Free Republic

F.B.I. agents on Wednesday searched the business office of a powerful Democratic state legislator in Virginia who had played a key role in a high-stakes congressional redistricting fight. The legislator, L. Louise Lucas of Portsmouth, is a senior leader in the State Senate, where she has served for more than 30 years. Two people familiar with the case said the search was related to an investigation opened during the Biden administration that has continued, examining possible corruption and bribery related to marijuana dispensary businesses. The F.B.I. agents executed a search warrant at an office in Portsmouth, Va., for businesses that...

On Wednesday, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents were seen carrying boxes out of the offices of Democratic Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas, a powerful ally of Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D). A SWAT team also raided a cannabis dispensary located next to the Lucas offices in Portsmouth, according to a Fox News report. Lucas is known for owning several dispensary businesses and had previously been accused of selling illegal marijuana products. The FBI confirmed 10 locations were being served with court-authorized criminal warrants. The federal investigation appears to be related to alleged illegal marijuana sales as well as alleged political corruption....

A top Virginia Democrat's office is being raided by the FBI on Wednesday morning. The federal agency raided the office of Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore L Louise Lucas in Portsmouth, Virginia on Wednesday per Fox News. Fox also reported that this action was in relation to a 'major corruption probe,' adding that the 'FBI is serving multiple search warrants, approved by a federal judge, at her office and a next-door cannabis dispensary.' Lucas was captured arriving on the scene as the FBI searched her office, per a live broadcast from the event. Lucas told reporters on the scene that...

Federal agents on Wednesday morning raided the Portsmouth office of state Sen. Louise Lucas, one of Virginia’s most powerful Democratic lawmakers, a representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigations confirmed Wednesday, after multiple news outlets reported an extensive law enforcement operation that included FBI agents, SWAT teams and court-authorized searches tied to several locations across the commonwealth. FBI spokeswoman Cassandra Temple told The Mercury at the scene: “We are conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity today.” She wouldn’t confirm or answer any other questions, including whether anyone had been arrested. ..... Adjacent to Lucas’ office is The Cannabis Outlet, a hemp-...

US residents are spending more money to purchase legal cannabis than they are on chocolate, craft beer and topical pain relief. A report from MJBizDaily showed Americans spent roughly $30 billion on legal marijuana in 2022 while only spending around $20 billion on chocolate. The cannabis purchases eclipsed sales of “feel-good” products, including beer, opioid medications and topical pain relief, the report stated. Though the legal purchase of marijuana is becoming increasingly popular, sales still fell behind the tobacco industry, which made around $53 billion last year despite a steady decline.

Using cannabis may cause changes in the human body's epigenome, a study of over 1,000 adults suggests. The epigenome functions like a set of switches, activating or deactivating genes to change how our bodies function. "We observed associations between cumulative marijuana use and multiple epigenetic markers across time," explained epidemiologist Lifang Hou from Northwestern University when the research was published in 2023.

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...

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.

Indeed, research confirms people who use cannabis are four times more likely to develop chronic psychosis, or schizophrenia, compared to people who don’t. For people who smoke every day or use higher potency products, the risk is up to six times higher. One study found eliminating marijuana use in adolescents would reduce global rates of schizophrenia by 10%. Doctors and lawmakers in California want cannabis producers to warn consumers of this and other health risks on their package labels and in advertising, similar to requirements for cigarettes. They also want sellers to distribute health brochures to first-time customers outlining the...

A study by John Hopkins University will pay people for consuming cannabis and alcohol.Tory Spindle Ph.D., the project's principal investigator, announced that they are looking for healthy adults between the ages of 21 and 50 from the Baltimore area to assess their performance after consuming cannabis-infused brownies and alcohol.Those interested will need to complete a questionnaire and participate in an in-person screening session to see if they are accepted into the study.Those selected to participate in the study must go through seven 10-hour long drug administration sessions at the Bayview Medical Center.They will complete various tests to analyze their performance.How...

Grapefruits contain a compound that leads to significantly increased levels of medication in your bloodstream. While most medications are safe to use with grapefruit, there are a few that can have serious side effects when absorbed at higher than usual levels. Several studies have shown that CBD is similar to furanocoumarin (grapefruit) in its ability to inhibit or decrease the activity, of CYPs. While there haven’t been enough studies to determine what the implications of CBD’s CYP-inhibiting effects are, it’s clear that CBD interacts with CYPs in a significant way. If you’ve never had to worry about grapefruit intake, then...

A new Norwegian study has shown that alcohol and drug abuse is much more common among patients suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression than in the population at large. The study, conducted by the Norwegian Institute for Public Health, looked into the extent of drug and alcohol dependence among Norwegians diagnosed with serious mental health disorders. Every fourth patient with schizophrenia and every fifth with bipolar disorder also suffered problems with substance abuse.  One in ten people who were severely depressed also had problems with alcohol or drug-related health problems.  It is estimated that one in forty Norwegians indulge...

Tracy James knew the drug she'd just swallowed was working when her old injuries from high school started twitching with new life. Pressure throbbed from a forgotten busted knee. Her ankle tingled. The fingers she'd sprained roller-skating decades back began to ache. Whatever the 37-year-old had just taken, it shot feeling back into the long-gone ailments. "When I did vomit, it was one of the most amazing moments of my life." For the past 45 minutes, the hut had been dark and silent, the air dripping with jungle moisture. James and nearly 20 others were sitting cross-legged on ornate rugs....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "Magic mushrooms," used by Native Americans and hippies to alter consciousness, appear to have similar mystical effects on many people, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday. At least one team of doctors is already testing whether using them can help terminal cancer patients come to terms with their fates. More than 60 percent of volunteers given capsules of psilocybin derived from mushrooms said they had a "full mystical experience." "Many of the volunteers in our study reported, in one way or another, a direct, personal experience of the 'beyond,'" said Roland Griffiths, a professor of neuroscience and psychiatry...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that a small congregation in New Mexico may use hallucinogenic tea as part of a four-hour ritual intended to connect with God. Justices, in their first religious freedom decision under Chief Justice John Roberts, moved decisively to keep the government out of a church's religious practice. Federal drug agents should have been barred from confiscating the hoasca tea of the Brazil-based church, Roberts wrote in the decision. The tea, which contains an illegal drug known as DMT, is considered sacred to members of O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal, which has...

Alexander Shulgin, Sasha to his friends, lives with his wife, Ann, 30 minutes inland from the San Francisco Bay on a hillside dotted with valley oak, Monterey pine and hallucinogenic cactus. At 79, he stoops a little, but he is still well over six feet tall, with a mane of white hair, a matching beard and a wardrobe that runs toward sandals, slacks and short-sleeved shirts with vaguely ethnic patterns. He lives modestly, drawing income from a small stock portfolio supplemented by his Social Security and the rent that two phone companies pay him to put cell towers on his...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- Illegal drug use and cigarette smoking among sixth- through 12th-graders increased slightly during the last school year compared with the year before, says a new survey. Alcohol use remained at the same level during both years.</p> <p>Nearly one-fourth, or 24 percent, of these teenagers reported using illegal drugs -- marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and others -- at least once in the 2002-2003 school year, compared with 22 percent the year before, according to the private study by Pride Surveys.</p>

...researchers have found equipment used to prepare hallucinogenic drugs for sniffing, and dated them back to prehistoric South American tribes. Quetta Kaye, of University College London, and Scott Fitzpatrick, an archeologist from North Carolina State University, made the breakthrough on the Caribbean island of Carriacou. They found ceramic bowls, as well as tubes for inhaling drug fumes or powders, which appear to have originated in South America between 100BC and 400BC and were then carried 400 miles to the islands. While the use of such paraphernalia for inhaling drugs is well-known, the age of the bowls has thrown new light...

Russian archaeologist says Merv was origin of Zoroastrianism TEHRAN, June 10 (MNA) – Russian archaeologist Victor Sarianidi believes that Merv, a province in southern Turkmenistan, was the cradle of Zoroastrianism, the Persian service of Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported here Saturday. According to Sarianidi, his archeological team has recently discovered some Zoroastrians’ temples in the region. Each has two fire temples -- one was presumably used for religious ceremonies and one for cooking, he added. The temples date back to some 3,000 years BC, estimated the archaeologist. Sarianidi had already named the legendary land of Margush as the origin...

Archaeologist tells of digs in Central AsiaVictor Sariyiannidis has spent his life searching for traces of Greeks Findings from the royal Bactrian graves. A statuette of a goat, exquisitely fine work cast in gold, a gold ring engraved with a seated Athena and an inscription, and a gold clasp . These are just some of the 20,000 ancient pieces of jewelry Sariyiannidis unearthed at the site of Tilia Tepe in 1979 in what is now Afghanistan. By Effi Hadzioannidou - Kathimerini When Victor Sariyiannidis discovered the 20,000 pieces of gold jewelry in 1979 in Tilia Tepe in Afghanistan — an...