Culture Magazine NorCal October 2015 by Culture Magazine

CULTURE // October 2015

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CULTURE // October 2015

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Contents october 2015

78 BEN & JERRY CHILLIN’ WITH

The world famous ice cream duo, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, sat down with CULTURE to talk about ice cream, politics and cannabis. 114

118

Feature 28

. BON APPÉTIT

Prepare your taste buds, because this month we’re celebrating everything edibles! 70

. INDUSTRY INSIDER

Martin Lee of Project CBD is famous for his work as both a journalist and cannabis advocate, and was a proponent for CBD medicine early in the game.

74 . SURREAL AND STRANGE

Take a journey into the unique vision of artist Mr. Basic.

ON THE COVER: Photo by David Seaver

10 . Letter from the Editor

NEWS 16 . News Nuggets 20 . By the Numbers 22 . political push 24 . healthy living

Departments 112 . Growing Culture 114 . Destination Unknown 116 . Profiles in Courage 118 . Recipes 122 . let’s do this 124 . News of the Weird

reviews

MMA Women's Champion Ronda Rousey Slams Athletic Commission for Cannabis Prejudice

92 . Cool Stuff

94 . Entertainment Reviews 96 . EDIBLE & CONCENTRATE

ReviewS

New Tech Set to be Released at the Cannabis World Congress Business Expo

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Vol 7 IssUE 4

letter from the editor

/freeculturemag

/ireadculture

Publisher Jeremy Zachary Editor-In-Chief Evan Senn associate Editor Ashley Bennett

Food is

Editorial coordinatorS Victoria Banegas, Jamie Durante

Love. A

ll animals eat, but humans are the only animals that cook. Naturally, cooking becomes more than a necessity to survive; it becomes the symbol of our humanity, what separates us from the rest of our natural animal kingdom. Our food is almost always shared; people eat together; mealtimes are events when the whole family or settlement or village comes together. Food is also an occasion for sharing, for distributing and giving, for the expression of altruism. Thus food becomes not just a symbol of, but the reality of, love and security. And because eating is almost always a group event, food is a unique symbol of our human existence. Who doesn’t love sharing a delicious and comforting meal with loved ones? And what about dessert? Our mouths water at the mere thought of our favorite sweet treat—a slice of cheesecake, an ooey gooey rice krispie treat, or a perfect scoop of Cherry Garcia . . . This month is our annual Edibles Issue, focusing on all the pertinent and wonderful innovation in cannabis-infused edible food and drinks, and the sincere appreciation and education in the cannabis culinary arts. Although we are still struggling in many states to organize and legalize cannabis edibles and get them to the people that not only want them but need them, the country as a whole is taking great strides toward this shared goal. This industry has been steadily expanding in reach and in innovation, and we are constantly impressed and thrilled about the edibles market growth. Even with labeling woes, taxes, titration issues and accessibility, the industry is still moving forward. Cannabis-infused drinks, condiments and seasonings are gaining

CULTURE // October 2015

momentum in the previously dessert-dominated market—and our taste buds as well as our bodies are so excited about it. Not everybody can handle smoking cannabis; depending on your condition, eating or drinking cannabis may be the best suited form of this natural medicine for you. However, whether your food is medicated or not, food can be healing. Your diet can affect your mood, your well being and your physical health tremendously. Ice cream innovators Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield started their ice cream company, Ben & Jerry, because of the love they had for this delicious and comforting, sweet and creamy concoction. Their passion and dedication to perfect ice cream creations helped them become multi-millionaires, and one of the most well known ice cream companies in the world. They pride themselves on using their products and success as a means to make the world a better place, investing in organizations, events, campaigns and education in important issues in our world, including climate change and justice, GMO labeling, political justice, marriage equality, cannabis legalization and many others. Ben & Jerry know the power food can have with people, and for people. I hope with this issue, you realize the power food can have as well, raw or cooked, grown or bought, recreationally or medicinally, as a solitary pleasure or a social experiment—food is love. c

Sincerely,

Editorial Contributors Sheryll Alexander, Marguerite Arnold, Jake Browne, Jasen T. Davis, Alex Distefano, David Downs, Natasha Guimond, Addison Herron-Wheeler, Anthony Herrold, Pamela Jayne, Heather Johnson, Joe Jatcko, David Jenison, Kevin Longrie, Emily Manke, Tyler Markwart, Meital Manzuri, Sandy Moriarty, Denise Pollicella, Paul Rogers, Joy Shannon, Lanny Swerdlow, Simon Weedn, Zara Zhi Photographers Steve Baker, Kristopher Christensen, John Gilhooley, Joel Meaders, Duncan Rolfson, Rick Thompson Art Director Steven Myrdahl Graphic Designers Tanya Delgadillo, Tommy LaFleur Regional Manager Gene Gorelik Account Executives Greg Andes,Callie Belo, Jon Bookatz, Eric Bulls, Kim Cook, Ryan Dunn, Cole Garrison, Gene Gorelik, Yolanda Imoberstag, Emily Musser, Beau Odom, Justin Olson, Jim Saunders, Chris Thatcher, Paulina Porter-Tapia, April Tygart Office Manager Iris Norsworthy Office Assistant Angelina Thompson digital media Editor Kimberly Johnson Ctv Video Editor Kristian Quintanilla Ctv Contributors Anna Logan,Chris Salazar Intern Brahim Gousse Distribution Manager Cruz Bobadilla Culture® Magazine is published every month and distributes 30,000 magazines at over 700 locations throughout the Bay area. No articles, illustrations, photographs, or other matter within may be reproduced without written permission. Culture® Magazine is a registered trademark. All rights reserved. 2175 Sampson Ave. | Suite 118 Corona | California | 92879 Phone 888.694.2046 Fax 888.694.2046 www.iReadCulture.com

Evan A. Senn

Editor-In-Chief

CULTURE® Magazine is printed using post-recycled paper.

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C NEWS NUGGETS

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State

California lawmakers pass proposals for statewide medical cannabis regulation Three bills, SB-266, AB-243 and SB643, were passed by California Senate and Assembly to establish the basis of medical cannabis regulation within the state. These proposals offer many changes, such as the creation of the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation, which would be the office in charge of licensing and regulation rather than being under the control of alcohol-related offices already in existence. Local cities and counties would also be given the ability to create taxes on cultivation and retail cannabis sales, in addition to sales tax. Mandatory testing on all cannabis products, including edibles, oils and waxes is also a part of the agreement. It’s been almost 20 years since California passed Proposition 215, and until now, very little action has been taken, but these bills are certainly a historic step in the right direction.

San Leandro welcomes medical cannabis collective San Leandro City Council has approved the opening of its first medical cannabis collective to operate within the city. Currently, San Leandro is only allowing one single dispensary, and the best candidate was Harborside Health Center. Over 14 applicants were competing for the single open spot for opening up a collective, but Harborside was the top choice for the City Council, most likely due to having a good reputation at its other successful locations in Oakland and San Jose, according to the Contra Costa Times. Harborside plans to bring much to the city with its business, including a plan to donate four percent

CULTURE // October 2015

of its annual gross sales to a community benefits fund that will benefit non-profit groups. Although only one collective will be soon be operating in San Leandro for now (a suitable location for Harborside San Leandro is still being decided), there is hope that the city will soon allow a second collective as well, according to City Manager, Chris Zapata.

__________________________

Nation

but illegal to purchase it. However, it should be noted that cannabis use by non-local patients may be very limited, due to private ownership of major hotels in the Las Vegas area. Medical cannabis patients who come from other states may possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis anywhere in Nevada and are required to sign an affidavit verifying that they have been approved to legally use cannabis in their home state.

Early Cannabis Sales Begin in Oregon

The early retail sale of cannabis became official on October 1, as per the state’s approval of Senate Bill 460. Measure 91 made recreational cannabis legal in July, however the measure also gives the Oregon Liquor Control Commission until January 1, 2016 to implement cannabis regulation across the board, for production, processing, and commercial state. As a result, the state has agreed to allow any existing medical cannabis dispensaries to sell cannabis after October 1 as an attempt to keep black market sales from rising. As an added bonus, from now until the end of the year, all recreational cannabis sales will be tax-free.

__________________________

World Out-of-state patients can now buy medical cannabis in Las Vegas and Reno

A new ordinance has made Nevada the first state to allow dispensaries to sell cannabis to out-of-state patient visitors. Now, any patient may visit Nevada’s two current dispensaries, which have only been open since mid-summer (with over 60 more applications for new locations currently being considered throughout the state). So far, a majority of the customer traffic seen at those new dispensaries are patients who traveled from Arizona, where over 80,000 medical cannabis patients are registered. Currently in Arizona, it is legal for outof-state patients to possess cannabis,

Colombia decriminalizes up to 20 cannabis plants

A Supreme Court ruling in Colombia last month decreed that having up to 20 plants of cannabis is not a crime. The court’s ruling came as the result of a case involving one man who was sentenced to over five years in prison after being caught by police with a “124 gram” plant, according to Colombia Reports. The current maximum amount of cannabis that can be carried at one time is 20 grams. However, because the man’s plant was to be used for personal use, the court decided that it shouldn’t be considered a crime. Possession of cannabis has already been decriminalized in Colombia, but this ruling further enhances the allowance of small amounts of cannabis. Later this year, the Colombian Congress will reportedly discuss the legalization of medical cannabis. c VISIT US AT

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by the numb3rs

133

The estimated amount of money, in thousands of dollars, that the city of San Leandro stands to gain in new tax revenue from the city’s newest collective, in 2016: 133 (Source: East Bay Express)

The percent of the new San Leandro collective’s estimated yearly gross sales that will be put toward nonprofits in the city: 4 (Source: East Bay Express)

The number of applicants who were being considered by the San Leandro City Council to open a medical cannabis collective: 15 (Source: Contra Costa Times)

The number of full-time officers that were sent by the State Water Board to check on compliance for small and medium-scale cannabis growers in the upper Central Valley and North Coast: 11 (Source: Sacramento Bee)

The number of cannabis products that were featured in the community judging event at the second annual Golden Tarp Awards in Redway: 75 (Source: WND)

The number of applicants who are currently being considered as candidates to open up medical cannabis dispensaries in New Mexico: 17 (Source: The Washington Times)

The estimated number of patients who qualify for medical cannabis in Georgia: 200 (Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press)

2 20

The number of dispensaries that will soon be opening in Long Island, New York: 2 (Source: Long Island News 12)

CULTURE // October 2015

200

Dinner, Concert and Cannabis Pairings This particular event is hosted by In the Mood for Food, a vegan catering company, and Lucy’s PreRolls, a medical cannabis company, who welcomes guests to celebrate good food, a bit of cannabis and live music. The honored musical guests is Phillip Greenlief, a professional saxophonist who will perform solo throughout the night while the In the Mood for Food team is in the kitchen preparing high-quality food for an amazing four-course meal. While waiting, diners will get to meet a special guest, a cannabis grower and industry professional, who will offer a few sativa and indica strains for consumption. This event is very exclusive, and as such, has limited room; buying tickets quickly is advised.

IF YOU GO

What: In the Mood for Food event. When/Where: Sat, Oct. 10. Location announced to guests after ticket purchase, Oakland. Info: Tickets $100. Visit www.franciscobay.events for details.

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C political push

California passes historic reform legislation— now what?

A by Sean Donahoe

Assembly Bills 243 and 266 and Senate Bill 643 will soon be the law of the land here in California, bringing a regulatory framework to California’s thriving medical cannabis system for the first time ever. This legislation was years in the making, with Assembly Members Bonta, Cooley, Jones-Sawyer, Lackey and Wood being joined this year in their efforts by Senator McGuire and even Governor Brown. The bills are undeniably complicated and will roll out their effects over the next two years, setting the table for a legalization effort next year. More importantly, it sets up cities and counties with a set of rules and governance that will empower cities to bring licensed, aboveground brick-and-mortar collectives to their communities. We’ll finally see extractors no longer have to hide underground and no longer see edibles with questionable quality standards. Medical cannabis will be tested. For patients, prices should drop and variety should increase. This is a huge inflection point for California’s cannabis community, a historic handoff from the days of patient activism to the days of industry organizing, and I can’t help but hear Damian Marley’s words: “Now to all my ganja farmer selling pounds of

CULTURE // October 2015

cannabis . . . .That study economy like a real economist.” All things change, all things evolve, all things mature. The current players in the cannabis industry must see what’s on the horizon. Learn from the experiences from the repeal of alcohol prohibition, from the experiences of cannabis legalization in other states and learn that you cannot live in a bubble anymore. Big tobacco is already here; big alcohol is already here. Earlier this summer, a federal raid in remote Modoc County shut down an unlicensed, monstrous eight-acre greenhouse setup on tribal land. It was revealed that the funding and management for this project had come from a foreign national tobacco executive, previously convicted for cigarette smuggling. Over in the state of Nevada, in their upcoming legalization ballot measure, the powerful liquor lobby secured the exclusive right to distribute cannabis. Big pharma is

hovering around the edges, as are hedge funds and billionaires. Is the present cannabis industry ready to compete with these big players? Can they survive what lies ahead? Cannabis culture is about to become even more mainstream, and the benefits of consumption will be spread to the masses. Clear rules and standards are coming, to encourage new customers into the market, to encourage new cities to open themselves up for business. We’ll see new products and better quality products, a great new era for artisanal flower, high-end extracts and scrumptious edibles. We’ll see cannabis tourism rise, as farms become open for visitors and consumption lounges spread from city to city. That’s what’s next, if we don’t slow down, if we keep pushing the cannabis culture, keeping working the political angles and allow the great cannabis companies here in California to show the world what’s possible. c

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by Lanny Swerdlow, RN

g n i v i l y h t l a he Treating Pain Safely Just Got More Difficult

on-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are used daily by over 17 million Americans to treat headaches, arthritis, sports injuries, menstrual cramps and a litany of other debilitating ailments. The two most commonly used NSAIDs are aspirin and ibuprofen with such familiar brand names as Bayer, Motrin, Excedrin and Advil. Celecoxib and naproxen are lesser-known classes of NSAIDs but they also have recognizable brand names such as Aleve, Naproxin, Naprosyn and Celebrex. Non-aspirin NSAIDs, developed to provide pain relief without the negative consequences of aspirin’s gastro-intestinal complications, became widely available in the 1980s. Over 111 million prescriptions are written in the United States every year for non-aspirin NSAIDs and account for almost 60 percent of all overthe-counter pain medications. Although considered safe, non-aspirin NSAIDs labels warned of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, kidney failure, ulcers and that they “may” cause heart attacks. Underscoring the seriousness

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of these warnings, an article published in the November 2013 online issue of the American Journal of Managed Care reported “each year more than 100,000 patients are hospitalized for NSAIDrelated GI complications” and “that 16,500 persons die annually from these complications.” A significant number of these hospitalizations and deaths may have been caused by non-aspirin NSAIDs as research has found that chronic (i.e. daily) use of these medications can raise a person’s risk of heart attack and stroke significantly more than was originally believed. As a consequence, the FDA has required pharmaceutical companies to drop the word “may” and make it clear on their warning labels that “NSAIDs cause an increased risk of serious heart thrombotic events, including myocardial infarction and stroke, which can be fatal. This risk may occur early in treatment and may increase with duration of use.” People with cardiovascular disease or have risk factors for developing it need to question whether the pain relief they receive from NSAIDs is worth the increased risk for heart attack or stroke.

This is not an easy decision to make. With their debilitating and sometimes fatal side effects, opioids, such as Vicodin or Percocet, are a non-starter as an NSAID alternative. Except for aspirin, which non-aspirin NSAIDs were developed to replace, there appears to no safe and effective alternative to NSAIDs. Nowhere in the medical literature about the newly reported dangers of nonaspirin NSAIDS does cannabis come up for discussion. It seems the medical establishment would rather people suffer from pain or die from continuing to use NSAIDs than buck the iron fist of law enforcement and admit that cannabis has significant medicinal value. Cannabis is a powerful antiinflammatory with none of the debilitating and dangerous side effects of NSAIDs. It follows a different route than NSAIDs to suppress inflammation. Unlike nonaspirin NSAIDs, which work by blocking the production of COX enzymes that produce inflammatory prostaglandins, cannabis’ anti-inflammatory properties are achieved by modulating the formation of inflammatory cytokine

molecules and free radical production through the regulation of ion channels. Unlike NSAIDs whose side effects are both debilitating and lethal, the only significant side effect of using cannabis to reduce inflammation is that it makes the user feel good. Studies have shown that states that have medical cannabis laws have significantly fewer opioid overdose deaths as people use cannabis as a viable alternative to the incapacitating and lethal opioids. Now it seems that states that have medical cannabis laws may also have lower heart attack rates as patients will be able to use cannabis as a viable alternative to NSAIDs. The effectiveness of nonaspirin NSAIDs and their easy availability, affordability and perceived safety meant that people were not looking for alternatives. Now many will be. For cannabis to be effective as an alternative to NSAIDs, it needs to be as easily available as NSAIDs. A paper issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research concluded “that providing broader access to medical marijuana may have the potential benefit of reducing abuse of highly addictive painkillers.” It could be reasonably concluded that broader access to cannabis could also reduce the chronic use of NSAIDs thereby improving the health and safety of 17 million Americans. c VISIT US AT

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Edibles Issue

Your CANNA Cookbook Reading List We’ve got some favorites—now, you will too

Sweet Mary Jane: 75 Delicious CannabisInfused High-End Desserts

By Karin Lazarus Avery Author Karin Lazarus runs Sweet Mary Jane bakery in Boulder, Colorado, but now offers the public access to her amazing and delicious cannabis dessert recipes. Lazarus has won legions of loyal fans with sophisticated treats like Smashing Pumpkin White ChocolatePumpkin Bars, Sweet Temptation Mango Sorbet and Chocolate Almond Delights. Lazarus provides a simple primer on making essential canna-staples like cannabis-infused butter, cannabisinfused coconut oil and THC-infused sugar; a chapter on dosing and how to make sure your edible treat is the exact potency you want; and, of course, 75 delectable and deliciously-infused recipes from one of Colorado’s most beloved cannabis bakery.

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Cooking with Marijuana: Interesting, Delicious and Easy Recipes you can make with the Magical Herb

By Gordon Rock CreateSpace Publishing We are all familiar with using cannabis as medical therapies and treatments, and of course, most of us are familiar with some simple recipes for cannabis cooking. But this book by Gordon Rock focuses on simple and easy recipes that have nutritional value as well as medicinal. He not only explains the recipes clearly and simply, but he also goes into detail about which recipes are best suited for particular ailments and why. In this book, the author focuses on healthy home remedies for a variety of illnesses including anxiety, depression, cancer and autoimmune deficiencies, among others. Best of all, these recipes can be prepared by just about anyone—a great starter guide for any budding cannabis home cook.

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* Wake & Bake: A Cookbook

By Corinne Tobias Wake & Bake Publishing A slightly older cannabis cookbook, but still one of our absolute favorites, this book is unassuming at first glance, but don’t be mistaken, Corinne Tobias is a hilarious and witty writer and chef, and creates an open and healthy atmosphere for any learning canna-chef. Geared toward the health-conscious and veganfriendly audience, this is the first vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free cannabis cookbook that we’ve seen that also comes with a handy conversion table—and gorgeous pictures—so you can make these recipes with dairy or meat too!

* Herb: Mastering the Art of Cooking with Cannabis

By Laurie Wolf and Melissa Parks Inkshares Coming out next month, Herb has one major boost over most of the other cannacookbooks we’ve seen—reducing the taste of cannabis in these recipes. Chefs Melissa Parks and Laurie Wolf have developed recipes that specifically complement and downplay the taste of the herb so that each appetizer, entrée and dessert will be enjoyed to the fullest. Herb also goes into detail about dosing, which is essential for cannabis home cooks and is jam-packed with mouth-watering pictures that will make you hungrier as you move through the book.

Cooking With Marijuana: Mega Munch Recipes

By Sean Riley CreateSpace Publishing Cooking With Marijuana is laid out in a very simple format with very simple instructions. Easy to follow for any level of canna-chef, each dish comes with an easy list of ingredients, followed by numbered, concise, step-by-step directions. No muss, no fuss. These satisfying, munchies-worthy recipes will impress your friends and keep you cooking with love and appreciation for your favorite herb.

* Marijuana Cookbook: 50 Comfort Foods from the Marijuana Chef

By Gordon Rock Amazon Digital Services, Inc. An e-book written by the self-proclaimed “Marijuana Chef,” Marijuana Cookbook: 50 Comfort Foods is a great addition to an already established cannabis cook’s stable of digital cookbooks. It is packed full of easy recipes, tips and tricks to revitalize your canna-cooking. Aside from helping you to transform standard recipes, it’ll help you to breathe new life into your normal go-to recipes and bring them up to a new level.

* The Cannabis Kitchen

By Sandy Moriarty Quick American Archives No canna-cookbook reading list would be complete without our own recipes writer, Aunt Sandy’s Medical Marijuana Cookbook. This cookbook compiles Sandy’s favorite recipes with easy instructions, tasty looking photos and even has a chapter on how to cater to dietary restrictions, and alternatives you can use. Sandy goes into great depth about safety in cannabis cooking, the medicinal properties of cannabis, the history behind it, and she even delves into her tips and tricks for better cooking all together! This book is a great starter guide for any cannabis chef—plus it’s the official course book for Oaksterdam University.

By Robyn Griggs Lawrence Skyhorse Publishing In The Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook, chefs in the know from Amherst to Anaheim share their secrets for infusing everything from oil and agave to soups and cocktails. This book provides step-by-step instructions on preparing cannabis for use in any kitchen, as well as advice on personalizing dosage. The author offers tips for trimming, processing, storing and preserving cannabis too, along with a “buyer’s guide” that sheds light on the many varieties of cannabis flavor profiles, showcasing strains based not only on feel-good levels, but more importantly, taste-good levels. c

Aunt Sandy’s Medical Marijuana Cookbook: Comfort Food for Mind and Body

Cookbook: Feel-good Food for Home Cooks

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Edibles Issue

Edible Overdosing Medicated edibles are the media’s new scare du jour By Lanny Swerdlow

n March 2014, a 19-yearold male consumed a small portion of a cannabis-infused cookie. Feeling no effects after 30 minutes, he consumed the entire cookie. From Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, print, broadcast

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and cable news reported that a short while later, he jumped off a balcony and fell four stories to his death. While researching a story on Colorado’s recently enacted cannabis legalization law, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd ate too much of a cannabis-infused brownie, had a bad trip and millions read about it.

Children eating a cannabis edible is the most sensational of all even though most children who get hold of one of mommy or daddy’s edibles will not have any problems other than getting temporarily disoriented—kind of akin to going round and round on a playground merry-go-round. Like adults, if kids consume too

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much, they may get very disoriented resulting in an emergency room visit. These visits often serve more to assuage adult fears than provide medical treatment to the child. If treatment is needed, the child is provided appropriate observation and medication and goes home. No child has died from eating a cannabis edible, yet the media has made cannabis edibles into a major health calamity, even though the number and severity of problems from cannabis edibles fade into insignificance compared to the deaths and hospitalizations of children and adults from either alcohol, pharmaceuticals or caffeine. That being said, it must be acknowledged that a person can overdose on a cannabis edible—not lethally, but until the overdose wears off, the symptoms can be very disconcerting and uncomfortable. As compared to inhaling, cannabis that is orally ingested produces a

significantly different effect that lasts considerably longer and is potentially more potent. When inhaled, cannabis’ psychoactive ingredient, delta-9-THC, goes directly to the brain, producing effects within a few minutes. Ingesting orally is an entirely different body ball game. Cannabis consumed orally is metabolized in the digestive system. When the delta-9-THC passes through the liver, it is transformed to 11-hydroxy-THC. This new metabolite is significantly more potent than delta-9-THC producing effects of more intensity and longer duration. This secondary metabolite is not produced when smoked and is the reason why eating cannabis can get a person more zonked. How cannabis edibles effects a person depends on their unique biochemistry, genetics, body mass and life experiences. This is something that can only be determined by trial and error. Although an error is not dangerous, it can be very uncomfortable. A person ingesting a cannabis edible for the first time should only consume a small portion and then wait at least one hour to determine its effect before consuming any more. Another variable is the timing of the onset of the effect. When inhaled, these effects are experienced in minutes and decline rapidly over the next half-hour. Inhaling allows consumers to quickly determine the effect and titrate the amount accordingly. Not so with edibles. Due to the length of time it takes to be absorb in the digestive system, cannabis edibles can take 30 minutes or more before being felt and take up to two hours to peak. Complicating the matter, the length of time of onset of a cannabis edible can be considerably longer if an edible is consumed after a heavy meal. In either case, a new user may conclude they have not eaten enough and eat more of the edible, leading to an overdose. Accurate dosing is critical in edibles. Without lab testing, it is next to impossible to gauge potency of homemade edibles, which can lead to an overdose. Although commerciallyproduced edibles usually have their potency listed on their labels, studies have shown the potency to be inaccurate in many products. Usually

they are less potent than listed so that will lessen the chance of an overdose, but significantly higher concentrations have also been found. There are other variables such as a person’s own metabolic processes which can affect the length of time for digestion and absorption to occur. All of this means caution must be exercised when first consuming edibles if an unpleasant experience is to be avoided. “If you want to have better control over the onset, depth and duration, it is better to inhale whether smoked or vaporized,” advises Dr. Donald Abrams, cancer and integrative medicine specialist at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and a leading researcher into the therapeutic uses of cannabis for AIDS and cancer patients. Dr. Robert Melamede, retired Professor of Molecular Biology from the University of Colorado and author of the ground breaking study Harm Reduction – the Cannabis Paradox, is a veteran cannabis edible consumer. “I actually prefer the oral route. It’s a different kind of a high. When you smoke it goes right to your head and kind of hits your head in an imbalanced way. Not to say that I don’t enjoy that as well, but it goes up and comes down quick. When you eat an edible you can stay in a nice place longer.” The decision whether to inhale or ingest centers on why cannabis is used. If being used for seizures or feeling nauseous, time is of the essence, so inhaling would be most appropriate. For chronic conditions like arthritis, oral ingestion would allow the anti-inflammatory properties of cannabis to provide relief over an extended time period. For getting a good night’s sleep, many people give edibles an edge. Although edibles may take a bit longer to kick in, its longer lasting effects provide a night’s sleep less likely to be interrupted by waking up. Ingestion of edibles is a viable means for obtaining the benefits of cannabis and many people will find it an enjoyable and effective route of administration. The bottom line is that with cannabis edibles, a person cannot self-titrate as easily or as quickly as when smoking or vaporizing, but with care and common sense, the likelihood of going from euphoria to dysphoria can be significantly reduced. c

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Edibles Issue

CannabisInfused Edibles Laws: A StateBy-State Breakdown By Jamie Durante

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Edibles are in their own league of delivering a unique cannabis experience. For this reason and more, the regulations regarding cannabis-infused edibles vary from state-to-state. Check out our breakdown of where you can enjoy treats as a medical or recreational patient compared to the states that just say no to medicated edibles. >>

October 2015 // CULTURE

Alabama Medical cannabis edibles are not permitted in The Heart of Dixie, although it was the second state to approve CBD oil for patients with severe epilepsy. The medical cannabis bill that was supposed to allow for patients suffering from 25 different conditions safe access to medical cannabis failed in June.

Alaska Considering that Alaska legalized recreational cannabis not too long ago, the state absolutely permits cannabis edibles for recreational or medical use. Recreational users are allowed to grow their own plants, and adults ages 21 and older can possess most cannabis substances from flower to edibles. However, there aren’t regulations in place yet that allow for the legal purchase of these products in the state. Alaska is working toward this goal.

Arizona Arizona has a solid medical cannabis program. Medical cannabis edibles are permitted when they meet strict labeling regulations and are produced by Arizona Department of Health Servicesapproved dispensaries.

Arkansas The only type of cannabis allowed in the state of Arkansas is high CBD, low THC medical cannabis extracts for patients with debilitating seizure disorders. This is not a state that allows edibles.

California

Connecticut Connecticut’s medical cannabis program is finally in working order. Public Act 1255 was passed in 2012, while just this month the first dispensary was up and running. The laws allow medical cannabis in the forms of pills, creams and edibles, given they are in compliance with the Connecticut Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and various Connecticut General Statutes.

Delaware Delaware does have a medical cannabis program, which allows patients to obtain cannabis from state permitted compassion centers, and edibles are permitted for Delaware medical cannabis patients.

Florida The only permitted medical cannabis in Florida is high CBD, low THC oil used to treat severe epileptic conditions. However over 100,000 petitions in Florida aim to get a medical cannabis proposal to voters in 2016, so legal edibles for medical use may be a possibility in the future.

Georgia Edibles are not permitted for medical cannabis use in Georgia. Georgia has only legalized low-grade THC oil to patients who have one of eight qualifying medical conditions, although there are no regulations in place for how a patient should obtain the oil.

Hawaii Hawaii is another state that allows patients safe access to medical cannabis.

Flower is the only permitted form of cannabis currently allowed, until state licensed medical dispensaries are set to start operating in July 2016. Therefore, edibles are not currently permitted.

Idaho Idaho does not have a medical cannabis program, and medical cannabis edibles are illegal. Possession of three-ounces or less of cannabis is punishable at a minimum by a misdemeanor, as well as a fine and one year imprisonment.

Illinois The Cannabis Control Act allows for the sale of edible cannabis-infused products given they follow strict guidelines. Patients in Illinois are facing difficulty obtaining legal medical cannabis, as the state’s program is a work in progress.

Indiana Medical cannabis edibles are not permitted in Indiana, because they do not allow medical cannabis. In recent years, they have lowered penalties against cannabis convictions. Senate Bill 284 would have created a state medical cannabis program failed in February 2015.

Iowa Medical cannabis edibles are not legal in Iowa. Patents with severe seizure disorders are only allowed to possess CBD oil, and the state does not have a system for patients to obtain the oil. Senate Bill 484 would have allowed medical cannabis, including edibles, failed in June 2015. >>

California is seen by many as one of the instigators of medical cannabis laws nationwide. Still on the brink of recreational legalization, Prop 215 does allow patients to possess medical cannabis, which includes edibles.

Colorado Colorado absolutely allows recreational and medical use of cannabis edibles, as they allow the use of recreational cannabis at large. Strict packaging, labeling and potency regulations have been increased even further since cannabis’ legalization in Colorado.

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medical cannabis-infused edibles given their production, sale and possession is within strict guidelines. Certain cities in the state permit the recreational use of cannabis.

Maryland Maryland has a medical cannabis program, which allows for medical cannabis-infused products given they meet the requirements outlined by The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission.

Massachusetts Medical cannabis is alive and well in Massachusetts, and cannabis-infused products like edibles are okay under the state governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s regulations.

Michigan

Kansas Cannabis in general is strictly prohibited in Kansas. They hold strict anti-cannabis policies; therefore, the possession or sale of cannabis edibles is illegal. Two bills that would have allowed for the use of cannabis for specific conditions failed in February 2015.

Kentucky Currently, medical cannabis infused edibles are not permitted in the state. The only cannabis permitted is under Senate Bill 124. This bill started a program to test the results of CBD on patients. Senate Bill 40 and House Bill 3 both set out to create a system for medical cannabis use in the state, however they both failed in March of this year.

Louisiana In June, Governor Bobby Jindal allowed medical cannabis to patients with specific conditions in Louisiana by signing Senate Bill 143. However it could be up to two years before patients can obtain medical cannabis, including cannabis infused edibles.

Maine Maine has a great medical cannabis program, which allows for the use of

CULTURE // October 2015

Michigan allows for medical cannabis, and while cannabis edibles made with flower are allowed, medibles made with oil and concentrates are not permitted. This is because the concentrates are not allowed.

Minnesota Only pills, oils and vapors are allowed for medical cannabis patients in Minnesota, and they have to be suffering from debilitating conditions such as AIDS and HIV, cancer and epilepsy.

Mississippi An extremely limited medical cannabis bill was passed in Mississippi in 2014. This bill allows cannabis extracts with less than 0.5 percent THC and more than 15 percent CBD for patients with epilepsy and other severe seizure disorders.

Nebraska While Nebraska has made some steps toward decriminalization, there is still no medical cannabis program in the state. The bill that was proposed this year for the state to adopt the Cannabis Compassion and Care Act was not passed this year but will carry over into 2016 for consideration.

Nevada Nevadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s medical cannabis program does allow for edible cannabis products, and they are upheld to strict standards for testing the safety and consistency of edibles in permitted dispensaries.

New Hampshire House Bill 573 allows for the use of medical cannabis in New Hampshire, and cannabis infused edibles are permitted for medicinal use under this legislation.

New Jersey The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act allows for the use of medical cannabis. In March, they expanded their program to allow for the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three qualified dispensaries to make and sell edibles to patients.

New Mexico New Mexico has a medical cannabis program that allows for concentrates and edibles to be sold under specific regulations. >>

Missouri Missouri has a very restrictive medical cannabis policy that only allows CBDonly cannabis; therefore edibles are not permitted.

Montana Medical cannabis and medical cannabis-infused edibles are allowed under the regulations of the Montana Marijuana Act.

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New York New York’s Compassionate Care Act, successfully passed in 2014, allows for the consumption of medical cannabis for qualified patients—users are not permitted to smoke the plant, and rather can only ingest the plant through capsules, oils, liquids and pills. Smoking and edibles are not currently permitted. The strict medical cannabis program officially begins in January 2016, with 20 state-run dispensaries planned for the state.

North Carolina North Carolina’s medical cannabis program permits CBD-only cannabis to certain patients for research purposes. House Bill 78 had hopes of enacting the North Carolina Medical Cannabis Act, however it did not pass in March 2015. As of now, edibles are not allowed in the state.

North Dakota Cannabis of any kind, including edibles, is illegal in this state. The state does not have a medical cannabis program, and House Bill 1430, which aimed to regulate medical cannabis for patients, failed in February 2015.

Ohio All types of cannabis are illegal in Ohio; therefore edibles are illegal as well. A bill for recreational use of cannabis will be on the November 2015 ballot.

Oklahoma Oklahoma does not have a medical cannabis program, and edibles are illegal. The only permitted cannabis is CBD oil, which was legalized in April 2015.

Rhode Island Rhode Island’s comprehensive Medical Marijuana Act does allow for the use of all types of cannabis, which specifies edibles and baked goods as okay.

South Carolina Patients with severe epilepsy can sign up for a clinical trial using CBD oil in the state of South Carolina. Various bills to change the state’s view on medical marijuana failed in June 2015.

South Dakota All types of medical cannabis are not permitted in South Dakota, with no exception made for edible forms of cannabis.

Tennessee The only type of cannabis permitted in Tennessee is through a CBD oil research program. This means that edible cannabis products are illegal.

Texas Texas just signed legislation last June to allow patients suffering from severe forms of epilepsy access to CBD oil. That is unfortunately the current extent of their medical cannabis program, and therefore edibles are not permissible by state law.

Utah Although Utah’s governor sounds favorable toward regulating medical cannabis, the only type of cannabis permitted is high CBD, low THC

cannabis oil for patients suffering from severe seizures.

Vermont Vermont has a pretty established medical cannabis program. Licensed dispensaries are allowed to sell cannabis-infused products such as edibles.

Virginia Although medical cannabis and infused products like edibles are not permitted in Virginia, they did sign a CBD bill just this year to allow patients with epilepsy access to the medication.

Washington In Washington, adults 21 and over are allowed use cannabis recreationally. Edibles and concentrates are permitted but concentrates must have a THC concentration of 0.3 percent or less.

West Virginia West Virginia failed to pass proposed medical cannabis legislation this year, and all types of cannabis, including edibles, are illegal.

Wisconsin Wisconsin only allows for patients with epilepsy access to high CBD extracts of medical cannabis. This means that psychoactive edibles are definitely not allowed.

Wyoming The Cowboy State is not a place you want to consume edibles. Nonpsychoactive cannabis extracts are only permitted for medicinal use by those with severe seizure disorders. c

Oregon Recreational cannabis laws allow for adults ages 21 and over the use of dried cannabis flower. The state’s legal medical cannabis program allows for edibles, but recreationally, edibles can only be baked at home or received as gifts.

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania does not allow for medical or recreational cannabis, so edibles are not permitted.

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Canna-

Edibles Issue

Beverages Catching Our Attention and Quenching Our Thirst By Addison Herron-Wheeler

The growing edibles market within the cannabis industry is becoming not only a highly sought after arena, but an innovative cesspool of expert invention with a high-end culinary edge. One of the most enjoyable trends right now is the appearance of infused beverages. These refreshing treats are tasty, lower in calories than eating sweet treats, and easy to treat as medication, or use as a replacement to an alcoholic beverage. Here are just a few of the cannabis drinks that are getting some national attention.

Wana Drink Mixes A really new and exciting way to medicate and relax with cannabis drinks is to use powders and drink mixes instead of purchasing something in a bottle. Wana Drink Mixes offer options for both the cool and hot weather. Wana Hot Cocoa can be mixed with warm milk or hot water for a deliciously decadent winter treat. It is gluten free, and you can sub soy or almond milk to meet with dietary requirements. The packets also come in 200mg doses–that’s some strong cocoa! If that amount is too much, you can break up the contents of a packet and save half of it for later. For summer months, or if you just prefer something cold and fruity, 50mg Wana Drink Mixes come in flavors like lemonade and tropical punch. These can be mixed with cold water in order to dose up and get refreshed on the go.

Chai High For those who prefer coffee and tea to the fruity or soda-inspired drinks, there is Chai High, by Solace Meds. This tasty treat comes in 12oz bottles, and is 100 percent naturally brewed. The drinks are infused with a blend of organic indica and sativa buds, and the flavor is sweet and milky, and a bit like a “dirty chai,” chai with espresso in it. It contains 316 cannabinoids, and is perfect for if you are feeling under the weather and want a sweet, comfort drink with a little pick-me-up, or as a study aid for pulling an all-nighter, due to the small amount of caffeine found in the drink as well. Plus, the name is a catchy pun, and the big drink size gets you a lot of bang for your buck.

CULTURE // October 2015

CannaPunch This drink is one that is making serious headlines in the world of edibles reviews, and it is also sold in almost any dispensary that carries infused products. The kicker with CannaPunch is that this drink is not a soda–it’s a punch-like beverage infused with fruity goodness, like pineapple, black cherry and watermelon. These beverages are super tasty, and range from 30 to 100 and 200mg of THC. If you’re a lightweight, here’s a tip–try putting a shot or two of CannaPunch in sparkling water for a delicious and refreshing beverage.

Dixie Elixirs This Colorado-based brand of delicious beverages is also one of the best if you want to drink your cannabis. With flavors like Wild Berry Lemonade and Sparkling Blueberry, these concoctions are so delicious that your biggest problem will be trying to drink just a few sips and not dosing too heavily. Their most popular drink series is a line of 90mg beverages that are just perfect for a relaxing afternoon or a day when you need to medicate for pain. They also make “Dew Drops” which you can add to other drinks in order to make them tasty, and laced with a little bit of THC goodness.

Canna Cola Sodas For those who prefer straightforward sodas, Canna Cola offers some great options for you. They of course have their classic cola flavor, and they also offer such creative name puns as Orange Kush, Sour diesel for sour apple, Grape Ape, and Doc Weed instead of Dr. Pepper. Each bottle offers up 12oz of tasty goodness. The downside? They don’t list their THC content, and the product is a bit hard to come by. Still, as one of the first ever cannabis colas, it certainly deserves some attention. c

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Edibles Issue

Cooking with Cannabis Comes of Age

Cannabis fine dining is gaining momentum across the country By Sheryll Alexander

annabis is exploding on today’s almost bloated medical cannabis and recreational edibles markets, but what about the herb in fine dining? Mixologists are just beginning to muddle cannabis into iconic cocktails, and chefs in Europe and on both coasts have conquered “hidden” dinners. There’s even been hosted “weed bars” at weddings. With so many states going recreational and a big push to lift federal controlled substance prohibition, it is only a matter of time for cannabis to hit boutique bistro menus, right? Yes and no. Yes, there are truly some remarkable cannabis chefs and bakers who are intent on bringing this medicinal to the plate and to print. No, cannabis in cookery isn’t always tasty, and you still can’t sit down to a nine-course cannabis dinner at your favorite fine dining restaurant. The reasons why are both complicated, yet simple to understand.

CULTURE // October 2015

Firstly, it’s not easy to coax the cancer-fighting and good-feeling chemicals (mostly THC and CBD) out of the cannabis flower and certainly not in exact measured doses. Secondly, each chef has their favorite way to infuse cannabis into a cooking product. It wasn’t until this February that the “standard dose” of 10mgs per serving was set (100mgs maximum) in Colorado, so chefs finally have a target to hit when concocting cannabisinfused dishes. For most foodies, however, cannabis does not make a gourmet meal, because it is just not that tasty. The overpowering taste does not enhance a dish as foodies would expect, but must be masked over somehow. In fact, most cannabis chefs are renowned for their abilities to standardize dosage and to mask the hideous taste rather than coax it into ever more edible splendor as with most “new” culinary ingredients. Still, some chefs are focusing on cannabis because of their love for this humble plant and its seemingly miraculous healing abilities throughout human history. These cannaentrepreneurs are bringing cannabis

back in both old and unexpected new ways. Some are in it for this new health food’s market potential in the billions of dollars and others seem to be truly intrigued by the plant’s healing abilities. Because restaurants have been unable to cook with cannabis (and mixologists handcuffed to mere herbbased simple syrups), the mother of all herbs has been mostly relegated to athome cookery and medicinals. Although cannabis has never killed anyone, no chef nor restaurant wants to feed their guest into a catatonic state. Most certainly, feeding someone vast quantities of cannabis at one meal could lead to a legal nightmare. The result has been secret cannabis dinners by clandestine chefs at undisclosed locations mostly New York, London, Copenhagen and Vegas. But not for long. The cannabis cuisine revolution is about to hit mainstream culture big time with now dozens of prominent chefs and, perhaps more importantly, the release of many illuminating cannabis cuisine cookbooks, including Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook and HERB: Mastering the Art of Cooking with Cannabis. >>

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Meet the Top

Cannabis Chefs

So, who are these pioneering cannabis chefs? Here’s our short list: Chris Kilham

true ethnobotanist, “The Medicine Hunter” is also the author of 14 books and a cannabis (along with all other indigenous medicinal plants) educator most notably at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. His title really is “explorer in residence” for Naturex, which is the world’s largest botanical extraction company. He’s also on the medical advisory board for The Dr. Oz Show and writes frequently about cannabis in his weekly column for Fox News. Chris started cooking with cannabis in the 1980s. For Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook, he contributed his world-

famous, 20-minute cannabis olive oil infusion along with bonzo butter, highland yogi smoothie, good morning sativa chai, ganja java go-juice, high ho puttanesca, holy mole! and majoon love balls. “Why would you want to get the cannabis flavor out of your foods? I would never recommend such a thing!” exclaims Kilham. “The aroma and fragrance of cannabis offers a profusion of aroma sols, various fruity, spicy, skunk, floral and other emissions that tease the mind through the senses of smell and taste. Embrace the nuances of cannabis as an ingredient. This is a big part of cannabis cookery.”

Herb Seidel

nother Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook contributor Herb “Mota” Seidel has brought together his experience as a Chicago culinary school trained fine dining restaurant chef, a health care consultant and a longtime toker to create what he calls “healing cannabis food.” He started back in the early 2000s by going public of his love for cannabis and cooking with it when the stigma was not only real, but could get you jail time. Based in L.A., Herb now cooks fine cannabis cuisine to private

clients and for special events such as cannabis conventions. He also has a tutorial video series titled Cook with Herb. He contributed no less than 15 recipes to the Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook, including beginner’s oil and butter, cannabis ceviche, smokin’ grilled corn and grilled romaine hearts with olive cannabis dressing. “I believe that the medical uses of cannabis have been barely touched upon at this point, and in the future it should become a major component in the food as medicine and living food movements,” he says.

Scott Durrah

ot only a professional chef, Scott is also a master grower and contributor to Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook. He has run award-winning restaurants in L.A., Denver and Jamaica, but he owes his cooking background to his Boston roots, Italian grandmother and his Rastafarian island “brothers.” He and his wife Wanda ran Apothecary of Colorado until they were forced

CULTURE // October 2015

to close because their burgeoning business was turned down for banking services. Instead, they opened Jezebel’s Southern Bistro and Bar in Denver and Simply Pure Cooking School, which offers cannabis culinary excursions to Jamaica as well as Denver-based chef certification and cooking classes. A former Marine, he teaches people how to maximize cannabis’s flavor and health benefits in gourmet cuisine. >>

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Melissa Parks

contributor to the new HERB cookbook, Melissa Parks is a classically trained Le Cordon Blue and Johnson and Wales trained chef, who has worked for French pastry chefs in Texas, for fine dining restaurants in Minneapolis’ theatre district, as a product developer for General Mills, as a private chef for CEOs and as a custom wedding cake designer. She started cooking cannabis into edibles and baked goods when a girlfriend was stricken with breast cancer. Knowing nothing about cannabis, let along cooking with it, she eventually started cooking what she calls “cannabis-infused artisan edibles” for other sick friends in need of medicinal cannabis from stage four non-

Hodgkin’s lymphoma to migraine and insomnia sufferers. She is famed for developing techniques to cover up the “inherent grassy sage-like taste” of the oils. Melissa uses many methods to infuse cannabis into culinary products such as CBD oils, butters and concentrated extracts. “The changing flavor components of cannabis are what create a chef’s playground,” says Parks. “The advice I would give to any home canna-foodie/cannachef is to figure out what type of effect they are aiming to achieve through their edibles, and safely experiment with the strains in their area. Once they gain an understanding of the plant and its properties, the creation of meals becomes a natural next step.”

Curry Payton

urry Payton has a thriving non-weed restaurant group in Scottsdale, Arizona (Brat Haus and Taco Haus). He is hoping to broaden awareness of what he calls a “nutrient-rich vegetable” by writing the upcoming Nutritional Marijuana Cookbook. He teaches medical cannabis patients how to cook with cannabis and has partnered with the

Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona to provide free cannabis and cannabis cuisine classes to parents of sick children and the sons and daughters of aging parents. Payton has also just launched his Rawvolutionary Edibles line, which Payton says “showcases the abilities of marijuana to oxygenate aging blood cells and improve motor function all without being psychoactive.”

Chris Sayegh

hris Sayegh, who is also known as The Herbal Chef, travels up and down the West Coast cooking cannabis “experiences.” His Herbal Chef brand not only brings pop-up cannabis dinners to your table, but it is also launching a line of frozen dinners, focusing on cancer patients, that are infused with hemp CBD, whole plant CBD or THC (depending on your nutritional and pain management needs). A molecular biology student at the University of Santa Cruz, Sayegh left school to cook with some of the best Michelin-starred chefs in L.A. He fell in love with cannabis during

his college days at Santa Cruz and decided it was a “natural synergy” to put his cooking skills and passion for this powerful plant together as a viable career. On October 30, Sayegh has partnered with the American Cancer Society to raise awareness for cannabis as medicine at a swanky eight-course charity dinner held at L.A.’s LABART space. “Most strains that you are purchased nowadays have been crossed many times and are rarely pure strains,” says Sayegh. “So I really don’t have a favorite strain I like cooking with as long as they are grown and made with love and proper nutrients and care.”

Jeff the 420 Chef

eff the 420 Chef’s claim to fame is that he has somehow magically created “tasteless cannaoils and cannabutters,” which he demonstrates at private parties and cooking classes. Chef Jeff says he has noticed recently that cannabis patients are becoming a lot more discerning about what they are consuming and they want it to taste great too. Jeff is partnering with Harper Collins

CULTURE // October 2015

to publish a cannabis cookbook in June 2016. “I prefer to cook with either pure sativa or indica strains and high-CBD strains,” he says. “The results from pure strains are more predictable than hybrids. Strains that are high in CBD really help medical cannabis patients. It’s rewarding to see them doing better and knowing it’s because of something I made to help them feel better.” c

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Edibles Issue

The

Big

Scare Edibles, Candy and Halloween

By Addison Herron-Wheeler

ast Halloween season, there was a scent in the air besides fall leaves, roasting pumpkin seeds and candy corn. It was the smell of fear. With the recent legalization of cannabis for recreational purposes in some states, many were worried that children would accidently get into edibles on Halloween and mistake them for regular candy. Others feared that menacing, anonymous individuals would give out laced Halloween candy on purpose, hoping to plunge the children who received it into crippling horror. Many news outlets ran outrageous scare stories showing how difficult it can be to tell the difference between edibles and regular candy, and there was a general feeling of panic as the dreaded holiday approached. As the date rolled around, what exactly happened? Nothing. There were no cases of tampered-with candy, or even suspicion of such, reported to the Denver police. In fact, according to a story from Forbes entitled “The Mythical Menace of Marijuana-Infused Halloween Candy,” this has been a potential worry, or at least on the radar of police, since

CULTURE // October 2015

the first instances of medical cannabis being legalized in California back in 1996. No cases have ever been reported of this, but there are news stories dating back to this year warning about this potential threat alongside razor blades in apples, and all of the other typical Halloween concerns. “Personally, I think there was never anything to worry about in the first place,” Nancy Whiteman, co-founder of Wana Brands, an edibles company based out of Colorado, told CULTURE. “To deliberately set out to hurt a child would obviously be the work of a very sick individual and frankly, there is no way we can ever completely prevent that—but there is also no particular reason to think that such a person would choose edibles as their method to put kids at risk. Many other options would be less expensive and more toxic. It is more likely that anyone who did such a thing would have had the idea put into his or her head by the sensationalized and continuous media coverage.” However, this of course does not mean that you should not practice good safety etiquette. As is always the rule with Halloween candy, a child should never eat anything that has been opened or looks tampered with, and adhering to this simple rule should stop any potential

criminals who want to harm children. Additionally, the introduction of edibles to the legal market does create a new temptation for children, albeit one that would more than likely come to play due to boredom or mischief on the child’s part or carelessness on yours, not evil intentions from an unknown stranger. In order to insure that children don’t get into edibles that you may have purchased for personal use, there are a few precautions you can take. “First, all retail edibles now come in child resistant containers,” explains Whiteman. “Multi-serving products come in child resistant packaging that retains its child resistant properties even after it has been opened. So, for starters, if you want to consume edibles, and you have children, buy legal edibles, as opposed to black market products. Legal edibles are lab tested and in proper packaging so children can’t access the edibles. Secondly, as with any substance that you are concerned about, keep edibles out of the reach of children. That’s just common sense. Lock them up if you are concerned about access. Third, don’t make edibles at home or allow homemade edibles in your home. Unregulated edibles have not been tested for potency and are generally not going to be in child resistant packaging. Unregulated edibles present a much bigger risk to children than legal edibles.” This Halloween, make safety your first priority, but before you lock your kids in for the night with a bag of store-bought Snickers, remember that there have been no reported cases of cannabis-spiked Halloween candy, and that sometimes the media hype can be scarier than the reality itself. c

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NEW EDIBLES HIGHLIGHTS

Edibles Issue

Liquid Gold Café K-Cup

G Farma Labs has finally created a great coffee to pair with their great chocolates. Perfect for the working adult, the Liquid Gold Cafe comes in 10mg per cup, 12 cups to a case and $5 retail per individual cup or $50 for a case. All of their edibles are produced in a state-of-the-art kitchen, and the Liquid Gold Café can fit any Keurig coffee maker. The combination of caffeine and cannabis can help a variety of ailments or lifestyles—it has already become a staple for us—and should definitely be on your shopping list. www.gfarmalabs.com

Natural Cannabis Company Ice Cream Sandwiches

These tasty treats from the Natural Cannabis Company are the perfect combination to satisfy your sweet tooth. Made of creamy ice cream sandwiched between two chewy chocolate chip cookies, what more could you ask for? This truly luxurious ice cream took home an award at the Harvest Fair and is even better medicated and paired with chocolate chip-loaded cookies. Natural Cannabis Co. Ice Cream Sandwiches are so rich in flavor that you will forget that each treat is infused with high grade CO2-extracted cannabis oil, and holds 30mg of THC! Available in chocolate or vanilla at all three California locations: OrganiCann, Oakland Organics and MendoCann. naturalcannabis.com

Quigley’s Energy Shot

Quigley’s infused energy shot is different from anything else on the market. Their fast-acting, long-lasting formula is perfect for the busy professional. Quigley’s has worked hard to formulate a reliable cannabis delivery system for people who cannot or do not like to smoke. Their proprietary, fast-acting shot delivers a reliable and wonderful experience in minutes, giving you energy and pain relief! 10mg and 50mg bottles available. www.quigleys.com

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NEW EDIBLES HIGHLIGHTS CONT.

* Jane’s Brew Sweet Tea

House of Jane continues to professionalize the world of edibles with their products, especially their new drinks. The Sweet Tea and Unsweetened Tea both come in 12-ounce bottles, and combine focus and anti-anxiety effects in the infused beverage. Best enjoyed ice-cold and well-shaken, the Sweet Tea taste will transport you to the South and relax away your cares with good ole Southern hospitality. The fast-acting, long-lasting hybrid oil causes pain-relief and relaxation without couch-lock. Each labtested bottle contains 80mg of THC. www.houseofjane.com

* FLO Sweet n’ Flo Sugar

This Focused Labs Oils (FLOTM) Sweet n’ Flo Sugar is one of the coolest medicated products we’ve seen in a while. In either sativa or indica, and is available in 25, 50 and 100mg. This tiny little package is great with coffee, tea, fruit or on cereal! FLOTM applies proven scientific methodologies to the cannabis industry. Their CO2 solvent-free extraction process provides the cleanest and safest extraction methods available and their commercial kitchen ensures premium edibles with consistent dosages. www.focusedlabs.com

*Jolly Meds CBD-OOS

Jolly Meds cannabis-infused lozenge is the perfect candy for patients. This high-CBD and low-THC treat is great for patients seeking medicine without feeling medicated. Easily dosable 4-piece pack contents: 30mg CBD and 15mg THC. Jolly Meds believes a high-CBD/low-THC formulation is key for ongoing physical and mental wellness. CBD-OOS come in organic flavors strawberry, tangerine or ginger. www.jollymeds.com

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“It opened up a whole new world to me that I thought was really amazing, and I thought had profound implications for shifting the way society views cannabis.”

CBD—three little letters, so much potential.

These days, we know about cannabidiol, the ingredient of cannabis that doesn’t get you high but has shown such potential for healing, from reducing inflammation to preventing seizures in children for whom every other treatment has failed. But when journalist and cannabis activist Martin Lee began hearing about cannabidiol at scientific conferences eight years ago, it was largely a mystery. Growers had spent by R. Scott Rappold decades breeding strains to be high in THC, the psychoactive ingredient of cannabis. Just finding a strain high in CBD in California at that time was tough. “It was lousy weed. It didn’t get me high,” said Lee. “But it sure helped my back pain.” Impressed with the potential, he began writing about this mostly unknown component of cannabis and actively seeking out strains with more CBD than THC. In 2010 he founded the nonprofit Project CBD to be a clearinghouse of information about the compound and help medical cannabis patients find such strains of plant. “It opened up a whole new world to me that I thought was really amazing, and I thought had profound implications for shifting the way society views cannabis,” said Lee. >>

Martin Lee of Project CBD

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Evolving science

Early on, Lee noticed that while plenty of scientists attended conferences and forums on cannabis, very few medical doctors did. Such scientific research as existed was written in lingo few medical cannabis patients—or patients of any stripe—could decipher. Lee saw the mission of Project CBD to bring all these groups together to share knowledge of the incredible potential of the compound and, with growers, to make it available. CBD studies have shown great promise in treating tumors, nausea and psychiatric

of cannabidiol. Still, CBD may have remained an obscure compound of cannabis, one of over 60 that even most cannasseurs have never heard of, if not for a little girl in Colorado.

A national story

Like many children with epilepsy, medication did little to prevent Charlotte Figi’s seizures. By five years old, she was wheelchair-bound and mostly catatonic from heavy drugs and up to 50 grand mal seizures a day. Her mother, desperate for anything to help, found anecdotal stories online about seizures being reduced

of mainstream cannabis. Here was medicine, something people with no interest in getting “high” could find benefit from. Project CBD’s main mission since has been to educate newcomers about cannabis, cannabidiol and where to find it, “to help guide them through this strange terrain of CBD products,” Lee said. Their website also lets you find nearby dispensaries selling CBD-rich cannabis. Despite the preponderance of anecdotal evidence and stories like Charlotte’s, there is still very little scientific evidence on how CBD works to cut seizures or shrink tumors. That’s

“We just felt at the time, this seemed to warrant a special kind of attention, the fact the medical marijuana community was ready to embrace CBD-rich cannabis.” conditions, as well having anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory affects. The world, he believed, needed to know about this. “We just felt at the time, this seemed to warrant a special kind of attention, the fact the medical marijuana community was ready to embrace CBDrich cannabis,” he said. Of course, cannabis without any psychoactive effects can be a tough sell, and it took a long time to get it available. If Lee heard about a strain high in CBD, he would try to connect CBD seekers with the grower so they could get clones. Project CBD began working with dispensaries to educate workers on use and dosing CULTURE // October CULTURE // October 2015 2015 72 72

or even eliminated with a special kind of cannabis. Fortunately, she lived in Colorado, with a robust medical cannabis industry, and was able to find a grower interested in CBD-rich cannabis. The story about how Charlotte’s seizures dropped to only one or two a month made headlines around the world. CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, long skeptical about medical cannabis, featured the Figis and renounced his earlier stance. In 2013, families began moving to Colorado from across the country by the hundreds to get an epilepsy treatment that would be illegal in their states. For Lee, that was the turning point. No longer was CBD a compound on the fringe

because the federal government still considers it a Schedule 1 drug with no medical uses. If and when the federal government reschedules cannabis, Lee expects there to be a huge explosion of CBD products, not just buds or extracts in a dispensary but pharmaceutical products made by massive corporations. The role of Project CBD will be even greater. For his part, Lee doesn’t think the popularity of CBD-rich cannabis will hurt traditional cannabis. “I like THC-dominant strains. I also use CBD too. I think that there’s still a lot to be learned on how to use CBD for the best benefit.” c

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Shrouded in

Mystery

Peering into the Privacy of Mr. Basic of Concave Oblivion by Sarah Elise Abramson

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There’s a persistent feeling of the ultimate end that all living things inevitably face in Mr. Basic of Concave Oblivion’s art. This feeling easily overwhelms the façade of his work, which appears to be quirky denture-inspired jewelry and large scale, deceitfully playful installation pieces. Underneath these masks, the deeper meaning is undeniable and halts our busy lives, forcing us to ponder time, aging and death. Fittingly so, Mr. Basic himself wears a mask of sorts. He is an anonymous artist who creates a variation of art; more than we are privy to. He is an anomaly who takes care to keep himself as such. Always insightful and always surprising, CULTURE sits down with him (or her) after he kindly agrees to allowing us to pry into the private and mysterious life and art of Mr. Basic of Concave Oblivion.

What do you think happens after you die? Some people will be upset. Most people won’t care. Several people will divide up my things and then carry on with their lives. Can you talk about your interest in dentures as well as the materials you choose to make these denture inspired art works with? I can’t say I have an interest in dentures in general. I grew up learning about and working with uncommon materials with my dental technician grandfather. The more you learn about materials and techniques the more adaptable you become and the less you need to rely on others to communicate your ideas. What are you trying to communicate with these works? Are they in any way connected to the other types of art you make? If so how? To me, these items are voluptuous but superfluous. I can’t inflate them with meaning. I made them for fun. For anyone interested, I have a 17-page manifesto that details the social importance of denture-inspired hair combs. >>

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What are your thoughts on cannabis being legalized? I think all drugs should be legal but I do view marijuana as the SOMA of our culture. It has unlimited medicinal properties and should be available to anyone who needs it. Who were some of your early influences? The Johnson Smith Catalog was one of my first and most important influences. What were the events leading up to your decision to become an anonymous artist? I’m a private person. I make things that I like and enjoy them to be seen/heard but it’s more interesting when people judge the work and not who made it. It shouldn’t matter if I’m a 14-yearold black girl or a white, transgender 48-year-old. At this point, my insecurities are pretty much in-check and my ego doesn’t require any feeding.

tags/tales used to entice, like “autistic artist,” “schizophrenic artist,” “feminist artist,” “body building artist” or “this artist went crazy and was admitted to a mental hospital” or “this artist uses heroin,” etc . . . The only thing more boring than this approach are the people who fall for it.

Do you think all art should be anonymous? I don’t care what anyone else does, especially when it comes to art. Some people feel the need to market themselves and endlessly promote themselves. Constant twittering, Facebook photographs and strange

What are some things you look for in a good piece of art? I like when someone focuses on their personal interests, obsesses over them and presents them in a well-crafted manner. About six months ago I stumbled upon a piece of work that I am still thinking about. I wrote a song about it. I had dreams about it.

I’ve talked about it to the point where friends are tired of hearing about it. I carry a printed image of it in my wallet. When I’m done with this interview, I will stare at it and think about it some more. It opened a door and forever changed me. What are some things you look for in life? A nice life would have as little government involvement as possible. That being said, I think life is quickly becoming less and less nice. Like vampires in old movies, government can’t suck the blood from your neck unless you invite them into your home. Would you share with us something you feel you’ve learned within the last year? I’m learning to play the piano. What do you try to achieve with your art? A reason to stop doing it. If you met a five-year-old who expressed interest in being an artist, what advice would you give him or her? Keep it a secret or they will destroy you. c www.etsy.com/people/ConcaveOblivion

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n 1978, Brooklyn-born Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield chose a dilapidated gas station in Vermont to open the first Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop. Frosty weather and shady Häagen-Das dealings sought to thwart their rapid rise, but the childhood friends finished their first decade together as President Reagan’s U.S. Small Business Persons of the Year. Unilever, a European consumer giant with brands like Axe, Dove and Lipton, purchased Ben & Jerry’s in 2000 with an understanding that the company could maintain its social values and activism. Ben and Jerry continue to work at the company, but they now spend considerably more time advancing social issues like cannabis legalization and a better environment. The ice cream moguls recently gave CULTURE the scoop on everything from cannabis-themed flavors to the Stamp Stampede for campaign finance reform.

You recently said you would be game for making cannabis-infused ice cream. What kind of reaction did that provoke? Ben: Our comments were the most widely circulated thing that we have ever said. Jerry: I think Ben said that. Ben: A decision like that at Ben & Jerry’s would not be ours to make, but personally, once it goes fully legal, sure, I would make ice cream that

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has marijuana in it. As with all edibles, it is important that they be properly dosed and labeled so that consumers are aware and a child does not eat them. It has been proven that marijuana is very efficacious as far as medicinal uses, and it is crazy not to allow that use. It has also been proven that recreational marijuana use is a lot safer and better for your body than alcohol. I think it is unconscionable that there is this drug war and prisons overflowing with people prosecuted for marijuana offenses. The

really unfortunate part is that, despite the fact that marijuana is used by a whole lot of rich white people, the prisons are overflowing with poor not-white people. That is unjust, unfair, unAmerican and something that we have to change.

In a 2013 podcast, Ben said you stayed out of the legalization issue because you thought it would be used against your

work to reduce the Pentagon budget. Do you feel cannabis is a stigmatizing issue in political circles?

Ben: Less so than it used to be. The handwriting is on the wall that it is going to be legal. What is it, 19 or 20 states legalized medicinal use, and more and more states are going to make it legal recreationally. A whole lot of law enforcement, former and current officials, favor legalization. I recently asked the campaign director for VISIT US AT

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Stamp Stampede–my major focus lately for getting money out of politics–if it would hurt the cause if I took a public stand in favor of legalization. He said nothing will be more widely distributed than my quote about marijuana ice cream, and that did not seem to hurt us, so take whatever stand you want to take.

An urban legend on the internet suggests you started out selling cannabis green tea ice cream at California music festivals in the ’60s and ’70s. Ben: If only! No truth to that at all. Jerry: I think that is the best rumor I have ever heard about myself. >> Photos David Seaver

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interesting, though, what recently happened in Indiana with that ridiculous law that lets people discriminate against gay people. It is the first time I can remember that companies without a direct stake in the issue took a firm, public and rapid stand opposing a law. Jerry: It is understood in the agreement between Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s that we would be able to take positions on issues that they might not. An example is the issue of mandatory labeling of GMOs in food products here in the United States. That is something that Ben & Jerry’s actively campaigns for in different states. That is a position that Unilever does not agree with, but they recognize that it is within Ben & Jerry’s values.

Free Cone Day is usually within a week of 420, and flavors have included Half Baked, Satisfy My Bowl and Magic Brownies. This is not a coincidence, is it? Jerry: Ha! I never associated Free Cone Day with April 20, and those flavors you mentioned were not flavors that came out on my watch. Ben: Those are flavors that came out since Unilever took over the company.

You temporarily changed flavor names to Hubby Hubby and Apple-y Ever After in certain markets to celebrate gay marriage legislation. Was that under Unilever as well?

Jerry: Those happened inside the company. Ben and I had nothing to do with that.

You must appreciate that Unilever supports Ben & Jerry’s values and activism.

Jerry: It is helpful to understand that Ben and I work at the company, but we are not involved in the management or operations, so we do not really make decisions about those things. People really care about what happened with Ben & Jerry’s since Unilever acquired it. The company has stayed strong

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with issues like marriage equality as a human’s rights issue, and the company transitioned to all fair trade and 100 percent non-GMO ingredients. Good things happened with the company, and it is no different than when Ben and I were running it. Ben: There are occasions in which the parent company can feel–nervous is not the right word–but concerned that Ben & Jerry’s maintains positions that the company does not agree with, and that is not unusual for Unilever. Most businesses shy away from taking any type of position on social or environmental issues unless it is something that will make them more money. It is

You mentioned Stamp Stampede, which involves stamping messages on paper currency. Was this effort started in response to Citizen’s United?

Jerry: A very large movement in the country is focused on getting money out of politics, and several Supreme Court decisions led to the current situation, but Citizen’s United was the straw that broke the camel’s back. That was what catapulted the movement and added a lot of momentum to it. Ben: We are essentially turning money into media. We call it monetary jujitsu, using money to get money out of politics. Every bill you stamp–once you spend it and put it into circulation–is seen by 875 people. One person stamping three bills a day for a year can create a million impressions, and that is very powerful. We are essentially saying that if the Supreme Court said money is free speech, we are going to make our money scream. The corporations and ultra-wealthy are using their money to buy politicians, and the rest of us should make our voices heard to create an undeniable demand to get money out of politics. The idea is to infiltrate the money supply–this is all legal, by the way–and so far we have over 50,000 people stamping, and we are growing at about 100 people per day. By the end of this year, we should have 80,000 people stamping. You can get your very own stamp at StampStampede.org. >>

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Jerry: There is a range of non-profits working on the issue, and they are working on one level. What Ben did, which is brilliant, is to find a way for the average person to get involved and have their voice heard without having to join an organization. More than 80 percent of the people in the country, whether they are Democrats, Republicans or Independents, want to get money out of politics. They understand that all the money in elections comes from these giant corporations and extremely wealthy people, and it is undermining the entire democracy. This is a way for average people to get engaged.

Ben & Jerry’s got a [Tesla] that is going into different markets around the country with the goal of signing up people to join Avaaz [with its 100 percent Clean Power Petition] for the upcoming climate summit in Paris, and they are doing that by giving away free ice cream and talking about the issue. We are trying to use the deliciousness of Ben & Jerry’s to activate people on important issues.

If money were removed from politics, what type of financing structure would you prefer? Public financing?

Ben: Um, uh, you know, I think you are free to speculate.

alas, I think the ideal solution and the one that I would most prefer, but there are various other proposals. One is a voucher system in which everybody in the country gets a voucher on their taxes, like $100, to give to whatever politicians they want, and that would be the only money for the purposes of elections that politicians could use. Another good example is the one passed by the city of New York and the states of Connecticut and Maine, which is basically a small donor match whereby politicians pledge not to take large donations in exchange for having their small donations matched on a six-to-one basis by the government. The cost of public financing is about $6 per person, so getting money out of politics does not cost that much.

The company also has the Climate Justice campaign and Save Our Swirled Tour.

Jerry: This is a campaign the company is doing to engage people into policy issues like climate change. We partnered with the nonprofit Avaaz, one of the big organizers of the climate march in New York City last fall, and they are working towards ending fossil fuel use and getting to all renewables by 2050.

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Ben: Where did you hear that?

Is that still a secret?

So, no denial?

Ben: I would just say feel free to speculate.

Ben, I read that you once did a diet of French bread and butter. How was that supposed to work?

Ben: Ha! It was actually French bread and garlic butter. It was garlic bread. It worked great. It was delicious and cheap, and I was not too fat, right, during that period of time? I think I was reasonable. One time it caught fire in the toaster oven.

“

“It has been proven that marijuana is very efficacious as far as medicinal uses, and it is crazy not to allow that use. It has also been proven that recreational marijuana use is a lot safer and better for your body than alcohol.” Have either of you ever considered running for office?

Jerry: [In 1993,] I ran for [a seat on the Board of Selectmen] in the town of Williston where I live, and I lost. I think the reality is that I could not get elected as a dogcatcher.

You were both teens living in New York in the 1960s, but neither of you attended Woodstock. How is that possible?

Ben: When the Woodstock festival was happening, I was actually an ice cream man. I was running a truck with a friend of mine where we were ringing bells and going up and down the street in the neighborhoods

“

Ben: Public financing is one solution, and

I heard that you might launch a Climate Change ice cream flavor. Is that true?

selling ice cream to little kids. Jerry: He was a mobile ice cream vendor. He was the Pied Piper man. Ben: I was. That was the brand, the offbrand, the competitor to Good Humor. You know, there was some talk around the yard that we should take our ice cream trucks to Woodstock, but people started to talk about the traffic and how we would resupply. I just kept going up and down the streets in the neighborhood. I didn’t make it to Woodstock.

Jerry: I think we have to say that the diet didn’t catch on.

What is the next thing you would like to do with ice cream? Maybe a Led Zeppelin flavor?

Jerry: Ben and I are not really drawn to celebrity-type flavors or popular cultural things. When we were doing the company, Jerry Garcia [with the Cherry Garcia flavor] was an unusual thing. It happens more frequently at the company now. Ben and I both think that connecting ice cream with social issues and activated people, particularly marginalized people, is the highest use of ice cream. We want to connect with our customers over delicious ice cream and making the world a better place. c VISIT US AT

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cool stuff Recipe Dice

Tired of making decisions at the end of your day? We know the feeling. Luckily, we found Recipe Dice! Roll the dice to create your dinner—12 little wooden dice feature more than 60 seasonal vegetables, grains, meats, spices and herbs. Fun and food—double win!

K-Vape Micro-DX

PRICE: $16.50 MORE INFORMATION: www.leafcutterdesigns.com

PRICE: $199.95 MORE INFORMATION: www.vapornation.com

Those who love the original Kandy Pens vape pens will get even more excited to discover the K-Vape Micro-DX—a brand new KandyPens vape pen that comes with advanced temperature control. Not only does the MicroDX sport a sleeker and more portable design (boasting to be one of the smallest currently available on the market) but it heats herbs like a boss without ever making direct contact with the heat source. This device has up to 80 different temperature settings, and can be heated up to 430 degrees with its easy-to-use OLED display, delivering pure vapor every time.

PRICE: $24.95 MORE INFORMATION: thatinventions.com

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Personal Butter Churner

PRICE: $39.99 MORE INFORMATION: www.uncommongoods.com

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Making your own pantry staples is very rewarding—and can help anyone maintain a healthier lifestyle. With this simple design, you can churn your own butter (with or without cannabis) in just 10 minutes, and impress all your dinner guests. Simply pour the whipping cream into the churner, turn the handle, and enjoy a fresh batch of butter with a little personal touch. Try adding your own herbs in there too—rosemary white truffle butter? Yes please!

Scoop That! Heated Ice Cream Scoop No more waiting for the ice cream to thaw a little bit so you can scoop it out with ease. The Scoop That! ice cream scoop uses thermo-ring technology and heat from your own hand to heat up the edges of the scoop for a perfect round of your favorite ice cream every time. Paired with the awesome Scoop That! ice cream bowl—which allows the insulated scoop bowl to keep ice cream in its perfectly frozen state—this will keep your ice cream looking and tasting great, regardless of the temperature around you.

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entertainment Release Date: October 27 Available on: Xbox One

Green Buds and Hash: A PotFilled Parody Dana Larsen Hairy Pothead Press

Halo 5: Guardians Dev. 343 Industries Pub. Microsoft Studios

“Breguet: Art and Innovation in Watchmaking”

It’s been three years since the world has received a new game from the Halo franchise, but rest assured fanboys and girls, the wait is over. Halo 5: Guardians is one sequel you can count on to bring famous characters, weapons and worlds of the Halo universe to life. Players will get to experience a new story, classic matchmaking and four-player online campaign co-op modes on a beautiful 1080p display at 60 frames per second on Xbox One. Good luck, Spartans!

GO:OD AM Mac Miller Warner Bros. Records

Mac Miller has returned with GO:OD AM, which marks both his first new album since 2013’s Watching Movies With The Sound Off (and the 2014 Faces mixtape) and his major label debut. GO:OD AM not only sees Miller in top form lyrically and execution-wise, but also shows off a much more polished, mature sound and style. His flow still mixes the classic with the contemporary in an accessible way, and his choice of producers, collabs and overall vibe of the album follows Mac’s reputation for making music that is both fun to party to and rife with depth. (Simon Weedn)

Author Dana Larsen and artist Chip Crumb recreate the format of the children’s book Green Eggs and Ham in a delightful parody. Mister Stash is concerned for his friend, and goes to great lengths to convince him that not only are there many different ways to enjoy cannabis, but that it could help him feel much better. No forcing, pushing or berating, just a friendly and informative conversation, all wrapped up in well-crafted illustrations and clever, poetic verse. (Alex Bradley)

Love & Mercy River Road Entertainment Dir. Bill Pohlad

In many circles, it’s well-known that the Beach Boys’ most visionary member and primary songwriter, Brian Wilson, suffered from prolonged periods of mental instability exacerbated by heavy substance abuse in the ‘60s and ‘70s. It is this period of Brian Wilson’s life which serves as the back drop for Love & Mercy. The film captures all of the bizarre twists and turns in Wilson’s life under the direction of Dr. Landy, while also excellently showing what caused Wilson to need major psychological care in the first place. Love & Mercy is an incredible film. (Simon Weedn)

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Watchmaking is a tedious art reserved for those who have a steady hand and very patient mind. Clockmaker AbrahamLouis Breguet, whose life spanned the late 18th and early 19th centuries, became well-known for his company of the same name for producing some of the first historic watches. This exhibit, entitled “Breguet: Art and Innovation in Watchmaking,” gives viewers a chronological history of Breguet, from the first wristwatch in 1775 to the famous “MarieAntoinette” pocket watch that was said to have taken 44 years to create. The company garnered a repuation that led it to create many other watches for the elite and powerful, such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Tsar Alexander I and Queen Victoria.

IF YOU GO

What: “Breguet: Art and Innovation in Watchmaking” exhibit. When/Where: On view through Jan. 10. de Young, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr., San Francisco. Info: Visit www.deyoung. famsf.org for details.

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Available WHEREVER: Happy Seed Edibles products are carried.

edible + concentrate

Pumpkin Spice Dankie

Danks-giving comes early this year! No one in the edibles game has managed to come close to Happy Seed Edibles’ line of sponge cakes—dubbed “Dankies,” in homage to the legendary Hostess product. Happy Seed blows past Hostess with this Pumpkin Spice-flavored variety, which comes perfectly formed inside a sealed black, foil pouch. Fall flavors of pumpkin and cinnamon hit your nose when you pop open this dessert edible. Each large-sized Dankie comes wrapped in a paper on a little paper tray. It is incredibly difficult not to scarf this entire, cream-filled treat immediately. That would be overkill, as each one contains at least 175mg of THC (17 doses). Patients are using high-strength edibles to manage chronic pain and mental conditions including PTSD and substance withdrawal. Let us give danks!

Salted Caramel Crunch Ganjalato

Just because you’re baking, doesn’t mean you need to sweat. Los Angeles company Ganjalato is spreading a cool front across California with its line of infused ice creams. The Salted Caramel Crunch Marijuana Infused Gelato comes in a cute, small quarterpint-sized container that’s as professional-looking as any Whole Foods brand. Inside, you get a little plastic stick to spoon up the creamy, premium gelato. The edible tastes wonderfully cool, sweet, creamy and rich, with hits of salted caramel, toffee and almonds. Each one contains 100mg THC derived from a clean, pure CO2 extract. Ganjalato took first place in the edibles contest at the 2015 Chalice Cup, and the gelatos have spread to over 100 dispensaries and climbing. Patients use infused foods to primarily treat chronic body pain without having to smoke raw flowers.

Available AT: Revolution in San Jose.

Sour Diesel Ice Wax 73u

Available at: Theraleaf Relief in San Jose.

Treat yourself to some artisanal, small-batch, high-potency extract of Sour Diesel this Fall. Theraleaf Relief in San Jose is carrying Live Extracts’ “Ice Wax 73u”—a type of hash made with all-natural water and ice, 73-micron filters, and no hydrocarbons like butane. This extract is several times more potent than raw flowers, because it is a collection of the plant’s active ingredients. Sour Diesel Ice Wax 73u has a marvelous, terpene-rich limonene-myrcene nose and looks very pure. The tiny glass jar is seemingly filled with trichome heads and nothing else. When cold, Ice Wax it has a brittle sticky texture that’s dabbable and also great atop bowls or in joints. Store it cool to hold onto the amazing terpenes. This extract melts under heat and vaporizes into potent flavorful essence of Sour Diesel, with instant, hybrid sativa effects. Can help manage cancer pain, and depression.

POT-O-COFFEE

A new study found that cannabis and caffeine may go together as well as a horse and carriage. Apparently caffeine reinforces the effects of THC, making it even more pleasurable. Whether you want to literally “wake and bake” or become the office “superstoner,” the cannabis infused coffee from Pot-O-Coffee can do it. Each easy-to-use K Pod contains the perfect handcrafted blend of premium fresh Arabica coffee and natural cannabis oil. The flavor is full, robust and easily compares with other quality coffees. Tailored to the individual cannabis consumer’s needs, Pot-O-Coffee can provide mild, medium or bold effects with pods containing THC concentrations of either 10mg, 50mg or 100mg. The company also manufactures Pot-O-Tea which contains 10mg CBD derived from agricultural hemp and a truly scrumptious Pot-O-Coco available in the same THC strengths of 10mg, 50mg and 100mg.

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Available wherever: Pods are carried.

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Green Tea Gourmet Revive Available WHEREVER: Jane’s Brew products are carried.

House of Jane continues to professionalize the world of edibles with their great-tasting Revive Green Tea. It’s a delicious mix of gourmet green tea and ultra-light CO2 cannabis oil created from the freshest cannabis buds. The 12-ounce bottle has all the legitimacy of a Snapple product, but the synergistic effects of tea and cannabis. Combining focus and anti-anxiety effects, caffeine and hybrid-derived cannabinoids are very popular together. The Revive is best enjoyed ice-cold and well-shaken, and contains just enough added sugar and citric acid to amp up the tea taste. Each lab-tested bottle contains 80mg of THC—or eight doses. Take one dose and wait up to 45 minutes for effects. The fast-acting, longlasting hybrid oil causes pain relief and relaxation without couch lock. It’s also so discrete you can take it nearly anywhere.

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Available at: Airfield Supply in San Jose.

Veda Chews High CBD

Avedica Nutraceuticals takes their Veda Chews line to the next level with a high-CBD chew wrapped in professional medical blister packaging. Found at Airfield Supply Co in San Jose, Veda Chews High CBD infused chocolate caramel chews are made with non-GMO, all-vegan ingredients, and have a very useful 1:1 ratio of THC to CBD. Each blister pack comes with four Chews and each chew has 40 mg of THC and 40 mg of CBD. The Chews are firm like a tootsie roll, with a mild medicinally herbaceous taste underneath the sugar, chocolate and vanilla flavor. The chews have a nice, mild psychoactive effect that’s functional and attractive to patients looking for an alternative to opioids. Studies show combined formulations of THC and CBD work better on pain than either cannabinoid alone.

Island Punch Infused Hard Candy

Now this is one jolly rancher. Medical cannabis edibles maker Cali Dreams channels the wonderful diversity of the Golden State with their broad line of flavored, medicated hard candies. Such candies are perfect for senior patients, who are using THC and CBD to treat arthritis pain, insomnia, and agitation from Alzheimer’s Disease or dementia. Hard candies are very familiar to seniors, many of whom grew up in the era of reefer madness and are averse to plant formulations. Cali Dreams’ Island Punch hard candy has all the appeal of a traditional fruit punch-flavored hard candy. It’s sweet with a fruity taste that’s not too synthetic. Each candy packs 40mg of THC, equal to four Colorado doses and comes in seven flavors: Apple, blue raspberry, grape, pineapple, island punch, mango and watermelon. Sucking on one leads to fast-acting hybrid effects as the cannabinoids enter the bloodstream through the mouth’s mucus membranes.

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Available WHEREVER: Cali Dreams products are carried.

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Available WHEREVER: Hashman Infused products are carried.

Available WHEREVER: Auntie Dolores products are carried.

Chocolate Brownie Bite - CBD

One of the leading names in medical cannabis edibles has crafted a marvelous treat for patients in need of CBD—a 50mg CBD brownie bite that tastes awesome. Cannabidiol (CBD) is sought after by pain, inflammation, and anxiety patients who don’t want the euphoria of THC. This low glycemic, vegan, lab-tested brownie utilizing the same delicious recipe as the THC variety, just with coconut oil infused with CBD extracted from cannabis. It is available for direct purchase through their website (auntiedolores.com), if you can’t find it in your local collective, comes in a really classy recyclable paperboard canister and has a rich, sweet cocoa brownie smell. The brownie also tastes amazing and decadent—CBD patients are rarely so pampered. The brownie’s CBD effects can take up to an hour to kick in. They can also provide an enhanced entourage effect when paired with Auntie Dolores THC infused products.

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Canna Drops Sativa | Revive

Move beyond smoking or eating cannabis with this liquid tincture from Hashman Infused. Canna Drops Sativa | Revive starts with CO2 oil made with organic, sun-grown sativa trim. Hashman Infused homogenizes the CO2 oil with MCT oil, sunflower oil, and adds homeopathic amounts of rosemary, black pepper and peppermint to create this really refined, pure tincture. It is organic, vegan, low-glycemic, gluten-free and formulated by two herbalists and an in-house scientist for a better-tasting, extremely effective tincture. Revive comes in 200mg bottles. Each dropper full contains 5.33mg THC. Effects can be felt within 20 minutes when applied under the tongue. Many patients also use this as a great substitute for e-liquid as is or add their own flavors to it. Great day time medication for pain relief, inflammation and nausea, patients report.

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Available WHEREVER: MediZen INC products are carried.

Pho Soup Cup

Maximize your 30-minute lunch break by medicating and eating with easily the most unique edible on the market—MediZen Inc.’s new instant soup. We’ve all enjoyed instant noodles. Add water, heat up in microwave, let sit for a minute, and enjoy. MediZen takes it to the next level with a Vietnamese Phoflavored instant soup containing 125mg of THC. MediZen only uses organic produce powders in their vegetarian meal. The cannabinoids also come from a CO2 extract of organic Kush and Sour Diesel. It’s OCIA-organic certified and crafted by a Servsafe-certified staff, then lab-tested by CW Analytical. The inviting, hot broth, noodles, Bay Leaf and seasoning is perfect for colds—when you want to give your throat a break from smoking or vaping. The potent soup kicks in within an hour, and relieves body aches, and helps with sleep. Available WHEREVER: Native Seed products are carried.

LIFT BAR

Time for some superfood that’s high-protein, gluten-free and dairy-free—Native Seed’s LIFT BAR. Truly a California concoction—it’s all organic, and 100 percent tested by CW Analytical for potency, and safety. Native Seed starts with sativa-dominant hybrid cold water hash infused into coconut oil, then mixed in oats, brown rice cereal, dates, raisins, almond butter, chocolate chips, hemp powder, chia seeds, maple syrup, flax meal, cinnamon, vanilla and even pink sea salt. Packed into a resealable, plain paper pouch, we loved the wholesome, sweet cinnamon aroma. The bar has a classic Cliff Bar’s mega-density—full of fuel for a hike or yoga. Each sweet, fiber-rich, bar contains a reasonable 60mg of THC (also available in 180mg). Just bite off a bit for really mild, up-lifting effects that lift mood and manage pain or tension.

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Available AT: Barbary Coast in San Francisco.

YummY GummYs

One of California’s best artisan extract-makers, Rumpelstiltskin Extracts, also makes some hyper-potent and delicious infused candy. Barbary Coast in San Francisco carries Rump Wax’s YummY GummYs—a lime-flavored gummy edible that contains a lab-tested 200mg of THC. That’s 20 Colorado doses! Rump uses a hybrid house blend of the industry’s leading, hyperpure hydrocarbon hash, and mixes it into his private gummy recipe. Rump took home an award from the Bay Area HempFest for the gummy, which is perfectly molded to look like a pig, with a green color, and sugary coating. It has no real smell, but has a sweet-hashy taste of Sprite and massive effects. Start by nibbling the pig’s ear. Patients use the mega-strength edibles to handle very severe cases of nausea, insomnia, neuropathic pain, and as part of an integrative therapy to treat cancer.

Sensi Chew Antioxidant

Available WHEREVER: Sensi Products are carried.

Protect yourself from the ravages of cancer-causing free radicals while also medicating for pain and relaxation with Sensi Chew’s cool, new Antioxidant fruit and nut caramel. Free radicals are metabolic byproducts. Vitamins A, C, and E are known antioxidants that neutralize them. Here, Sensi Chew has added the vitamins to a tasty, nutritious sweet nut bar containing a very tolerable, lab-tested, 25mg dose of THC from 50-50 hybrid cannabis. Great for medium or low-tolerance patients who do not want to smoke, each caramel comes in a resealable plastic tray and has a nutty, oily nutritious smell and tastes like cashews and cranberries in addition to other nuts and fruit. Perfect for the back half of a long hike!

The Baykery Chocolate Brownie

Available at: Grass Roots in San Francisco.

Even with competition so fierce, The Baykery consistently sets itself apart with its gourmet chocolate brownie. Available at Grass Roots, The Baykery Chocolate Brownie is a potent, 300mg THC edible that comes in either indica, sativa, or hybrid varieties. Catering to San Francisco’s foodies, the brownie only uses organic and local unsalted butter, organic sugar, certified humane organic, local, cage-free eggs, and organic fair trade Madagascar vanilla extract. Each comes in a re-sealable, darkened foil pouch with the date it was “bayked””. Inside is the inviting aroma of jars of powdered cocoa packed into a medium-sized, medium-density brownie. Do not use this edible when hungry—you’ll be tempted to snack on all 30 doses. That would be overkill. Just a nibble of the indica is great for pain and insomnia, and takes an hour to kick in.

Available at: The Green Door in San Francisco.

Glowing Buddha Peach Rings

Buddha once said happiness is the absence of desire. We were not left wanting after trying these potent Glowing Buddha Peach Rings. A type of infused gummy candy, they taste very peachy and sweet, with nary a hint of the cannabinoids. The crunchy granularity mixes nicely with the chewiness of the gummy. Each pouch ring comes with 100mg of THC, which Glowing Buddha is calling 5-7 doses. It’s made with industryleading GoldDrop extract, for which Glowing Buddha took home a Best Edibles trophy at the 2015 HempCon Cup. The rings can travel virtually anywhere undetected, but do take longer to kick in. We got strong hybrid effects from these edibles within an hour, but could be even faster if you let the gummy dissolve in your mouth.

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Available AT: Golden Health & Wellness in Sacramento.

HI-FI Medicinal Cannabis Chocolate Bars

Get ready for your record collection to sound fantastic on this HI-FI, 200mg THC chocolate bar. HI-FI completes the edibles industry’s journey from natty beginnings in plastic baggies to today’s gourmetlooking and tasting, lab-tested medicine. HI-FI nails the branding with a clean, professional logo and a chocolate bar scored into four, 50mg THC squares and stamped “HI-FI”. Each whole bar also contains 29mg of THC and 32mg of sedative CBN—making it best-used in the afternoon or evening. The milk chocolate is neither too light nor too dark and is infused with the hint of cannabis extract from some type of oil. They come in four varieties: Milk, dark, white or almonds, and they whip pain, stress and anxiety, patients report.

Available AT: Alternative Medical Center in Sacramento.

CoCoa Meds

The best part about edibles is how discreet they can be. Found at Alternative Medical Center in Sacramento, these CoCoa Meds chocolate squares are just the kind of thing we like to bring with us on long business and holiday trips. The hotel’s boring old chocolate on the pillow can’t match this 70mg THC medicine, which is equal to seven doses. The chocolate is also lab-tested to contain 5mg of CBD and 5mg of CBN. Each comes super-professionally wrapped in a foil paper and a sleeve. The chocolate was expertly molded to include a logo on the surface. We got luscious milk chocolate with caramel sea salt notes and a cannabis extract oil underneath. The cannabis oil is derived from a hybrid plant, and one dose can begin to reduce pain and muscle tension within an hour. Very, very tasty.

Jackadu Brownie

Available at: Doctor’s Orders COOP in Sacramento.

A super-mega-strong brownie that comes in indica, sativa or hybrid and is very affordable. The Jackadu Brownie at Doctor’s Orders CO-OP is highly concentrated and reportedly contains at least 470mg of cannabis. It still tastes like a really delicious brownie with cane juice, chocolate chips, and cocoa powder. Patients with terminal cancer and other end-of-life conditions use ultra-high dose edibles to manage pain.

Care By Design CBD-Rich Sublingual Spray

Patients are rapidly advancing beyond the binary world of indica and sativa flowers into a spectrum of ratios of CBD and THC. Care By Design is furthering this trend with their unmatched line of mouth sprays that are light-years beyond smoked formulations. The leading CBD productmaker uses locally grown, outdoor plants (available year-round thanks to light deprivation) in their tincture, which is crafted in a PFC-certified lab and then lab-tested with results available for public view. Each bottle offers precise dosing in an easy-to-use oral spray. Care By Design offers five ratios of CBD-dominant medicine from 18:1 CBD:THC to 1:1. Patients report using the 18:1 sublingual spray for various ailments including epilepsy, breast cancer, PTSD, Multiple Sclerosis and chronic pancreatitis to name a few.

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Available WHEREVER: Care By Design products are carried.

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Available WHEREVER: Altai brands products are carried.

Indus-Altai’s Sea Salt Caramel Bon Bons

Indus-Altai’s Sea Salt Caramel Bon Bons are a visual and sensational delight. Integrating both the artistry of cannabis cuisine with the flair of craft dessert creations, these bite-sized bon bons are a beautiful way to achieve physical and mental relaxation. Altai’s culinary creations come in varying doses to treat and soothe a variety of common ailments. You can choose between sativa and indica variations and also decide between bon bons that pack a 10mg or 25mg punch. The sight, smell and taste of these Sea Salt Caramel confections are enjoyable for each sense, equally. Made with Mediterranean sea salt, and all natural chocolates, these things impressed us beyond belief. With swirling white, milk and dark chocolate on the gorgeous outside, and a chewy caramel center, these sculptural works of art will melt in your mouth and disperse some quite prominent effects for chronic pain and anxiety. We were completely relaxed within 40 minutes, and had to stop ourselves from eating them all up.

Dixie Elixir’s Toasted Rooster Dark Chocolate Bar

There’s something so special about dark chocolate; maybe it’s the fact that the guilty pleasure packs loads of antioxidants and goodies for the body and mind, making it a worthwhile temptation on many different levels. but let’s talk candidly; when adding roasted pumpkin seeds and the medicinal wonders of cannabis into the dark chocolatey mix, you know you’re gearing up for something good. That’s why Dixie Elixir’s Toasted Rooster Dark Chocolate Bar is a sweet and salty fusion of perfection. Made with 70 percent cacao chocolate, and expertly blended with toasted pepitas and artisanal sea salt, this perfect combo fulfills every dessert craving we’ve ever had, on top of relieving our pain, and it’s infused with 84mg of THC. Prepare to feel the tension in your shoulders release, and for your migraine to go goodbye after just one block of this 12-block phenom.

Available at: collectives throughout California and Colorado.

QU-OOBS

Edipure ORGANIX Night Crawlers

EdiPure’s ORGANIX Night Crawlers are vegan, gluten free, non-GMO, organic gummie candies from the highly esteemed EdiPure brand of products. The new ORGANIX line of gummie products from EdiPure are a great way to medicate organically. Keep an eye out for these delicious ORGANIX treats for your next edible purchase. Individually infused pieces make it very easy to control the level of THC consumed. These are sweet, great tasting and also very potent. Expect several hours of intense physical and cerebral effects. These edibles are perfect for insomnia and pain relief.

An appealing colorful royal red transparent lozenge, QU-OOBS are a pleasant and refreshing way to obtain cannabinoid edible benefits discretely, conveniently and enjoyably. Produced by Jolly Meds specializing in quality medical edibles including Jolly-Lolly, CBD-OOS and Good-Ez. Each candy in a QU-OOBS package contains 60mg THC easily divided into four separate pieces with 15mg THC per piece. The THC is derived from an in-house proprietary blend of all organic, pesticide-free sativa and CBD-dominant cannabis strains. Candies are very flavorful almost exploding with citrus flavors. With 6mg of CBD added to each candy, expect an entourage effect. For those using edibles for mood enhancement, expect uplifting and mental health benefits. The packaging is discrete and adult.

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Available WHEREVER: Dixie products are carried.

Available WHEREVER: Jolly Meds are carried.

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by Ed Rosenthal

growing culture

EXPERIMENTING WITH

LIGHTING

arlier in the season, I set up an experiment to see whether I could hasten flowering using far-red light at 730nm after dusk to flip the plants’ chemistry. The experiment was not successful, but I think that the results were inconclusive because the lights used weren’t intense enough. However, I had inadvertently created another experiment that I mentioned in my last column. I had placed a 320-watt induction fluorescent light against the wall of the greenhouse, just over the plants, in the center of the garden. The light turned on each day in the afternoon for four hours as the garden phased into shade. It turned off hours before dusk, so all the plants in the room received the same length of photoperiod. However, the plants on either side of this light were powered only by natural light. Last month I noticed that the flowers of the plants receiving the supplemental light were ahead of those of the side plants. Now, it’s the first week in September, one month later, and the plants are showing marked differences based on their placement, rather than on variety. The buds closest to the bulb and in direct contact with sunlight were the first to ripen. Buds on the same plant that received less light were a few days behind, but the side plants, which received no supplemental light, were two weeks or more from ripening. This outcome is consistent with other studies regarding DLI (daily light integral). It represents the total amount of light usable by the plant over

a 24-hour period. The theory is that growth and maturity is dependent upon the amount of light the plant receives. In this experiment neither the enriched light plants nor the controls were receiving the maximum light they could process, but the enriched light plants were receiving considerably more than the controls. Therefore, any difference in growth or maturity not variety related would be attributed to the increase in light of the experimental group. The result was that the experimental group did grow larger and mature faster than the control group. The result of this experiment has practical applications: Supplementing natural light with additional intensity from electrical sources increases the yield while shortening ripening time. The light can be used to supplement the whole garden in the fall, when natural light intensity is diminishing day by day. Increasing light to the shaded part of the garden, especially when the plants are maturing, is even more beneficial. Supplementing the natural light with light from induction fluorescents, white LEDs or metal halides adds brightness, but is usually not noticeable to casual passerby since all of their spectrums are close to natural light. I’ve now harvested all of the plants that were under the lights. They are drying in the drying room. The plants that were growing without supplemental lighting are now maturing under the lighting. In the next few weeks they too, will be hung to dry and cure. c

TIP OF THE MONTH FROM ASK ED® Time for fall planting

f you live in the lower third (latitude wise) of the country, where the sun is still intense in winter, you have greenhouse protection or an unobstructed south facing window, you can plant a fall crop. Place clones in 6-10 inch pots. Use high quality enriched

planting mix. Then place them in the sunniest part of the garden or greenhouse. Because the plants are getting long nights they will immediately start to flower. They will stay small, single bud plants. In about eight weeks, they will be ready to enjoy. Options: If you give them supplemental light, they will grow bigger.

If you break up the dark period with bursts of light a couple of times each night during the dark period the plants will continue to grow larger. When you stop, the plants will start to flower. If you extend the light period to 18 hours, they will grow faster and continue to grow vegetatively. As soon as the light period is decreased to 12 hours daily, the plants will begin to flower.

Copyright by Ed Rosenthal. All rights are reserved. First North American Magazine rights only are assigned to culture Magazine. No other reproduction of this material is permitted without the specific written permission of the author/copyright holder.

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1 The plants receiving additional light from an induction fluorescent were mature September 10. The others needed several weeks to ripen.

2 A mature bud. Since all the buds of the experimental plants were receiving both natural and supplemental light, they matured simultaneously.

3 Bud close-up.

4 Control bud. These received no extra light and are weeks behind.

5 A farmer’s favorite moment—Harvest!

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destination unkNown

Connecticut

by Sheryll Alexander

Autumn Harvest in Connecticut

IF YOU GO:

Fun-Filled Facts 1 Romance is in the air when traveling to

Connecticut during the chilly falling of the leaves season. Cozy B&Bs dot the state to provide romantic respites complete with fireplaces, homemade breakfasts and even couples’ massage. 2 Skip the shore, and head to

the center of Connecticut up river via New Haven and Hartford. This hilly country is not only incredibly scenic, but also full of colonial history, art and architecture as well as such venerable cultural institutions as Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hill-Stead Museum, The New Britain Museum, Yale Center for British Art and the Mark Twain House & Museum.

Surprisingly, Connecticut is home to 25 eclectic wineries, which together form what is called the Connecticut Wine Trail.

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Even when offering New England’s only “pharmaceutical” medical cannabis program where no smoking is allowed, Connecticut’s all-organic powdered and edible cannabis dispensaries have doubled their growing customer base since going legal in 2012, so says Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Jonathan A. Harris. In fact, medicinal cannabis patients and their advocates have been lobbying as of late to get three more dispensaries licensed and opened as there’s only six “cannabis clinics” operating at this time. The number of doctors dispensing oral cannabis meds is also expanding although they can only prescribe pills, creams and edibles to those who can conform to a list of just 14 medical conditions.

Time to Go: Fall, spring and summer Weather: Cool and breezy in the fall and spring with hot, humid summers Budget: $$$$$

SEE MORE ON OUR WEBSITE

et another New England state has gone medicinal thanks to Connecticut’s “pharmaceutical” cannabis program (only pills, creams and edibles are sold). Even though you can’t smoke flower buds, what could be better than orally medicating on a chilly autumn day along a stretch of lonely lake with what seems like millions of orange, red and yellow leaves fluttering in the wind and reflecting back to you upon the still water? Connecticut is the southerly-most New England state, although some of its most southwestern cities near the New York border are considered part of the Tri-State Area. To the south, Connecticut is known for its maritime past and present as it hugs the more peaceful Long Island Sound in such chic seaside towns as Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport, Madison, Old Saybrook, Mystic (as in the Julia Roberts’ classic chick flick Mystic Pizza) and, perhaps not so ironically now, Stonington. October is the perfect time to visit Connecticut. September’s country fairs have all but vanished from the scene to be replaced with Halloween happenings and holiday boutiques in charming by-the-sea towns and river valley villages. Fall’s raging colors are in full force by mid fall and so are other enjoyable things to do in this vibrant state such as: Hiking, biking, kayaking, sailing, apple picking, art gallery hopping, designer shopping, casino gambling, fine dining, wine tasting and road tripping through quiet and quaint New England-style towns. c

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William Cioci profile in courage

Age: 46 Condition/ Illness: Depression, Anxiety, PTSD

Using medical cannabis since: 2009

Are you an MMJ patient with a compelling story to tell? If so, we want to hear from you. Email your name, contact information and details about your experiences with medical cannabis to courage@ireadculture.com.

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Why did you start using medical cannabis? I had anger and violence issues that eventually led me to be involved with the criminal justice and mental health systems. I was put on numerous pharmaceutical medications that had multiple negative effects on my health, resulting in me needing in-patient care multiple times per year. At the end of one of my appointments, as my doctor gave me a handful of trial size boxes of pills along with a written prescription for more, he asked me if “I had ever heard of medical cannabis.“ I had smoked a little as a teen, and never thought of it as medicine. I was on probation in a state that had no legal protections for medical cannabis, so I used the next few years to do as much research as I could on the subject. When I got off of probation, I sold all my belongings, left my friends and family, and moved to California. I am now pill-free and haven’t had any need for institutional care for seven years. Did you try any other methods or treatments before cannabis? Yes. I was on a multitude of pharmaceutical medications and was involved with therapy and counseling. Most of the pills actually made my conditions worse. What do you say to folks who are skeptical about cannabis as medicine? Educate yourself, talk to patients that use this medicine. If you can’t find a patient, the internet is full of good information. There is no reason to remain ignorant in this age of information. The truth is out there. c

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recipes

Menu: CARAMEL APPLES

CANNA-CANDY CORN SEVERED WITCH’S FINGER COOKIES

CANNA-CANDY CORN 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar 6 1/2 teaspoons nonfat dry milk 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 3 1/2 ounces canna sugar t (about 1/2 cup) 3 3/4 ounces light corn syrup, (about 1/3 cup)

2 1/2 tablespoons water 2 tablespoons unsalted canna butter t (room temperature) 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 to 3 drops yellow and orange gel paste food coloring

Directions Combine the powdered sugar, dry milk and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse 4 to 5 times until the mixture is smooth and well combined. Set aside. Combine the canna sugar, corn syrup and water in a 2-quart pot. Put over medium heat, cover and cook for 4 minutes. Add the infused butter, clip on a candy thermometer, and bring the mixture to 230°, about 1 to 2 minutes. When the sugar-syrup reaches 230°, take the pot off the heat and remove the thermometer. Add the vanilla and the dry mixture, stirring continuously with a silicone spatula until well combined. Pour onto a half sheet pan lined with a silicone baking mat. Cool until the mixture is cool enough to handle, about 10 to 15 minutes. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Add 2 drops of yellow food coloring to 1 piece and knead the dough until the color is consistent throughout. Add 2 drops of orange to the second piece, and knead until the color is consistent throughout. Leave the third piece white. Roll each piece of dough into a strand, about 18-inches long. Cut each strand in half. Roll 1 of the white pieces into a strand that is about 1/2-inch thick and about 22-inches long. Repeat with a yellow piece and orange piece. Lay the strands side by side and press them together using your fingers. Cut the strand into 4-inch pieces. Lay the strands, one at a time, onto the silicone mat and press into a wedge shape, like a triangle. Use a wire butter slicer to cut the candies into pieces. If you don’t have a wire butter slicer, use a knife, metal bench scraper or pizza cutter to slice the dough into small pieces. Repeat the procedure with remaining dough. Lay the finished pieces on a piece of parchment or waxed paper to dry for 1 hour. Store in an airtight container with parchment paper between each layer.

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CREEPY CONFECTIONS

Now that fall is in full gear, it’s time to dive into our favorite time of year. This month, it’s all about the sweets. We’re not talking about individually wrapped, “fun sized” candy bars. Instead, put on your culinary cap and embrace some delicious, homemade adult desserts made even sweeter with cannabis. The kids have to work for their candy this holiday, but adults get to consume some nostalgic and timeless treats. Gooey caramel apples, sweet and fun candy corn and severed witch’s finger cookies, now at your fingertips—no doorbell ringing required!

SEVERED WITCH’S FINGER COOKIES Vegetable oil cooking spray 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon fine salt 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted canna butter t (room temperature)

1 cup sugar 1 large egg, at room temperature 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 28 large sliced almonds 1/2 cup raspberry jam

Directions Place your oven rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 325°. Spray a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a standing mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the canna butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed, about 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla until smooth. Gradually beat in the flour mixture until a dough forms. Using about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll the dough between your palms into 5-inch-long “fingers,” about 1/2-inch thick. Firmly press a sliced almond into the end of each finger to make fingernails. Make several horizontal cuts, about 1/4 inch deep and 1/2 inch long, in the center of each finger to make knuckles. Press the dough on either side of the cuts to shape the knuckles. Arrange the fingers on the prepared baking sheet and bake until light golden, 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer the fingers to a wire rack and cool completely. In a small saucepan, heat the jam over low heat until warm, about 2 minutes. Dip the blunt ends of the fingers in the warm jam and arrange on a platter. Legal Disclaimer Publishers of this publication are not making any representations with respect to the safety or legality of the use of medical marijuana. The recipes listed here are for general entertainment purposes only, and are intended for use only where medical marijuana is not a violation of state law. Edibles can vary in potency while a consumers’ weight, metabolism and eating habits may affect effectiveness and safety. Ingredient management is important when cooking with cannabis for proper dosage. Please consume responsibly and check with your doctor before consumption to make sure that it is safe to do so.

t Additional recipe can be found at iReadCulture.com

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Local eateries with similar dishes Littlejohnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Candies 1422 Market St., San Francisco (415) 252-8320 www.littlejohncandies.com

CARAMEL APPLES by Aunt Sandy

2 cups sugar 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1 cup infused canna butter t 1 cup milk 1 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 8 apples of your choosing (we prefer Granny Smith Apples) Optional: Nuts, sprinkles, infused-melted chocolate for drizzling, etc.

The Sacramento Sweets Co 1035 Front St., Sacramento (916) 446-0590 www.sacsweets.com Artisan Candies 4432 Pearl Ave., San Jose (408) 267-7090 www.artisancandies.com

Preparation Combine all mixable ingredients, except vanilla, into a heavy 4-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally for about 15 to 20 minutes or until butter is melted and mixture comes to a boil. Continue cooking 25 to 30 minutes, or until candy thermometer reaches 244Â°. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla extract. Remove stem from each apple and press a craft stick or popsicle stick into the top. Butter a baking sheet. Roll each apple quickly in heated caramel sauce until well coated. Place on wax paper-lined sheet to set.

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event listings

LET’S

DO THIS

Sacramento NORML Meeting, Oct. 14

Garbage, Oct. 7

featured event

Keep tabs on California’s progress in the medical cannabis industry with information straight from the horse’s mouth. NORML has always helped steer our industry in the right direction. 925 3rd St., Sacramento www.norml.org

If there’s one thing better than cheese that comes out of Wisconsin, it’s Garbage—the band! This successful rock band has sold over 17 million albums worldwide, meaning that this industrial grungy rock group has more than earned its fame and glory. Fox Theater, Oakland www.thefoxoakland.com

Oddball Comedy Fest, Oct. 13

Fans of Aziz Ansari or Amy Schumer are going to flip their lids, because these two pros in the comedy scene are going to perform at the Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Festival. Among a handful of other comedians, this is the premier comedy event of the year! Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View www.livenation.com

Janet Jackson, Oct. 13

The Jackson family is wellknown for its musical genes, but none more than the talent of Janet Jackson. The only woman of the famous Jackson children, as well as the youngest, she’s been singing her heart out since 1973 and is still as impressive as she was from day one. Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco www.apeconcerts.com

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Margaret Cho, Oct. 15

We here at CULTURE love all of our cover features, but we’ve adored the infamous Margaret Cho since we interviewed her years ago. She’s hilarious, outrageous and the perfect dose of comedy! Castro Theater, San Francisco www.castrotheatre.com

CA Member Reception & Federal Policy Update, Oct. 20

Dress for success at this networking reception for National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) for an update on the developments of cannabis on the federal level. NCIA offers invaluable information about the industry, and it’s the go-to

Madonna, OCT. 19

This quintessential Queen of Pop, Madonna is a musician that history will never forget. Try listening to tunes “Like a Virgin” or “Vogue” without getting them stuck in your head—we dare you. SAP Center, San Jose www.sapcenter.com place for those who want to be in the know. SPARC, San Francisco www.sparcsf.org

Florence and the Machine, Oct. 22

The Londoners who make up Florence and the Machine have a knack for mixing up genres. The band has been known to employ a rich mix between rock and soul, leaving listeners enthralled and thirsty for more. Greek Theatre, Berkeley www.apeconcerts.com

2015 Southwest Cannabis Conference & Expo, Oct. 26-28

Attendees are invited to experience a number of cannabis industry events, featuring educational seminars, networking opportunities, B2B section dedicated to buyers and storeowners and so much more. Plus, CULTURE’s own EditorIn-Chief will be speaking! Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, Arizona phoenixconventioncenter.com VISIT US AT

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Chuck Shepherd's

News of the

Weird LEAD STORY—PETS OF THE 1 PERCENT u “The worshipful treatment

of pets may be the thing that unites all Americans,” wrote an Atlantic Magazine blogger in July, describing the luxury terminal for animals under construction at New York’s JFK airport. The ARK will offer shower stalls for traveling horses, “conjugal stations” for ever-horny penguins, and housing for nearly 200 cows (that might produce 5,000 pounds of manure every day)— and passengers traveling with dogs or cats can book the Paradise 4 Paws pet-pampering

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resort. The ARK is a for-profit venture; said one industry source, quoted in a July Crain’s New York Business report, “You hear stories about the crazy money that rich people spend on their (animals) ... they’re mostly true.”

GOVERNMENT IN ACTION u Officially, now, it is

“unreasonable” for a federal agency (the Bureau of Land Management, in this instance) to fail to say yes or no for 29 years to a drilling permit application. (Before July’s federal court decision, BLM had been arguing

that 29 years was not too long). A company had requested to drill just one exploratory well in Montana for natural gas in 1985, but the bureau had delayed the proceeding six times since then. The judge ordered the bureau to set a deadline for deciding.

u Georgia, one of six states that

make taxpayers shell out huge fees to access its databases of public records, tries so relentlessly to control its archive that, recently, in a federal lawsuit, it said opposition to its policy was basically “terrorism.” Activists (Public.Resource.org) have been establishing workarounds to free up some databases for citizen use, and Georgia demands that they stop. Georgia even claims “copyright” protection for one category of important legal documents that were initially drafted by state bureaucrats, audaciously calling them “original” and “creative” works.

u Mandatory Inaction: In July, the mayor of the town of Ador,

Spain (pop. 1,400), officially enacted into law what had merely been custom—a required afternoon siesta from 2 to 5 p.m. Businesses were ordered to close, and children were to remain indoors (and quiet).

POLICE REPORT u At a traffic stop in

Rockingham, Vermont, on July 26, both driver and passenger were charged with DUI. Erik Polite, 35, was the driver (clocked at 106 mph on Interstate 91 and, according to police, with drugs in the car), and while he was being screened for intoxication, passenger Leeshawn Baker, 34, jumped behind the wheel and peeled off in reverse across the highway, nearly hitting the trooper, who arrested him.

u Nathaniel Harrison, 38, was arrested in July in a Phoenix suburb on several charges, including possession of a deadly weapon during a felony, but he escaped an even more serious charge when a second “deadly

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weapon” failed to engage. Harrison reportedly intended to retaliate against a “snitch” and arrived at the man’s home carrying a rattlesnake, which he supposedly pointed at the man, hoping it would bite him. However, the snake balked, and Harrison’s attempted payback failed.

u Lame Defenses in Lake County, Florida: (1) Daniel Baker, 40, and Robert Richardson, 19, were arrested in Altoona, Florida, in August after getting caught loading appliances from a vacant house. According to the arrest report, both men appeared incredulous to learn that items in a vacant house aren’t just “free.” (2) Six days earlier about 20 miles away in Tavares, Florida, Corey Ramsey, 23, was arrested for burglary when a police officer caught him sitting on a toilet in a vacant, for-sale house attending to a need. Ramsey’s extensive petty-crime rap sheet belied his explanation for being there— that he was contemplating

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buying the $299,000 house and wanted to try it out first.

STILL MORE “INTELLIGENT DESIGN”? u Zoologists at the University

of Basel in Switzerland, publishing recently in a prestigious British journal, reported the likelihood that a certain flatworm species has overcome the frustration of not finding a mating partner in its lifetime. The scientists believe the flatworm exploits its hermaphroditic qualities and injects its sperm into its own head, from which the sperm sometimes migrates to its reproductive facilities. (Flatworm researchers are aided on their projects by the species’ transparent bodies, facilitating the tracking of the sperm).

PROTEST! u About 200 protesters

gathered in front of Hong Kong police headquarters on August 2 to denounce the 3 1/2-month jail sentence given to Ms. Ng Lai-ying, 30, who was convicted

of assault for shoving a police officer with her chest. Women (and some men) wearing bras as outerwear chanted, “Breast is not a weapon.” (Ng was originally protesting the hardly sexy issue of import-export abuses between Hong Kong and mainland China cities).

u The Joy of Protest: An

August 1 demonstration outside Britain’s Parliament protesting legislation to curb until-now-legal psychoactive drugs drew about 100 people— consuming their drug of choice, nitrous oxide. As organizers distributed gas-filled balloons for demonstrators to take hits from, “the group erupted in fits of laughter,” according to The Guardian.

PERSPECTIVE u Construction on a $1.7 million therapeutic equestrian facility in St. Cloud, Florida, expressly for use by wounded U.S. service members, was delayed in August when a bald eagle nest was discovered on the grounds.

Federal law requires at least 330 feet of clearance for the nest, plus additional monitoring to assure the birds’ tranquility. Said one neighbor, “The very animal that symbolizes freedom is delaying therapy for those who fought for it.”

FUNNY OLD WORLD u The Welsh language is such a

severe mutation of the original English spoken in the Middle Ages that, to the inexperienced eye, it is barely distinguishable from, say, Klingon. In fact, in July, the Welsh government, responding to queries about a possible UFO sighting near Cardiff airport, playfully issued its galaxy-friendly response in Klingon—”jang vlDa je due luq,” meaning that further information will be provided. (In Welsh, for example, “I cannot understand Welsh” is “nad oes modd i ddeall Cymraeg.”) (Recently, in Swansea, Wales, alleged drug dealer Dwaine Campbell, 25, adamantly refused to leave his cell for a court hearing because he feared

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being judged in Welsh—until authorities promised to transfer the case to Campbell’s native England).

UPDATE u Despite repeated assurances

by Olympic officials, it appears more certain than ever that 2016 boating and surfing events in Brazil’s Guanabara Bay and Rodrigo de Freitas Lake will be conducted in water so polluted with human sewage that every athlete will almost certainly be struck with fever, vomiting and diarrhea. An August Associated Press report revealed the waters’ virus levels (of fecal coliform and other viruses) are as high as 2 million times the level that would close down a California beach. (Olympic and local officials continue to insist that the water will be safe by next summer, but, as the AP pointed out, their protocols test only for bacteria and not viruses. One U.S. water-quality expert advised all athletes to move to Rio ahead of the games—to try to build up an immunity).

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NEWS OF THE WEIRD CLASSIC (MAY 2010) u In mid-April (2010), senior

Iranian cleric Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi warned that recent earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and elsewhere were caused by women’s loose sex and immodest dress. Immediately, Australian Jennifer McCreight responded on Facebook by urging women worldwide to dress provocatively on April 26 (2010), to create a “boobquake” and test the cleric’s theory, and at least 90,000 women promised they would reveal serious cleavage on that date. On April 26, following a several-day absence of earthquakes, a quake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale hit just south of Taiwan. (Slight advantage to the ayatollah, since a Purdue University seismologist observed that a 6.5 quake was not uncommon for that region).

CECIL SPEAKS u The distress across the

Western world in July over

the big-game killing of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe was apparently misdirected, according to veteran “animal communicator” Karen Anderson of Elk, Washington, who told Facebook and Internet visitors (www.AnimalCommunicating. com) that Cecil and she had discussed his demise and that he was over it. Also, Cecil apparently speaks in formal, graceful English, as Anderson quoted him (according to London’s The Independent): “Let not the actions of these few men defeat us,” said Cecil, “or allow darkness to enter our hearts.” “I am,” he added, “grander than before as no one can take our purity, our truth or our soul.” (Anderson’s usual fee to speak with deceased pets is $75 for 15 minutes, but she did not disclose whether she had a client for Cecil’s tab).

CHUTZPAH! u In May, three Santa Ana,

California, police officers who had just raided the unlicensed Sky High Holistic

medical marijuana dispensary were caught on the facility’s surveillance video eating supposedly seized cannabisinfused chocolate bars, and an “internal affairs” investigation was opened. However, in August, the Orange County Register reported that the cops went to court to have the video suppressed. Their familiar legal argument is that the video violates their right to privacy—in that they had purposely disabled the cameras before they began munching the contraband and thus had the requisite “expectation of privacy” that triggers the right. (Possibly, they had missed a camera).

u The mother of three children in Grandview, Missouri, suspected that Dameion McBride, 22, had sexually molested her two daughters (ages 4 and 8) and son (age 3), but McBride indignantly denied it, claiming that he is a child-abuse survivor himself, and booked himself on the national “Steve Wilkos” TV show in May

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to take a lie detector test to clear his name. However, he failed the test as to each child and was subsequently arrested. (The Associated Press reported that McBride insisted on a police lie detector test—and failed that, too).

THE CONTINUING CRISIS u On Aug. 1, one of the world’s

weirdest border disputes came to an end, as India and Bangladesh exchanged more than 160 “enclaves”—sovereign territory completely surrounded by the other country’s sovereign territory (in principle, making travel out of the enclaves impossible unless the enclave had an embassy or another office that issues visas). In fact, there was one Indian enclave (Dahala Khagrabari) completely within a Bangladeshi enclave that is completely inside an Indian enclave inside Bangladesh.

THE LITIGIOUS SOCIETY u The estate of Dr. Rajan

Verma filed a lawsuit in July against the Tralf Music Hall in Buffalo, New York, after Dr. Verma fell to his death following a concert when he lost his balance sliding down the banister. The estate claims that there must have been a sticky substance on the railing. The estate’s lawyers said that since alcohol was served at the concert, the promoters should have known to take extra safety precautions for banister-riders.

u Who gets badly hurt playing musical chairs? Robin Earnest, 46, told an Arkansas claims hearing that she broke two fingers and was forced into “years” of surgery and physical therapy over a game that was part of a class at the College of the Ouachitas in 2011 and demanded at least $75,000 from the state. The July hearing was dominated by a discussion of the proper way to play musical chairs because the instructor had ordered three students to contest one chair— with Earnest asserting that everyone knows it would be two chairs for three people.

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NEWS THAT SOUNDS LIKE A JOKE u “Green-fingered

residents” can show off their hard work each year at the Quedgeley Show in Gloucestershire, England, entering arrangements of colorful, plump gardengrown vegetables. However, attendance has been off in recent years, reported the Western Daily Press, leaving the show’s future in doubt—until organizers announced that this year, to increase the number of entries, supermarket-bought vegetables could be submitted.

u “Number Two, Turn to the

Right and Growl”: Magistrates in Ceredigion, Wales, fined Edward Davies the equivalent of about $1,130 in June, finding that it was his dog that bit a teenage girl last October, sending her to a hospital with swelling and bruising. Aberystwyth authorities had set up a formal police lineup of dogs from the neighborhood, and the girl had made a positive ID of Davies’ dog as the perp.

LEAST COMPETENT CRIMINALS u Judge Roger Barto, of

Waterloo (New York) Village Court, was convicted in August of staging a fake assault on himself to convince doctors to prescribe him pain medication. Officers arriving at the scene found Barto lying on the ground with a shattered porcelain toilet tank lid nearby from (he said) being smacked on the head by a mugger. However, doctors found an apparent flaw in Barto’s ruse: He had forgotten to actually hurt himself during the “attack”—as medical personnel had found no mark, cut or bruise anywhere on him.

RECURRING THEMES u Once again during a police

raid of a suspected drug house (this time, in Wood River, Illinois, in July), with cops swarming the home and yard, confiscating evidence and VISIT US AT

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arresting occupants, officers had to stop briefly from time to time to answer the front door (10 times during a 90-minute period)—as the dealer’s regular (oblivious) customers continually arrived to buy more heroin.

u In the face of a declining

military budget, the Defense Ministry of the Netherlands issued confidential instructions to commanders in July that during training exercises, to preserve dwindling ammunition, soldiers should simply shout “Bang, Bang!” instead of firing their weapons. Said a soldiers’ advocate, “Even if you have no bullets, you (still) have to train with your weapon.”

u Thinning the Herd: (1)

When two men who had been drinking in the apartment of Brandon Thomas, 30, in Conyers, Georgia, on July 23 wanted to leave, Mr. Thomas objected. “If y’all are going to drink my alcohol, y’all are going to play my game,” he said, announcing that his “game” was Russian roulette. Minutes later, after spinning the revolver’s cylinder, Mr. Thomas lost the game. (2) Three days later in rural Bell County, Kentucky, John Brock, 60, asked the Lord once again to certify his righteousness by allowing him to safely handle a rattlesnake during services at Mossy Simpson Pentecostal Church. However exemplary Mr. Brock’s faith had been previously, on that

day, apparently, it was found wanting, and he is no longer with us.

THE ARISTOCRATS! u (1) Wallace Berg, 81, was

charged with public indecency in Stratford, Connecticut, in July after a neighbor showed police a video he had made of Berg, naked and (according to an Associated Press report) “performing a sex act with some shrubbery.” (2) “Where the sun don’t shine” is now a standard hiding place for contraband, including for Matthew Smith, 36, arrested in Greendale, Indiana, in July. After he drew attention with a long restroom session at a Shell station, police confronted him about the white powder on his nose, and Smith sheepishly handed over the minutes-ago-removed pills and cocaine—but he had also extracted, inexplicably, a fishing bobber, a screwdriver and an “open tire plug kit.”

NEWS OF THE WEIRD CLASSIC (APRIL 2010) u Louis Woodcock, 23, testified

at his Toronto trial in March (2010) that he was not involved in the 2005 shooting of a woman, despite being seen on surveillance video approaching the woman with his hand inside his jacket until gunshots rang out. He said his hand was not on a gun but that he often kept his hand inside his jacket to keep from sucking his thumb, which is a habit he picked up in childhood and which did not go over well on the street. (The jury, apparently not seeing him as the thumb-sucking type, convicted him of manslaughter).

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