Free Republic

Even the brand donning the name and iconic visage of the Grateful Dead’s weed-loving Jerry Garcia can’t seem to survive California’s rocky legal pot market. Garcia Hand Picked has pulled out of the state, a company representative confirmed to SFGATE, as weed farms across the state struggle to survive amid taut regulations and high taxes. Industry experts predict a “mass extinction event,” .....

A marijuana brand bearing the name of one of the world's most famous stoners has pulled out of California as the state's cannabis taxes gut legal operations and allow the black market to thrive. Garcia Hand Picked - founded by the relatives of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia - removed its products and operations from California as the state's laws coupled with Federal taxes have left legitimate producers paying as much as 80 percent in taxes. As businesses jump through hurdles to produce and sell marijuana, black market operations and illegal farms have managed to operate without legal barriers and...

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (KGO) -- Seven people are dead and one is critically injured following shootings at two farms in Half Moon Bay this afternoon, a source confirmed to ABC7 News. The shootings were reported at Mountain Mushroom Farm and Concord Farms. The suspect has been taken into custody, sheriff's officials said.

In the vast world of content creators and influencers, Ian Boncodin has found a remarkably simple path to success: get high in public and film it. The Bay Area YouTuber, who goes under the name Damianluck925, has gained hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of views on immediate classic videos like “I GOT WAY TOO FADED AT LOWES” and “EXTREMELY OBLITERATED AT CARL'S JR.” The cannabis schtick is so simple and so obvious that skeptics may wonder why anyone would film it, let alone watch it. But somehow, it’s become 23-year-old Boncodin’s full time career. “It’s pretty crazy how...

The number of seniors visiting emergency rooms in California for cannabis-related issues is growing, according to new research. From 2005 to 2019, the state’s emergency departments saw a 1,808 percent relative increase in the rate of cannabis-related trips among those aged 65 and older. Cannabis is currently legal for both medicinal and recreational use in California. The state became the first in the country to legalize medical marijuana in 1996, while the substance was not approved for recreational use there until November 2016. The study found that cannabis-related emergency department visits in California rose sharply among seniors from 2013 to...

A man released from prison two months ago is now the suspect in a bizarre DUI incident that included him attacking a Florida deputy, then rapping “you think I’m scared of prison,” according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. The incident happened on Christmas when a crash was reported at the intersection of Sisco Road and Olivia Lane in Pomona Park, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. Pomona Park is about 75 miles south of Jacksonville. “Upon arrival, the deputy made contact with (a man) sitting in the driver’s seat of a Hyundai Sonata that appeared to have...

It is absolutely ridiculous and absurd for Jamal Bryant to suggest that his megachurch in Atlanta should grow weed on its property in order to attract more black males. Not only is this a terrible idea, it is also illegal. I mean, come on, who in their right mind would think that a church, of all places, should be growing a controlled substance? And to suggest that it would help to attract black males and teach them farming? Give me a break. But don’t take my word for it, just listen to what the officials in Georgia have to say...

MariMed, Inc. (CSE: MRMD) (OTCQX: MRMD) announced that Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and co-founder Robert Fireman died unexpectedly on December 11, 2022. The company said it will provide further information on succession once the Board has had an opportunity to determine the best path forward. “Bob Fireman worked tirelessly and passionately until his last day as Chairman and CEO of MariMed to fulfill our mission of improving people’s lives, much as he did as a philanthropist who cared so deeply about the people and community around him,” said Jon Levine. “He was my business partner and dear friend, and I...

Marijuana appears to have the same pain-relieving effect as a placebo — or fake pill. However, researchers say media outlets continue to cover these medical trials about cannabis-based therapies positively, regardless of the outcomes. The findings come from a review of 20 clinical studies which examined the pain-relieving benefits of using marijuana involving more than 1,500 participants. Although previous studies have claimed that cannabis may help patients manage chronic pain, researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden found that those taking placebos experienced the same level of pain relief as those consuming active cannabinoid substances. “We see that cannabis studies...

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) on Tuesday poured cold water on Democratic efforts to add language allowing banks to do business with state-approved marijuana businesses and permitting reform, a priority of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), to the annual defense authorization bill. McConnell called on Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to strip the pot-related language and Manchin’s permitting reform proposal, which he dismissed as reform “in name only,” from the defense bill.

Figures from the National Poison Data System (NPDS) show adolescent cannabis use spiked by 245 percent between 2000 and 2020. Research findings were published on Monday in the journal Clinical Toxicology, and detail a decline in the rate of alcohol abuse over the same period. “Ethanol abuse cases exceeded the number of marijuana cases every year from 2000 until 2013,” explained study author Adrienne Hughes, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, in a release. However, “since 2014, marijuana exposure cases have exceeded ethanol cases every year, and by a greater amount each year than...

The fugitive accused of stabbing an elderly Massachusetts couple to death after an argument over a barking dog was captured in Florida, cops announced. Christopher Keeley, 27, was arrested Thursday at 8:20 p.m. in Miami Beach, over 1,500 miles from where he allegedly bludgeoned Carl and Vicki Mattson, both 70, in their Marshfield home, the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office said. Police believe Keeley killed the couple after an argument over a barking dog.

A 38-year-old Florida man on a stand-up electric scooter was arrested Wednesday after fleeing from Deputies and then jumping in the water. According to deputies, Jose Junior Vigil, 38, of Ocala, was charged with fleeing and eluding, resisting arrest, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Investigators say Vigil crossed U.S. 1 on Stock Island at approximately 2:47 a.m. on a scooter with no lights. Deputies attempted to stop the man as he traveled south toward Key West on the sidewalk. Vigil refused to stop for Deputies and continued to drive to a hotel near the entrance of Key...

A 76-year-old woman is suing a catering company for $30,000 after she ate a lasagna spiked with cannabis at a wedding in February, leaving her with 'severe, permanent injuries' - leading police to arrest both the bride and the caterer. Virginia Taylor-Svoboda attended the wedding of a relative before which the bride, Danya Svoboda, 42, allegedly schemed with Joycelyn Bryant, 31, of Joycelyn's Southern Kitchen, to serve bread, pasta and desserts laced with marijuana to nearly 70 unknowing guests. They started feeling sick soon after eating the variety of foods prepared by Bryant and at least eight people were taken...

Legal pot shops in New York are one step closer to becoming a reality.On Monday, Nov. 21, the state’s Cannabis Control Board approved the first recreational marijuana licenses for 28 business owners and eight nonprofit organizations.After the Office of Cannabis Management received over 900 applications for Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licenses, the state board will make up to 150 licenses available to individual businesses and another 25 will be reserved for nonprofits, the board said.Most of the retail licenses announced Monday went to business owners who have been most impacted by the war on drugs, as part of the...

A new study has revealed that marijuana smokers have a higher rate of emphysema and airway diseases compared to cigarette smokers. Researchers have found marijuana smokers have a higher rate of emphysema and airway diseases compared to cigarette smokers. The findings, from the University of Ottawa and The Ottawa Hospital, will be published today (November 15) in the journal Radiology. In the study, the chest CT examinations of 56 marijuana smokers, 57 non-smokers, and 33 tobacco-only smokers between 2005 and 2020 were analyzed. The investigators determined higher rates of paraseptal emphysema (PSE) and airway inflammatory changes, such as bronchiectasis, bronchial...

The founder and former CEO of collapsing crypto trader Sam Bankman-Fried is said to be holed up with members of his inner circle in the Bahamas while his empire collapses around him. Bankman-Fried, 30, resigned from FTX on Friday, as the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy and reports emerged that up to $2 billion in client funds had vanished from the company's books in recent weeks. According to Coin Telegraph, the disgraced former CEO is holed up at the Albany Tower alongside FTX co-founder Gary Wang and the company's director of engineering Nishad Singh.

CDC research shows excessive drinking is killing Americans in the “prime of their life”America has a drinking problem. Excessive alcohol consumption contributed to an estimated one in eight deaths—12.9 percent—of Americans ages 20 to 64, according to new research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Drinking too much booze is also at fault for one in five deaths—20.3 percent—of Americans ages 20 to 49, per the study published last week in the journal JAMA Network Open. The findings, which examined data from 2015 to 2019, show that alcohol is killing Americans during their prime working years, suggesting...

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Forty-two percent of America’s young-but-cynical Generation Z are dealing with a mental health condition, a new survey finds. A range of these issues were largely identified during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis by Harmony Healthcare IT suggests tens of millions of Gen Z young adults started dealing with a mental health problem in the months immediately following the start of the global pandemic in March 2020. The Indiana-based data management company’s survey highlights a staggering percentage of young adults diagnosed with anxiety, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the...

Voters in five states, including four that are among the most conservative in the country, are deciding on whether to legalize recreational marijuana this election. If passed in each state, Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota would join 19 other states and the District of Columbia where cannabis has already been legalized for personal use. All except Maryland backed Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, underscoring that the legalization effort increasingly spans the political spectrum and is even gaining support in some of the most overwhelmingly Republican parts of the nation. "The more people learn about cannabis...