How Edible CBD Products Can Help You Reduce COVID-19 Induced Anxiety – Forbes

With so much uncertainty in today’s world, anxiety levels are hitting an all-time high. Thankfully, CBD products have become more available and diverse than ever, as a natural alternative for many of us to combat its debilitating effects. Since CBD works differently in different people, I asked my doctor for approval to try a few entry level products to ease my rising anxiety levels. Here are a few favorites that taste good and have offered positive results in my daily outlook on the current situation.

Bottle of Sunriser coffee

Sunriser is a CBD-infused cold brew coffee, great any time of day.

Sunriser

Sunriser Cold Brew

After discovering CBD a few years back, Austin architect Arthur Furman turned to cannabidiol to help ease his anxiety. He wanted to explore the idea of having present alertness with the stimulation of caffeine and the relaxation offered by CBD, he launched Sunriser CDB-infused cold brew coffee in 2018. „Like most, I experience anxiety in every day life so finding a natural supplement that could help ease that was a game changer,” says Furman. 

Sunriser uses high quality, single origin coffee beans and broad-spectrum CBD extracted from pharma grade Colorado hemp plants. Each bottle of cold brew contains 30mg of CBD, which contributes to a nice, focused coffee “high” without the jitters. They are available for purchase online as a monthly delivery or a single 12-pack and can be purchased in person throughout Central Texas, with plans to expand throughout the state and eventually to places like Colorado.

„These are anxious times, and people who rely on CBD for anxiety relief are needing it now more than ever,” says Furman. „Because of that, we quickly pivoted and prioritized our efforts to focus on direct to consumer, adding local home delivery in the Austin area and creating the large format presentation.” They have recently released a new oat milk nitro latte flavor in 32 oz growlers with new flavors on the horizon.

Anzie Blue product line

Anzie Blue’s product line includes tinctures, mints, dog treats, and body care items.

SHANNON FONTAINE

Anzie Blue

With so many misconceptions about what CBD is and how to use it, Anzie Blue founders Marcie and Derek Van Mol opened their coffee shop and wellness destination in Nashville’s West End neighborhood in December 2019, offering coffee, light bites and their own brand of CBD-infused products.The couple are as knowledgeable as they are passionate to share their expertise with both new and regular users.

Their line of tinctures can be taken alone or mixed in pretty much any drink. At the store they sell milkshakes, local coffee and tea, staple cocktails like mimosas and margaritas and WithCo mixers to take home and add your own liquor and favorite CBD tincture, which I did with very pleasant results. The mint strips travel well and are tiny but potent, just pop one on the inside of the cheek or under the tongue and get ready to chill. And with their Peaceful Pet Softchew Treats the whole family can relax. Plus, Anzie Blue has free nationwide shipping online on orders over $100. 

Cups with different teas

DOSED offers a line of five herbal teas, designed for different times of the day.

Shelly Borga

DOSED

A longtime advocate for CBD and its various health benefits, Austin entrepreneur Addy Riley created DOSED, a line of five different teas and herbal blends infused with 10mg of water soluble, THC-free, hemp derived premium broad-spectrum CBD. “I wanted to create a natural way to consume and enjoy CBD on a daily basis,” says Riley. A cup of tea is a welcome avenue for people like me who are new to CBD and wish to incorporate it into their personal wellness routines. 

Since Riley states that CBD should be consumed daily to maximize the benefits and effectiveness, she conceived the line as daily prescription for well-rounded well being. Each tea is made with organic ingredients that cater to specific health benefits, including antioxidants, vitamins and superfoods. DOSED also offers individual 1 oz bottles of 500 MG CBD Oil which can be added to the teas or used independently. I can vouch for the Nightly herbal tea as an effective and soothing solution to insomnia.

“Our CBD is cultivated from hemp and grown on a farm in Colorado that practices safe, organic farming and is legally registered with the Colorado Department of Agriculture,” assures Riley. “Prior to infusion, the CBD is tested for cannabinoid potency, residual solvents, microbial organisms, pesticides and heavy metals. After the tea is infused, we test the final product to confirm dosage.” DOSED products are available for purchase nationwide.

Bag of coffee

Aistin-based CBDTakeOut sells CBD infused coffee and tinctures you can add to your favorite food and … [+] drinks.

CBDTakeOut

CBDTakeOut

Another Austin-based company, CBDTakeOut produces Willie’s Remedy, an infused whole bean coffee is sourced from various smallholder farms in Colombia’s Santuario region. The proprietary coffee blend comprises three bean varietals: Castillo, Colombia, and Caturra, and is infused with certified organic, full-spectrum hemp oil grown in Colorado. They also offer chocolate bars crafted with rainforest-grown cacao harvested by South American families. Flavors like Caramel Coconut, Peach Hazelnut, Raspberry and Cinnamon, and Peanut Butter and Honey are enhanced with 60 mg CBD, and the pure dark chocolate bar doubles the dose to 120 mg.

Since the company’s mission is primarily to help people, co-founders Shay Isdale and Jeremy Kinder are offering all products on their site at wholesale prices in response to the COVID-19 crisis, and are donating profits on full-priced purchases to Texas relief funds focused on the service industry. Now, you can feel good, and do good.

The Perilous Cannabis, Cyber, COVID-19 Connection – Insurance Journal

Cannabis, cyber and COVID-19 – the three Cs may have more in common than meets the eye.

Cannabis dispensaries, now considered essential businesses in many states, have stepped up deliveries, curbside picksups and online ordering to service customers during the pandemic.

But in doing so, they are facing greater cyber risks and an insurance market in which it’s difficult to find coverage.

Demand for cannabis has continued to increase in recent years. BDSA, a provider of cannabis industry market research, this week issued a report showing 2019 legal cannabis sales globally grew by 46% to $14.8 billion, up from 16% growth in 2018.

As they’ve grown these businesses have become increasingly sophisticated, and have had to become even more so during the crisis, where stay-at-home orders have asked citizens to reduce trips, according to Chris Boden, cannabis and life sciences practice group team leader with wholesaler Crouse & Associates.

“A lot of the dispensaries have gone to online ordering, delivery, and curb-side pick-up models,” Boden said. “And they’re realizing more and more of their organization is run online.”

Deliveries require dispensaries to obtain and keep names and addresses, those who can work remotely need computer access, and dispensaries may be doing more outreach to produce sales to make up for an drop offs in walk-ins, such as the use of customer relationship management software and outreach via email, or even text messaging.

As a wholesale broker, Boden has heard from his retailer clients who have been asking him more often about cyber coverage, a product that has been particularly hard to place for cannabis businesses.

“I would definitely say there has been an increase in inquiries in the last month, two months, obviously when the COVID-19 crisis hit, about cyber coverage options,” Boden said.

Cyber is hard to find, with carriers shying away from selling cyber products to plant-touching cannabis companies whose activities are still officially illegal in the eyes of the federal government.

“There’s a large shortage,” said Michael Sampson, a partner in the insurance recovery group and co-vice chair of the cannabis law team for in the Pittsburgh, Penn., office of ReedSmith. “There’re only a couple carriers at most that will write cyber coverage for plant-touching businesses.”

Even before the pandemic, cannabis businesses had a cyber target on their backs, according to Sampson.

Most cannabis dispensaries are required to have a seed-to-sale tracking system, particularly those selling medical marijuana, and are also required by the licensing structure of numerous states to maintain data on their clients – making them highly appealing to hackers.

“There is a lot of potential for exposure to a data breach, to some sort of ransom attack, to some sort of cyberattack, because they’re dealing with lots and lots of data,” said Sampson, who described his council of new clients as routinely including the recommendation that they obtain cyber liability coverage.

He’s also been speaking to clients a great deal lately about Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims as more dispensaries take to texting out deals, and offers, to buyers in their databases. The TCPA, which restricts telemarketing calls and the use of automatic telephone dialing systems, is often excluded in cyber policies, he noted.

“There’s a ton of these claims being brought currently,” Sampson said.

He’s also telling his cannabis company clients that as they change to meet the demand in these uncertain times, their risk profiles also change.

“What I’m seeing a lot of is companies that are trying to be quick to respond, but they’re taking on new business models – whether it’s delivery, whether it’s curbside – and every time the amount of data goes up, it just increases the exposure.”

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Two Years After Prop 64: California Cannabis Industry At A Crossroads – Benzinga

By Andrew DeAngelo.

When the City of Oakland became the first municipality on earth to issue permits for medical cannabis dispensaries in late 2004, my family, our partners, and I decided to apply for one. After a lengthy process, we were awarded one of the licenses and opened Harborside on October 3, 2006. 

We were proud to have this trust placed in us by the City and we set out to create the gold standard of cannabis retail for our community. It had been a lifelong dream of mine and my brother’s to legally sell weed to the cannabis community and world at large. We knew we had to do it right. 

The rest is “hip-story,” as we would say. Harborside set the bar for legal cannabis and people from all over the world emulated our example. Today, when a patient or customer goes into any legal dispensary in America, they will be experiencing a small part of Harborside. I, personally, created many of those best operating practices. I continued to share this knowledge in the public arena as we moved to legalize cannabis for all adults in California, not just medical patients. 

The cannabis community tried to put Adult Use on the ballot in California in 2014 as Prop 19, but while we did get it on the ballot, we did not win the vote and it failed. The lessons learned from this failure were taken into account as another effort was mounted for the 2016 campaign. I helped start the first cannabis industry trade association in the State, California Cannabis Industry Association (CCIA), so we could have a stronger political voice in California and win the next vote. Many others also licked their wounds and went back into the breach once again. 

Activists put together an excellent legal framework for Prop 64 that included reasonable tax rates to keep weed prices competitive with legacy market upon full legalization, and fair local controls that did not include bans unless Prop 64 failed in that jurisdiction. Barriers to entry were low and reasonable. It took a lot of meetings, but activists managed to put together excellent language in the first draft of Prop 64.

Then, a big disruption occurred when it became clear that large donors and celebrity funders wanted in on California weed legalization 2.0. Apparently, everyone was excited to get themselves associated with legalizing cannabis in 2016, in California. 

The thinking was, it could not lose twice. No way. Not after Colorado and Washington. Better get in on this if you want to be the guy who legalized weed. So people like Sean Parker donated and outraised the activists, who didn’t have a prayer in the pa- to-play system of California politics, and they hired a mountain of consultants who did polling and started changing things in the language of Prop 64. The taxes started going up. The local control expanded, including bans. Regulatory agencies were created. Money allocated for law enforcement to enforce. All of it got incorporated into the final product we now know as Prop 64. We were told this was the only way to win the election and create one large legal market. They had the money, they had the mainstream democratic politicians, and they were calling the shots. Operators like Harborside had to hold our nose and hope for the best. We had to support legalization. We did not want to embolden the Feds to attack as they had done after Prop 19 failed. Our survival was at stake, not just our bank accounts. We leaned into Prop 64 and urged our community to support it. To this day, I lose sleep over that decision. 

Guess what? 

The experts, consultants, and celebrities were wrong. We have two years of data to prove that the fundamental framework of Prop 64 is so flawed that it must be fixed or the legal cannabis industry in California will continue to collapse or be owned and ruled by outsiders who do not even live in our State. The illicit market will continue to own upwards of 80% of the market share. And our tax dollars will be put to work protecting foreign owners and launching prohibition 2.0 on all the people here in California who made a living under the Prop 215 medical framework. 

We are at a crossroads. Fix Prop 64 or die is the truth for a lot of companies. Even Harborside had to pivot to the public markets in Canada to sustain our operations and continue our fights over 280e. Somehow, we are still standing. 

The urgency could not be greater for our community. 

We must fix Prop 64 this year, 2020. 

This is supposed to be a liberal and progressive State. We consider ourselves smart. We have one party in rule here; the Democratic party. They consider themselves a progressive party. They consider themselves smart. We should be able to get this done, right? 

For two years I tried, CCIA tried, many other smart people tried. We failed. Nothing substantial changed. I became so frustrated I decided not to run for re-election to the CCIA board and make room for new leaders to give it a shot. 

I get to say all this as a private citizen now. 

The problem of fixing Prop 64 is worse now because we have interests that have two years of stake in this that don’t want change. Regulators want less change not more change. They will fight for it. The League of City and Counties will continue to insist on full local control including the power to ban cannabis despite the will of the voters. And the power to tax at any rate they see fit. These taxes have become a source of revenue and that makes changing the tax rates and structures even more difficult. Local budgets have come to rely on this revenue now. And the League is a powerful force in Sacramento, much more so than CCIA or the entire cannabis lobby. 

The State has the power to take power away from the locals to regain some sanity but the bills to do so fail. The State can lower their excise taxes and ensure voters are respected, but all the substantial efforts to do so have failed for two years in Sacramento. Despite the Democratic party having a super majority and a Governor who claims to support legalization, we could not get it done. 

We need to do better in 2020, but the State government has to focus on homelessness and now coronavirus. Cannabis reform gets further out of reach in such political environments. We get shoved to the back burner. At the highest levels of State government, we cannot even get a meeting together with the before mentioned stakeholders to knock out a deal. A deal is possible if we had some real leadership here. I personally tried to get a meeting together with the Governor office, the League of Cities, Labor, Law Enforcement, and all the Regulators for cannabis to knock out a deal. I could not get the meeting done with a group of people from the same political party who call themselves progressive. They wouldn’t even meet with us. That made it clear to me that until we show them that we have political power, until they fear us a little on the political battlefield, we won’t win. Everyone will be very nice to us, but the bills we need to pass to fix Prop 64 will lose. We are at a crossroads of another year of extinction events, we must gather our power together in unity. 

The cannabis industry has a huge amount of political power in California that we are wasting away. Despite all the flaws of Prop 64, the legal industry still managed almost $3 Billion in sales in 2019 (the illicit market did $13 Billion). It would only take a small fraction of the $3B for us to write our own laws and taxes, just as all the other pay-to-play industries do in California. It sounds corrupt, but hey, it is the way it is. We cannabis people didn’t design this system but we do need to win within it. We’ve been getting our butts kicked for two years w/r/t Prop 64. 

A consolidated effort in the $50 Million range plus some good leadership, and Prop 64 can be fixed forever. Whether this would happen with a Statewide ballot initiative, or just traditional politics in Sacramento and local communities, it is enough resources for the cannabis community to create a much better framework. We could design a new system that would work far better, include everyone in our communities, and be California focused preparing for the day of Federally legal inter-State cannabis commerce. We could proudly brand California cannabis as it should be: the best in the world. 

In the process, California would be a leader in carbon sequestration and soil remediation because more acreage of cannabis would be planted, not to mention industrial hemp, than anywhere in the world. A product in demand during virus, war, and recession would be a welcome relief to a demand-free economic free fall, not to mention a long-term trillion dollar industry. This is the promise of a true legal cannabis and hemp industry in California. 

I urge my colleagues in the cannabis industry and movement to seize this power in 2020 and fix Prop 64. We have the ability to play in this California political system and win. It will take unity and good leadership and real resources to get it done. We are at a crossroads. We need to come together now. Equity folks, stoners, suits, growers, retailers, investors can be a huge political force if we just unite. Let us stare this coronavirus down by coming together and offering real solutions for our State and people. 

I call on all of us to listen to this magical plant and unite to do it in 2020.

Andrew DeAngelo, Cannabis Industry Consultant and Strategic Advisor, Co-founder of Harborside

Andrew DeAngelo is a visionary leader with a proven track record of enacting systemic social change and developing best practices in cannabis. Andrew lends his vast cannabis business and political expertise as a consultant for hire to the global cannabis community at large. Over two decades as an activist, Andrew worked on a variety of voter initiatives which legalized medical and adult use cannabis in San Francisco, Washington D.C, and the State of California. As a co-founder and advisor to Harborside, Andrew has pioneered legal cannabis business processes and provided groundbreaking political engagement and thought leadership to the cannabis community — leading the design and development of gold-standard cannabis retail by innovating many “firsts” for the industry. This includes: introducing CBD medicines to heal severely epileptic children, implementing the first lab-testing program in the history of cannabis dispensing, creating child-resistant packaging for edibles, standardizing inventory tracking, initiating senior outreach, and successfully preventing the federal government from seizing Harborside in forfeiture actions against the company in 2012. Andrew began his political career as an activist while studying for his MFA in acting at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. He has starred in several films and runs an entertainment production company, DeAngelo Brothers Productions (DAB), with his brother Steve. Andrew is co-founder and Treasurer of the Board for the non-profit Last Prisoner Project (LPP) and a founding Board of Directors member of the California Cannabis Industry Association (CCIA) where he served from 2013 to 2020. https://www.andrewdeangelo.com

The preceding article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.

© 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

May 1 | Zoom CBD 101 | Newtown, PA – Patch.com

Meet and talk with Cindy Ford an CBD Care Specialist and Owner and Founder of „How Lovely” Wellness. She has been on Talk Radio and a guess on TV talk show speaking on CBD What is CBD? The Different Types of CBD. How may CBD Help You. Take part in Questions and Answers.                                                         After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Cindy Ford  215-292-5645 www.howlovelywellness.com

The west coast’s leading cannabis brand Bloom set to launch in the soaring Oklahoma medical market – Yahoo Finance

LOS ANGELES, April 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Capna Intellectual, the team behind the acclaimed west coast brand Bloom, announces a brand licensing deal with the Tulsa Oklahoma-based Goatneck LLC. Bloom is best known for celebrating and curating cannabis strains in the form of product lines such as the Bloom Vape, Bloom One, and Bloom Dart. Bloom will start sales of iconic strains such as Maui Wowie and Pineapple Express in May 2020.

Oklahoma for consistent, clean cannabis products. Oklahoma has exceeded its projected cannabis sales  of $250M, ending 2019 with $345M in sales. 1 in 13 OK adults have a medical card, a number that skyrocketed from 25,000 patients at the end of 2018 to 210,000––nearly 5% of the state’s population––as of November 2019.  „The cannabis community in Oklahoma is incredible and I’m thrilled to bring Bloom there. Our roots are in the medical market so I’m confident that our experience, particularly in New Mexico, will provide a strong foundation to proudly become Oklahoma’s leading brand,” said Bloom’s Chief Revenue Officer Casey Ly.

Oklahoma is a key strategic market for Capna Intellectual. „Oklahoma will be a flagship state [for Bloom] because of its location in the central United States. We see an opportunity to win a market that isn’t familiar with Bloom and build brand equity as we expand out of the West Coast,” said Capna Intellectual’s CEO and co-founder Vitaly Mekk. „Additionally, the proximity of Oklahoma to Texas, the United States’ second most populous State, is an important consideration in why we chose Oklahoma.”

Oklahoma and Texas. With years of manufacturing and business development experience, Goatneck LLC is well-positioned to launch Bloom in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma medical patients. Combining The Bloom Brand team of technology and marketing professionals with our seasoned staff of veterans positions Bloom products for accelerated growth and success in the Oklahoma medical cannabis products market,” said Gary Findley, General Partner at Goatneck Llc.

Bloom provides consumers with tasteful cannabis products that deliver a clean, consistent experience. Bloom products do not contain any fillers or cutting agents and sources their material from high-quality cannabis grown locally.

www.thebloombrand.com.” data-reactid=”19″>Bloom’s line of products is now available in California, Nevada, New Mexico, Washington, and Oklahoma. For more information regarding Bloom products, please visit www.thebloombrand.com.

Oklahoma. With a strong focus on consistency and sustainability, the Team at Goatneck LLC has implemented a foundation of scientific processes that set the bar for medicinal cannabis companies. Teaming with the acclaimed Bloom Brand, Goatneck LLC continues its vision to provide happiness and relief to their fellow Oklahomans.

cristina@thebloombrand.com ” data-reactid=”21″>For inquiries:
Cristina Burlacu
cristina@thebloombrand.com 

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-west-coasts-leading-cannabis-brand-bloom-set-to-launch-in-the-soaring-oklahoma-medical-market-301050464.html” data-reactid=”33″>View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-west-coasts-leading-cannabis-brand-bloom-set-to-launch-in-the-soaring-oklahoma-medical-market-301050464.html

SOURCE Capna Intellectual

Illinois Postpones Approvals For 75 Cannabis Shops – Benzinga

Social equity candidates in Illinois will have to wait for their first cannabis licenses as Gov. J.B. Pritzker decided Wednesday to postpone their issuing for an unspecified period.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Pritzker has signed an order suspending the scheduled Friday announcement of the winners of the 75 coveted recreational dispensary licenses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new date of the announcement is to be set by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, or after lifting of Governor’s coronavirus-related disaster decree.

„The Pritzker administration remains committed to creating a legal cannabis industry that reflects the diversity of Illinois residents,” Toi Hutchinson, Pritzker’s senior adviser for cannabis control, said in a statement.

As the coronavirus outbreak unfolded, delays in the process of reviewing applications were inevitable, Hutchinson added. Illinois officials are dedicated to creating a more diverse legal pot industry. 

According to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), more than 85% of approximately 700 applicants were qualified for additional points on their applications due to living in areas with strict drug policies in the past, having previous pot-related convictions or a family member that fits criteria.

Still, some social equity applicants doubt this situation has something to do with coronavirus. They are underlining that existing cannabis stores operated by white majority owners are having a considerable advantage since they were allowed to work during coronavirus pandemic and the stay-at-home order.

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© 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Hemson Goods: Crafted Cannabis Accoutrements For The Discerning Toker In 2020 – Forbes

my wood cannabis trays made of walnut and hand turned pipe/grinder

The Hemson pipe and the Hemson grinder on a Tree Trunk tray. I love good wood!

Warren Bobrow: iPhone XR

During college in Boston I smoked a tobacco pipe. Not just any pipe, but a really lovely, handmade Dunhill Bruyere that I enjoyed very much, it made me feel less like a poor college student, and more like a gentleman, living on Beacon Hill. It offered an air of class when I had very little more than an apartment in a student ghetto on the back side of Beacon Hill.

I used to love the assertively scented burley and softer, sweeter cavendish tobacco that just the very smoke itself harkened memories of revolution dating back to the Colonial Era in Boston. It was something that set me apart from my cigarette and weed smoking college peers at Emerson College.

Tobacco smoking has quite the history in New England and pipe smoking would have been a sign of a certain kind of class. A gentleman would often smoke a fine tobacco pipe. His tobacco would have been shipped in a many times used rum cask for their long, humid trip across the unyielding ocean. Madeira and to a lesser extent, Port Wine would make the arduous trek across the often tempestuous seas, acting as ballast against the waves. Early sailing vessels with their hemp sails and lines were not known for their speed, nor comfort. Wooden rum casks (now empty) would serve to preserve the pipe tobacco against harmful moisture which causes mold. If the tobacco is well-aged, the time resting in the cask will impart exotic aromatics and flavors of the molasses distillate into the pipe tobacco. In this way rum and tobacco are historic friends.

As a former professional rum judge, I learned that one of the oldest owners of rum stocks and tobacco flavoring companies is not from the Caribbean as I would have initially thought, but from Amsterdam, that companies name is Scheer. Good to know if you study history, vices and distillation. Cannabis fits right into this history, I can’t imagine that the sailors were smoking the expensive tobacco. They were smoking indian hemp. After all, their sails were made of hemp as were the lines on the boats, so they had to be smoking it too.

Tobacco and I are strange bedfellows as I never smoked cigarettes and really cannot tolerate their aroma. I did enjoy the calming qualities of certain fine English pipe tobaccos and they offered a more traditional relaxation during my often stressful college years. I suppose it’s the same reasoning, from a more modern perspective, the art of holding a cell-phone in your hand. It feels comfortable to hold a handcrafted tobacco pipe in my hand, just like it’s comforting to have my cell-phone in grasp, even if I’m not actually using it. But what about holding a glass cannabis pipe in my hand?

That my friends would attract the wrong kind of attention from the local constabulary.

Out here on the changing legal perimeter in New Jersey, unless you have a verified New Jersey State medical card for the use of cannabis products, holding that glass weed pipe in your hand is just not advised. You will absolutely attract all the wrong kind of attention. What you need is a fine tobacco pipe to smoke. One that doesn’t shout- I smoke cannabis!

A tobacco pipe? Well, only in a manner of speaking. As I framed this article, an elegant looking hand-turned tobacco pipe is never going to attract attention, at least the kind of attention that might get you detained for an undetermined period of time. There is the other side to the cannabis pipe equation. That would be the design element. Something that is extremely important to me. The Hemson Goods cannabis pipe looks darned good. I’m excited to smoke it in public. Maybe not the stinky, gas scented-crushed pine needle bomb that I’m used to. But it would certainly raise an eyebrow or two for those who could swear they smell burning cannabis, but there are no dodgy sorts around smoking it? I hope that I make a good presentation when I smoke my Hemson Goods pipe. I like it.

Hemson Goods, located in Ontario, Canada is manufacturing elegant smoking pipes for the new-traditionalist cannabis imbiber. What? Do you mean to say that Hemson is making classic-appearing tobacco pipes for cannabis?

That’s exactly the gist of it. An elegant smoking pipe that offers you deep pleasure no matter what the materials that you imbibe. The kind of pleasure that comes with smoking the finest flowers, that’s what are in my pipe.

The Hemson Goods cannabis pipe is shaped simply. There is the hand carved bowl and plastic stem, well weighted and comfortable in my hand. The bowl itself is about a half-inch across and made of ceramic. It’s cool to the touch when you smoke from it, but I would never recommend using a torch to light it. This is an elegant work of art, why use something so forceful? You’re not going to be smoking concentrates out of it.

I did test the Hemson Goods Broyeur Canadienne with a lovely hand-rolled snake of extra long burning Green Bodhi hash, just to see how it smoked. The answer is darned good. The polished ceramic bowl that fits neatly inside the walnut pipe is neither conspicuous, nor does it shout cannabis pipe. It’s just right size for an accompaniment. A clean glass filled with some funky Rhum Agricole from Martinique. Smoking a pipe keeps it classy, a snifter of Rhum, a pipe of Bodhi Green, I’m a relaxed and a happy man indeed.

Hemson makes a righteous grinder. I couldn’t resist getting one of those because it looked like the Danish peppermill on my childhood table, growing up in New Jersey. The design is completely Danish Modern to my eye. You’d never know what it is exactly if I didn’t tell you that there is no place to crush pepper. Mine resembles a more angular Peugot pepper mill, the one from France. But this one is all angles. It’s gorgeous. Hand turned and pure, smooth elegance. This is what great design is all about, it’s purposeful and it’s built to last a long time like classic architecture.

I’m throwing out my old grinders (except for the HOJ), because this one gushes modern style, architecture and the unmistakable quality of a mid-century modern finish. I’m impressed by this design and I am using it often. It looks really good on my desk against my Danish design lamp.

For the queen of cannabis yoga positivity, fighting stigma is a daily battle – Leafly

David BienenstockApril 30, 2020

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Jessamyn-Stanley-yoga-cannabis

Yoga teacher and Instagram star Jessamyn Stanley’s book, podcast, and app have inspired millions. She’s body-positive and cannabis-positive. „Yoga and cannabis have always been deeply interwoven for me,” she says. (Photo: Bobby Quillard)

essamyn Stanley is no stranger to stigma.

As a self-described “fat black queer woman,” she’s been breaking down barriers in the more conventional world of American yoga since she first started posting about her personal practice on Instagram in 2012.

At the time, Stanley had recently dropped out of graduate school amid a bout of serious depression. After overcoming initial skepticism, she tried attending a local class and found that while the yoga worked wonders, she felt uncomfortable and out-of-place in a space dominated by thin, white, cis women. So she decided to practice at home for maximum privacy, while somewhat paradoxically documenting her progress online for all to see.

Posting and sharing to overcome isolation

“I started posting because practicing yoga at home can be very isolating,” she tells Leafly.

“While I wanted to share my practice with others, strengthen it, and also find community, the initial feedback I got online was mostly comments like, ‘I didn’t know fat people can do yoga.’ If it hadn’t been for that pushback, however, I probably wouldn’t have kept posting, because I also began to realize that there are a lot of people who do see themselves in my practice—and not just queer black fat people doing yoga. It’s literally anyone who doesn’t get represented in the mainstream.”

Which brings us to cannabis, something Stanley says she began privately advocating for long before she starting practicing yoga.

The decision to start sharing her personal positive cannabis experiences publicly, however, once again required an act of pushing aside stigma, ignorance, and exclusion in favor of speaking the truth. As a lifelong resident of North Carolina, it even meant admitting to occasionally living outside the law.

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I’m teaching free LIVE yoga classes at @northstardurham at 10am EST and/or 6pm EST TODAY. It don’t matter if you haven’t showered in days or your ex isn’t texting you back or your tinder fling is ducking you out or you haven’t worn pants to work since quarantine started or maybe, just maybe, you couldn’t find the energy to do anything yesterday other than wake up. That was all the energy you needed to survive another day and that’s all that matters in this video game we call life. And today is 4/20, the high holy day! A day created by The Waldos to celebrate adventure, friendship, & what it means to be human. In today’s @theunderbellyyoga classes, there’ll be dope giveaways from our sponsor @curaleaf & I’ll be puffing on some local @trucehempco grown in beautiful North Carolina by people who are as proud to rep this state as I am. I’ll be wearing dope swag from my NC Cannabis policy & education initiative @wegohighnc- our t-shirts & burn kits are live in @theunderbellyyoga shop right now AND even if you don’t come to class, you should take our 2020 Cannabis Census & let your voice be heard. We’re streaming LIVE on @mynameisjessamyn, @theunderbellyyyoga, AND @wegohighnc’s IG Live, as well as my Youtube & Facebook AND @northstardurham’s FB so you know- you’ve got options. Which is convenient bc it’s raining outside of my window & maybe it’s raining outside of yours & rainy days are the best days to duck out yoga classes but when it’s 4/20 & you’re being forced to stay inside on a Monday morning, what better way to celebrate than by elevating together from the comfort of your home? Photos are by my love @cdo.photo @jessamynsmokes EDIT: @theaishanash Hey! Class will stay live here for 24hr and we’ll post the @thejadewilson director’s cut on YT in the near future. ❤️❤️

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Taking a second big risk with cannabis

She also faced potential fallout from her online supporters, her students (she’s now a certified yoga teacher), readers of her book Every Body Yoga, listeners to her podcast Jessamyn Explains It All, users of her app The Underbelly, and the yoga-industrial-complex.

“Eventually I realized that I wasn’t really being honest because I wasn’t talking about weed and how it’s a huge part of my yoga practice and medicine,” she says. “I also believe that so much of why cannabis remains prohibited where I live and many other places is because we’re not talking enough about it.”

Nowadays, Stanley’s Instagram feed features copious photos of her puffing on pre- and post-yoga joints. We asked her to share some helpful tips for integrating cannabis into your own yoga practice and daily life.

Leafly: When did your personal journey with cannabis begin?

Jessamyn Stanley: I encountered cannabis a little bit in college, but it wasn’t until 2010 that I started a relationship with someone who regularly consumed it and they introduced me to a whole new understanding of the plant.

I have really intense anxiety, and I don’t come from a family where talking about mental health is encouraged to any degree. So I never went to therapy as a child, nor was I prescribed any medicine. And now I realize that a huge part of why my partner was able to help me get me into cannabis was because it was the medicine that I needed that whole time to treat my anxiety.

Related

How to Combine Yoga and Cannabis: A Beginner’s Experience

When did you begin to incorporate cannabis into your yoga practice?

Yoga and cannabis have always been deeply interwoven for me. I can’t really conceive of my yoga practice without cannabis because it’s been there from the very beginning.

For me, cannabis is a way to have a deeper experience with yoga. Anything that draws you more into your spiritual body and into your subtle body and away from the noise of the material world is so helpful.

Cannabis allows me to tap into layers within the self that are so much deeper and richer than any of the bullshit that’s happening in my day-to-day life. And it doesn’t have to be some big thing where you go to a special CBD yoga class or something like that. You can just find an online class, take a hit off a bowl right beforehand, and then see how you feel.

And just remember, there’s really no rush. You can practice yoga every day until the end of your life and you can smoke weed every day ’til the end of your life. You don’t have to do it all in one day.

Have you experienced any negative repercussions from speaking out about cannabis?

One of the things that I’ve noticed is, a lot of the prejudice with yoga people and weed stems from the same racist shit they’re already doing, anyway.

The yoga world is extremely racist, very deeply white supremacist—very fat phobic and very much afraid of black women in general. Modern yoga culture reflects the values of racism, white supremacy, and fat phobia which perfume the rest of mainstream society. Many people refuse to acknowledge this reality, but that doesn’t make it any less apparent to those of us who routinely face discrimination in the yoga world.

So I have long discounted the authority of the yoga establishment, which is really only focused on projecting and supporting a very specific idea of yoga, one that doesn’t have anything to do with me.

So as a result, any pushback that I’ve received from them, I feel, is mostly born out of this idea that if you use cannabis, then you’re not a worthwhile person. And I’m just not here for that.

Still, it was a really scary decision to start speaking up as an advocate. I’m not on a team, I’m not in a band or something. I don’t have other people to lean on. I’m just standing here kind of solo. But I just thought, what’s the point of having a platform if you’re not going to use it? What am I going to do? Only talk about being fat because that’s what people are comfortable hearing about? And actually, they’re not even comfortable hearing about that.

And when you did go public, you did it in a pretty big way, right?

I was on the cover of Yoga Journal in February 2019.

That was the first time that I was ever photographed smoking weed, which was very deeply liberating for me because I felt like I’d talked about body liberation for so long, but I was still wearing chains. I can feel comfortable with my body all I want, but it doesn’t matter if I can’t speak freely, you know what I mean?

Getting rid of that stigma is the key to everything else.

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David Bienenstock's Bio Image

David Bienenstock

Veteran cannabis journalist David Bienenstock is the author of „How to Smoke Pot (Properly): A Highbrow Guide to Getting High” (2016 – Penguin/Random House), and the co-host and co-creator of the podcast „Great Moments in Weed History with Abdullah and Bean.” Follow him on Twitter @pot_handbook.

How The Coronavirus Impacts New York’s Legal, Illicit Cannabis Operators – Benzinga

Both legal and illicit operators in New York’s  cannabis market have felt the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. 

The same could be said of virtually every other market, but New York is a unique case. 

New York’s Massive, Fragmented Cannabis Market 

The New York marijuana market carries immense potential.

The city, believed to have the highest global consumption rate per year, spent $38 million on medical cannabis in 2018, according to Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics data. That figure could swell to $450 million by 2024, according to Arcview and BDS. 

If adult use laws were to pass, New York could generate $1.2 billion in spending by 2024, they said. 

New York has a vibrant illicit market, and had the pandemic not occurred, many politicians and industry insiders feel the state would have already passed adult use legislation. 

Some lawmakers continue to push on, despite Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s reluctant pivot away from the issue for the second year in a row. The pressing concerns of the day have pushed marijuana reform, like other topics, mainly to the back burner.

Shifting Cannabis Markets

It’s unclear how much money the illicit side of the market generates. However, it would almost assuredly balloon sales figures in ways that would set New York apart from just about every other market in the world.

At the moment, operators on both sides of the industry are attempting to keep up with their changing markets.

Ryan G. Smith, co-founder and CEO of New York City-based ordering platform LeafLink, has used legal market data to predict that illicit market operators have experienced a similar impact to business from the pandemic. 

Noting that the legal sector experienced sporadic order patterns of larger quantities, Smith said the data „signals that people are stocking up” versus visiting local shops on a regular basis.

„Based on this, I would assume illicit markets are experiencing something similar,” Smith told Benzinga. 

Operators are making moves to ensure safety for their clients, employees and business as a whole.

Melissa Vitale, a cannabis advocate and founder of Maverick Public Relations, said her retail clients are making efforts that include one-day-a-week delivery as well as encouraging bulk pricing and sales.

„This is a great time if you want to purchase a higher-end of cannabis,” said Vitale, noting many operators’ willingness to reduce premium prices to market cost when buying in bulk.

On the illicit side, in respect to social distancing, deliveries are being made in concealed bags in building lobbies or outside apartment doors.

One illicit operator who asked not to be named said they’ve shifted their whole operation.

„I treat [a sale] like I’m visiting a COVID victim,” they said of new measures, which include no longer selling to a customer in the person’s vehicle.

The operator also mentioned offering health perks, like free masks, gloves and hand sanitizer, for purchases of over $100.

Adam Goers, vice president of corporate affairs at Columbia Care, said temporary regulatory changes are helping both businesses and patients. 

Columbia Care Inc. (OTC: CCHWF) (CNSX: CCHW) and the state’s other operators made a „positive” transition as the orders took effect, he said.

„We have an obligation to make sure that both our employees as well as their patients are safe,” Goers said, adding that the state has been working with operators to ensure that curbside delivery and other regulations emphasize safe social distancing.

Goers commended a New York rule change that allows deliveries to be made by one person rather than two. 

The Pandemic’s Impact On Cannabis Business

Despite the quarantine, both sides of the aisle appear to be operating as close to normal as could be expected.

Legal operators were unable to provide sales figures to Benzinga, but indicated that business has been good in recent weeks. 

Illicit sellers continue to operate as well. In some cases, supplies sell out in short order each day. Some report trying to balance making sales with the struggles customers have due to the coronavirus.

„I give a lot of people credit around this time,” said one operator. “I’m better than their landlord.”

Related Links:

New York Aims To Adopt Adult Use Cannabis, Tout Regional Cooperation

Cannabis Legalization Could Get A Boost — If We Get Through Coronavirus

© 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.