Supplemental 4/20 Section

The 4/20 Issue

INSIDE

Cannabis on campus:

Navigating life in the dorms

Page 3

The zen of blowing glass Pages 4-5

Passover, Easter, and the sacred lore of 4/20

Page 6

MARLEE CHYLSTEK | THE DEPAULIA

2 | 4/20 Issue. April 15, 2019. The DePaulia

Letter from the Editor

With this special section, The DePaulia brings you a modern take on marijuana

By Benjamin Conboy Editor-in-Chief

Gov. J.B. Pritzker campaigned on legalizing marijuana for recreational use in Illinois. He argued that the tax revenue brought in from it could help fill the gaping holes in our state’s budget and begin to repair the injustice of ever having locked people up for marijuana crimes in the first place.

Now, Pritzker says he’s ready to get to work on making Illinois the 11th state with fully legalized recreational marijuana. If he gets his way, weed will be legal by next 4/20, telling the Chicago Sun-Times recently he wants to pass a legalization bill before the state legislature goes on spring break.

Pritzker even admitted to the paper that he smoked weed himself in his younger days — no word yet on whether or not he inhaled like President Bill Clinton, who ramped up the so-called War on Drugs, incarcerating countless Americans for marijuana and other drug offenses.

The road weed and its users traveled to get to this point has been difficult. We’ve come a long way as a society from the days of “Reefer Madness,” when pot smokers were made to look like paranoid psychopaths.

But unfortunately, people are still wasting away in jail for violating Illinois’ Cannabis Control Act. In 2017,

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF GOV. J.B. PRITZKER

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is the first openly pro-pot governor in the history of Illinois. there were still 372 people incarcerated for cannabis offenses in the state, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections — half of the number imprisoned for the same crimes in 2014.

So it’s a start.

But that’s still 372 people being fed and housed by taxpayers, 372 people who will miss holidays, birthdays and funerals, 372 people who will have a harder time finding a job with a criminal record, all for selling something the governor, two former presidents, and millions of Americans have admitted

to using.

In 2016, then-Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a decriminalization bill that reduced the penalty for possession of less than 10 grams to a fine of $100200. It’s better than locking people up — but pray you don’t get caught with 10.5 grams, because you still might find yourself in jail, especially if you have priors.

Now that there is a Democratic supermajority in the Illinois General Assembly and a pro-pot governor, it looks like we will finally catch up to

the more progressive states. It’s high time the laws changed — it should have been done years ago.

It’s time to release the remaining prisoners incarcerated for pot crimes and make sure we never lock another one up again.

It’s time that we bring marijuana out of the shadows and into the light.

That’s why we produced this special 4/20 section — so that we can elevate the dialogue and reduce the stigma surrounding this unfairly demonized plant. In this special issue, we bring you stories that hoist marijuana, and the people who use it, out of ignominy.

We have stories about marijuana policy and the way a new program is being used to help curb opiate addiction and stories about how young pot enthusiasts get away with toking up while living in the dorms, skirting the vigilant eyes of the RA’s.

We have stories about an artisan glassblower, the booming CBD market in Chicago and even a fun piece about the coincidence of 4/20 with a religious weekend and the sacred lore of 4/20 itself.

So kick back, relax, enjoy the paper, and revel in the fact that maybe by next 4/20, cannabis connoisseurs won’t need to worry about a penalty of any kind — even a $100 fine — for enjoying something that’s completely legal in 20 percent of the country.

Cheers.

Illinois program lets patients substitute opiates for pot

By Lacey Latch Arts & Life Editor

In 2017, 2,202 families in Illinois felt the immediate effects of the opioid epidemic that has consumed the nation. Over 2,000 Illinois residents died in opiate related drug overdoses in that year, a rate higher than the national average, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In light of that, state legislators have begun attacking the problem from all angles, including with medical alternatives for prescription opiates, like marijuana.

“It’s definitely a very innovative way to both give people an alternative to pain treatment and to help combat the opioid crisis in this state at the same time,” said Jason Erkes, spokesperson for Cresco Labs, the leading medical cannabis distributor in the state.

Under the new Opioid Alternative Pilot Program [OAPP], Illinois residents qualify for medical marijuana if they have one of the 41 conditions listed or could otherwise be prescribed opiates for their medical condition. When the program went into effect on Feb. 1, instead of choosing opiates, patients can instead opt for medical cannabis and pick it up at any of the many dispensaries throughout the state, similar to any other prescriptions they might receive and pick up at

RICHARD VOGEL | ASSOCIATED PRESS

The new program aims to curb the overprescription of opioids, replacing them with medical marijuana. their pharmacy.

In another definitive step toward medical cannabis policy reform, the OAPP eliminates the lengthy and complicated process of background checks and fingerprinting – elements not required to attain nearly any other medical prescription in the state. A process that could normally take up to three months has become almost immediate, further removing obstacles

between patients and their treatment.

“If we’re going to call it medicine, we have to give it access the same way as traditional medicine is accessed,” he said. “The state realized that and took very aggressive steps to be able make that happen.”

The first of its kind in the U.S., many are speculating that all eyes will be on Illinois with this program being seen as a blueprint for effec-

tive and efficient implementation of regulated cannabis policies. Discussion surrounding the legalization of recreational adult-use marijuana has shifted, with some reports suggesting a bill could be passed this legislative session, as early as next month. But it’s important to note, Erkes said, that it will take some serious policy heavy lifting to get the program up and running fully.

“There’s boundaries and regu-

lations surrounding it, so if the bill passes within the next month or so, the state will then take many months, maybe up to a year, to put all those regulations in place and develop rules for the program to make it as successful and productive as it can be,” he said.

What was once the subject of heated debate has become commonplace. Pro-cannabis policies are no longer considered risky stances for candidates and nearly every political debate references cannabis issues in some way. Now, it seems as if pro-marijuana perspectives have taken the logical next step, considering the potential and seeming inevitability of the marijuana industry.

“We have elected officials and policymakers that are getting elected […] on a pro-cannabis platform and I think that speaks volumes to our industry and to this plant’s credibility now,” Erkes said.

Medical marijuana has finally left behind years clouded in stigma and officially entered the spotlight.

Hopefully, this program can help Illinois residents emerge from the shadows of opiate addiction as well.

DePaul’s Center for Student with Disabilities could not provide any comment regarding the program’s potential impact on its policies in time for print.

4/20 Issue. April 15, 2019. The DePaulia | 3

The trials and tribulations of being a dope-smoking dorm-dweller

By Shane Rene Managing Editor

Nobody likes to end a holiday in handcuffs. Few things kill the mood like listening to your Miranda rights read aloud.

For those who mark April 20 on their calendars in anticipation of a ceremonial date with Mary Jane, keeping the authorities at an arm's length can be chalked up to a holiday chore. And if you’re a 4/20 disciple living under the thumb of student housing, that chore comes with heightened risk.

Every DePaul student living in student housing is issued a handbook from the university outlining the rules and regulations of life in the dorms.

In it is everything you would expect: a detailed list of forbidden appliances and decor, emergency protocols, quiet hours, guest policies and friendly suggestions for resolving conflicts with your walking, talking, nightmare of a roommate. It’s everything you would want to know, but never bother to read.

Cannabis users living in the dorms at DePaul don’t need to read their handbook to know that the possession and use of their favorite vice is prohibited on university property, let alone their dorm room.

“Students may not illegally use, sell, possess or distribute any substance prohibited by local, state or federal law on University-owned or -controlled property,” the handbook reads. “This includes but is not limited to illegal drugs and controlled substances (including marijuana, narcotics, cocaine, heroin, prescription medications, synthetic cannabinoids or other drugs, and any chemical substantially similar to a controlled substance).”

Bill, a DePaul senior who asked to have his name changed, was well aware of both the university’s policy and the legal state of cannabis in Chicago while he was living in Clifton-Fullerton Hall as a freshman. But, like the many pot smokers in his building, he was not deterred.

When the weather is tolerable, Bill said he would usually take a walk around the block and smoke outside. When he stayed in his room, he would smoke concentrates (wax-like substances of concentrated cannabinoids like THC, commonly referred to as “dabs”), which don’t have as strong an odor.

Bill doesn’t remember exactly what he was doing right before he returned to his dorm room in the early afternoon of April 20, 2016, but said it was most likely in the spirit of the holiday. When he opened the door to his room, he was greeted by DePaul Public Safety Officers. The celebration, he could tell, had come to an end.

“One of the DePaul officers came in at me like Dwight Schrute,” Bill said. “Like a spitting image of what he does on ‘The Office.’ He looked like him, too.”

With his permission, the officers began searching the room in response to a report of marijuana odor on his floor. Knowing he was guilty, albeit confused as to how he became the chief suspect, Bill stood quietly, hoping things would go his way, until one of the officers came across a small safe and asked for a key.

Bill complied. Bill was busted.

“I had taken a couple rips of a dab pen in my room probably two hours prior [to finding Public Safety in my room],” Bill said. “The smell was not in my room anymore — wherever [the smell in] the report came from, it was not me.”

DePaul’s Office of Public Relation and Communication (OPRC) told The DePaulia that the university is ultimate forced to comply with state and federal

law, and reports all felonies and serious misdemeanors to the Chicago Police Department. For cannabis related offences, CPD officers will give the culprit a citation or make an arrest for possession of large quantities.

In Bill’s case, he was escorted out of his dorm in handcuffs and taken to the police station. He had just over two grams of product in his possession.

“Once I got in the [police] car I immediately started asking questions cause I really didn’t know what was going on,” Bill said. “The officer basically told me he was going to recommend a really easy judge and nothing would come of it.”

Bill said the officers put him in a private holding cell, figuring that the DePaul freshman was not suited to mingle with the other inmates. After a few hours, he was processed and released. At his court date a month later, the judge told him to go home and wiped his record clean.

Had Bill’s unfortunate run in with DePaul Public Safety occurred just a year later, he may have saved himself a ride in the squad car. In 2017, Chicago police officers arrested a record-low 3,168 people for cannabis-related offenses, according to a WBEZ analysis of Chicago police data, which police say is the result of shifting more focus toward violent crimes around the city.

But no matter how much trouble you can get in with an eighth of weed in the city or on campus, students living in the dorms will always find a way to get their smoke.

“It’s not necessarily that there is a hard part [to smoking while living in the dorms], it’s just there is a right and wrong way,” one DePaul student housing resident and smoker, who asked to stay anonymous, said. “You can be lazy and smoke in your room and get caught — which is what my neighbors did — or you could be a little bit more inconspicuous.”

The student told The DePaulia that in dorms with community showers, stoners have a popular refuge. By turning the hot water on while you smoke, the steam rises and carries the smoke into the vents, removing — or at least thinning out — that familiar odor. Other, bolder students rely on the age-old methods of cross ventilation, air-freshener and a rolled up towel at the base of the door, to enjoy their evening

MARLEE CHLYSTEK | THE DEPAULIA

PETER DEJONG | AP

A smoker lights a cannabis cigarette. Students in the dorms struggle to find places to spark up.

or weekend from the comfort of their oncampus living quarters.

“The only reason people really smoke inside is when it’s really cold,” the same student said. “I find that it’s not a huge deal to do it outside in semi-public, depending on the neighborhood.”

They said that they estimate between 40 and 50 percent of the students in their dorm are casual cannabis smokers, which can make getting caught somewhat

random. When Bill was arrested at Clifton Fullerton Hall in 2016, he said the student that sold him the product and other frequent smokers all lived across the hall.

With a significant portion of students in possession of and using cannabis, even the most methodical smokers can take the fall for a building full of potheads.

4 | 4/20 Issue. April 15 2019. The DePaulia

Zen and the art o

The storefront of Pete Rivers’ glass and vape shop “The Zen Den,” which doubles as his glassblowing studio.

By Benjamin Conboy Editor-in-Chief

In a small shop on a busy street in River Grove, Pete Rivers is dancing a mesmerizing ballet around a torch spitting a 2-foot-long, 3000-degree flame.

Rivers is a glassblower. Today, he’s making a bubbler, but he didn’t know that when all he had in front of him was a half-dozen rods of borosilicate glass.

Blowing glass is like meditating, Rivers said. Clear your head, let your hands go where they go, and the piece will come together if you let it.

For as much as blowing glass is about being in the moment, it’s equally about thinking ahead. Everything he’ll be working with has to be heated to 1000 degrees in a special oven just so it won’t shatter when he brings it to the flame. When he’s spinning colors into intricate designs onto a piece—today he’s doing something called a “wig-wag”—he has to anticipate what they will look like when he blows the glass out.

Gravity is both your friend and your enemy as a glassblower. When the glass is molten and glowing red hot, it wants to droop down to the floor, so you have to constantly keep it rotating. But rotate it too quickly and it wants to pull itself out.

Rivers, 34, has been blowing glass since he was 25. He grew up in West Humboldt Park, where he had a rough upbringing. He was shot in the chest when he was 14 while he was just walking down his block. His uncle was killed in the shooting. But now he lives in River Grove, a suburb just outside Chicago’s city limits. His kids like it more here. The people are nicer.

He started blowing glass when he brought an idea for a custom piece to a local artist called Ghost—an artist who Rivers still admires and calls one of the “best sculptors alive.” The cost estimate was $5,000— he only had $500 at the time. Rather than giving up, he offered him $500 to teach him how to blow the piece himself.

“I went into the class and right away I was addicted,” Rivers said. “I was a communication technician for large phone systems, and I found glass and I was like, ‘I’m going to be my own boss.’ I couldn’t just quit my job, so I decided to go into scientific glassblowing. I went into a place by me and I told the guy, ‘I’ll work for you once a week for free if you show me how to do it.’ He ended up hiring me full time two months later.”

For Rivers, becoming a glassblower was the next

logical step after getting out of his old neighborhood.

“I’ve always been part of a counterculture. For a while I did graffiti. And then when I found this, I thought it was cool,” he said. “We were rebels. ‘Degenerate artists’ they called us. Most glass-blowing is done by masters, and what us pipe makers did really pissed off a lot of these old-time glassblowers.”

The glass Rivers uses fluctuates in its material states. In its raw form, it’s just a tube of hardened glass. But put the flame to it and begins to turn into a viscous liquid. He pulls and bends, discards this little chunk, folds that one over and twirls it around and pulls it back over itself. He does all while keeping his hands, the most important tools of his trade, a safe distance—normally five or six inches—from the massive torch.

Rivers has never seriously burned himself. The most he’s done is touched something that’s hot, but he knows people who, while twirling and tucking and spinning, have found their hands on the wrong end of the torch.

“Third-degree burns instantly,” he said. “The first thing I was taught was, ‘Respect the flame.’”

The torch burns an ultra-hot mixture of propane and oxygen. Just a millisecond of contact with that torch is enough to make sure that you won’t be blowing glass with that hand anytime soon—if ever.

Being even in the general vicinity of the torch is quite the sensory experience. You can feel the heat from feet away, and the roar of the torch forces you to speak up. When Rivers switches over to a smaller torch, the remaining oxygen being expelled lets off a loud “pop” like a firecracker just went off — he apologizes everytime this happens. He still hasn’t worked out the kinks in his homemade tubing system. The light is blinding like a welding torch, so Rivers wears welding goggles.

Working with glass changed Rivers’ life. Before glass, he was just a cog in a giant telecommunications machine. Now he’s a small business owner and reports to no one but his own bottom line. It’s changed his attitude toward life and gives him a feeling of purpose.

“One thing the glass showed me is confidence,” he said. “You got to have confidence in every move you make.”

You can visit the Zen Den and watch Rivers blow glass or do some shopping at 8044 W. Grand Ave., River Grove, Illinois.

of glassblowing

4/20 Issue. April 15, 2019. The DePaulia | 5

Top center: Rivers heats a glass rod over a torch to prepare blowing the glass pipe.

Top right: Rivers blows out the main part of a bubbler, called the “can.” His exhalations expand the glass from the inside.

Middle right: Because of the blinding light from the torch, Rivers uses a pair of special welding bifocals.

Bottom left: The torch can reach up to 3000 degrees, changing the chemistry of the glass and making it malleable.

Middle bottom: Rivers uses fine tools to make sure the small details of every piece are impeccably designed.

Bottom right: This photo, shot through a piece of welder’s glass, allows the camera to see through the searing flame.

Photos by Xavier Ortega

6 | 4/20 Issue. April 15, 2019. The DePaulia

Passover, Easter and the sacred origins of 4/20

By Noah Festenstein Contributing Writer

COMMENTARY This Friday begins a religious weekend, and smack dab right in the middle of it—4/20. While we may know of our respective religious holidays, Passover and Easter sandwich the one holiday with some history to highlight.

4/20 has solidified itself to be the most mainstream marijuana holiday. Falling within the Passover/Easter weekend, it is only the right time to analyze the history behind 4/20 and look at how it connects to these sacred holidays. Those who celebrate could either be blessing the herb on the Seder plate or searching for the Easter bunny’s hidden stash.

The tradition of 4/20 all started in 1971 with five California High School students, or so the tale goes. The group called themselves “The Waldos,” and the lore begins when they received a treasure map created by a cannabis grower, giving them a chance to search for the abandoned crop.

The Waldos hatched a plan to meet every day at 4:20 p.m., which ended up becoming the weed holiday’s namesake. They might have been in the Easter spirit, hunting the abandoned stash like Easter eggs. But they never ended up finding the crops. Maybe the Easter bunny got to it before them and kept the stash for himself.

How in the world can a day dedicated to smoking weed connect to our religious holidays? Well, Passover, Easter and 4/20 all fall on the same weekend every year. Regardless if you consume cannabis or not, it is important to recognize that 4/20 is also a time to connect with friends, or your Waldos-like smoking crew.

Senior Blake Hanetho celebrates Easter and said he was surprised after learning the alleged origins of the pot holiday.

“That’s pretty crazy how they set out on a treasure hunt map, that’s a weird way for it to happen,” Hanetho said. “I remember back in high school people saying it was Bob Marley’s birthday, which it is not. Considering the actual origins of 4/20, it makes me think of ‘Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.’

[The Waldos] set out with a treasure map and just end up smoking a bunch of weed.”

Since Easter is a sacred holiday, it was hard for Hanetho to make a formal connection to celebrating both with the same gusto. However, the notion of togetherness in both holidays was apparent to him, and also with sophomore Josh Handelman.

“I used to live in Denver where every day it was 4/20, and now here I can tell everyone’s really excited about it,” Handelman said. “[The story of The Waldos] is a cool story because it is a time to go on adventures to be together and be with friends.

Weed gets a lot of hate because you can isolate yourself and smoke and be high and be by yourself. With 4/20, it’s kind of the day to be with friends and go on your own adventures.”

Junior Colby Marchio, who celebrates Easter, on the other hand, doesn’t quite make the connection between the Christian holy day and 4/20.

“One is a made-up holiday and the other is [about] a bunny, or in other words, Jesus’s resurrection,” Marchio said. “For me, Easter is the same as all holidays. It’s just time where I see both sides of my family and catch up on what everyone is doing.”

It is fair to say that Easter and Passover don’t have that formal connection to 4/20. The notion of revival and freedom are all central themes in this weekend’s three holidays.

Whether you smoke weed or not, it doesn’t mean you should pass up 4/20 as a day to celebrate. It’s a day where everyone is included to celebrate their freedom, sense of adventure and revival. Just as well as getting high is an adventure and a form of revival, you can make your adventures without the effects of marijuana.

ANNALISA BARANOWSKI | THE DEPAULIA The Waldos A 4/20 take on the traditional Seder plate, the focal point of the traditional Passover dinner. didn’t just have to get high to create 4/20, they did it because they wanted to.

Before the Eight Days begin, Passover’s Friday night Seder asks four questions with the theme: Why is this DePaul sophomore night different from all other nights?

The same question can be asked for 4/20: Why is 4/20 different from all other nights?

1. On all other nights, we eat either unleavened or leavened bread, but tonight we eat only weed brownies?

2. On all other nights, we eat all kinds of vegetables, but tonight, we smoke only bitter herbs?

3. On all other nights, we may not dab even once, but tonight we dab twice?

4. On all other nights, we are either sober or not, but tonight we are not sober?

I have spent many years being the one who reads the four questions at the Seder service. To my knowledge, there is no real answer to Passover’s Four Questions—that is for each of us to answer for ourselves. So, ask yourself this 4/20: Why you are celebrating and what makes this session different from all the rest?

“I used to live in Denver where every day it was 4/20, and now, here, I can tell everyone’s really excited about it.”

Josh Handelman

4/20 Issue. April 15, 2019. The DePaulia | 7

St.Vincent’s

D e JOINTZ “Spinning fresh beats since 1581”

By Noah Festenstein Contributing Writer

Everyone knows weed and music go together like peanut butter and jelly. Some songs beg for the listener to be under the influence to get the full experience, but mainly it is about where they fit in the 4/20 scheme. From reggae, EDM, rock and rap, music has always found a way to revolve around the cultural values of 4/20.

1. “Jammin’” - Bob Marley “Jammin’” is the most mainstream, but also one of the most popular 4/20 songs. Bob Marley’s music has always been a fan favorite of potheads. The verb “Jammin’” is a Jamaican expression meaning to dance and have a good time. This is just what Bob Marley & The Wailers did on “Jammin’”: convey unity, peace and freedom.

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2. “Feelin’ Fine” – GRIZ This one is pretty out of the ordinary. The song alone has that fine groove to it, the one you would want to bop your head to with the smooth beat. EDM with a heavy incorporation of Jazz could even be considered a different genre of music. If you enjoyed this one, it is highly encouraged for you to listen to GRIZ. It’s worth it.

3. “Sweet Leaf" – Black Sabbath Often considered a pioneer of the “stoner rock” subgenre, this track off of Master of Reality begins with a looped cough from guitarist Tony Iommi after taking a particularly strong hit from a joint. The song then kicks into full gear, with a fuzzy guitar riff and shouting-style vocals perfectly capturing the mellow buzz and fearful excitement of one’s first joint.

4. “Because I Got High” Afroman I was going to write this song review but...

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4/20 Issue. April 15, 2019. The DePauliaa | 8

CBD takes off as miracle drug while sister compound remains illegal pharmacological drug than that, and try the CBD oil.”

Contributing Writer There is also evidence to suggest that CBD can help walk back the If an apple a day keeps the doc- opioid crisis. In Illinois alone there tor away, a CBD-infused gummy a were 2,109 opioid related deaths in day might keep the doctor and the 2017, rising steadily to this number since 2014, according to the Illinois psychiatrist at bay.

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is a sister Department of Public Health. A compound to tetrahydrocannabi- study published by the National Innol (THC), the active ingredient in stitute of Health provides evidence the cannabis plant that is respon- that CBD can be used as a therapy sible for the plant’s famous ability to to combat this addiction.

Amer hasn’t herself treated get its consumer high.

Unlike THC, CBD won’t put anyone in this way, but she knows you in a mind-altered state. It’s also other people who have, and done so not regulated by the Food and Drug successfully.

“I think that it can either be Administration [FDA]. Despite this, various CBD-infused products tried as the primary treatment for have been steadily becoming more pain or as an accessory drug. Opioids just are becoming a nightmainstream over the last year.

In Chicago, there are at least mare,” Amer said. “And part of that five shops dedicated to selling the is irresponsible prescribing by physubstance. Yet without many stud- sicians.”

Part of Amer’s affinity for enies conducted due to lack of federal oversight, the properties of CBD couraging use of the substance meremain a mystery to much of the dicinally is that it has very few side effects. Unlike over prescription public.

Tom Gliszewski, 29, started of other pharmaceuticals, there is the Chicago Cannabis Company little risk of mismanagement. “Just in 2018. He touts the business as like any herbal supplement or drug, a health and wellness company. a lot depends on the person so it’s Gliszewski is an advocate for us- something that people just need to ing CBD in a wide variety of forms experiment with and try and start and sees the new-found success the with low dosing and then go up. product enjoys as a loop, where the The thing that’s good about it in my more exposure it gets, the more mind is that it’s very benign,” said people are interested and the more Amer.

A World people are inHealth Orgaterested the nization study more it is marconducted last keted, May concluded “The fact that CBD has that you’re no potential to seeing cannainduce depenbis products dency or to be in health food abused. stores has a This past BRITA HUENGS | THE DEPAULIA lot to do with August, Illinois it,” Gliszewski said. “People are more open to the passed a law that enables cannabis fact that, ‘Oh I can use cannabis, or to be used in scenarios that opioids a part of the cannabis plant and it would, in the past, be prescribed.

Still, there are some skeptics won’t necessarily get me intoxicated.’ People are finding that to be a who have not been converted to proponents of CBD. A Vox report good option for them.”

Although CBD is not consid- found that most of CBD products ered a controlled substance, there on the market often contain littleare also no legal parameters around to-no actual CBD. Gliszewski, it. But because it is not an FDA- whose company tests for potency in approved drug, companies cannot all their products and is transparent technically make any health claims to consumers about the results, says on behalf of it. To work around he can understand people’s hesitanthis, Chicago Cannabis Company cy around the concept.

“A water with five milligrams chooses to present customers with relevant research so they can make of CBD, that’s an example of a product that is using CBD as a buzzword their own decisions.

However, there is a slew of re- just to sell more products, or sell search that supports CBD as a via- them at a markup,” Gliszewski said. ble medicine. The National Cancer “Or CBD cocktail at the bar where Institute [NCI] says that the can- they added a little bit of CBD in nabinoid may “relieve pain, lower there and they’re going to charge inflammation, and decrease anxi- you two to three bucks extra for ety” in patients. The NCI has also that same cocktail.”

While CBD can be derived proven that CBD can be used as a therapy to treat recurrent tumors, from hemp plant, when it is, it ingraft-versus-host disease, and nau- cludes no traces of THC. However, sea. The U.S. National Library of it can also be extracted from cannaMedicine published a study con- bis and in these cases, it is known as ducted at New York University being a “full spectrum extract” and School of Medicine that endorsed does contain other compounds, CBD as a potential treatment for like THC. In December of 2018, President anxiety disorders.

Additionally, health profession- Trump legalized industrialized als are stepping in and citing anec- hemp farming. This goes against dotal evidence from their fieldwork decades of conservative policy to encourage CBD as a medicinal aimed at suppressing anything reresource. Kim Amer, an associ- lated to marijuana production. But ate professor of nursing at DePaul to Gliszewski, the move was a natuUniversity, sees the substance as ral one, even though it came out of an alternative to traditional drugs. Trump’s right-wing administration, She remembers being a student “It just makes economic sense. The nurse in the 1980’s, and that even cannabis plant has been crimiback then professionals in the field nalized and persecuted since the understood the its effect on cancer 1930s, and I think it’s time for the politicians to catch up w the pubpatients nausea and mood.

“Most people who go through lic demand for this product,” said cancer are not real happy,” Amer Gliszewski. “Farmers are now able said. “There are some oncologists to grow another crop and i think that will start everyone on antide- for rural parts of the country where pressants, but I feel like it was be some farmers are really struggling good to start with a less heavy-duty right now, this could be a good way

By Brita Huengs

BRITA HUENGS | THE DEPAULIA

A shopper at CBD Kratom in Lakeview looks at the available CBD tinctures.

BRITA HUENGS | THE DEPAULIA

Danielle Larson, manager of CBD Kratom, pitches customers on the store’s products.

BRITA HUENGS | THE DEPAULIA

Shea Robertson stands in front of the store’s many blends of Kratom, an herb that has similar effects to opioids. to make some money. I’m happy about it, regardless of who passed the law.”

The implications of CBD are offset by its equally playful side.

Danielle Larsen, 26, manages CBD Kratom in Lakeview. Their Boystown location is just one of four in the city, with others in Missouri and Texas as well.

Larsen frequently starts her mornings with a cup of CBD infused coffee, she says it offsets the caffeine and smoothens out the jit-

teriness it can induce. Customers of CBD Kratom can pick up singleserve edibles, caramels or lollipops.

She’s the one who recommends a regiment of one CBD gummy a day.

Some of Larsen’s best customers come in on four legs, “We get a lot of fun people in the neighborhood looking for stuff for their pets.”

Just before Illinois passes one year of the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Program, Chicago Cannabis Company will celebrate their one year anniversary

this month. Gliszewski remains optimistic about the future of the industry, whether or not it remains a, technically, unverified market, “As far as I know the industry is moving forward with this product, regardless of what the FDA is doing right now. Really they’re just not putting forth regulation,” said Gliszewski.

Oh, and when he’s a good boy, Gliszewski rewards his dog with CBD treats too.