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contents Vol 9 IssUE 4
10.17
Success in Strides
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CULTURE Magazine celebrates 100 issues of famous celebrity advocates sharing their support for cannabis.
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The world has changed a lot since CULTURE Magazine first hit newsstands in 2009.
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Medical cannabis was first legalized in 1996— how have states evolved since then?
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inside
contents 10.2017
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68 feature
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Industry Insider Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the California Growers Association, is a long-time advocate and businessman who leads by example.
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Caregiver Appreciation Effective cannabis caregivers like Maria Frost dedicate their lives to helping others.
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Ultimate Altruism In the wake of devastation from natural disasters, the cannabis community bands together.
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departments 16 Letter from the Editor
Online Exclusive!
news
26 Local News 58 Healthy Living
18 News Nuggets 20 By the Numbers
reviews
60 Dispensary Highlight
62 Company Highlight 64 Cool Stuff 66 Entertainment Reviews 68 Strain, Edible & Concentrate Reviews
in every issue
80 Growing Culture
82 Profile in Courage 84 Recipes 90 NorCal Now! 91 News of the Weird
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d Medical Students Require More Training On Cannabis d Delaware Adds PTSD to List of Qualifying Conditions
Vol 9 IssUE 4
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M
A
G
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Editor-In-Chief Jamie Solis associate Editor Ashley Bennett Editorial coordinator Benjamin Adams Editorial Contributors Matthew Abel, Sheryll Alexander, Devon Alexander Brown, Jasen T. Davis, Alex Distefano, Keira Fae, Natasha Guimond, Addison Herron-Wheeler, Pamela Jayne, M. Jay, Heather Johnson, Emily Manke, Meital Manzuri, Madison Ortiz, Denise Pollicella, R. Scott Rappold, Paul Rogers, Ed Rosenthal, Kimberly Simms, Lanny Swerdlow, Simon Weedn, Laurie Wolf Photographers Kristen Angelo, Steve Baker, Kristopher Christensen, John Gilhooley, Joel Meaders, Tonya Perme, Josué Rivas, Mike Rosati, Eric Stoner Art Director Steven Myrdahl production manager Michelle Aguirre Graphic DesignerS Nathan Hernandez Payden Cobern sales director Joe Larson Account Executives Jon Bookatz, Alex Brizicky, Molly Clark, Eric Bulls, Kim Cook, Monte Lee, Beau Odom, Casey Roel, Garry Stalling, Ryan Tripp, Shayne Williams, Vic Zaragoza general Manager Iris Norsworthy digital content David Edmundson manager Intern Sophia Rybicki Distribution Manager Cruz Bobadilla Publisher David Comden Culture® Magazine is published every month and distributes magazines at over 600 locations throughout the Bay area. No articles, illustrations, photographs, or other matter within may be reproduced without written permission. Culture® Magazine is a registered trademark. All rights reserved.
2175 Sampson Ave. | Ste. 118 Corona | California | 92879 Phone 888.694.2046 | Fax 888.694.2046 www.CultureMagazine.com
CULTURE® Magazine is printed using post-recycled paper.
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/freeculturemag
/iReadCulture
/iReadCulture
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L ETTER
F RO M
THE
E D I TOR
Upward and Onward
C
ULTURE’s 100th issue is more than just a milestone for our magazine—it’s also a milestone for the cannabis community. The first issue of CULTURE hit the newsstands in Southern California in June, 2009. Back then, there were only 14 states that had voted in favor of medical cannabis, in comparison to the 29 states that have enacted medical cannabis programs today. Recreational cannabis states were non-existent in 2009—now in our 100th issue, eight states have legalized recreational cannabis. Through the evolution of our industry, CULTURE has never swayed from its core mission—to bring cannabis into the mainstream by sharing the stories of those who have been silenced for so long. Every page within this magazine has an intention. From sharing medical and scientific research and evidence in favor of cannabis, to promoting the legislative and cultural acceptance of this miraculous plant—we have not strayed from our purpose in 100 issues, and we never will. There are so many reasons to celebrate our victories— both as a magazine and as a community. However, as we revel in our excitement, we can’t forget that we still have a long way to go. Although we celebrate our progress, we must all be aware of the challenges that still lay ahead of us. I can promise you that here at CULTURE, we will continue to face opponents of cannabis, defending
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your inherent human right to consume a plant. By sharing your remarkable, brave, altruistic and awe-inspiring stories within our pages, spreading knowledge to the masses and ensuring consumers have safe access to cannabis will continue to be the inspiration for what we do. Finally, as a free magazine since our very first issue, we’d like to thank the many local and national business owners who have had a hand in supporting our endeavors. It is because of you that our industry has been built with a strong foundation from the ground up. Without our supportive community of patients, advocates, lawmakers and industry experts, we would not be able to share the many untold tales and first-hand stories with the masses for these past 100 issues. c Cheers to 100 more!
Jamie Solis Editor-in-Chief
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NEWS
nuggetS
Mountain View City Council Supports Retail Plan On September 19, Mountain View City Council members overwhelmingly agreed to move forward with zoning regulations for the sale of recreational and medical cannabis. At the meeting, the city’s vice mayor admitted that the area is already quite cannabisfriendly. “Mountain View is known for its leadership on all sorts of issues, and I don’t see why we shouldn’t be on this issue as well,” stated Vice Mayor Lenny Siegel. “To me, this is something that people should be able to go [do] after their dinner and dessert in downtown
Mountain View. It’s socially acceptable in this area, and we shouldn’t pretend otherwise.” The council noted that sales are already going unchecked in the city with or without licenses. They reported that there are about 16 unlicensed businesses currently in operation. The city council also agreed to impose a 45-day moratorium later this fall until the local regulations are completed.
Board Enacts 45day Moratorium on New Dispensaries in San Francisco The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 9-2 on September 12 to place a 45-day moratorium on new dispensaries. Two of the supervisors fought the decision fiercely. “It targets the wrong people,” said Supervisor Jeff Sheehy. “Medical cannabis kept a lot of people living with HIV alive when there were no treatments available to them. We seem to be conflating medical cannabis with adult-use. Thirty-five [dispensaries] may seem like a lot, but how many Walgreens and CVSs are in the city?” Sheehy himself is HIV-positive and a medical cannabis patient and is personally
Federal Study Indicates Youth Cannabis Consumption Continues to Drop According to data from a national survey by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, youth cannabis consumption in America has dropped overall since 2002. It was reported that 6.5 percent of participants said they had consumed cannabis within the last 30 days—a 21 percent drop since 2002. “The percentage of people aged 12 or older
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affected by the availability of cannabis. The moratorium began on September 22. San Francisco is home to 35 dispensaries with 11 more going through the approval process from the Planning Commission as of lateSeptember. Four of those applications in the approval process are exempt from the moratorium.
who were current marijuana users in 2016 was higher than the percentages from 2002 to 2015,” The 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health report reads. “ . . . The increase in marijuana use reflects increases in marijuana use among adults aged 26 or older and, to a lesser extent, among young adults aged 18 to 25. Marijuana use among adolescents aged 12 to 17 was lower in 2016 than in most years from 2009 to 2014.” The findings support past studies, including a 2016 Monitoring the Future report, that have come to similar conclusions.
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The estimated percentage of Northern Californian cultivators who have applied for legal permits to grow cannabis: (Source: The New York Times)
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The estimated number of employee positions that the Bureau of Cannabis Control is planning on filling before February 2018: (Source: The Desert Sun)
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The projected number of jobs that could be created in Santa Cruz County once the county’s proposed recreational cannabis regulations take effect: (Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel)
The number of people who were appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to the Bureau of Cannabis Control in late-August: (Source: Daily Democrat)
7,116
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The approximate percentage of women who hold executive roles in cannabis businesses in the United States, according to a 2017 survey: (Source: Santa Barbara Independent)
The amount of money, in billions of dollars, that United States businesses will sell in hemp-based products within the next three years: (Source: Forbes)
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The percentage of New Zealanders who either want to decriminalize or legalize cannabis, according to a 2017 market research poll: (Source: New Zealand Drug Foundation)
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Spannabis
WHEN: Fri, Oct. 13-Sun, Oct. 15 WHERE: Pabellón de Cristal of Casa de Campo, Madrid, Spain WEBSITE: spannabis.com Spain is one of Europe’s most cannabis-friendly countries with cannabis clubs that date back to 1991 and decriminalization laws in place to help protect consumers. So, it’s not a surprise that events like Madrid’s seventh annual Spannabis conference are central to the local cannabis community, bringing in thousands of cannabis enthusiasts every year. The event began in Barcelona, but has expanded to the cities of Madrid and Málaga. Event organizers hope that this year’s event will attract even more attendees. The three-day conference 20
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will be held in Pabellón de Cristal of Casa de Campo near the heart of Madrid. There, attendees will learn new tips and skills about the world of cannabis, including topics covering medicine, business, science and politics. The event takes place at a three-story glass pavilion with plenty of space for exhibitors, vendors and speakers. Although consumption of cannabis in Spain is only legal in cannabis clubs and private residences, there is an unlimited amount of knowledge to be discovered at this event. (Sophia Rybicki)
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NEWS
LOCAL
New West Summit
Half way There Half Moon Bay considers cannabis cultivation By Benjamin M. Adams
S
eldom are cities in the Bay Area as enthusiastic about the prospect of cannabis cultivation as Half Moon Bay. The city is considering allowing greenhouse cultivation operations and various ancillary businesses to operate in existing structures. The city has spent months drafting an ordinance that would allow cultivation companies to operate within city limits. The draft ordinance includes a 1,000-foot buffer around schools, child care centers and youth centers. Medical or recreational dispensaries would have a maximum of 1,000 square feet of gross floor space. Manufacturing would not be permitted under the initial draft ordinance. The oversight of local operations would be housed in the Community Development Department. Half Moon Bay is embracing the idea of cannabis cultivation, which may be related to the city’s history of growing flowers in greenhouses. Those now-vacant greenhouses could soon be used to grow a different, more lucrative type of flower. Potential retail operations are another story. According to Mayor Debbie Ruddock, the city is unlikely to allow retail locations in its historic downtown area. Sales, however, will be considered in
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other areas. The city held its first hearing on September 13 at the Half Moon Bay Community Center to get public feedback on the issue. The city’s September 19 agenda report detailed the its progress. “In Half Moon Bay, AUMA was approved by more than 69 percent of voters, higher than the County and State approval rate. Previous legislation in 2015, the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act, had developed a similar licensing scheme for medical marijuana commercial activities,” Deputy City Manager Matthew Chidester and Assistant City Attorney Heather Minner wrote in the staff report. The city staff is continuing to iron out the details before a draft ordinance can move forward, which was originally scheduled to happen on September 19. “We will not be doing the first reading of an ordinance yet,” Chidester told CULTURE. “The city council would like to consider more community input before making a decision. We held a community meeting on September 13, and the turnout was significant. [Shortly after] we will detail the elements of the ordinance we’re drafting and present a summary of the community feedback we’ve received recently and at the meeting.” The city will also consider allowing sales as well to work in tandem with Proposition 64 and Senate Bill 94. In order to stay on par with other nearby cities and to remain competitive, allowing cannabis companies to operate is the city’s next step. A small fraction of citizens want to preserve Half Moon Bay’s family-friendly atmosphere, which they believe would be threatened if commercial cannabis operations were approved. Cabrillo Unified School District Superintendent Jane Yuster, for instance, said that two-thirds of the students in her district live in proximity to greenhouse areas and would be negatively impacted. Half Moon Bay’s natural beauty is hard to ignore. The Pillar Point Bluff resembles England’s White Cliffs of Dover or Ireland’s Cliffs of Moher. As tourism is important to Half Moon Bay’s economy, allowing cannabis businesses would help bolster the city’s economy. c
The New West Summit is one of the region’s most reliable cannabis conferences to focus on the advancements in the cannabis industry’s technology, expenditure and legislation. A variety of topics will be presented to attendees, including the economics of organizations, companies, finances and investments. It will also cover the way news and media impacts the state of cannabis. Some of the special guests include George Clinton, who is a founding member of Parliament and Funkadelic, Dave Morin, who is cofounder and CEO of Path and Jason Silva, host of Brain Games on National Geographic Channel. An afterparty will take place on Saturday evening the Skyline Ballroom on the 21st floor of the Marriott City Center building. Although this is a very business-minded event, consumers are invited to attend for “Consumer Day” on October 15. (Sophia Rybicki) WHEN: Fri, Oct. 13Sun, Oct. 15 WHERE: Marriott City Center, 1001 Broadway, Oakland WEBSITE: newwest summit.com
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of importance
In celebration of our 100th issue, culture reminisces on inspiring words from cover features and history passed, while remaining forthright in our mission toward cannabis reform
M
ilestones are an important part of life. In the cannabis industry, we measure success in every minor and major event. Our industry’s growth and evolution is improved with every skeptic whose mind is changed, with every medical cannabis patient whose story is told and with every state making progress to decriminalize or legalize cannabis.
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We here at CULTURE have watched this news come and go, and we have reported on those events as they unfolded. Since 2009 when CULTURE Magazine began, we have been, and still remain, a humble publication that promotes truthful information in the industry and covers the most important news in a variety of locations. Now in honoring the arrival of our 100th issue, we’re bringing back the memories and milestones
of the past. Join us as we explore some of CULTURE’s greatest cover stories, examine a timeline of how far cannabis has grown since the first medical cannabis state was established, and delve into a comparison of how much our world has evolved since our first issue in 2009 in comparison to now. If there’s one thing that hasn’t changed, it’s that cannabis still is, and always will be, a lifestyle that we all share.
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legendary statements to culture over the years Joe Rogan | March 2010 [Cannabis reform is] important to me because when I was younger, I had the wrong idea about pot. I had this misconception that pot made you stupid and lazy. But it turns out that those people were just stupid and lazy. Pot won’t enlighten you if you are lazy.”
Melissa Etheridge | August 2010 Cannabis during chemotherapy was just a lifesaver. It was a pain reliever; it gave me my appetite back; it settled my stomach from all the gastric napalm going on inside of me. And it also brings a lot of clarity to understanding what disease is. The benefits go on and on and on and on.”
Willie Nelson
September 2011 I remember reading a book called The Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer, and in there he said a lot of great things. And one of them was that stress is the biggest killer on the planet, and the best medicine for stress is marijuana. And I know that to be a fact. I’ve done a lot of experimenting with it, and I know for a fact that it is good for stress.”
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Margaret Cho September 2010
I think people should use marijuana instead of alcohol. I think it’s better for you, health-wise. It’s the least harmful drug around. I think alcohol is far more destructive. There’s just this stigma around [cannabis]; that there’s something wrong with it or it’s a gateway. But, truly alcohol is worst of all. I don’t know, people who use pot, to me, are often peaceful, creative and insightful.”
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Wiz Khalifa April 2011
[My relationship with cannabis] is not just a musical thing, not just a creative thing. I just like to be in that zone. And it helps me just do everything. I’m not dependent on it. But pot just plays a huge roll in the everyday mechanics of my life. It totally keeps me grounded.”
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Bill Maher January 2012
You know, first of all, I think people think I smoke a lot more pot than I do. I’m just not a connoisseur. I know that people are into the sativa and the indica. I know that one is the more upper and one is the more relaxing one. To me it’s all the same. It works. I know people have different reactions to marijuana. Some people it makes sleepy and some people it makes paranoid. And then there’s the kind of person who it kind of like wakes them up—and I’m that kind of person. And any kind of marijuana will do that.”
Lily Tomlin October 2012
I just don’t get it. I don’t know how we can have one law [on medical cannabis] and the feds can have another, and can come in and do whatever they want to do.”
Roseanne Barr May 2012
[The crackdown on medical cannabis] makes me furious, because that’s cracking down on sick people. What kind of a psychopathic theory is that? The thought of this country as a bully country, and that really makes me angry, that it only picks countries to attack that have no army, only blames the poor for what rich people do. They don’t pay taxes, we never talk about that, but the poor, they always blame people at the bottom rung other than the top. They always go after the sick, the widows and the orphans. That’s whose retirement they cut. Our government is in control of psychopathic bullies.”
Kevin Smith May 2013
Cheech and Chong April 2012
The reason pot is illegal because it’s so good and hemp products are so good, it’s environmentally friendly. So you have the plastics industry that lobbied against it. Then you’ve got the pharmaceutical companies lobbying against making pot legal. You’re buying sleeping aids and being killed like Whitney Houston on pharmaceuticals that are dangerous. Here’s an herb that helps with arthritis, that helps with cancer, that slows MS. It really is a Godgiven plant that we’ve been abusing, not with use but by passing laws against it.” 34
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If you think about the brain as a series of folders that you keep creating, weed for me is like a program that puts them all in order alphabetically and allows you to prioritize what is important. That is how I’ve been able to spin so many plates the last few years. My medicinal problem is that I have problems sleeping, and if that is doing it for somebody who has mild medicinal needs like myself, imagine what it can do for people who have absolute medicinal need. Instead of filling them with yet another synthetic narcotic put together chemically in a lab . . . I don’t want to get all stoner on ya, but there is a reason it just grows naturally.”
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Tenacious D September 2014
And it’s funny now, when we play the songs about getting stoned, I always feel a little bit hypocritical, because, I’m like, ‘I’m not going to smoke a joint with any of you after the show,’ but I still have to sing the songs. I’m in support of legalization absolutely.” - Jack Black
Bob Marley and Family April 2015
The herb was a spiritual and natural part of life for Bob. As he said, ‘make way for the positive day.’ I think we’re seeing that positive day.” - Rita Marley
Sandra Bernhard MAY 2015
I think my father just believed it was legal just because everywhere he went he was able to acquire it. Herb for him was a spiritual thing. It made him feel connected to God and the Earth. He believed it was a sacramental thing.” - Cedella Marley
Bob is the perfect frontrunner for the advocacy of marijuana being legal, and use of the plant, in many different ways—medicinal and spiritual. He would be honored to be the champion of the use of marijuana. He would be very proud of this moment.” - Stephen Marley
Sanjay Gupta | April 2014 We know that cannabis can be a medicine. I’ve seen this now myself. They’ve known this in other countries for a long time. We’ve probably known it here even though we haven’t been as public or as vocal about it. We know cannabis has been used as a medication openly in hospitals in Jerusalem because they believe it’s part of a treatment protocol that extends and improves lives.” 36
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I think that it is important that [cannabis] is legal. I think kids shouldn’t be arrested or thrown in jail for it. I don’t use drugs at all, including cannabis. If you are a casual drinker or a casual smoker, that’s fine.”
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Montel Williams | June 2017 I haven’t gone a day without cannabis in 17 years [ . . . ] It took about three months of getting my saturation level up, to stop being high, and start getting relief. Now, I have it fined-tuned to the point where if I wake up in the middle of the night with pain, I go in the bathroom—I’ve got five pens in there, and I know which is which in the dark. Bang, I’m back to sleep. I’ve got it all dialed in, absolutely.”
AWOLNATION March 2016
I was completely sober until I was 21, when I had my first sip of alcohol and smoked weed for the first time. It seems to be the opposite for most people— they get in trouble at a young age and get caught smoking weed when they are 14, where I was too much of a nerd and was too afraid to try mind-altering stuff. It wasn’t until I was 21 and felt comfortable trying that stuff. It was a great experience, and there are so many benefits to it, obviously . . . ” - Aaron Bruno
Lucy Lawless September 2016
They should legalize it so they know where it’s bloody coming from. Listen, it being available hasn’t made me start smoking [marijuana] any more than legalized homosexual marriage has made me want to turn gay . . . I don’t know what they’re afraid of!”
Chainsmokers | August 2015 It’s crazy. We all did it, but there were a lot of consequences tied to what it meant. In going to Amsterdam—you waited your whole life to come here and just do nothing but smoke weed, legally. It’s really cool, for that fact alone. But, obviously for the medical purposes, it’s great as well.” – Alex Pall 38
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Toby Keith | August 2017 It’s funny [ . . . ] In the legal world they treat it like it’s the devil’s grass, but in the real world I know people who smoke weed who you’d never assume even drink a beer much less smoke. Most people I know that smoke will come home at night, smoke about half of something, and then go lay down and go to bed. It’s just always been funny to me how much weight it carries in the world and how little it actually affects anybody. When I was really young, I had some friends in high school that ended up going to prison over [cannabis], and it was like, ‘Really?!’ They were pretty serious convictions over something that grows out of the ground.”
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Then and Now
Times have changed since CULTURE first hit newsstands in 2009
Americans in Favor of Legalizing Cannabis 40% (2009) 60% (2017) (Source: Gallup/ Quinnipiac)
National Minimum Wage $7.25 (2009) $7.25 (2017) (Source: Department of Labor)
Number of Recreational cannabis States 0 (2009) 8 (2017)
Number of Medical cannabis States 14 (2009) 29 (2017) President of the United States Barack Obama (2009) Donald Trump (2017)
The New York Times Best selling book The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (2009) Seeing Red by Sandra Brown (2017) (Source: The New York Times)
In the News Bill Clinton Negotiates the Release of Journalists in North Korea. (2009) Hurricane Harvey and Irma Ravage Texas and Florida. (2017) Average Home Price $170,000 (2009) $200,700 (2017) (Source: Zillow.com)
Number of states where Gay Marriage is Legal 3 (2009) 50 (2017) 40
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average National rent $842 (2009) $959 (2017) (Source: United States Census)
united States’ National Debt $11.9 trillion (2009) $19.8 trillion (2017) (Source: Department of Treasury)
Most Hot Dogs Eaten in 10 minutes 68 (2009) 72 (2017) (Source: Nathan’s Hot Dogs)
#1 song “I Gotta Feeling” by The Black Eyed Peas (2009) “Look What You Made Me Do” by Taylor Swift (2017) (Source: Billboard)
Highest Paid Athlete Tiger Woods, $100 million (2009) Cristiano Ronaldo, $92 million (2017) (Source: Forbes)
USA Today Print Circulation 1.9 million (2009) 812,971 (2017) (Source: USA Today)
Comic Book Movies with Theatrical Releases 3 (2009) 10 (2017) (Source: IMDB)
Total Box Office of the Fast and Furious Franchise $965.4 Million (2009) $5.134 Billion (2017) (Source: BoxOfficeMojo)
Fastest Marathon ran 2:03:59 (2009) 2:02:57 (2017) (Source: International Association of Athletic Federations)
Cost of Amazon Stock $81.17 (2009) $979.10 (2017) (Source: Nasdaq)
Donkey Kong High Score 1,050,200 (2009) 1,218,000 (2017) (Source: Twin Galaxies)
Number of female CEOs at Fortune 500 Companies 12 (2009) 32 (2017) (Source: Fortune)
Cost of Sears Stock $40.69 (2009) $7.89 (2017) (Source: Nasdaq)
Richest Person Bill Gates, $40 Billion (2009) Bill Gates, $86 Billion (2017) (Source: Forbes)
Most Twitter Followers Ashton Kutcher, 1 million (2009) Katy Perry, 103.7 million (2017) (Source: Twitter)
Average Tuition and Fees in a Private FourYear University for One Academic Year $25,739 (2009) $33,476 (2017) (Source: College Board Annual Survey)
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progressive policies
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November 6 – Proposition 215, which allows patients and their primary caregivers to possess and cultivate cannabis with a physician’s recommendation, took effect after being approved with 56 percent voter approval. Proposition 215 historically made California the first state to establish a medical cannabis program.
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1998
December 3 – Measure 67, the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, took effect and legalized medical cannabis. Alaskan voters approved Measure 8, the Alaska Medical Marijuana Act, which legalized medical cannabis. Washington voters approved Initiative 692, the Washington Medical Marijuana Initiative, which legalized medical cannabis.
November 2 – Question 2, Maine Medical Marijuana for Specific Illnesses, which legalized medical cannabis, took effect in Maine.
June 14 – Hawaii’s thenGov. Ben Cayetano signed Act 228, which effectively legalized medical cannabis in the Hawaiian Islands. November 7 – Amendment 20, the Colorado Medical Use of Marijuana, which legalized medical cannabis in Colorado, received approval by voters by a 53.53 percent vote in favor. Nevada voters approved Question 9, although it would take another 15 years before medical cannabis would become available in dispensaries.
July 1 – Vermont legislature approved Senate Bill 76, which took effect upon its passage and effectively legalized medical cannabis. November 2 – Montana voters approved I-148, The Montana Medical Marijuana Allowance Initiative, which effectively legalized medical cannabis.
January 3 – The Edward O. Hawkins and Thomas C. Slater Medical Marijuana Act was enacted by Rhode Island legislature and signed into law.
2008 2007 2006
November 5 – San Francisco voters approved Proposition P by a landslide, which called upon the state of California to stop punishing doctors who prescribed medical cannabis. Proposition P would enable the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club, the first public dispensary in the United States.
2000 1999
1996
1991
Our nation’s colorful history of medical and recreational cannabis was shaped by the pioneering activists who risked their well-being to fight for access. The United States’ earliest medical cannabis dispensaries were frequently called “buyers clubs” and were modeled after secret clubs that sold holistic herbal medicines to patients with AIDS. These would eventually evolve into elaborate medical cannabis dispensaries and recreational retail outlets. As we reflect back on the many steps forward we have made in the industry, let us not forget how far we have yet to go.
2004
a historical timeline of cannabis legalization in the U.S.
March 13 – New Mexico legislature passed Senate Bill 523, The Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act, which legalized medical cannabis.
November 1 – Michigan voters approved Proposal 1, the Michigan Medical Marihuana Initiative, which legalized medical cannabis, but didn’t set up dispensaries.
2012
November 12 – Colorado approved Amendment 64 and Washington approved Initiative 502, making both states the first to legalize recreational cannabis. Many more states would follow suit, and the cannabis movement would never be the same.
February 24 – Alaska’s recreational cannabis sales began following the passage of Measure 8. April 2 – Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed Haleigh’s Hope Act, which legalized CBD oil for epileptic patients. June 1 – Texas then-Gov. Greg Abbott signed the Texas Compassionate Use Act, which legalized CBD oil for patients with epilepsy. June 30 – Louisiana legislature legalized medical cannabis with Senate Bill 143, the Louisiana Therapeutic Marijuana Act. August 1 – The North Carolina Epilepsy Alternative Treatment Act, which legalized CBD oil for patients with epilepsy. October 1 – The first day of recreational sales began in Oregon following the passage of Measure 91, the Oregon Legalized Medical Marijuana Initiative.
2016
April 17 – Gov. Tom Wolf signed Act 16, making Pennsylvania the 24th state to legalize medical cannabis. The law went into effect May 17. June 9 – Gov. John Kasich signed a bill legalizing medical cannabis in Ohio. The law went into effect September 8. November 9 – Voters in California, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts all approved recreational bills, doubling the amount of states that allow recreational cannabis.
2017
2014
January 1 - Recreational cannabis sales historically begun in Colorado. March 26 – Utah became the first state to legalize low-THC CBD oil only for patients with epilepsy. A handful of other states would follow. May 29 – Minnesota legislature approved Medical Cannabis Therapeutic Research Act, which allowed limited forms of medical cannabis. July 7 – New York became the 23rd state to legalize medical cannabis with the Compassionate Care Act.
January 30 – Maine’s Marijuana Legalization Act took effect, allowing retail outlets to open. April 6 – Senate Bill 386 took effect in West Virginia, which legalized non-smokable forms of medical cannabis including vaporized preparations. April 26 – Indiana’s House Bill 1148 was signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb, which legalized CBD preparations for patients with epilepsy. July 1 – Nevada’s recreational cannabis sales began after the implementation of Question 2.
2018
May 13 – Delaware then-Gov. Jack Markell signed Senate Bill 17, The Delaware Medical Marijuana Act, which effectively legalized medical cannabis.
2015
2010
2011
January 18 – New Jersey then-Gov. Jon Corzine approved Senate Bill 119, the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, which legalized medical cannabis. November 2 – California voters unexpectedly failed to pass Proposition 19. If it had passed, Prop. 19 would have made California the first state to approve recreational cannabis. November 13 – Arizona voters approved Proposition 203, the Arizona Medical Marijuana Question, by a narrow margin. It marked the third time Arizona has approved medical cannabis, but the first attempts failed to take effect.
January 1 – Recreational cannabis sales are scheduled to commence in California following the passage of Proposition 64. Summer – Maine recreational sales are predicted to begin late, sometime in the summer of 2018.
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Industry Insider
Tricky Transition Hezekiah Allen is helping to cultivate the future in favor of California’s cannabis roots By R. Scott Rappold ou might think, with California emerging from decades of cannabis prohibition, that our state’s cultivators would be feeling euphoria not unlike how folks feel when consuming their product. You would be wrong. And while the state lumbers toward legalization and regulation in 2018, nobody is voicing their concerns louder than Hezekiah Allen. As executive director of the California Growers Association, he’s not trying to be a buzzkill at the legalization party, but rather to point out that the devil is in the details. That’s why he says only 12 percent of cultivators have started the process to be licensed and regulated growers. “That doesn’t mean folks don’t want to. There are pretty significant barriers to entry in the marketplace,” said Allen. “I think a lot of people would like to make the transition, but without access to banking and small business development loans, the one-time costs are pretty hard for most folks to bear.”
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Photos by Sarah Everett of A Girl Inspired
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he explained. Then came Proposition 64, which legalized recreational cannabis use for adults in the state. Allen, no stranger to the press, raised some eyebrows when he told a reporter he wouldn’t personally vote for it. In fact, he estimates half the association’s members felt likewise, that it was trying to do too much, too quickly.
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Humboldt County Roots
Allen, 34, was born with Humboldt County cannabis credibility, in an off-the-grid house among a family of longtime growers. Anyone who smoked cannabis before there were dispensaries knows that Humboldt County bud was always among the best. Along with the counties of Mendocino and Trinity, the region is known as the Emerald Triangle, where the soil and climate are ideal for cultivation, and cannabis has been a way of life since long before even medical cannabis was legal. “It’s been the family business for as long as I can remember,” said Allen. After college and some international travel, he wound up back home in 2008. Lacking any other opportunities in a depressed economy, he started growing again. But authorities were still raiding farms, his friends were still going to jail, and an alarming number of illegal grow sites on public lands were wreaking havoc on the environment. He soon decided that growers needed to step out of the shadows and organize. “We were going to have to take on more risk and expose ourselves, and if we didn’t expose ourselves and speak for ourselves, the policies would never change,” he said. In 2014, Allen sold the ranch, 46
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left the verdant green hills behind and moved to a sixthfloor apartment in Sacramento, to become a full-time advocate for the state’s growers, with the Emerald Growers Association, which later changed to the California Growers Association.
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Strict Limits
What first spurred him to become a lobbyist was a proposal by lawmakers to impose strict limits on the number of cultivation licenses. Other states had enacted similar restrictions, but California, especially the Emerald Triangle, was different than other states. “We’ve got tens of thousands of growers. To put an artificial cap on that . . . The number I heard was 30. These 30 growers get licenses and everybody else is out. The idea that there would be limits on cultivation licenses is what got me to (Sacramento). We successfully defeated that bill in 2014.” Another idea he had to battle was a proposal to have cannabis regulated by the California State Board of Pharmacy. “Our line in the sand was, ‘We are farmers. We want to be regulated like farmers. Cannabis is an agricultural product and not a pharmaceutical product,’”
Continuing Uncertainties
Still, the people spoke in the election, and state officials and the industry have been toiling ever since to come up with a framework for how it will be implemented. There are plenty of things Allen likes so far. Any household can cultivate up to six plants legally. The only limits on the total number of licenses involve two of the 20 specific categories. Large commercial licenses—the sort Allen fears will bring big businesses into the state—won’t be available for several years. Yet there are plenty of uncertainties. How high will the license fees be? What sort of limits will there be on vertical integration—for example, a grower who also wants to have a dispensary? For his 1,200 clients, all of whom are planning to seek licenses, these are key questions. And what will happen to the vast majority of growers who have not yet started the application process after the state begins issuing licenses in January 2018? All these questions are looming, but for now Allen is confident that California will create a system that won’t shut out the family farmers who have been growing since long before anyone thought legalization could occur. “I think the state is taking a pretty balanced approach to making sure folks can participate.” c
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Compassionate Care Being a cannabis caregiver requires dedication to improving lives By Devon Alexander Brown
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ome folks are simply destined to help others; Maria Frost is one of those people. For the past 15 years, she’s worked as a caregiver—assisting clients with everyday domestic tasks like housekeeping, eating and errandrunning. Only in the past two years has she found herself caring for cannabis plants, as well as her aging mother. Born in San Diego, California, Frost has happily spent her entire life on the west coast. After living in Washington for 19 years, she followed her parents to Oregon in 2005 once her mother, Kathy, was forced to leave
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Tennessee due to severe environmental allergies and progressive medical illnesses. Kathy suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. It started in her hands before affecting her knees and shoulders, and it continues to spread. She also has bursitis—inflamed bursae or fluid-filled sacs—in one of her shoulders. As a cannabis caregiver, Frost cultivates all of her crops on private grow-space and uses the harvest to manufacture salves and full extracted cannabis oil for to treat her mother’s chronic pain. Before she was designated as Kathy’s caregiver, Frost would accompany her mother to dispensaries. As a fellow medical cannabis patient, this was never an issue. But after a series of disappointing purchases, Frost decided to research how cannabis products were made and then began crafting her own. Her mother uses the products every day—without them her pain is so severe she would require prescription opioids.
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All caregivers within the state of Oregon are legally allowed up to four patients and can grow up to six mature plants per patient. Frost says she would love to increase the number of patients in her care, but the space required is too great and the fees too costly (Oregon law requires a $200 registration fee for each patient). Moreover, the extraction machines required to produce quality cannabis oils are expensive, ranging anywhere from $300 to $3,000. Frost says the legalization of recreational cannabis might be to blame for the increasing prices. “Ever since things have become recreational in most states, that’s overshined everything else, and medical is kind of disappearing,” Frost said. Frost shared that caregivers are also having a hard time maintaining patients, due to increased costs. “People can’t afford it . . . I know a lot more people that would grow for a lot more patients, but the prices that it’s costing them to give the state is not allowing them to help patients out anymore,” Frost said. “They’re having to drop their patients.” However, Frost also recognizes the benefits that have resulted from legalization. Most especially with the senior community who has been slow to embrace medical cannabis over prescription pain medicine. “When they do, I’ve noticed them say ‘oh, well this isn’t so bad,’” Frost said with a chuckle. As a caregiver, Frost says she’s seen tremendous change in the patients choosing to abandon opioids for cannabis. She has heard patients report that they can function better without dizziness and nausea, which helps promote a better appetite. But she also knows that being a cannabis caregiver—despite its medicinal benefits—isn’t for everyone. Though that doesn’t mean doubters shouldn’t weigh their options. “More people should have an open mind about people treating with cannabis,” Frost declared with enthusiasm as we ended our conversation. “I would recommend anyone thinking about it or [anyone who] has a sick family member to absolutely check into it. Keep an open mind.” c
How to Become a Cannabis Caregiver There are currently 29 states with medical cannabis programs, but each state approaches medical cannabis differently, and not all states with medical programs allow for cannabis caregivers. However, anyone able and interested in becoming a caregiver will follow a similar procedure. Be Designated: In states where caregiving is an option, the caregiver is required to be selected by the patient.
Maria Frost tends to her mother Kathy
“More people should have an open mind about people treating with cannabis.”
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Be of Legal Age: This varies by state, but a potential caregiver must, at a minimum, be at least 18 years or older. Be Approved: After a caregiver has been designated by a patient, they must submit a formal application. Potential caregivers must also be free of any prior felony convictions. Be Paid in Full: Caregivers, like patients and dispensaries, are required to pay fees for applications and cultivation sites. Treating multiple patients often requires multiple fees be paid. Since caregivers are responsible for the well-being of their patients, it is crucial to have extensive knowledge surrounding cannabis. Caregivers often cultivate a limited supply of crops for their patients, manufacture products like oils and salves, procure products from dispensaries and assist with administering medicine at the proper dosages. Many patients have debilitating medical conditions, so caregivers should be well-versed in treating a variety of illnesses.
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Valiant Values D Cannabis gives back following natural disasters
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By Addison Herron-Wheeler
uring the past few months, the nation has been swept with multiple hurricanes and wild fires, while monstrous earthquakes have devastated our neighbors to the south. The southern hemisphere was bombarded with major storms named Harvey, Irma and Maria, which all have exhausted existing natural disaster relief. While this is tragic, reactions from the community show the good in humanity during a time when much of the country is politically divided. The cannabis industry is no exception, as numerous companies have come forward with a desire to give back to those affected by hurricanes. In Denver, Colorado, one of the major hubs for the cannabis industry, many transplants and travelers felt the pain of their brothers and sisters down south or out west. The Colorado chapter of CannaBellas, a woman-run charity, partnered with dab straw company Texas Skeeter & Hognose, a Coloradobased business with Texas roots, to bring attention to the horror and devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey. They decided to head up a drive and collected supplies that will go directly to Project Care and Project Undercover through the United Way of Greater Houston.
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“Im originally from Kansas, so we always got together for tornados, putting care packages together, and helping out, whether it was school or church,” Josie Sexton, president of CannaBellas in Colorado, told CULTURE. “I think doing things like this is important, because I find the cannabis industry to be a very accepting community, and I think that giving back is important because you don’t want to lose that. The whole industry is based off of people and their needs; people have gone to jail for legalization. It’s important now to show what we can do for the greater good.” In Arizona, Zen Dispensary also collected items to help with hurricane relief in Houston. The drive took place throughout September, and the store collected supplies such as bottled water, formula, diapers, pet food and non-perishable food items. “Medical marijuana patients are among the most caring and empathetic people on this planet,” explained Tony Pagni, store owner. “We were overwhelmed by the phone calls and emails we received by community individuals and patients
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“I think doing things like this is important, because I find the cannabis industry to be a very accepting community, and I think that giving back is important because you don’t want to lose that.” wanting to help. One patient donated supplies for almost half of our U-Haul truck.” Large companies with their hands in multiple states also rushed to provide relief in the areas that needed it the most. Although Hurricane Irma was less severe than expected when it touched down in Florida, much damage was still sustained, and it was
up to entrepreneurial do-gooders to provide relief. Liberty Health Sciences, an cannabis investor and operator in multiple states, announced in September that Hurricane Irma did no damage to their facility in Alachua, Florida and that no plants or inventory items were damaged. As a result of their good fortune, the company will be donating 10 percent of its revenue for the next two months to help with hurricane relief. “As a proud member of the Florida business community, we really feel for everyone affected by Hurricane Irma,” George Scorsis, director and CEO of Liberty Health Sciences Inc., explained to CULTURE. “We wanted to offer support in a tangible way to help with hurricane relief efforts and ensure a swift recovery. We hope that providing 10 percent of our revenues for two months to the Red Cross will help our Florida neighbors in their time of need.” Southwest Cannabis Conference & Expo (SWCC), a well-known cannabis conference, also released a statement expressing the organization’s sympathy for the victims and claiming that they would help provide connections and repair networks for those who had their businesses damaged by Irma. “After hosting two events in Texas and now having just hosted our first event in Florida, we have had a chance to develop relationships that really matter. Please know, we are thinking of you,” according to SWCC. “SWCC is here to help you rebuild your connections and recover your dreams. Do not hesitate to contact SWCC to learn about the ways we can help to overcome these catastrophic natural disasters. Keep following SWCC to learn more about the new programs we are creating to assist the Texas and Florida cannabis industries and the people who make them happen.” Despite the negative stigmas that are still held throughout the country in regards to cannabis use, the cannabis community is committed to giving back and showing that they care about those affected by tragedy and natural disasters. These are only a few of the examples of how our community has stepped up to the plate in light of these devastating storms. c
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NEWS
HEALTHY LIVING
Realistic Fears
Medical science debunks spooky cannabis tales By Lanny Swerdlow, RN LNC
F
rightening Halloween tales of goblins, witches, ghosts and vampires may send shivers down the spines of children, but pale in comparison to the fear coursing through the minds of adults from the tales of savagery, debauchery and horror pedaled by the United States government over cannabis. In the 1920s most Americans had no idea that the cannabis sold at their local corner drugstore was the demon weed “marijuana” that early prohibitionists like our first “drug czar” Henry Anslinger portrayed as the “most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.” Rising from the ashes of the Bureau of Prohibition, Anslinger was determined to make his Bureau of Narcotics a powerhouse police agency of munificent proportions. Newspapers and movie newsreels gave headline treatment to his frightening tales that “Marijuana is an addictive drug, which produces in its user’s insanity, criminality, and death” and that “You smoke a joint, and you’re likely to kill your brother.” Openly skeptical of Anslinger’s claims, New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, commissioned a study in 1939 on “The Marijuana Problem in the City of New York.” Known as the LaGuardia report, the study, which was undertaken by the New York Academy of Medicine and published in 1944, found that smoking cannabis did not lead to addiction or the use of harder drugs, did not cause violent, anti-social behavior or uncontrolled sexual urges and that “The publicity concerning the catastrophic effects of marijuana smoking in New York City is unfounded.”
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The report was given little notice in the media. Anslinger’s lies about cannabis continued to flourish even after his retirement in 1962 evidenced by the Outstanding Record Citation bestowed on him by President Kennedy. Although the government no longer peddles Anslinger’s tales as the boogey-man of cannabis, it now peddles fake and faulty science. The most often cited scary health story that even some respectable medical researchers accept is that since smoking cannabis produces similar carcinogens as when tobacco is smoked, smoking cannabis causes lung cancer. Believing the connection to be there and looking forward to the publication of the definitive scholarly paper connecting cannabis to lung cancer, the National Institute on Drug Abuse provided Dr. Donald Tashkin, a renowned pulmonologist and researcher at the UCLA David Geffen Los Angeles School of Medicine, with so much money that he undertook one of the largest population based studies ever conducted on the relationship of cannabis to lung cancer. Not only did his research not find any connection between smoking cannabis and lung cancer, his paper was one of the first to present evidence that cannabis reduces the incidence of cancer. One of the groups in the study provided evidence that the people who smoke cannabis had a lower incidence of lung cancer than people who did not smoke anything at all.
Another repeated scare story is that smoking cannabis can lead to heart attacks. The government continues to peddle that tale even though the authors of the original study claiming a link to a slight increase in susceptibility to heart attacks repudiated the study in a subsequent publication writing that the reported increase “did not reach nominal statistical significance”—i.e. there was no increase. A New Zealand study that claimed children who smoke cannabis had an eight-point lower IQ score than children who had not smoked cannabis is the nexus for the government’s “it-will-make-you-stupid” tale to scare children and parents of children stupid enough to fall for this line. Except that a subsequent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported the original study was faulty as the fall in IQ is more likely correlated with socio-economic status than cannabis use. Whether it is for funding their own police agencies or to prevent a viable product from competing with the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical and alcohol industries, the “Reefer Madness” crowd for over 80 years has spread tales of mayhem, murder, heart attacks and stupidity. They have never been concerned with science, compassion or common sense. Just like the age-old Halloween stories of ghosts, gremlins and demons told to innocent and gullible children, they will continue fermenting scary tales of cannabis forewarning of tokes in the night and cannabis under the bed. c
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REVIEWs
dispensary highlight
To p-Sellin g Str ain: Sativa - Juicy Jack Indica - Midnight Cookies To p-Sellin g Co n centr ate: Terp X To p-Sellin g Edible: Cocoa Meds bars 280mg
Theraleaf Relief How and when did your dispensary start up? Theraleaf was founded when San Jose cracked down on dispensaries. We were the last one to get the license to operate legally (Title 6). We are about to start our third year under Title 6 [this month]. What’s the story behind the name of your dispensary? San Jose was denying a lot of dispensary names. We came up with Theraleaf as a combination of therapy and relief—both things are deeply important to us. What does your dispensary offer customers that they can’t find anywhere else? We have the largest selection of concentrates of anywhere in San Jose. We also take into account 60
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1014 Timothy Dr., San Jose (404) 849-3706
that the patients in San Jose have a 19.25 percent tax. This means our everyday pricing is as low as we can possibly go. How has the cannabis industry changed since you have been in the business? Where would you like to see it go? We are definitely moving in a positive direction as a whole for the industry. I think if I had to narrow it down to one thing, it’s acceptance. Too many times have I seen people suffer in their dayto-day lives. What is the one thing you want patients to know about your dispensary? We are here for you, from how we price the items to the patient interaction. People assume a lot of things about this industry. We
are here to help clear the haze or confusion. If someone wanted to open a dispensary and get their feet wet in the industry, what advice or counsel would you give them? It comes down to two pieces of advice: 1. Don’t let your lack of confidence keep you down. If you think you’re right for this industry, make it so. 2. Be willing to learn, and have an open mind. What is the most important thing you hope to accomplish while in the cannabis community? We achieve our goal every day—to be there and offer the best quality at the lowest price. As someone who was just a patient, that’s our main goal—to provide what’s needed to make lives better. c
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company highlight
POP Naturals How would you describe your company? What is your specialty? POP Naturals is a CO2 oil company that has always been dedicated to providing patients with pure medicine at an affordable cost. We specialize in making pure CO2 oil products without ever using any co-solvents in order to offer the cleanest, safest, most consistent, premiumquality CBD and THC medicine we can and at the lowest cost possible, so we can help patients have affordable access to the medicine they need. What do you offer consumers/clients that others don’t? We offer pure CO2 oil that has not gone through secondary processes with other solvents like ethanol. We offer a wide variety of strain-specific oil sticks and carts as well as sativa, indica and CBD softgels. From the beginning, which has been many years now, we have been passionate about making and sharing our HIGH CBD and SUPER CBD™ oil with every person who needs it, so we offer several strains of CBD oil sticks, carts and softgels, and we always compassionately price them as well as donate them as often as possible to patients in urgent need. How and why did your company start up? We started POP Naturals to help ailing people get affordable access to clean, consistent and lab-tested medicine. Seeing the urgent need for clean medicine and wanting to help as many people as possible get it, we felt a desire and a responsibility to start a company that would be dedicated to making clean, consistent, lab-tested, honestly and properly labeled medicine at an affordable price. With the changing landscape of medical and recreational cannabis, what do you see as the biggest challenges to your progress as a company? Any advantages? Change is always challenging, but it is inevitable, so we believe it is best to embrace it and be willing to adapt in order to keep moving forward and be successful. We have always thought of our products as medicine, so for us, a challenge we see coming and a responsibility we feel with the changing landscape is to make sure, as changes are made to product lines for the recreational market and dispensaries switch gears to retail, that the true medical products and medical focus for the real medical patients don’t get forgotten and slowly disappear. 62
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popnaturals.com
What words of advice would you offer anyone seeking to enter the world of cannabis business? Enter the world of cannabis business for the right reason. Fill an unmet need for a new product or service in the industry. Be honest, ethical and hard-working, and always remain committed to helping improve lives. You can make a good living without ever being greedy. What are the goals and vision moving forward, for your company? Where do you see your company in five years? Our goal is to continue making the best products at the best pricing that we possibly can. We plan to continue expanding to new territories, so we can share our medicine with everyone. We want to help people everywhere have access to POP Naturals products. What do you hope to accomplish in the cannabis industry? We hope to improve the lives of as many people as possible. c
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REVIEWs
For More Products Go To CultureMagazine.com
1. HYDROLOGY9 We all could all use a crash course in hydrology. The HYDROLOGY9 liquid filtration vaporizer by CLOUDIOUS9 could very well be the pinnacle of flawless design and engineering execution in a vaporizer product. A microchip-controlled temperature feature utilizes a chip that can sense when the temperature is falling and quickly adjust the temperature back to normal. Its patent-pending “Tunnel Tube” filtration system facilitates smoother, cleaner draws and lowers carcinogen intake. HYDROLOGY9’s LED light indicator is located inside the water chamber, which lights up the liquid in the container in color for a bubbly ethereal effect. Its heat distribution system is also patent pending, a feature rarely found among vaporizer products. Price: $250 MORE INFORMATION: www.cloudious9.com 2. Chameleon Color Tones Not everyone was born a Leonardo da Vinci—some of us need a little more assistance when it comes to getting creative. Look no further than your friends at Chameleon Color Tones. These revolutionary pens encompass the dying trend of ombre-everything and make it relevant again. Available in a seemingly endless variety of colors, these pens will make coloring the doodles of your adult coloring book all the more relaxing. However, we can’t promise your artwork will have the same lasting impression as “Mona Lisa” and her famous expression. PRICE: $26.99+ MORE INFOrmation: store.chameleonpens.com 64
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3. Powerleaf+ Outdoor Solar Panel Charger In 2017, our dependence on a power source to charge our phones is like a baby’s umbilical cord—it’s impossible to live without it. That’s why developers came up with this three-panel solar panel charger system that enables consumers to never run out of battery power. It comes with a USB port to charge your devices, a jump starter, external batteries and a large 4000mAh power bank. The device features ETFE film coating and laminated dimple technology on the solar panels, which increases solar absorptions by five percent. Now you can feel more secure while outdoors with the advantage of a renewable energy source. Price: $69 MORE INFORMATION: www.flexsolarcells.com 4. Spectacles Do you ever miss a memory because you didn’t have enough time to whip out your phone and record it? With Spectacles, you’ll never miss another moment. These stylish glasses were designed to record short videos that are automatically imported to Snapchat with the press of a button. Spectacles can record 10-second video “Snaps,” and each Snap can be extended twice to a 30-second video. (In Snapchat Memories, the videos will be broken up into three, 10-second Snaps.) What’s even more amazing is that Spectacles come with a case that can charge the glasses when they’re not in use. Each charge can capture about 100, 10-second videos. Time to kiss Snapchat withdrawals goodbye! PRICE: $129.99 MORE INFORMATION: www.spectacles.com
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entertainment
BOOK
Cannabis for Chronic Pain
Release Date: october 27 Available on: PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC
Dr. Rav Ivker Touchstone
As the dangers of opioids being used to treat chronic pain continue to loom, Dr. Rav Ivker serves a noble purpose with his book Cannabis for Chronic Pain. People who suffer from a variety of pain disorders, from arthritis to Crohn’s disease will find an easy-to-understand guide that will help them consider the benefits of cannabis as a non-addictive medication. Aside from a “cannabis as medicine 101” introduction, this book also goes in depth with chapters on inflammation, low back pain, migraine headaches, menstrual pain, cancer pain, emotional pain and more. Patients everywhere will find this as a useful, trusted source toward living a healthier life with cannabis. (Jacob Cannon)
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GAME
Assassin’s Creed Origins Dev. Ubisoft Montreal Pub. Ubisoft
Ubisoft has been plugging away at Assassin’s Creed games for 10 years now, and the series’ next upcoming title (and 10th installment in the series as well) is rekindling the excitement of visiting the past. Assassin’s Creed Origins (ASO) takes place in ancient Egypt during the rise of Cleopatra’s reign around 49 BCE—complete with horses and camels as the best form of transportation between areas in this open world. Check out the new combat mode that pits players against increasingly challenging waves of enemies while you wonder how to climb stealthily to the top of the local pyramids. (Nicole Potter)
MOVIE
The Big Sick MUSIC
Dir. Michael Showalter Amazon Studios
Hiss Spun
For decades now, romantic comedies have followed, more or less, the same basic formula, but thankfully, The Big Sick has come to shake things up a bit and breathe new life into the genre. Written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani and based on real events that happened to them while they were dating, the film takes viewers on a nuanced, incredibly interesting ride through a truly modern relationship that faces the challenges of everything from dating with different cultural backgrounds to dealing with aggressive illnesses. Featuring incredible performances from Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter and Ray Romano, The Big Sick is a most definite must-see. (Simon Weedn)
After just a twoyear break between albums, goth and doom rocker Chelsea Wolfe has returned with her heaviest album yet on Hiss Spun. Brimming with all of the dense, textural, sludgey soundscapes her fans have come to know and love, the new record sees Wolfe continuing the trajectory of her previous work and pushing her sound deeper into the depths of darkness. With guitar and bass tones as thick and scorching as hot tar, pounding, war drum rhythms and Wolfe’s beautiful but powerful voice gliding in over the top of it all, Hiss Spun achieves everything it sets out to accomplish. (Simon Weedn)
Chelsea Wolfe Sargent House
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strain, edible & concentrate Available at: Airfield Supply Co. in San Jose.
Green Ribbon A blue ribbon has always been a prestigious award for any extraordinary crop all across America, and now Green Ribbon available at Airfield Supply Co. is here to set the standard of what a “green ribbon” strain is all about. Upon the first glance, consumers will notice the buds are exhibiting a variety of different textures and are an olive green color with hints of apricot shaded hairs. The aromas emanating from the Green Ribbon are quintessentially agricultural—the smell of freshly jostled dirt, the scent of leaves falling, mixed gently with the fragrance of wildflowers. Very earthy and piney flavors are prevalent in this strain, and the nuggets are cured to perfection, manifesting the ideal burn. Consumers will notice the ease in focus and concentration offered by the Green Ribbon, as it is a superb choice for consumption in the morning or daytime, and quite frankly, a number one choice anytime.
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Double Platinum Cookies Screaming scents of juicy tangerine blast off of these fieryhaired frosted nuggets, waiting to consume and devour each and every consumer’s senses. The copious dusting of trichomes across the entire surface of the buds is the first sign of a potent punch packed inside. Peppered throughout the plum and pistachio-colored leaves and calyxes are dense outcroppings of spongy, marmalade-shaded hairs. Consumers will notice the relaxing and unwinding effects immediately after the first puff, enveloping patients in a state of physical and mental harmony. A perfect strain for taking the edge off after a rough day at work, many have come to appreciate and heavily respect the calmness brought about by this flower. Blum in Oakland is one of the best bets in all of the East Bay for any cannabis related needs and the best place to pick up these Double Platinum Cookies. 68
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Available at: Blum Oakland in Oakland.
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Priscilla Gorilla Imagine a giant, smelly and terrifying gorilla, but also imagine it wearing a sharp and flashy tuxedo. That’s exactly what the Priscilla Gorilla strain is all about—it’s a strong and elegant variety. The fragrance released from these buds is sweet but very rich, like a juicy pomegranate drizzled with dark chocolate. This hybrid is perfect for lighting up in the afternoon, awarding plenty of relaxing effects without being too overpowering. A great choice to bust out next time some you want to play some tunes and work on some art, this strain really gets the creative juices flowing. The organic nature of these buds is noticeable immediately—the density and texture is indicative of no added growth hormones. Consumers in Northern California know that some of the best buds in the area can be found at Buddy’s Cannabis, and that’s where you’ll find Priscilla Gorilla.
Available at: Buddy’s Cannabis in San Jose.
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HERE Available at: California Collective Care in Vallejo.
Moxie White Walker O.G. Live Resin Looking for a top of the line and terpene loaded live resin suitable for a variety of ailments? Look no further than the White Walker O.G. Live Resin by Moxie available at C.H.A.I. in Santa Cruz. A surreal and sour flavored strain, the texture of this extract sits perfectly between a saucy concentrate and a granular live resin. Along with the striking golden amber color, this is seriously an eyecatching live resin. Unlike many powerful concentrates, the White Walker O.G. is not particularly sedative, and many consumers are fond of its motivational effects. Moxie is known industry-wide for purity and quality in top-shelf extracts, assuring consumers that they are getting the best of the best with White Walker O.G. Live Resin.
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Candy Land by Madrone Farms Madrone Farms ought to be known by every cannasseur in California as a place where some of the best of the best buds come from, and every patient must try at least one strain from this fabled farm. The extraordinarily large buds yielded from this strain are all a frosty purple color sprinkled with orange fuzz and coated in sparkling crystalline powder. Consumers will notice that the smoke yielded from this strain is quite aerated, and it’s super easy on the lungs to take huge puffs of this tasty indica. The scent of the Candy Land is like a fruit salad, a medley of different sweet and succulent aromas that take over the consumer’s nose and transport them to a fantasy land. The Candy Land has a renowned ability for helping consumers deal with any sort of stress, so this is certainly a strain to be counted on when the going gets a little rough.
Available at: C.H.A.I. in Santa Cruz.
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REVIEWs
Purple Mr. Nice Cookie Available at: The Cookie Co. 415 in San Francisco.
Fresh out of the oven is a sweet hybrid offered by The Cookie Co. 415 called Purple Mr. Nice Cookie that really “takes the cake.” Lumpy and sugary purple nugs remind one of delicious homemade oatmeal raisin cookies that are waiting to be devoured. Uplifting and centering effects are noticed immediately and provide the consumer with plenty of energy and happiness. Purple Mr. Nice Cookie is extra pleasant on the senses as the aromas wafting off these delicacies is skunky yet decadent. Flavors are reminiscent of fruit filled muffins at breakfast time, each hit tasting more filling and pleasurable than the last. The Cookie Co. 415 is no stranger to any hybrid of the Girl Scout Cookies, and Purple Mr. Nice Cookie is a strain that can’t be missed.
Tarantulas
Available wherever: Ganja Gold products are carried.
These are the only tarantulas in the world that won’t paralyze consumers with fear per say, but they sure are good for tranquilizing anybody who tries to get in their way. Available in two different sizes (the one-gram Tarantula and the two-gram King Tarantula), these beasts are stuffed full of top-shelf nug and hash before being twisted up, slathered in CO2 wax and then rolled in kief. It would be hard to find another pre-roll out there with this much high quality cannabis packed densely into one place. Live resin, hash and kief are applied onto every Tarantula with precision, as there is never an uneven burn, and the thickness of the smoke is particularly dialed in with the Sour Tangie variety we sampled. Bring one of these to the next house party and instantly become the center of attention— Tarantulas by Ganja Gold are an absolute riot.
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Blue Dream Available wherever: Elicit Labs products are carried.
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Blue Dream has been circling around cannabis circles all throughout America since the early ’80s, and this extract by Elicit Labs certainly does everything to honor the integrity of this classic strain. It is comprised of a firm yet brittle, dense and cake-like substance, this is neither a crumble nor a wax but a texture all of its own. The light butterscotch coloring in this concentrate looks very similar to the kief of Blue Dream, a clear sign of extraction done right. With over 84 percent THC in this Blue Dream creation, it’s pretty clear that there is going to be a potent punch inside. Consumers will feel sedated, stressfree and without aches and pains when using this Elicit Labs masterpiece. Undoubtedly, a perfect way to showcase the Blue Dream strain is in a concentrate.
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REVIEWs
King Jack Cookies The king of flavor and fragrance, Green Door’s newest offering, the King Jack Cookies are at the top of their class in every category. Pungent and diesel-like scents are the hallmark odors of this strain, and the nifty CO2 packed containers hold these scents forever. Another added benefit of this packaging is the buds get some extra time to cure to perfection, and that is clearly noticed in the King Jack Cookies. The firm and mildly crispy texture helps the buds break down for ease in rolling and bowl packing, and the vegetable green-shaded nugs are truly eyecatching. This strain has heavy cerebral effects that will have consumers drifting off into their own world. All around a reliable strain, King Jack Cookies will not disappoint.
Available at: Green Door in San Francisco.
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HERE Available wherever: MediZen products are carried.
Sugar Free Peach Rings Sometimes there is an edible that tastes so good, so much is eaten and it’s a little too late realize the mistake that was made before its powers activate. The Sugar Free Peach Rings are no exception, so caution ought to be exercised around these dynamic treats. Each package contains 20 individual 15mg rings of tart and juicy fresh peach flavors that are ready to be enjoyed. It’s a good choice for a dessert at nighttime, consumers will feel the effects of sedation and will often fall asleep soon after consumption. MediZen does a great job of sourcing the best types of extracts used in their edibles, and the indica variety in these particular treats is perfect. Peach Rings are a good choice for this powerful medicine to be placed inside, as the flavor is truly out of this world.
Kind Caps For a very long time, patients have turned to Kind Medicine for all sorts of non-combustible cannabis related relief, and the Kind Caps are one of the company’s hallmark products. A 20:1 CBD to THC ratio, there are several options with 40mg, 20mg or 10mg of CBD in every capsule, which are the perfect amounts for all day relief. Those who are unaware of the effects of CBD, it is the non-psychoactive cannabinoid found in cannabis with numerous relieving effects such as pain management, stress relief, insomnia aid and appetite booster. These are great to have on hand when the medicinal effects of cannabis are needed and it is not the time or place for psychoactive effects of cannabis. The Kind Caps are an incredible medicine that patients everywhere should have tucked away and can easily be found at dispensaries all throughout the state. 74
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Available wherever: Kind Medicine is carried.
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REVIEWs Available wherever: Korova products are carried.
Fifty One Fifty “Unrivaled Potency”—there is no arguing that catchphrase when it comes to the Fifty One Fifty bars produced by Korova. Weighing in with a massive THC content of 500mg per bar, these are not designed for any lightweights. Best to be shared with a few friends, the euphoric and psychedelic effects typically onset with an hour or two and can last for approximately eight hours, so it’s smart to set aside an entire day if intending to consume any larger portions. A buttery and flaky texture bears the sweet chocolate and vanilla flavors paired generously with the taste of cannabis making for a delicious treat. Consumers need to exercise extreme caution when consuming the Fifty One Fifty bars, as the extremely high THC content can be more inhibiting than expected. Korova never seems to fail when it comes to making a superior cannabis-infused delicacy, cementing themselves as a champion in the edible world.
Available wherever: POP Naturals products are carried.
Birds Eye POP Cart POP Naturals has a knack for producing extracts with a uniquely potent and characteristic taste true to the strain—and the Birds Eye is no exception. Buried underneath the strong earthy and musky flavors is the classic lemon flavor, rounding out a palate of unique tastes. POP Naturals has upped its game to produce a more potent oil while still only using a strictly CO2 extraction process, capturing essential terpenes without adding any unwanted solvents, yielding the most pure and natural hash oil possible. Possessing a total THC content of 70.26 percent, cartridge lovers will be happy to see the high levels found in this CO2 extract. A rounded chrome mouthpiece is a notable feature as it is the most ergonomic option allowing for comfortability when puffing away and does match the battery and case as well. Lab-tested, pure and potent, POP Naturals continuously shows why its team can be trusted when it comes to extracts—and the Birds Eye may be the company’s all-time best yet.
Cocoa Meds Milk Crisp Bar Crispy and melty chocolate is the secret way to anybody’s heart— add in some cannabis distillate, and you’ve made a treat straight out of heaven. Milk chocolate melts inside consumers’ mouths while the rice crisps crunch creates the ultimate blend of texture. Definitely one of the harder edibles to set down, the crispy chocolate is so easy to nibble on non-stop. Each bar is divided into four sections with 70mg of THC per section, totaling 280mg per bar, which is plenty enough for individual or shared use. One nifty benefit as well is the low calorie count of this bar—there are as many calories as there are milligrams of THC in each serving. Theraleaf has always been a go-to spot for Bay Area consumers to get edibles, and the Cocoa Meds Milk Crisp Bars are cheaper there than anywhere else, making it the place to go. Available wherever: Sweet ReLeaf products are carried
Available at: Theraleaf Relief in San Jose.
Sweet ReLeaf Original Body Butter Pain is a universal experience. If it doesn’t affect you, it’s probably impacting someone you know or love. Sweet ReLeaf’s Original Body Butter is your first defense against pain! This potent medicated topical brings Help Where It HurtsTM to the affected area, but without any feelings of getting high. Sweet ReLeaf is highly-concentrated, quick absorbing and deeply penetrating to soothe chronic pain conditions, as well as inflammation, arthritis and joint pain, sports and repetitive stress injuries, as well as skin irritations like dermatitis. Sweet ReLeaf’s lush, all-organic products feel like heaven on your skin.
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Carving by Tim Pate Pumpkins and location courtesy of The Maze and The Pumpkin Patch in Sauvie Island, Oregon.Â
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By Ed Rosenthal ATTENTION: I am interrupting my regularly scheduled column— the conclusion of “Summer Experiments”—to bring you this special article on harvesting big plants—fast. Anyone who has harvested a moderately large garden knows what a challenge it can be. It usually starts off joyously, but it becomes a chore before it’s over. You can reduce picking to a fraction of the time using some of the new techniques that I have developed. The tools required cost less than an ounce, so the technology is quite affordable. Cannabis cultivation has been a hands-on process. Most of the time its farmers and gardeners have resisted mechanization. The first tools that were offered were various types of manicuring appliances, first hand trimmers such as Bonsai Scissors and then the twister type machines. These machines proved that bud cleaning could be mechanized. When I was writing my new book, Marijuana Harvest, my goal was to show readers the most efficient ways to harvest while maintaining quality. The very first part of the harvest is picking the
plant, so I decided to start there and will discuss it today. Picking is the act of separating the bud from the plant. A person might spend 15 minutes dissembling one of the 15-foot giants being grown in the northwest. Besides the time, there’s a lot of physical labor involved. Using power tools cuts both time and labor to a fraction versus cutting manually. Here are a few of them. The Mini-Hedge Trimmer The mini hedge trimmer comes with two blades. The “grass shearer” attachment is used to leaf plants prior to harvest, that is, removing the fan leaves about a week before harvest. This opens the buds to sunlight being blocked by these outer leaves. The shearer doesn’t always trim entire leaves off, but it cuts enough away to get sunlight to the ripening buds. The hedge trimmer blade can be
“The first tools that were offered were various types of manicuring appliances, first hand trimmers such as Bonsai Scissors and then the twister type machines.”
used to remove individual colas from the outside of the plant. The trimmers are light-weight, easy to direct and very accurate. They can also be used to remove most branches. The Electric Clipper The electric clipper handles branches as with diameter up to about three-quarters of an inch. They are slightly slower than using a manual clipper when you first start. However, after spending some time clipping, your hand may get tired, strained or sore. Using this rechargeable battery operated tool, you’ll still be merrily clipping along. The Hedge Trimmer Hedge trimmers make short work out of long branches. Working from the top, going down, aim the blades so it cuts the branches at the node, where they meet the stem. Cutting parallel to it, they fall into neat piles. To cut branches from bushy plants, start from below and cut upward. In a short time the plant will be ready to hang or process. Hedge trimmers usually sport 18-inch blades or longer, although a few models come with 12-inch blades. I find the shorter bladed tools more convenient to use. The whole process outlined here is explained fully in the “Picking” chapter of my book Marijuana Harvest. Watch a video demonstration of the technique at Edrosenthal.com.” c
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Grass shearer blade of mini hedge trimmer easily trims a plant quickly.
The author cutting small buds from a bushy plant using an upward stroke of a long bladed hedge trimmer.
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Colas fall onto a tarp unharmed as the hedge trimmer slices them from the plant.
Electric clipper doesn’t tire after an hour’s work. Internal battery must eventually be charged, though. Two clippers’ are better—one charges and the other attacks.
Mini-hedge trimmer clipping puny branch. It can clip a 1/2-3/4 inch diameter branch.
Mini-hedge trimmer is lightweight and ergonomic.
Copyright by Ed Rosenthal. All rights are reserved. First North American Magazine rights only are assigned to culture Magazine. No other reproduction of this material is permitted without the specific written permission of the author/copyright holder.
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Age: 32 Condition/Illness:
Chronic back injury When did you start using medical cannabis? A close friend of mine suggested I try cannabis for pain relief and inflammation associated with hockey injuries. Within two days, I was feeling better than I had in years and started to wean myself off of prescription medications. Did you try other methods or treatments before cannabis? Yes, I was prescribed a daily dose of Vicodin and Flexural, as well as daily chiropractor visits. My doctor told me to take each as needed, which you can imagine led to taking these pills every three to four hours since I was in constant pain. I gained weight, became lazy and lost an all-around desire to excel or succeed in life. What’s the most important issue or problem facing medical cannabis patients? The lack of availability for everyone who needs it and the stigma that is still attached to cannabis use are the largest barriers medical patients face. Magazines like CULTURE help to educate those who are not familiar with the healing benefits that
cannabis can provide. I will admit, when someone first suggested I use cannabis to help my sports injuries, I was skeptical and thought it was just for recreational use. But after feeling the release of chronic pain and gaining the ability to get back to day-today life without the pain and pain killer haze, I immediately joined the movement. What do you say to folks who are skeptical about cannabis as medicine? Again, education is key during any movement. I believe it’s important to know your grower. What are their motives? Why do they do what they do? What inspires them to help others? Ask many questions and do your research. There are hundreds and hundreds of cases that reflect how lives (both children and adults) have been changed because of cannabis being used as medicine. History has shown us that we don’t always know what’s best. When something new and groundbreaking presents itself, it’s important to have an open mind and take a moment to really understand the benefits it supplies. Yes, people need medicine, but we need a medicine that doesn’t come with countless side effects that are detrimental or fatal to our health. c
Are you an medical cannabis patient with a compelling story to tell? If so, we want to hear from you. Email your name, contact information and details about your experiences with medical cannabis to courage@ireadculture.com.
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Treats designed by MommyBones Custom Creations
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Menu: Centennial Cupcakes Chewy Sugar Cookies Chocolate-Covered Pretzel Sticks
What better way to commemorate CULTURE’s 100th issue than with an assortment of sweet cannabisinfused recipes to make? There is no better thing to pair with the feelings of achievement than a soft and delicious cupcake, with frosting so creamy you’ll think it was spun from silk. Not into soft and spongy cake? Go ahead and treat your taste buds to a crisp and salty pretzel, lavishly dipped in cannabis-infused chocolate—giving you the perfect mix of sweet and salty. For those who want to land somewhere in the middle, there is always the tried and true gold standard for pastries—sugar cookies. Join us in marking this joyous occasion by baking some delicious treats that will bring the celebration to your dessert table. Whatever your sweet tooth calls out for, there’s always room for it here. Plus, at a party everything is calorie-free . . . right?
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culture growing 2 tablespoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 3 tablespoons cannabutter 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup milk Pinch of salt 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder for chocolate cupcakes (optional)
2. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
6. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full with batter. Bake for 16 minutes.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
7. Once done, let the cupcakes cool off for at least 30 minutes.
4. Beat the cannabutter and sugar in a large bowl until it is a whipped at a fluffy consistency, then stir in eggs and vanilla.
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1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
8. If desired, decorate the cupcakes with piping tools and star tips, add decorative pearls, fondant medallions or edible gold leaf flakes.
Buttercream Frosting Ingredients: 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature) 5 tablespoons skim milk 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted Food coloring (optional) 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder for chocolate icing (optional)
Instructions: 1. Carefully beat in butter, confectioner’s sugar and vanilla extract until the mixture is a fluffy consistency. 2. Pour milk and continue to beat for about three more minutes. 3. For chocolate buttercream, add 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder to the mixture.
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Makes 16 cupcakes
5. Slowly add in dry ingredient mixture and milk while beating the mixture at a slow to moderate speed.
Instructions:
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Sugar Cookie Icing Ingredients: 1 cup powdered sugar 2 teaspoons milk
Chewy Sugar Cookies Makes two dozen cookies Ingredients: 1/4 cup cannabutter 3/4 cup unsalted butter
Instructions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with spray or butter. 2. Soften cannabutter and butter or let warm to room temperature.
1 cup sugar
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1 egg 2 tablespoons vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder Pinch of salt
3. Whip cannabutter, butter and sugar until fluffy and light. 4. Stir in egg and vanilla and combine while slowly adding in flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whip for about one minute
until the mixture has combined. 5. Divide dough in half. Wrap it in waxed paper. Refrigerate for two hours. 6. Sprinkle flour on cutting board. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. 7. Bake about 10-12 minutes for a chewy cookie consistency. 8. Allow 30 minutes for the cookies to cool. Add icing and additional dĂŠcor as desired.
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1. Lay out several sheets of wax paper.
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Chocolate-Covered Pretzel Sticks Makes 24 sticks Ingredients: 1 (12-ounce) package of pretzel sticks 12 ounces milk chocolate chips 1/2 cup white chocolate chips 2 tablespoons cannabutter
2. Melt chocolate chips at a medium/ low temperature in a double boiler, stirring often. Stir in cannabutter until melted. 3. Once the chocolate mixture has melted, carefully dip each rod into the mixture about 2/3 of the way down. 4. Place the dipped pretzels onto wax paper, leaving an inch
2 teaspoons light corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract Food coloring Instructions: 1. Beat powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl. 2. Stir in corn syrup and vanilla extract. 3. Add food coloring if desired.
of space between each rod. As the rods are drying, melt the white chocolate chips in a double boiler, stirring often. Dip a fork into the white chocolate mixture and drizzle the melted chocolate over the rods, using a smooth, long hand motion. 5. If desired, sprinkle chopped nuts, sprinkles or candies on dipped rods or roll them in sprinkles on a plate for a different effect. Use a decorative vase or mug to display.
Legal Disclaimer Publishers of this publication are not making any representations with respect to the safety or legality of the use of medical marijuana. The recipes listed here are for general entertainment purposes only, and are intended for use only where medical marijuana is not a violation of state law. Edibles can vary in potency while a consumers’ weight, metabolism and eating habits may affect effectiveness and safety. Ingredient management is important when cooking with cannabis for proper dosage. Please consume responsibly and check with your doctor before consumption to make sure that it is safe to do so.
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NORCAL NOW! event listings
Oakland Black Cowboy Parade & Festival 2017, Oct. 7 For over 40 years, the Oakland Black Cowboy Parade & Festival has commemorated contributions to society by the African American community. Learn more about the countless ways people of color have contributed to the Old West, as community members ride horses, march, perform and parade down the street. DeFremery Park, Oakland blackcowboyassociation. org/2017-parade.html
Wine & Spirits Top 100 Tasting, Oct. 10 Find a magnificent collection of wines and food at the 14th annual Top 100 Tasting. While the best 100 wineries will pour their finest offerings, attendees will excite their palates with delicious bites like fresh oysters and artisan cheeses from acclaimed Bay Area restaurants. City View at Metreon, San Francisco wineandspiritsmagazine. com/top100
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Alison Wonderland, Oct. 14 Alison Wonderland has been selling out tickets since the EDM “wonder from down under” surfaced recently in the United States. Catch this DJ set live for an unforgettable electronic music experience. Fox Theater Oakland, Oakland thefoxoakland.com HempCon Halloweed, Oct. 27-29 Halloweed is loaded with fall festivities that will get you in the Halloween spirit, including costume competitions, haunted houses and spooky games. This event also has a wide variety of medical cannabis assortments for those with a valid recommendation. Cow Palace, Daly City hempcon.com Famous Monsters Halloween Bash, Oct. 27-29 Appreciate the monster mash madness this Halloween at the Famous Monsters Halloween Bash. Attendees are encouraged to watch chilling, eerie cult horror movies from slasher films to those featuring screen queens, while browsing Halloween exhibits and meeting famous monsters. San Jose Convention Center, San Jose famousmonstershalloween.com
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featured event
Depeche Mode, Oct. 10
As a legendary band that helped define the sound of 1980s new wave, Depeche Mode is bringing its inspirational tunes to the Bay Area. Hear the band’s latest contributions through its newest album, Spirit, plus many of the classic fan favorites like “Enjoy the Silence” and “Personal Jesus.” ORACLE Arena, Oakland oracle.arenaoakland.com
Día de los Muertos, Oct. 29 Returning for its 22nd year, this Día de los Muertos celebration is an outdoor festival that everyone can enjoy. Originated from Latin America, Día de los Muertos invites all to appreciate the ambience of traditional Latin American
art and heritage in a vibrant atmosphere that is dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating family members and loved ones who have passed away. East 12th Ave and Avenida de la Fuente, Oakland unitycouncil.org/dia-delos-muertos/
News of the
Weird
By the Editors at Andrews McMeel
LEAD STORY— INEXPLICABLE The Adair family of Deerfield Beach, Florida, were startled awake on July 15 by the sound of something meaty crashing onto their roof. When they investigated, they found two packages of Italian pork sausage in the side yard, and three more packages still on the roof. The sausages were in bags marked with the name of a land-clearing company in Alabama. Austin Adair called the company to inquire about the wayward sausages, but “the guy had no idea what I was talking about and probably thought I was crazy,” he said, and the mystery remains unsolved. “I would love to know what really happened,” said Jennie Adair, “because it’s just so, so odd.” THE NAKED TRUTH Summers are hot in Lawrence, Kansas, and Christopher Steven Carlson, 34, of Riley took advantage of the warm temperatures on July 30 to stroll down a sidewalk in the busy college town in his birthday suit—twice. Police first arrested Carlson around 2 p.m. in downtown Lawrence for indecent exposure, after which he paid his $500 fine and was released. He caught a taxi from the Douglas County Jail back to the downtown area, where he stiffed the
driver, left his clothes in the car and resumed his in-the-buff constitutional. Local business owner Meg Heriford said: “Our customers were not alarmed. It was more like, ‘Hey, there’s a naked guy.’” Nakedness does leave one a bit vulnerable, as Travis Tingler, 32, found out on July 16 as he stood unclothed outside his girlfriend’s house in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, shouting and threatening to hurt the people inside. When police arrived, they tried and failed to get Tingler back into his pants, so they handcuffed him. As they struggled to put him in the police car, Tingler picked up a lighter off the ground, and a probe from an officer’s stun gun struck the lighter, igniting Tingler’s chest and beard hairs. An officer was able to pat the fire out. THE CONTINUING CRISIS Out of eight candidates for Detroit mayor in the Aug. 8 primary, half were convicted felons, the Detroit News reported. Three women and one man have convictions including gun crimes and assault with intent to commit murder. “Black marks on your record show you have lived a little and have overcome some challenges,” opined political consultant Greg Bowens. Michigan law allows convicted felons to vote and run for office unless they are currently incarcerated, or if their offenses are fraud-related or constitute a breach of public trust. (Update: None of the felons advanced to the general election.) CultureMagazine.com
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IRONIES In Green Bay, Wisconsin, the Spartans of Vincent T. Lombardi Middle School won’t be playing football this year because of a lack of coaches. Jim Van Abel, principal of the school named after the revered coach of the Green Bay Packers, told parents in a letter that the district had been advertising for coaching positions since April, to no avail. Student Alex Coniff said last year about 55 students played on the school’s two football teams. (Interestingly, the district was also unable to provide a representative to be interviewed for the story.) THE PERFECT NAME Weedville, Pennsylvania, more than lived up to its name on July 31 when the North Central Municipal Drug Task Force busted Tiffany R. Potts, 23, and James Michael Dunshie, 30, at their home. The pair were caught with heroin, methamphetamines, hallucinogenic mushrooms, firearms and drug paraphernalia—but, apparently, no weed. THE JOB OF THE RESEARCHER Sexing certain species of turtles used to be an invasive process, sometimes requiring surgery on the little guy or gal. But Donald McKnight, a Ph.D. student at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, has perfected a method that speeds up the process—and presumably pleases the shelled reptile. McKnight uses a vibrator to stimulate the underside of the turtle, which causes
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a male to “reveal himself,” sometimes in as little as 4 seconds. McKnight did his research in Oklahoma on threatened western chicken turtles. OOPS! A Hartford City, Indiana, man was outed to police by a tattoo on the back of his neck as he tried to use an alias on July 28. The incident started when James Jason Buck, 33, pounded on the door of a Muncie home, demanding a drink, and homeowners called the police. At first, the man said he was Robert Dill, 37, of Florida. But when an officer noticed his tattoo, “Buck,” and called him Mr. Buck, he confessed his real name and date of birth. Mr. Buck also had a plastic bag with crystal methamphetamine, and, officers discovered, a rather long rap sheet. IT’S IMPORTANT TO HAVE GOALS When federal agents turned up in May 2016 with a search warrant at the Miami home of 19-year-old Phyllistone Termine, they interrupted the teenager as he crafted a summer fraud to-do list. Items on the list included buying credit card numbers and security codes on the “dark web.” Between March 2015 and his arrest, Termine had used stolen Social Security numbers from more than 1,000 victims to collect unemployment benefits in excess of $1 million. Next to his bed were blank white credit cards with magnetic strips and equipment to encode those strips. In July, Termine was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in federal prison, where his
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organizational skills may be put to some more legal purpose. UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT In early August, Volusia (Florida) County Beach Safety officers banished 73-year-old Richard G. Basaraba of Daytona Beach from all county beaches after it was discovered he was handing out business cards to young women, reading “Sugardaddy seeking his sugarbaby.” The mother of a 16-yearold said he approached a group of girls with his cards and continued to speak with the minor girl even after she told him her age. He also produced a bra padding, telling the girls he was “looking for someone who would fill it.” He told the 16-year-old she “would be perfect.” WAIT, WHAT? Practicing physicians in Cairo, Egypt, opened a surgery-themed restaurant called D.Kebda in July, where they wear surgical scrubs and prepare their only offering, grilled beefliver sandwiches, behind a glass partition. Kebda is a popular street food in Egypt, but it can cause food poisoning if not prepared carefully. “We tried to take our career values and apply them to this other field,” said Mostafa Basiouny, one of the owners. “There is no contradiction between them; we are still practicing doctors.” GREAT EXPECTATIONS On Aug. 7, 16-year-old Jack Bergeson of Wichita, Kansas, filed papers in Topeka to run for governor
as a Democrat in the 2018 race. Bergeson, who won’t be able to vote in that election, said: “I thought, you know, let’s give the people of Kansas a chance. Let’s try something new.” The candidate says he would “radically change” health care and would support legalizing medical cannabis, but he’s conservative on gun rights. Bryan Caskey, director of elections at the Kansas secretary of state’s office, said there is no law governing the qualifications for governor. Bergeson’s running mate, 17-year-old Alexander Cline, will be 18 by the election and will get to vote. ANIMAL ANTICS A skunk got up close and personal with a 13-year-old boy on July 25 when it climbed into his bed in Hamden, Connecticut, apparently after hitchhiking into the house in a trash can. The family was able to remove the skunk without the help of the Hamden Animal Control Division, but an officer said the “smell of skunk ... emanated throughout the house.” The Scardillo Cheese factory in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, has a squirrel to blame for a fire that resulted in more than 20,000 gallons of milk being spoiled on Aug. 8. The squirrel chewed through a main power line on the outside of the building, which sparked the fire, and power could not be restored for 12 hours. Already-made cheese was kept cool with generators, but milk being readied to make cheese warmed and went bad.
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