Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) often pledges on the presidential campaign trail that he will legalize marijuana in all 50 states on his first day in the White House — but he went a step further this weekend by inviting a crowd of about 15,000 people to come and personally witness the cannabis executive action.
At a rally in Chicago on March , the 2020 Democratic candidate reiterated his legalization promise, stating that “there are some things that a president can do with executive order.”
“It just so happens that with an executive order, a president can make marijuana legal in every state in this country,” Sanders said, earning intense applause. “I invite you to the ceremony when we do just that.”
He joked that he might hold the signing ceremony in Grant Park, where the rally was being held.
“Let me ask you all a question: how many folks here know somebody who was arrested for possession of marijuana?” he went on to ask, as he’s done in prior campaign events. “We’re going to move to expunge the records of those arrested for marijuana.”
Chief among the issues is the fact that removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act wouldn’t necessarily change policies in states that continue to maintain prohibition. It might be federally legal, but individuals could theoretically be prosecuted under state law. Another issue is that the process of changing cannabis’s status under federal law itself involves several agencies and is not something the president can necessarily get done unilaterally—let alone on day one of an administration.
Featured image: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who is campaigning for a 2020 presidential bid, speaks to supporters at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday March 23, 2019, Los Angeles, CA (Yasamin Jafari Tehrani/Shutterstock)
This article has been republished from Marijuana Moment under a content-sharing agreement. Read the original article here.
Vangst, one of the leading recruitment agencies in the cannabis space, recently gathered data from 166 companies across 17 states concerning female and female-identifying employment in weed. Seen here, their findings suggest that out of 631 total female employees, 17.6% held director or executive roles. Additionally, “of all surveyed companies, 43.4% are more than 50% female identifying,” and “38.5% of [total] cannabis employees are female-identifying individuals.”
These numbers are trending up as the market increases and as more states gain access to legal cannabis — but we can do better. Especially considering that out of all those companies on the survey bill, 12.6% do not have any women in leadership, while 41.2% only have one.
And even as women have gained more access to the professional world over the past few decades, what happens once we enter the space speaks volumes to what needs to change and how we should be constantly working for equal conditions and environments across the entire working world.
We recently had the opportunity to speak to two women with wildly diverse cannabis backgrounds on matters regarding race, inclusion, equality and patient advocacy in cannabis. In this candid interview, hear what it’s like to pursue cannabis from a different lens.
Meet our interviewees
Tiffany Bowden: MA and founding President, Former Education Chair and Co-Founder of The Minority Cannabis Business Association, Director of Education for the National Diversity & Inclusion Association, mental health advocate, diversity trainer, activist, writer, educator, and speaker (check out her powerful Ted Talk here).
Adie Wilson-Poe: Ph.D neuroscientist, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Smart Cannabis (once Habu Health). Adie is also a Subject Matter Expert here at Weedmaps.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
On pursuing a career in the cannabis space.
WM: Cannabis is so new in regards to its place in the general consumer market, and its rise happened incredibly quickly. What first motivated you to pursue a career in the cannabis industry, specifically? And has that motivational spark changed?
Wilson-Poe: I mean, for me it was the opposite, actually. I was never motivated to be in the cannabis industry at all. I was pulled into the industry because of the science. I started my career as an academic and I wrote my first grant to study cannabinoids as an undergrad in 2004. As a result of doing my undergrad work, my Ph.D work, all of my postdoctoral work looking at the evidence (and being eyeballs deep in it all day every day of my career), it was very obvious to me that here we have a bunch of evidence that’s being completely ignored and disregarded by our policymakers.
And so it was because of that that I became a patient advocate and an outspoken spokesperson for all the harm reduction capabilities that this plant possesses — especially in regards to opioids. So, I was pulled into the industry just because of my passion — and expertise — for the evidence. I never thought that I would end up in this place. But I feel like it’s a moral obligation of mine to my fellow humans to use my knowledge of the literature, and my ability to study this plant, for the greater good.
Bowden: My career started out in marketing and advertising, and I have historically been very interested in the representation of minorities and women in advertising — and in media in general. But then, in the midst of my graduate studies, my father passed away, and prior to my father passing away, he was able to relate to me that he was utilizing medical cannabis for pain relief and support. I was able to watch that process, and some of the other things that he was using originally were actually causing very negative side effects, including opioid addiction and constipation.
Because my dad was not connected to the community, he was getting [cannabis] from a dialysis friend, but once his dialysis friend passed away, he had to go back to the traditional Western approach. The opioids and all the other medications really took him out of his default personality set. So, once I did finally lose him for good, I was very much interested in helping people gain access to a plant that I thought might have possibly been able to help my father.
But before my father, my initial reaction [to cannabis] was actually fairly negative, considering I came up in the “Just Say No” and D.A.R.E era. Given all of the benefits that I saw him have with it, that was what set me out to say, “Okay, well why did I have such a negative reaction if this is a thing that actually does have benefits?” I took on the search to find out those answers. Then I decided to focus my interest and aims on elevating research and patient advocacy.
I also launched an education company and traveled state to state to help bring [cannabis] education to people. In that journey, I found that I was like one of the only black people that was in that space — which was odd to me. So I created the Minority Cannabis Business Association to help advance the conversation simultaneously.
However, I suffered a lot of trauma in the space as it relates to what happens to minorities and women when they get here. There’s a lot of people that talk about getting into the cannabis industry, but there’s not a lot of people talking about what happens to us when we’re here. Our businesses being stolen, being sexually harassed and going through all of those kinds of trauma. And so my recent work has been focused more on that space and harm reduction, mental health and support.
On the science behind cannabis and women’s health.
WM: On the healthcare front, it’s been reported that women are ignored when it comes to receiving care and that our complaints are usually written off. So, we’re sometimes forced to look elsewhere. In response, there seems to be an explosion of weed products for women’s health, in addition to other women-specific cannabis goods. Do you think these items are helpful or do you sense a bandwagon trend happening in the industry? And if you do use women’s health products, what best speaks to modern women with modern cannabis?
Bowden: I think that our industry specifically has a lot of misogyny. And you hear that thrown around with a lot of different industries, but you don’t necessarily understand how that’s operationalized until you are in it. I can say for one that as an African-American woman, I never actually really identified with my gender quite so much as when I’ve been in this industry. Because in any other space, I would consider myself black first, a woman second, and then I don’t really feel my womanness quite so much.
In the cannabis industry, however, my womanness is felt to an extreme, and that is what I feel gets push-back probably the most. Even though the race component is certainly there, I think that the gender component ends up being a bit more explicit, and that’s certainly the kind of thing that I ended up taking on.
There’s a lot of female founders that are losing their companies, women’s health concerns and grievances are not being heard, and then they’re just being written off as drama. People typically side with the men who will form their “good ol’ boy” clubs, and our voices get silenced in the interim. We have to do better as women working together and supporting each other. And when we say things, we have to be willing to believe each other.
In terms of products and such, I do think that there’s an absolute need for women to focus on products that lift and improve the space for ourselves. I particularly like supporting women-owned companies and products. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a woman’s issue, but I just like to support women in general.
Some of the companies that I love don’t exist anymore because of the rampant misogyny. Like Julie Dooley, she had a treat company, but she no longer has control of her space. And there are several others. I also got through my tailbone fracture and — the issues that led me to have to leave my organization — with Mary’s Transdermal Compound, and it’s something that I absolutely swear by. I think that the Foria brand is actually really strong, as well.
Wilson-Poe: Yeah. I look at this issue from a very, very different lens — which is no surprise — through the evidence. One of the women who was a mentor to me and was on my Ph.D. committee was one of the only people to study not only the phenomenon of chronic pain in females but the sex differences in pain and the sex differences in our responses to pain-relieving drugs.
We know that women experience disproportionately more chronic pain than males. And yet, the vast majority of all biomedical research that has ever been done has been done exclusively on males. So, a lot of things that may have been born out in the laboratory simply don’t translate and don’t apply in the real world, because they’ve never been tested in females.
There’s a lot of things that are tied up in female sexuality. Not only the cultural history of all of the oppression and the patriarchal system that we live within but also those subconscious stories and constructs that we’ve been given. Like when you deliver a child vaginally, your body is very different afterward. And maybe it recovers to its baseline for some people, and maybe it never recovers at all for others. So there’s a massive amount of women-specific, childbirth-specific, trauma-specific pain that warrants further investigation and specific treatment.
There is a little bit of literature that supports women with low libido, clinically low libido — that cannabis can provide an enhancement. But we also know that cannabinoids have a direct impact on our normal hormonal function. So you have these competing forces where cannabis could potentially increase your chances of, for instance, getting pregnant, because you’re having more sex since your libido’s increased.
But at the same time, the chronic daily exposure to these cannabinoids could potentially interfere with your normal hormonal processes that would promote fertility and the implanting of the fetus in the placenta. So, there really is a ton of research that still needs to be done regarding these women’s health and sexual wellness products.
I think that in general what we see in this particular segment of the market is what we see with a lot of the cannabis marketing: we have a lot of potentially false claims and false marketing that’s being done with absolutely no evidence, which I’m never a fan of.
What I am a fan of, like Tiffany is, is a women-supportive business that is providing a service to those individuals in a care-taking model the way that it has always been done. I know that there are tons of products out there that were founded by a female founder who is taking care of their mother, or another family member, and has specifically developed a really high-quality product that has anecdotally worked for many people.
Bowden: I just wanted to piggyback off of that, too, because I think that there’s two things that were really great in what you said. In terms of the last one, there are so many different smaller products that maybe people haven’t heard of that are really great. Which has a lot to do not only with supporting women but combating the rampant classism that’s in our industry, as well.
Not everybody has millions of dollars to throw behind their brand. And not everybody necessarily has the know-how to go out and secure funding. So there’s a lot of need for education and resources to go into that space.
But also, we need more rigor as it relates to reporting. To not simply cherry-pick off of the last articles or who you saw at the last conference. We need to be more diligent about actually scoping out people who are doing the work, but maybe they don’t have the recognition that they deserve.
In terms of women disproportionately experiencing pain — this is true. And then I would add to that, that black women, in particular, are frequently not believed for their pain disproportionately more than any other group. I’ve tried to advocate for cannabis topicals in particular for black women who are experiencing pain because it can titrate out quite differently than what Western products generally can.
On being a patient advocate
WM: I know you are both patient advocates, and advocacy is enormous in this space — especially for states who have yet to legalize. What little known facts or issues have you both personally seen come up over and over for medical patients that the average consumer wouldn’t necessarily consider or see?
Wilson-Poe: I’m a big-time harm reductionist, and harm reduction is all about an evaluation of risk. Especially because we were singing the anti-prohibition song for so long, and we’ve been working for so many decades trying to repeal these ridiculous laws, there is a real sentiment in the advocacy community that you can’t talk about the risks of cannabis.
You can’t even acknowledge that there are any risks, which is inherently untrue. For us to fail to acknowledge that there are some risks with cannabis use, is no better than Jeff Sessions completely denying cannabis’s medical utility. So, for us to have a sustainable and effective relationship with the plant, whether it’s for personal or medical use or all of the above, it’s extremely important to manage the risks that there are.
We know that repeated exposure to THC puts you at a higher risk for cannabis use disorder. Repeated exposure also puts you at a higher risk for cannabinoid hyperemesis disorder. And granted, those risks compared to other pharmaceuticals or alcohol are lower. And that’s why cannabis is such an important harm reduction tool.
But I think that there is a largely held misperception about cannabis, and sometimes an intentional ignoring of those risks. It’s simply irresponsible not to have those conversations. Just like Tiffany, I was a D.A.R.E. kid, and I was lied to. I was told that this drug is just as dangerous as heroin, just as dangerous as methamphetamine. And that’s clearly not the case.
So we need to have honest conversations. Some people might be vulnerable to cannabis use disorder. We should be having those transparent conversations so that we don’t end up repeating some of the mistakes that we did like we did with the opioids, for instance.
For me, the biggest piece in the advocacy corner is that proper advocacy includes a discussion of the relative risks.
Bowden: Mm-hmm, yeah, I completely agree. And I think that those are such valid points. I stress those things as well.
One of the misconceptions that I run into is that when people are in pain, they always assume that what they need is dry flower or a vape. And that’s not always the method of ingestion that they need. Sometimes people can take in and consume cannabis and it can increase their pain because THC has a way of making us hyper-aware of things. It could relax you to the point where you’re not thinking about your pain, but it also can cause you to focus in on that pain. It really just depends on the person.
I’m also a very, very strong advocate for topicals. Topicals are actually my number one application. I’m not really a big fan of the psychoactive aspect, just because I have so much going on during the day that that’s not really my method.
I have done dispensary trips with the elderly — taking patients into dispensaries and doing shop-alongs with them. They really have no idea what they’re looking for and they’re generally intimidated on that first trip, but after they’ve been able to go the first time, they’re good. They know exactly what they’re getting.
But I have been a little disappointed with the cannabis technician, historically called budtenders, and their level of education. If someone comes in and they’re saying that they’re in pain, they will usually defer them to a vape or to a pre-roll of some sort. So we need to challenge that a little bit and have some more education about the various ways that people can enjoy cannabis medicine and cannabis therapeutics.
We need to keep moving towards full-spectrum experiences, which is ultimately what we need for overall healthy and sustainable space from a health standpoint. There needs to be greater clarity and education on how to select for quality as it relates to those types of products.
On the progress made in the cannabis industry
WM: What do you think has been the greatest leap in the industry when considering inclusion across the market? Where do you see this lack of consideration and how can the industry do better as it continues to expand?
Wilson-Poe: From my perspective, I think that the one thing that has been done right — and I can’t say that it’s necessarily because of cannabis — is that the conversations are at least being had. We’ve never seen a more active industry involved in social justice. We’ve never seen more legislators talking about the negative impacts of the War on Drugs. We’ve never before seen such a magnifying glass on how many board rooms are completely full of white men over 50. I would say that the biggest leap that we’ve had is that there is a rampant ongoing conversation about all of these acknowledgments of these inequities.
However, the other side of that coin is that despite all the conversation, we still have a long way to go. There are still far, far too many inequities. And despite all of this conversation, there are still relatively functional programs to alleviate those issues and to rectify them. So I do think that this has been a model time, if not a model industry, for all of these things to come out into the open and come into the collective public awareness, but we are still in the process of actually doing something about that.
Bowden: Just to reiterate some of the other things that I said, we’ve done a great job about talking about inclusion and getting minorities and women into the industry. I think that we are making strong grounds on that. There are so many different programs that are kind of popping up. But even to the extent that we’ve done a great job of talking about getting women and minorities into the space, we’re not talking about what happens to us when we’re here. And that is, for me, the next wave and the next push that needs to happen.
That means being able to support people if and when they have to have lawsuits to be able to develop certain funds so that people can fight for what they’ve created. We do need more whistleblowing activity as it relates to being able to support people who want to be able to have the healthiest and safest work environment — how you can actually protect yourself with that transparency and visibility.
The whole point of diversity and inclusion movements would mean that if people are being oppressed, if they’re going through those types of things, we should have mechanisms in place to pull those people up, not push them down for speaking up. Diversity is mostly about your demographics. Inclusion is about being able to get those voices heard, and equity is about making sure that we’re having restorative justice on different elements.
I also think that we need to broaden the conversation beyond race and gender to include things likeability. We are not having very many conversations as it relates to able-bodiedness, mental health and things of that nature.
To add, diversity and inclusion training is something that I do with organizations. We have all these startup organizations that are being created and people look at human resources as a thing to kind of put in place “at some point.” So you have these organizations that are running but they don’t have any human resources, they don’t know anything about employment law. It should be a standard that we have human resources at the start, but also that we have laws that govern our own industry, that regulates us at smaller increments than what the EOC would in terms of how many employees work in the space.
With spring training now in full swing, Major League Baseball is further clarifying its stance on marijuana. Players can now consume cannabis without risk of discipline, the league explained in a new memo, but they can’t show up to work under the influence and — at least for now — are barred from entering into commercial arrangements with companies in the marijuana industry.
The league also says it’s also teaming with product-testing organization NSF International to analyze and certify legal, contaminant-free CBD products in order to allow teams to store them on club premises.
Before the rule change, players who tested positive for THC were referred to mandatory treatment, and failure to comply carried a fine of up to $35,000. That penalty is now gone.
But despite the relaxed marijuana rules, the league says in the new memo, which was first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan, that key restrictions remain on how players and teams may interact with legal cannabis. “While natural cannabinoids will no longer be considered Prohibited Substances under MLB’s Drug Programs,” the memo says, “there are still restrictions on, and risks associated with, the use, possession and distribution of marijuana and other natural cannabinoids.”
For one thing, players will still be subject to sanctions if they show up to work high. “If players or Club personnel appear under the influence of marijuana or any other cannabinoid during any of the Club’s game’s practices, workouts, meetings or otherwise during the course and within the scope of their employment,” the memo says, “they will be referred to a mandatory evaluation under the applicable cannabinoid and alcohol treatment program.”
Team doctors are also forbidden from recommending medical cannabis or providing any cannabinoid products to players, and teams may not store such products on club premises.
“Because Clubs are required to comply with all DEA regulations that apply to Controlled Substances, Club medical personnel are prohibited from prescribing, dispensing or recommending the use of marijuana or any other cannabinoid to any player or Club personnel,” the document, which Marijuana Moment has independently reviewed, says.
That restriction could eventually change, at least when it comes to CBD: MLB and its players union are working with NSF International, a product-testing organization, “to develop an independent testing and certification process for these products,” aimed at ensuring they are legally compliant and free of contaminants. “MLB will continue to monitor and provide updates as certain hemp-based CBD products are tested and verified by NSF International,” the memo says.
Players can also be “subject to discipline” by their team or the MLB “for engaging in certain cannabinoid-related conduct, including violations of federal, state or local laws,” the memo says, such as by distributing marijuana or driving under the influence.
Players also can’t cash in on the green rush — at least not yet. Despite the mad dash by some legal marijuana companies to secure celebrity spokespeople, the league says its players may not invest in or be sponsored by the legal cannabis industry.
MLB says it intends to release a separate bulletin “regarding investments in, and commercial arrangements with, companies that produce, market, sell and/or distribute natural cannabinoids.” But “until such guidance is issued, any such investments or commercial arrangements are still considered to be prohibited in accordance with current practices,” Halem wrote.
The new policies stem from negotiations last year between the MLB and its players union. Both parties agreed to approach the league’s drug policy with an emphasis on treatment rather than penalties. Players who test positive for opioids or cocaine, for example, will be penalized only if they refuse treatment.
A number of athletic governance bodies have recently relaxed rules around cannabinoids as laws change and medical applications become more widely accepted. The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), for example, said in 2017 that athletes can use CBD, and it also recently increased its allowable limit on THC metabolites.
Meanwhile, the National Football League is in negotiations with players about how to adjust its own marijuana rules. A proposed collective bargaining agreement from the NFL Players Association aims to recast drug policy “to increase emphasis on clinical care over punishment.” Players would no longer be suspended for testing positive for THC, and annual testing would be limited to the first two weeks of training camp. The league’s THC testing limit would be raised from 35 to 150 nanograms, bringing the limit in line with WADA standards.
In an effort to reduce drug-related harms, however, the plan would increase penalties for driving under the influence, imposing a three-game suspension.
A vote on the NFL’s new policy is expected in coming weeks.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
This article has been republished from Marijuana Moment under a content-sharing agreement. Read the original article here.
In the world of weed accessories, designer lighters and torches are far less popular than swaggy stoner favorites like smoking devices, smell-proof gear, and branded apparel.
Perhaps it’s because lighters are so incredibly losable, appearing in your pockets in great abundance at the beginning of a night out, before all but vanishing come sunrise — like pumpkins from some sort of Cinderella-esque patch. Or, perhaps, in the same vein, they’re losable, they’re also perpetually free, popping up regularly enough in your life that you are rarely forced to actually purchase one yourself.
Either way, it’s funny how lighters are so overlooked in the world of stoner swag given how instrumental they are in the act of actually getting high. Whether you’re combusting cannabis flower to toke up the traditional way or heating concentrate at mind-numbing temperatures, here is a comprehensive guide to the best lighters and torches on the market. It’s 2020, time to up your flame game.
LIGHTERS
The Wick Light
Every once in a while you’ll come across a stoner so into all things “green,” that they’ll take issue with literally everything. This includes your lighter, which is supposedly saturating their homegrown flower with butane and should immediately be replaced with a hemp wick.
The Wick Light ingeniously melds the traditional Bic lighter with the hemp wick in one handy little design, pleasing even the most environmentally sound cannabis user.
If you’re a super stoner like me, you’re stoned all the time. And I don’t mean every time you’re at your friend’s house watching movies, I mean all the time bar nothing. So you need a lighter that will light up anywhere — just like you do.
The Dream Bay Waterproof Lighter is a fabulous little tool for those of us who like to take life to the limits. Clip it onto any keychain and go, rest assured that no matter where nature finds you, your lighter will rise to the elements.
While the LighterBro is actually a lighter case and not a lighter itself, it’s perfect for any stoner on-the-go and more than worthy of an appearance on this guide. This multi-tool features a knife, a screwdriver, poker, and scissors, as well as a bottle opener that’s integrated into the bottom of the case. Fits both Bic and Clipper lighters.
The Tesla Coil Lighter is a bit of a mindfuck. It doesn’t use butane, or even have an actual flame, making it an extremely clean way to smoke flower when its rolled into a joint or spliff.
These futuristic lighters work by creating an electric arc that is completely flameless and windproof. They’re USB rechargeable, and one charge can last a full week or 300 uses — no refills, no nothing.
While all these lighters are really great, let’s be real here. What lighters do people really use to smoke weed, and almost everything else for that matter? BIC Lighters, pure and simple.
For a fun twist on a stoner staple, try designing your own Bic on their website. Simply upload an image, position it on the lighter, add text and voila! Two weeks later you have (at least) 200 of your own customized lighters to disperse into the lost lighter universe.
Falling somewhere between practicality and physical comedy, the Big Shot Butane Torch is perfect for the unapologetic dabber of your dreams. Not only is this giant torch capable of heating large amounts of concentrates with its 2,500°F flame in a single sitting, but it’s also guaranteed to make any normal-sized object look funny in comparison. Win, win.
Here we have a sleek and sexy alternative to the average torch, a product genre not exactly synonymous with sex appeal. In addition to being downright chic, the Foxfirers Pen Torch is refillable, waterproof and comes with adjustable flame settings.
Like all astute and investigative stoners, we’re well aware that when a torch is marketed as a “cigar lighter,” they actually mean “miniature lightsaber created for the sole purpose of vaporizing pure THC.” The Vertigo Cyclone Torch is no exception.
The Saberlight Sparq has taken the plasma beam torch idea utilized by the Tesla Coil Lighter we listed above and made it way, way more weed-friendly. While traditional plasma beam lighters are limited by a single, narrow tesla coil which can only light things like joints and blunts, the Sparq can light anything.
By using free form plasma energy instead of the single-coil, flat surfaces like bowls, bongs and pipes are all fair game. Even Tesla himself would have been proud.
In case you haven’t noticed, all torches are pretty much the same. There are butane torches, there are plasma torches, there are size and design choices, but when it comes down to it, a torch is a torch.
So, why not get weird with it and throw everyone for a loop with this ridiculous Dragon’s Breath Jumbo Torch. It does everything every other butane torch and lighter can do, but instead of looking normal, it looks like a medieval rendering of a dragon. What more could one possibly want?
