California was the first state to legalize medical cannabis back in 1996, 20 years later ushering in adult-use legislation. Now, the Golden State has the single largest cannabis market in the world.
As cannabis has gradually become more ingrained into the fabric of the state, and the country as a whole, it appears that California residents are increasingly more supportive of the market.
The California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) recently released survey data exploring the modern-day stances of Californians regarding the state’s cannabis market. The survey was conducted by FM3 Research as part of the DCC’s Real California Cannabis Campaign, which aims to help consumers easily find and verify licensed dispensaries in the state.
FM3 Research interviewed more than 1,000 California adults to compile the data.
Growing Support and the Responsibility to Uplift the Legal Market
One of the most prominent discoveries from the survey shows that 62% of Californians believe that Proposition 64, the voter initiative that legalized recreational cannabis, has had a positive impact on the state. The initiative was originally passed with 57% voter support, so the figure implies that cannabis reform in California has garnered more support over time.
The poll also found that 86% of Californian adults believe that it is important to purchase cannabis from the legal market, while similarly 72% said they believe consumers have a responsibility to verify they are purchasing cannabis from licensed retailers.
Even though California boasts the largest cannabis global cannabis economy, illicit sales are still highly prominent. A 2022 Reason Foundation report said that roughly two-thirds of total cannabis sales in the state still come from the illegal market.
The California Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce (UCETF) also recently released its first annual report detailing the money, illegal cannabis plants/products and firearms obtained in its seizure operations from last year. In 2023, the task force said it seized more than $312 million in illegal cannabis, 189,854.02 pounds of cannabis, eradicated 317,834 cannabis plants, served 188 search warrants, seized 119 firearms and seized $223,809 of money on-site.
Though, according to DCC Director Nicole Elliot, the UCETF has made serious progress in eliminating illegal operations, leveraging the resources of more than 20 state agencies and departments alongside the taskforce’s local and federal partners.
“The UCETF’s progress in 2023 reflects California’s ongoing commitment to disrupting and dismantling illegal cannabis activity,” Elliott said. “I look forward to working with all our partners in 2024 to build on this progress.”
Education Gaps in the California Cannabis Industry
While it appears to be a widely shared belief that residents must take it upon themselves to seek out legal cannabis retailers, the survey also sheds light on some education gaps surrounding the legal cannabis market among Californians.
The survey found that 85% of respondents living in areas where retail cannabis is not allowed either incorrectly believed that cannabis was allowed in their region or simply didn’t know what the local laws were at all.
Elliott highlighted this piece, saying that education and enforcement are two crucial pillars that help to support a well-regulated cannabis market.
“The Real California Cannabis campaign will provide cannabis consumers with information that empowers them to make informed decisions regarding their cannabis purchases,” Elliott said. “These smart choices support safer communities, local businesses, and our continuous efforts to disrupt the illegal market.”
Though, when it comes to actually identifying a licensed or unlicensed cannabis business, respondents also appeared to be split: 44% said that it was easy to identify if a retailer was licensed, while 42% said it was difficult to recognize the distinction.
Additionally, the polling results showed that 88% of respondents who have consumed cannabis said they would purchase it from a licensed retailer and more than half (56%) said they have used cannabis.
The DEA issued a letter Monday directed at online retailers selling pill presses, informing them that they are required to report sales of these presses to the DEA.
According to the DEA, pill presses are commonly used to disguise the deadly opioid fentanyl by replicating existing prescription medications. These replicated pills are then sold to people who are typically unaware they’re buying fentanyl. These pill presses are incredibly easy to find online and sell for as little as 40 dollars. This, in part, has fueled a scourge of overdoses in the last several years, 110,757 in 2022 alone by the DEA’s count.
“With these tools, criminal actors are able to produce pills that look like legitimate prescription medication—like oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall—but are not,” the DEA said. “Those pills actually contain fentanyl and other deadly drugs. Criminals then sell those pills on social media and in our communities, often to people who do not know that the pills are not real or that they contain deadly drugs.”
The DEA implicitly stated that pursuant to the Controlled Substances Act, e-commerce retailers responsible for selling these pill presses are required to keep records of everybody who buys and sells a press, and also required to report this information to the DEA.
“DEA has found that pill presses and stamps that can be used to make fentanyl pills are being offered for sale on various e-commerce platforms. E-commerce entities selling pill press machines are generally ‘regulated persons’ under the Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. § 802(38), and therefore, subject to the recordkeeping, identification, and reporting requirements of 21 U.S.C. § 830,” the DEA said. “As regulated entities, e-commerce platforms are required to comply with CSA recordkeeping and reporting requirements on the distribution, importation, and exportation of pill press machines. This means that they must collect information on the buyer and seller and provide notice to the DEA of any sale, import, export, or transfer.”
The DEA said that the vast majority of these fake pills are produced by two particular Mexican cartels. The United States government has put increasing pressure on Mexico in recent years to curb the flow of fentanyl, including fentanyl disguised in these fake pills, from crossing over the United States Mexico border. Even after signs were posted all over Sinaloa appearing to ban the production and sale of fentanyl by the authority of the cartels, fentanyl overdoses and seizures have not slowed down at all.
“The drug cartels primarily responsible for manufacturing fentanyl and smuggling it into the United States are the Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco Cartel. These cartels, their members and associates, and other drug traffickers are using pill presses to shape fentanyl powder into pills, and they are using stamps to imprint markings and logos onto those pills as they are pressed,” the DEA said.
According to the DEA, over 79 million fake fentanyl-containing pills were seized in 2023, which marked a 33% increase over pill seizures in 2022. DEA lab tests have shown that 70% of seized pills are pressed and contain fentanyl. Seventy percent of all drug overdoses in 2022 were also due to ingestion of fentanyl.
“Drug traffickers are killing Americans by selling fentanyl hidden in fake pills made to look like real prescription medicines. This is possible because drug traffickers are able to buy the tools they need, like pill presses and stamps, online,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “E-commerce platforms cannot turn a blind eye to the fentanyl crisis and to the sale of pill presses on their platforms. They must do their part to protect the public, and when they do not, DEA will hold them accountable.”
The DEA said that they launched the Industry Liaison Project in 2019, in which they communicated with over two dozen of the largest online retailers about pill press sales on their websites. They said that several, including Amazon and Etsy, banned the sale of pill presses on their platforms outright. However, as the hyperlink I included at the top of this article proves, dozens and dozens of pill presses are very much still for sale on Amazon. I also found several pill presses for sale on Etsy with about five seconds of effort on Google.
If you’ve ever bought from a licensed dispensary then you likely know that weed is taxed out the ass. The legislative fuckery runs rampant and deep thanks to America’s piecemeal state-by-state rules in lieu of federal legalization. There’s no assurance that the federal government would get taxation right if legalization were to occur. Regardless, the current situation puts everyone over a barrel, from state coffers to brands to, most important, the consumers. The plant and its products are subject to undulating laws, changing at every state line, sometimes municipalities as well. Depending on where you buy, a 30-plus-percent THC potency flower (if you can trust that figure) could run anywhere from sub-$30 an eighth to over $70.
Each state has its own approach to weed taxation, with varying excise taxes applied depending on state regulations. States have opted to tax based on fixed weights and amounts, a percent of the sale price, or both. Pricing-based taxes are the most common.
A hybrid tax model can be found in Maine, where a 10% excise tax is applied to the retail price, with additional surcharges applied to weight and the number of seedlings or seeds. New Jersey is another intriguing model, where it charges anywhere from less than $10 to up to $60 per ounce, depending upon the average retail price of an ounce. The convoluted tax structure also includes a lesser-used excise surcharge: tax based on THC potency.
As of April 2023, three states utilize some form of THC-potency-focused taxes, Connecticut (per milligram), Illinois (wholesale, product, and additional tax on 35%-plus product taxes), and New York (per milligram and retail price).
Support and Opposition
Despite explorations into THC potency taxes by states like California and Washington, only a few, including Illinois and New York, have implemented them, reflecting a divided stance on the issue among policymakers
Polarizing advocacy groups, like Smart Approaches to Marijuana, have backed potency measures, stating that taxes help deter the market from consuming high-potency products. In 2021, SAM figurehead Kevin Sabet claimed that today’s flower isn’t the “Woodstock weed” of old, claiming potency has surged upward and that taxes limit access to such products. In addition to public health concerns, supporters have suggested that potency taxes can improve regulatory precision, increase state revenue, and align with taxes in the alcohol space.
While individuals of that ilk dickride the idea of prolonged plant prohibition, many feel that potency taxes are extensions of ongoing prohibition in addition to being costly to implement, detrimental to the growth of a regulated legal marketplace, and/or overall a bad idea for anyone hoping to see the end of illicit sales and consumption in the United States. Those operating in the industry and its ancillary markets broadly, if not entirely, oppose such measures for several reasons, including:
Lack of Clinical Evidence
Federal prohibition has stifled cannabis research, limiting understanding of its dosage and effects despite decades of anecdotal evidence.
Benedict J. Lubbon, a managing director for Jude Benedict & Associates, feels that claims about dosage need to be further examined before any regulations can be made. Lubbon, the founder of the advocacy group Deschedule NOW, said, “All this talk about potency tax is raised by hype and misinformation from prohibitionists scared this isn’t your grandfather’s weed.”
Profit Struggles
Illinois has seen its market surge in recent years. State and local potency taxes, which can push some product charges up by 40%, have played a significant role. The state doesn’t have plans to change the tax rules, citing market immaturity. Connecticut has seen sales increase month over month since sales began in January 2023. However, tax revenue has not met expectations, with the state generating $9.5 million in sales tax for 2023 pot sales, less than half the expected $20.4 million.
In New York, operators have said that Jason Ambrosino, a military veteran, as well as owner, founder, and CEO of Broadalbin, NY dispensary Veterans Holdings, Inc., feels that high-potency products like tinctures are subject to significant price increases. “We wholesale it for $50 and pay $30 of tax on it, and that is before retail sales tax,” he explained.
“This means that if my wholesale price is $50, then their retail price is going to be $100,” he said, adding, “The problem is that in the case of the tincture I was referencing, $30 of that is literally tax,” said Ambrosino. Wyatt Harms, co-founder of the brand FLAMER, said potency taxes are one of the reasons why New York products are some of the highest in the country.
“When dispensaries buy the product from growers or processors, it includes the potency tax as a part of the price. Then the dispensary doubles the wholesale price to the consumer, which means they double the tax,” Harms said.
Matt ‘Fuzz’ Faughnan, owner of Ossining, New York-based service firm Fuzzy Around The Edges, said the taxes are starting to affect business decisions. During a recent discussion over a three-ounce product, Faughnan claimed, “The bud we used tested at, like, 26%, and we had it priced aggressively, but half of the wholesale price ended up being THC tax, which killed any profitability.” He reported having a similar conversation with a grower, urging the cultivator to increase their prices or risk losing significant sums on products.
Promotes Illicit Sales
Taxes cut significantly into store profits while driving up the final sale price. No matter how much a state wants to claim that legal, lab-tested weed sold at a higher price will sway legacy buyers, the evidence suggests that isn’t the case–particularly not in states like New York, where a deeply rooted history of legacy sales converges with heavy buying activity. Leah Heise, CEO of Maryland-based firm Gemini Twin Consulting, feels potency taxes create a “chilling effect” on market growth while driving consumers away. “The illicit market is the biggest competitor to the legal market, and we are currently losing that fight due to overregulation and egregious taxation,” said Heise.
Ambrosino offered a similar take, claiming potency taxes make it impossible for licensed sellers to compete with rampant unlicensed sales. “If potency taxes were removed completely, the cannabis industry, particularly in New York State, would immediately become competitive with 70% of the black market sales,” he predicted.
The 2019 report by the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board reached similar conclusions. “Some work group members from the public health community were in favor of a tax structure that would discourage consumption of high potency cannabis, but did not have confidence that this tax would guarantee those outcomes,” the report concluded, adding that a model could work for states when first implementing laws. However, the cost of creating the tax infrastructure would result in costly changes.
86 The Potency Tax?
Concerns like lab shopping and potency inflation underscore the challenges potency taxes pose, complicating product valuation and fostering regulatory discrepancies. Additional worries center on medical patients. With some patients requiring higher doses to address their medical conditions, these individuals may become victims of higher-priced medical costs.
With operators and buyers bemoaning the rules and state coffers significantly less filled than expected, New York is proposing an about-face on its tax structure. As part of her 2025 fiscal year budget proposal, Governor Kathy Hochul proposed the state eliminate potency taxes, switching to a weight-based model, citing the move as a way to ease tax compliance for distributors. Under the proposed rule change, distributors would be subject to a 9% excise tax, leaving retailers with dual sales and municipal taxes.
New York’s possible shift to weight taxes could help the market while not alleviating all the concerns. However, it could serve as a significant step to correcting market concerns, possibly entice more shoppers to the legal market, and even send a warning to other states that potency taxes are not the way to go in cannabis.
Psilocybin proposal Senate Memorial 12 (SM-12) was recently signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
SM-12 is referred to as memorial legislation, which is more of an official request for research, unlike other bill proposals. “A memorial requesting the Department of Health to study the efficacy of using psilocybin mushrooms for therapeutic treatments and the establishment of a program for psilocybin mushrooms to be used for therapeutic medical treatments,” the legislation states.
The memorial legislation explains that mental illness in New Mexico is at an all-time high, and a majority of suicides in the state are committed by veterans or first responders suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. Drug overdoses are also high in the Land of Enchantment, and the state’s rate of alcohol-related deaths is “highest in the nation.”
The reasoning behind pushing SM-12 is because many reputable universities and institutions have found efficacy in the medical properties of psilocybin. The proposal concludes by requesting that the Department of Health and University of New Mexico Health Sciences work together “to study and evaluate the efficacy of psilocybin-based therapeutic treatments and the establishment of a program allowing the use of psilocybin mushrooms for therapeutic medical treatments and the necessary statutory or regulatory framework for developing such a program.”
SM-12 was sent to the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee on Feb. 10 and unanimously with a 7-0 vote to pass. “This can help people very potentially, and so what we’re trying to do in a bipartisan way is ask the Department of Health to recognize that we want them to get going to start looking at this,” said Sen. Jeff Steinborn, one of the bill’s sponsors.
The New Mexico Senate unanimously approved SM-12 on Feb. 14 in a 37-0 vote. “It turns out that medical mushrooms, psilocybin, has proven to be medically efficacious for the use of major behavioral health issues,” Steinborn said on the day of the Senate vote. “It can help alleviate and be an alternative to major anti-depressant drugs and probably other drugs that have serious side effects and can bring real relief to New Mexicans.”
Senate Minority Whip Craig W. Brandt, who is also a sponsor of SM-12, explained that medicinal psilocybin is “not a treatment that you take on your own once a day or once a week or even once a month, but it can be a treatment that’s done about once every six months to every year, as needed.”
“And sometimes one treatment is all that’s needed to actually cure someone of a traumatic brain injury, or of PTSD,” Brandt continued. “And so this is actually a really exciting, cutting-edge technology… God seems to have provided a cure, and we just need to figure out how to use that cure.”
Previously, the last bill in New Mexico to attempt to pass psilocybin therapy was last spring with House Bill 393. It did not receive any further action after March 2023.
A steady stream of studies have been published on the topic of psilocybin in recent years. One in particular showed that psilocybin consumption not only contributed to enhanced sexual pleasure and satisfaction in participants, but that those effects lasted up to six months after consumption occurred. “It’s important to stress our work does not focus on what happens to sexual functioning while people are on psychedelics, and we are not talking about perceived ‘sexual performance,’ but it does indicate there may be a lasting positive impact on sexual functioning after their psychedelic experience, which could potentially have impacts on psychological wellbeing,” said lead author and Ph.D. student Tommaso Barba.
Psilocybin legislation in other states has continued to rise. In late January, companion bills Senate Bill 3019 and House Bill 2630 were proposed in Hawaii, which would establish therapeutic psilocybin regulations and also enact protections for patients. In Arizona, Senate Bill 1570 would legalize psilocybin treatment centers and establish regulations and training requirements for therapy center medical directors. Just last week, Senate Bill 3695 (also called the Compassionate Use and Research of Entheogens (CURE) Act was proposed in Illinois, which if passed would also legalize supervised use of psilocybin in a therapeutic setting.
Psilocybin and other substances are recognized for their medicinal value outside of the U.S. as well. Mexican Senator Alejandra Lagunes spoke out in October 2023 about suffering from depression and anxiety in her 20s. Her mindset changed after an Ayahuasca trip. “My perspective of my own life changed. My mind changed. All my negative thinking patterns shifted,” Lagunes told Vice in an interview. “It was as though there was a different light illuminating my mind and I saw things differently. I stopped taking medication. It changed my life.
Now Lagunes is proposing that psilocybin mushrooms, which are native to Mexico and have long been utilized by indigenous people, could be a huge benefit to people who are suffering from mental illness. “There isn’t a single meeting in the Senate that doesn’t mention the mental health crisis and the lack of medications to treat it,” Lagunes said. She explained her intention to propose psilocybin legalization and have it removed from Mexico’s list of scheduled drugs (currently on the same level as heroin, cocaine, and MDMA).
While many growers talk about their plants as being “trees,” most cannabis doesn’t actually taste like tree leaves or pine needles, that is, unless it is rich in pinene. This terpene is one of the most common terpenes in the natural world and is responsible for pine trees and other conifers, as well as many herbs, smelling like they do. It also is one of the most common terpenes in cannabis and has numerous well-documented medical benefits.
What is Pinene?
Pinene is a terpene with two main isomers, alpha-pinene (α-pinene) and beta-pinene (β-pinene), while α-pinene is a monoterpene, β-pinene is a bicyclic monoterpene. As α-pinene is the primary one found in cannabis, and the terpene “most frequently found in Nature,” when I say “pinene” in this article, that is just a shorthand for α-pinene. Both forms of pinene are commonly found in pine trees and other conifers, as well as a range of other plants, such as rosemary, basil, and parsley.
Pinene in Cannabis
The same 1997 Swiss study which showed myrcene to be the most commonly found terpene in cannabis also found α-pinene to be the third most common. The pinene content they found varied between 2.3% and 31%. Some particular cultivars known to have higher amounts of pinene include: Jack Herer, Lemon Skunk, Purple Kush, Romulan, Blue Dream, and Cannatonic (just to name a few). Pinene will impart a spicy, herbal scent to cannabis, like it does to pine trees.
Pinene Is a Folk Remedy for Tuberculosis
While pinene has been researched as a treatment for a wide range of medical conditions, one area where it has traditionally been used for centuries is as a treatment for lung/breathing conditions, most notably, tuberculosis. Since the earliest origins of the sanatorium, they have been located in areas with pine trees. Examples abound, such as America’s first sanatorium in New York’s Adirondack pine forest or the aptly named Pinewood Hospital in Pinewood, England. Before we had research to support the claims of the sanatorium movement, “Pine trees were a common feature of TB sanatoria at the time, as they were believed to purify the air.”
Dr. Ethan Russo is a world-renowned cannabis researcher, and in his 2011 study, “Taming THC,” he reported that pinene “is a bronchodilator in humans at low exposure levels,” which is great news for athletes. Since then, a 2014 study found pinene to be “a promising anti-allergic agent” which helped combat allergic rhinitis. Multiple studies have shown pinene “has wide potential … to inhibit the growth of bacteria” including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and infectious bronchitis virus. It seems that the sanatorium movement was correct in their belief that pine trees had some medical benefits to sufferers of TB.
Medical Effects Of Pinene
Beyond its impact on lung health and fighting bacterial infection, pinene has a wide range of other medical impacts. Pinene has been shown to have “significant anxiolytic-like activity,” meaning it reduces anxiety, and “significant antiulcerogenic activity,” which means it helps prevent ulcers.
Just like many other cannabinoids and terpenes, pinene is an effective tool to combat various types of cancers, though it has also been suggested that the benefits could be “limited.” Similar to pinene’s medical effects against tuberculosis, which were observed as a result of environmental exposure, mice kept in an environment rich in pinene showed “reduced melanoma growth.” Pinene has been shown to control the growth of cancers through a range of methods including inducing apoptosis, activating natural killer cells, and inducing tumor necrosis factor-alpha.
Unlike the stereotype of cannabis harming your memory, pinene has clear benefits for improving memory in people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. The main way that pinene improves memory is by inhibiting the production of acetylcholinesterase, which “could counteract short-term memory deficits induced by THC intoxication.” For these reasons, pinene has been suggested as a “treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.” Pinene has even been shown to protect “against brain damage associated with stroke and ischemia.”
Can Pinene Be Harmful?
As we saw in our previous Cannabeginner on myrcene, while there are numerous medical benefits associated with terpenes, there also can be potential harms. Considering terpenes are natural defenses for plants, it makes sense that there could be toxic effects on people as well as other predator species (bugs, fungus, etc). The research on pinene is mixed, while one study referred to it as a “common indoor air pollutant,” a cytotoxicity evaluation “revealed that limonenes and α-pinene are non-toxic.”
When the National Toxicology Program studied α-pinene, they found “the toxicity data available for α-pinene are inadequate for assessing potential human health effects.” The data they analyzed did show that reports of pinene toxicity generally noted “potential respiratory and skin irritation.” Overall, it appears that pinene has a relatively safe profile.
A Quick Hit
Pinene is one of the most common terpenes in the world and in cannabis cultivars, which has long been used as a folk remedy for tuberculosis and other lung issues. Modern research has proven the folk remedies were based on some science, as pinene has antibacterial effects, works as a bronchodilator, and has a range of other medical benefits against cancer and a host of other illnesses.
An Uber driver in Florida faces felony drug charges after he allegedly tried to sell psilocybin mushrooms and LSD to his passengers. A series of transactions climbed up to 200 hits of LSD on gel tabs and a quarter-pound of shrooms in one transaction.
If you’re going to offer shrooms and LSD to Uber passengers, you’d better make sure your passengers aren’t narcotics cops—this Uber driver learned that the hard way.
Some of his “passengers” ended up being narcotics investigators visiting Miramar Beach, Florida for the Florida Narcotics Officers’ Association Annual Conference last August in 2023, according to authorities. How’s that for bad luck? According to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO), the investigators who rode the Uber are from the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO).
John Alcott, 52, of Crestview, Florida, arrived to pick up his riders, and when the CCSO investigators entered the vehicle, they said it reeked of pot smoke. Alcott whipped open his glove box to show them all the shrooms he had in his inventory. (Uber drivers are not employees of Uber; they are independent contractors as Uber’s key to success.)
The off-duty investigators decided to play along, posing as psychedelic customers.
WCSO reports that Alcott sold the CCSO investigators 134 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, 10 psilocybin mushroom microdose capsules, and 12 doses of LSD on blue gel tabs for $1,000. During the purchase, Alcott told detectives he would be willing to run a mail-order supply as well. WCSO also posted Alcott’s mugshot and several photos of the LSD and psilocybin mushrooms.
They’ve been processing the investigation ever since, and upped the ante with larger quantities to pin down the Uber driver for bigger charges. The sting operation eventually involved WCSO Narcotics Investigators, the Crestview Police Department, and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Officers, who set up surveillance on Alcott’s residence in Crestview, Florida.
On Feb. 21, WCSO narcotics investigators sent the undercover CCSO detective, who was a passenger-turned-drug buyer, to reach out to Alcott to tell him they were in the area and wanted to buy over a quarter-pound of shrooms and 200 doses of blue gel tab LSD hits in exchange for $5,000.
“While these types of cases aren’t the primary focus of our VICE/Narcotics investigations, this one kind of came to us,” said Sheriff Michael Adkinson. “He obviously makes it a habit to sell while driving an Uber and that’s pretty alarming considering how teenagers and young adults frequently use driving services in the area.”
The investigators are taking it seriously and Alcott faces numerous felony charges. Alcott was arrested and booked into the Walton County Jail on two counts of selling a hallucinogen, trafficking in LSD, possession of a hallucinogen with intent to distribute, possession of drug paraphernalia, and two counts of using a two-way communication device in the commission of a felony. He was issued a $15,000 bond, posted it, and walked free the following day.
Uber and DoorDash Drivers Caught With Weed
One DoorDash customer received more than he bargained for when he placed an order of food—finding an unwanted bag of weed in his order, and decided to complain about it. The actions of the driver led to his termination as a Dasher with the company.
A Columbus, Ohio man, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he ordered food through DoorDash on Aug. 9, 2023, and complained that the bag of weed made him feel “scared.”
“I was scared at first but then again, I wasn’t very surprised,” the man who ordered food from DoorDash told ABC 6.
He provided a photo of his bag of food where he found a fork and a bag filled with cannabis. The photo shows a baggie adorned with alien heads holding what appears to be about a gram of weed. “Did this start with the driver?” he said. “Or did this start in the restaurant that I ordered this from?”
Others choose not to snitch on their DoorDash or Uber drivers. In 2016, comedian and talk show host Arsenio Hall was in Washington, D.C. to host the 2016 BET Honors, but soon after the star arrived into town, the show was canceled due to a blizzard. While in Washington D.C., Hall tweeted about the “overpowering” smell of cannabis in his Uber car. It didn’t bother him as much as other riders, however.
Hall was in Washington, D.C. to host the 2016 BET Honors, but soon after the star arrived into town, the show was canceled due to Saturday’s blizzard. While in our nation’s pot-legal capital, Hall tweeted about the “overpowering” smell of cannabis in his Uber car.
His tweet was immediately responded to by Uber’s customer support account, calling the situation “completely unacceptable” and asking Hall to snitch on his driver. But Hall refused to narc, tweeting back at Uber that it was “all good y’all.”
Germany’s lower house of parliament voted last week to legalize the consumption and cultivation of cannabis by adults, although the measure passed by the Bundestag does not permit commercial sales of recreational marijuana. The legislation legalizes cannabis clubs, however, allowing groups of no more than 500 adults to collectively grow weed for personal use by club members.
“We have two goals: to crack down on the black market and improved protection of children and young people,” Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said during the debate on Friday after lawmakers opposed to legalizing cannabis accused him of promoting drug use, according to a report from Reuters.
The ruling three-party coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz passed the legislation to legalize cannabis in the Bundestag on Friday by a vote of 407-226. Under the measure, adults aged 18 and up will be permitted to grow up to three cannabis plants and possess up to 25 grams (nearly an ounce) of cannabis. The personal possession and consumption provisions of the legislation are scheduled to go into effect on April 1.
The legislation also allows adults to join cannabis clubs of no more than 500 members beginning on July 1. Cannabis clubs would be permitted to grow cannabis for personal consumption by members, who would be allowed to purchase up to 25 grams of cannabis per day and 50 grams per month. Members younger than 21 would be capped at 30 grams of pot each month.
Membership in multiple cannabis clubs will not be allowed. The cost of cultivating cannabis and operating the clubs will be covered by membership fees, which will charged on a tiered scale based on the amount of cannabis a member uses each month.
The legislation bans locating cannabis clubs and consuming weed close to schools, playgrounds and sports facilities. Cannabis advertising and sponsorships are also prohibited. Additionally, the measure requires a report on the effectiveness of the legislation to protect children and youth from weed.
German Lawmakers Back Away From Broader Legalization Plan
The plan to legalize cannabis in Germany falls short of the broad reform plan first proposed by the ruling coalition after taking power in December 2021. Under the original proposal, commercial cannabis production would have been permitted, with sales of weed occurring at licensed retailers across the country. The plan was scaled back, however, after talks with European Union officials.
Nonetheless, Germany’s limited cannabis legalization plan is opposed by conservative politicians in the Bundestag and the upper house of parliament known as the Bundesrat, which represents the country’s 16 state governments.
“You’re asserting here in all seriousness as health minister … that we will curb consumption among children and young people with the legalization of further drugs,” conservative lawmaker Tino Sorge said to Lauterbach, as quoted by the Associated Press. “That’s the biggest nonsense I’ve ever heard.”
Although the measure does not require the approval of the Bundesrat, the chamber could delay the legislation. The conservative government of the state of Bavaria has said it will examine whether it can bring legal action against the cannabis legalization plan.
After the vote, Lauterbach told reporters that illicit marijuana “dealers have no reason at all to celebrate,” noting that the new law includes provisions that set a minimum jail sentence of two years for those convicted of selling cannabis to underage youth.
The vote to legalize cannabis in Germany makes the country the third European Union nation to take the step, after Malta and Luxembourg. Jason Adelstone, an attorney focusing on federal and international policy at the cannabis law firm Vicente LLP, said that the legalization of cannabis in Germany could spur further reform across Europe.
“It is exciting to see the scaled-back German legalization measure finally become law. Even though Germany didn’t legalize commercial sales, the governing coalition should be applauded for turning the page on prohibition,” Adelstone said in an email to High Times. “With Germany joining Malta and Luxembourg in acknowledging that regulation, rather than prohibition, better protect the health and safety of its citizens, it could help propel other EU nations to do the same.”
Gilbert Shelton is an American underground comix icon. Now in his early 80’s the creator of self published and distributed characters like “Wonder Warthog” and “The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers” has been getting laughs from around the world beginning in the early 1960s. Fast-forward to 2021 and Shelton’s “Freak Brothers” have recently enjoyed renewed attention after being adapted into an animated series on Tubi, featuring the talents of Woody Harrelson (Freewheelin’ Franklin Freek), John Goodman (Fat Freddy Freekowtski), Pete Davidson (Phineas T. Phreakers), and Tiffany Haddish (Kitty) among other Hollywood veterans.
Gilbert Shelton’s career in cartooning began in 1961 with the creation of his character “Wonder Warthog.” The porcine antihero was a satire of mid-century super hero comics and began getting published around the country in college humor magazines. 1968 then saw the arrival of his famous trio, “The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers” whose satirical misadventures helped Americans laugh through an era of social and political turbulence.
In 1969 Gilbert joined a growing contingency of Texans moving to San Francisco and launched the Rip Off Press with his friends Fred Todd, Dave Moriaty, and Jack Jackson. Facing issues with censorship, FBI intimidation, distribution issues, and local obscenity ordinances they pressed on to publish and distribute satirical material that championed the freedom of artistic expression and flew in the face of the oppressive Comic Code Authority. Gilbert went on to join Robert Crumb’s all-star cast of ZAP contributors which also included S. Clay Wilson, Robert Williams, Spain Rodriguez, Victor Moscoso, and Rick Griffin. The ZAP collective went on to warp minds and define counterculture comix, eventually releasing 17 issues over 46 years.
Gilbert’s nephew, Gavin Shelton has been working on a research project about his cartoonist uncle since the beginning of COVID. “During lockdown I got to research and learn so much about the cultural context of what was going on at the time, when all those comics were created,” Gavin Shelton tells High Times. “Although the 60’s seem like a time of peace, love, and flowers in reality, it was very culturally repressed and conservative. The social tension that existed seems like it’s cyclical, and today we’re seeing it today in a different form.”
Gavin Shelton, Blake Anderson, and Pete Davidson
In 1969, High Times founder Thomas King Forçade ran the Underground Press Syndicate which included the East Village Other, Berkeley Barb, Los Angeles Free Press, Fifth Estate, the Rag, and others. This network of independent publications reported primality on the antiwar movement and gave a platform to under-represented voices, freely trading and publishing each other’s content. Gilbert’s work made its way into pages of Underground newspapers which offered some humor to publications that reported on the often violent changing social norms of the era.
Paul Mavrides, who drew the Freak Brothers with Shelton for 25 years, told High Times in 2022 he remembers meeting Forçade when he publicly announced the founding of the magazine at the National Alternative and Underground Press Convention held in Boulder, Colorado in 1973. The Freak Brothers were featured on the cover of High Times multiple times, including the 18th issue in February 1977, when the magazine was just three years into publication.
Who is Poddy?
During his research Gavin learned about Gilbert’s earliest character, “Poddy Passumquoddy,” whom Gilbert would graffiti around Houston, Texas as a teenager in the 1950’s. The squat character brandishing an anteater-like tongue and a 23¢ piece would appear on walls and billboards around town with the call to arms, “Poddy Rules the World!”.
“As a teenager Gilbert would read MAD magazine and the New Yorker,” Gavin explains. “Virgil Partch was one of the number one gag cartoonists of the era and would parody Picasso by flattening the perspective and painting both eyes on the same side of the nose. Gilbert was inspired by that style and soon Poddy Passumquoddy began to appear all around Houston.” Inspired by his uncle’s early street art Gavin has restarted Paddy’s conquests with stickers (available on his website) and stencils, cataloging his adventures on Instagram @PoddyRulesTheWorld.
Poddy and Tommy Chong
The connections between the underground comix world and street art are undeniable. Gavin explained that he managed to connect with a fellow fan of Gilbert’s—anonymous French street artist Invader, who creates pixelated mosaics that reference 8-bit video games and who installed a stylized tribute to Shelton’s character “Fat Freddy’s Cat” in Paris. “Putting up a sticker or spraying a stencil is an act of minor civil disobedience,” Shelton says. Connecting with the famous street artist has encouraged the younger Shelton’s efforts. “It feels gratifying to be carrying on something that Gilbert started so long ago.”
He intends to take the research and original artwork that he’s found and present it as a traveling art exhibition. “My mission is to be able to show him through this project, how many people here in the United States, 60+ years later still love and cherish his work. For many of his fans the comix are like passports to the excitement and adventurousness of their youth, and I’d like to offer them an experience that lets them relive a bit of that while also bringing in new readers. I want Gilbert to see how many people still recognize and love his work because of how funny and relevant it still is,” Shelton says.
The New Hampshire House of Representatives last week approved a bill to legalize recreational marijuana as lawmakers revisit the issue of cannabis policy reform for the Granite State. The measure, House Bill 1633 (HB1633), was passed by the full House on Thursday by a vote of 239-14, although legislators who back cannabis legalization efforts offered only lukewarm support for the legislation.
Before being approved in the House, the bill was amended by the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee. Republican state Representative Erica Layon, the sponsor of the bill, said that changes to the measure were made to satisfy the concerns of some lawmakers in the Senate.
“It’s a compromise,” Republican state Representative Erica Layon said in a statement to local media. “Every single person in a seat here can find a reason to vote against the amendment and vote against the bill. But the question is, do we have a net benefit to the state by passing this? I believe we do.”
If passed, the legislation would legalize cannabis for adults aged 21 and older, who would be permitted to possess up to four ounces of marijuana. The measure also legalizes the commercial production and sale of cannabis products under a tightly regulated model. The bill only allows for 15 retail cannabis dispensaries to operate in the state, which would be overseen by the New Hampshire Liquor Commission.
Bill Fails To Meet Governor’s Conditions
Although the bill represents a relatively tightly regulated model for cannabis legalization, the legislation does not meet the requirements set by Republican Governor Chris Sununu for a recreational weed bill. After years of opposition to marijuana policy reform, he said last year that would support a bill that legalized adult-use pot in a tightly controlled manner.
Among the conditions that are included in the legislation are a cap on marijuana retailers and a ban on cannabis advertising. But the bill does not include the governor’s call for state-run dispensaries and a ban on lobbying by cannabis businesses, provisions that Layon said would expose the state to legal liabilities.
The amended bill also does not satisfy some proponents of cannabis policy reform. Democratic Representative Jonah Wheeler, a lawmaker who supports broader marijuana legalization, urged his colleagues to vote against the amended measure.
“This amendment will satisfy the hunger that we all feel – many of us feel – for legalization,” said state Representative Jonah Wheeler. “But it is a bologna sandwich that will leave us satisfied, but in a few hours, we will be hungry again because there was no nutrition there.”
Democratic state Representative Heath Howard noted that HB1633 has stiffer penalties for public consumption of cannabis.
“This bill not only keeps the current misdemeanor charges for people smoking in public, but it also increases the second-violation fines,” said Democratic state Representative Heath Howard.
Despite the tight regulations, some conservative lawmakers believe that the legalization bill advanced by the New Hampshire House goes too far.
“This bill does not reach the level of guardrails that we were looking for,” said Republican state Representative Tim Cahill.
But proponents of the legislation say they have attempted to build consensus among groups that have previously opposed efforts to legalize marijuana in New Hampshire.
“What we have tried to do this time is include industry, government, law enforcement– basically folks that have been traditionally prohibitionists, and I think there has been more listening and more consensus-building than ever before,” Tim Egan of the New Hampshire Cannabis Trade Association said in a statement.
HB 1633 has been referred to the House Finance Committee for consideration. If the committee approves the legislation, it will head back to the floor for another vote by the full House before being sent to the New Hampshire state Senate.
Acclaimed American poet and novelist Charles Bukowski is known for his writings that challenged the fabric of society as he rose to become a champion of the downtrodden. Beginning with his first collection of poetry, entitled Flower, Fist, and Bestial Wail (1959), he set the tone of his writing career, focusing on the desolation and decline of mankind. Bukowski didn’t publish his first novel until he was 50 years old, Post Office (1971) a semi-autobiographical account of his life as Henry Chinaski, the ultimate antihero and a loose alter ego of himself, a loner.
Chinaski became a recurring character and readers were drawn to Bukowski’s raw truthfulness in his writings. His coming-of-age novel set during the Great Depression, Ham on Rye (1982) was highly acclaimed and featured Chinaski once again. Bukowski was considered a literary outsider with epic talent, but he also had a lesser known stint: a regular contributor to High Times Magazine between 1982-1985, and the story begins with one of the magazine’s first editors.
One of Bukowski’s most controversial works and High Times submission—The Hog—was released as a manuscript, complete with pencil edits by the author, and was bundled with a couple dozen letters written by him to former High Times editor in chief Larry “Ratso” Sloman. While High Times declined to publish it, the manuscript is now worth over $27,000. The letters and manuscript began Sloman and Bukowski’s years-long friendship.
Sloman—nicknamed “Ratso” by Joan Baez—arrived at High Times after a succession crisis took place in late 1978.
“What happened was that Tom Forçade killed himself. Gabrielle Chang, his widow, took over,” former High Times editor in chief Larry Sloman says. “And she had no idea how to run a newspaper, magazine—or whatever. And so she reached out to me, and I had contributed an article to past High Times, and I said OK.”
Sloman had already written for Rolling Stone and Creem, (he later wrote for Heavy Metal and National Lampoon), so he was seasoned with red carpet subjects. He wrote Reefer Madness, a history of pot use in the United States, in 1979, just before his new leadership role with the magazine. William Burroughs wrote the intro in a later edition of the book.
High TimesFinds Bukowski
Sloman immediately set out to find the best subjects and writers he could find, including legendary beat poets and rock stars. Sloman says getting Bukowski to write for High Times “was actually my then-girlfriend’s idea.”
Judy, his girlfriend at the time, was a huge Bukowski fan.
“Somehow she got us an address in San Pedro [California],” Sloman says. “And we just went up to the house and knocked on the door. He answered. And I said, ‘I am Larry Sloman of High Times magazine. And I’d like to talk to you about writing [for us] five times.’
“And he goes, ‘Alright, let’s sit out.’ We went in the backyard and sat down, he brought out some wine, of course. We started discussing this. And I said, ‘OK, so look, we don’t have a lot of money…’”
When Sloman approached Bukowski the magazine was under attack—via the U.S. government—during one of many coordinated raids on the paraphernalia industry. High Times lost nearly all of its ad revenue as pipe sellers and others pulled out in a panic. At the time the entire editorial budget was $500. Sloman explained how $400 of the $500 budget went to star writer Ron Rosenbaum, who was the magazine’s go-to weed connoisseur at the time and an esteemed writer and Yale graduate. He wrote a column every month. That left a mere $100 per month for Bukowski.
“So I basically said ‘I could pay you 100 bucks a month for a column.’ And he goes, ‘I don’t care about the money. I’ll do it. Just don’t fuck with my copy—OK?!’ And that was the beginning of a really nice relationship,” Sloman says.
Sloman was expecting something around 400 words or so, but that’s not what happened.
“He started sending me like, novella lengths of work—I mean, literally 2,000-3,000 word articles. It was the greatest bargain we had,” he says.
Sloman explained that The Hog was by far the most offensive and unpublishable piece Bukowski submitted.
With each piece Bukowski sent Sloman, he would write up a cover sheet, and sometimes the word blurbs on the cover sheet wound up as sidebars in the magazine. Their lives further aligned when Sloman became personally involved with mutual friends of Bukowski. One unforgettable memory was attending Bukowski’s wedding to Linda King. Wine was Bukowski’s favorite drug, Sloman says.
“It was in this Thai restaurant, and I’ll never forget because he was being officiated by an occult specialist, I guess she must have known him, but his name was Manley Hall and he wrote many books, but one was called The Secret Teachings of All Ages,” Sloman says. “We went back to the house afterwards, and Bukowski got roaring drunk on wine, as usual, at a reception at the house. At one point he actually starts picking on one of the other guests. Actually, they actually had a fistfight. I have a picture of the two of us right after that fight.”
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Bukowski Joins theHigh TimesFamily
Just as his column was taking off, High Times also interviewed Bukowski as a subject in 1982. Within that article he describes the childhood experiences that led him to write in the first place.
“Between the ages of 15 and 24 I must have read a whole library,” Bukowski told Silvia Bizio for the January 1982 issue. “I ate books for dinner. My father used to say at eight o’clock in the evening: ‘Lights out!’ He had the idea that we had to go to bed early, get up early, and get ahead in the world by doing a good job at whatever you were doing—which is complete bullshit. I knew that, but these books were so much more interesting than my father. In fact, they were the opposite of my father: These books had some heart, had some gamble.
“So when he said, ‘Lights out,’ I would take a little light in my bed, put it under the covers and read, and it would get suffocating under there and hot, but it made each page I turned all the more glorious, like I was taking dope: Sinclair Lewis, Dos Passos, these are my friends under the covers. You don’t know what these guys meant to me; they were strange friends. I was finding under the apparent brutality people that were saying things to me quietly; they were magic people. And now when I read the same guys I think that they weren’t so good.”
In one article entitled Vengeance of the Damned, in the May 1984 issue, Bukowski’s storytelling magic came alive, as he describes an encounter at a department store involving a bum rush of undesirable, deviant low-lifes defying the rules of a capitalist society racked with systemic flaws. An army of hobos dress themselves in luxury while they ignore and mock store clerks and security. After two complicit hobos participated in the apocalyptic store takeover, they relish in delight of being the best-dressed bums in the flophouse that night.
Like High Times Bukowski was an outlaw. In 1968, for instance, the FBI and U.S. Postal Service––Bukowski’s employer at the time—were triggered by the writer’s notes of a column that appeared in the underground Los Angeles paper, Open City, and the FBI put him on a list. Other poets like John Sinclair were also targeted.
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High TimesHistory
Bukowski remains one of the most notable contributors to the magazine, but he was far from the only one.
“I had Allen Ginsberg writing for the magazine; William Burroughs was writing for High Times. [Paul] Krassner, Abbie Hoffman, you know—I was getting all these countercultural figures to write,” Sloman says. “The other funny part about my tenure was that I didn’t smoke pot. Because when I was in graduate school years earlier, I got dosed with PCP. And I had a horrible, horrible anxiety attack. So I just wasn’t smoking pot.”
Even though he wasn’t partaking, Sloman was working to legalize marijuana. His journey with High Times led to bigger and better things. Sloman penned two best-selling books for Howard Stern and has released countless other acclaimed works.
While Bukowski was writing for High Times, Sloman produced a music video for Bob Dylan’s song, “Jokerman” (1983). Sloman had previously gone on tour with Dylan in 1975 and knew him well. He recalled one of Dylan’s birthday parties when Dylan got really drunk and sang “Happy Birthday to me!” He also fondly remembers interviewing Yoko Ono in her home in Queens, New York and interviews with Joni Mitchell, and countless others. But despite Sloman’s long list of A-list interviews, Bukowski remains one of his most prized editorial relationships.
Soon after completing his last novel, Pulp, (1994) Bukowski died of leukemia on March 9, 1994, in San Pedro, at age 73. His writings for High Times, however, will live forever.
This article was originally published in the September 2023 issue of High Times Magazine.
With Chef Chris Binotto’s extensive experience in fine dining as well as his love for cannabis and creativity, he’s always seeking to create one-of-a-kind experiences. Binotto has worked under famous culinary figures such as chef Graham Elliot and Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto and on many teams that have achieved Forbes 5 Star and Michelin Star awards. Following his experience in fine cuisine, Binotto moved on to become a corporate chef for a company that develops menus for numerous creative pop-up restaurant concepts such as Beetle House (a Halloween and Tim Burton-inspired restaurant with locations in Los Angeles and New York), as well as other pop-up restaurant menus themed around films such as Austin Powers, Star Wars, and Home Alone.
Binotto has also had his hand in the culinary competition scene. He was a finalist on the cannabis-themed Food Network show Chopped 420 in 2021, and, more recently, he was a competitor on season four of BBQ Brawl on Food Network featuring chef Bobby Flay, chef Anne Burrell, and The Kitchen co-host Sunny Anderson.
Courtesy Chris Binotto
Binotto’s day-to-day work is dedicated to two primary projects: pop-up and catering company Embers & Ash and invitation-only dining experience the Cannabis Supper Club. While Embers & Ash offers non-cannabis dining events that channel Binotto’s “primal caveman style cooking” over a live fire, his menus with the Cannabis Supper Club explore a wide variety of infused dishes.
Through both the literal and figuratively intense heat of the kitchen that he’s experienced throughout his career, cannabis has always been a part of Binotto’s lifestyle.
“Cooking Is stressful, and I always enjoyed my partaking,” he says. “[Cannabis] really helps me personally and helps me to focus, helps me to calm and stay centered in a whirlwind of madness that is the kitchen every single day, every night. Cannabis is really just a helpful tool. I used to be a young hothead, and it kind of helped me mellow out a little bit.”
Courtesy Chris Binotto
In 2017, Binotto and his business partner Mark Leibel co-founded the Cannabis Supper Club, which acts as a platform to showcase different cannabis brands, as well as culinary artists, farmers, and other small businesses. Binotto’s role as chef has given him the freedom to merge his love for cannabis with his passion for creating unique dishes.
“I think being able to bring community together through food, through cannabis, and through all sorts of other mediums of art… I think it’s just something very special that we all share and connect,” Binotto says.
While Cannabis Supper Club menu items are usually paired with flower, Binotto developed a special 7/10 menu recently with both concentrates and flower from Maven Genetics. His multi-course tasting menu included light, summer-inspired dishes using seasonal produce including a “sativa-viche” taco (featuring shrimp marinated in yuzu sauce), smoked watermelon gazpacho, peaches n’ pork (braised bacon with spiced peach chutney), passion fruit boba, coffee mole-crusted New York steak, and a peach tart dessert. This was complemented with a handful of Maven Genetics’s offerings such as Orange Bellini (Orange Truffle Souffle x Peach Cream Gelato), Honey Lemon Hibiscus (Sour Sangria x Lemon Pastries), Grape Ambrosia (Grape Pancakes x Ambrosia), Umami Butter (Gelatti x Black Diamond X), and Goji Berry Runtz (Kiwi Sorbet x Runtz).
Courtesy Chris Binotto
With every menu item, Binotto strives to showcase the sophistication of cannabis as an ingredient, and also elevate the cannabis community.
“One of my goals was to prove that there are real true chefs that work with cannabis,” Binotto says. “And I don’t want to say like, ‘I’m a cannabis chef.’ I’m a chef with many ranges.”
Even with his extensive culinary career, Binotto always comes back to one thing—providing a unique experience for diners.
“I want to create lifelong memories for these people,” he says. “I want them to always remember this menu or this evening, or whatever it may be. But I want to create that because anyone can cook. I mean, not everyone should, but anyone can, you know? And so it’s just like, what do you really want to do? Do you want to cook for a living? That’s okay, cool. Or do you want to create a fucking experience? And that’s what I’m all about.”
This article was originally published in the October 2023 issue of High Times Magazine.
