News and Events - Page 2

If you are a cannabis lover, you will surely enjoy connecting with like-minded people. While marijuana users use mainstream social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, you might consider trying out some of the cannabis-specific networks out there. And is that posting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and other platforms can get you accidentally blocked or close your account simply for using a term like cannabis or marijuana. It's not that the terms are illegal, it's that the major social networks have yet to update their algorithms on permitted use based on location, while cannabis-specific social networks are keeping more abreast of changing regulations.

Additionally, the cannabis industry is booming, which means more brands are leveraging social media as a channel to promote their products, share educational information about cannabis use, and advocate for decriminalization, social justice, and destigmatization. However, due to the strict community guidelines of these mainstream social media platforms, and government regulations on promoting marijuana products, many brands are having a hard time building their communities.

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In 1981, the District of Columbia in the US broke its own record: 86 citizens died from heroin overdoses. To combat the growing drug problem, the city's police launched an all-out crackdown on the narcotics market. A new task force christened under the mantra of "anything goes" was given the green light to disrupt the drug trade throughout Washington D.C., including arrests of more than 200 suspected dealers, the use of video cameras and tanker trucks to intimidate and disrupt buyers and sellers on the street... and even an undercover officer disguised as the Schlitz beer mascot (he was a bull, by the way) to make surprise arrests.

But one of the police methods of disrupting marijuana sales was not intended to arrest anyone. In an idea that was at the very least bizarre, undercover officers posed as dealers in the city's most reputable weed area. Dubbed 'Operation Oregano Scam', the aim was to sell fake ganja to unsuspecting customers, giving the area a 'bad name' that, they thought, would scare off potential buyers.

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Yesterday, in a somewhat surprising announcement yesterday, Joe Biden, president of the United States of America, pledged that the government will pardon thousands of Americans that have been convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law. He also announced several other moves towards the federal decriminalisation of cannabis, asking both the Department of Health and the Department of Justice to review how the plant is scheduled under federal law as well as encouraging state governors to take similar measures with those convicted of possession.

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A study by finance and economics experts at California Polytechnic State University and the University of New Mexico has concluded that legalising cannabis will reduce sales of conventional pharmaceuticals by billions of dollars. Previous studies have found that access to cannabis reduces the use of specific types of medication, but this is the first study to look at the overall effect of cannabis on pharmaceutical companies across products and types of patients.

With recreational and medical marijuana now becoming legal in many states, the newly formed legal cannabis industry is impacting on the stock value of many pharmaceutical companies. The researchers argue that their findings highlight the market's recognition of cannabis as an alternative to conventional medicines, also pointing to the need for further research into the therapeutic potential of this plant.

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Barely a month ago we heard the news that the American artist Snoop Dogg had raised the salary of the full-time employee he hired to roll the joints he smokes. Knowing the rate at which the rapper consumes them (he said in an interview in 2012: "I smoke 81 joints a day") and adjusting the salary to the runaway inflation of this year, good old Snoop has established his joint-roller's remuneration at between 40,000 and 50,000 dollars a year, which is not bad at all for a job as specialised as this. Who can match that around here?

But it's also a fact that shows that, as cannabis continues to be legalised or decriminalised in a growing number of states, industry wages are rising at a comparable rate. The competition for talented and experienced workers is increasing, which has led to considerable salary increases in various fields over the last year.

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Cannabis brand mocks the president's lucidity

US rapper Snoop Dogg took Instagram by storm over the weekend by posting a photo of a weed strain dubbed 'Sleepy Joe OG', mocking President Joe Biden for his frequent mental lapses. The premium cannabis packaging features an image of Biden, along with the phrases "Where am I?" and "You won't even remember what country you are in!", accompanied by an inscription claiming that the weed is reportedly grown in Ukraine, Russia and China.

Snoop Dogg posted the photo on Sunday on his Instagram feed, which is followed by 74.6 million people, amassing more than 565,000 likes and nearly 10,000 comments at the time of writing. People had a lot of fun with the post, pouring in comments such as "If I smoke it do I get my vote back?" or "Don't ride a bike after drinking this," as another wrote in reference to Biden recently falling off a bike near his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

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World-renowned American writer, activist and psychonaut Ann Shulgin, widow of Alexander Shulgin, died at the age of 91 this past Saturday, July 9th 2022. She was most famous for co-authoring, along with her late husband, two of the most important and influential books on psychedelic substances: PiHKAL and TiHKAL, which had an immense impact on the worlds of psychedelia and science.

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Setting a world record is something that many strive for, but few succeed in achieving. One only has to look at the Guinness Book of World Records to see that people have thought of every possible way to get their names in this Olympus of incredible achievements. Cannabis users are no different, and while some of these categories may never appear in the famous beer-sponsored book, they are well documented and set a very high standard for cannabis lovers who wish to beat them.

The biggest weed brownie in the world

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The cannabis industry has changed dramatically over the last decade, with dozens of companies directly or indirectly related to the plant operating completely legally in a number of countries, creating thousands of jobs in this emerging sector. This is a great opportunity for the plant's scholars and fans, who have gone from operating clandestinely to being a key player in the industry.

Naturally, this fact has not gone unnoticed in the academic sphere, where several US universities have been offering courses, seminars, postgraduate courses and even degrees aimed at future cannabis professionals. Cases like those of these educational centres are becoming increasingly common, in a trend that - fortunately - seems to have crossed the pond and can now be seen in Europe, as is the case of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and the Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche. Let's see what they have to offer!

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The close relationship between Éric Chapel and weed began in the 1980s when, in his late teens, he started smoking. A gardening enthusiast who wanted to produce his own crop, and at a time when there were no - or almost no - sources of information on cannabis cultivation, he discovered the books of Jean Pierre Galland of the CIRC, a collective he quickly joined before creating his own association in 1994, PAKA, dedicated to promoting hemp and its derivatives.

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When it comes to how the five senses perceive cannabis, the nose will always be king. However, the eyes are not far behind and are extremely important for finding flaws in your buds, such as mould, mites and other undesirable characteristics. Then, after analysing the overall health of the plant and its harvest, you will find vivid shades of violet, blue or scarlet, milky or amber trichomes, and rusty cinnamon-coloured pistils that can remind you of anything from a sunset to a snow-covered Christmas tree. Eyes help users see what all the beauty of this plant really is! And the ongoing legalisation that is spreading around the world has made 'Bud Porn' a key marketing strategy in the cannabis industry.

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Thailand likes to do things in a big way. And next June 9 is the day that the legalisation of medical cannabis in the Kingdom comes into effect. To celebrate, Thailand's Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul of the Bhumjai Thai Party, a major partner in the coalition that spearheaded the country's campaign to decriminalise marijuana, recently announced that the government will distribute 1 million free cannabis plants so that “anyone can grow them at home”, once most of the legal restrictions on the production and possession of cannabis are lifted.

The strictly regulated use of medical cannabis was legalised in 2018, making Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia to do so, and various restrictions have been gradually eased since then. In fact, in February of this year, Charnvirakul signed an act officially removing cannabis from its list of controlled drugs. And now the minister has added that people will be able to grow “as many cannabis plants as they want” in their homes. However, it can only be therapeutic grade cannabis and must be used exclusively for medicinal purposes.

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In 2012, Colorado and Washington made headlines when they became the first two US states to legalise cannabis for recreational use. Since then, 18 more states, as well as the District of Columbia, have followed suit by passing laws for distribution and recreational consumption.

Classified as a Schedule I drug by the Controlled Substances Act, just like methamphetamine or cocaine, cannabis remains illegal at the federal level. However, as more state legislators pass legislation to legalise recreational use, federal cannabis trafficking cases and charges have steadily declined year over year.

According to the US Sentencing Commission's 2021 Sourcebook, in 2012, the same year that Colorado and Washington first passed their legislation, federal prosecutors charged approximately 7,000 people with marijuana trafficking. Cannabis accounted for 27.6% of all drug trafficking charges that year, the most of any substance category.

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Seeking: Company with the ability to dismantle and destroy large cannabis plantations. Budget: 163,000 euros. More info: Ministry of the Interior (ask for Fernando Grande-Marlaska).

This announcement, which could well have been published on any employment search website, corresponds to a tender issued by Spain's Ministry of the Interior, enlisting the help of private companies to dismantle large cannabis plantations, specifically those with more than 10,000 plants, which are on the increase, according to police statistics.

This measure was proposed in the National Plan of Action against organised crime associated with marijuana production and trafficking, presented last December, where the ministry placed the third objective as, precisely, "to facilitate the destruction of marijuana plantations”, with the aim of solving one of the main logistical problems that the Spanish security forces are currently facing, which is none other than the exponential increase in seizures of cannabis plants in a country that leads cannabis production in Europe and where, in 2021, more than three million plants were intervened, representing an increase of almost 100% compared to the previous year.

“In the case of small plantations, the agents themselves take charge of dismantling them, but in the case of large plantations they are unable to carry out said activity” due to the lack of preparation and machinery, indicates the hiring file to which the newspaper El Paísit has had access. For this reason, it is essential to contract this work to private sector companies that have the knowledge and technical means to carry out this task.

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With the advances gained in cannabis legalisation over the last decade, more and more new therapeutic applications of this famous multipurpose plant are being discovered and applied. In 2013, to go any further, the sex therapist Ashley Manta coined the term "cannasexual" to describe the practice that is applied in her sex education and therapy clinic in California, where she helps her patients to improve their sex life thanks to cannabis.

However, before Ashley, there were other visionaries. In ancient India, cannabis was used as an aphrodisiac within the Brahmanical tradition. Here, we will look at its benefits and see why its consumption can improve sexual practice.

Benefits of cannabis with sex

• Relaxing effect: the relaxing properties of cannabis can help improve the sexual experience, contributing to the lowering of inhibitions and the flow of emotions.
• Sensory effect: the hedonic experience of cannabis contributes to an increase in awareness and the physical pleasure of contact with the other person.
• Reduction of anxiety: for those people for whom sex may cause anxiety, cannabis can help inhibit this feeling, reducing worries and adding pleasure to the experience.
• Increase in sexual libido: some studies have linked cannabis to an increase in sexual desire, especially in women.
• Increased quality and duration of the female orgasm: some studies have linked cannabis use to longer, better-quality orgasms in women.

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April 1st is almost here and with it comes April Fools' Day and all the anticipation of playing a hilarious yet harmless prank on somebody while trying to avoid falling victim to anybody else's joke. We all know of the classic tricks played between family members and friends, such as swapping sugar for salt or changing the yoghurt with mayonnaise, but for many years now, companies and corporations have joined in with the fun on a larger scale, turning the day into something of a marketing opportunity and a chance to show that they have a sense of humour, a quality valued by many consumers.

The spread of legalisation around the world has led to an increase in social acceptance and destigmatisation of cannabis users and its use. And as it seeps into mainstream culture, our favourite plant has found itself the focus of a surprising number of these corporate April Fools' Day pranks, with varying degrees of success, as we will see in this article where we look at some of our favourites from the last few years...

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