they pulled out all the stops to get in,” said Brandy Moulton, CEO of Sovereign.

Sacramento police say there’s been more than 50 marijuana business break-ins since August, including at least six in just the last week.

A nonprofit that supports Ohio’s medical marijuana industry is undergoing changes after its CEO stepped down at the beginning of December to make way new leadership.

Ally Reaves, a longtime member of the medicinal cannabis industry and the founder of another regional nonprofit, took the reins of the Pickerington-based Cannabis Can from Bridget Williams, who left the position on Dec. 1.

Reaves is the founder and president of the nonprofit Midwest CannaWomen, which seeks to elevate women in the medical marijuana industry.

The holiday season is here, and while most industries will see a slight decline in profits, marijuana sales are expected to go up. Reports from Leaflink show that cannabis sales rose by more than 30% in the week leading up to Christmas last year, in comparison to the previous four weeks of 2020. Additionally, sales on Christmas Eve last year rose by 61%, in comparison to the previous four Thursdays.

Leaflink, a unified marijuana platform, also reports that on the days leading up to Green Wednesday November, they saw an increase of more than 10% in sales. If sales from Green Wednesday are any indication, the cannabis market will see a significant jump in sales this year.

Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of the passage of I-502, the ballot initiative that Washington voters approved 56–44% in November 2012, becoming – along with Colorado – the first states in the nation to take the plunge into marijuana legalization.

I-502 created a regulated market that generates hundreds of millions in tax dollars for the state through the sale of small amounts of marijuana and other cannabis products to those 21 and over.

A lot has changed in the last nine years, but some key aspects of the policy remain the same, and the industry says it is time for updates.

From CBD healing to epic highs to gourmet meals, Black entrepreneurs are revolutionizing cannabis (again)

Cannabis has been a significant staple in Black culture for generations. Its decriminalization has allowed many Black entrepreneurs to legitimately sell the world’s most popular and once-stigmatized recreational drug.

If you’re looking for a Christmas gift this year that puts your loved one on “Cloud 9”, here are 12 Black-owned cannabis companies that you should consider:

 “Please do not make us play this game!” A ski resort about 70 miles northeast of Fresno is warning visitors about using marijuana on its property.  In an Instagram story posted on Sunday, China Peak Mountain Resort said its plan to “crack down on its use” was brought on by complaints over the weekend. 

After noting marijuana use is legal in California, the resort wrote, “Use is illegal at our resort, as we are 100% on United States Forest Service federal land and must operate by their FEDERAL rules.”

Visitors who use marijuana at China Peak will face consequences, the resort said. 

36% want clean stores; 32% say variety of THC percentage options and 31% say educated sales associates are important

With 2021 legal cannabis industry sales nearing $31 billion, and the challenges presented by a growing cannabis black market, most Americans (76%) said they expect in-store cannabis dispensary shopping to equal traditional retail store experiences, according to a recent Harris Poll online survey commissioned by Urbn Leaf, California's premier cannabis retailer. Thirty-six percent say a clean store environment is one of the most important factors for a positive shopping experience; 32% want a variety of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) percentage options, and 31% want educated sales associates.

While recreational cannabis sales are legal in California, they are banned throughout most of Kern county, including Delano, City Council revisited that rule Monday night

“We’ve have known that it’s been trafficked in our community on both sides of town, this just allows us to put up a sign with a green cross that says, ‘buy it now, buy it here,’” expressed one member of the public.

Colorado Department of Corrections officials say there is a scourge of narcotics flowing into the state’s facilities, including ultra-potent, hard-to-detect synthetic drugs that can be absorbed into paper and mailed to inmates.

The Limon case, which came before the arrests of five prison staff accused of smuggling drugs into the facility, was one of at least three fatal drug overdoses inside a Colorado prison in the past 13 months. The deaths underscore what the CDOC says is a scourge of narcotics flowing into the state’s facilities, including ultra-potent, hard-to-detect synthetic drugs that can be absorbed into paper and mailed to inmates.

3 Top Marijuana Stocks To Watch Before Christmas

Investors are hoping marijuana stocks see a better year of trading in 2022. Since the beginning of 2021, the cannabis sector has faced a long drop in the market. This has given many the chance to find top marijuana stocks to buy. To which many have done in preparation for the future trading of cannabis stocks. With this past year being one of more losses than gains 2022 is being held to a high standard.

Lafayette-based food and grocery delivery app Waitr may soon become "ASAP," as the company completes its rebrand. The company is required to change its name as the result of a legal settlement, and the company is planning to become known as ASAP, which it said better represents the company's attempts to diversify its services. Waitr also announced it is moving ahead with its plans to begin delivering legal cannabis, agreeing to purchase an inventory and compliance software that serves dispensaries.

Waitr announced on Friday that it signed a letter of intent to buy Cova, a software that helps streamline cannabis sales for dispensaries. According to a press release, the sale would be for $90 million.

Several of the California's leading cannabis companies have banded together to direct a dire warning to Gov. Gavin Newsom this week. In a letter sent to the governor’s office and leaders of the state legislature, business leaders warned that the state’s legal cannabis industry is on the verge of collapse.

"It is an emergency," said David Goldman, who sits on the board of the San Francisco dispensary, The Green Cross.  

Congressional Democrats are gearing up for a sweeping set of initiatives aimed at decriminalizing marijuana that they plan to take action on this spring.

The federal proposals seek to establish 21st-century banking services for the nearly $18 billion industry and purge the criminal records of thousands of marijuana offenders.

“The growing bipartisan momentum for cannabis reform shows that Congress is primed for progress in 2022, and we are closer than ever to bringing our cannabis policies and laws in line with the American people,” Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) wrote in a memo to the Congressional Cannabis Caucus on Thursday. 

The memo is a road map to dozens of bills that seek to reimagine the role of the federal government in every aspect of the cannabis industry, with some measures receiving GOP support.

Bills like the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, sponsored by Lee and Blumenauer, seek to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substance Act and purge records for those convicted of using marijuana.

What do you do when you feel the “Grim Reefer” revealing yourself to yourself? The first thing you should do is isolate yourself from whatever is going on in your immediate environment.

Like it or not, one of the potential negative side effects of cannabis can be paranoia and in some cases, panic. The latter is typically set off by the former, but throughout my years of smoking cannabis and engaging with the user base – I have personally witnessed a few people who “lost their bananas” on weed. The stress of holiday season can bring some strange reactions to your normal weed enjoyment, too.

A few times, I also found myself tip toeing the fine line of sanity as a direct result of weed. Once, because I over consumed on edibles which sparked a deep 18 hour trip I’ll never forget. Another time I smoked some dank weed in Santa Monica from a stranger who claimed to be a dispensary owner. It was certainly some of the more potent stuff I’ve smoked in my life and made “the way back” a lot more difficult than I had imagined. The public nature of the expedition was what added a level of difficulty. Some cannabis strains may induce the “paranoia” feeling more than other marijuana strains.

Panic, anxiety, paranoia can happen if you’re in the wrong place, or with the wrong people. When you don’t feel safe or in an environment that you can relax in, one of two things can happen. Either you run down a rabbit hole of paranoia and fear, or you sober up and get the heck out of there.

In most cases, when my gut tells me to get out of a place, I listen! However, sometimes you can be smoking alone when panic sets in. I once had a friend of mine freak out at the realization that we’re on a rock floating in space. His mind was able to perceive the smallness of his being compared to the infinite expanse of the universe and as a result, he started to hyperventilate.

What this did was quickly expel all of the CO2 from his blood that induces hypocapnia, which in turn can begin to produce symptoms that exacerbate the narrative in your head.

People who use cannabis during pregnancy and lactation choose it to manage pregnancy-related symptoms and pre-existing conditions, such as nausea and vomiting, mental health problems, insomnia and more, according to new research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

"Our findings have very little resonance with evidence on motivations for cannabis use identified in nonpregnant populations, suggesting that motivations for use during pregnancy and lactation are unique," writes Dr. Meredith Vanstone, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, with coauthors. "The reasons for use provided by our participants more closely match those identified in studies of medical cannabis use, such as for controlling pain, anxiety, depression, muscle spasms, nausea or appetite, and for sleep, with many using cannabis to manage multiple symptoms."

The study included 52 people recruited from across Canada, of whom 51 were women and 1 identified as nonbinary. All had used cannabis before their pregnancy. At the time of the interview, 30 people were pregnant and the remaining 22 were breastfeeding. The reasons that participants gave for using cannabis changed when they became pregnant. Some people stopped out of fear of harm to the fetus when they found out they were pregnant. Other people stopped because of social stigma, guilt and health reasons. Those who kept using cannabis described their motivation as related to managing symptoms of pregnancy and conditions that pre-existed pregnancy. After they gave birth, their motivations for using cannabis changed, more closely resembling the reasons they supplied for using cannabis before becoming pregnant.

These findings have implications for clinical practice, including counseling of pregnant and lactating people on the potential harms of cannabis use and alternative approaches.

"I think it's important for physicians to understand that people who use cannabis during pregnancy are often doing so because they perceive important benefits of cannabis for controlling a variety of symptoms. There's an opportunity here for exploring the benefits that pregnant patients are getting from cannabis and helping them find alternatives that we know are safe for both mom and baby," Dr. Vanstone concludes.

Before a person considers taking cannabis as a way of managing disease, it’s important to talk to a doctor.

Cannabis is a multipurpose plant. Depending on moods, method, strain and more, the plant can have different effects. The compounds in cannabis, called cannabinoids, are known as immune-modulators. This refers to them having some kind of influence on the immune system, thus producing a wide variety of effects.

Research conducted on mice with cancer found that cannabis causes apoptosis, which means that it kills cancerogenous cells. Another study conducted on humans with AIDS/HIV discovered that the patients who consumed cannabis ended up with stronger immune systems and had higher CD4 counts (these are T cells that kill the HIV virus).

For people with an autoimmune disease, where someone’s immune system doesn’t work as intended and may attack the healthy cells in their bodies instead of the infections, CBD can provide some benefits, such as reducing the strength of these symptoms. Autoimmune diseases include HIV, diabetes, fibromyalgia, and more, all of which are difficult to treat.

There’s plenty information out there, but there’s still not enough research to definitively explain cannabis’ role in peoples’ immune systems. Like most things cannabis-related, the way in which it interacts with the body is highly individualized and needs much more research than what is available now.