Oct. 2020 — Northeast Leaf

# 2 | O C T . 2020

THE ENLIGHTENED VOICE

NORTHEAST

THE HEMP ISSUE!

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WEED ALL ABOUT IT

WHY MMJ SPOOKY MATTERS & STONED

and owners sarah + jennifer stenuf are helping veterans and the world!

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>> S P E C I A L S E C T I O N P . 2 8 - 4 0

LOCAL NEWS

POLICY & LAW

RECIPES

>> Northeast Leaf heads to upstate New York to learn how ananda farms

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OCT. 2020

NORTHEAST

ISSUE 02 7 EDITOR NOTE 8 NATIONAL NEWS 10 LOCAL NEWS 14 WHY MMJ MATTERS 16 CANNTHROPOLOGY 18 RED TAPE JUNGLE 21 PATIENT PROFILE 22 HIGHLY LIKELY 23 BUDTENDER Q&A 24 STRAIN OF THE MONTH 28 BRAVO BOTANICALS 32 VETERAN’S ANANDA 36 CBD PRODUCT GUIDE 40 CBD FOR DOGS 42 SPOOKY STONED 43 EDIBLE REVIEW 44 CONCENTRATE REVIEW 45 TOPICAL REVIEW 46 STONEY BALONEY

WORLD OF CANNABIS MUSEUM

ISSUU.COM/NWLEAF

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16 CANNTHROPOLOGY

LOUISE MITCHELL

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40 CBD FOR DOGS DOES YOUR BEST FRIEND NEED HELP?

in upstate new york, we tour veteran’s ananda farms ny, a resourceful hemp farm and retreat founded by jennifer and sarah stenuf with the mission to help their community.

STORY by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT/NORTHEAST LEAF | PHOTO by BRIAN JAHN @BRIANJAHNPHOTO

BRUCE WOLF

neleafmag.COM

EXPOSING POT PROPAGANDA OF YORE

42 CANNABIS RECIPES LEARN HOW TO GET SPOOKY STONED

Search the good stuff Visit weedmaps.com or download the app

ISSUE #2

GROW TOUR

neleafmag.COM

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northeast leaf HEADS TO VERMONT TO TOUR THE STUNNING HANDIWORK OF BRAVO BOTANICALS, LED BY ANDY LOUGHNEY & BEN JAMES.

oct. 2020

BRAVO BOTANICALS SPONSORS LEVI GUNZBURG, A SNOWBOARDER AND FRIEND OF THE FARM, WITH TOPICALS THAT HELP FOR PAIN AND RECOVERY.

STORY by GILBERT GJERSVIK for NORTHEAST LEAF | PHOTO by ANNA BURCH

E S TA B L I S H E D 2 0 1 0

T H E E N L I G H T E N E D VO I C E

N O RT H W E S T L E A F / O R EG O N L E A F / A L AS KA L E A F / M A RY L A N D L E A F / CA L I F O R N I A L E A F /

WES

ABOU T THE C OV E R Sarah and Jennifer Stenuf founded Veteran’s Ananda Homestead and Retreat, a 22-acre hemp farm in Fulton, New York, where volunteers can work, heal, and receive treatment and training.

PHOTO by BRIAN JAHN @brianjahnphoto for Northeast Leaf

PUBLISHER

CONTRIBUTORS

WES ABNEY | FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

LINDA ANH, FEATURES

WES@NWLEAF.COM 206-235-6721

BOBBY BLACK, FEATURES

SENIOR EDITORS MIKE GIANAKOS | DAN VINKOVETSKY

MIKEG@NELEAFMAG.COM DAN@NELEAFMAG.COM 844-4NELEAF

ANNA BURCH, PHOTOS JOSHUA BOULET, ILLUSTRATION JENNMARIE CASTIGLIONE, FEATURES EARLY, PRODUCTION MAX EARLY, REVIEWS STEVE ELLIOTT, NATIONAL NEWS

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

GILBERT GJERSVIK, FEATURES

DANIEL BERMAN | VISUALS & DESIGN

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DANIEL@BERMANPHOTOS.COM

BOBBY NUGGZ, FEATURES, PHOTOS

DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY PETE THOMPSON

PETE@NELEAFMAG.COM

JEFF PORTERFIELD, DESIGN MIKE RICKER, FEATURES MEGHAN RIDLEY, EDITING PACER STACKTRAIN, FEATURES

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BRUCE & LAURIE WOLF, RECIPES

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ABNEY

Editor’s Note Jack Herer once said, “I don’t know if hemp is going to save the world, but it’s the only thing that can.” Before his death, the activist, author and foreteller of things to come became convinced that hemp was the most important plant in our battle against climate change. Sitting here in Seattle after a week-and-a-half of wildfire smoke, in the middle of a pandemic, I have to say that my hope in hemp has been fully renewed.

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Hemp is a bioremediator plant, meaning it takes bad chemicals, unwanted nutrients and heavy metals out of the soil, while returning healthy nutrients and phytochemicals that are needed for the soil to live. Yes, soil is alive – and hemp is also the only crop that can be grown year round, as it gives back to the soil and doesn’t need to be rotated. Why does this matter? It’s the reason that hemp is planted at both Chernobyl and Fukushima, where nuclear radiation has poisoned the soil, water table and overall environment. Hemp is able to clean the soil, while also processing CO2 from the air, making THANKS FOR PICKING UP it essential to the cleanup effort at these most disastrous of places.

THE HEMP ISSUE Hemp can also make wonderful fibers for clothing and paper, is able OF THE LEAF! to be turned into compostable plastics, makes amazing building materials, and can be integrated into almost every single aspect of industrial work. Not to mention the abundance of CBD that we as humans need, which can be introduced into animal feeds via hemp-based nutrition.

The only real question I have is this: Why aren’t we turning to hemp to save the planet? One hundred years ago when Hearst and DuPont hatched a plan to demonize the plant, they set in motion a century of plastics, paper burning and environmental destruction. Today it is our duty to undo the damage and correct what we can, while we can. If we want our grandchildren and future generations to have the ability to live in harmony with the Earth, we must take action.

Climate change is real and the effects are being felt around the planet.

So, how can we help? Ask for hemp milk when you get a latte, or for hemp options at your local clothing outlet. Look for hemp products when you search online – algorithms dominate our technical world and demand leads to integration. If you have a yard, plant hemp! And look to hemp seeds for nutrition – they’re really good for you, and the planet.

A decade ago, I began the Leaf to tell the truth about Cannabis, which I believe will help save our species from the over-prescription of pharmaceuticals and a general disconnect with medicine, healing and the right to feel good. Today, I feel that the battle for our planet – and hemp – is the most important one we have. If we want to have a future free from smoke, chemicals and plastics, hemp is our only option. And what a wonderful one it is!

So please enjoy this issue, share it with friends, and look for ways to use hemp in your life as a consumer and activist. Together, we can change the world – and feel good while we do it.

-Wes Abney

OCt. 2020

NELEAFMAG.COM

We are creators of targeted, independent Cannabis journalism. Please email us to discuss advertising in the next issue of Northeast Leaf Magazine. We do not sell stories or coverage. We can offer design services and guidance on promoting your company’s medicinal, recreational, commercial or industrial Cannabis business, product or event within our magazine and on our website, neleafmag.com. Email michael@neleafmag.com for more info on supporting and advertising with us!

N O RT H E AS T L E A F

NATIONAL NEWS

politics

northwest

BIDEN-HARRIS PLEDGE FEDERAL CANNABIS DECRIMINALIZATION

WASHINGTON STATE’S MARIJUANA ODOR TASK FORCE MAY BE FIRST

C

alifornia Senator and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris has put Cannabis policy on the ticket’s agenda as an issue for the November presidential election.

Harris promised that she and former Vice President Joe Biden would “THIS IS NO TIME FOR HALFdecriminalize Cannabis.

STEPPIN’. THIS IS NO TIME FOR Harris announced the position at a virtual town hall in September.

INCREMENTALISM,” HARRIS SAID. “Under a Biden-Harris administration, we will decriminalize the use of marijuana and automatically expunge all marijuana-use convictions and end incarceration for drug use alone,” Harris said. “This is no time for half-steppin’. This is no time for incrementalism,” she added.

“We need to deal with the system and there needs to be significant change in the design of the system.”

The Biden-Harris position on Cannabis is “encouraging” and shows momentum for marijuana reform at the federal level, according to Steven Hawkins, Executive Director of the Marijuana Policy Project.

east coast

PENNSYLVANIA’S FARMERS WILL GROW BETTER POT THAN NEW JERSEY’S, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR SAYS

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ennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf called on state lawmakers to bring him a bill legalizing Cannabis and directing the revenue to disadvantaged businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. He also urged restorative justice as a priority for communities harmed by marijuana criminalization, reports the Philly Voice.

PA Lt. Gov. In September, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman took it to the next Fetterman level, stressing that delaying marijuana legalization could put the state at “THE GOVERNOR AND I THINK OUR LEGAL MARIJUANA IS a disadvantage if New Jersey gets a headstart by going first.

BETTER. WE THINK OUR FARMERS “New Jersey is going to vote to legalize marijuana, and 40 percent WOULD GROW BETTER LEGAL MARIJUANA THAN NEW JERSEY. of the population will live within a 30-minute drive or less of legal WE THINK WE SHOULD REAP THE marijuana,” Lt. Gov. Fetterman said at the Capitol. “The governor and BENEFITS, NOT NEW JERSEY.” I think our legal marijuana is better. We think our farmers would grow better legal marijuana than New Jersey. We think we should reap the benefits, not New Jersey.”

New Jersey residents will vote on a legalization referendum on November 3. Recent polls suggest the measure will pass. A push to legalize Cannabis in the New Jersey Legislature narrowly failed last year.

RACIAL DISPARITIES PERSIST IN ARRESTS DESPITE WASHINGTON, D.C. LEGALIZATION

neleafmag.COM

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early 90 percent of people arrested for Cannabis-related crimes in Washington, D.C. were Black between 2015 and 2019, although African Americans only make up 45 percent of the city’s population. Weed has been legal in D.C. for five years now. But racial bias is still quite prevalent in marijuana related arrests in the nation’s capital, according to an analysis of police records by The Washington Post.

MULTIPLE STUDIES HAVE Multiple studies have shown comparable rates of Cannabis use among SHOWN COMPARABLE RATES OF white people and Black people.

CANNABIS USE AMONG WHITE PEOPLE AND BLACK PEOPLE. D.C. voters in 2014 approved Initiative 71, a ballot measure permitting possession of up to two ounces of marijuana by adults 21 and older. The initiative also allowed adults to gift up to an ounce of weed to other adults, and for the home cultivation of up to six plants.

0

is the amount of THC in the strain Cannabis America, according to Orlando, Florida-based Bazelet Oglesby.

oct. 2020

15

grams is the amount allowed in a legalization bill currently being considered in Israel.

89

percent of Cannabis consumers said they’ve received marijuana through delivery services during the pandemic.

550

percent is the incredible growth rate of Cannabis ‘subscription boxes’ on the service Cratejoy.

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ashington State’s Marijuana Odor Task Force is believed to be among the first in the U.S. to examine an issue that has already caused lawsuits targeting the Cannabis industry. The state is seeking an outside expert, reports Marijuana Business Daily, to advise regulators on the possible impact of Cannabis odors on human health.

Other agricultural businesses, of course - prominently among them livestock and poultry farms - are well acquainted with odor issues and public complaints.

Many Washington state Cannabis OTHER AGRICULTURAL BUSINESSES ARE WELL businesses are reluctant to accept yet more ACQUAINTED WITH regulations. But with some opponents of ODOR ISSUES AND the marijuana industry weaponizing legal PUBLIC COMPLAINTS. maneuvers, companies can be tied up in costly lawsuits before they know what hit them.

The request for proposals for the project, titled “Marijuana Odors and Emissions Detection and Research,” went out August 10, according to the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board. The state is seeking a vendor that can detect and report on odors from licensed marijuana companies, and then determine whether the smells are potentially harmful to those who live or work near producers or processors.

WASHINGTON STATE WARNS CANNABIS BUSINESSES ABOUT TEXT MESSAGING SCAM

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he Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) has alerted Cannabis businesses about a text-based scam that has, over the past year, taken in a number of shop employees.

The scam, called a ‘Fire Extinguisher Scam,’ entails contacting employees through text message using spoofed phone numbers, reports Big Country News. The text appears to be SCAMMERS TYPICALLY TELL STORE EMPLOYEES coming from the store owner’s attorney or THAT A ‘GOVERNMENT even the owners themselves, according to INSPECTOR’ IS ABOUT TO COME TO THE STORE the LCB. TO VERIFY THE FIRE Scammers typically tell store employees EXTINGUISHERS ARE IN that a ‘government inspector’ is about COMPLIANCE. to come to the store to verify the fire extinguishers are in compliance. The scammer will then have the employee send photos of the extinguishers, exit signs, business licenses and other regulatory items. Through a series of text messages, the victim is asked to bring a large amount of money to a location, where it’s handed off to someone the employee does not know.

$1.2m

was the cost of an eight month licensing delay, according to Massachusetts dispensary Northeast Alternatives.

$57m

in venture capital funding was received by Cannabis companies between July 1 and mid-September.

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LOCAL NEWS

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Prohibitionists Fight Dirty Not all Vermonters are embracing the state’s progressive treatment of Cannabis.

One anti-pot group chose to demonstrate its displeasure with marijuana measures passed by the state Legislature by targeting House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D).

The Vermont chapter of the prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) recently sent out a mailer warning of the “environmental impacts of marijuana,” which apparently include invasive species, allergies, energy use and water pollution. The back of the mailer states, “Vermonters have worked hard to protect and preserve the natural beauty of our state. Cannabis grows create toxic environments for wildlife & sportsmen.”

SAM follows up this specious statement with a photo collage of dead animals.

However, even more galling, the mailer urges Vermonters to call Speaker Johnson and lists her personal cell phone number. While advocacy groups often ask voters to call elected officials to voice their displeasure with certain policies, those campaigns tend to be directed Photo by Ashutosh Sonwani to an office line. Equating pro-Cannabis legislation to killing animals and providing the personal cell number of the lawmaker in the same mailer would seem to be a recipe for harassment.

The mailer was distributed at a time when the Vermont Legislature has been particularly active in considering Cannabis measures. In addition to the bill to legalize retail sales of marijuana, state lawmakers are also considering measures that would provide automatic expungements for Cannabis convictions and expand decriminalization, increasing possession and personal cultivation limits punishable by fine.

SAM, led by Kevin Sabet, has a long history of opposing marijuana legalization and spreading misinformation about Cannabis. Since its founding in 2013, the group has spent millions of dollars opposing legalization efforts across the country.

MAINE INCHES CLOSER TO

VERMONTERS ARE READY FOR

RETAIL SALES

Vermont appears to be on its way to approving retail sales of Cannabis. A bill to legalize marijuana sales passed the state House in mid-September and the Senate is expected to approve the measure before the end of the month. However, as we go to press, it is unknown if Gov. Phil Scott (R) will sign the legislation into law.

Vermont became the first state to legalize Cannabis through the legislative process in 2018. Lawmakers approved an adult-use bill that legalized possession of up to an ounce of Cannabis and five grams of concentrates, as well as cultivation of two plants for adults 21 and older. But the law did not establish retail sales of Cannabis in Vermont.

Photo by quinet The state Legislature had been working on a bill to tax and regulate Cannabis before the coronavirus pandemic delayed their efforts. The new bill, which lawmakers hope to put on Gov. Scott’s desk by late September, is a compromise version of retail sales bills previously passed by both chambers of the Legislature.

Advocacy groups following the legislation in Vermont are unclear on what Gov. Scott will do. He has expressed concern about impaired driving and supports the use of roadside saliva tests for THC. The new bill does allow for saliva testing. However, police would be required to obtain a warrant and couldn’t test drivers roadside.

The bill also establishes a 14 percent excise tax on retail sales, which would be levied in addition to the state’s six percent sales tax, creating a 20 percent tax on retail marijuana. Medical Cannabis in Vermont would continue to be untaxed. Additionally, the bill contains a potency cap, limiting flower to 30 percent THC and concentrates to 60 percent THC. While the retail sales measure could become law any day, actual sales of Cannabis appear to still be a long way off. A timeline for the bill calls for dispensary licenses to be issued by October 1, 2022, with retail sales beginning after licenses are awarded. Furthermore, Vermont cities would have to opt in to allow marijuana sales in their jurisdiction.

RETAIL SALES

neleafmag.COM

Maine regulators have issued the state’s first recreational Cannabis licenses, a necessary step in implementing retail sales. Voters approved a plan to tax and regulate Cannabis in 2016. After a delay of nearly four years, sales are set to begin in Maine on October 9.

Officials began issuing adult-use licenses September 8. Three cultivation facilities, two retail stores and one testing lab were granted licenses on the first day by the Office of Marijuana Policy (OMP). Since then, a manufacturing facility and additional shops and grows have received licenses. The OMP will continue licensing Cannabis companies leading up to the state’s sales launch date and afterward.

Recreational Cannabis can only be purchased from shops that are licensed by the state for adult-use sales. Additionally, medical Cannabis companies are only permitted to sell marijuana to patients, as medical and recreational Cannabis cannot be sold from the same store. Medical dispensaries that wish to sell adult-use marijuana would have to switch over to Maine’s recreational pot program.

Maine was one of four states to pass adult-use Cannabis laws in 2016.

But as the other states – California, Massachusetts and Nevada – all successfully launched retail sales programs, Maine lagged behind. After waiting nearly four years, residents are eager for recreational Cannabis sales to begin this fall.

oct. 2020

STORIES by MIKE GIANAKOS @MIKEGEEZEEY

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

MORE POT PURCHASING OPTIONS IN

NEW JERSEY It’s getting easier for New Jersey residents to access medical marijuana as new dispensaries crop up across the state. New Jersey’s twelfth medical pot shop opened in Eatontown in September. It’s the third location of Garden State Dispensary, which can also be found in Union and Woodbridge.

New Jersey’s six licensed medical Cannabis companies are currently allowed to open three locations each, meaning a total of 18 dispensaries are permitted in the state.

In addition to Garden State’s new Eatontown shop, four other dispensaries are in the works, which would bring the state’s total to 16.

There are plans for TerrAscend to open in Phillipsburg, MPX NJ to set up in Atlantic City and Harmony to expand to Hoboken. Also, mega-retailer Curaleaf announced plans to open a storefront in Bordentown in early 2021.

Curaleaf currently has a shop in Bellmawr.

An adult-use measure is on the ballot in New Jersey this year, so voters will have the opportunity to legalize recreational Cannabis and implement a tax and regulate plan for the state. Legalization is expected to pass in November and many anticipate New Jersey becoming an industry hotspot. Cannabis companies from out of state are already heavily invested in New Jersey’s marijuana market.

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LOCAL NEWS

Photo by Newtown grafitti

MASSACHUSETTS DISPENSARY WORKERS

MAKE HISTORY Workers at Sira Naturals signed a Collective Bargaining Agreement with United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1445 earlier this month, making them the first pot employees in Massachusetts to officially unionize.

Employees of the dispensary, with locations in Milford, Needham and Somerville, became the first in the state to vote to unionize in November 2019. Since then, workers at Cultivate Holdings in Leicester, Mayflower Medicinals in Holliston and Curaleaf dispensary in Hanover have followed suit. However, employees at those companies have not yet signed a labor contract.

Sira employees inked a three-year deal with the union that UFCW 1445 President Fernando Lemus described as, “a mutually beneficial agreement for all employees that includes better wages, healthcare options, a retirement plan and increased workplace safety and accountability.” The contract also provides Sira’s workers with holiday pay.

Local 1445 Political and Organizing Director Gabe Camacho encourages Cannabis workers to join Sira in unionizing.

“We hope the controlling bodies over the Cannabis industry in Massachusetts will take notice and award licenses to responsible employers, like Sira, that treat their workers fairly – good employee relations can only serve to benefit operators, municipalities and entire communities of disenfranchised people,” Camacho said in a statement.

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Former NY Prison

neleaFmag.COM

Now THC Testing Lab A former prison in New York is now the site of a state-of-the-art medical Cannabis and hemp testing laboratory. The new 9,000-square-foot, $2 million Kaycha Labs opened in Warwick in September. The space was once the Mid-Orange Correctional Facility, a medium security prison that was closed by the state in 2011.

Kaycha Labs is the most advanced Cannabis testing facility in the state. The lab tests medical marijuana and hemp for potency, pesticides, biotoxins and heavy metals, offering a 48-hour turnaround time to ensure product safety. Previously, some local companies were forced to send their products out of state for testing due to the lack of facilities and the wait times at the New York State lab.

Kaycha is also well positioned to test recreational Cannabis in New York, should the state finally pass an adult-use law. New York has contemplated regulating marijuana for several years and Gov. Andrew Cuomo supports legalization.

The town of Warwick hopes to attract other hemp businesses to the area. In addition to the new lab, the former Mid-Orange Correctional Facility site already also includes Fusion CBD, Hemp Farms of NY, Honey Buzz, Farm Body and Citiva Medical LLC. It seems only fitting that a site that once imprisoned people convicted of drug crimes is now a growing hub for New York’s Cannabis and hemp industries.

OCT. 2020

Photo by Isabella Mendes

Photo by Daniel Friday Danzor

NY OKAYS DESTRUCTION OF POT CONVICTIONS

New York State expanded marijuana decriminalization last year with a new law that automatically expunges simple pot possession convictions. Now, New Yorkers can opt to have their Cannabis conviction records completely destroyed.

Expungement seals convictions from public view but, of course, the conviction along with the arrest report, court records and criminal history still exist. This new process offers those with possession convictions the opportunity to wipe out those records entirely.

New York’s expungement program has sealed pot convictions for more than 150,000 people so far. That process is automatic. Those who wish to have their records destroyed must fill out a simple one-page form online or in person.

“If you decide to apply for destruction, the arrest, prosecution and criminal history records related to your expunged marihuana conviction are destroyed, and there will be no record of your arrest or conviction for these charges. In

As Connecticut continues to contemplate legalizing Cannabis, a new study says that recreational pot would bring in as much as $952 million in tax revenue over five years of sales. The study – conducted by UConn economist Fred Carstensen and funded by pro-pot legalization group Marijuana Policy Project – found revenue generated by legalization could be as high as $48 million in the first year of retail sales and up to $223 million in the fifth year.

Like many states, Connecticut is facing significant debt caused primarily by the coronavirus pandemic. Lawmakers are at a loss on how to handle the fiscal year’s deficit of $2 billion. While the study states that pot could bring a boon of nearly a billion dollars over five years, officials point out that the program could not be operational quickly enough to mitigate the current monetary crisis.

According to the study, recreational Cannabis could create as many as 17,462 jobs in the state, in addition to the revenue generated by legalization. The study also states that Connecticut would have an advantage in legalizing while recreational Cannabis remains illegal in neighboring states New York and Rhode Island, anticipating out-of-state buyers purchasing pot in the Nutmeg State. Of course, too much Cannabis tax could cause those same customers to turn to nearby Massachusetts, where the sales tax on pot tops out at 20 percent.

Ultimately, the study concludes, “No matter which tax regime the state chooses and no matter how it spends the new revenues, legalization will generate significant job creation, strong growth in GDP, and hundreds of millions in new tax revenues … In the face of the challenge of recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, legalization offers a path to a stronger recovery.”

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont supports legalizing marijuana and legislators were considering a tax and regulate measure earlier this year before Covid-related government shutdowns caused the bill to stall for the time being.

other words, it will be like it never happened,” the court’s website explains.

An individual’s expunged record can only officially be viewed if they’re applying for a handgun permit or a job as a law enforcement officer.

Nonetheless, for some, there’s peace of mind in having their record destroyed.

For others, the opportunity to completely erase a Cannabis conviction can be a liberating experience.

Lawmakers in New York have made a number of Cannabis concessions under Gov. Andrew Cuomo, including increased decriminalization, automatic expungement and protections for tenants who are medical marijuana patients.

However, the state’s medical Cannabis law leaves much to be desired and, so far, New York has been unable to legalize marijuana. Nearby states Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont all boast adult-use laws, with New Jersey expected to join their ranks later this year.

STUDY: CANNABIS CASH CONSIDERABLE FOR

CONNECTICUT

Photo by Michael Fischer STORIES by MIKE GIANAKOS @MIKEGEEZEEY

policy & law

As America wrestles with a divided political reality, medical Cannabis usage and patients have become an important centrist cause that starts with a plant most Americans have never seen.

Why Medical Cannabis Matters!

ADOBE/MYSTERYSHOT

neleafmag.COM

14

oct. 2020

I grew up in the DARE program days, back when "marijuhana" was considered as dangerous as heroin and drug advocates came to sing songs about the dangers of getting high at schools.

While DARE has since removed Cannabis from its list of dangerous drugs, it didn't stop former AG Jeff Sessions from calling Cannabis a "true hard drug" several years ago, or for our criminal justice system to continue their unjust war.

a

merica has a 100 plus year legacy of arresting people for non-violent drug offenses that will one day be a stain in our history books.

We lock humans in for-profit cages for growing or smoking a harmless plant, and treat those addicted to drugs (illegal or prescribed) as criminals to be hidden away from society. Even in this new age of enlightenment surrounding drug policy, people are still going to jail for weed, with an arrest every 48 seconds.

While some states are collecting hundreds of millions in tax revenue from the sale of ‘legal’ Cannabis, others are stealing freedom for as little as an eighth of pot.

WHEN I BEGAN as an activist for Cannabis in 2009, legalization was considered a pipe dream and medical Cannabis a thinly veiled attempt to legalize drugs. I was arrested for less than one gram of Cannabis while in college, having dodged the law with much larger amounts previously, and nearly lost a scholarship and my freedom. Over the last decade, I have seen many lose freedom or their children for something we know to be beneficial for medicine and recreation.

So when I ask myself why medical Cannabis matters, it starts with those in jail. Nobody deserves to be in jail for a plant.

That fundamental injustice aside, the most marginalized group is those needing Cannabis as medicine, our patients. The right for medical Cannabis was won by sick and dying cancer and AIDS patients who knew their message meant more than the risk, and that they wouldn’t be alive long enough to experience prison.

It literally took the sick and dying raising their average medicine cabinet and help reconnect us voices for the plant to become accepted. to nature through the act of gardening. Growing Today, medical Cannabis covers a broad range your own medicine is an extremely satisfying and of social issues that touch every household in human thing to do. I hope to see the plant freed the country. From the essential human right to for the entire planet to love and heal with. cultivate a medicinal plant, to the criminalization As we head towards a new future of medical and stealing of freedom for generations, to the and recreational Cannabis use, it is important racist past and present of how our drug laws are to remember our roots, those who suffered, and enforced, pot has a big impact. As the joke goes to share the truth about the plant and medicine - the most dangerous thing about Cannabis is that benefits so many. Whether you are new to being caught with it - and very few consumers can Cannabis or a lifelong smoker, share your voice say that they or a friend haven’t been arrested or and experiences with the plant. That’s how we will stigmatized for Cannabis use. And even as medimake change nationally, in our communities, and cal Cannabis use is being debated and overreguin the lives that we touch every day. And it’s what lated, corporations and big pharma are lining up we strive to do with Leaf magazines. with billions of dollars to invest in and profit from Each month we look forward to bringing the the plant. truth about medical Cannabis and stories that are So, why does medical Cannabis matter? It from local communities. Since starting Northwest matters because it helps. Helps cancer patients Leaf in 2010, we have worked to highlight the battle chemotherapy, AIDS patients to eat, and companies and products that are changing the my lower back pain. It helps children with Autism way our plant is perceived. I am honored to be and rare cancers, soccer moms with endometribringing the Leaf to the Northeast, where we plan osis or anxiety, the elderly to to continue our legatreat pain without opiates, for cy of quality journalVeterans to heal from PTSD or ism surrounding the EVEN AS MEDICAL traumatic brain injuries, and uses of Cannabis.

CANNABIS USE IS many more conditions. I have I hope that you seen our plant help and heal enjoy our efforts to BEING DEBATED AND countless lives - and it can be bring you authentic OVERREGULATED, grown in your backyard or content about the CORPORATIONS AND closet. That’s why Cannabis plant we all thought BIG PHARMA ARE LINING UP means so much. we knew, sharing WITH BILLIONS OF DOLLARS To say it’s just a plant enlightenment one takes away from the amazing magazine at a time.

TO INVEST IN AND PROFIT medical potential of cannaThank you for FROM THE PLANT. binoids and I look forward to reading the Leaf and science catching up from a I hope that you share century of prohibition. But to us with friends and me, the greatest potential lies family! Keep an eye in a small personal garden and freedom from a out for our new issues each month as we learn for-profit healthcare system. Pot isn’t the answer together how medicinal Cannabis can help our for every illness, but it can easily replace half the country, species and planet.

STORY b y LEAF NATION FOUNDER WES ABNEY @BEARDEDLORAX

15

Cannthropology

WORLD OF CANNABIS PRESENTS

ASSASSINS OF TRUTH Profiling a publication 16

with a prominent piece of prohibitionist propaganda

neleafmag.COM

MUCKRAKER MAGAZINES

In 1906, a publication that had undergone numerous name changes over the previous three decades rebranded itself one final time as The American Magazine. Originally distributed

by Phillips Publishing, it had up until then been known for its “muckraking” writers—a term used to describe investigative journalists who exposed corruption. After being acquired by Crowell Publishing in 1911, however, the magazine began featuring less provocative content in an effort to court a wider readership—or so they said.

Some, however, saw this not as a harmless shift in editorial focus, but as a deliberate attempt by corporate interests to silence journalists who were speaking truth to power.

“The right of free speech in America is in jeopardy,” warned noted muckraker Cleveland Moffett in a New York Times article. “They are trying to muzzle the magazines. Several magazines…have come under the control of interests, and in each of them the muckraking features will cease.”

YELLOW JOURNALISM

As it turned out, Mr. Moffatt’s fears were well-founded; over the next two decades, many

oct. 2020

publications that were gobbled up by media conglomerates would adopt a new reporting style anathema to the muckrakers. Dubbed “yellow journalism” (what we would today call “tabloid journalism” or “fake news”), it relied on sensationalism, fear-mongering and sentimentality, rather than investigative acumen, rationality and hard facts. Undoubtedly, the most egregious perpetrator of this unsavory editorial practice was media magnate William Randolph Hearst.

Hearst hired a writer named Winifred Bonfils, who under the pen name Annie Laurie, wrote a series of columns for his news syndicate railing against the evils of narcotics—eventually turning her typewriter against weed as well. Eschewing the familiar terms “hemp” and “cannabis,” which had been used by Western culture for centuries, these articles rebranded the widely used plant as some dangerous new drug called “marihuana”—the foreign-sounding name used by the Indigenous peoples of Mexico, who at the time were pouring across the border at an alarming rate.

Through the 1920s, Hearst published a flood of Laurie’s yellow journalism articles about these murderous, marijuana smoking Mexicans throughout the thirty-odd newspapers and mag-

azines in his print empire, which were read by nearly a quarter of all Americans.

Many amatuer historians, including legendary activist Jack Herer, have speculated that Hearst’s motives for condemning cannabis went beyond mere racism—that he and Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon, among others, saw the hemp industry as a threat to their financial holdings in the timber, oil and chemical industries. But upon serious research, this argument doesn’t seem to hold water factually.

Regardless of the reasoning behind it, however, it was this procession of propaganda—later appropriated and amplified by one notorious anti-drug zealot—that would eventually lead to America’s criminalization of cannabis.

That zealot was Harry Jacob Anslinger.

ANSLINGER ATTACKS

A former inspector and corporate spin doctor for the Pennsylvania Railroad, Harry J. Anslinger landed a job as an assistant commissioner in the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Prohibition— thanks in part to the convenient fact that Secretary Mellon happened to be his wife’s uncle.

When the Bureau was transferred to the Justice Department in 1930, Uncle Andrew appointed

Anslinger as Commissioner of the newly formed Federal Bureau of Narcotics (the precursor to today’s DEA)— making him America’s first defacto drug czar. Initially, Anslinger seemed indifferent to cannabis, reportedly saying in regard to the notion that cannabis made people violent, “There is probably no more absurd fallacy.” So what changed his mind? The end of Prohibition and the dawn of the Depression.

The Depression forced significant budget cuts to a number of law enforcement agencies, and with the Volstead Act repealed, they’d need a new substance to demonize if they wanted to maintain their power. With his agency’s funding in jeopardy and sensastionalized reports of cannabis use among Mexicans and “negro” jazz musicians on the rise, the racist and opportunistic Anslinger decided to shift gears and launch an all-out assault on the herb.

With no scientific evidence to support his new crusade against cannabis, the only way to further his agenda was by perpetuating past propaganda to stoke white America’s xenophobia and economic anxiety. Anslinger culled around 200 articles, accusations, and anecdotes about the exaggerated dangers of cannabis use from Hearst’s papers and crime reports to compile what he called his “Gore Files,” then used them to crank out his own steady flow of press releases and articles designed to stir up hysteria among the populace and bolster his efforts to get Congress to outlaw the herb.

ASSASSIN OF YOUTH

Perhaps the most infamous and influential of these was a piece Anslinger co-wrote with crime author Courtney Ryley Cooper entitled “Marijuana—Assassin of Youth.”

The article lays out his version of the drug’s history and its evil effects on the nation’s youth, illustrated by a series of sordid stories about various “marijuana addicts”— some of whom allegedly suffered from hallucinations, mania and selective amnesia—who’d engaged in acts of violence, theft, sexual depravity, and even murder while “on the weed.” These include a 17-year-old boy killing a police officer, a girl who jumped out of a window after smoking reefers at a party, and a Florida teen named Victor Licata who hacked up his entire family with an ax, all supposedly while high on the “muggles.” In what periodical was this flagitious feature published? In the July 1937 issue of…you guessed it...The American Magazine. (An abridged version was reprinted around seven months later in Reader’s Digest, and a Reefer Madness-style exploitation film bearing the same name soon followed.)

Researchers later concluded that nearly all of Anslinger’s “Gore Files” crime attributions to marijuana usage were either false or misleading, including that of Licata who had been diagnosed as mentally ill from an early age. Nevertheless, Anslinger’s scare tactics worked like a charm: The legislation he’d drafted was submitted to Congress in April, signed into law on August 2, and went into effect as the Marijuana Tax Act on October 1, 1937. Though it didn’t technically outlaw cannabis, it allowed those possessing or selling it without the proper paperwork to be arrested and jailed. That law remained in effect for three decades—until it was challenged by counterculture icon Timothy Leary and overturned as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1969. Unfortunately, it was replaced within a year by Nixon’s far stricter Controlled Dangerous Substances Act—further codifying Anslinger’s irrational cannabis crusade into law and kicking off the modern-day War on Drugs.

Modern-day muckrakers still struggle against the scourge of fake news serving the agendas of politicians and media moguls.

“Marijuana is the most violencecausing drug in the history of mankind.”

Harry J. Anslinger

17

EPILOGUE

Anslinger died in 1975 and was buried at Presbyterian Cemetery in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania—not far from his hometown of Altoona (just in case you’d like to pee your respects). The American Magazine published its final issue in August 1956, but sadly the practice of yellow journalism remains alive and well. Today, over 80 years after the publishing of “Marijuana—Assassins of Youth,” we modern-day muckrakers still struggle against the scourge of fake news that serves the agendas of politicians and media moguls, and continue to strive to counteract the malevolent misinformation about marijuana that Hearst and Anslinger first unleashed into our nation’s zeitgeist.

» For a deeper dive on this topic, listen to Episode #2 of the

Cannthropology potcast at worldofcannabis.museum/podcast, or find it available on all podcast platforms.

This content was originally published on worldofcannabis.museum and is reprinted with permission.

STORY by BOBBY BLACK @WORLDOFCANNABIS.MUSEUM for LEAF NATION

the hemp issue neleafmag.COM

18

RED TAPE JUNGLE Uncertainty and confusion reign for CBD industry amid DEA’s new interim rules STORY by TOM BOWERS @PROPAGATECONSULTANTS for LEAF NATION

oct. 2020

The pathway to cannabinoid legalization weaves through a thick jungle of red tape.

Advocates hack their way through the tangles using scientific rigor and popular support, but with every swing of the machete, more vines cascade from the stifling canopy of bureaucracy.

The legal cannabinoid industry took a huge leap forward with the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized the sale of hemp-derived cannabinoid products as long as they were manufactured from plant material that contained less than 0.3% delta-9 THC by dry weight.

As the summer of 2020 came to a close, the DEA released an Interim Final Rule (IFR) regarding cannabinoids that have people questioning whether the drug enforcement arm of the government is opening a backdoor that will allow for the prosecution of the CBD and nascent delta-8 THC industries.

“If they go ahead with this, we’ll be back to the, ‘It’s technically illegal, but we just hope you won’t enforce it.’ ” T E D B E R N H A R D , C U LT I VA L AW O R E G O N O F F I C E M A NAG I N G D I R E C T O R

M I T I G AT I N G T H C O R M I T I G AT I N G R I S K

When it comes to legal products, the Farm Bill clearly outlined what constitutes federally legal plant material. According to the text, hemp flower with less than 0.3% delta-9 THC is considered legal.

The problem with the bill, and the DEA’s new IFR, is that it muddies the water regarding extraction. Just ask Ted Bernhard, Managing Director of the Oregon office of Cultiva Law, which operates Cannabis industry-specific law practices in Washington, Oregon and California.

“During extraction and processing, they may end up over the 0.3%, even if their end product is compliant and less than the 0.3%,” Bernhard said during a phone call in September.

Think about that for a moment. The way the IFR and Farm Bill are written - even if the flower and the end product are both compliant - during the extraction process, the material could enter the realm of noncompliance. That’s because the extraction process concentrates the compounds, which then undergo dilution later in the manufacturing process.

“They technically would be in possession of illegal marijuana at that point,” Bernhard said, referring to the extraction stage.

As an exercise, consider if it were alcohol.

Many states have rules regarding alcohol content for end consumers. During distillation, alcohol content can reach concentrations of 90% before being diluted down. In its 90% stage, it would be illegal to sell in many states - hence the dilution. Imagine a governmental enforcement agency putting rules in place that would allow them to bust down the doors in the middle of the distillation process, before the alcohol is diluted into vodka.

According to Bernhard and many others familiar with the situation, the DEA’s proposed

rule has the same effect for the hemp industry.

The IFR effectively makes it possible for the DEA to bust into an extraction facility during this midpoint, and charge operators with possession of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act. Though the IFR isn’t entirely off-brand for the DEA, lawyers, policy geeks and industry business owners are gobsmacked by the vagueness and potential for harm it introduces to the hemp industry.

“What actual harm is it if during the processing process, it rises above that percentage? It’s not an environmental hazard,” Bernhard said. As long as the end product is compliant, he argues, it should not matter.

D E LTA F O R C E

In its current state, the IFR could cause damage to the huge CBD industry, as well as the emerging delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-8 THC) market - which in the years since the Farm Bill - has been gaining popularity with entrepreneurs and patients in the therapeutics community.

According to the National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine, delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is an analogue of THC with “antiemetic, anxiolytic, appetite-stimulating, analgesic, and neuroprotective properties,” and offers those potential benefits with a significantly lower psychotropic potency than delta-9 THC, which is the compound responsible for the classic high most people associate with traditional Cannabis consumption.

Studies have shown a significantly positive impact on the side effects of chemotherapy when delta-8 THC is administered, with the potential beneficial uses of the cannabinoid generating a significant and growing demand in the market.

The Farm Bill and the IFR create two problems for the delta-8 industry. First, as currently written,

the rules prohibit the manufacture and sale of “synthetically derived” THC. Bernhard says the definition of “synthetically derived” is too vague, leaving it open to interpretation, and thus exposing manufacturers to risk of prosecution.

Since DEA rules prohibit the creation and distribution of synthetic cannabinoids, as well as the extraction of cannabinoids from any plants with more than .3% delta-9 THC by dry weight, the only avenue for those who wish to produce and market delta-8 is from hemp. But then manufacturers run the risk of temporarily being in the possession of material with greater than 0.3% delta-9 THC during the extraction process, running into the aforementioned issues.

Unless the language is clarified in order to allow for the extraction process, involvement in both the CBD and the delta-8 markets will be rife with risk.

“It could cause people not to stay in the business, or decrease the supply,” Bernhard said.

“I’m not seeing anyone who’s getting out of the business because of this, but I think the hope is to get some greater clarification.”

The way Bernhard sees it, unless the rules are changed, the entire hemp and Cannabis industries will take a huge step backward.

“If they go ahead with this, we’ll be back to the, ‘It’s technically illegal, but we just hope you won’t enforce it,’” he said. “That’s not good for raising capital, that’s not good for planning.”

For those who want to help influence the future, it’s not too late. The DEA is currently accepting public comments on the IFR until October 20.

For the time being, Bernhard remains optimistic for the industry and hasn’t seen much panic at this point.

“As of now, people are staying level-headed,” he said. “Pushing for change and submitting their comments.”

19

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New Hampshire Cannabis Activist | Patient | Humanitarian Rick Naya’s Cannabis experiences began early in the 1970s in Florida, where he became known for creating the infamous, and ultimately quite popular, Gainesville Green hybrid Cannabis strain. During those early years, the plant was a very hidden part of society, as arrest and imprisonment were likely if caught.

PATIENT of the month

Rick Naya

21

neleafmag.COM

Fast forward 30 years and Rick injured his back, causing severe pain and numbing. He was prescribed pharmaceuticals that made him extremely ill and in uncontrollable pain, even with narcotics. “I knew that Cannabis was a major anti-inflammatory,” he tells Northeast Leaf. “And realized that when I used Cannabis, my pains and swelling went down without all of the side effects from opiates and poisonous pharmacopeia.”

He made a choice, and with his doctors’ R i c k Nay a support, he began to champion Cannabis b e l i eve s tha t at the State level - sharing his expertise and so m e d ay ve ry knowledge with the State of New Hampshire’s so o n, Ne w Medical Cannabis Board and beyond.

H a m p shi re “Knowing that Cannabis is federally illegal, wi l l l i ve up to and that the State of New Hampshire had already seen many bills issued that had the sta te m o tto : traction - only to be vetoed by governors - I ‘ Li ve Fre e knew I had to do something. Even with the o r Di e . ’ opiate epidemic in full swing, it took years of educating legislators with data and science, unbiased by federal manipulation, to reach the needed majority of the House and Senate to get the Governor to finally listen to citizens and other elected officials.”

Rick Naya believes that some day very soon, New Hampshire will live up to the state motto - “Live Free or Die” - and he will not stop until systemic racism has ceased and all citizens have their rights heard and upheld.

His message to other patients: “It’s time for all of us to join in and stop the madness in New Hampshire and allow the peoples’ voices to be heard, so that we can all experience Cannabis liberty once and for all!”

oct. 2020

STORY by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT/NORTHEAST LEAF

highly likely

22

Highly Likely highlights Cannabis pioneers who paved the way to greater herbal acceptance.

CLIFF ROBINSON CLIFF ROBINSON WAS ONE OF THE MANY GREAT ‘CHARACTERS’ TO PLAY IN THE NBA’S GO-GO 1990S AND INTO THE 2000S. HOWEVER, A DEEPER DIG INTO HIS LIFE REVEALS A MAN WHO WAS FAR MORE THAN JUST AN ATHLETE.

neleafmag.COM

R

obinson played for almost a decade for About that stint with the Blazers; Robinson the Portland Trail Blazers, and during was part of the team that was - to fans, at least these years with the team from 1989- affectionately referred to as ‘The Jail Blazers.’

1997, he made the playoffs almost every year.

There he earned the name ‘Uncle Spliffy’ (a During his time in the league, he scored derivation of his moniker ‘Uncle Cliffy’ better more points than some of the NBA’s greatest known to Blazers fans) from NBA writer Peter players, including Magic Vecesy, following numerous Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and suspensions due to Cannabis“I think Scottie Pippen, with Robinson related incidents while in the Cannabis will currently ranked 54th on the NBA. eventually be NBA’s all-time scoring list. He But there was nothing funny recognized was an excellent defensive about this label - in truth, player as well - making the many Blazers’ players were as a help NBA’s “All-Defensive Team” subject to racial profiling for athletes, twice during his career. by the Portland Police rather than a But while basketball was Department, most of the time hinderance.” something that Robinson was for Cannabis. supremely gifted at playing, it Unfortunately, due to this Cliff Robinson did not entirely define him as Robinson became a target for a person. law enforcement, resulting in a Robinson was a family man and he loved SWAT raid of his home.

Portland, so much so that he began moving his Post-NBA, Robinson became outspoken family and friends here shortly after starting his on his love for all things Cannabis. Once stint with the Trail Blazers in the late-1980s. legalization took hold, Robinson signed on as

oct. 2020

an ambassador for Pistil Point in the infancy of Oregon’s legal Cannabis industry.

Robinson became a fixture at Cannabis events in Portland, and spoke about how beneficial the herb can be medically especially for athletes. “[I want] to knock down the myth that athletes and Cannabis don’t mix,” Robinson told the Oregonian in 2017.

“I played 18 years in the NBA and I used Cannabis on and off along the way, and I didn’t have a problem. The more we continue to stay out in front of it in a positive way and continue to push being responsible with it, I think Cannabis will eventually be recognized as a help for athletes, rather than a hinderance.”

Robinson will always be remembered for his friendly personality and warm smile - and by many accounts, for his wonderful singing voice.

While Robinson’s passing away in late August 2020 after a long battle with lymphoma is a big loss for NBA fans and Blazers’ faithful, for the Cannabis industry, we lost a true leader.

By PACER STACKTRAIN for LEAF NATION

Adriana began her Cannabis career in her hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada. It was there at a small medical dispensary that she developed a passion for medical Cannabis policy, patient education and product knowledge. During this time, she also worked on educating the community with a Cannabis 101 presentation series and won “Medicine Woman of the Year 2016” during a local industry award show. She now works at FP Wellness in Manhattan, a small, boutique-style dispensary that focuses on patient care. In her spare time she has been known to take work home with her, where product testing and painting go hand-in-hand. @a_dri15

NORTHEAST LEAF

Budtender of the Month

BUDTENDER OF THE MONTH

Adriana Myles

23

INTERVIEW by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT | PHOTO by @LIVEGOLDENVISIONS

FP WELLNESS 2 E 30TH ST, NEW YORK, NY (212) 689-8676 FPWELLNESSNY.COM @DISPENSARYNYC

WHAT EFFECT HAS USING CANNABIS HAD ON YOUR LIFE?

Cannabis has greatly improved my quality of life all around. I use it to alleviate my insomnia, treat my endometriosis symptoms and decrease my anxiety. Without it, I would be a different person.

WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES THAT MAKE FOR A GOOD BUDTENDER?

WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING RIGHT NOW?

I always keep a sativa handy, and right now that’s mostly Jack Herer.

I also tend to experiment using different dosage forms, such as capsules and powders.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WOULD CHANGE ABOUT THE INDUSTRY?

I wish it was easier to convince more people to increase CBD with their THC. The entourage effect is awesome - just try it!

I love that we are people focused and not just patient focused. When we were vandalized during the protest, FP Wellness and our parent company GTI responded to the vandalism with compassion, understanding and solidarity. I am reassured that I am in good hands and it motivates me to pass that feeling of reassurance on to our patients.

“I LOVE THAT WE ARE PEOPLE FOCUSED AND NOT JUST PATIENT FOCUSED.”

WHERE DO YOU GO FOR NEW CANNABIS KNOWLEDGE?

I love to keep up with industry as well as policy, so I look at everything from Leafly and Weedmaps to MJ BIZ and the MBCA newsletter (Minority Business Cannabis Association). Good old fashioned Google works too!

IF YOU COULD BLAZE WITH ANY FIGURE FROM HISTORY, WHO WOULD THAT BE?

That’s a hard one, I have so many. My number one would have to be the artist Jean Michel Basquiat. The artist in me would love to blaze and pick his brain!

> > W h o ’ s y o u r f a v o r i t e b u d t e n d e r ? Te l l u s w h y ! E m a i l n o m i n a t i o n s t o d a n @ n e l e a f m a g . c o m

neleafmag.COM

You need a combination of compassion, product knowledge and experience.

Patients - especially those new to Cannabis - have a lot of questions, and those three components work together to give one great consultation.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BUDTENDING WITH FP WELLNESS?

neleafmag.COM

STRAIN OF THE MONTH

NORTHEAST

24

WEDDING

OCT. 2020

MORE NOVICE CANNABIS CONSUMERS SHOULD DEFINITELY HEED CAUTION WHEN GOING FOR A PIECE OF THIS CAKE!

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Winner of the Best Hybrid of 2018 at the SoCal High Times Medical Cannabis Cup, Wedding Cake was named by L.A.-based Jungle Boys because of its vanilla frosting aroma and vibrant, sparkly trichomes. With limonene, caryophyllene and myrcene being the dominant terpenes, a sour earthy scent was initially present, followed by a sweet and almost tangy aroma after cracking open the dense, frosty buds.

This strain is known for its high THC content, which is why it’s best reserved for experienced smokers. The more novice Cannabis consumer should definitely heed caution when going for a piece of this cake! This particular phenotype tested at over 27% THC, making it easy to see why it’s a favorite on the menu for the team at insa in East Hampton, Massachusetts.

The body effects came on about 15 minutes after inhalation and delivered waves of warmth to muscles and joints, followed by a sense of euphoric, physical comfort for well into an hour after.

The smoke itself was a little rough, but still extremely pleasant leaving my head clear and almost hyper-focused.

While this may be an indica-dominant hybrid, it won’t likely leave you couch-locked or sleepy. On the contrary, I found this strain to be motivational and mentally incredibly uplifting! Mind you, if consumed in larger amounts, it will have your body feeling very relaxed. Perfect for a rainy day or a late afternoon sesh, Wedding Cake will leave you with an overall feeling of bliss and the ability to stay focused.

CAKE

i nsa

122 Pleasant St Suite 144, Easthampton, MA (413) 206-6339 myinsa.com @insa.massachusetts

STORY & PHOTOS by JENNMARIE CASTIGLIONE @JENNMARIE_76 for NORTHEAST LEAF

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the hemp issue

BRAVO BO

neleafmag.COM

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>> Co-owners Ben James, above, and Andy Loughney, right.

oct. 2020

OTANICALS GUILFORD, VT

Andy Loughney is always looking for signs.

It might be the monarch butterfly that landed on his lips or the Great Blue Heron that flew low across their lush Vermont hemp field, his iPhone fortuitously handy to capture the moment and post to Instagram.

29

To Andy, co-owner of Bravo Botanicals, the butterfly was a sign of personal, transformational energy. And the heron, a harbinger for a bountiful harvest season.

It also reflects his connection both to the spiritual and modern ways of serving the plant.

In return, the plant has served him and co-owner Ben James well. An online ranking of CBD oils put Bravo Botanical’s offerings at number one out of over 2,000 products from over 600 companies - but more on that later.

I

<< The aroma of their harvest lot - set on a breezy hillside in a small Vermont valley was intoxicating.

STORY by GILBERT GJERSVIK for NORTHEAST LEAF | PHOTOS by ANNA BURCH @ANNABURCHPHOTO

neleafmag.COM

had done my research on the company and as I drove up from the city early one Saturday morning in September, I wasn’t quite sure what I was visiting. Was it a farm, an entrepreneurial venture, a contributor to environmental happiness? Maybe a temple or church honoring Mother Nature and the Gods of Cannabis?

Or maybe all of the above? Here, I too got in the spirit of looking for signs.

I see a wild turkey out the corner of my eye flying heavily through trees beside the Merritt Parkway. That bird, as I discovered on Google, is a sign of thanksgiving and abundance! Then a real sign on ‘91 - Massachusetts Welcomes You - upon crossing the border into a state where Cannabis in all forms is legal to its citizens. I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but the air just feels freer in Massachusetts!

But I was continuing to Vermont, where the previous night the Vermont House of Representatives passed S. 234, a bill that goes further to ease Cannabis laws and restrictions, and expunges records for lower level Cannabis offenses. It wasn’t yet law, but that was another good sign! / Continues pg. 30 /

the hemp issue

c o nt i n ue d f ro m p g . 2 9

30

BRAVO BOTANICALS

neleafmag.COM

B

ravo Botanicals is only 15 minutes or so across the border from Massachusetts in Guilford, and as I entered the state I noticed some of the trees starting to turn shades of yellow and orange, signaling Autumn’s return.

It was harvest season for hemp.

Andy and Ben’s plants, which had been seeded May 7th, on the day of the Super Flower Moon, were deep into flowering. The aroma of their harvest lot - set on a breezy hillside in a small valley - was intoxicating.

Some rows of plants had already been cut down and were drying in a converted cattle barn. The remaining plants would come down in the next several weeks and continue their journey towards becoming a consumer product in an unsettled marketplace.

Instead of the word product, though, Andy prefers calling Bravo’s CBD offerings a service, enabling a physical, neurological interaction between plant and consumer. It’s heady stuff for a simple purveyor of CBD oils and salves, but simple can be deceiving.

Dr. Robert Portman, CEO of CBD Validator, aims to be the Consumer Reports of the CBD industry and claims to have the largest database in the world ranking sublingual CBD oils available to U.S. consumers. “We chose oils because they make up the bulk of the business,” said Portman.

“It’s the best absorbed, the most bio-available for consumers, it’s easy to take and has the highest level of quality control.”

So, how did a small company like Bravo Botanicals come out at the top spot, above much larger companies with greater resources? In this David vs. Goliath comparison, Portman said it’s a question of culture, motivation and most importantly, transparency.

oct. 2020

“I see healthy living soil as a matrix that can facilitate communication between the air, the elements and the plant, and ultimately into our bodies.”

C O - OW N E R A N DY L O U G H N E Y

BRAVO BOTANICALS 161 YEAW RD, GUILFORD, VT (802) 251-0599 @BRAVOBOTANICALS BRAVOBOTANICALS.COM

>> An online ranking of CBD oils put Bravo Botanical’s offerings at number one out of over 2,000 products from over 600 companies.

“We did not know Bravo,” said Portman. “We’re just picking up every single product we can and when we analyzed their claims, their pricing, the strength of their product, it scored very highly. The principals were so dedicated to quality assurance in growing, processing and providing transparency to the consumer.”

Kria Botanicals, based in South Burlington, turns Bravo’s hemp into oil using subcritical CO2 extraction - a technique noted for resulting in high quality full spectrum oil.

Kria co-founder, Bill Lofy, offered an assessment of why Bravo’s product is so good, saying, “They grow great hemp! They are transparent about how they grow, test and extract their hemp, and if I may, they use a quality extraction lab. And I’d add a fourth factor: Ben and Andy are really quality individuals and they’ve built their brand on relationships and doing right by people.”

When speaking with Andy, however, you might come away thinking that the plants should get all the credit. After all, as a Bravo Botanicals bumper sticker states: “the microbes tell me what to do.”

And that is just the beginning of the rabbit hole you might go down during a conversation about his plants and vocation. “There’s a deep intelligence here,” says Andy. “I see healthy living soil as a matrix that can facilitate communication between the air, the elements, the plant and ultimately into our bodies.”

“The more I learn about it, it’s a miracle plant,” says Andy. “It creates a connection with nature, when it’s grown in a certain way I feel like it informs. Even

if it’s like sublingual/subliminal, you know something happens - there’s a certain shift in consciousness, a transformation. I think the care we give it at each step of the process gets amplified. And the feedback we get from people makes it so worthwhile!”

Andy then recalled a story of how things came full circle. The woman who brought him into the fold of farming years ago at a nonprofit dairy farm had a daughter who had recently suffered a serious concussion.

“She started using our CBD oil and got tremendous results that they had not gotten with other CBD brands. Something like that, what more could you ask for?”

Bravo Botanicals is small, truly a David in a land of other Davids and Goliaths.

Their first full year of sales in 2018 brought in $50K, tripled in 2019, and they were hoping for another 50% sales increase in 2020. Due to the pandemic, this is not going to happen. “Store sales are down in general,” says Ben. “However, our sales model has shifted to about 50% direct online sales, which has substantially increased

our profit margin. So despite the craziness of 2020, and thanks to our bootstrapping, hands-on, if-you-want-something-done-doit-yourself approach, Bravo is seeing good growth. But it’s not just about the money.

We are glad to be able to get this important medicine to those who are looking for an all natural, plant-based solution to their ailments. It’s a very satisfying endeavor.”

In these uncertain times, Kria Botanical’s Lofy thinks Bravo is well positioned for the future. “The hemp CBD market continues to be a topsy turvy world,” says Lofy.

“Prices are down across the board, but a new emphasis on quality is emerging. We see a lot of opportunities for businesses, like Bravo, who put a premium on quality - from being certified organic to using the cleanest extraction methods.”

Andy would add that Bravo puts a premium on their connection to the natural world.

“I feel that Cannabis is here to remind us that we are always welcome to return back to our home, this wonderful Earth, a place of forgiveness where we may be healed.”

B R A V O B O T A N I C A L S is currently sold in approximately 25 large New England natural food stores, as well as online. The most popular offerings are their 1200mg CBD Drops at $70, 500mg CBD Drops at $30, 320mg CBD Lemongrass Shea Cream at $35, and their original product, the 240mg CBD Coconut Oil at $30. Bravo is also about to release The Easy Roller with CBD and arnica for instant pain relief at $20 - so keep an eye out for their latest and greatest when searching for your next CBD experience.

STORY by GILBERT GJERSVIK | PHOTOS by ANNA BURCH @ANNABURCHPHOTO

the hemp issue

ANANDA

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Homegrown Hemp

by Homegrown Heroes oct. 2020

A FARMS

FULTON, NY

>>

STORY by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT/NORTHEAST LEAF | PHOTOS by BRIAN JAHN @BRIANJAHNPHOTO

the hemp issue

c o nt i n ue d f ro m p g . 3 3

Jennifer Stenuf and her wife, Sarah Stenuf.

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ANANDA FARMS

neleafmag.COM

In the Sanskrit language and Indian Hindu philosophy, the word Ananda refers to the bliss one feels when released from the shackles of the body. It is a higher awareness achieved through meditation, yoga and inner peace that can be hard for anyone to accomplish – but especially harder for Combat Veterans and first responders suffering from post traumatic stress, as well as physical and mental injuries. With this in mind, Sarah and Jennifer Stenuf founded Veteran’s Ananda Homestead and Retreat, a 22-acre hemp farm where volunteers can work, heal, and receive treatment and training.

S

arah Stenuf served in the US Army for four years. As an Apache Helicopter Crew Chief from 2010-11 in Afghanistan, she knows firsthand the pressures of recovering from trauma. Sarah’s service, like most Combat Veterans, did not come without a price. Her first years “back home” were filled with isolation, drugs, alcohol and even thoughts of suicide. Without help, Sarah found herself at her wit’s end and did not know which way to turn.

With traditional treatments for Vets emphasizing pharmaceutical medications, she soon found herself taking over a dozen different types of pills, including antidepressants, anti-psychotics, sleeping aids and more. Sick and tired of barely living in a cloud of funk, she decided to integrate a plant-based and holistic approach to her treatment and is now seizure-free and off all 13 prescriptions. She credits Cannabis and CBD (cannabidiol) with saving her life.

After her medical discharge for epilepsy and PTSD, she vowed to do something to help other Veterans.

oct. 2020

“Working in the hemp fields makes them feel whole again and gives them a purpose that they crave. And because we understand them, we’re not just trying to help get them back on their feet. We want to empower them to be leaders of the industry!” S A R A H S T E N U F

<< Veterans, first responders and their families are welcome to stay free of charge in micro-homes on the property.

ANANDA FARMS ANANDAFARMSNY@GMAIL.COM 315-399-6469 @ANANDAFARMS VETERANSANANDA.ORG | ANANDAFARMSNY.COM

Before long, she and her wife Jennifer, an LMSW (Licensed Master Social Worker) and therapist, purchased a 22-acre farm in Upstate New York and proceeded to create their vision for a plant-based program of short duration and high impact retreats.

With Sarah’s understanding of the issues faced by people seeking treatment – as well as her training as a mechanic and Jennifer’s experience with alternative healing therapies – they combined to create Veteran’s Ananda and Ananda Farms, becoming a part of the solution to the problems they’ve encountered.

Jennifer calls it aggro-therapy – or the act of growing plants and taking charge of creating your own medicine. She sees the direct results of this type of work in the healing that occurs among their guests.

Veterans, first responders and their families are welcome to stay free of charge in micro-homes on the property, built by school kids through the Tipp Tiny House program out of Tippecanoe High School in Tipp City, Ohio. Homebuilding students design and produce the houses that are then donated and transported to the Veteran’s Ananda farm.

The guests can choose to volunteer to work on the farm or just decompress and relax on their own time.

Other activities include four-wheeling around the grounds, evening bonfires and working on cars in the garage. There are ducks and chickens to care for and eggs to collect – with plans for even more animals as they expand.

For many who arrive here, this is the first place they feel any sort of serenity or calmness, hence Ananda.

Sarah explains, “Many of them show up here addicted to opiates, depression meds and alcohol. We see people suffering from PTSD, MST (military sexual trauma) and much more. Working in the hemp fields makes them feel whole again and gives them a purpose that they crave. And because we understand them, we’re not just trying to help get them back on their feet.

We want to empower them to be leaders of the industry!”

I mention to Sarah that many of the large grows I’ve visited hire Veterans due to their work ethic and she says, “Vets solve problems. People say, ‘Since we hired Vets, we have less problems.’ But that’s not true – they still have problems, but the Vets solve them. They show up early and work hard because that’s how they’ve been trained.”

The nonprofit Veteran’s Ananda is powered by Ananda Farms, their CBD brand of high-quality products made by Veterans from hemp plants grown on the farm. This is only their second year growing hemp plants.

The first year, they only grew cover crops – clover, ryes and soybeans – in order to improve upon already healthy soil.

The previous owner was a Mennonite farmer, so everything was already organic and all-natural, but Sarah, Jennifer and their volunteers also added foop (fish poop), mushroom compost and a bunch of additives donated by Coast of Maine. In their second year of hemp farming, they are growing 12,000 plants on their main property and 8,000 more nearby at their Red Creek satellite location. They put their Berry Blossom hemp seedlings out two weeks after Memorial Day and hand-watered them for a full summer of vegetative growth.

At the end of the day, it’s the overregulation and hoops they have to jump through that slows things down the most. Sarah sighs as she explains, “Growing hemp is two-thirds paperwork and one-third actual farming. And as hard as taking care of thousands of plants is, it’s the ever-changing rules and requirements that frustrate us the most. In this state, you either give up, go broke or become a millionaire. I’m a disabled Veteran lesbian woman and I can’t get a loan!”

U P O N H A R V E S T I N G at the end of September and early October, the hemp plants are processed on site and the CBD-rich MCT (medium-chain triglyceride) oil is turned into warming and cooling rubs, a 1500mg tincture and a super-powered 4000mg tincture, as well as infused massage oil. The products are now available throughout the country and four more micro-houses are on the way to help Veteran’s Ananda continue growing.

STORY by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT/NORTHEAST LEAF | PHOTOS by BRIAN JAHN @BRIANJAHNPHOTO

the hemp issue

** Hemp Hemp? That’s like, the cousin to Cannabis, right? Why do people buy that stuff?

It doesn’t even get you high!

As hemp increases in both popularity and legality year by year, we are hearing these types of comments more frequently.

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The infamous Jack Herer was quoted as saying, “I don’t know if hemp will save the world, but it’s the only thing that can.” This incredible plant can be used to produce food, medicine, textiles, building materials, clothing, paper, biofuel, environmental remediation and literally thousands of other things.

There are more than 25,000 documented uses for hemp.

Likely the most diversely utilized plant on the planet, hemp has been a part of human history for millennia. Hemp cloth dating back to 8,000 B.C. has even been uncovered in ancient Mesopotamia, which is modern-day Iraq and Iran.

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Hemp matures in 90 days, removes toxins and heavy metals from its environment – both from the soil it’s planted in and the air around it – converts more carbon dioxide to oxygen per square acre than trees do, is naturally pest and mold resistant, and requires less water per acre than both cotton and trees to produce.

Pain Relief REVIEWS BY W YAT T E A R LY @ E R R LY W YAT T

CBD FOR LIFE TOPICAL SPRAY For quick and easy on-the-go pain relief, I always go to my CBD for Life topical spray. Sometimes when I’m on the road for long hours, my legs and back begin to tighten up. I chose this spray because it’s so easy to use and there’s zero messiness during application. I simply spray the area of my body that is experiencing pain, wait a few short seconds for it to dry, and I can move on with my day. I found that one to two sprays provided me with lasting pain relief. Another thing I really enjoyed about this product was the minty and sweet smell - which is important if you’re going to be spraying it on your body.

100MG | CBDFORLIFE.US

BIOSPECTRUM CBD PAIN RELIEF ROLL-ON

In this special Hemp Issue, we’re taking a look at where the hemp plant came from and where it is today, highlighting hemp products developed for a wide variety of uses, touring a craft-focused hemp farm, and sharing stories about how people have improved their lives with this literally Earth-changing herb.

Roll-on products can be a highly useful tool in managing your level of comfort. After a week of catching crabs on the shore my back was killing me, providing me with the perfect opportunity to test this product out. Within two minutes, the FDA approved lidocaine, menthol and camphor created a cooling sensation that soothed my pain. That’s when the broad spectrum CBD distillate had a chance to work its way into my body, providing me with lasting pain relief. Even on unusually painful days and nights, one morning application and one evening application definitely quelled any discomfort.

- N AT E W I L L I A M S @ N AT E W 4 1 5

1000MG | BIOSPECTRUMCBD.COM @BIOSPECTRUM.CBD

Today, hemp is federally legal via the Farm Bill of 2018. However, like Cannabis, each state, city and county have varying laws regulating the production, processing, and manufacture of hemp and hemp products.

oct. 2020

CBD product guide Finding Focus REVIEW BY BARRON WOLFE @BARRON.WOLFE

MAUI CBD COLLECTIVE AWAKENED MIND TINCTURE

R E V I E W S B Y W YAT T E A R LY @ E R R LY W YAT T

Helping Anxiety EXTREME TERPZ CBD SOFTGELS

MAX AND STEVEN’S FULL SPECTRUM CBD DROPS

The Hawaiian Indiginous Permaculture program is bringing ancient farming practices back to life in modern-day Maui.

Say aloha to Maui CBD Collective, one of the local Cannabis and superfood cultivators who align with these centuries old no-till grow methods and keep the traditions alive. To help find our focus, we tried Maui’s Awakened Mind 1000mg herbal supplement. The rad part about this pure tasting full spectrum MCTbased Cannabis tincture isn’t even the sungrown Maui Cannabis - it’s the Gotu Kola - an indengenious super-herb with more healing and cognitive enhancement properties than are currently known, harvested at a local monastery nearby and likely blessed by monks. Also worth mentioning, Maui CBD separately blesses all of their products before they ship them out. Google Gotu Kola and this brand - you will definitely want to try it.

1000MG CBD | MAUICBD.COM @MAUICBD

R E V I E W B Y M A X E A R LY @LIFTED_STARDUST

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>>

Over the past couple of years, I have become very familiar with the full product line from Extreme Terpz. These softgels have made their way to the top of my list, providing me with an immense amount of anxiety relief. I truly enjoy these versus many companies’ CBD capsules, primarily due to the fact that they are small and very easy to swallow. Creating a routine where I took two softgels every morning put me in a healthy and relaxed state of mind to begin my day.

This consistency also helped to build up the level of CBD in my system, arguably making the softgels and any other CBD product I ingest more effective.

One of the first things that comes to mind when I think about CBD are tinctures. With the wide array of tinctures available, it’s important to know exactly what is in yours.

Max and Steven’s is a trusted Baltimore brand that can put your mind at ease. They have certificates of analysis on every batch produced, which are publicly accessible on their website. To start I took half a dropper of the tincture and placed it under my tongue, allowing it to absorb fully. After 30-45 minutes, I began to experience noticeable anxiety relief. Coupled with a joint of medical Cannabis, this is definitely getting added to my morning routine.

With the help of East Fork Cultivars’ uplifting Sour Space Candy, Peak Extracts has used its proprietary Terp-Lock process to bring the industry a full spectrum CBD tincture that provides a substantial boost of energy. With a powerful blend of minor cannabinoids, flavonoids and rich in terpenes, consumers are rest assured that they are getting a well-rounded dosage of cannabinoids, including CBC. Are you tired of waking up feeling groggy?

Add a dropper or two of this tincture into your morning tea or lemon water to start your day on a high note - without the high! 2 OZ., 638MG, $60.00

10MG CBD | EXTREMETERPZCBD.COM

500MG | MAXANDSTEVENS.COM

PEAKEXTRACTS.COM @PEAKEXTRACTS_CBD

PEAK EXTRACTS SOUR SPACE CANDY TINCTURE

REVIEWS by LEAF NATION CONTRIBUTORS | PHOTOS by DANIEL BERMAN @BERMANPHOTOS

the hemp issue

CBD product guide

Furry Friends REVIEW BY NATE WILLIAMS @NATEW415

VET CBD FULL SPECTRUM HEMP TINCTURE

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Vet CBD is California’s premier infused pet products brand.

The company was founded by Dr. Tim Shu, a certified Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, who developed the brand and products behind it with the belief that all pet owners should have access to the therapeutic use of CBD. Drawing from his knowledge of veterinary medicine, he formulated the products to be safe and effective for use in animals.

The tincture features an olive oil base infused with American grown hemp oil and is packaged with a plastic syringe for precise dosing. The packaging itself has the directions and approximate doses appropriate for your pet’s weight clearly displayed on the rear of the box. Each batch is thoroughly tested for cleanliness and a QR code linking you to the product’s test results is available.

My 11 ½ -year-old Australian Cattle Dog x French Bulldog mix loves the taste and after a week of adding the oil to her dinner nightly, I decided to test her fondness for the product as best I could, given the fact she’s unable to orate her enjoyment of the tincture. So I pulled the appropriate dose given her weight into the syringe and called her over, and as soon as she smelled it, she began licking at the bottom of the syringe to get to the oil – lapping every drop up as I delivered her ‘treat’ – which is surely as positive of a review as a dog can give.

VETCBD.COM | @BYVETCBD

neleafmag.COM

R E V I E W B Y M A X E A R LY @LIFTED_STARDUST

SACRED HERB MEDICINALS BLUE LINE ANTI-INFLAMMATORY LOTION Well known for their OLCC licensed Cannabis products, Sacred Herb Medicinals uses a unique blend of 15 different herbs, essential oils, waxes and decarboxylated Cannabis to offer a wide variety of products with multiple application options. I highly enjoyed the effects of their Blue Line (CBD only) Anti-Inflammatory Lotion, which is ideal for applying to large areas after a long workout. After applying approximately two pumps of lotion to areas of concern, the pain and pressure rapidly subsided, leaving my muscles and joints fully relaxed. I no longer felt as sore and avoided having to take Ibuprofen or anything comparable. Sacred Herb Medicinals definitely works fast and absorbs completely into the skin, leaving your body very moisturized with no greasy residue left behind.

4 OZ., $34.00 | @SACREDHERBMEDICINALS.COM @SACREDHERBMEDICINALS

ECO SCIENCES ECODROPS RELIEF TINCTURE Combining a unique blend of terpenes and cannabinoids, including humulene, limonene, linalool, myrcene, terpineol, CBD, CBDV and CBC, Eco Sciences’ naturally flavored Relief tincture is a perfect addition to your protein shake after the gym. This 3,000mg tincture contains vitamin E, fatty acids, omega-3 and omega-6, making this an ideal option for those looking for a CBD product that offers a wide variety of health benefits.

ECODROPS utilizes a full spectrum CBD, which is very beneficial for inflammation and muscle recovery. After a week of use, I felt a drastic improvement in my overall workout routine – having more energy and feeling less sore than ever before! ECOSCIENCES.COM | @ECOSCIENCESCO

Rest & Recovery REVIEW BY WES ABNEY @BEARDEDLORAX

ENTANGLED BIOME PET WELLNESS TINCTURE

LEBLANC CNE HEMP TOPICAL & HEMP-INFUSED TINCTURE

Have you recently noticed your pet experiencing a loss of energy or a decrease in movement abilities?

Look no further, as Entangle Biome’s CBD Pet Wellness Tincture is sure to help give your furry friend an overall boost in their quality of life. After giving my dog, Astro, this tincture for the past year, I can confidently say I have seen a drastic improvement in his overall mood, health and happiness. Every morning when he gets fed, I give him a dropper full of tincture on top of his food and he scarfs it right down. With only two ingredients – organic sunflower oil and full spectrum hemp oil – it is no surprise that he loves taking his tincture just as much as I love taking mine in the morning!

Hemp for medicine should be grown with care and love, much like this thoughtfully produced hemp tincture. Organic and Oregon-grown, this product provides full spectrum cannabinoids, terpenes and the essence of full plant medicine in a sweet, slightly earthy tincture perfect for general or specific CBD goals. Unlike many tinctures made with hemp isolates from unknown sources, this farm-to-bottle relationship honors the plant, is pesticide-free and safe to consume for all ages with confidence. Hemp-based cannabinoids can also do wonders for the skin and muscles beneath, making roll-on topical oils beneficial for a variety of uses – from eczema to sore muscles and everything in between. Made with “ingredients we’d only serve our own mother,” this roll-on combines classic topical ointment ingredients using grapeseed oil, hemp and the hemp roots, lavender, linalool and myrcene. With an easy to use format and a light, non-greasy application, this topical is perfect for however you choose to use CBD on your body’s largest organ – the skin! LEBLANCCNE.COM

ENTANGLEDBIOME.COM | @ENTANGLEBIOME

oct. 2020

R E V I E W S B Y M A X E A R LY @ L I F T E D _ S TA R D U S T

REVIEWS BY DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT

Getting Intimate FORIA WELLNESS INTIMACY NATURAL LUBRICANT WITH CBD

SARA JAY’S SELF CARE COLLECTION LONG NIGHT PERSONAL LUBE

Since 2013, Foria has been at the forefront of the hemp for health and sexual enhancement movement, with their plant-based products leading the way to relief and pleasure. Their MCT coconut oil-based lubricant is infused with lab tested, broad spectrum CBD from sungrown and regeneratively grown hemp plants - with no added chemicals or fragrances. The natural, vegan and gluten free lube is safe to ingest (oral-friendly), long lasting and in sustainable packaging. Use their Awaken Arousal Oil with CBD prior to applying the lube for the full effect and sensation.

Who better to put out a line of sexy CBD-infused products than veteran adult film legend Sara Jay? The AVN Hall of Famer has been a Cannabis user for decades to treat migraines, muscle pain and insomnia, and once she discovered the benefits of cannabidiol without THC, she was all in.

“If you know me, then you know I like to make people feel good,” says Sara Jay and users of her lube will certainly enjoy relaxation and supreme satisfaction. It’s infused with 200mg of active CBD from full spectrum hemp extract products, extracted by supercritical CO2. Pair the lube with Sara’s massage oil for a long night of happy endings. SARA JAYCBD.COM

FORIAWELLNESS.COM

R E V I E W S B Y M A X E A R LY @ L I F T E D _ S TA R D U S T

THE BROTHER’S APOTHECARY GOLDEN DREAM TEA Drift away into a place of peace and serenity with this warming, comforting and grounding Golden Dream Tea. This floral and refreshing blend of organic chamomile, spearmint, orange peel, lemongrass and pure hemp is sure to help take a load off after a long day. With each sip, you can positively feel the love and passion put into their small-batch teas. Utilizing sustainable business practices and a renewable energy powered facility, customers can feel proud of supporting this owner-operated business - all the while greatly benefiting their mind, body and soul. Pro tip: refill your cup with hot water when you finish your first cup to reap the benefits of all the full spectrum CBD.

Sleepy Time

20 PACK, 50-60MG PER TEA BAG, $90.00 THEBROTHERSAPOTHECARY.COM | @THEBROTHERSAPOTHECARY

FOCUS HEMP CO. FULL SPECTRUM CBD TINCTURE Having issues getting into a deep REM sleep? Look no further, as Focus Hemp Co.’s Full Spectrum CBD tincture is sure to do the trick! Loaded with lavender essential oil as well as herbal infusions, a 40mg serving of this liquid relaxation in a bottle will help you float away on a calm cloud to an uninterrupted night’s rest. After a solid week of using this product, I can genuinely say I look forward to taking it nightly, knowing my quality of sleep has drastically improved. Utilizing handpicked hemp grown in Southern Oregon, Focus Hemp Co. ensures their products are as clean as possible, as the flower used for their tinctures, topicals and gels are free of any heavy metals or pesticides, and organically sourced. Do your ECS (endocannabinoid system) a solid and pick up a bottle for yourself today!

1 OZ, 1,200MG, $49.99 FOCUSHEMPCO.COM @FOCUSHEMPCO

REVIEWS by LEAF NATION CONTRIBUTORS | PHOTOS by DANIEL BERMAN @BERMANPHOTOS

the hemp issue

CBD FOR DOGS

“As a pet sitter, I often recommend owners give CBD a try.”

40 >> Lisa with her beloved Kodi Bear

DOES YOUR BEST FRIEND NEED CBD? I met Lisa Moncrief at a Sacramento house party in 2015.

We’d only been chatting for a bit before she excitedly pulled out her phone to show me her dog Kodi Bear – and I instantly understood Lisa’s huge heart for our furry friends.

Lisa grew up in Louisiana and Oklahoma with her family dog Peaches, and by the time she hit California as a young adult in 1989, she had developed a love for dogs that would grow into a lifelong passion for their care – even when she’s not their ‘person.’

neleafmag.COM

Lisa first became a dog mom in her mid-20s, adopting a tiny puppy that would be called Roadie, because her then-boyfriend’s bandmates found it tucked inside in a cardboard box at a rest stop after a gig. They shared nearly 13 years together before Roadie passed, and three-and-a-half years later in 2007, Lisa met and “instantly fell in love with” a fuzzy-faced one-year-old rescue from the Sacramento SPCA. She’s never had his DNA analyzed, but Lisa’s best guess is that he’s a “Chow Australian Shepherd mix who looks like a little Red Panda Bear.” Lisa named him Kodi Bear. While five years ago Kodi Bear was still active in mid-life – an avid hiker and swimmer who went everywhere with Lisa – now 14 in people years, Kodi Bear’s physical decline is obvious.

FOLLOW LISA & KODI BEAR’S ADVENTURES ON INSTAGRAM @SEEKING.THEBEAUTY.INTHE.WORLD | @KODIBEAR_BRINGSSMILES

oct. 2020

How have you observed Kodi Bear changing through the years?

He was about a year old when I got him, super active, loved hiking – any adventure he was always down for.

Then slowly he started aging. Last year, we went on a big road trip and he was able to get in and out of the car with me helping only a little bit, but this year it hit really hard. In March he was able to still do some running, and then in April he didn’t even want to go down to his favorite spot on the river. He’s just really slowed down to a snail’s pace – it’s super hard for him.

Was it these recent observations that led you to start Kodi Bear on CBD? Yes. I just started it, since his mobility seemed to change for the worse all at once.

Did you yourself ever try CBD before giving it to Kodi Bear? Yes, an 18:1 CBD tincture I took for anxiety.

I tried a full dropper and it mellowed me out quickly, but it also made me feel like I needed to take a nap. Now I take a quarter of the dropper and I feel pretty even-keeled. And I’ve started giving it to Kodi Bear for his inflammation and pain – for his mobility issues.

How did you discover the proper CBD :THC ratio and dose for Kodi Bear? He stayed with my friend while I was away pet-sitting this past Fourth of July, and my friend gave him the 18:1 ratio. She said it really helped Kodi Bear with anxiety during the fireworks, so I bought the 18:1. But after giving myself a full dropper of 18:1 and knowing how affected I was, I thought about 10 drops for Kodi Bear (who weighs roughly 60 pounds) would be sufficient for him. But I’ve played around with it and I’ve upped him to 15 drops per day.

What specifically shows you that CBD is helping with Kodi Bear’s mobility?

The main things I keep an eye on are how well he is able to get up and down stairs, and his pace.

Are there any particular brands of CBD tincture that you recommend? I’ve used Care By Design 18:1 and VetCBD 18:1, and I like both.

What advice do you have for dog owners who are curious about trying out CBD for their dogs? It’s definitely worth a try! As a pet sitter, I often recommend owners give CBD a try.

People seem to feel apprehensive about it, but for me it’s a natural medicine, so I don’t think people should be averse to giving it to their dogs.

STORY by LINDA ANH for LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by LOUISE MITCHELL

cooking with cannabis

R E C I P E S b y L A U R I E W O L F | P H O T O b y B R U C E WO L F

SPOOKY STONED

October 30 is National Candy Corn Day and I can hardly wait. Invented in 1880, 10 billion pieces of candy corn have been eaten to date. That’s a lot! If you are not a fan, I am sorry. If it is any consolation, the pudding doesn’t taste like candy corn, but rather has only a physical resemblance to the iconic Halloween candy.

This month, my home use strain is Life Coach from Noble Farms. Great name, perfect for these crazy times, and bringing a delightfully mellow and tasty profile. #HappyHalloween #Dontfeartheedible #Blacklivesmatter#Wearamask

CANDY CORN PUDDING 1. Have your set up ready - you need to work fast if you are using instant pudding. Not crazy fast, but don’t dawdle.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the milk and the infused butter or oil with the pudding. Divide the pudding among three bowls. You can distribute evenly or not, your choice.

3. In the first bowl, add the yellow coloring and the almond extract.

Stir well. Add the orange coloring and orange extract to the next bowl. Add the vanilla extract to the plain bowl.

1 5 oz. box instant vanilla pudding

3 teaspoons canna-butter or

3 cups cold milk or non-dairy

canna-oil

milk substitute

Orange food coloring

Yellow food coloring

1/8 teaspoon orange extract

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

SERVES 2-4

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HALLOWEEN HANDS 1. Trace your hand two times on parchment and flip parchment.

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2. Melt the dark chocolate with the two teaspoons of infused oil or butter according to directions on the package. Keep a couple of tablespoons for decorating. When smooth, fill the traced hand in trying to follow the shape. No worries about staying in the lines, that is not how we roll.

3. Before the chocolate sets, decorate with candy corn.

4. Melt the white chocolate with two teaspoons of infused oil or butter, stir until smooth. Hold back two tablespoons of the melted chocolate for decorating. Again, fill in the second traced hand. Decorate with the candy corn.

5. Drizzle the hands with the remaining melted chocolate.

Allow to set for at least 30 minutes.

1 cup chocolate melts 2 teaspoons canna-oil or canna-butter 1 cup white chocolate melts 2 teaspoons canna-oil or canna-butter Halloween candy MAKES 2 HANDS, 4 SERVINGS

MAKES 2 TO 4 SERVINGS OF EDIBLE COOKIE DOUGH

CANDY CORN ON THE COB 1. In a mixing bowl, beat the sugar and butters till fluffy.

Add the salt and vanilla.

2. Stir in the flour and chips and form into a ball. Chill for 30 minutes. When firm, divide in half and roll into logs.

3. Make rows of candy corn, pressing it into the dough.

If the dough gets too soft, place in the fridge for a short time, 10-15 minutes. Fill in all the rows and chill till serving time.

PRO TIP If making cookie dough is more than you feel like doing, try using marzipan instead. Mix 1 cup of marzipan with 2-4 teaspoons canna-butter, softened.

1/2 cup light brown sugar / 2 tablespoons butter, softened 2-4 teaspoons infused butter, softened / 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon vanilla / 2/3 cup flour, baked at 350 for five min.

oct. 2020

on a half sheet pan and cooled / 4 tablespoons chocolate chips Lots of candy corn, tips removed

edible of the month

INCREDIBLES

From the multi-award winning Incredibles line of products, the Peanut Budda Buddha Bar delivered more than I could have imagined.

> > 100MG THC / 20-SERVING BAR

A delicious, peanut buttery dose of zen that is the perfect blend of flavor and happiness.

PEANUT BUDDA BUDDHA BAR RISE DISPENSARY / 169 MEADOW ST, AMHERST, MA / ILOVEINCREDIBLES.COM / RISECANNABIS.COM / @RISEDISPENSARIESMASSACHUSETTS

REVIEW & PHOTO by JENNMARIE CASTIGLIONE @JENNMARIE_76 for NORTHEAST LEAF

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Starting by consuming 50mg of a 100mg bar, I was instantly taken away by perfectly blended peanut butter and white chocolate, with a dash of pretzel bits mixed in.

A favorite of consumers, the Incredibles line of chocolates is from the company RISE, however they can be found in medical and recreational dispensaries throughout Massachusetts.

Incredibles’ products are all gluten free and non-GMO, and use pure THC distillate that delivers evenly dosed pieces with every bar. This allows those new to edibles to comfortably dose low and slow.

After about 30 minutes, as much as I had wanted to, I was happy I didn’t go for the whole bar. What a pleasant and relaxed feeling it brought over my being. About an hour after initial consumption, I decided to finish off the bar and enjoyed the rest of my evening in a pleasant state of mind, eventually lulling off to a peaceful sleep.

The Peanut Budda Buddha Bar is absolutely one chocolate bar every peanut butter loving stoner needs to try. Your taste buds and spirit won’t be disappointed.

concentrate of the month neleafmag.COM

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On my quest to bask in terpene glory, I was able to drop by Bask Inc. and sample some of their in-house, sungrown, Las Vegas Bubba Kush rosin (or as they call it, LN2 - aka liquid nitrogen hash extraction).

Bask’s packaging is very clean and simple. Sporting eco-friendly, biodegradable, plant-based material, they’re doing what they can to diminish their impact while maintaining durability. This gram of rosin came sealed in one of their childproof zip bags. You can’t see through the package from any angle, and there’s a detailed sticker warning label and list of analytical tests on the back.

Having encountered LVBK many times over the years, I figured I should go with my instincts and past experiences - and I am certainly glad that I did. LVBK is an old school strain, with a knockout reputation and dominant Bubba Kush look, scent and taste. Cracking open the jar, you can smell a sweet and distinctive aroma of earthy gas and candy-like notes, indicative of the Las Vegas Bubba. As for coloration, it was evident that the starting material was more of a sift or kief variety than an ice water hash, with a little bit darker and yellowish-brown pigment.

Overpowering with flavor, you’re punched in the face by a pungent and sweet kushy-ness, and a hint of coffee beans on the exhale. This rosin tastes like it smells, which is what you want as a consumer. Bask is keeping this mother plant around, so the LVBK is in their constant rotation.

If you’re in search of a strain to get you stoney baloney, then I’d absolutely suggest this LVBK rosin to you. Its sedative effect was enjoyable during the evening hours to unwind and relax, complete with heavy eyes and a creeper body high. Everything felt like it was in slow motion, leaving me undoubtedly couch-locked.

As someone who suffers through a lot of chronic pain, this rosin was perfect for me.

BASK INC. 2 PEQUOD RD, FAIRHAVEN, MA COMETOBASK.COM @BASK_RMD

> > TESTING

THC 70% | CBG 0.8% CBC 0.6% | CBD 0.2% CBC 0.2%

oct. 2020

OLD-SCHOOL STRAIN

Overpowering w i t h f l a v o r, you’re punched in the face by a pungent and sweet kushy-ness...

LVBK ROSIN BASK INC. | HARPOON EXTRACTS

REVIEW & PHOTO by BOBBY NUGGZ @BOBBYNUGGZ_OFFICIAL for NORTHEAST LEAF

MANNA PATCH In a busy world where we already have so much to think about, getting your daily dose of Cannabis shouldn’t have to be a worry.

CREATED BY A TEAM OF SCIENTISTS AND INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS FROM BOTH CANNABIS AND MEDICINE AT MANNA MOLECULAR, THE MANNA PATCH BRINGS US A SIMPLE AND DISCREET WAY TO MEDICATE. Sealed up in an airtight pouch, the 45mg THC patch was obtained from In Good Health out of Brockton, Massachusetts.

It’s truly amazing how far the means of administering Cannabis has come!

The patch utilizes the method of transdermal delivery and allows for systemic distribution of THC and CBD throughout the body. With no smoke to hide, the patch is comfortable and affords users with the luxury of not needing any additional tools. Also being latex and allergen free, it’s perfect for patients and recreational users from all walks of life.

Offering a pleasant cooling feeling upon application, the subtle onset took about 45 minutes. I found my mind was more focused and relaxed. Having applied it to the back of my neck, the area was also a little less tense.

The Manna Patch granted a pleasant feeling that lasted for almost six hours, while not having to think about finding the time or place to medicate. It was so incredibly convenient.

Going for a hike? Family gathering? Passenger on a road trip? Stick on a Manna Patch and simply get on with your day!

topical of the month

INGOODHEALTH

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The patch utilizes the method of transdermal delivery and allows for systemic distribution of THC and CBD throughout the body.

INGOODHEALTH 1200 WEST CHESTNUT ST., BROCKTON, MA INGOODHEALTHMA.COM @INGOODHEALTH_MA

REVIEW & PHOTO by JENNMARIE CASTIGLIONE @JENNMARIE_76 for NORTHEAST LEAF

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> > LATEX & ALLERGEN-FREE

CIGARETTES ARE HEALTHY! he cigarette industry has really taken it in the butt this century, so can we please focus on some positives? After all, as we evolve toward a more tolerant society insistent upon creating a level playing field of fairness for everyone, we really should stop the addiction shaming. Sure, those fine orally fixated folks are willingly welcoming a small forest fire into their respiratory system with each flick of the Bic, but who are we to judge? After all, it is their human right to laminate their lungs with a fresh chimney soot smoothie powered by a benzene boost.

You know, there’s a reason they call them cancer sticks: It’s because the cancer sticks to your lungs.

Anyway, smoking is literally exhausting. Which explains why if I were to be blindfolded and asked to identify the mystery scent effervescing from your mouth into my fresh nostrils, my first guess would be exhaust.

Because when you waft that wheeze, I recall a frantic chase toward a departing metro bus as the tailpipe burps out a cocktail of scorched, highly refined fossil fuels directly into my clenched face.

But hey, not everyone is addicted, right? I mean, some users will claim they strictly smoke for enjoyment. Unfortunately, this enjoyment leads them out the door to an area 25 feet away from the building entrance an average of 10 times a day, just to light up. But am I the only one who sees this ritual for enjoyment as a monumental inconvenience?

And cigarette abusers will vehemently defend their crutch with any explanation in the attempt to convince you that there is at least one positive result from the act of smoking cigarettes. “It calms my nerves,” they will confidently assert.

No, it doesn’t. You know what calms your nerves? Counseling.

Cigarettes are awesome! And healthy! Marijuana cigarettes, that is.

T

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by Mike Ricker

oct. 2020

F O L L OW @ R I C K E R D J | G E T T H E AU D I O V E R S I O N & EV E RY E P I S O D E AT S TO N EY- B A L O N EY. C O M

INTRODUCING FAIRWINDS CBD VISIT FAIRWINDSCBD.COM

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