Hash (Hashish): What Is It And How Does It Differ From Marijuana

It doesn’t matter if you’re a stoner of yore, a cannabis newb, or just an observer, you’re probably familiar with the common marijuana terms like joint, bong, and weed.

But when it comes to the more technical terms like shatter, wax, and Thai stick, things get a little fuzzy (and not in the good way). Case in point: hash (hashish).

People are so confused (and in many cases, bent out of shape) about the hash debate, we — the experts at Honest Marijuana — decided to take the opportunity to set the record straight about this unique form for marijuana.

To do that, we’re going to start at the very beginning with a bit of simple bud biology and track it all the way through to the final product: hash/hashish.

Doing it this way — instead of just giving you the answer up front — will help you understand ALL the different forms of cannabis and how they relate to each other.

Bud Biology: It All Starts With Trichomes

Cannabis is a plant just like any other. It comes in different varieties: indica, sativa, and ruderalis (or hemp). It has the same parts — roots, stem, leaves, and flowers — and grows well in a specific climate.

The roots, stems, and leaves are pretty much inconsequential to our discussion of hash, so we can discard them along the wayside.

But the flowers? That’s where all the action is. And actually, it’s not the flowers (or bud) that we’re really interested in. It’s what’s ON the flowers that gets us excited.

When you zoom in on the cannabis flowers, you see tiny mushroom-like tendrils covering the surface. Those tendrils are called trichomes. They’re the beginning of the hashish vs. marijuana debate.

What Are Trichomes?

Trichomes are the resin glands of the cannabis plant. Inside those resin glands, the cannabis plant produces THC, CBD, CBG, CBN, and other active cannabinoids.

The trichomes are actually a defense mechanism to deter hungry herbivores from devouring the plant. But because those trichomes are psychoactive, humans can use them to get high or treat a wide variety of medical conditions.

So when you get right down to it, trichomes are what all the fuss is about. The leaves and plant matter in the flowers do contain a low concentration of cannabinoids, but not enough to have a significant effect.

It’s the trichomes that we’re really concerned about.

The Only Two Choices

Let’s say you’re holding a cannabis flower in your hand. To get to the trichomes (and get high or get your medicine), you only have two choices:

• Grind it up and add it to a joint, blunt, or edible
• Extract the trichomes into a concentrate

At this point, you’re probably saying to yourself, “Wait, what? That can’t be right. What about all those different forms of cannabis I’ve been reading about on the internetz?”

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is where the learning starts.

Everything other than dried, cured, and decarboxylated cannabis (the stuff you pack in your bong) is just trichomes extracted from the plant matter and formed into a concentrate.

That includes:

• Wax
• Shatter
• THC pills
• Honey oil
• Liquid THC
• Tinctures
• CBD oil
• Cannabis oil (Rick Simpson oil)
• THC strips
• CBD strips
• Cannabis lube
• THC and CBD patches
• Isolate
• Distillates
• Vape juice

And pretty much anything else you can think of (like hash/hashish). They’re all just extracted and concentrated trichomes in one form or another.

Think of those trichomes as blueberries. Once you pick them off the plant, you can do all kinds of different things with them.

You can eat them like candy, bake them in a pie or cake, mash them up in a smoothie, or anything else your creative little mind can come up with.

The same goes for trichomes. But in this case, you can’t pick them off with your fingers. You have to extract (separate) them from the plant matter by other means.

The Extraction Process

We’ve been talking a lot about extracted trichomes in this article because they are pivotal to the hash vs. marijuana question. It’s essential that we talk a bit about the extraction process itself because it has a significant effect on what form of concentrate you end up with.

So what exactly is extraction? To help you understand, let’s go back to the blueberry example for a moment.

Let’s say you wanted to put some blueberries in your smoothie. You could cut a branch off the plant and stuff it into your blender, but you’d get all the extra plant material rather than just blueberries.

Now let’s say that you take the time to pick the blueberries off the branch before putting them in your blender. You’ve essentially made a concentrate of pure blueberries.

The bud you buy at your local dispensary is like that blueberry branch — wood, leaves, and berries together. Yes, it’s got trichomes on it, but it’s got other stuff as well.

So when you go to use it, you’ll get a mix of trichomes and plant matter. You won’t be maximizing the amount of trichomes you take in.

But with a concentrated extract, all you get are trichomes. That makes the high higher and the medicine more potent. In many cases, that’s the entire purpose of taking cannabis products.

Methods For Extracting Trichomes

As we mentioned earlier, the extraction process you use has a large effect on the form of the concentrate you end up with.

Extraction methods vary from the simple habit of kief collection in a grinder to the extremely complex process of CO2 extraction.

While the former you can do on your own at home without putting your life at risk, the latter requires special equipment, knowledge, and experience and can be deadly if undertaken incorrectly.

In-between those two processes lie other extraction methods, such as:

• Ice water extraction
• Butane extraction
• Alcohol extraction
• Ethanol extraction
• Bubble hash extraction

You can also go old school and just rub a nug of bud between your hands until all the sticky stuff comes off. Put the plant matter down and keep rubbing your hands together until you make a gooey ball. These are the trichomes we’ve been talking about.

Congrats! You just made a concentrate.

So now that we know a bit about cannabis plant biology, trichomes, and concentrates, let’s return to the original question: What is hash?

What Is Hash?

Hash (short for hashish) is a cannabis concentrate made from fresh resin glands (trichomes) that have been separated from the plant matter of a marijuana plant. That ball of goo you rolled in the last section is actually hash.

Before all these fancy extraction methods were invented, cannaseurs just rubbed cannabis flowers between their hands until all the trichomes came off. Then they smooshed all the trichomes together in a brick, bar, or block, packaged it, and sold it as hashish.

It was, and still is, just that simple.

Too Many Terms

The confusion comes about because there are just so many stinkin’ terms for the same thing in the cannabis community. Cannabis is weed and pot and Mary Jane and marijuana and chronic and bud and skunk and about a hundred other terms.

Concentrate — even though it’s all the same thing — is honey oil and wax and shatter and hash and hashish and cannabis oil and tincture and about a hundred other terms.

Don’t let the language fool you. It doesn’t matter what you’re talking about, if it’s in some form other than dried bud (plant matter and trichomes together), it’s just a concentrate.

So if you’re not sure what you’re looking at — you don’t know if it’s wax or shatter or budder or hashish — use the term “concentrate” and you’ll be fine. Sure, your friends may look at you funny, but, technically, you won’t be wrong.

How Does Hash Differ From Marijuana

This is a tricky question to answer because hashish is made from the marijuana plant. At the most basic level, it all goes back to the concepts we outlined in the section The Only Two Choices.

When those in the know say “marijuana,” they’re referring to the flowers of the cannabis plant (where all the trichomes live). So marijuana (or pot or weed) is what you roll in your joints, burn in your bongs, or bake in your edibles. In many cases the terms “cannabis” and “marijuana” are synonymous.

Hash, on the other hand, is a concentrate made from the trichomes of the cannabis or marijuana plant. That’s the first noticeable difference: one is made from the other.

But perhaps the most significant difference between hash and marijuana is potency.

On average, regular marijuana clocks in at 10-15 percent THC or CBD. Creative growers have even pushed those numbers toward 50 percent to give us some of the strongest weed strains available.

Hash, on the other hand, clocks in at anywhere from 60 percent to almost 90 percent THC depending on the original strain used to make the concentrate.

That significant difference in THC makes for one heck of a ride.

Start Small And Take It Slow

If you’re wary about trying hash, don’t be. Just make sure to buy from a reputable dealer so you know what you’re getting.

Then start with a small dose and increase slowly from there. Remember, this stuff is powerful and you don’t want to ruin your fun by getting too high your first time around.

For more information on all things cannabis and to check out our 100-percent all-natural marijuana products, visit HonestMarijuana.com today.

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Georgia Governor Signs Medical Marijuana Bill Into Law

Georgia’s governor has signed into law a bill that allows patients who can legally possess low-THC marijuana oil for medical purchases to now purchase it legally.

Governor Brian Kemp  signed the measure on Wednesday, calling the new law a “carefully crafted, balanced” measure that would expand access for patients.

“Instead of crossing state lines, breaking numerous laws in the process, these families can now stay in our great state,” said Kemp. “We are ensuring that these families can purchase what works for their loved ones without creating a slippery slope.”

According to the Associated Press, the legislation allows the in-state production and sale of the marijuana oil and closes a loophole in a 2015 law that banned growing, buying and selling the drug but allowed certain patients to possess it.

Current state law allows people with 16 specific conditions, including Parkinson’s disease and cancer, to possess cannabis oil with less than 5% THC. Accirding ti Kemp’s spokesman, Cody Hall, the new law takes effect July 1.

It grants up to six growing licenses to private companies — two for larger organizations and four for smaller organizations. “It also gives pharmacies priority for distributing the drug, but allows a state commission to seek out independent retail locations if it determines there is a need”, reports the AP. “The commission can also attempt to legally obtain the oil from other states. Two universities will be allowed to seek federal approval to research and produce the oil.”

The Republican-controlled legislature approved the measure despite objection from many Georgia sheriffs, who “absolutely do not support” allowing so many private producers to grow marijuana to produce the oil, said Terry Norris, executive director of the Georgia Sheriff’s Association.

“This bill is a decisive step toward recreational marijuana whether our leadership at the state level agrees or not,” Norris said, adding that he’s concerned about low regulation and over-production of the drug. Norris said he hopes the state commission overseeing the production and distribution of the oil will be vigilant about these issues.

Republican Rep. Micah Gravley of Douglasville, the bill’s author, has repeatedly denied his bill will lead to the legalization of recreational marijuana.

Thirty-four states already have comprehensive medical marijuana programs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Georgia is among at least 12 other states that allow patients to possess a lower potency form of the drug.

“Overall, it’s a step forward. History has been made in Georgia,” said Corey Lowe, who has been using the oil to contain her teenage daughter’s seizures since 2014.

“A lot of people said it’s the Bible Belt, we’re in the South. Everything was against us,” said Lowe. She added: “I just thought that it wouldn’t be in my lifetime.”

Shannon Cloud came to the Capitol several times this session to advocate for the proposal. She arrived at the bill signing with her 13-year-old daughter, who her mother said suffers from seizures as a result of Dravet syndrome, a rare lifelong form of epilepsy that has also impaired her mental development.

Cloud said in a recent interview that she and other parents are satisfied with the measure and relieved to know they will have access to the drug.

There are currently about 8,400 people signed up on the program’s registry for a low THC Oil Registry Card.

“I think those numbers will jump up pretty quickly and more people will get help,” Cloud said. “A lot of people haven’t bothered to get the card because they don’t have a way to get (the drug).”

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Book Review: Jorma Kaukonen’s ‘Been So Life: My Life in Music’

Jefferson Airplane, circa 1968, from left: Marty Balin, Grace Slick, Spencer Dryden, Paul Kantner, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady

With Woodstock 50 four months away, 1969 festival alum and former Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen is in the news with a his autobiography, Been So Long: My Life in Music.

Hardcore Airplane and Hot Tuna fans already know the basic outline of Kaukonen’s life: An authenticity-obsessed student of traditional, finger-picking country blues in the folk revival of the early ’60s (Harlem legend Blind Gary Davis was his special inspiration), Kaukonen catapulted to stardom when he went electric as the lead guitarist for Jefferson Airplane, the flagship band of the psychedelic San Francisco sound.

Together with Airplane bassist and childhood friend Jack Casady, they formed Hot Tuna as a side group in 1969 that returned to Kaukonen’s country-blues roots before again going electric, this time as a heavy blues-rock power trio in the style of Cream. After Tuna split up in the late ’70s, he briefly experimented with the punk-blues band Vital Parts, but this didn’t go over well with his fans. In the ’80s, Kaukonen spiraled downhill; by the time he was called back for an Airplane reunion album in 1989 his career was at a nadir.

It’s hardly surprising that tales of drug use devour many pages. Cannabis was a “sacrament” for these early San Francisco musical pioneers, a rite of cultural bonding as well as enhancement to creativity. LSD trips followed.

Kaukonen subsequently revived Tuna as a country-blues group. In the 21st century, he went back to the land on a farm in rural Ohio where he now teaches guitar to kids from across the country, passing that old-school blues method to a new generation.

In Been So Long, the real geeks get the details on every model of guitar Kaukonen ever played, as well as every make of car and motorcycle he ever rode. Fanatics get an inside look at his Finnish-Jewish ethnic roots, his boyhood as a globe-trotting Foreign Service brat, his early gigging on the Washington, DC bar scene and his recruitment into the Airplane.

It’s hardly surprising that tales of drug use devour many pages. Cannabis was a “sacrament” for these early San Francisco musical pioneers, a rite of cultural bonding as well as enhancement to creativity. LSD trips followed. Kaukonen seems a little self-conscious about this, even denying that the Airplane, quintessential icon of the countercultural explosion, was a “hippie band.” He claims to have never actually lived in Haight-Ashbury, but in fact the Airplane’s communal house at 2400 Fulton Street was just a few blocks north of the Haight.

Kaukonen’s reticence about identifying with the hippies may have to do with acute awareness of his own self-destructive streak. For him, speed was a “work drug” used habitually to keep going through shows. His decline in the ’80s was, in large part, due to alcoholism and heroin use. The psychological toll of the related nightmare—financial woes, deeply dysfunctional relationships, rusting musical chops—is depicted unsparingly.

But Kaukonen lands on his feet in the end, emerging from his trial by fire chastened but wiser. He establishes a new stable and happy family life and wins less glittery, but more meaningful acclaim as one of the nation’s foremost preservationists of intangible Americana. The embryonic journey he embarked on in the heady ’60s has brought him a hard-won fulfillment.

More Book Reviews

Let’s Go (So We Can Go Back) by Jeff Tweedy

Gold Dust Woman: A Biography of Stevie Nicks by Stephen Davis

Fare The Well: The Final Chapter of the Grateful Dead’s Long, Strange Trip by Joel Selvin

This article appears in Issue 35. Subscribe to the magazine here.

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Alabama Senate Committee Unanimously Passes Bill to Decriminalize Marijuana Possession

Legislation to decriminalize the possession of personal amounts of marijuana has been passed unanimously by an Alabama Senate committee.

The Senate Judiciary Committee recently voted 11 to 0 to pass the marijuana decriminalization bill, sending it towards a vote by the full Senate. The vote marks a massive shift increase in support from just last year, when the committee passed the measure 6 to 4 (though it eventually stalled in the House). If passed by the full Senate, the measure would then need to pass the House of Representatives before it can be sent to Governor Kay Ivey (R) for consideration.

Under the proposed law, those caught possessing no more than an ounce of marijuana would be hit with, at most, a $250 fine for the first two offenses, and a $500 fine for subsequent offenses. As noted by Marijuana Moment, possession of more than an ounce but less than two ounces would be considered a class A misdemeanor, while possession of more than two ounces would be a class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The legislation could “decrease receipts” for the state government’s general fund from fines, according to a state fiscal note, but could also “decrease the obligations of local jails, the State General Fund, the district attorneys, the Department of Corrections, community corrections programs, and the Board of Pardons and Paroles by an undetermined amount dependent upon the number of persons charged with and convicted of the offenses provided by this bill and the penalties imposed.”

“It’s encouraging that even in one of the most conservative states in the country, lawmakers are recognizing that jailing marijuana consumers doesn’t make sense,” Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, told Marijuana Moment.

“North Carolina and Mississippi enacted similar reforms back in the 1970s,” she said. “Even a brief jail stay can be traumatic—or even deadly—and can disrupt housing and employment, with devastating consequences.”

The measure was introduced last month by Senator Bobby Singleton (D), who called the state’s current laws arbitrary.

“We can’t continue to send people to prison for petty crimes that are definitely nonviolent,” he told WHNT News 19 last month.

Below is a look at Alabama’s current marijuana possession laws:

Any Amount Deemed for Personal Use:

Penalty: Misdemeanor with up to 1 year in jail and/or a $6,000 fine

Other than Personal Use:

Penalty: Felony with 1 year and 1 day in prison mandatory with a 10 year maximum, and/or a $15,000 fine.

For further information on Alabama’s marijuana laws – including penalties for distribution and cultivation – click here. For recent updates to Alabama’s marijuana possession laws and other Alabama-related stories, click here.

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Nectar Collectors: What Are They And How to Use Them

Source: TorontoHempCompany.com

If you love dabbing but aren’t too keen on toting or passing a massive rig and all the gear that goes with it, we’ve got the solution for you. Allow us to introduce you to the next big thing in portable pot paraphernalia: the nectar collector!

In this article, the experts at Honest Marijuana reveal everything you need to know about the nectar collector and how to use this newest marijuana masterpiece.

What Is A Nectar Collector?

Source: SkyHighSmokeShop.com

A nectar collector (a.k.a. dab straw or honey straw) is a miniature dab rig used to vaporize concentrates like shatter or wax. We like to think of it as a small, hand-held bubbler, although, as you’ll see, the bubbles aren’t always necessary.

You’ll notice that we used the word “vaporize” in the description above. That’s what nectar collectors do — they vaporize the concentrate instead of burning it.

But don’t get the wrong idea; they’re not vaporizers per se. The cannabis community reserves that term for the vape pen (or e-cigarette).

Technically speaking, Nectar Collector® is the brand name for the first vertical vaporizer to appear on the market. As its popularity spread, more and more people used the brand name instead of “dab straw” or “honey straw.”

As a result, nectar collector (lower case and without the trademark symbol) became the go-to words for this new product.

It’s very similar to what happened to the term “facial tissue,” or just “tissue,” after Kleenex® came out. That product became so popular everyone started referring to facial tissues by the brand name Kleenex® instead of the more general term.

To this day, many Americans still say, “Hand me a Kleenex® please,” even if the box on the table is just a generic facial tissue.

So if you wanted to be really pedantic and doucheish, you could try correcting everyone’s grammar — all Nectar Collectors® are vertical vaporizers, but not all vertical vaporizers are Nectar Collectors® (sounds like something off the SATs, right?).

We wouldn’t recommend that unless you want to be excluded from the next smoke sesh at your friend’s house. Just let it slide.

Types Of Nectar Collector

Nectar collectors, like dab rigs and bongs, come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and materials. Some creative cannaseurs even go the DIY route and build their own homemade products.

Most store-bought nectar collectors are about seven inches long, which makes them super convenient for packing and travel.

They’re also all roughly the same shape, but variations do exist to set one brand apart from the others. Most of these differences are just aesthetic and don’t affect the actual function of the nectar collector.

That said, nectar collectors do fall into two distinct categories — glass or silicone — and these materials have a profound effect on your smoking experience.

Glass

Source: HippieButler.com

Like dab rigs and bongs, most nectar collectors are made out of glass for one very specific reason: glass doesn’t affect the flavor of your vapor.

We won’t get too technical here, but the chemistry of glass means that vapor basically slides along the surface without interacting with the molecules along the way.

That preserves the unique chemical makeup of the vapor and won’t make your Fruity Pebbles wax taste like anything but Fruity Pebbles.

Silicone

Source: GreenTherapyMd.com

You can also purchase silicone nectar collectors if that tickles your fancy.

The nice thing about a silicone nectar collector is that you can store it in your freezer without damaging the collector itself. Then when it’s time to toke, the cold silicone cools the vapor to the point that it won’t irritate your throat on the way down.

Another benefit of silicone (or other acrylic material) is that it travels better than glass (it won’t break as easily).

But silicone isn’t without its drawbacks. The primary one being that you’ll notice a significant change in flavor when compared to a glass nectar collector. With a silicone nectar collector, the vapor will have a more “plasticky” taste, which could make the whole experience less than enjoyable.

Anatomy Of A Nectar Collector

Source: DoItYourself420.com

Nectar collectors have three main parts:

• Neck
• Body
• Tip

The neck is the mouthpiece through which you’ll inhale the cannabis vapor. Think of it like the neck of a bong or dab rig.

The body falls between the neck and the tip and is similar to the water chamber in a bong or dab rig. In most nectar collectors, you have the choice to use water in the body or not (wet nectar collector vs. dry nectar collector).

Most times, you’ll want to pour some water into the body before toking because the water will remove a lot of the harshness in the vapor before it reaches your throat and lungs.

Finally, the tip of a nectar collector is like the bowl of a bong or the nail of a dab rig — it’s where all the action happens.

Your nectar collector may have a quartz tip, a titanium tip, or allow you to switch back and forth between different tips. Each type of tip has its own benefits, but try them both and use the one you prefer most.

How To Use A Nectar Collector

Source: PremiumGlassPipes.com

Using a nectar collector is really very simple and is actually similar to using a regular dab rig…with a few minor differences.

First and foremost, nectar collectors don’t have a nail or banger, so you place the cannabis concentrate in a glass serving dish and vaporize it from there. This is convenient because you can store a large amount of concentrate in the dish (with a lid, of course) and take hits off it at your leisure.

The other differences between using a nectar collector and a dab rig appear in the actual process of vaporization. Check out this step-by-step guide for details:

1. Get your dish and concentrate ready. That means removing the lid and placing the dish nearby.
2. Heat the tip of your nectar collector with a butane torch until it’s red hot, just like you would heat the nail or banger on your regular dab rig.
3. Let the tip cool for a minute.
4. Put down the butane torch (turn it off first, yo!).
5. Pick up the dish holding your concentrate.
6. When the tip has cooled to your liking, put your mouth on the neck and tap the hot tip in the dish along the pile of concentrate. The longer you hold the tip in the concentrate, the more vapor you’ll get. Tapping the tip of the nectar collector (like tapping a cigarette against a flat surface) helps you control the amount of vapor you create in the body.
7. Inhale.
8. Exhale.
9. Enjoy!
10. Repeat as necessary.

As you can see, you don’t need the other tools necessary to operate a regular dab rig. All you need is the nectar collector itself, your dish of concentrate, and an open flame.

Benefits Of A Nectar Collector

• Portable — Nectar collectors are much smaller than your traditional dab rig, which makes them an easy choice for long trips or just a day out on the town.
• Fun — The novelty of a nectar collector makes it a fun option for parties and regular use.
• Self-Contained — Everything you need is right there. No tools necessary. Just wax or shatter and a flame and you’re good to go.
• Easy To Clean — Most nectar collectors break down into three pieces (neck, body, and tip), so you can clean them quickly and easily with just some running water.
• Easy To Use — As we described above, nectar collectors are super easy to use, making them a good alternative to other pieces of cannabis equipment.

Drawbacks Of A Nectar Collector

• Less Temperature Control — Getting the right temperature for maximal vaporization can be difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing.
• Neck Can Fall Out Of Body — If you’re not careful, the neck can fall out of the body and cause all kinds of problems.
• Lower Quality Hit — Because of the lack of accurate temperature control, nectar collectors do sometimes produce a lower quality hit.
• Can Be Unwieldy — Even though nectar collectors are smaller than full-size dab rigs, they can still be awkward to pass.

Should You Try A Nectar Collector?

Source: PremiumGlassPipes.com

If you have some experience dabbing with a dab rig, by all means, give a nectar collector a try. They’re great for travel — or just a quick one-hit without getting out all the gear associated with a dab rig.

We suggest finding a friend or acquaintance who has a nectar collector and asking to try it out. You might even ask them over and supply the wax yourself. That way, they have no reason to decline.

You can take the nectar collector for a spin, see if you like it, and then make the decision to buy one or not. Ultimately, it might not be your favorite tool of the toking trade, but you can always go back to the dab rig for your regular fix.

At the very least, a nectar collector is a fun alternative to the tried-and-trusted cannabis consumption methods that you’re familiar with. And, really, that’s what marijuana is all about: fun and feeling good.

For more information on all things cannabis and to check out our 100-percent all-natural marijuana products, visit HonestMarijuana.com today.

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Washington State Senate Passes Bill to Allow Students to Use Medical Marijuana on School Property

Legislation to allow parents to administer limited forms of marijuana to their children on school property has passed the state Senate, along with a proposal for new marijuana testing rules.

CBD tincture.

Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers described the school bill as aimed at students that need medical marijuana for relief from chronic illnesses, reports the Associated Press. The bill would allow marijuana-infused products, but specifically bans smoking pot and products high in the psychoactive chemical THC. Instead, lawmakers said the bill was oriented toward allowing marijuana bred for its medicinal properties, including strains high in the non-intoxicating chemical CBD.

“THC is what recreational users use to get high,” said Republican Sen. Ann Rivers of La Center. “You could eat CBD all day long and never cop a buzz.”

Both THC and CBD are present in varying amounts in most cannabis, but unlike recreational marijuana, most medical strains of the plant are bred to have little or none of the psychoactive chemical THC. Having parents administer the drug keeps school officials including nurses out of the equation, a response to questions over liability or licensure.

The bill also contains a trigger clause that would suspend the new rules if federal officials were to threaten schools’ funding over the issue, states the AP.

Senator Mike Padden, a Spokane Valley Republican, said he was concerned about potential unintended consequences, but the bill ultimately passed on a 41-4 vote, with strong support from other conservatives.

“I think it’s worth any risk that might be there,” said Sen. Curtis King, a Yakima Republican. “These families need our help.”

A proposed change to state marijuana testing rules also passed the Senate.

Testing marijuana for criteria such as strength, pesticide content, and presence of mold has been a subject of contention in emerging marijuana markets around the country, with marijuana producers sometimes making hard-to-verify claims on their packaging and advertising.

Under current Washington law, the state Liquor and Cannabis Board is charged with overseeing lab certifications, but a 2018 Washington Department of Ecology report found gaps in testing and accreditation rules, including a lack of detailed standards for labs.

Under a bill approved 44-1 by the Senate, oversight of marijuana labs would be transferred to the Department of Ecology, and work groups would be set up to study issues including pesticides in marijuana.

“In the nascency of the industry we had a lot of people pop up and say they were labs,” said Rivers. “It’s going to make for safer products.”

The proposal requires the ecology department to issue drafts of the new lab standards in 2020 and 2021.

Both bills had earlier passed House votes, meaning they now return to the House for final approval of amendments.

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The Original Flier That Sparked the 420 Phenomenon

Former Freedom Leaf senior editor Chris Goldstein interviewed editor-in-chief Steve Bloom about the origins of how the number 420 became synonymous with cannabis in 2016. Bloom was the first journalist to write about 420 when he worked at High Times in the 1990s.

You claim to have discovered 420. How did that happen?

The last week of 1990 I went to several Grateful Dead shows at the Oakland Coliseum. I was walking in the parking lot and someone handed me a half-page flier. It had this message that people should smoke together at 4:20 and on 4/20. I brought it back to High Times in New York. We passed it around the office and everyone got a kick out of it. I was news editor at the time, so I transcribed the flyer and published it in the May 1991 issue. My little write up in High Times was the first time “420” got any national publicity.

What did the flier say?

“Four-twenty started in San Rafael, CA in the late ’70s. It started as police code for Marijuana Smoking in Progress. After local heads heard of the police call they started using the expression ‘420’ when referring to the herb—‘Let’s go 420, dude!’

“There is something fantastic about getting ripped at 4:20, when you know your brothers and sisters all over the country and even the planet are lighting up and toking up right along with you.

The original 420 flyer

“Now, there’s something even more grand than getting baked at 4:20. We’re talking about the day of celebration, the real time to get high, the grandmaster of all holidays: 4/20, April 20th. This is when you must get the day off work or school. We are going to meet at 4:20 on 4/20 for 420-ing in Marin County at the Bolinas Ridge sunset spot on Mt. Tamalpais.

“Just go down Mill Valley, find a stoner and ask where Bolinas Ridge is. If you make it to Marin you will definitely find it.

“HELPFUL HINTS: Take extra care that nothing is going to go wrong in that minute. No heavy winds, no cops, no messed up lighters. Get together with your friends and smoke pot hardcore.”

So after the flier was printed, where else did you see or hear the term 420?

It started to pop up on the High Times Hemp 100 list of things that stoners like. After a few years, there were baseball hats, t-shirts and stickers. 420 started to take off.

How about the first events on April 20?

Debby Goldsberry and the Cannabis Action Network did some 4/20 events in San Francisco in the mid-’90s. Those were the first professional events associated with April 20 and marijuana.

At High Times, we adopted it too. At 4:20 pm, we’d toke together and have brainstorming sessions. We made it a point to hang out at that specific time.

I remember one April 20 when we decided to go down to Union Square – which was a few blocks from the office. About 20 of us went there and celebrated 4/20 by passing joints under picnic tables. New York City was the marijuana arrest capital of the world. This was pretty daring at the time.

Was the idea of the 420 holiday part of the whole 420 phenomena from the beginning?

Absolutely. The big convergence was the ultimate goal. The people who wrote the flier, whoever they were, invented the 420 holiday.

Related Articles

The Ultimate 420 Event Guide for 2019

420 By the Bay: A Marijuana Activist’s Story

4/20 Celebrity Birthdays

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Study: Marijuana May Increase Woman’s Desire and Orgasms During Sex

According to a new study published by the journal Sexual Medicine, roughly a third of U.S. women have used marijuana before sex, and those who do report increased desire and better orgasms.

The study states that marijuana use has been on the rise among U.S. adults as a growing number of states pass laws legalizing it for medical and recreational purposes. Although marijuana is thought to act on the cannabinoid receptor in the brain, which is involved in sexual function, little research to date has examined the drug’s impact on sexual health, the study team notes.

According to Reuters, researchers surveyed 373 female patients at an obstetrics and gynecology practice in an academic medical center in Saint Louis, Missouri. Overall, 127 women, or 34 percent, reported using marijuana before sexual activity.

Women who used marijuana before sex were twice as likely as those who didn’t to say they had “satisfactory” orgasms, the survey found. And women who regularly used the drug were twice as likely as occasional users to have satisfying orgasms.

“What’s new about this study is that marijuana is framed as being useful for sex,” said Joseph Palamar, a population health researcher at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City who wasn’t involved in the study.

“Typically, drugs are investigated as risk factors for sex. I think this paper signifies that times are changing,” Palamar said by email.

Like alcohol and many recreational drugs, marijuana has long been linked to an increased risk of sexual activity among teens, and some previous research has also tied marijuana to unsafe sex and higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases.

“In the current study, however, Dr. Becky Lynn of Saint Louis University School of Medicine and colleagues focused on the connection between marijuana and women’s satisfaction with their sex lives, sex drive, orgasms, lubrication and pain during intercourse. Lynn didn’t respond to requests for comment”, states Reuters. Overall, 197 women in the study, or about 52 percent, didn’t use marijuana at all. Another 49 women, or 13 percent, used the drug but didn’t indulge before sex.

Women who did use marijuana before sex appeared to have more lubrication and less pain during intercourse than women who didn’t, but the differences were too small to rule out the possibility they were due to chance.

Compared to occasional marijuana users, women who regularly used the drug reported better lubrication, and increased satisfaction with their sex lives – but here, too, the differences were too small to rule out the possibility of chance.

Beyond its small size, one limitation of the study is that it wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how marijuana might directly impact sexual health. It’s also unclear whether women smoked pot or used another form of the drug, or if this was the only substance women were using that might alter their sexual function.

Another drawback is that the study included mostly white women who were married or in relationships, making it possible the results don’t represent what all women would experience. And, the study didn’t explicitly spell out what type of “sex” it was asking about, making it difficult to say for sure what types of activity might be impacted by marijuana use.

“It is unknown how experienced these women were with marijuana or in combining marijuana and sex. We also don’t know who intentionally combined marijuana with sex,” Palamar said.

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New York State of Cannabis: Dueling Legalization Measures on the Table

This headline in the April 7 New York Post – “New Yorkers Are Flocking to Massachusetts for Their Legal Weed Fix” – should have raised eyebrows in Albany,

The New York State legislature is considering marijuana legalization. It has until June to reach an agreement on how taxing and regulating the popular plant will look. If there’s no agreement, then New Yorkers will continue flocking to Massachusetts, which started selling legal cannabis in stores last fall. Massachusetts borders New York State; it’s just a two-hour drive from New York City to the Bay State’s southwest border.

Legalization advocates were disappointed when an effort to fast-track cannabis regulation in the state budget by the end of March fizzled. Now, it’s a matter of finding a suitable compromise between the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), which is sponsored by Senator Liz Krueger in the Senate and by Crystal Peoples-Stokes in the Assembly, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Cannabis Regulation and Taxation Act (CRTA).

Equity Issue of Primary Concern to Advocates and Legislators

DPA’s Melissa Moore

The issue that is being most hotly debated is equity for New Yorker who’ve suffered the most due to policies like marijuana prohibition and the overall War on Drugs, which have led to mass incarceration in communities of color.

“We’re calling for not just marijuana legalization, but marijuana justice,” Melissa Moore, New York deputy state director of the Drug Policy Alliance, tells Freedom Leaf. “We need to respond to the legacy of harm that New York has experienced, particularly in the African American community.”

The DPA is supporting the Start Smart, which addresses the collateral consequences those who’ve been arrested for marijuana face with housing, immigration, welfare, child care and other issues.

“We need to establish an equitable and diverse industry, not just replicate the same structural inequalities in the medical program,” Moore says, referring to the state’s Medical Marijuana Program. “It’s about centering efforts on communities most impacted and creating equity licenses that make sure people have the means to participate in a meaningful way and own businesses.”

The DPA supports business incubators, zero-interest rate loans and grants structured as either low-interest loans or a grants program as well as community reinvestment.

DPA’S MELISSA MOORE ON EQUITY: “We’re calling for not just marijuana legalization, but marijuana justice.”

New York, she adds, should follow the lead of California, which created the California Cannabis Equity Act late last year. The program allocated $10 million to support people in impacted communities seeking cannabis licenses.

“The most notable difference between Cuomo’s CRTA bill and the MRTA bill is the lack of community reinvestment,” Moore points out. “That’s what that bill sponsors need to see. The MRTA has strong equity provisions and an equity program for people that have been directly impacted.”

While the CRTA addresses the expected revenue and fiscal side of cannabis, the MRTA includes amnesty for non-violent drug offenders and allocation of dispensary licenses to people in communities ravaged by the drug war.

“We’re trying to improve the governor’s revenue bill and add more social equity and criminal justice reform,” Doug Greene, legislative director of Empire State NORML, tells Freedom Leaf.

Home Grow Debate Out of the Closet

Empire State NORML’s Doug Greene addresses the crowd at the New York State Supreme Court in Mineola.

The MRTA bill would also allow adults to grow six plants at home. The CRTA only grants that permission to medical patients.

While agreement on many points seems to be close, Greene said the home grow issue faces a tougher road. “It will be politically difficult,” he concedes. “Law enforcement is mostly against it. There are also concerns about the loss of tax revenue.”

Hillary Peckham, chief operating officer of Etain Health, one of the 10 New York registered organizations (ROs) that grow and distribute medical cannabis products, says her company supports home growing for medical use as proposed in the CRTA.

EMPIRE STATE NORML’S DOUG GREENE ON HOME GROWING: “It will be politically difficult. Law enforcement is mostly against it. There are also concerns about the loss of tax revenue.”

“I can’t speak for New York State and why they might not be allowing this,” she tells Freedom Leaf. “However, it’s my understanding and belief that the goal is to ensure quality and accountability of production and sales to encourage public health and safety.

Moore says home grow has been a consistent priority voiced by state residents at listening sessions with public officials. “The ROs clearly have a financial interest in supporting a ban on home grown,” she notes. “We know from other states that safety concerns do not rise to the level to ban it from the entire state.”

Of the 10 states that have legalized marijuana since 2012, only Washington doesn’t allow hom grow for recreational purposes.

Should ROs Be First on Line for Recreational Licenses? 

From left: Etain’s Hillary, Keeley and Amy Peckham

Etain Health is interested in applying for an adult-use license if either of the measures or a compromise of the two ultimately passes. However, it’s unclear if existing ROs would be grandfathered in or if they’d have to apply along with everyone else.

Another issue that remains unclear is how ROs would be affected by the state’s proposal to split the current vertical seed-to-sale operations into production, distribution and retail business licenses. These details may be left to an executive director of the yet-to-be established regulatory body that would oversee cannabis businesses.

“It’s my understanding and belief that the executive director can allow some or all ROs to participate in the adult-use program,” Peckham explains. “He or she could also choose an auction. If he or she does neither, then it is also my understanding that we could then apply for dispensary permits or cultivation, processor and distribution licenses. In this instance, we would have to choose which portion of the business can participate in adult-use sales and apply for a permit. However, we will be able to maintain our vertical structure for the medical program.”

The campaign to open up the New York industry to smaller players should work to Etain’s advantage. Unlike other larger ROs in New York – such as Med Men, Curaleaf, Citiva and Acreage Holdings – Etain is not a multi-state operator. Etain is also female owned and operated. That can only help when it comes time to award licenses if and when legalization is passed in the Empire State.

Related Articles

Line Up for Legal Weed in Massachusetts: CelebStoner Takes a Tour

Cannabis Legalization in New Jersey Goes Back to the Drawing Board

New York’s Medical Marijuana Program Continues to Evolve

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Bipartisan STATES Act Reintroduced, Would Limit Federal Government’s Ability To Interfere State-Legal Marijuana Businesses

The STATES Act, which would protect marijuana businesses which are legal under their state’s law, has been reintroduced in the United States Congress.,

Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Cory Gardner (R-CO), along with Representatives David Joyce (R-OH) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), have reintroduced The Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act of 2019, reports NORML. This Act amends the Controlled Substances Act to reduce the number of instances in which federal law enforcement agencies could carry out legal actions against state-licensed cannabis businesses or other related enterprises.

“The majority of states now regulate either the medical use or the adult use of marijuana. It is time for the federal government to cease standing in the way of these voter-backed regulatory policies being implemented throughout the country,” said NORML Political Director Justin Strekal. “Ultimately, however, we must remove marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act entirely in order to allow those in legal states to ultimately be free from undue federal discrimination and the fear of federal prosecution.”

Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) said: “Forty-seven states have legalized some form of cannabis and the majority of Americans support its legalization. Our outdated laws have ruined lives, devastated communities, and wasted resources for critical medical treatment and research. The STATES Act is the next logical step in a comprehensive blueprint for more rational federal cannabis policy. It’s time for Congress to catch up with the rest of America are and fix a badly broken system.”

Said Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH): “The current federal policy interferes with the ability of states to implement their own cannabis laws, and the resulting system has stifled important medical research, hurt legitimate businesses and diverted critical law enforcement resources needed elsewhere. It’s past time for Congress to clarify cannabis policy on the federal level and ensure states are free to make their own decisions in the best interest of their constituents. The STATES Act does just that by respecting the will of the states that have legalized cannabis in some form and allowing them to implement their own policies without fear of repercussion from the federal government.”

The STATES Act joins multiple bills have been filed to amend the Controlled Substances Act to restrict federal enforcement actions against state-legal marijuana businesses.

They include:

HR 493: The Sensible Enforcement Of Cannabis Act, introduced by Congressman Lou Correa (D-CA).

HR 1455: The REFER Act (Restraining Excessive Federal Enforcement & Regulations of Cannabis Act), introduced by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA).

HR 2012: The Respect States’ and Citizens’ Rights Act, introduced by Congresswoman Diane DeGette (D-CO).

Supporters of cannabis reform can contact their lawmakers regarding these bills via the NORML Action Center HERE.

According to the most recent FBI Uniform Crime Report, police made 659,700 arrests for marijuana-related violations in 2017. That total is more than 21 percent higher than the total number of persons arrests for the commission of violent crimes (518,617) in 2017, states NORML. Of those arrested for marijuana crimes, just under 91 percent (599,000) were arrested for marijuana possession offenses, a slight increase over last year’s annual totals. Total marijuana arrests in 2017 increased for the second straight year, after having fallen for nearly a decade.

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