Free Republic

As weed has become easier to obtain, it has become harder to smoke.A strange thing has happened on the path to marijuana legalization. Users across all ages and experience levels are noticing that a drug they once turned to for fun and relaxation now triggers existential dread and paranoia. “The density of the nugs is crazy, they’re so sticky,” a friend from college texted me recently. “I solo’d a joint from the dispensary recently and was tweaking just walking around.” (Translation for the non-pot-savvy: This strain of marijuana is not for amateurs.)

The first five days of legal weed sales in Ohio generated more than $11.5 million, the state has reported. The newly formed Ohio Division of Cannabis Control released the figures for marijuana distribution by licensed dispensaries within the Buckeye State, where recreational purchases by adults over 21 were allowed for the first time. Stores sold 1,285 pounds of marijuana flower and more than 173,000 other products, such as vaporizer cartridges and edibles. Under Ohio law, 10% of all marijuana sales go to the Department of Taxation, while a 5.75% charge is also added to all Ohio purchases as sales tax,...

A study suggests that cannabis, the most commonly used illicit substance worldwide, is associated with an increased occurrence of head and neck cancer. A large, multicenter study revealed that adults with cannabis dependence, known as cannabis use disorder, are 3.5 to 5 times more likely to develop head and neck cancer than those who do not use the substance. Head and neck cancer, the sixth most common cancer in the world, includes several cancers, including cancer of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, oropharynx (tongue and tonsils and back wall of the throat) and adjacent salivary glands. The researchers discovered that those...

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that her administration has shut down hundreds of unlicensed, illegal cannabis stores. This after her May overhaul at the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), which included the launch of the Cannabis Enforcement Task Force. “How do the legal businesses thrive if the illegal ones are locked out of the market?” Hochul asked the crowd at a press conference Tuesday morning. To that end, she said that the task force has already closed 114 stores. A spokesperson from Hochul’s office confirmed that not all were in New York City. Without these...

Kim Howard has spent the past six years trying to keep her cannabis cosmetics company alive in California’s legal marijuana market, selling her cannabis-infused eye creams and skin serums at dispensaries across the state. But late last year, she finally gave up. She returned her state marijuana license and pulled her Green Bee Botanicals products from the state’s dispensaries. That’s because she’s joined a wave of California entrepreneurs who have pivoted to the hemp industry, turning their backs on California’s embattled marijuana market in favor of the federally legal version of cannabis called hemp. Howard said pivoting to hemp has...

President Trump’s reelection campaign manager, Brad Parscale, corrected the false notion that Gov. Matt Bevin’s defeat to Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear on Tuesday was somehow a referendum on President Trump. “President Trump’s rally helped five of six Kentucky Republicans win clear statewide victories, including Attorney General-elect Daniel Cameron, who will be the first black A.G. in Kentucky history and the first Republican to hold the office since 1948,” read a Trump campaign statement. “The President just about dragged Gov. Matt Bevin across the finish line, helping him run stronger than expected in what turned into a very close race...

Researchers have found an over-the-counter natural health product may help counteract negative effects of heavy cannabis use among adolescents aged 12 to 17, including depression, anxiety and diminished motivation in adulthood. Marta De Felice and Steven Laviolette demonstrated in animal models that interventions using antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) can mitigate the detrimental mental health effects of chronic cannabis use later in life. Sometimes referred to as "amotivational syndrome," chronic cannabis use in adolescents can result in a lack of motivation, diminished enjoyment from daily activities and other depressive effects. Currently, there is no known intervention strategy available. The study found that...

During one prime-time broadcast of the Olympics gymnastics competition this week on NBC, Simone Biles finished a vault and the camera panned around Bercy Arena in Paris to find reactions. Biles’s parents politely clapped. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo cheered with a bit more gusto. Then the camera found Snoop Dogg, who lifted his glasses up toward his forehead, to reveal eyes wide in astonishment. “Snoop can’t believe what he saw!” said NBC’s Terry Gannon. There has been no better hype man for U.S. Olympians this week than Snoop, who has been everywhere in Paris for NBC — and, as...

Marijuana use has risen dramatically, and it’s killing Americans — so why does the Biden White House want to make the problem worse? *** Simply put, increased marijuana use has led to significantly more Americans being killed on our nation’s roads — as people are not only driving while stoned but driving while stoned and drunk. ... A recent study published in the American Journal of Public Health ... found that the percentage of car crash deaths in America that involved marijuana has skyrocketed since 2000. … So the total percentage of car crash deaths involving cannabis, either with or...

Data released Wednesday by Weedmaps revealed that New York consumers spent more on their individual cannabis purchases than in other markets. The average order value for New Yorkers on orders placed through the platform outstripped than the national average by more than 50% during the first quarter of 2024 ($123.16 in New York vs. $80.78 nationally). In addition, New York has a 6% higher basket size through Weedmaps vs. the national average in the same period (2.35 items vs. 2.22 national). Another difference between New Yorkers and national cannabis shoppers: New Yorkers prefer in-store shopping versus delivery.

A FOX News poll shows enough support from Florida voters to pass a constitutional amendment that would enshrine the right to get an abortion. TAMPA - There will be two big amendments on the November ballot, which are expected to bring a lot of voters to the polls in Florida. The Florida Supreme Court ruled in April to let voters decide on whether to legalize marijuana for recreational use and whether to give access to abortion up to 24 weeks. The current laws for marijuana are only for medicinal use. The current abortion laws just tightened in the state to...

“No one could have foreseen that a single hit of marijuana that night would have caused Ms. Spejcher to have a total psychotic break from reality, certainly not Chad and certainly not Ms. Spejcher. In light of these facts, I do not believe that further incarceration of Ms. Spejcher is appropriate,” Judge David Worley said in court. He sentenced her instead to two years of probation and 100 hours community service, educating the public on the dangers of THC.

The new research is more evidence linking cannabis to an increased risk of mental health disorders, including schizophrenia, anxiety and depression, particularly in adolescence. Teenagers who used cannabis within the last year had a dramatically higher rate of developing a psychotic disorder, according to a study published Wednesday. The study, led by researchers from the University of Toronto, found an 11 times higher risk of developing a psychotic disorder among teenagers who used cannabis compared with those who did not. When the analysis was limited to just emergency room visits and hospitalizations, there was a 27-fold increase in psychotic disorders...

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration quietly ended a $200 million program aimed at helping disadvantaged entrepreneurs open cannabis dispensaries, amid allegations of predatory lending practices. The Social Equity Cannabis Investment Fund, which was overseen by DASNY, came under fire last month after a report by local nonprofit news outlet The City alleged that DASNY entered into an agreement that allowed a private equity firm to provide $50 million to the fund at a 15% interest rate.

The Biden administration on Thursday submitted a proposal seeking to begin the formal process of reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will take a historic step toward easing federal restrictions on cannabis, with plans to announce an interim rule soon reclassifying the drug for the first time since the Controlled Substances Act was enacted more than 50 years ago, four sources with knowledge of the decision said. The Drug Enforcement Administration is expected to approve an opinion by the Department of Health and Human Services that marijuana should be reclassified from the strictest Schedule I to the less stringent Schedule III. It would be the first time that the U.S. government has acknowledged its potential medical...

Hundreds of neighbours left terrified by lawless teenagers running riot in their sleepy Sussex village held an emergency meeting to address the growing crimewave. Villagers in Barnham, West Sussex, say they are scared to leave their homes after shocking footage emerged on social media of a group of teenage girls assaulting an emergency worker after sparking a huge brawl at the station. Within 48 hours, a second clip went viral of another group of young girls appearing to loot the village's local Co-op. The chaos sent shockwaves through the leafy coastal village - so much so, an emergency public meeting...

New York weed shops are stocking their shelves with Mike Tyson-branded edibles shaped like an ear with a bite mark – a callback to Iron Mike’s heavyweight showdown with Evander Holyfield. The 57-year-old Brooklyn native — who’s planning a comeback fight against Jake Paul in July — is rolling out his Tyson 2.0 brand “Mike Bites” and he’s planning a promotional blitz at shops next month, including an event in Times Square, a spokesperson told The Post. But the gummies have already appeared at dispensaries Strain Stars in Farmingdale, Housing Works in Greenwich Village, Grow Together in Brooklyn, Flynnstoned in...

After decades of public debate and lengthy deliberations in parliament, adults in Germany will legally be able to smoke weed on the street beginning on April 1. That became possible after the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, gave a law partially legalizing cannabis the green light on Friday, and decided not to send the legislation to a mediation committee. It had been passed by the lower house last month. After years of cannabis policy that had led to unnecessary deaths and a growing black market, the new law was designed to "close Pandora's box," Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said....

A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association and funded by the National Institutes of Health found that those who smoke weed daily are at a significantly higher risk of suffering heart attack and stroke than those who don’t. “We know that toxins are released when cannabis is burned, similar to those found in tobacco smoke,” said Abra Jeffers, a data analyst at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and former researcher at the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, where the study was based. “We’ve known for a long...