Six months after Ottawa legalized the drug for recreational purposes, the first batch of cannabis retail stores in Ontario is set to open on April 1.

But for Windsor marijuana consumers wanting to access a legal bricks-and-mortar outlet, it will be a four-hour round trip drive to London.

And with only 25 stores set to serve Canada’s biggest province, one local pot activist said the biggest winner of Ontario’s modest start to a new industry will be the black market.

“They’re thanking Doug Ford right now,” said Jon Liedtke, co-host of the Cannabis Act podcast. “This has been the biggest boon to business that they could have seen.”

– Read the entire article at Windsor Star.

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The conversation surrounding cannabis edibles continues to be dominated by fears over overdosing. You’ll often hear horror stories about people eating too much and then having a terrible, sometimes nightmarish experience.

And yet, edibles remain an extremely popular method of consuming cannabis. In fact, the average American thinks edibles are the safest way to consume cannabis, according to a recent poll. But how does one learn to understand and manage their dosage?

This is the problem that How to Edibles – a dosing and recipe resource developed by Canada-based software engineer Ray Toth – wants to solve. ‘How to Edibles’ is a free website that allows the user to both calculate and manage their dosing. Toth hopes that it will help would-be cannabis chefs have more control over the potency of their infused foods.

– Read the entire article at Civilized.

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The unspoken rules of the “puff, puff, pass” ritual are ingrained in cannabis culture, but as legalization spreads, there is so much more to consider when partaking in social settings. The plant’s presence is out in the open more than ever before and for the many people that are just now starting to explore the wonderful world of weed, there’s a lot to learn.

Believe it or not, the Emily Post Institute — the epitome of etiquette in the United States and beyond — first addressed how a host should consider cannabis in 1982. The “Party Preparations” section of The Complete Book of Entertaining from The Emily Post Institute explained:

Another problem that many hostesses face today is that of the guests who want to smoke marijuana. If the hostess approves of the practice and is untroubled by the fact that it is illegal, of course she has no problem. But if she does not approve and is concerned about people breaking the law in her home, she should say so firmly. The moment she sees the first joint being lighted or passed around she should tell her guests that she’s sorry if she’s being a spoilsport, but she doesn’t

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The owner of a Smiths Falls golf course set to relaunch as a marijuana-themed course this spring says his business hopes to “bring the fun back to cannabis,” while also cementing the town as a major destination in the cannabis tourism industry.

Gordon Weiske purchased the Lombard Glen Golf and Country Club a few months ago and plans to re-brand it as the Rolling Greens Golf Club, with a soft launch scheduled on the universally-recognized cannabis holiday of April 20.

In the long term, though, Rolling Greens will be “more than just a golf course,” Weiske insists.

– Read the entire article at Global News.

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Each bean is infused with 10 milligrams of cannabidiol.

Jelly bean aficionados will now be able to experience something stronger than a sugar rush.

The creator of one of the most recognized brands of jelly beans has debuted a line of cannabis-infused sweets for candy lovers to enjoy.

Last month, “Candyman” David Klein, responsible for the creation of Jelly Belly’s jelly beans in 1976, announced the founding of his new company, Spectrum Confections, that will offer the treats in 38 flavors.

– Read the entire article at ABC News.

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A bi-partisan coalition of 20 Alabama House lawmakers, including Republican House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, have co-sponsored a bill to legalize and regulate medical cannabis. Republican State Rep. Mike Ball introduced the bill, HB 243, on Wednesday. But Ball, who is a former agent with the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, also wants lawmakers to re-up a pair of laws authorizing cannabidiol research and permitting patients with severe seizure disorders to access certain medical cannabis products.

Politician Behind CBD Laws Proposes Bill to Legalize, Regulate Medical Cannabis Industry

In 2014, Alabama took its first steps toward the broader legalization of medical cannabis by passing Carly’s Law. Carly’s Law, which Rep. Ball sponsored, authorized a University of Alabama, Birmingham study on the use of cannabidiol (CBD) oil as a treatment for seizures. “The research is paying off,” Ball said. The UAB study focused exclusively on conducting clinical trials on children suffering from debilitating seizures. So while Carly’s Law did not include any wider legalization of CBD oil or cannabis, it did provide children participating in the study with access to non-psychoactive CBD oil.

In 2016, after some failed attempts to legalize medical cannabis the previous year, Alabama passed Leni’s Law. Leni’s Law decriminalized

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A new survey has found that a majority of Montana residents favors the legalization of marijuana in their state. Results of the Big Sky Poll were released by the University of Montana on Thursday. A bare-bones majority of 51 percent of registered voters replied “yes” when asked the question, “Do you think marijuana should be legalized in Montana?” Only 37 percent of respondents said that they were opposed to the legalization of cannabis.

Support for legalization by political affiliation varied widely, with 80 percent of Democrats but only 33 percent of Republicans saying that pot should be legal. Responses also differed markedly by age. 67 percent of voters aged 18-26 and 64 percent of 27-46-year-olds favoring legalization; for those aged 47-66, support dropped to 56 percent, while only 29 percent of those 67 and older favored the legalization of cannabis in Montana.

Cannabis Has Montana Residents Seeing Green

Andrea Effertz of Kalispell, Montana told local media that she supported the legalization of marijuana because cannabis sales could be a source of new tax revenue for the state.

“I think it could be really helpful for our roads, maybe, our school systems, whatever it could go toward,” she said.

Another Montana resident,

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Are these your cannabis internet heroines? Instagram has answered with a resounding yes when it comes to Lee and Sue, a.k.a. the 420 Old Fat Lesbians. The retired duo started their account on March 3 on a lark, a fun way to entertain themselves, having moved from Florida to Maine after 10 years of coupledom. On the power of around 30 short, goofy, majority cannabis-themed clips, their follower count has swelled to 71 thousand in under a month. Lee and Sue now field their followers’ admiration and occasional adoption requests with grace and aplomb as they navigate their newfound virality.

“We are humbled and have nothing but gratitude for the kind words coming our way,” the pair told High Times.

What’s the secret to this wild popularity? Some may chalk it up to the pleasure of sharing the couple’s small moments of queer love, woefully lacking in the hetero-centric world of online marijuana personality. Take for example, a March 5th post from when Lee was in the hospital (recovering from a heart attack, it would be explained to a worried fan). Sue stole her away for a cannabis break in the hospital bathroom. The pair set up their phone’s camera,

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A Nebraska lawmaker is pushing for a change in the state’s drug laws that he says are outdated, according to a report in the Lincoln Journal Star. Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha has introduced two bills that would adjust penalties for some drug possession and distribution offenses. At a meeting of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Wayne said current laws were putting people who were not involved in the distribution of drugs in prison for trafficking and creating overcrowding in state prisons and county jails.

The first measure, LB89, was introduced by Wayne in January and would reduce penalties for possession of marijuana and possession with intent to deliver. Wayne told his colleagues on the committee that the state’s current laws are resulting in defendants being sentenced unfairly.

“We have arbitrary numbers in the marijuana statutes that presume a person is a distributor,” Wayne said. “Our law needs to be nuanced because if not … we are prosecuting people who simply may have a habit, although illegal, but are not considered drug manufacturers or distributors.”

Under LB89, possession with intent to deliver five pounds or less of marijuana would be reduced to a Class lV felony. Quantities greater than

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In New York, the process of getting marijuana legalized has uncovered some deep divides in the cannabis movement. Some of the state’s Black lawmakers say that unless racial justice is prioritized, they will withdraw their support of Governor Mario Cuomo’s legalization bill, which has also raised alarm over what some see as its over-reaching influence of medicinal marijuana conglomerates.

An article published by the New York Times on March 11 outlined the concerns of Black elected officials. “They thought we were going to trust that at the end of the day, these communities would be invested in,” commented Crystal Peoples-Stokes, the state’s first Black female Assembly majority leader. “But that’s not something I want to trust. If it’s not required in the statute, then it won’t happen.”

The Governor’s office holds that adding the allowances for correcting the racial disparities of the War on Drugs would be best added in after the passage of the bill. “We have to be careful about how we implement the legislation so we don’t have to change it every few years,” said Cuomo’s counsel Alphonso David to the Times.

That reasoning may not be good enough if the Governor plans on retaining the support

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