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Tune in LIVE to The Wire 98.5 to hear our founder talk about minority inclusivity in the emerging cannabis industry

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Art + 420. The Perfect Marriage

Keep reading

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In case you didn't know, 🌿✨

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White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, announced in a conference Thursday that the government and Department of Justice will be looking into “greater enforcement” on federal cannabis laws in states that have legalized adult-use.

What will this mean for states who made the vote to legalize only 3 months ago like California and Nevada? And what about states with years of established adult use like Colorado and Oregon?

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Our ask is open. Feel free to ask questions you might have about cannabis.

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So, you’ve been approached by a police officer, or two, and you have a little (or a lot) of bud on you. What now?

Here are 5 things to remember as a cannabis user when dealing with the police:

1. Check your state laws. Is cannabis legalized for adult use or medicinally? Are you eligible to benefit? What are the maximum amounts of plants, dried flowers, and concentrate you can have? Make sure you know the current laws in your area. If you’re a medical patient, make sure to have an ID card with you and quick access to verification.

2. Beware baggies. Authority figures tend to look at baggies as an intent to sell. Try keeping your flowers in a prescription bottle, air tight jar or box instead.

3. Remember your rights! Unfortunately, in all states but California and Arizona, the smell of weed can be used as probable cause to search your car and personhood. However, according to the Fourth Amendment, you are protected from unreasonable search and seizure unless there is probable cause or a warrant. It’s important to let the officer know you do not consent to a search, even if they do so anyway.

4. Be quiet!

Outside of your name and address you are not obligated to talk to the police. The more information you give the more chances you have of saying something that might incriminate yourself. According to the Fifth Amendment you have the right to remain silent. Here are some good phrases and questions to use if stopped by the police:

 “Why did you pull me over?” 

“I’m not discussing my day.”

 “Am I being detained or am I free to go?”

 “I’m going to remain silent. I want a lawyer.” 

 5. Be nice! A calm attitude can turn a potentially nerve wracking situation with the police into a quick and uneventful one.

REMEMBER. Although cannabis is federally illegal, local and state police cannot turn you over to the feds if you are possessing, cultivating or transporting within the legal parameters of your state.

Stay safe, stay educated and stay elevated.

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Were working on an article about the best strains and products for menstrual related symptoms. To all the people with periods out there: what are your go-to strains and products for dealing with that time of the month? Reblog w your fave or DM us 👇🏽💌

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Listen: Voices from the Women’s March on Washington

Who they are, why they were there, and what they’re doing next.

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This terpene is a floral and spicy essential oil, making it popular in aromatherapy and perfumes. Lavender, coriander, and basil are common plants where you can find linalool. Studies have showed linalool can reduce stress, calm the nervous system, and even prevent cancer cells from replicating. 🌟💫 talk about amazing.

Outside of essential oils and plants, you can get linalool by consuming flower strains like Lavender (go figure), LA Confidential and Grandaddy Purple 🍇 For those suffering from seizures and severe anxiety, consider finding a strain with high levels of CBD and linalool to create a more well rounded high and target your symptoms more effectively.

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What do fire strains like Pure Kush, Skunk, and White Widow all have in common? 🤔 They have high levels of myrcene. Myrcene is a terpene. Terpenes are therapeutic essential oils found in many plants including cannabis. Myrcene is found commonly in mangoes, hops (beer), lemongrass and thyme. Studies have shown that myrcene is an effective pain killer, muscle relaxant, anti-psychotic and sleep aid. High levels of myrcene are actually what determine whether a plant will be sativa or indica Levels above 0.5% are indica and levels below 0.5% are sativa. Myrcene will make your bud smell earthy, herbal and just a little bit fruity🍍🍌

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Remember the last time you peeled an orange? 🍊 Remember the way the oils from the rind burst into the air as you peeled away? The way the aroma of tart citrus perfumed the whole room? What you were smelling was limonene ! 🍊🍋 Limonene is excellent in cleansing and repelling bugs. Studies have also shown it is effective as an anti-oxidant and to boost the mood. Limonene is found in most citrus fruits (think: grapefruit, lime, lemon) but especially in oranges. Over 90% of the oil in an oranges rind is made up of this terpene. It's also found in strains of cannabis. Strains high in limonene include Super Lemon Haze, Tangie and Berry White.

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If cannabis was used for almost a century in the US to treat over 100 different illnesses, how was the government able to demonize it so easily in the 1930’s? Didn’t people know they'd been using this plant as medicine?

Turns out the answer isn’t that simple..

Until the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, there weren’t actually any labels on any food or medicine. So no one really knew what was in that cough syrup or that sleep aid that they liked so much.

In 1935, famous anti-cannabis propaganda film, Reefer Madness was released. With a largely unaware and rather racist public, the message of cannabis being the “devil’s lettuce” and "loco weed" took flight and a host of states began banning marijuana -mostly those with high populations of Mexican people.

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Joints or blunts ? 🤔📝 @potprincess2000 loves king sized j's

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Florida: Why We Voted Yes on Amendment 2

This election year, Florida decided to pass legislation making medical marijuana legal for people with certain debilitating conditions. More than 6.5 million people voted yes! 

Why? 

One of the reasons is Florida, like many other states are following the examples of other states in the country. Colorado, Alaska, Washington, and Oregon had already passed legislation legalizing cannabis completely. 

‘If they can do it why can’t we?’ is undoubtedly a growing sentiment among many Americans. By 2014 3.3 million people in Florida were already saying yes to medical marijuana. Although the medical marijuana bill was defeated that year, there had been a statewide shift in attention at the blessings the cannabis plant can bring and it wouldn’t stop there. 

In June 2015, Miami Dade County passed an ordinance allowing people caught with 20 grams or less the opportunity to get a 100$ fine instead of 1000$ and up to a year in jail. In almost every other month after Miami-Dade made their decision, a new county in Florida passed similar ordinances for marijuana decriminalization.

Another reason why many voted yes on 2 is simply because of the positive impacts it could have on our communities. A recent report stated up to 500,000 people are now eligible for medical marijuana in Florida. Hundreds of thousands of people with painful and incapacitating conditions will soon be able to have access to natural medicine that will improve the quality of their life. And how many of those 500,000 are from communities that have been disparaged from Americas War on Drugs? 

Cannabis is a plant whose North American history originated with Black and Latino people. Opening up legalization of medical cannabis in Florida is arguably one step in a series of milestones partly aimed at correcting the damage done to minority’s communities by a racially biased judiciary system. In some states, Black people are almost nine times as likely to be arrested for marijuana as their white counterparts. That’s a huge disparity. 

After legalization in Colorado, according to Erie Police Chief Mark Vasquez, a significant number of police officers backed off of making any marijuana arrests all together. Imagine the possible repercussions of future legalization efforts here in Florida if we follow similar suit. In many ways, people who voted yes were people with their eyes both in the present and the future. Voting yes was a vote for compassionate care and ultimately a vote for the betterment of our communities.

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How Oakland’s Carving a Path for Survivors of the War On Drugs

After legalizing recreational cannabis in what has been a historic election year, Oakland city councilors have unanimously passed a system for cannabis business licensing that gives preferential treatment to people with past marijuana convictions and people who live in areas of Oakland with high marijuana arrest rates. For every cannabis business license Oakland hands out, one must be for folks who meet those two conditions.

Oakland has until January 2018 to finalize, amend or even scrap this measure.

This system was specifically designed as a form of reparation to survivors of the War on Drugs. This 50 year war has disproportionately impacted blacks, latin@s, the poor, and women. It has criminalizes drug use -which in more progressive countries is treated as a public health issue. The War on Drugs has also led to excessive levels of imprisonment. In 2013, the US had the highest incarceration rate in the world.

If Oakland goes on to pass this, recreational cannabis businesses will still need to go through the state to get a license. Regulators in Sacramento, the capital, will still have power to deny licenses to such businesses. Critics of the system say this will cause gridlock in the new industry.

Until city council can decide whether to change or expand the system, it has been put on hold.

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2016: A Year in Review

It’s officially 2017!!! Happy New Year ! 🎉

While many have written off 2016 as one of the worst years in a while, for cannabis, this past year held some pretty historic victories:

Florida legalized medical marijuana

Arkansas legalized medical marijuana

North Dakota legalized medical marijuana

Ohio legalized medical marijuana

Pennsylvania legalized medical marijuana

California legalized recreational marijuana

Nevada legalized recreational marijuana

Maine legalized recreational marijuana

Massachusetts legalized recreational marijuana

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WEEDTALK’S SIT DOWN WITH OUR FOUNDER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF VANESSA AKA POT PRINCESS

“Describe myself in three words?

Moody. Brilliant. Wanderer.

In the last three years I’ve traveled almost 20,000 miles. Since 17 my life has just been in this glorious upward spiral. Ubering in the desert, taking road trips through the Adirondacks, spending fucking bands in New York City, going to Coachella, getting drunk on rooftops, being a judge at a weed festival, starting this brand. I even had a couple of near death experiences. All a day in the life of a Sagittarius I guess [chuckles].”

When did you first get started using weed?

When I was 14. I had just transferred to this small high school in the suburbs. They had problems with neo-nazis and a lot of really sketchy stuff like that. I was super unhappy and some really nice folks in my P.E. class invited me to join their sesh and that just became a thing for me. I didn’t really get serious about it though until college. I’m a writer and there was always something about the names of strains that really pulled at me. God’s Gift, Nebula, Golden Goat. It was all so mystical. So I started doing research and I was amazed with the knowledge I found. I kind of made it a mission to try and document every strain out there.

How many strains do you have now?

Oh god [laughs]. I don’t really keep count but a lot.

Where’d the inspiration behind Weedtalk come from?

I actually started it this past summer, a few months ago. I was living in Montréal at the time. The weed culture there is very very far behind from places like [California], the west coast, Colorado etc. They have a few dispensaries though. I applied for one and got accepted but they shut down literally a week later due to lack of funds. I tried applying to be a freelance writer for magazines like High Times, Prohbtd, etc and either was told I wasn’t ready yet or got ignored completely. Someone suggested I do something of my own since no one else was taking a chance on me. So I went with it.

Just like that?

Something like that. Montréal’s the perfect city for young broke creatives. But It didn’t really take off at first. I was pretty unfocused and kinda lost at the time. I was in a really dark place in my life. I was in a physically abusive relationship, my mental illnesses went haywire, a lot of people I thought were friends turned out to be very ugly toxic people. I thought about death a lot.  

That’s so sad to hear. How did you get through that to where you are now?

Cannabis, yoga, and remembering how many shit situations I’ve gotten myself out of before. To be honest I’m still healing. Especially after the relationship. I’m really mistrustful and it’s kind of hard to socialize with people. I have a scar on my face from it and it makes me really sad. A lot of times I have a very negative view of myself and I just feel like my existence should be apologized for and I don’t know why. I carry that weight with me. Having a job here at Weedtalk and also my day job have been very challenging. I’m just lucky that I decided to start a new chapter in my life and have started to build a solid accepting community for myself here in the weed industry, with yoga, and also my spiritual community.

Would you consider yourself a spiritual person?

Oh most definitely. I’m pagan. I worship ancient gods and goddesses, celebrate the moon phases and the turns of the seasons. I think the Earth is very magical and we’re all connected. People, animals, plants, mountains. Cannabis has actually been a big part of my spiritual journey. I’ve had so many epiphanies while consuming it. Lots of divine love for myself and others.

So you use cannabis .. philosophically?

[laughs] Yeah I guess so! Philosophically, spiritually, medicinally and recreationally. It’s such a special plant. It has to be a gift from above if you can use it beneficially in so many different ways.

How have people in your life reacted to it?

Oh. My mom is really uncomfortable by it. The other day she told me the ‘demons have a strong hold on [me] and [I’m] a danger.’ My family is pretty conservative and like most people, not really educated about where cannabis comes from, how it works, and why it was banned in the first place. I try to be somewhat of a beacon of knowledge but some people just don’t care to change their opinions about things. Even if you have a ton of evidence right in their face. It’s sad really.

Any people who support you?

Yeah. My two best friends, my yoga teachers, and surprisingly enough, my dad. I remember one time I had a really long day at work and my job was super late in paying me. I was living with my parents and I came home and there was some really funky energy in the house. I just wanted to smoke and unwind but I had lost my vape and couldn’t find any of my lighters. Just a lot of stuff going on. I talked to my dad and he took me to the store and bought me four lighters. I know smoking is against his personal beliefs but in that moment he kinda came to my rescue and it really stuck with me. Like that’s when I knew, ‘Okay, so I’m not completely unsupported from the inside in this.’

That’s so sweet.

Yeah, I’m gunna buy him a range when I get my millions.

Wow. So you obviously plan on becoming successful in this industry.

Most definitely. I haven’t felt this determined about something since I first moved to a foreign country by myself when I was 17. It’s going to happen. I just have to continue to work hard, get educated, and enjoy what I have now. I wanna get mentally, emotionally and spiritually rich too. Then the physical riches will follow.

You moved out when you were 17?

Yeah I graduated high school at 17 and I had applied to colleges in French speaking areas. I  got accepted to one in Montréal so I went and kinda never looked back.

French??

[laughs] Yes, I started learning when I was in art school at 10. I don't know what it is but I just have a thing for languages. I wanna learn Turkish too because some of my family is from there and also Spanish because I live in California and it’s a shame I haven’t learned it yet.

So how is your French now?

Pretty fluent. If I wasn’t so damn awkward I’d probably speak more of it to people. But my phone is in French, I study in it, I think in it sometimes. Yeah.

Wow. How old are you now?

I’m turning 21 in two weeks.

You’re really young, where do you see yourself in the coming years?

To be honest, I’m not quite sure. What I’m planning for now is getting my cannabis training by April -which is also going to mark my one year anniversary of doing Bikram yoga. As a present,  I want to gift myself with going to yoga teacher training and getting certified. I want to start teaching classes at my studio in the Fall of 2017 and start doing cannabis yoga classes as well. Hopefully I’ll still be working at my job and climb the ladder there. The debut of Weedtalk’s website will be Spring 2017 as well. And that’s just next year. After that I don’t know. Whatever projects I decide to pursue, I just wanna do so with my full heart and aim for excellence.

Nothing but good things.

Here’s to hoping.

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