Free Republic

WELLSTON, Oklahoma—One day in the early fall of 2018, while scrutinizing the finances of his thriving Colorado garden supply business, Chip Baker noticed a curious development: transportation costs had spiked fivefold. The surge, he quickly determined, was due to huge shipments of cultivation supplies—potting soil, grow lights, dehumidifiers, fertilizer, water filters—to Oklahoma. Baker, who has been growing weed since he was 13 in Georgia, has cultivated crops in some of the world’s most notorious marijuana hotspots, from the forests of Northern California’s Emerald Triangle to the lake region of Switzerland to the mountains of Colorado. Oklahoma was not exactly on...

This is an excerpt for discussion purposes, see article for full story. More and more Americans are reporting near-constant cannabis use, as legalization forges ahead. The proliferation of retail boutiques in California did not really bother him, Evan told me, but the billboards did. Advertisements for delivery, advertisements promoting the substance for relaxation, for fun, for health. “Shop. It’s legal.” “Hello marijuana, goodbye hangover.” “It’s not a trigger,” he told me. “But it is in your face.” When we spoke, he had been sober for a hard-fought seven weeks: seven weeks of sleepless nights, intermittent nausea, irritability, trouble focusing, and...

Full title: Pope: Christians murdered by Muslims are testament to God’s plan for peaceful coexistence of Christians and Muslims. “The lives of 19 religious men and women martyred during the Algerian civil war are a testament to God’s plan of love and peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims, Pope Francis said.” A more serious analyst would note that they were, after all, murdered, so they might not be that great a testimony to peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims. But this is the Pope who has said that “Muslim terrorism does not exist.”

DALLAS - Following the shooting death of Botham Jean by the hands of Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger, multiple search warrants were executed at Jean’s apartment as part of the investigation. One of the warrants became a public record Thursday afternoon when it was returned to the judge who signed it. It was shortly after Jean’s funeral had ended. It listed several items found in Jean's apartment, including a small amount of marijuana.

FLORENCE, Ky. – Briana and Kaitlyn Himes said they feel lucky they're not planning a funeral for their parents after five adults overdosed on heroin at their parents' mobile home Saturday. While the adults got high and passed out, three children they were supposed to be caring for – ages 1, 11 and 12 - were in the house with them, according to a Boone County deputy's report. The Himes sisters said the adults might have died if their uncle, Michael Young, hadn't arrived just in time to save them.

New SAMHSA report shows that 24.6 million Americans aged 12 or older were current (past month) illicit drug users – 9.4 percent of this age group. Marijuana was by far the most commonly used illicit drug with approximately 19.8 million current users aged 12 and older. In terms of other illicit drugs, the report indicates that among those aged 12 and older, there were 4.5 million current nonmedical users of prescription pain relievers (1.7 percent), 1.5 million current cocaine users (0.6 percent), 595,000 methamphetamine users (0.2 percent), and 289,000 current heroin users (0.1 percent). Although an estimated 22.7 million persons...

Already under attack by critics who say he’s lost interest in his job, President Obama added fuel to the fire on Thursday with a drowsy appearance in Texas. A heavy-lidded Obama struggled to keep his head up during a one-on-one talk in an Austin cafe with a college student whose parents lost their jobs last year.

~snip~ “There are fewer risks than people think, and that makes sense to me,” Pacey said. “The single thing that affects fertility is how big your testicles are. If you’re blessed with big testicles, you’ll produce more sperm.”