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Lifetime Warranties on the Most Vital Parts of Each Model. Not believing any vaporizer should see the bottom of a junk drawer, replacement parts for all AccuVape models are available in-store or online. AccuVape also warranties the most vulnerable parts of each vaporizer, insuring when someone buys an AccuVape product, they can enjoy it for life.
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RETAIL WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTION ELECTRONICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS PRODUCT SOURCING AND GUARANTEES PRIVATE LABEL SERVICES
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FEATURES
30 35 38 41 44 49 55 4
MEDICAL MARIJUANA AT THE CROSSROADS Mona Zhang N.Y.’S COMPASSIONATE CARE ACT CHALLENGED Madison Margolin WHEN GOOD BILLS GO BAD Chris Goldstein FL INTERVIEW: ELVY MUSIKKA Steve Bloom THE MMRSA EFFECT Amanda Reiman CANCER GAVE ME A LICENSE TO TOKE Debbie Galant BOOK EXCERPT: THE HIGH ROAD David Bienenstock
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NEWS & REVIEWS WHAT TO EXPECT AT THE POLITICAL CONVENTIONS Erik Altieri ADULT-USE LEGALIZATION ON THE 2016 BALLOT Chris Goldstein JULY & AUGUST EVENTS; MASSROOTS Matt Chelsea ZIGGY MARLEY; THE MOTET Roy Trakin, John Fortunato OREGON HEMP WORKS LEMONGRASS SOAP Erin Hiatt INSIDE HEMP INC., THE VIDEO GAME
C O N T E N T S COLUMNS
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EDITOR’S NOTE Steve Bloom MARIJUANA ICON: DR. LESTER GRINSPOON Keith Stroup LONGTIME STAFFER DEPARTING SSDP Drew Stromberg A WOMEN’S VIEW FROM OUTSIDE THE CLOSET Jenn Dowdy ON CANNABRANDING, PACKACKING AND DESIGN David Rheins THE THC VS. CBD CONUNDRUM Ngaio Bealum TESTING CANNABIS Lex Pelger and Dr. Jahan Marcu july 2016
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IT’S ALL HAPPENING AT PAZOO Matt Chelsea LEGEND OF THE FALL Russ Belville TAKING INITIATIVE Paul Armentano THE STRAINS IN SPAIN Rick Pfrommer SUPERFOODS TO THE RESCUE Cheri Sicard STONER STAYCATION ON THE CHEAP Beth Mann LGBTQ VIEW: GROWING PRIDE Mia Di Stefano
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EDITOR’S NOTE
I get really annoyed when state legislatures, in their infinite wisdom, decide not to include glaucoma on the list of qualifying conditions when writing medical marijuana bills. That’s because I know Elvy Musikka so well. Elvy is one of the four remaining federal MMJ patients. She’s been receiving 300 government-grown, pre-rolled joints in a tin provided by NIDA every month since 1988, when she was accepted into the Conditional IND (Investigative New Drug) program. Don’t tell Elvy that marijuana doesn’t work, or that pharmaceutical drugs do a better job of reducing ocular pain and pressure caused by glaucoma. “I’ve been in this program for 28 years,” she recently told me at the Oregon Marijuana Business Conference in Eugene, where she lives. “I’ve been using marijuana for 41 years. This is my medicine. This is a prescription like any other prescription.” But New York legislators believe otherwise, and excluded glaucoma from the state’s Compassionate Care Act in 2014. They were convinced by ophthalmologists that “other drugs produce better results,” according to New York State Senator Diane Savino, who sponsored the bill. Other states, like Pennsylvania and Louisiana, followed New York’s lead in throwing glaucoma patients under Big Pharma’s bus. The good news is that Ohio, which became the 26th MMJ state in June, included glaucoma in its bill. This month’s issue of Freedom Leaf examines the state of medical marijuana in America. While it opened the doors to full legalization, when California and other states began the MMJ wave in the 1990s, much has changed since then, as
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MATT EMRICH
Women and Medical Marijuana FL’s Steve Bloom with Elvy Musikka, one of the four federal medical marijuana patients.
you will see in this issue’s many reports, starting with Mona Zhang’s overview article on page 30. Madison Margolin looks at New York’s inadequate program on page 34; Chris Goldstein analyzes Pennsylvania’s recently passed legislation on page 38; Amanda Reiman explains how new regs in California are shaking up the medical industry there on page 44; Russ Belville discusses the decline of MMJ in Montana on page 47; breast cancer survivor Debbie Galant takes us inside the New Jersey program on page 49; and Paul Armentano points to more states that will have MMJ legalization on the ballot in November on page 52. I’m particularly excited about this issue because of the many female contributors. While Reiman and Zhang have previously written for Freedom Leaf, we welcome newcomers Margolin, Galant, Jenn Dowdy and Mia Di Stefano. They join our regular staff contributors Cheri Sicard, Beth Mann, Jazmin Hupp and Erin Hiatt. And, of course, there’s Elvy Musikka, who’s been on the front lines of this struggle for the last four decades. My interview with her starts on page 41.
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Steve Bloom
Steve Bloom Editor-in-Chief
Issue 16 JULY 2016
FOUNDERS Richard C. Cowan & Clifford J. Perry PUBLISHER & CEO Clifford J. Perry EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Steve Bloom SENIOR EDITOR Chris Goldstein ART DIRECTOR Joe Gurreri COPY EDITOR G. Moses SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR Paul Armentano SCIENCE EDITOR Dr. Jahan Marcu VP of SALES & MARKETING Charles Mui VP of Business Development Ray Medeiros
VP of Operations Chris M. Sloan NONPROFIT LIAISON MANAGER Chris Thompson LEGAL COUNSEL Keith Stroup CONTRIBUTORS Erik Altieri, Ngaio Bealum, Russ Belville, Matt Chelsea, Mia Di Stefano, Jenn Dowdy, John Fortunato, Frances Fu, Debbie Galant, Erin Hiatt, Jazmin Hupp, Mitch Mandell, Beth Mann, Madison Margolin, Lex Pelger, Rick Pfrommer, Amanda Reiman, David Rheins, Cheri Sicard, Drew Stromberg, Roy Trakin, Mona Zhang Copyright © 2016 by Freedom Leaf Inc. All rights reserved. Freedom Leaf Inc. assumes no liability for any claims or representations contained in this magazine. Reproduction, in whole or in part, without permission is prohibited.
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NEWS
Party Planning: What to Expect at the Political Conventions By Erik Altieri This month’s Democratic and Republican National Conventions, steeped in pageantry and opulent staging, will serve as giant, multi-day PR events for the major parties. The name of the game, when it comes to securing a major party’s presidential nomination, is delegates. In order to seal the deal, a candidate has to cross a set threshold of majority delegate support. Both parties differ slightly in how exactly that plays out. Republicans elect all their delegates through their state primary and caucus system; in order to officially win the nomination a candidate needs the support
of 1,237 delegates. The Democratic Party also selects the majority of its delegates through state caucuses and primaries, but the party also has 712 superdelegates, unbound by the results of any particular contest, who consist of party elites, sitting members of Congress and former presidents. There are a total of 4,765 Democratic pledged delegates and superdelegates; a candidate needs to secure 2,383 of them to win the nomination. While delegates chosen through state primaries and caucuses are pledged to vote for their assigned candidates, superdelegates don’t formally cast their votes until the actual convention.
The Republican National Convention
July 18–21, Cleveland
With the field to himself, Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee in November. But that doesn’t mean there will be nothing to watch during the convention. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the event will be how the more conservative, establishment wing of the party meshes with the New York businessman who goes against party orthodoxy on a number of issues, such as free-trade deals, the minimum wage and funding for Planned Parenthood. While this divide hasn’t bothered Republican primary voters, it’s clearly rankled GOP legislators and party bigwigs, as evidenced by Mitt Romney’s outright hostility toward Trump, and Paul Ryan’s reluctance to endorse him. This rift will really come to a head in committee meetings during the convention that decide everything from the party’s official platform to the rules under which the party conducts primary elections, and the convention itself. Ted Cruz has encouraged his several hundred delegates to fight for
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a true conservative platform; how these delegates diverge from ardent Trump supporters is where some real action may happen. The final factor is protests. As we’ve seen over the past few months, wherever Trump goes, passionate protests and chaos tend to follow. If we see this effect
multiply due to the myriad media that will converge on Cleveland, this could turn into an outright nightmare for the party, with disturbances that will likely occur outside—and perhaps inside— Quicken Loans Arena detracting from any vision of national unity the party wishes to portray.
The Democratic National Convention July 25–28, Philadelphia On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the media have declared her the presumptive nominee, given the total number of pledged delegates she’s accrued through the primary process, and interviews with superdelegates on their voting intention. Technically, those superdelegates do not vote until they’re physically at the convention, but unless something drastic happens, it does appear she will win the nomination on the first ballot at the convention. Bernie Sanders has won about 46% of the pledged delegates and his supporters will, at the very least, demand some substantial concessions from the party regarding rules and platform. Expect them to propose removing the superdelegate system entirely for future elections, and adding key Sanders issues, like tuition-free public colleges and universities, universal healthcare and a $15 minimum wage, to the party platform. The big unknown is just how heated these debates will get. Will establishment Democrats give in to these demands of the resurgent progressive wing of the party? Or will things devolve into shouting matches and the sketchy manipulation of rules on the convention floor? Clinton seems primed to enter the convention with the consensus of the party leadership and the necessary majority support of pledged delegates and superdelegates. The open question remains how Sanders supporters will react to the proceeedings. If they receive
concessions they feel are sufficient and the Democratic establishment extends an olive branch to bring Sanders supporters into the fold, then true party unity may be achieved. However, if they feel slighted by the process, things could get much more interesting. Both conventions may end up being nothing more than large-scale PR events for both parties. But, if this elections season has taught us anything, it’s to always expect the unexpected. Erik Altieri is President of the Agenda Project, Senior Political Strategist for MAYDAY.US and former Communications Director of NORML.
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NEWS
Smoke the Vote: Adult-Use Legalization on the 2016 Ballot Campaigns around the country that seek to legalize marijuana at the ballot booth this fall have been gathering petition signatures all year. Millions of Americans have answered the call to have cannabis legalized in the 2016 election. Ballot initiatives in several states are awaiting certification. Here are some of the latest updates: • California voters will get to weigh in on the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) in November, which was certified on June 30. “The initiative needed at least 402,468 projected valid signatures to qualify by random sampling,” California Secretary of State Alex Padilla stated. “It exceeded that threshold.” AUMA has received broad institutional support, including a major endorsement from the California Democratic Party and funding from Facebook co-founder Sean Parker. But the proposed regulations and strict, centralized oversight have received lukewarm reactions from the state’s disparate pot activists. If AUMA passes, it would make California the largest regulated marijuana market in the world. • Maine is back on track to have buds on the ballot. The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol experienced a brief hiccup with their signatures when thousands of petition sheets were improperly rejected on a technicality. Organizers challenged the move and won in court. Polling indicates 54% support for the measure; the state operates a robust medical cannabis program that was approved by voters in 1999.
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• In Michigan, MI Legalize turned in about 354,000 signatures in early June to the Secretary of State, but 137,000 signatures collected outside of the allowable 180-day window were rejected. The matter is now in the Michigan Court of Claims. Polling shows that Michigan voters would likely pass the measure. • The Massachusetts Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol submitted their second round of signatures in June in hopes of securing a place on the ballot. Governor Charlie Baker, Attorney General Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh all oppose the measure. While Bay State voters have approved medical marijuana and decriminalization in the past, recent polling shows a vote on full legalization is too close to call. • In Arizona, more than 260,000 signatures were turned in by the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in late June to meet a requirement of just over 150,000. Organizers are confident they will win ballot access. Their initiative calls for a retail cannabis tax of 15% and specific funding to be directed to schools.
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• Nevada earned a spot on the 2016 ballot last year. At press time, three states will vote on adult-use legalization in the fall. —Chris Goldstein
NEWS & EVENTS
JULY 4
46th Annual Smoke-In Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C. smoke-in.us
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Kyoto Hemp Forum Kyoto International Conference Center, Japan kyotohempforum.com
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Cannabis County Fair Black Oak Ranch, Laytonville, CA bit.ly/27WPdtt
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High Times Oil & Art Exhibition NOS Event Center, San Bernardino, CA cannabiscup.com
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Chalice California San Bernardino County Fairgrounds,Victorville, CA chalicecalifornia.com
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CHAMPS Trade Show Las Vegas Convention Center champstradeshows.com
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Hemp Heals Music Festival Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing, Philadelphia hemphealsphilly.com
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The Michigan Glass Project Russell Industrial Center, Detroit themichiganglassproject.com
AUGUST 4 7
Reggae on the River French’s Camp, Piercy, CA reggaeontheriver.com
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Indo Expo Portland Expo Center Portland, OR indoexpo.com/Portland
MassRoots Files Appeal After NASDAQ Denies Listing Request MassRoots Inc. (OTC: MSRT), the social media network for cannabis users profiled in Issue 14 (“Growing MassRoots”), will continue to try to get its shares listed on the NASDAQ despite a rejection from the stock market exchange on May 23, for the reason that cannabis is illegal under federal law, according to MassRoots CEO Isaac Dietrich. “This decision must not be allowed to stand, and we’re asking cannabis supporters, activists, businesses and investors to write a brief note to the NASDAQ in support of our planned appeal,” Dietrich stated after the decision. MassRoots has since filed the appeal with the NASDAQ Listing and Hearing Review Council.
With market capitalization that tops $40 million on the OTC Bulletin Board, and 300-plus shareholders, the Denverbased company appears to meet the basic requirements to become a stock traded on the NASDAQ, which would allow it to reach a larger pool of investors. Dietrich contends that the decision could prevent nearly every company in the regulated cannabis industry from listing on a national exchange. Meanwhile, the NASDAQ has approved several biotech companies (GW Pharmaceuticals, Insys Therapeutics and Zynerba Pharmaceuticals) that extract cannabis compounds for scientific research. — Matt Chelsea
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Marijuana Icon: Dr. Lester Grinspoon By Keith Stroup No one has done more to achieve marijuana legalization in the U.S. than Dr. Lester Grinspoon. With his 1971 book, Marihuana Reconsidered, the now-retired professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School established himself as the intellectual guru of our movement, a role he continues to play to this day. Grinspoon provided a significant boost to NORML during those difficult early years, when few academics were willing to touch the legalization issue. Throughout our 45-year history, he’s provided guidance and support to NORML, either on our board of directors (he’s currently a board member) or our advisory board. Grinspoon initially considered marijuana a dangerous drug, but soon realized it was relatively harmless. His friend and fellow Harvard professor Carl Sagan had a lot to do with this evolution; Sagan, who presented and co-wrote the groundbreaking Cosmos TV series in 1980, enjoyed smoking pot when he relaxed, and suggested that Grinspoon might find it an interesting experience, as well. While researching Marihuana Reconsidered, Grinspoon’s 10-year-old son, Danny, was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia. After three years of chemotherapy, he was prescribed a stronger anti-cancer drug, which resulted in hours of violent nausea and vomiting. Another Harvard colleague told him that one of his patients who was undergoing chemotherapy claimed that smoking a little marijuana made an enormous difference in his ability to deal with the treatment’s side effects. Soon after, Grinspoon’s wife, Betsy, asked him if he thought they should try to get some marijuana for Danny. A few days later, when Grinspoon entered Danny’s hospital room something was different: Danny was smiling and relaxed. Betsy said Danny had smoked
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Legalization pioneer Dr. Lester Grinspoon celebrated his 88th birthday on June 24.
part of a joint (provided by a friend) in the hospital parking lot right before his latest treatment, and it appeared to be doing wonders. Cancer did eventually end young Danny Grinspoon’s life, but the quality of his last several months was dramatically improved because of his use of cannabis. Grinspoon brooded for years over the fact that there was no modern research evaluating the medical value of marijuana. Finally, in 1990, Grinspoon began to collect as many reports of positive medical uses of marijuana as he could find, and set to work with his colleague and co-author James Bakalar on their 1993 book, Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine. Revised and updated several times since then, it remains one of the best books on the medical uses of cannabis. Now 88, Grinspoon maintains marijuana-uses.com, a website chronicling real-life stories of people who’ve had positive “non-medical” experiences with cannabis. He remains the nation’s premier advocate of marijuana’s potential to improve the quality of life for millions of Americans. Keith Stroup founded NORML in 1970 and currently serves as Legal Counsel for NORML, as well as for Freedom Leaf. He’s the author of It’s NORML to Smoke Pot: The 40-Year Fight for Marijuana.
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Students for Sensible Drug Policy
Seven-Year Itch: Longtime Staffer Departing from SSDP This summer marks the end of an era for me as I transition out of my role as SSDP’s Regional Outreach Coordinator and leave the organization. I joined Students for Sensible Drug Policy in 2009, when I started the SSDP chapter at West Virginia University so I could help smash the drug war. I’m proud to say that the WVU SSDP chapter is still going strong. In 2011, I was hired by SSDP to work with three other staffers in a one-room office in Washington, D.C. Over the last nearly five years, I went through three titles, three offices and three executive directors, and attended six strategy summits, six statewide legalization initiatives and I don’t even know how many conferences. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with hundreds of students. I ran the student engagement initiative for Colorado’s Amendment 64 (where I first met SSDP Executive Director Betty Aldworth), and helped with efforts in D.C., Florida, Arizona and Massachusetts. I built SSDP’s website, our legalization phone bank and, most recently, the Chapter Activity Tracker. I hired and trained nine staffers, participated in countless conference calls and sent 16,611 emails (not including blasts). I’m the second-longest-lasting staff member in SSDP history, after Deputy Director Stacia Cosner. I learned so much during my time at SSDP: how campaigns work, how nonprofits operate and how to motivate, inspire and empower young people. Most importantly, I learned what it looks like when thousands of people pour their hearts and souls into a common cause. SSDP is an incredibly important organization, and I don’t know where I—and
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BEN DROZ
By Drew Stromberg
Drew Stromberg: “I’m happy my path lead me to SSDP. It’s an important organization.”
so many others—would be without it. It’s more than a political advocacy group, more than a network of friends and professionals. It sounds cliché, but SSDP really is a family, and it’s hard to put into words what that actually means to so many people. Working with SSDP was an amazing and indescribable experience, but after seven years (a quarter of my life at this point), it’s time for me to step out of the way and let the next generation make this organization their own. I don’t know what I’d be doing if I never discovered SSDP, or if I didn’t think working to legalize drugs was a valid career choice. I do know that I’m happy my path led me to SSDP, and I’m excited for what the future holds for this organization and the amazing people who make it what it is.
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A Women’s View From Outside The Closet By Jenn Dowdy Equality is often seen as equal access regardless of sexuality, gender, sexual orientation, religion or ethnicity. But it’s so much more than that. I remember when I came out as gay to my mother. I was on the phone in Oakland, Calif. and she was in Thomaston, Ga. I finally said what I’d known since I was 10 years old: “Mom, I’m gay.” “I know,” she replied calmly. I’d come out to others and had never experienced a more powerful feeling of acceptance. Until that point I’d hidden my most authentic self. I married a man I thought I loved to meet the expectations of people I believed would only accept me as a feminine-identified heterosexual women. My husband and I were best friends, but I knew deep inside that my strongest feelings were for women. Two years after divorcing him, I had my first lesbian relationship. Six months into it, my girlfriend had a seizure while we were making dinner at her apartment. Stress in her life—in this case, a high-pressure promotion at work— caused seizures. Fortunately, frequent daily doses of cannabis eliminated them. Georgia’s cannabis laws at the time meant that I could be charged with a felony, and even go to jail, if I continued to ensure that my girlfriend had access to the medicine that treated her condition. This felt deeply unjust, much like the frequent discrimination we experienced as lesbians in the Deep South. I aspired to be a clinical social worker, but knew that I could lose everything if I received a significant drug charge, regardless of my good intentions. So we packed our bags and moved to Oakland, where patients have easy access to cannabis and lesbians have
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Jazmin Hupp of Women Grow
Jenn Dowdy (above) and her partner moved to California for MMJ and lesbian communes.
created communes. On the drive to California, we spent six hours in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection holding cell on the Texas/Mexico border while they tore our car apart. They found four joints, but we weren’t arrested. My girlfriend received her medical marijuana card the day after we arrived in Oakland. California’s medical cannabis program means that she can live a more fulfilling life, and we can both rest easy knowing her medicine will never land us both in jail again, at least in a legal state. Many people in the world feel trapped in a closet. They might be afraid of coming out as gay, or as cannabis consumers, or some other identity stigmatized by mainstream society. If this is your struggle, I implore you to find your tribe and thrive. When the cost is higher to stay silent than to find your true voice, you’ll find that you have no choice but to bust the door of the closet wide open and declare yourself to the world. Jenn Dowdy is Women Grow’s National Chapters Director.
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On Cannabranding, Packaging and Design By David Rheins On June 2, Washington’s top cannabis marketers, brand creatives and packaging pros gathered in Tacoma for the MJBA full-day interactive seminar “Hot Box: The Best in Marijuana Design and Packaging 2016.” Through panel discussions and featured presentations, we explored industry best practices and showcased the best examples of branding, design and packaging on the legal market today. In Washington State, competition is stiff for the 900 cannabis brands fighting for shelf space at the state’s 200 or so pot shops. As the number of retail outlets is expected to double in the coming year, the battle for market share will remain fierce. In an effort to stand out from their canna-competitors, smart marketers are creating differentiated brands and investing in strong design and packaging. If you walk into any adult-use shop, you’re faced with an explosion of daunting flower choices, many with unfamiliar strain names (Alien Asshat, anyone?). It’s not just flowers competing for your recreational dollar, but a whole host of curious product innovations—edibles in every flavor and form, tinctures, sublingual sprays, transdermal patches, sex lubes, RSO syringes, vape pens and all manner of concentrates from companies you’ve probably never heard of. Packaging has gone high-tech: pre-rolls in plastic doob tubes with QSR and UBI codes; and sleek resealable Mylar bags, luxurious glass jars with gold foil and custom die-cut boxes. For the most part, consumers in legal pot shops are making their selections based on price, strain, brand and packaging—not smell or touch. The average retail price for flowers in Washington has dropped to less than $7.50 per gram before excise tax, according to the latest Front Runner data,
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This sleek joint tin is an example of the industry’s new focus on product design.
although price promotions on the 4/20 holiday spiked sales; but not all consumers want the cheapest weed. Many are looking for top-shelf quality, and a true cannabis connoisseur market is emerging, with “organic” and pesticide-free products commanding premium prices. At the other end of the spectrum, no-frills, popularly priced brands are also emerging at superstore retailers like Uncle Ike’s, which offers $99 ounces. Much like generic supermarket items, these basic choices skip the fancy design. While many customers still go shopping for maximum THC, brands will play an increasingly important role in purchase decision-making. We’re entering the age of consumer cannabis, where the design and packaging of retail marijuana products will serve to communicate quality, personality and value—just like bottles of wine. To the legal pot consumer, quality shines through good product design. Great brand packaging goes beyond the merely functional, serving as a visual medium that expresses a company’s essence. David Rheins is Executive Director of the Marijuana Business Association, based in Washington State.
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The THC vs. CBD Conundrum By Ngaio Bealum Congratulations, Ohio! In June, your governor signed a law legalizing medical marijuana (MMJ) for people in your state. Woo-hoo! Of course, you can’t grow your own medicine, or smoke a joint, but hey, it’s a good first step. But many activists in Ohio feel like this law doesn’t go far enough, and they have a point. There are now 26 states with fairly broad MMJ laws, and another 16 that allow CBD (cannabidiol) only—meaning no THC in your weed. It sounds strange, but it’s true. These laws allow people with certain ailments, usually children with epilepsy, to use CBD oils but not the whole plant (CBD has been shown to be very effective in treating seizures). The usual argument for allowing CBD and not THC is that CBD doesn’t get people “high” like THC does, therefore CBD is a “real” medicine. When it comes to medical marijuana’s side effects, being high is a pretty good deal; it’s way better than the side effects from many pharmaceutical medicines. If you take too much pot, you may feel hella weird for a while, but you won’t die. It’s clear that these CBD-only laws are meant as a way for states to accommodate the clamor to allow medical cannabis use, while still restricting safe access to thousands of people that could be helped not just by CBD, but by THC,
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CBN and all the other beneficial cannabinoids found in the marijuana plant. One of the things that makes cannabis so effective as a medicine is what’s known as “the entourage effect”: All the different cannabinoids and terpenes in a pot plant team up and act as a sort of posse, combining their powers and abilities to give more benefits than just one component of the plant alone. In fact, many parents of children with epilepsy report better results using a mixture of THC and CBD rather than CBD only. That being said, any step toward recognizing the medical benefits of cannabis is one in the right direction. Still, sick people need more access to all kinds of cannabis products. I understand that drug law reform is a long, arduous and tedious process. Overcoming years of anti-pot propaganda and obstruction from the willfully ignorant takes time. Even if the DEA moved marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II, or removed it from the Controlled Substances Act completely, cannabis would still be illegal under many state laws. There are literally thousands of laws across the U.S. that need to be changed. These things take time. Unfortunately, time is something that many cannabis patients don’t have. Ngaio Bealum is a Sacramento-based comedian and activist who regularly appears at cannabis events.
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ADVANCED CANNABIS SCIENCE
The Alpha and Omega of Testing Cannabis
French canna-scientist Sébastien Béguerie.
Thin-Layer Chromatography is the affordable way to analyze pot. By Lex Pelger and Jahan Marcu Their reaction is purely emotional. They Although he is not of Jamaican heritage, French canna-scientist Sébastien Béguerie has a distinct Rasta accent. The founder of the European testing firm Alpha-CAT says his early and abiding interest in reggae led him to cannabis. When Peter Tosh sang that it’s a cure for asthma and glaucoma on 1978’s “Bush Doctor,” it made Béguerie wonder, “How did he know that? The info wasn’t out there yet.” Béguerie got into cannabis science to see if the medical efficacy Tosh sang about on “Bush Doctor” and “Legalize It” (“doctors smoke it”) was real. It was a natural path for him, considering that he hails from rough-and-tumble Marseille, the Mediterranean port city that’s long served as a key transshipment hub for heroin and hash smuggling. Marseille’s main shopping street, Canebière, is derived from the Latin word for cannabis. Béguerie says gunshots are still frequently heard there in the fight for control over the hashish smuggling routes from Morocco and Algeria. Today, in Marseille’s suburbs, open-air markets offer many types of hash to students and working people. There’s support for harm reduction around heroin in France, he reports, but little information about cannabis. “Nobody tells you about decarboxylation, or about edibles being more potent,” Béguerie complains. “When you talk to physicians, there are so many fixed ideas.
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don’t even recognize the endocannabinoid system.” Béguerie learned the science as he dove into his studies of cannabis. He received a sponsorship for a master’s degree in plant science at Wageningen University, in the Netherlands, from Bedrocan, the respected Dutch supplier of medical-grade cannabis in Holland, Canada and the Czech Republic. He didn’t end up working for them, but he eventually got to return the favor by sending them his easy-to-use cannabinoid analysis kit. The Alpha-CAT test kit (CAT stands for Cannabis Analysis Test) determines the levels of a sample’s top six cannabinoids in 30 minutes, for less than 10 Euros. With a minimum of training, testers can provide their patients and customers with a quick and consistent read on THC, CBG, CBC, CBN, THCV and CBD levels. Alpha-CAT customers include dispensaries, master breeders and judging contests like High Times Cannabis Cups. The analysis is limited to little more than examining the trichomes under a microscope, and perhaps a quick smoke test. The kit is helpful for caregivers because it can test not only flowers, hash and concentrates, but also the extracts used in edibles, such as oil, alcohol distillations and butter. Growers can use AlphaCAT in order to harvest at peak potency; breeders can hunt through their many hybrid crosses to hunt for the desired
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Alpha-CAT uses thin-layer chromatography to test cannabis for strength and purity.
chemotype. Doctors can use the knowledge of the specific cannabinoid makeup of each strain or hybrid to help tailor treatments that harness the medical powers of the plant. THC and CBD are well characterized and understood, but Alpha-CAT also provides valuable information about the more neglected cannabinoids. A standard kit tests up to 40 samples, and is legal to ship anywhere in the world. For caregivers or dispensaries who require multiple tests, the Alpha-CAT mobile lab can knock out hundreds in a short time, and comes with all the equipment needed for a two-day onsite training program, at a cost of about $7,000. Many certified labs across the U.S. and EU test cannabis, including Steep Hill and Pazoo (see page 26). Starting at $100 per test, they employ high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) or gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GCMS) to provide an analysis of cannabinoid content, pesticides and microbial contaminants, and the terpene profiles of strains. While this is important information to have, these tests are time-consuming and costly. For his Alpha-CAT kit, Béguerie uses thin-layer chromatography (TLC), a standard laboratory technique to separate mixtures. Drops of a liquid extraction are added to a plate usually coated with silica or aluminum oxide; the plate is then placed in a solvent, and the compound begins to run across the plate, separating as it goes.
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Of the many techniques for plant analysis, TLC remains widely used due to its rapidity and the range of preparations it can test. TLC also provides a botanical fingerprint for a plant, which can be used to monitor the identity and purity of cannabis, detect adulterations and substitutions and identify which parts of the plant were used in a raw blend or extract. Since stems, fan leaves and flowers have unique profiles of terpenes, flavonoids and other molecules, this information can be used to determine if raw extracts are mislabeled. TLC is a great addition to support HPLC and GCMS analysis, though it doesn’t replace them. Speed, affordability and portability make it a versatile tool for chemists, botanists and amateur aficionados alike. “It’s exciting to see the progression of the industry, not only in terms of money, but in production,” says Béguerie. “We’re tuning the plant to get the right cannabinoids for exactly what we need. We’re producing in our closet what our ancestors did outside. We’re naturally made to live with this plant. It balances human biology.” Or as the French Rasta scientist likes to say, “Out of many, one perfect tree.” For more information, go to alpha-cat.org. Lex Pelger is a writer and scientist, and hosts the Psymposia drug conference and “Psychoactive Storytelling” events. Jahan Marcu is Freedom Leaf’s Science Editor and Director of R&D for Green Standard Diagnostics.
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STOCKS & BUDS
It’s All Happening at The cannabis-testing company is making its move in legal rec and med-pot states. By Matt Chelsea If you run across a guy at a cannabis trade show wearing a blazer decorated with large green marijuana leaves, there’s a good chance it’s David Cunic, the 36-year-old co-founder and CEO of the publicly traded cannabis-testing firm Pazoo Inc. (OTC: PZOO). Like a 420 version of the attire worn by Uncle Sam, Cunic’s outfit represents freedom in the U.S. to consume untainted cannabis. “It’s loud and boisterous, but it’s a good conversation starter,” he says about the jacket. “People think I’m a seller, but I don’t grow it or produce it—I test it. I make sure people have the safest product.” Based in Florham Park, N.J., Pazoo’s cannabis lab business is booming. The company provides vital evaluation services to detect harmful pesticides, molds and other unwanted ingredients in cannabis—with their initial focus on the Colorado, Nevada and Oregon markets. Pazoo’s first lab opened in Denver in March under the name Harris Lee LLC, the exclusive holder of a management contract with Steep Hill Labs, a leading analytics provider in the industry. They’re also working together to open a lab in Oregon. “The relationship between Pazoo and Steep Hill Labs works like this,” Cunic
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Pazoo co-founder and CEO David Cunic can often be seen wearing his pot-leaf blazer.
explains. “Pazoo has licensed the proven intellectual property, technology and methodology of Steep Hill Labs. It manages and runs the facilities for testing cannabis. Steep Hill plays the role of franchiser of its intellectual property and Pazoo is the franchisee. ”In Nevada, Pazoo is the largest shareholder in MA & Associates, which has one of the limited number of state licenses for protocols, trade names and other intellectual property used in connection with testing cannabis. Like Harris Lee’s arrangement with Pazoo, MA & Associates holds an exclusive agreement with Steep Hill for their newly constructed lab in Las Vegas; Pazoo’s business license in Las Vegas is pending approval by the city. By the end of this year, Cunic expects Pazoo to have the largest footprint in the cannabis testing industy. That will set the stage for further growth in 2017, as the company continues discussions to acquire or set up new lab locations in other states. In addition, Pazoo is looking to grow its Cannabis King business, CK Distribution LLC, that serves as a marketing and sales agent for the distribution of items used to support growing facilities, infusion companies and dispensaries. Pazoo, which literally means the sound made by a flash of light, got its start as a health website for people and their pets. Cunic had an opportunity to expand into cannabis testing over the
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past few years, and sees it as another way to help people improve their wellness. A health professional who built his own physical therapy business in about five years to nearly $3 million in sales, with 23 employees, before he sold the company in 2013, Cunic notes: “As a medical practitioner, my job has been to get patients the best treatment possible.” Along the way, Cunic has also raised his profile as an advocate of cannabis as a substitute for addictive opioid pain medications of the type that recently claimed the life of pop star Prince. He enthusiastically supports rescheduling marijuana in order to allow for wider research on its medical applications. To be sure, Pazoo is a young company with a limited track record in the business. It’s yet to show a profit, and the value of all its public stock totals less than $180,000. In 2015, Pazoo reported a net loss of about $4.5 million. But the
“Whether you’re for it or against it, cannabis needs to be tested.”
— David Cunic Denver testing lab is starting to generate revenue, and there’s plenty of potential growth down the road as the industry expands. At well under a penny a share, it’s not an expensive bet, but the stock has been volatile. In the world of investing, one oftencited lesson about wealth creation dates back to the California Gold Rush of 1849. Most folks who dug for the yellow metal came up short. Meanwhile, many of the businesses that provided the pickaxes and blue jeans for prospectors struck it rich. Similarly, in today’s Green Rush, Pazoo is positioning itself to provide vital services to help the industry grow and mature. “Whether you’re for it or against it,” Cunic concludes, “cannabis needs to be tested.”
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Zig Zag’s Parent Goes Public Despite the inroads made by the cannabis industry in recent years, few options still exist for stock market investors interested in the big space outside of the more thinly traded world of the OTC Bulletin Board. But, starting in May, the owner of popular Zig-Zag rolling papers has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Zig-Zag’s parent company, Turning Point Brands, trades under the symbol TBD; they also make chewing tobacco and electronic cigarettes. The company claims Zig-Zag ranks as the No. 1 premium cigarette paper with market share of about 33%. While Turning Point clearly has some exposure to the cannabis sector, no mention of that business is made in its formal IPO prospectus. The brand is intended for tobacco use only, but, clearly, marijuana users are its biggest market. With roughly $197 million in annual sales from its rolling paper and tobacco products, Turning Point Brands clearly ranks as one of the few listings on the NYSE that qualifies as a pot stock. — MC
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MEDICAL MARIJUANA at the Crossroads
With recreational use legalized in four states, and more to come, where does that leave medical cannabis? By Mona Zhang
I
n January 2014, Colorado became the first U.S. state to legalize marijuana for all uses—not just medical—when voters passed Amendment 64. Dispensaries were offered the opportunity to transition away from medical and into the world of recreational marijuana. To satisfy the new law, stores created separate rooms for recreational and medical customers, with pretty much the same product line; the only difference is that medical users weren’t charged the 10% cannabis sales tax.
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When Washington became the second state to sell cannabis to adults after voters passed Initiative 502 in 2012, it combined its medical marijuana program with the new recreational program. While state lawmakers passed a separate bill exempting patients from the cannabis sales tax, the move had consequences for existing medical marijuana (MMJ) businesses, which had operated in an unregulated market, and many dispensaries closed as a result of SB 5052. In Oregon, which legalized
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marijuana in 2014 with Measure 91, dispensaries are now also serving adultuse customers. Meanwhile, in California, due to the ease of securing a doctor’s recommendation there, the state’s unregulated MMJ industry has long been viewed as de-facto recreational legalization. California was the first state to legalize medical cannabis back in 1996, when Prop 215 was passed, and currently boasts the largest MMJ market in the U.S. Twenty years later, 25 more states have joined California in enacting medical marijuana laws, and 16 additional states now allow for use of non-psychoactive CBD oil (though whether patients can actually access the medicine is another matter). Californians will likely have the opportunity to vote on adult-use legalization in November. (At press time, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act—AUMA—was awaiting the state’s decision on placing the initiative on the ballot.) California is the legalization movement’s most important battleground. According to the ArcView Group’s latest “State of Legal Marijuana Markets” report, the California MMJ market is valued at $2.7 billion. In 2015, California lawmakers enacted the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA—see “The MMRSA Effect” on page 44). If AUMA gets on the ballot and passes in the most populous state in the country, legalization would offer access to more people than the combined populations of Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska. While the passage of Colorado’s Amendment 64 has helped medical cannabis patients, the same cannot be said of all state-level recreational programs, at least in the short term. Unlike Colorado, which had a regulated medical marijuana system in place before legalizing adult use, Washington State previously had a “rather robust” gray market for medical cannabis, says David Rheins, Executive Director of the Washington-based Marijuana Business Association, and a Freedom Leaf contributor (see page 18). “The state never established a regulated, commercial marketplace,” explains
Rheins. “In a regulated market, you have quality assurance and testing for contaminants.” As a result, unlicensed Washington dispensaries are either getting out of the game or being shut down by the state. “It’s hard on the patients there right now, and that’s the horrible part,” says Steph Sherer, Executive Director of Americans for Safe Access. “There’s going to be a very different system than what patients were accustomed to.” Patients in Oregon have suffered similar difficulties, according to Anthony Johnson, Executive Director of the successful Measure 91 campaign that legalized adult use. While some growers and patients have been grandfathered into the new recprogram, “many patients have lost their gardens because their growers could no longer provide plants for them,” he points out. With all of this happening on the state level, the conversation about medical cannabis is getting louder on the national stage, as MMJ is finally becoming an issue the federal government can no longer ignore. While the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States (CARERS) Act remains in committee, Congress in May approved a measure that would allow VA doctors to recommend cannabis in states where it’s medically legal. That same amendment previously failed to pass twice in the last two years, signaling lawmakers’ evolution on the issue. At press time, the DEA was again considering marijuana’s Schedule I status and is expected to announce its decision this month. Many activists believe changing marijuana’s schedule designation (there are five) will not go far enough, and will, in fact, introduce new MMJ roadblocks. Inst- ead, they’ve called for cannabis to be removed from the Controlled Substanc- es Act (CSA) entirely. “I have fears of rescheduling and what it could do to medical marijuana programs,” Johnson notes. “With rescheduling, the FDA could start interfering with state medical laws. I don’t quite see the benefits to patients that
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— Tom Angell
makes it worth the risk of introduction of FDA regulations and Big Pharma into the medical system.” Colorado attorney Brian Vicente, who helped spearhead Amendment 64’s victory, also prefers de-scheduling. “If there were to be a rescheduling [of marijuana] into Schedule II, that could really spread some shockwaves through the medical marijuana system that we currently have, and could really slow things down,” he says. “A better result for marijuana would be to be de-scheduled entirely. Then the federal government will simply allow states to have their own marijuana laws.” But Sherer, who favors rescheduling, says that moving cannabis to Schedule II would not affect state-level medical marijuana programs or the plans of pharmaceutical companies. “Because all of the state programs are acting outside the CSA, the rescheduling would not affect the state programs in any way,” she maintains. “Big Pharma is already looking at cannabis. They don’t need it to be in a different schedule. They’re not inter-
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“
“
Opening up legal markets helps patients.
ested in bringing whole-plant medicines to market.” Indeed, GW Pharmaceuticals received orphan drug status from the FDA in April for its cannabis-derived Epidiolex drug. (Marinol, a synthetic cannabinoid drug, was approved by the agency back in 1985.) If current trends continue, expect to see more states legalize both medical and adult-use cannabis. MMJ votes will take place in November in Florida and likely in several other states (see “Taking Initiative” on page 52). The most recent states to pass MMJ legislation (New York, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Louisiana) restrict smoking and home growing, which raises the question: With adult-use legalization looming, does it still make sense for advocates to focus on enacting conservative MMJ laws? “I think they’re a step toward helping patients,” contends Sherer. “Medical cannabis laws usually start off in a very different place than where they end up when they’re passed.”
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Even non-workable CBD laws contribute to cannabis advocacy on the national level, insists Tom Angell, founder of the Marijuana Majority. He says the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment to the House Appropriations bills that passed in both 2014 and 2015, which prevent the federal government from spending money to interfere with state marijuana laws, has succeeded in part due to “so many conservative states passing CBD laws.” As more states legalize, the government is facing increasing pressure for federal-level reforms. In a world where more and more adults can legally purchase cannabis from a pot store, is medical marijuana becoming irrelevant? “I don’t believe that’s the case,” says Adam Eidinger, who led the successful Measure 2 adult-use legalization effort in Washington, D.C. in 2014. “I think medical marijuana will always be needed for people with serious conditions, and [patients] under 21. You’re still going to need to go to a doctor. That should go through medical dispensaries.”
While it might not make medical cannabis obsolete, legal recreational marijuana is certainly changing the MMJ market. “No longer will it be for people with a little ache or pain, or anxiety,” explains Freedom Leaf contributor Russ Belville, who hosts The Russ Belville Show at cannabisradio.com. “Recreational marijuana will help legitimize medical marijuana, because pot smokers won’t have to fake their way to get a medical marijuana card, and medical is left just for the sick people. Medical marijuana will be for really super-sick and disabled people—for people who are seriously ill and need huge amounts of cannabis.” Angell agrees: “Simply opening up the market to allow all adults to purchase marijuana at the store for whatever reason increases patient access. There are more edibles available, and more cutting-edge vape technologies. Opening up legal markets helps patients.” Vicente concurs: “Recreational legalization has been a positive thing for medical marijuana in Colorado. It’s helped to mainstream the issue of marijuana in the public psyche, and reinforce the fact that marijuana is not as bad as the government has preached over the years.” Now, even though many conditions— such as Crohn’s disease, PTSD and asthma—are not accepted by Colorado’s MMJ program, patients can simply purchase their medicine at adult-use stores. “Prior to the passage of Amendment 64, those patients were considered criminals,” Vicente adds. Even if more adult-use laws pass, it appears that medical marijuana is here to stay. “There’s a huge difference between a consenting adult who chooses to consume cannabis on a Saturday night, and a child with an epileptic seizure disorder,” says Hezekiah Allen, Executive Director of the California Growers Association. “Those are two very different consumers.” Mona Zhang is a New York-based writer who edits the cannabis newsletter Word on the Tree. Follow her on Twitter @ZhangMona.
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NEW YORK
Compassionate Care NY helped bring medical marijuana to the Empire State in 2014.
N.Y.’s Compassionate Care Act Challenged By Madison Margolin
In June 2014, New York became the 23rd state to legalize medical marijuana. Two years later, the medical program, which went into effect this past January, is the target of broad criticism, chided as overly restrictive and one of the most unworkable programs in the country. Now, legislators, activists and industry professionals are trying to fix it. “There’s a lot of interest in seeing the program succeed,” says Steve Stallmer, spokesman for Etain LLC, one of New York’s five companies registered to grow, manufacture and dispense cannabis medicine. “It’s just a matter of what steps
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these legislators take to help improve it.” Manhattan Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, lead sponsor of New York’s Compassionate Care Act, has introduced eight bills to amend the current program. Gottfried has championed the cause since 1997, when he proposed legislation in New York in response to California’s medical marijuana (MMJ) law, Prop 215, which passed in 1996. Gottfried spent nearly 17 years trying to move his bill through the state assembly and senate, only for it to finally arrive in 2014 at the desk of Governor Andrew Cuomo, who demanded amendments that severely pared down the legislation’s ability to serve patients in need.
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In its current form, New York’s MMJ program allows just five registered organizations (ROs) to grow and manufacture cannabis products and operate 20 dispensaries (four per RO) throughout the state’s 54,556 square miles. Only 10 “severe, debilitating or life-threatening” conditions are covered under the law: cancer, HIV/AIDS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease, neuropathies, Huntington’s disease and damage to nervous tissue of the spinal cord. The law does not allow smoking whole-plant cannabis, or even eating medicated edibles. The few products allowed under the Compassionate Care Act are meant to mimic the look and feel of pharmaceutical medicine: capsules, vaporizable oils, dissolvable strips, patches and tinctures. Limited combinations of cannabinoids are available in these forms. Each dispensary carries distinct products that are THC-dominant, CBD-dominant and 1:1 balanced between THC and CBD. By the end of May, 4,081 patients had received MMJ recommendations from the 583 physicians (of the state’s 80,000) who have registered with the program and completed a four-hour training course. Before the program even went into effect on Jan. 7, Gottfried and patient advocates were already pushing for reforms. Included in Gottfried’s package of bills are proposals to expand the number of ROs and the list of treatable conditions; allow patients to smoke wholeplant cannabis; and eliminate the requirement that the same company must both grow and sell the cannabis. On May 25, the New York State Assembly passed two bills meant to improve patient access to MMJ. “Today,
patients are struggling to find healthcare providers authorized to prescribe medical marijuana due to changes to the bill made by the governor in order to secure his support,” Gottfried stated. “These bills bring the law closer to the original bill as passed by the assembly and supported by patients and their doctors.” One of these bills, A9510, sponsored by Gottfried, authorizes nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) to recommend MMJ to eligible patients. “New York law allows NPs and PAs to prescribe the strongest and most dangerous controlled substances, but not medical marijuana,” Gottfried added. “Patients in need should not be denied access to critical medication just because they’re treated by a PA or NP. There are tens of thousands of New Yorkers who are not able to get access.” The other bill, A10123, sponsored by Assemblywoman Crystal PeoplesStokes, would require the contact information of all doctors registered with the program to be available on the New York State Health Department’s website. Bewilderingly, the list of registered physicians has not been made public, and, as a result, patients are forced to cold-call doctors in order to find one willing and able to recommend MMJ. “I believe that current law—both the Compassionate Care Act and the Freedom of Information Law—requires that this list be public, as was the legislative intent,” Gottfried explained. “But apparently, it needs to be spelled out.” Stallmer would like to see more conditions added to the list of eligible illnesses, such as PTSD and chronic pain; a hike in the number of dispensaries from 20 to 40; restrictions lifted on the kind of cannabis that’s available to patients; and for ROs to be able to advertise and mar-
“ “The problem is the lack of patients who’ve signed up and the lack of doctors who’ve taken the course.” — Steve Stallmer
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Vireo Health Under Investigation
Etain’s cannabis product line is available in five New York State dispensaries.
ket their services, which they’re currently not allowed to do. Expanding the conditions list would help the ROs reach more people by increasing the “pool of patients,” Stallmer says. “The problem is the lack of patients who’ve signed up, and the lack of doctors who’ve taken the course.” Still in its infancy, the program is growing, albeit at a slow rate. “Every month we’re serving more patients,” says Ari Hoffnung, CEO of Vireo Health, one of the state’s five ROs. “We want to have locations in less populated areas, and delivery services—that’s something we would like to explore. Some of our patients are homebound, and find it challenging to get to the dispensaries.” Legal MMJ prices are set by the state; the quantity used and expense varies among patients. “A young girl who’s suffering from neurological disease will have one dosage, and a grown man going through chemo will have another,” Hoffnung says. Significantly, because this medicine is not covered by insurance, patients must pay out of pocket. Some patients don’t take prescription medications that are given to them free of charge, but cannabis patients shell out copious amounts of money, and come back for more. “That’s a great test to see if a medicine is actually working,” says Dr. Stephen Dahmer, Chief Medical Officer at Vireo. “I’m on the phone all day speaking with physicians, discussing medical cannabis as a therapeutic option. The interest is high, but there’s a long way to go.”
Minnesota authorities are investigating allegations that Vireo Health, in the rush to open their medical marijuana business in New York on time, smuggled $500,000 worth of marijuana products from one of its affiliated companies, Minnesota Medical Solutions, to New York State. Based on a tip from a former employee, Minnesota Department of Health officials inspected Vireo’s Minnesota facility on Apr. 21, and have launched an investigation into the company’s activities. They allege that 5,585 grams of cannabis oil has not been accounted for, and that it was shipped to New York in an armored vehicle last December, a month before Vireo, one of five registered organizations (ROs) providing medical cannabis products in the Empire State, opened for business. Vireo says the oil was destroyed and that their inventory software was flawed, and that the oil never went to New York, where they operate dispensaries in Queens, White Plains and Binghamton (their Albany store has yet to open), and a production facility in Johnstown. “We’re confident the claims relied upon by regulatory authorities to begin the investigation will be found to be false,” Vireo contends. —Steve Bloom
Madison Margolin is a cannabis journalist based in New York.
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PENNSYLVANIA
When Good Bills Go Bad
Pennsylvania joins the new trend of states with limited medical marijuana laws. By Chris Goldstein Pennsylvania’s new oil-only medical cannabis law is a prime example of a stark evolution in compassionate use legislation. Exclusive operating contracts and a heavily restricted range of products are the hallmark of this new model. Gone are the days of creating robust programs with strong participation and local innovation. Instead, the recent laws are made to reach only a handful of seriously ill residents. Many patients, desperate for reform, are forced into these limited options, and told the alternative is nothing at all. Not surprisingly, a major financial boon is built in for limited state-authorized cartels. On April 17, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, a longtime supporter, signed the medical cannabis law, surrounded by a crowd of elected officials, parents, children, advocates and patients. Wolf, a Democrat, had spent months in a bitter budget deadlock with the state legislature’s GOP majority. But partisan battles were set aside as some House Republicans gave passionate speeches to support the medical cannabis bill’s final passage in March. “I was diagnosed with renal carcinoma 4,056 days ago,” said Republican Rep. Jeff Pyle, choking up with emotion. Pyle explained how a friend offered him cannabis oil, but he refused to take it because he didn’t want to break the law. Pyle voted yes on the bill. A month later the Democrats and Republicans were standing together, beaming, as Gov. Wolf put pen to paper. Severely ill patients, even vets with PTSD, would now have access to
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Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed the state’s medical cannabis law on April 17.
cannabis. A wonderful new industry would sprout. Advocacy groups updated maps and victoriously checked Pennsylvania off their list of non-medical marijuana states. But patients were not so thrilled to learn that whole-plant cannabis and smoking flowers are still prohibited. Why are only extracts allowed? “The conventional understanding is that drugs come in pill form,” says Paul Armentano, Deputy Director of National NORML. “Therefore, other alternative delivery methods don’t fit neatly into this narrowly defined box that politicians are familiar with.” New York, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Ohio have very similar laws, and it’s no accident. This playbook offers politicians a mountain of positive press, along with a connection to a wide swath
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of voters—potential campaign contributors—who support the issue. “They want the opportunity to tell their constituents that they addressed the medical marijuana issue,” adds Armentano, pointing out that “it appears that politicians tend to be vying to say publicly that theirs is the most restrictive [medical marijuana] law in the country.” Meanwhile, successful cannabis operators in Colorado and elsewhere spent time and money to influence the outcome of the N.Y., Pa. and Ohio oil-only laws. This effort paid off in language that specifies out-of-state businesses can win licenses. In Pennsylvania, those license certifications are transferable. Other states require operators to be non-profit entities; unused licenses under many state regulations are forfeited or, in practice, simply remain dormant. Suddenly, these pieces of paper have value on their own. Caught between this money and intense hardball politics is a group of sincere citizen activists: parents of children who need cannabis therapy. You’ve seen them on TV and in your local newspaper —those awesome kids who endure seizure conditions and other rare diseases, and markedly benefit from medical marijuana. Some need cannabis therapy to, quite literally, survive. Most of these families have never gone to a governmental meeting. They’re thrust by necessity into state houses, and must become effective political operators overnight, like Latrisha Bentch Myers, a medical cannabis mom from Harrisburg. Her 7-year-old daughter Anna was initially diagnosed with autism. But the real condition later became clear: mesial temporal sclerosis, which causes cognitive delays, sleep disorders, anxiety and intractable epilepsy.
Myers lives minutes from the Pennsylvania state capitol. In 2013, she began working with the Pennsylvania Campaign for Compassion, her first foray into politics. Navigating the legislative process was a big hurdle. “I don’t know what the rules are, and it feels like they make up the rules as they go,” Myers says of the seemingly endless delays. Indeed, how a bill becomes a law is far more complicated than Schoolhouse Rock. In some ways medical marijuana is almost too successful: Bills that are sure to pass quickly become a hot commodity in the open marketplace of political favors. “There are all sorts of ways you can pull strings and get things done,” Myers notes about working the game. Changing local marijuana laws is a largely volunteer enterprise. For states without the ballot initiative process, the issue must be won through pure politics. That means unpaid activists make time to coordinate meetings with members of relevant governing bodies and committees. Myers says a good first impression gave her the momentum to move forward. “The first time I walked into the capitol, I went in for a meeting with Senator Rob Teplitz, and it went exactly the way I thought it would,” she recalls. “Taking him amazing information, telling him about my daughter, telling him he needs to help. He sponsored the bill that afternoon.” That was an unusually positive meeting. Dana Ulrich is another Pennsylvania mom, whose daughter Lorelei has a severe seizure condition; they live about two hours from Harrisburg in Spring Township. Despite the long drive, Ulrich received the more standard response when she visited the state capitol.
Pa.’s new medical marijuana law only allows extracts.
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Top left: Dana Ulrich speaks on behalf of her daughter who has a severe seizure condition. Bottom left: Sen. Mike Folmer, one of the bill’s champions. Right: Gov. Wolf signs the bill.
“These legislators would see moms come in begging for their children, and we thought they would be falling all over themselves to pass legislation,” says Ulrich. “I was wrong. I thought that it would be a lot easier than it was.” In 2013, some real champions for the bill emerged, including State Sen. Mike Folmer, a Republican from rural Lebanon Township. Folmer would spend the next three years shepherding the bill all the way to Gov. Wolf. The parents faced some critical choices in the fall of 2013. Legislators offered them a quick fix in the form of a CBD-only bill that would only apply to children. It was an attractive prospect, but they refused and, using their new influence, asked for something better. SB1182 was introduced instead, a bill that covered patients with no restrictions on THC, and allowed smoking, home cultivation and an open industry. A year of committee hearings saw dramatic changes to the bill. By 2014 many qualifying conditions were deleted—even HIV/AIDS—and the language eliminated smoking as a delivery option. The Pennsylvania Senate went on to pass this gutted version. When the medical cannabis bill reached the Pennsylvania House in 2015, the Republican leadership formed a task force to study it. After several delays, there was another extensive rewrite: The House version raised taxes, placed limits on products, inserted a 10% cap on
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THC for any product and added language that favored an exclusive industry. Confronted with a slew of bad provisions, the advocates only had time to argue a few away; they removed restrictions on THC content (again) and successfully expanded the list of qualifying conditions (HIV was back on the final list). “What we went in there asking for is not what we ended up getting,” says Ulrich. Myers was quick to become disillusioned with the legislative process. “I have been deeply disturbed by what I have witnessed in the last three years,” she says. “There are a lot of genuinely kind and compassionate legislators in Pennsylvania who want to do right, but there are more of them that are safe in their seats.” Now, with years of experience in Harrisburg, Myers and Ulrich both want to run for office. “There are too many lifelong politicians who are way too comfortable in their cushy office chairs,” says Ulrich. “There needs to be a change. I’d like to be the one to try.” Myers concurs: “Yes, I’d run for state office. I can compromise and think outside the box.” Transforming advocates into elected officials is clearly the next path for the cannabis reform movement. Chris Goldstein is Freedom Leaf’s Senior Editor.
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Freedom Leaf INTERVIEW
Elvy Musikka
Interview by Steve Bloom • Photos by Matt Emrich
One of four federal medical marijuana patients, Elvy Musikka is probably the best known of the quartet. She lives in Eugene, Ore., and regularly speaks at cannabis conferences and protests around the U.S. Born in Colombia in 1939, she emigrated to the U.S. with her family in 1953, the same year she had surgery for congenital cataracts that left her partially blind and led to her glaucoma condition. In 1988, after being arrested for marijuana cultivation, Musikka petitioned the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), asking to be added to a little-known conditional investigative new drug (IND) program that was providing federally grown cannabis to two other patients. She was approved and has been receiving 300 joints per month in large tin containers ever since. We caught up with Musikka at the Oregon Marijuana Business Conference in Eugene on Apr. 24.
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Who are the other people on the Compassionate IND program? Irvin Rosenfeld, George McMahon and Barbara Douglass [see chart below]. There are four in the programs, but only two of us still receive marijuana—me and Irvin. The others don’t have doctors that will help them with prescriptions. Not every doctor can write a Schedule I prescription. They don’t have a doctor because their doctors retired. My doctor retired too, but he still keeps up his license so I can stay in this program. He’s my angel. Irvin gets his supply every three months. I fly to Florida once a year and pick up my supply. But I really need better marijuana than what the government has. What they call their mid-grade is OK for daytime use, but for nighttime, for insomnia, it’s not. Half of the time it’s fine. The federal marijuana is grown at the University of Mississippi under the jurisdiction of NIDA. Is the Compassionate IND program a worthy program? Should they expand it, or should they end it? Since they insist on being the only ones who can supply marijuana in the country, I think they should get a little more up to date on what should be available for patients. Do I think the government should expand the program? Not with what they’re giving us.
The problem is with potency? Yes, the stuff they sent me three years ago blinded me. In 2012, they sent us a bunch of garbage with no THC. It was hemp, which I love to wear, but it didn’t do anything for my glaucoma, which I’ve had for 41 years. I thought I was having the potency I should have—and I wasn’t—so I didn’t worry about it. But within a month I knew I was in trouble. My doctor in Florida panicked and had me fly there for an emergency surgery. That surgery did me in. It detached my retina and took away my optic nerve, which I’d never lost in 37 years in treating glaucoma, and destroyed my sight. I hallucinated for two months. They sent me hemp, because they want everybody on low THC, and here’s what happened to me. It cost the taxpayers tens of thousands dollars to take away some of my independence and blind me a little more than I already was. I blame this on the government for sending me that garbage and pretending it was medicine. Were you born blind? They say I was completely blind with congenital cataracts. But I wasn’t completely blind because I remember too many scenes with lots of color. I had no trouble learning colors. So I know I had sight. It was probably about as limited as they left me this time after this bad surgery.
THE FOUR FEDERAL MEDICAL-MARIJUANA PATIENTS PATIENT
CONDITION
Barbara Douglass
Multiple sclerosis
George McMahon
Nail Patella syndrome
YEAR JOINED PROGRAM 1991 1990
Elvy Musikka
Glaucoma
1988
Yes
Irvin Rosenfeld
Bone spurs
1982
Yes
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STILL RECEIVING CANNABIS? No No
When was your first surgery? In 1945, in Colombia, when I was six years old. I had four surgeries that were very successful for the standards of that time. The problem was they didn’t take the whole cataract out; they took it out little by little. I don’t know why; that’s how they did it then. They didn’t insert a new lens like they do now. I had to wear very thick glasses. But I did get sight; it was up to 20/200 in both eyes. I was quite thrilled until the bad surgery in New York, which set my bad eye at 20/400. When was that? At Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital in New York in 1953. I went in for three days and ended up there for a month. That was my first encounter with hospitals in the U.S., and it was a flop. I had scar tissue very similar to what I have in the right eye now. Every surgery I’ve ever had left me with more problems and more scar tissue. When the right eye went completely after the 2012 laser surgery, I said I had enough. I couldn’t tell you if it was day or night in that eye. It was like there was no light. You close your eyes, somebody turns on the light, you open your eyes and you still know there’s light in the room. This was not like that. It was nothing. That sight was never really regained until I was on this program and was smoking marijuana all the time. Why is the IND program such a big secret? Because the program was established in the 1970s with one goal, and that was to find the negative side effects of marijuana. And guess what? We haven’t found them yet! Every doctor that takes care of us has to file a complete report about our health every year. So it’s not like they don’t know what’s happening to us. All I know is now I’m in my 70s and I don’t have an aspirin in my house. I no longer have to take any drops for my glaucoma. There’s no way I’m not going to smoke marijuana, because it’s the only thing
MMJ patient Elvy Musikka: “There’s nothing accepted more worldwide than marijuana.”
that truly works for me. I’ve maintained my sight for 37 years thanks to cannabis. I’m federally supplied by the government. I’ve been in this program for 28 years. I’ve been using marijuana for 41 years. This is my medicine. This is a prescription like any other prescription. In recent years, glaucoma has not been included in medical marijuana programs in states like New York and Louisiana. How does that make you feel? That’s very upsetting to me. When I started this, I didn’t know anything except about medical use until my cultivationarrest acquittal in 1988. [The first IND patient] Robert Randall, who also suffered from glaucoma, showed me more about the medical aspects of marijuana. Then came Jack Herer’s book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, in the early 1990s, and that was the end of my staying at home and thinking that glaucoma or medical use was the only problem. Once I understood the history of prohibition and how it was meant to keep every decent citizen from competing in so many areas of the industrial revolution, I realized this was a horrible joke that’s been played on humanity. We have to stop that. We cannot continue this ignorance. It blinds us more than eyesight. We’ve closed our eyes to our Constitution. We break into peoples’ houses, rob them of all their belongings and take away their right to defend themselves. This has happened to people I know. There is nothing accepted more worldwide than marijuana. The day of ignorance is over. We can’t have that. Patients need to know, because today ignorance is optional.
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CALIFORNIA
In October, the California legislature enacted regulations for the state’s med-pot program.
The MMRSA Effect The Golden State’s new medical marijuana guidelines will transform the previously unregulated industry. In October, the California legislature By Amanda Reiman The current generation of Californians have grown up with dispensaries and, most likely, friends or family members who use cannabis for therapeutic reasons. But the last 20 years of medical marijuana (MMJ) implementation in California has been a difficult road. The vagueness of Proposition 215 (which legalized MMJ in 1996), a lack of state-level regulations and localities that have refused to take action (except to shutter cannabis businesses) have made California’s MMJ program a patchwork of safe access and criminality. The lack of state licensing has left such industry trailblazers as Berkeley Patients Group, Harborside Health Center and the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana vulnerable to federal harassment (the latter two recently won their legal cases).
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finally established a state-level regulatory program for medical cannabis with the passage of the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA). While some are thrilled to have the chance to obtain permission from the state to do what they’ve been doing for two decades, others are concerned that the housecleaning called for in the new program will leave some of the most established and revered groups out in the cold. One thing is for sure: Changes are coming. Probably the biggest change to California’s medical market is the formation in 2015 of a state agency to oversee the program: the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation (BMMR), or BUMMER, as it’s jokingly called, which comprises several agencies. The Department of Food and Agriculture will regulate cultivation, including the
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on t
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designation of appellation territories. (In other words, cannabis grown in Fresno will not be able to claim Mendocino as its origin.) The Department of Public Health (DPH) will oversee testing and manufacturing of products; all testing is required to be done by independent third-party labs certified by DPH (lab-license owners cannot hold licenses in any other area of the industry). Similar to Colorado, the Department of Consumer Affairs will oversee distribution through licensed stores and delivery services. The Board of Equalization will collect all of the new taxes from licensed businesses. If the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) passes this November, the BMMR will drop an “M” and hence become the Bureau of Marijuana Regulation. The newly appointed head of BMMR, Lori Ajax, hails from the alcohol regulatory world and was previously Deputy Director of the California Alcohol Beverage Control Board. A Republican, Ajax is an unknown within cannabis circles, which might help her establish a fair and unbiased program that can garner support from both sides of the aisle. The regulations are expected to go into effect by 2018. Except for proactive jurisdictions like Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco and Santa Cruz, most areas of California have been free of cannabis regulation for the past 20 years, with cities and counties either banning activity, refusing to license it, turning a blind eye or religiously shutting down anyone who dares open a dispensary. Even in the more progressive places, licenses have been limited to dispensaries, with all other cannabis activity happening in either a clandestine or don’t-ask-don’t-tell kind of
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way. Cultivators and manufacturers have been subject to the most risk, facing mandatory minimum sentences at the federal level. MMRSA calls for the establishment of myriad license categories that cover a range of cannabis activity and the magnitude of that activity within each category. Various sizes of gardens and manufacturing facilities, along with the methods used, will have their own specific licenses. Those who want to own one dispensary versus several will be required to obtain separate licenses. Vertical integration of producer and seller is generally not allowed, with the exception of dispensaries that wish to maintain small gardens. One point of contention around MMRSA is that distributors can’t hold any other category of license. Another big change coming is the eventual sunsetting of the collective model, whereby patients have been allowed to collectively cultivate for their own use without a license. Under MMRSA, any group growing collectively for more than five people must obtain a license to cultivate and distribute cannabis. California’s medical cannabis market is gigantic and has largely existed in a gray area for 20 years. While the structure of MMRSA might seem jarring to those who’ve been working under loose laws and assumptions, it’s a necessary step to lift up the cannabis economy in California and give it room to thrive in the light, rather than wither in the shadows. Amanda Reiman is Manager of Marijuana Law and Policy at the Drug Policy Alliance.
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Legend of the Fall The failure of Montana’s medical marijuana program is a cautionary tale. By Russ Belville In 2004, Montana became the ninth state to legalize medical marijuana. But what had become a vibrant program is now struggling to survive. Like California’s Prop 215, Montana’s Initiative 148 does not allow for commercial dispensaries. However, by 2008, enterprising caregivers and providers began to open up storefronts. Under I-148, caregivers could “provide marijuana only to qualifying patients,” meaning more than one, and “receive reasonable compensation for services.” With safe access and easy registration came an explosion in the patient registry, from 1,600 in 2008 to almost 7,500 in 2009. By 2011, the registry topped out at over 30,000 patients. The proliferation of dispensaries and patients alarmed the legislature and led to the passage of SB 423, which amended I-148. When the Montana Cannabis Industry Association filed a suit to stop med-pot shops from opening, the state’s 1st District Court Judge James Reynolds put a hold on implementation of the bill. Federal raids on Montana dispensaries in 2011—named Operation Smokejumper, Operation Weed Be Gone and Operation Noxious Weed—netted 34 indictments leading to 33 convictions. By the end of the year, the registry had dropped 40% to 18,000 patients. In 2012, Governor Steve Bullock, then Montana’s attorney general, appealed Judge Reynolds’ decision. The Montana Supreme Court sided with the
AG, and ordered Judge Reynolds to reevaluate the case. Activists successfully placed a veto referendum, R-124, on the ballot to overturn SB 423. But, one had to vote against IR-124 to repeal SB 423, and the veto initiative lost, with 43% of the vote. By the end of the year, the registry had shrunk to just over 8,000 patients. Through 2013, the registry continued to hover at around 8,000 names as the courts continued to battle over SB 423. Registered providers, which had reached around 4,900 at the 2011 peak, were now down to just over 300. By the end of 2014, Judge Reynolds reaffirmed his earlier 2011 decision enjoining major provisions of SB 423 from taking effect. But this February, the Montana Supreme Court upheld most of SB 423, overruling Judge Reynolds. By September, the remaining 475 providers will have to pare down to just three patients each. At most, they’ll be able to provide for 1,425 of the current 13,500 registered patients. The next hope for Montana’s patients and medical marijuana industry is Initiative 182, which would restore the medical marijuana program in Montana and explicitly allow for dispensaries. On the other side, Initiative 176 would repeal the medical marijuana program altogether. An initiative and a constitutional amendment (CI-115) are also gathering signatures to legalize adult-use marijuana in the state. Russ Belville hosts The Russ Belville Show daily at CannabisRadio.com.
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Author Debbie Galant, post-op and happy.
How Cancer Gave Me a License to Toke
A New Jersey patient explores the Garden State’s medical marijuana program. By Debbie Galant The list of approved conditions for medicinal marijuana in New Jersey, where I live, reads like a casting call for the damned: ALS, MS, terminal cancer, muscular dystrophy, Crohn’s disease and any terminal illness in which the patient has less than 12 months to live. And then, under special conditions: epilepsy, intractable skeletal muscular spasticity, HIV, AIDS and (non-terminal) cancer. I never bothered to go through the paperwork for medical marijuana (MMJ) for Crohn’s disease, which I’ve had for 32 years. Crohn’s has been part of my life for so long I barely notice it—except during those rare occasions when I go,
writhing in pain, to the ER. But cancer— now that was a different story. That’s the Big C, a grisly monster looming and ready to pick my whole life up and dash it to smithereens. So when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, I was ready to play the “C” card. I knew MMJ would help with my upcoming chemo. But chemo-induced nausea was just a passing cloud compared to the mindfuck life was about to throw at me, and I was receptive to any perks tossed my way. Being a longtime recreational marijuana user, I took the state of New Jersey up on its medical program, which was established in 2010. Luckily, my acupuncturist is licensed to write MMJ prescriptions. He confirmed
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The welcoming interior of Garden State Dispensary in Woodbridge, NJ.
my diagnosis, entered my information into his computer and gave me some paperwork and instructions. I went home, followed the instructions, paid the $200 registration fee by credit card and— voila!—received my medical marijuana card in the mail the following week. I’ve exerted much more effort getting a driver’s license renewed in New Jersey. It was also, I should add, the easiest of the chores I had to do in the weeks before chemo, including canceling a vacation and shopping for a wig. However, procuring the marijuana was a teeny bit harder. The New Jersey Department of Health, which runs the MMJ program, requires each patient to register with a single alternative treatment center (ATC), where you purchase your pot. There are now five throughout the state, and one pending approval. The Greenleaf Compassion Center, in Montclair, is located near my home, and is close enough to walk to if I wanted. But I soon found Greenleaf wasn’t so great at answering emails or phone calls. With a little bit of persistence, I finally reached a person on the phone and was given an appointment later that week, and told to bring cash. My prescription
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entitled me to one ounce a month; I planned on buying about half. Greenleaf’s storefront hides behind darkened glass on a somewhat sketchy block on Bloomfield Ave. It feels a bit like a speakeasy. You have to ring a buzzer and show your medicinal marijuana ID card before gaining entrance. I was ushered into a small waiting room with a black leather couch, where a huge flatpanel TV played a game show. Within a few minutes, I was called back to a no-frills room where I met my cannabis concierge, a serious man of about 40. I had a ton of questions, and he answered them all dispassionately. The choice was pretty basic: the house sativa or the house indica. I took some of each and handed him $300 in crisp bills. But a few months later, when I was looking to make another appointment, I couldn’t reach Greenleaf at all, either by phone or email. I tried over a period of weeks. When I called my doctor, hoping he had a private line or a secret incantation, he said all his patients were complaining. I was later told by Greenleaf COO Julio Valentin that their phones and computers were hacked during that period. (They’re now back up and running.) But I had moved on to a new supplier:
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the Garden State Dispensary in Woodbridge, 22 miles from my home. Garden State answered the phone on my first try and scheduled me for a visit six days later. I was disappointed with the wait, but they said a first visit needed more time to set up. And the rules are apparently different than those at Greenleaf; Garden State accepts debit cards, and I can bring a caretaker or friend to my consultation, which is not allowed at Greenleaf. Garden State is located oon Route 1, one of New Jersey’s oldest roadways. Sitting next to a car dealership on a shopping strip with plenty of parking, it looks like a repurposed Toys “R” Us. Inside, there’s a comfortable padded bench in front of an untinted window where customers can wait and view a blackboard that lists all the strains available. On any given day, you might find Bubba Berry, Sour Diesel, Sour Willie, Death Star, Flo and a CBD strain like Otto. Color-coding on the blackboard tells you whether the strain is available in bud, shake or rolled form, and you can peruse notebooks filled with descriptions of each strain while you wait. If you want a consultation, you’re taken into a tiny but pleasant room, where a counselor asks about your condition— nausea, pain, sleeplessness, sleepiness—and whether pot makes you paranoid (if so, no sativa for you), and tells you which strains will help you the most. You’re also asked about your profession, and when I said I was a writer, my counselor, who looked like she’d be equally at home in a surf shop, smiled and recommended more “creative” varieties. At checkout, they always explain the same thing about a service charge to my debit card, and some amount of it that’s credited back or handed back as cash, and I always nod and pay no attention. They have vapes, pipes, pipe cleaners, rolling papers and odor-proof bags for carrying your pot, but I’ve only bought the room deodorizer. I’m always amused when they give me a nice little paper gift bag to take my goodies away in. These days I prefer to vape; it’s better on your lungs.
So, getting medical marijuana in New Jersey has, for me, been relatively frictionless. The experience is still limited by the fact that dispensaries are not allowed to sell oils or edibles. Doctors have to recertify their prescriptions through the system every three months, which can mean nudging your doctor with a friendly reminder—and, of course, this means additional work for them. The products aren’t cheap (shake costs $342 an ounce at Garden State, and flowers go for the outrageous price of $535), and certainly are not covered by health insurance. A recent state report about the program estimated that the average price for regulated medical pot in New Jersey is $486 per ounce, significantly more expensive than the black-market alternative. And there aren’t enough dispensaries: Even if a sixth dispensary opens soon, access is still geographically inconvenient for patients in the far corners of the state. The $200 fee for a patient to register—reduced to $20 if you’re enrolled in Medicaid or a similar low-income assistance program—is exorbitant compared to fees in other states (there’s no fee in Maine, for example, and in Colorado it’s just $15.) Caregivers are charged the same $200 fee—a double burden for those who are too debilitated to pick up pot on their own. Plus, it can be hard to find a doctor registered with the program, particularly pediatricians. Still, it’s worked for me. It got me through chemo nausea, and still helps with the lingering peripheral neuropathy that chemo left me with. Best of all, I can smoke pot in my own backyard and not have to worry about getting busted. And then there’s this: Being 60, white and female, having a medical marijuana license is a source of much amusement among my friends. Some people pick up my ID and shake their heads, smiling. Others have accompanied me on field trips to experience the wonder of legal pot in Chris Christie’s New Jersey. What can I say? Cancer has its perks. Debbie Galant is a journalist, blogger and novelist. Her podcast The Chemo Files has won several awards.
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Taking Initiative Several states should be voting on MMJ in November. By Paul Armentano More than half of the U.S. population now resides in jurisdictions that permit the use of medicinal marijuana or cannabis-infused products. In November, this total could increase, as voters in several states will likely get to weigh in on the issue. However, at press time, only Florida has an initiative on the ballot.
• FLORIDA:
Sunshine State residents will again decide on a proposed constitutional amendment that would give patients legal access to medicinal cannabis. In 2012, 58% of voters backed a similar measure promoted by United for Care, but that fell two percentage points short of winning because Florida law requires a 60% margin of victory in order for a citizens-initiated constitutional amendment to be enacted into law. This year’s ballot proposal— Amendment 2, the Use of Marijuana for Debilitating Medical Conditions Act—also needs 60% in order to pass. Amendment 2 would permit physicianassisted patients with cancer, Crohn’s disease, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, PTSD or “other debilitating medical conditions of the same kind or class… comparable to those enumerated” above to obtain cannabis from state-licensed medical marijuana treatment centers. While Florida law already technically allows for the state-licensed production and use of limited strains of cannabis for patients with cancer, MS, seizure disorders or a terminal illness, this program has yet to be implemented. Prospects for the amendment’s passage remain strong. According to a Quinnipiac University poll in May, 80% of Floridians say they intend to vote for the measure. For more information, go to unitedforcare.com.
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• ARKANSAS:
Arkansas for Compassionate Care is currently collecting signatures to qualify the 2016 Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act for the November ballot. The proposed initiative establishes a statewide program for the licensed production, analytic testing and distribution of medicinal cannabis. Under the program, patients diagnosed by a physician with one of more than 50 qualifying conditions—including PTSD, ADHD, intractable pain and migraines— would be able to obtain cannabis from one of 38 licensed nonprofit care centers or grow their own supply if they don’t live near one. Proponents aim to collect more than 100,000 signatures from registered voters by July 8 in order to place the measure on the ballot. In 2012, 51% of voters narrowly rejected a similar statewide initiative, Measure 5. However, recent polling shows that support has increased dramatically since then, with 84% of registered Arkansas voters agreeing that “adults should be legally allowed to use marijuana for medical purposes if a physician prescribes it.” For more information, go to arcompassion.com.
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• MISSOURI: In May, New Approach
Missouri submitted more than 250,000 signatures from registered voters to qualify their medical-marijuana amendment for the November ballot. State officials are in the process of verifying the signature count (167,000 legitimate signatures are required). The proposed amendment would allow physicians the discretion to recommend cannabis therapy to any patient who may benefit from it. Qualified patients would be permitted to either grow their own medicine or purchase cannabis from state-licensed dispensaries. Retail sales of medicinal cannabis products would be subject to a 4% tax, earmarked to fund veterans’ services. Statewide polls have shown that half of Missourians support legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes. Despite the
• OHIO: Following in the recent footsteps of Pennsylvania and Louisiana, the Buckeye State became the 26th state to permit patients to legally access medical marijuana on June 8 when Republican governor and former presidential candidate John Kasich signed HB 523. The bill authorizes the use of various forms of cannabis preparations for physician-authorized treatment of nearly two dozen conditions, including chronic pain, epilepsy and Crohn’s disease. It requires the state to license the production, distribution and testing of cannabis products, including oils, tinctures, edibles, patches and whole-plant material. However, home cultivation is not allowed under the measure, and patients are not permitted to smoke the medicine. Many proponents argue that this legislative measure does not go far enough to secure patients’ rights and access. Nonetheless, proponents of the amendment who sought to place a broader measure on the November ballot suspended their campaign after the passage of HB 523 in May. At the time, Ohioans for Medical Marijuana, the MPP-affiliated group backing the initiative, stated: “The legislature’s action on medical marijuana was a step
recent passage of a decrim bill, growing even a single marijuana plant remains classified as a felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison. For more information, go to newapproachmissouri.com.
forward, and, thanks to the intense advocacy efforts of patients and their families, activists and our team, the bill was vastly improved before passage…. To be sure, there are shortcomings to the legislature’s measure... But, all in all, it is a moderately good piece of legislation passed by lawmakers who were pushed hard by the patient community. We plan on continuing forward as an advocacy effort to ensure that the State of Ohio lives up to the promises contained in HB 523, but also working to better the program, utilizing our amendment as a roadmap for those improvements.” For more information, go to ohioansformmj.org. Paul Armentano is Deputy Director of NORML and Freedom Leaf’s Senior Policy Advisor, and the author of The Citizen’s Guide to State-By-State Marijuana Laws.
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“ CHARM ING. . . . A H E ARTF E LT P L E A TO KEEP POT W E I RD. ” — Los An gel es Ti mes
“Incisive. . . . Whether you’re a weed rookie starting from scratch or a seasoned smoker . . . How to Smoke Pot (Properly) presents everything in one place, at the right moment in time.”—Mashable
AVA I L A B L E N OW • V I S I T DAV I D B I E N E N S TO C K .C O M 54
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High Road
The
TRAVEL
Vice contributor and former High Times editor David Bienenstock shares his wit and wisdom about stoner traveling in this excerpt from How to Smoke Pot (Properly).
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Canals and 17th Century buildings are among the many visual pleasures of Amsterdam.
Stonely Planet Guide to Amsterdam Much has changed in the Netherlands since I first traveled to Amsterdam in 2002 to work on the video crew at the High Times Cannabis Cup. Once the Promised Land for marijuana enthusiasts from all over the world, the city now feels a bit behind the times. Because while patrons in several U.S. states can buy up to an ounce of lab-tested, fully legal herb in a government-licensed store, the entire weed system—from cultivation to distribution—remains half in shadows in Holland. And lately things have been heading in the wrong direction. For starters, the Dutch never “legalized” marijuana. Since the 1970s, they’ve simply “tolerated” possession of small amounts (up to five grams) and sale of same from a recognized coffeeshop. Commercial growing and transporting have always been a “don’t ask, don’t tell” proposition at best, meaning that even the most aboveboard coffeeshop owners are constantly forced to break the law just to run their businesses. And now, the bitter irony is that as the rest of the
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world moves toward tolerance and liberty, the Netherlands has been making life increasingly difficult for cannabis suppliers and consumers—using zoning laws to close dozens of locations in Amsterdam alone; and in more conservative parts of the country, banning foreigners from patronizing the shops. Aside from being a total bummer, this creeping loss of freedom also represents a serious cautionary tale for America’s suddenly ascendant marijuana movement—namely that the political winds blow in two directions. In the Netherlands, for example, the recent anti-cannabis political environment comes not from any significant change in societal attitudes about the herb, but rather from the unrelated elections of conservative, religious and anti-immigration politicians who want to repress marijuana culture along with everything else they fear and misunderstand. In the meantime, Amsterdam remains an amazing place to visit, whether you like to get high or not. Despite the recent
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closures, several hundred coffeeshops remain open and ready to serve you throughout the city, and unlike anywhere in America (so far), you’re more than welcome to not just buy herb and hash, but to pull up a seat and get high. I’ve now been to Amsterdam at least 10 times (who’s counting?), and my favorite coffeeshops include two of the biggest and best known—Green House and Barney’s Uptown—though I also enjoy more intimate, quirky spots like Mellow Yellow (the city’s first coffeeshop, since 1972), De Dampkring and Resin. If you want reasonably priced, extremely pot-friendly accommodations right in the heart of the city (and that’s not easy to find), check out the Get Lucky guesthouse, which overlooks the Keizersgracht (Emperor’s Canal) in the stylish Rembrandtplein neighborhood (named for the Dutch master). Or better yet, get a few friends together and rent a houseboat for a truly unique experience. Worthwhile marijuana tourist spots include the Hash, Marijuana & Hemp Museum, which isn’t big but does an excellent job of representing the world’s most beneficial plant, and the Cannabis College, which often hosts fun social occasions. Or just rent a bicycle and plot out a coffeeshop crawl on your own. (Be sure to crisscross Vondelpark a few times; it’s a real stunner and one of the best places in the city to puff al fresco— just make sure you find a remote spot away from the crowds.) As for that famous nightlife, I recommend starting the evening at one of the city’s centuries-old brown cafés, with pints of dark Dutch beer and a plate of aged Gouda cheese. From there, I love hanging out at a converted squat turned anarchist collective called OT301, which has a café with food and live music, a movie theater and a dance club (check out ping-pong night on Tuesdays). For hot jazz with no cover, try Café Alto, or head to the Melkweg for bigger acts in an herb-friendly environment. Or just wander along the canals taking in the amazing beauty of this free-spirited, wonderfully tolerant city.
Should I Eat a Pot Brownie Before Boarding the Plane? The short answer to this question is a resounding no, but only because you had to ask, if that makes sense. Basically, hurtling through space, stuck in a metal tube, wedged between two total strangers like sardines in a can for hours on end while high as fuck on edibles is not for everybody. Just the fact that you’re wondering if that’s a good plan or not means it’s definitely not a good one, because while the idea of vibing out on the flight, watching a dumb movie, having a few laughs and then sleeping it off peacefully may sound highly appealing, the potential downside is just too steep for those who go too far and freak out at 30,000 feet. The best-case scenario in that instance is you manage to white-knuckle it the rest of the flight without unduly alarming anyone on board with your wild eyes and erratic behavior. Worst case: You shit your pants and yammer gibberish until they divert the plane. So, naturally, if you’ve been a “frequent flier” when it comes to edibles and air travel for many years, and never had a problem, then more power to you. But otherwise, as much as I love marijuana, I just wouldn’t recommend it for anxiety relief or general enhancement in this instance. Still, if you do get high before the flight—even just a last joint before heading into the terminal—make sure to pack a delicious sandwich in your carry-on bag instead of relying on whatever they’ve got on the plane. You’ll thank me later!
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Flying High In 2011, Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs took to Twitter to recount an amusing run-in with the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA), posting: “TSA found my weed, and let me keep it. They just left me a note, ‘C’mon son.’ LOL.” He also posted a photo of the note and the weed. Your mileage may vary, however, as official TSA policy clearly stipulates: “TSA security officers do not search for marijuana or other drugs. In the event a substance that appears to be marijuana is observed during security screening, TSA will refer the matter to a law enforcement officer.” And that applies even if you’re flying from one legal state to another, since TSA is governed by federal law. The good news, though, is that if you can prove you’re in compliance with state law (at least in the state you’re standing in, if not your final destination), and you’re only carrying a personal
amount of cannabis, then local law enforcement likely won’t give you a hard time. And TSA may just wave you on, as well. “They’re not looking for small amounts of weed,” quipped comedian Ngaio Bealum to the San Francisco Chronicle. “They’re looking for a bomb, not ‘the bomb.” Keep in mind, this all applies strictly to domestic flights, as anything international involves going through customs, and that’s a whole other level of bureaucracy to deal with. So, as always, the key is to know the law where you are, where you’re going and anywhere you’re scheduled to stop in between. And if you do decide to bring some herb along for the ride, pack it in a vacuum-sealed bag, wrap it in your medical-marijuana recommendation if you have one and hide it somewhere clever in your luggage. I could make specific recommendations, but then, what if this book fell into the wrong hands?
The High-Minded Wanderer Follow the rules of the high road when it comes to finding, acquiring, transporting and enjoying cannabis safely when away from home. Always know the law where you are and where you’re going next. Making an informed decision to risk a fine, arrest or worse for cannabis is one thing, but don’t ever blindly blunder your way into big trouble. Respect local customs at all times. For instance, in Amsterdam, it’s perfectly lovely to light up in a coffeeshop, but not in the street. In India, some areas strictly prohibit cannabis, and others allow licensed bhang shops to operate openly. When buying marijuana in places where it’s legal, don’t settle for the first store you see or the closest one to where you’re staying. Instead, seek out
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a retailer with a solid reputation for both high-quality cannabis and enthusiastic customer service. If you’re involved in cannabis activism where you live (and you should be), make contact with fellow activists where you’re traveling to and ask for recommendations. Odds are they’ll probably offer to show you around a bit. I’ve met some really cool friends and had some amazing fun this way. When traveling for business, never assume that your coworkers, clients, employees, contractors and so on are cool with weed, or even cool with being asked if they’re cool with weed. And this remains true even when visiting states that have legalized it. Just as at a company-wide team-building meeting in Nevada, you probably shouldn’t mention your plan to visit a brothel later that night.
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How to Get Stoned Around the World (Where It Ain’t Quite Legal Yet) Learn time-tested tips and techniques for finding marijuana, and tapping into the local cannabis culture, wherever you may roam. If simple possession of personal amounts of marijuana is a serious crime where you’re headed, strongly consider taking a vacation from weed, instead of a weed vacation. Marijuana is one of life’s greatest pleasures, especially when on the road, but other than for serious medical use, it’s just not worth risking your own freedom or causing problems for your hosts, new friends or total strangers just to get high. In more amenable environments, start by seeking a friend, not a dealer. And that doesn’t mean trying to make friends with the first person to offer you weed on the street (unless you want bad weed, or bunk weed, at a shitty price from a total stranger). Instead, put forth an effort to connect with someone on a non-ganja-oriented level first, whether through existing contacts or by getting directly involved in the life of the place you’re visiting. Then, once you make an open-minded friend whom you trust (and who trusts you), you can start the slow, delicate dance of scoring some black-market herb. Rather than flat-out asking for help scoring pot, ease into things slowly with a general discussion of the subject, bringing it up in a noncommittal way. For example, you might ask if there’s a lively local reggae scene. And if that doesn’t spark a fruitful dialogue, you can just say something like (white lie), “I saw a guy today with marijuana leaves on his socks. Can you believe that?” Only proceed from there to more pointed
questions if your “jay-dar” indicates that you’ve found a sympathetic fellow herbalist. Otherwise, laugh it off and suggest going out for beers. Remember, just because someone shares their personal stash with you, it doesn’t mean they’re a dealer, or comfortable helping you hook up with one. So don’t ever put them on the spot. Always trust your instincts. Never let your love of weed and pot culture blind you to a shady person or a sketchy situation. And never carry more herb than you need or flash around a lot of currency or expensive personal possessions. If a new friend does help you make a green connection, most definitely acquire enough to share generously. Because what grows around, comes around! From HOW TO SMOKE POT (PROPERLY): A Highbrow Guide to Getting High by David Bienenstock, published by Plume, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2016 by David Bienenstock.
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The
Strains in Spain By Rick Pfrommer
FL’s intrepid world traveler attends the Bio Cup in Barcelona. At least half a dozen cannabis-judging events are now held each year in Spain. From the windswept Canary Islands to sun-splashed Malaga on the Costa Del Sol, to ancient and breathtaking Barcelona, competitions of all sizes regularly take place. I traveled to Spain to attend and judge the 3rd Annual Bio Cup on May 27–29. Organized by Santiago (he prefers not to use his last name), a longtime veteran of the international cannabis scene, the event was founded specifically to focus on organic, or “bio,” flowers and hash. Although small by U.S. standards, the Bio Cup has attracted some of the legends of the industry, including Howard Marks (a.k.a. Mr. Nice), who sadly passed away Apr. 10, and his associate and top breeder Shanti Baba. Most of these events attract 500 or fewer attendees; Spain’s unique approach to tolerating cannabis makes staging larger events more difficult. Cannabis is not legal or even decriminalized in Spain. If you’re caught with
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any amount, an officer has the discretion to arrest you or give you a ticket. However, Spanish respect for the privacy rights of individuals has allowed for the rise and fall, and rise again, of cannabis social clubs. They have nice decor, cool tunes (often spun by an in-house DJ), juice, beer and wine, and counters where flowers and hash are sold. To become a member, you must pledge in writing that you will not take any herb or hash from the premises. Five grams is the most you can purchase, and you’re then supposed to consume it all in-house. Other than a brief outdoor harvest period in the fall, almost all the flowers are lamp-grown. Although Spain’s climate is perfect for outdoor cultivation, most growing takes place in urban areas like Barcelona. Critical Jack and Jack Widow were easily the strongest strains I sampled in Spain. The varieties of cannabis vary from club to club, but most carry about 10 strains of flowers and a half-dozen kinds of hash. The selection is a blast from the
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Left: The judges sampling strains. Top right: Cali-based business Pura Cali set up a dab bar. Bottom right: Spanish hash. past. Jack Herer and White Widow crosses abound, as do Critical Mass hybrids crossed with everything. OG Kush and Sour Diesel are hard to find, but the Spanish equivalent of Blue Dream, Amnesia Haze, is everywhere (although it varies widely in quality). Hash is mostly the water variety of middling quality, with some dry-sieve hash, as well. The only place I saw BHO was at the Bio Cup, which was held in an old former casino that dictator Francisco Franco used to entertain both the Nazis and the Italian fascists. This incredible location has colonnaded walkways, burbling fountains and lots of green grass to lounge about on. California-based Pura Cali, an upand-coming nutrient and grow supply business with an office in Barcelona, operated a dab bar. DJs played and quality food and drink were available. Breeders shared their secrets, and I discussed the creation of the Clean Green program and the growth of sun-grown cannabis in the States, and how that could apply to Spain. (See my article “Pot and Pesticides” in Issue 9 for more about Clean Green certification.) When it was time to judge, we were whisked away in a van to a 13th-century villa that’s now a healing retreat. We smoked and talked, and tabulated results
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in the 700-year-old courtyard. There were 19 flower entries and nine hashes. A Sour Diesel cross from Canada won the competition—an appropriate choice since the next Bio Cup will take place in Vancouver Aug. 26–28. The Spanish cannabis scene is growing rapidly, as evidenced by the trade show Spannabis, which draws more than 30,000 people to Barcelona each March. Women, however, have yet to take their place in the Spanish industry like they have in the States, Canada and the Netherlands. The club owners are overwhelmingly male, and at all the clubs I visited, not including the workers, I counted maybe one or two women. For medical users, there’s very little information given to members when they’re in the club, certainly nothing like we have in the better dispensaries in the States. But the social element of cannabis—something that’s disappearing in America in the headlong quest for profits—is just as important as its healing properties. We can certainly learn from each other. Rick Pfrommer is the former director of education at Harborside Health Center in Oakland, Calif., and is the Principal Consultant at PfrommerNow.
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Superfoods to the Rescue Recipes by Cheri Sicard • Photos by Mitch Mandell Superfoods are extra-rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and/or fiber. According to livescience.com, “Research has shown that the ideal diet is one that is largely plant-based, with a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and healthful animal products.” Since marijuana is a powerful antioxidant in its own right, the recipes on the following pages are arguably healthier when they’re medicated.
An A–Z Guide to Superfoods Agave
Cherries
Use this natural sweetener, made from the agave plant, like honey—in baking and cooking, and to sweeten drinks. Agave doesn’t cause blood-sugar spikes, so it’s a good choice for diabetics. It also has anti-inflammatory properties.
Like most “dark fruits,” cherries are loaded with antioxidants. They contain cancer-preventing compounds, and can reduce inflammation and arthritis pain, and the risk of gout and stroke.
Beans/legumes
Coconut milk
High in antioxidants, fiber, protein, B vitamins, iron, magnesium, potassium, copper and zinc, beans can decrease the risk of diabetes, heart disease and colorectal cancer.
Blueberries
Rich in fiber, potassium, folate, vitamin C, vitamin B6 and phytonutrients, blueberries can help lower blood cholesterol levels, reduce the risk of heart disease and protect brain health and memory.
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Rich in vitamins C, E, B1, B3, B5 and B6, and minerals including iron, selenium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorous, coconut milk is also a good alternative to dairy for those who are lactose-intolerant.
Dark chocolate
An antioxidant powerhouse, dark chocolate lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease, can help decrease cholesterol levels and blood pressure, and can help improve brain function.
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Cauliflower/cruciferous veggies
Fiber-rich cauliflower, broccoli, kale and other members of the cabbage family, collectively known as cruciferous vegetables, can lower cancer risk and protect against cardiovascular disease.
Salmon
High in Omega-3 fatty acids and amino acids, salmon can help prevent macular degeneration and numerous types of cancers, improves brain function and aids in maintaining stable insulin levels.
Garlic/onions/alliums Spinach
All members of the allium family of vegetables offer many health-giving effects, such as lowering cholesterol and blood pressure. Garlic, in particular, boosts the immune system, which helps ward off illnesses (including the common cold), and can help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Nutrient- and antioxidant-dense, this leafy vegetable is linked to lower levels of cancer, improved brain function and increased energy. Popeye knew what he was talking about.
Greek Yogurt
Oats
Hemp Seeds
Turmeric
Nuts/Pistachios
Tomatoes
In addition to being high in protein, amino acids, potassium, vitamin B12 and calcium, thick Greek-style yogurt contains microorganisms that promote a healthy digestive tract and strong immune system.
Rich in protein, nutrients and healthy fats, hemp seeds can help reduce heart disease risk and improve skin conditions such as eczema. Their high levels of gamma linolenic acid can help ease symptoms of PMS and menopause.
A high-calorie but nutrientdense snack, nuts are also rich in protein and healthy fats. They help the body absorb iron to combat anemia, and can improve erectile function. Pistachios, in particular, contain high levels of carotenoid antioxidants that protect the eyes against macular degeneration.
The popular breakfast cereal is high in beta glucan, a fiber that can help lower cholesterol and lower blood pressure, and reduce risks of colorectal cancer and heart disease.
This bright-yellow spice is beneficial in preventing and/or treating cancer, heart disease, arthritis, dementia, Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases. Turmeric’s high antioxidant levels and antiinflammatory properties make it a powerful weapon against aging.
Besides being rich in nutrients and antioxidants, the lycopene in tomatoes can reduce the chances of developing prostate, colorectal and stomach cancers.
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Ganja Garden Gazpacho This refreshing chilled Spanish soup can be a starter to dinner or a healthy low-calorie, guilt-free snack anytime. 5 medium ripe tomatoes 1 medium cucumber, peeled and seeded 1 medium yellow, orange or red bell pepper, diced 1–2 jalapeño peppers, cored, seeded and minced, optional 1 tsp. garlic, minced 1 can tomato juice, 11-1/2 or 12 oz. 1/4 cup red wine vinegar 2 tbsp. cannabis-infused olive oil Salt and black pepper to taste
Vegan Cauliflower and Garbanzo Bean Curry This healthy vegan entrée is bursting with flavor. Leftovers pack well for a microwavable lunch the next day. 1 tbsp. olive oil 1 large onion, diced 1 tbsp. minced garlic 1 tbsp. curry powder 1 tsp. turmeric 1/4 tsp. cayenne, optional 1/2 tsp. black pepper 1 can chopped tomatoes, 15 oz. 2 cups small cauliflower florets 1 can coconut milk, 14 oz. 4 tsp. cannabis-infused coconut oil or 1/2 gram decarboxylated kief 1 can garbanzo beans, 15 oz. 1/2 cup chopped cilantro Salt to taste Cooked brown rice Heat oil in large pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about five minutes. Add garlic, curry powder, turmeric, cayenne (if using) and pepper, and stir to combine. Cook for one minute, stirring. Add canned tomatoes and cauliflower. Stir in coconut milk, canna-oil or kief and garbanzo beans. Reduce heat, cover and cook, stirring often until cauliflower is tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in salt if needed. Serve curry over cooked brown rice. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro just before serving. Serves 4.
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Roughly chop up tomatoes, cucumber and bell pepper. Add garlic, jalapeño (if using), tomato or vegetable juice, red wine vinegar and infused olive oil. Stir well to integrate all ingredients. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve cold. Leftovers will keep for a day in the refrigerator. Serves 6.
Dark Chocolate Bark with Cherries and Pistachios Combine four superfoods—dark chocolate, cherries, pistachio nuts and cannabis—for a sweet treat you can feel good about eating. 8 oz. dark chocolate, chopped 1-1/2 grams decarboxylated kief 1/2 cup dried cherries 1/2 cup pistachio nuts, shelled Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Melt chocolate in metal or glass bowl suspended over a pot of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. Use a rubber spatula to spread melted chocolate onto prepared baking sheet in a rough rectangle, about 8 x 10 inches. Sprinkle pistachios and cherries over chocolate. Refrigerate for 10 minutes, or until firm enough to break into pieces. Serve cold or at room temperature. Serves 8.
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Spinach and Orange Salad with Grilled Salmon The sweet orange vinaigrette dressing for this main-dish salad can be made up to a day ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until you’re ready to grill the salmon. Dressing: 1/3 cup orange juice 4 tsp. cannabis-infused olive oil 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil 1 tbsp. soy sauce 2 tsp. agave nectar 1-1/2 tsp. ginger, grated 1/2 tsp. garlic, minced 1/2 tsp. black pepper Salmon: 4 salmon fillets (about an inch thick) 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice 2 tsp. black pepper Cooking spray Salad: 8 oz. fresh baby spinach 4 seedless oranges, peeled and cut 1 medium avocado, diced 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
Whisk all dressing ingredients together in a blender, food processor or by hand. Set aside. Build a medium-hot grill fire. (If you don’t have a grill, use a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat instead.) Drizzle salmon fillets with lemon juice and sprinkle with black pepper. Grill skin sides up, on a grill rack coated with cooking spray, for about five minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Remove the skin. In a large salad bowl, mix spinach, orange sections, avocado, cucumber and red onion with the dressing until well coated. Top each salad with salmon. Serves 4.
Steel-Cut Oats with Blueberries, Agave, Greek Yogurt and Hemp Seeds You can make this recipe with regular rolled oats, but consider steel-cut oats (a.k.a. Irish oats) instead. They have a wonderful chewy texture and nutty flavor, and are lower in calories than the rolled variety. 1-1/2 cups water 1/4 tsp. salt 3/4 cup steel-cut oats 2 tsp. cannabis-infused butter 2 tbsp. hemp seeds 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt 1 tbsp. agave nectar 1 cup blueberries
Bring water and salt to a boil in medium-sized pot. Stir in oats and cannabutter. Reduce heat to a bare simmer, and cover and cook until water is absorbed, about 12–15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in hemp seeds, yogurt and agave. Top with fresh blueberries. Serves 2. Cheri Sicard is author of The Cannabis Gourmet Cookbook and Mary Jane: The Complete Marijuana Handbook for Women. Visit her blog at CannabisCheri.com.
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S
toner taycation
• A private masseur or masseuse: Turn up the temps
ON THE CHEAP
BY BETH MANN Luxury vacations start in the mind, not the wallet. The average stoner, with an ounce of creativity—and kind bud—can have a 420-star vacation right in the comfort of home. Here’s how:
• Your own private island:
Distance from others doesn’t require miles, just emotional detachment. Smoke out and shut down. Hang a “Private Property” sign around your neck to send the message loud and clear. Remember: You are a rock, you are an island.
and find a nice, steady doorframe to feel some love with, by pressing against it like a bear rubs a tree. Add some cloying New Age music by Yanni and a lightly running faucet, and look who just had a spa-like experience for nothing.
• High-end prostitutes:
They’re spendy, but what’s free? Watching them on the Internet is free. Line out some powdered sugar on your coffee table, and you’ll feel like a first-class baller in no time.
• Golf course: Just stand around and do nothing. Wear a white hat and whisper for added effect. • An infinity swimming pool with a beautiful vista: Hang
• A private jet: You too can
soar like a Hawker 4000. Get access to someone’s minivan, pack in your friends and, when sufficiently high, declare: “We’ve reached cruising altitude. I’ll go ahead and turn off the seat belt sign.”
a tropically inspired shower curtain in your bathroom. Then fill the tub with water until you create that infinity effect that people spend thousands of dollars at high-end hotels to experience.
• Hire a butler: Craigslist
is an online haven for cleaning fetishists. Give one a good butler-sounding name like Waddington or Jeeves, and start barking orders.
• Rotate the bed: Bed spins
are easily recreated by smoking a joint after a heavy night of drinking. That will get the bed rotating in no time.
• Caviar: Pricey like weed, good caviar can cost upwards of $200 an ounce. But it’s just fancy eggs. Scramble up some chicken eggs, put it on a cracker and talk about your imaginary hedge fund to whomever will listen. 68
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• Private entertainment by A-listers: Big names like Sting,
Rihanna and Justin Timberlake have huge appearance fees. But talented drag impersonators will show up for a mere fraction of the price. Choose from the following faux celebs: Helluva Bottom Carter, Lois Common Denominator, Cher Noble, Amber Alert, Juana Bang, Annie Depressant, Rue Bella and Eileen Dover. See? It’s that easy. Even though you never left your home, your mind took you on a journey that money simply can’t buy. So smoke up and sail away on your stoner staycation. Beth Mann is President of Hot Buttered Media and a regular contributor to Freedom Leaf.
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A Giant is Emerging!
Mobile apps are changing how we live our lives. 268 Billion Apps Will be Downloaded by 2017 $200 Billion in revenue by 2020 This is your chance to cash in on mobile apps. You can join the revolution of people making income from their mobile phone. It’s time to get paid by using and sharing mobile apps. Learn more about the hottest new app that is destined to be a house hold name.
www.MyAppIncome.com july 2016
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REVIEWS
Ziggy Marley Returns with Sixth Solo Album
“I’m the first-born son,” chants Ziggy Marley on his new self-titled album—his sixth solo studio effort and his first since winning consecutive Best Reggae Album Grammys for 2013’s Ziggy Marley In Concert and 2014’s Fly Rasta. In all, Bob Marley’s eldest son has earned a total of seven Grammys in a career that stretches back to his debut album with the Melody Makers 31 years ago. That’s seven more than his dad won—because the reggae Grammy Award has only been given since 1985, four years after Bob Marley’s death. (Tuff Gong was awarded a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2001.) Unlike other famous musical scions, like Jakob Dylan and Sean Lennon, Marley has never shied from his father’s legacy, nor retreated from his imposing sociopolitical musical shadow. Indeed, he continues to embrace that torch on his latest release, fully acknowledging it on clarion calls such as the opening track, “Start It Up,” on which he owns up to his leadership role: “See the revolution/From the evolution/Love’s the contribution.” Reggae may have been co-opted by rock and hip-hop, with its social-justice element diffused into breezy, feel-good party anthems since the roots era in the 1960s and ’70s, but Ziggy Marley still believes that reggae can break down
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walls and build bridges—two metaphors he’s never shy to use. “Heaven Can’t Take It,” featuring background vocals from brother Stephen, calls for an end to Babylon: “They’re killing for money/ They’re killing for power/They’re killing for religion/They’re killing for color… Let’s stand up for the children.” On “Butterflies,” he takes an antiwar stance: “The battles you win with arms/And only love can win the war.” Like his father, Marley is adept at conflating the personal and the political with a sensual edge, like on the heart-pumping “Love Is a Rebel,” which equates desire and release with overcoming oppression, akin to putting Freud to a reggae backbeat. “Ceceil” offers a funky ska beat, gurgling organ and calypso swing for its tale of seduction, seamlessly connecting Kingston to Memphis, while “I’m Not Made of Stone” is a romantic make-up song that uses a horn refrain to punctuate its ultimate plea: “Come through my door/Don’t come through my window.” Marley taps into reggae’s communal we’re-all-one vibe on “Better Together” (“No matter which side of the wall/We want to see it fall”), and on the finale, “We Are the People,” with its rallying cry for humanity and individuality: “We’re not corporations/We’re not labels for your stock/We’re not crayons in a box/We’re not donkeys and elephants.”
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A major part of reggae’s charm is its roots in island culture. On “Weekend’s Long,” Marley outlines the perfect vacation, where you can leave your cares at the door: “I found a place where the weekend’s long/Don’t check your luggage/Just carry on/All night long/Leave your sorrows indoctrinated/Because now you are emancipated.” This wouldn’t be a Marley album without a paean to the sacred herb, and Ziggy doesn’t disappoint, with a new version of “Marijuanaman,” the theme song for his graphic novel of the same name (see sidebar at right). Marley is at his most inspired when he sings: “If religious preachers are smokin’ herb/There would be love around the world/Instead of fear and hate/The heavens give us seeds, and spiritual needs/C’mon, we can feed the hungry people.” Somewhere up there, Robert Nesta Marley—reggae’s original “”Marijuanaman”—is smiling with a big spliff. — Roy Trakin
Marijuanaman, the Comic Strip Ziggy Marley created the graphic novel Marijuanaman with Joe Casey and Jim Mahfood in 2011. Space alien Sedona arrives on Earth from the planet Zelram and is immediately smitten by pot. He’s taken in by the Exodus commune and transforms into superhero Marijuanaman, whose mission is to stop PharmaCon from wiping out weed and replacing it with the synthetic substitute known as GanjaRex. It’s Marijuanaman vs. Cash-Money in this epic comic book cannabis battle. The book is available at amzn.to/284kHOb.
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REVIEWS
The Motet: “Totem” Helping to reenergize America’s funk scene since 1998, The Motet are always in the groove. The Denver-based band has built their reputation over the years by delighting crowds at diverse music festivals, and by releasing a steady stream of recordings. New vocalist Lyle Divinski gets integrated into The Motet’s lineup for their seventh studio album, the anagrammatically titled Totem. Alternating between instrumental jams and spunky vocal tracks, the energized 12-song release never lets up. Beginning with “The Truth,” spiffy horn blasts that call to mind veteran funk outfit Tower of Power, choppy organ riffs and percolating rhythms set the tone for Divinski’s intermittent baritone exclamations and declarative yelps. No stranger to self-medication, “The Truth” finds Divinski looking for a cure “to find some peace of mind” for everyday blues by “smoking another’s stash.” It’s heady stuff, but not fully indicative of the bohemian spirit that ensues. Totem’s finest dance floor shakers include the glossy Jamiroquai-style disco-boogie “Fool No More” (featuring Drew Sayers’ smooth sax and Joey Porter’s keyboard comps), and the Parliament-Funkadelic-inspired “Damn!” that gets down with its liberating “let your freak flag fly” declaration.
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Another perky highlight, “Know It Too Well,” a New Orleans R&B shuffle, combines Ryan Jalbert’s nifty rhythm guitar, Dave Watts’ clanging percussion and Porter’s stewing keyboard swells. Spiky horn bursts heat up the instrumentals “Cretan” and “Solar Plexus,” which also feature bassist Garrett Sayers’ slapping and snapping. “Contraband,” a reggae departure, offers an organ-guitar-bass dub rhythm supported by snazzy trumpet blurts. In between the aforementioned numbers, the soulful “So High” gives a nod and a wink to Colorado’s cannabis enlightenment (“This is how it feels when everything is alright”), with a syncopated hand-clapped beat and bass-guitar strut busily reinforcing the joyous mood. The jittery instrumental “Rippin’ Herb” is another nod to their home state’s pervasive pot culture. On the portentous “Danger,” Divinski does his best to ravage the heartbreaking “stranger” who’s causing commotion, authoritatively cawing its one-word refrain when he’s not coarsely bellowing the indicting verses. While it may be difficult to substantially distinguish the sound of Totem from that of their previous efforts—’04s Music for Life, ’09s Dig Deep and 2014’s self-titled release—what makes this album so engaging is the band’s clear and undying devotion to vintage funk. — John Fortunato
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REVIEWS
Oregon Hemp Works If you’re a conscious consumer who prefers to keep it vegan, non-GMO and organic, then Oregon Hemp Works body care products are for you. The company supports renewable energy, and owner Ben Christensen’s goal is to use the most natural and sustainable ingredients possible. He makes soap the old-fashioned, traditional way—by hand. Their Lemongrass soap has a pleasantly earthy yet tart scent. The packaging is also lovingly handcrafted: Each bar comes wrapped in hand-cut hemp paper with a card listing the ingredients, and it’s all tied up with a nice little bow of hemp twine. Made from a number of oils (hemp, olive, coconut, palm and castor), ground herbs and essential oils, the soap creates moisturizing suds that help
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lovefromoregon.com
Lemongrass Soap
prevent dry skin, without the residue nonorganic brands leave behind. It lathers well, and the lemongrass aroma releases wonderfully in a hot shower, making this soap a nice perk-me-up for the morning ritual. In addition to Lemongrass, Oregon Hemp Works soap is also available in Cedarwood and Teatree varieties. —Erin Hiatt $6.50 per bar oregonhempworks.com
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THE RAPID GROWTH OF THE LEGALIZED CANNABIS INDUSTRY HAS MADE IT ONE OF THE FASTEST GROWING SECTORS OF THE UNITED STATES ECONOMY, SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACTING NEARLY EVERY INDUSTRY.
The cannabis industry’s top brands and thought-leaders will be at the premier
show in the cannabis industry that focuses
on investment, entrepreneurship, cannabis business owners, business services
CWCBEXPO 2016
and future industry growth.
LOS ANGELES - LA CONVENTION CENTER
Will you be there?
SEPTEMBER 7-9, 2016
TO REGISTER VISIT WWW.CWCBEXPO.COM
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LGBTQ VIEW
Growing Pride What does the cannabis movement owe the gay liberation movement? More than you might think. By Mia Di Stefano The first big push for medical cannabis in San Francisco happened in the late 1980s and early 1990s, mostly involving patients who were being treated for AIDS. While many cannabis users have the luxury of staying in the closet, that was not the case with AIDS sufferers, who at that time were wasting away and dying at an alarming rate. AIDS made it difficult to eat, and that’s where cannabis came in. But its popularity among gay patients in the 1980s led to frequent busts. Unapologetic members of the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club fought back by drafting and campaigning for the passage of Prop P in 1991, which legalized medical cannabis in San Francisco by a 79% margin. Prop P co-author Dennis Peron, whose longtime partner died of AIDS, went on to co-author Prop 215, the California medical marijuana ballot initiative that passed in 1996. Twenty years later, key players like Kevin Reed, President of San Francisco’s Green Cross dispensary, regularly march in the city’s annual Pride Parade in June, and participate in the Castro Street Fair in October. Reed moved to San Francisco from Alabama in 1999 to seek medical cannabis treatment for chronic pain, and to find acceptance. “My personal interest in Pride stems from my experience in the LGBTQ community, and the unabashed need to present the truth to the world,” he tells
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Freedom Leaf. “I wanted to create a bridge for medical marijuana, to have that same experience.” In Denver, The Clinic Colorado, which has four stores in Denver and two in nearby Lakewood, has been a proud sponsor of Denver PrideFest each June for the past seven years. In 2015, PrideFest participants jammed out at The Clinic’s Silent Disco, and this year their booth featured a series of interactive games. “When you support the LGBTQ community, they support you,” says Ryan Cook, Director of National Operations for The Clinic. Renee Gagnon, the openly transgender female former CEO of the publicly traded Canadian cannabis company Thunderbird Biomedical Inc., has started a movement called Growing Pride that seeks to increase the cannabis industry presence at Pride events in Portland, New York and San Francisco, and Vancouver and Victoria, B.C. “The Pride festival is one of the few opportunities for the [LGBTQ] community to get exposure,” Gagnon points out, noting that attendance at and viewership of Pride parades totals many millions of people when media coverage is factored in. Whether marching in a parade or partnering with an LGBTQ organization, business leaders and cannabis advocates alike are presenting our mutual truth to the world: There is no room for hate. In the words of Bob Marley, there is only one love. Mia Di Stefano manages social media for medical cannabis startup HealthMJ and is the Partnership Chair of Women Grow NYC.
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Songwriter. Outlaw. Legend.
At last, Willie tells the whole story. Download Willie’s original song “It’s a Long Story” at www.myredmusic.com/willienelson Free with proof of purchase. LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY
On sale now in hardcover, ebook, audio, and large print wherever books are sold
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l i t t l e b row n .c o m Hachette Book Group
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REVIEWS
Inside Hemp Inc., the Video Game
HKG Digital and First Harvest Financial team up to create a dispensary simulator. The cannabis revolution is also happening in the digital domain, and now, Hemp Inc., an exciting new mobile game, offers anybody the opportunity to get in on the Green Rush. It’s your chance to build a marijuana empire, right from your smart phone. Plant the seeds, open a store, market your products and grow a customer base. Your job is to manage a virtual cannabusiness from the ground up. Hemp Inc. players navigate a city filled with fellow gamers, all looking to find hidden upgrades. Freedom Leaf and NORML have a prominent presence in the game, offering players free T-shirts and other prizes when they unlock promotions. Clicking on any NORML banner within the game brings players to the Take Action Center to participate in political reform. “Hemp Inc.’s gameplay is centered on starting your own marijuana grow operation and dispensary chain,” explains Freedom Leaf’s Chris Thompson. “The player begins in a garage grow space and apartment-based dispensary, and can earn money by selling buds.” Players can also purchase enhancements. “Additional staff members, more
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locations and better cannabis seeds are all currently available,” Thompson adds. “Hemp Inc. also features over 40 celebrities, like Wiz Khalifa and Tommy Chong, to download and ‘hire’ in your shops. Even better, there will be opportunities to meet celebrity partners and get free tickets to events through ingame participation.” The concept for Hemp Inc. came from Danny Hammett of HKG Digital and Brian Kelley of First Harvest Financial. Hammett’s résumé includes work on the Call of Duty series and the Tony Hawk skateboarding game, and he is currently producing the next round of Marvelbased games. “I put together a supergroup of programmers to build Hemp Inc.,” Hammett tells Freedom Leaf, adding that “at least half of them had to be smokers and advocates.” The team—including coders in Kiev, London and California—spent 10 months bringing the project to life, and they’re constantly working to improve the product. Until now, pot-themed games on the market have been “low-rent and far too basic,” says Hammett, who creates slick, high-tech games that evolve to keep
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players engaged. He explains that he wants Hemp Inc. to serve as an advocacy tool, bringing a social-justice message to the gamer crowd. “There’s a need for something that isn’t a redundant message to the weed-smoking audience,” says Hammett. “Retention-style gaming will win over the people outside the crowd of recreational users.” In other words, this game is not just for potheads. That’s just the kind of project First Harvest Financial is looking to incubate. After many years working in mainstream equity management, Kelley has entered the cannabis space with Hemp Inc. The game soft-launched on iTunes and Google Play this spring, and has already racked up over 100,000 downloads. The next step is to bring real celebrities—like Khalifa, Chong and B-Real of Cypress Hill—to the virtual dispensaries. Kelley’s goal is to have more than 40 entertainment celebs interacting with players in the game. Ultimately, Hemp Inc. will incorporate real-world cannabis brands, and even free music from headline artists. Harvest Financial is looking to use this opportunity to open a fertile network for their investment capital. Kelley is preparing the financial structure for in-app purchases, and to make donations to advocacy organizations like NORML. Hammett and Kelley represent two halves of modern gaming: development expertise and finance. Together, they’re turning Hemp Inc. into a game with broad appeal. “The same people going from festival to festival will play,” Hammett insists. “I speak from experience, waking and baking in California. Hemp Inc’s retention is 20%,“ he claims, referring to how many people continue to play a game after trying it. “The usual is like 10%. We can reach a new audience with the decriminalization message and the disproportionate application of prohibition laws.” For more information, go to hempincgame.com and firstharvestfinancial. com.
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