A man arrested on marijuana charges by law enforcement officers in North Carolina on Saturday turned out to be a fugitive from California wanted for murder, according to media reports. Boren Lay, 25, was arrested by agents with state Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) at the El Barracho, a bar licensed by the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control in Winston-Salem.

The agents had been conducting an investigation at the bar when they discovered cannabis. After obtaining a warrant to search the establishment for drugs, agents confiscated more than 11 pounds of marijuana and 842 vials of THC oil. Lay and two other men, Sovath Yern, 30, one of the owners of El Borracho, and Sovann Yern, 31, who are both of Massachusetts. Police say that they have confirmed that all three men are members of the Southern California street gang known as the Asian Boyz.

After his arrest, Lay reportedly concealed his identity from police for almost nine hours. When he finally revealed his true name, officers discovered that Lay is wanted for a murder that was committed in California in July 2013. Bryan House, ALE branch head, said that officers with the agency have to be prepared to act on any violations that

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Stephen Reid is the mayor of Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. In December 2017, under Mayor Reid’s leadership, Point Pleasant became the first New Jersey city to preemptively ban any cannabis industry operations, should the state legalize them. The Point Pleasant Beach ban kicked off a statewide trend, leading to more than 10 percent of all New Jersey towns, representing nearly every county, passing resolutions restricting, banning or opposing cannabis industry operations and adult-use legalization.

Today, the total number of towns that have opted out has topped 60, and Mayor Reid continues to be a leading voice in the effort to oppose marijuana reform — in fact, he gets paid to do so. Thanks to the investigative efforts of blogger Patrick Duff, we now know that Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Stephen Reid is on the payroll of an influential anti-marijuana lobbying group.

Mayor of First New Jersey Town to Ban Weed Is on the Payroll of an Anti-Cannabis Lobby

In late November 2018, New Jersey lawmakers in both the Assembly and Senate voted to advance an adult-use bill, marking the first official legislative action on the issue since pro-legalization Gov. Phil Murphy assumed office in 2018. But since their 2016

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In hospitals and nursing care facilities across the country, patients are systematically denied access to medical cannabis, even if they are located in states where it is legal. The reason behind this is simple. As long as the vast majority of these institutions rely on funding from Medicare and other federal sources, they opt not to put those funds at risk by allowing a Schedule 1 controlled substance onto their premises.

One courageous trailblazer, however, has challenged this status quo. The Hebrew Home of Riverdale, a 735-bed skilled nursing facility located outside of New York City, developed an ingenious program that enables senior residents to access medical cannabis under New York state law, while the institution itself remains compliant with federal law

– Read the entire article at Forbes.

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CBD cocktails, with or without alcohol, are all the buzz in some East and West Coast cities with relaxed recreational cannabis laws. You don’t have to take a trip to LA to enjoy the flavor and effects of a cannabis-infused beverage, though. If it’s legal in your state, you can make your own cannabidiol (CBD) imbibables at home.

Cannabis Mixology 101: Basic Precautions and Knowledge

One of the most important things to remember about CBD cocktails is that, even though you drink them, they’re an “edible.” That means that your body reacts differently than it does to inhaled CBD. In general, the effects take longer to hit, and last longer. Because of that, Warren Bobrow, who wrote Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails and Tonics, recommends limiting yourself to no more than one CBD cocktail per hour, or to play it safe, one CBD-infused drink per night. Beyond that, Bobrow also suggests that you pay attention to which strain of weed you choose as a base for your infusions or tinctures. It will make a difference in both the effect and the finished flavor of your drink.

– Read the entire article at Civilized.

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According to new reports coming out of California, a key aspect of the state’s original marijuana legalization bill is not being met. Specifically, youth programs are so far not receiving the funding that the original legislation promised they would.

As concern grows over why this is happening, experts have identified a few trends that could be creating this scenario. And on an optimistic note, many in the state expect to see things start improving.

Why Youth Programs Aren’t Receiving Funding

In November 2016, California voters approved Proposition 64. The bill made recreational weed legal in the state. And as is typically the case with legalization bills, one of the primary concerns of the proposition was figuring out how the state would use tax revenues.

Among several uses, the state promised to use a portion of cannabis taxes to fund youth programs. Specifically, youth programs aimed at substance abuse education.

After Prop. 64 passed in 2016, the retail sale of recreational cannabis officially launched Jan. 1, 2018. Now, a full year after that date, the state has failed to fund youth educational programs.

According to the AP, experts say there are two primary reasons for this lack of funding. First, the state’s

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Growing weed is an earthly joy that everyone across the world should experience. But the ability to legally buy the herb makes things even sweeter. As laws begin to relax across the world and a newfound acceptance towards recreational and medicinal-use and culture continues to grow, it’s crucial to know what to look for and how flower should smell and taste– which, most of the time, is easier said than done. Below are three factors to keep in mind the next time you’re legally buying cannabis.

Courtesy of Spliffseeds

Appearance: The First Impression

They say you only get one chance to make a first good impression, and that certainly rings true when it comes to cannabis flower. At a street level, it can be challenging to acquire consistency as well as variety. That’s why going to an established dispensary, coffee shop (we’re looking at you, Amsterdam!), social club, or smoking lounge is ideal because the rigmarole of filtering out the schwag from the good-good is already done for you. That said, there are a few ways to indicate the quality of a flower’s genetics, how apt the grower was, if the trimmers were experienced, how long the bouquet cured

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It has been four months since cannabis became legal in Canada and, in that span of time, the City of Edmonton has only given out three bylaw violation tickets for cannabis smoking.

Numbers from the city reveal there have been 33 warnings about cannabis smoking; the numbers pale when compared to the 73 tickets given out by the city for tobacco smoking and the 847 warnings handed out for tobacco smoking since Oct. 17, 2018, which is the day it became legal to buy and smoke cannabis.

The numbers come months after the city grappled with how to oversee both tobacco and cannabis smoking and passed a new smoking bylaw that limits the public places where smoking, of any sort, is allowed.

– Read the entire article at Global News.

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Last October, the cannabis legalization advocacy group Maryland Marijuana Justice organized a protest outside of state Rep. Andy Harris’s congressional office in Salisbury. Six months earlier, ex-Colorado residents Adam Eidinger and Kris Furnish founded the group to accomplish one primary object: remove Rep. Andy Harris, a politician the group calls “one of the worst concerning cannabis reform laws,” from Maryland’s 1st Congressional District.

20-year-old Jake Burdett, a student at Salisbury University, attended the October protest. It brought him face to face with one of Rep. Harris’s staffers, an encounter the young activist briefly livestreamed on Facebook Live. And on Valentine’s Day, Burdett was charged with multiple felony wiretapping charges for recording and posting that meeting online for a day. The charges brought against Burdett were filed by Rep. Harris’ office.

Maryland Marijuana Justice Demonstrator Faces Felony Charges for Livestreaming a Meeting

These days, members of the cannabis advocacy group Maryland Marijuana Justice (MDMJ) are a regular fixture outside Maryland’s Congressional offices. The group has been organizing demonstrations and protests to support cannabis reform efforts and challenge the lawmakers opposing them. Lawmakers like Republican state Rep. Andy Harris, who in 2014 worked to block the full legalization of marijuana in D.C.

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Online comments are being accepted now, too.

At Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s first stops on his marijuana legalization listening tour, supporters made a passionate case to end marijuana prohibition. They also outnumbered opponents.

Let’s keep up the momentum.

Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has also begun accepting online input on whether the state should legalize marijuana for adults’ use. Submit your thoughts here.

You can let the governor know the reasons why you support making marijuana legal, and make a pitch for an inclusive, diverse industry. Let him know if it’s important to you that legalization include expunging past convictions.

Please also make a plan to attend one of the lieutenant governor’s stops on his listening tour, which will include all 67 counties. Here are his upcoming stops:

Erie
Tomorrow, Saturday, February 16, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Jefferson Educational Society
3207 State Street

Warren
Tomorrow, Saturday, February 16, 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.
Warren Public Library, Slater Room
205 Market Street

Washington (Washington County)
Monday, February 18, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
59 E. Strawberry Avenue

Waynesburg (Greene County)
Tuesday, February 19, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
51 W. College Street, Waynesburg

New Bloomfield (Perry County)
Wednesday, February 20, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
New Bloomfield VFW
71 Soule Road
(This is in lieu of a stop this

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CANNABIS CULTURE – Aleister Crowley is a well known 19th-20th century magician, Francois Rabelais was a 16th century monk, remembered largely for his well known work of satire Gargantua and Pantagruel, what could these two and cannabis have in common?

Possibly the most intriguing renaissance figure involved with the history of cannabis was the 16th century Monk, Alchemist and Bachelor of Medicine, Francois Rabelais, (1494-1553). Rabelais is best known for his hilarious epic adventure Gargantua and Pantagruel. A bold and bawdy satirical tale of two Giants, Gargantua, and his son Pantagruel, the book is equal parts philosophy, sex and fart jokes, slapstick humour, along with outright heresy and a generous a dash of arcane knowledge. As one biographer noted “His large book is a giant-jest uttered by a giant-intellect” (Cochrane, 1843). His mockeries of so much that the church deemed holy “led eminent critics to regard Rabelais as a Papefigue, one who gives the Pope the finger” (Marshall/Zegura 2004).  The 19th century literary critic Alphonse de Lamartine was less kind and saw Rabelais as a “poisonous, fetid mushroom born in the dunghill of the medieval cloister, the defrocked monks pig who regaled himself in his dirty sty and loved to

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