Editor’s Note

Thanks for picking up The Glass Issue of the Leaf!

Glass holds a special place within Cannabis culture, as it both defines our movement through artistic expression, and provides the tools necessary to consume our plant. Without glass pipes, bongs and dab rigs, we’d be stuck smoking joints and out of apples in a return to pre-legalization shenanigans.

Today, glass pieces regularly sell for five to six figures – and a single piece has the power to define a stoner’s personality the way a cool car or shoes can. This representation of Cannabis culture is unique to consuming our favorite plant, as I’ve yet to see custom beer steins being brought to bars by drinkers, or heady pipes bejeweled for smoking illegal street drugs. With many of the highs outside of Cannabis being a function of necessity, and oftentimes addiction, it explains the lack of investment into accoutrement.

Only with Cannabis is the method of smoking equally as important as the flower or dabs themselves. From hitting a Hitoki Laser Bong full of tasty flower to taking timed and temperature controlled rosin dabs from a custom rig with perfect percolation and a terp slurper banger that’ll blast you to the moon and back, picking the right tools can transform an average sesh into an expression of art and elation. As Dale Carnegie poignantly said – “The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure” – and this can be no better applied than to the artists who make glass to get us high.

It’s through the beautiful amalgamation of fire and borosilicate that an artist shapes both how we smoke and how we perceive the act of smoking, and this issue of the Leaf is dedicated to celebrating the artists and art that shape the visual arm of our industry. I hope that this issue inspires our readers to find a new appreciation for high end glass, to follow new glassblowers on social media, and to consider investing in a piece of artistry for their daily smoking habits.

-Wes Abney

POT COMPANIES SUE NYC REGULATORS he first Canadian marijuana farm has received organic certification, courtesy of Sun+Earth Certified in British Columbia. Sun+Earth Certified is a nonprofit third-party certification for regenerative organic Cannabis. Sea Dog Farm has existed since 2017 in Central Saanich, B.C. – at the south end of Vancouver Island, near the provincial capital of Victoria. In addition to holding a micro-cultivation Cannabis license, the five-acre family farm grows fruits, vegetables, berries, herbs and cut flowers. Sea Dog Farm uses no-till, regenerative organic practices.

T

A COALITION that includes some of New York’s medical marijuana companies sued state Cannabis regulators in March in an effort to open up licensing to all retail dispensary applicants immediately.

The lawsuit, filed in state court in Albany, claims that state Cannabis regulators exceeded their legal authority when they opened the initial application pool in August only to people with past pot convictions or their relatives, instead of to everyone. The lawsuit names as defendants the state’s Cannabis Control Board and Office of Cannabis Management, as well as top officials, reports AP.

Cannabis industry leaders, experts and advocates founded Sun+Earth in 2019. The group promotes regenerative organic agriculture, farmer and farm worker protections, and community engagement. There are now more than 70 Sun+Earth Certified Cannabis farms in California, Michigan, Oregon and Washington.

The state’s equity program, which offered first dibs to individuals with past pot convictions or their relatives, was an attempt to create opportunities for those who have been most adversely affected by pot policing, which resulted in Black and Latino people being arrested at disproportionately higher rates.

OKLAHOMA VOTERS REJECT LEGALIZATION

THE NEWS IN BRIEFeast coast

N.H. HOUSE APPROVES LEGALIZATION WITH NO REGULATIONS

T

he New Hampshire House of Representatives has approved another bill to legalize marijuana in the state. But there’s a big difference this time: This one contains no regulations or limitations on Cannabis.

About a month after the House passed a comprehensive legalization, taxation and regulation measure sponsored by bipartisan leaders, on March 16 members took up the simpler legislation to remove marijuana from the state’s list of banned substances.

“When bills get complicated and they get long and they get confused, people vote against them,” said GOP Rep. Kevin Verville. “This is the shortest, easiest way to affect the change that the majority of our constituents want – and that is the legalization of Cannabis.”

A

ustralian researchers have found plant-derived Cannabis oils with balanced ratios of THC and CBD to be generally safe and effective for patients with neurological diseases. These findings are based on observational trial data in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, reports NORML.

The study examined the sustained use of marijuana extracts in 157 patients with treatment-resistant neurological, musculoskeletal, autoimmune or anti-inflammatory disorders. Under Australian law, physicians may only authorize medical Cannabis to patients unresponsive to conventional prescription treatments.

Investigators reported patients age 65 or older and/or those suffering from neurological disorders, received the greatest benefits from Cannabis therapy. Conditions helped included Parkinson’s disease, peripheral neuropathy and multiple sclerosis.

Their findings are consistent with those of several other studies reporting quality of life benefits among older patients consuming marijuana.