Here Are The Halloween Activities You Should Avoid Due To COVID
The CDC has released a statement encouraging people to get creative with their Halloween celebrations and to avoid exposing themselves and others to COVID.
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The Hemp Industry Responds To The DEA Rule With A Lawsuit
Petitioners claim that a recent DEA rule is unlawful because it exceeds the DEA’s authority and violates the 2018 Farm Bill.
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With cones and 100% organic hemp papers, Zig-Zag has everyone’s joint needs in mind.
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A growing number of women are turning to cannabis to treat hot flashes, insomnia, and other symptoms associated with menopause, a new survey-based study has found.
The study, which will be presented at this week’s Virtual Annual Meeting of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS), reports that women are more likely to use cannabis to treat menopause symptoms than traditional treatments. The researchers took a sample of 232 women veterans who participated in the Midlife Women Veterans Health Survey. Over half of these survey respondents, who were 56 years old on average, reported suffering symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, and genitourinary problems.
Around 27 percent of all women surveyed said that they either had used or were currently using cannabis to manage their symptoms. Another 10 percent of respondents said that they were interested in using medical pot for these issues, but had not yet tried it. Most of the cannabis users in the survey said that they primarily used weed to treat hot flashes and night sweats.
To the researchers’ surprise, women were actually more interested in using cannabis than traditional therapies. Only 19 percent of respondents said they were using hormone therapy or other forms of standard menopause symptom management. The researchers also found that the likelihood of women to use cannabis did not vary by age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or mental health conditions.
“These findings suggest that cannabis use to manage menopause symptoms may be relatively common,” said Carolyn Gibson, PhD, MPH, lead author of the study, psychologist, and health services researcher at San Francisco VA Health Care System, according to MedicalXpress.
“However, we do not know whether cannabis use is safe or effective for menopause symptom management or whether women are discussing these decisions with their healthcare providers–particularly in the VA [US Department of Veterans Affairs], where cannabis is considered an illegal substance under federal guidelines,” Gibson added. “This information is important for healthcare providers, and more research in this area is needed.”
Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director of NAMS, called the study’s findings “a somewhat alarming trend” that highlights “the need for more research relative to the potential risks and benefits of cannabis use for the management of bothersome menopause symptoms.”
While it is certainly true that there is little academic research exploring the efficacy of medical pot as a specific treatment for menopause symptoms, there is a wealth of literature confirming that cannabis can treat pain-related issues with little risk of adverse side effects. A recent study has found that adults over 50 who use medical cannabis regularly show no decline in cognitive performance compared to non-users. Studies on pot and insomnia have shown mixed results, but some studies have found that medical marijuana can help pain patients get better sleep.
Study Finds No Long-Term Negative Brain Effects For Older Marijuana Patients
Older adults have begun consuming cannabis more than ever, often using the plant to deal with chronic pain.
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Guitar-strumming weed god Willie Nelson has done it again. Yes, Willie has gotten stoned again, but with the November election in mind, the country music legend and marijuana advocate has just released a new song and animated music video with an especially pointed title: “Vote ’Em Out.”
The breezy new anthem is perfect for toe-tapping and toking. On it, Willie sings: “If you don’t like who’s in there, vote ’em out/That’s what Election Day is all about/The biggest gun we’ve got/Is called the ballot box/So if you don’t like who’s in there, vote ’em out.
Later in this song, Willie reiterates: “If it’s a bunch of clowns you voted in/Election day is comin’ ’round again/If you don’t like it now/If it’s more than you’ll allow/If you don’t like who’s in there/Vote ’em out!”
Willie actually debuted an early incarnation of “Vote ’Em Out” in his hometown of Austin, Texas, during a 2018 rally Democratic senate candidate and fellow cannabis reform campaigner, Beto O’Rourke. Now, naturally, is the most crucial possible time for “Vote ’Em Out” to get a proper release and promotion.
In a stage video of the 2018 event, Nelson offers a suggestion regarding democracy that’s akin to what he’s always preached about regarding the positive powers of weed. “Take it home with you,” Willie says, “spread it around!”
The lyrics to “Vote ’Em Out” remain strictly non-partisan, simply encouraging unsatisfied citizens to exercise their rights and take action for change on Election Day. The music video, however, cheekily illustrates what we all already know—that Willie Nelson is a lifelong Democrat and he has endorsed Joe Biden for President (Willie also famously smoked weed on the roof of the White House with President Jimmy Carter’s son).
Of course, Willie is also a rational human being and, as such, he is disgusted by Donald Trump. Back in 2017, Willie even released an explicitly anti-Trump song titled, “Delete and Fast-Forward.”
The “Vote ’Em Out” video begins with the arms of two suit-clad candidates shaking hands. One of them — and it’s no stretch to guess who it’s supposed to be — backs away and crosses his fingers. Amidst cleverly placed on-screen lyrics, then, we see cartoon images of citizens of every color and multiple genders pulling levers at polling places, filling out voter cards, dropping their selections into ballot boxes, and sending their votes in by mail.
The song’s chorus offers a surging blast of encouragement as Willie croons, “Vote ’em out (vote ’em out)/Vote ’em out (vote ’em out)/And when they’re gone we’ll sing and dance and shout!”
So just remember to register to vote. Then vote Donald Trump out on November 3. Once we get that done, we can begin campaigning in earnest for the next go-round: Willie Nelson for President! Duh.
Although it is obviously frustrating, the short delay on the House voting on the MORE Act may actually ensure greater success in November.
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Congratulations to all who participated!
Congratulations to all who participated!
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) released new two reports on marijuana policy—one dealing with the immigration implications of federal prohibition and the other looking at expungements provisions in pending legislation to deschedule cannabis.
For the immigration-focused report published last week, CRS outlined how being convicted of a marijuana crime, admitting to using cannabis (even in a legal state) or working in the marijuana industry can carry four “key consequences” for non-citizens. They can be deemed inadmissible to the U.S., deported, lose immigration relief benefits and be denied naturalization.
The threat of inadmissibility for state-legal cannabis activity even extends to people who simply invest in the market, CRS said. The report makes a point of reiterating several times that just because something is legal under state law doesn’t mean there are carve outs in federal immigration statutes.
There are also immigration relief benefits that individuals could lose out on because of marijuana-related activities. They include the “waiver of certain criminal inadmissibility grounds, cancelation of removal, voluntary departure, withholding of removal, protection under the Convention Against Torture, asylum, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA),” the report states.
With respect to naturalization restrictions, CRS points out that the Trump administration in 2019 issued a memo clarifying that having a cannabis conviction or admitting to working in the marijuana industry “can bar an individual from establishing [good moral character], even if the marijuana-related activity did not violate applicable state or foreign laws.”
In May 2019, 43 members of the House asked the heads of the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to rescind that policy. The next month, a coalition of 10 senators made the same request.
CRS also recognized in the new report that legislation to federally deschedule marijuana—the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act—would help resolve the immigration dilemma, as the bill “would prohibit the denial of any immigration benefit or protection to aliens who have participated in any marijuana-related activity.”
The MORE Act was initially expected to be scheduled for a House of Representatives floor vote this week, but following pushback from certain Democratic lawmakers who felt it would look bad to advance the bill before approving additional COVID-19 relief, it was postponed. Now it’s expected to receive a vote later in fall, likely after the election.
In a separate report also released last week, CRS looked specifically at the MORE Act’s expungement provisions.
The bill would mandate that federal district courts expunge the records of individuals with federal marijuana convictions within one year of the bill’s enactment. It would also allow individuals with cannabis-related convictions to petition courts to have their records cleared prior to the one-year review period.
The Capitol Hill research office noted that federal marijuana convictions represent just a small fraction of the country’s total cannabis convictions, with most being carried out at the state, county and local levels. Relatively few federal cases are for possession alone; most are for trafficking-related charges. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, cannabis trafficking convictions are on the decline, with fewer than 2,000 cases occurring last year.
“The expungement provision in the MORE Act could raise several issues for policymakers,” CRS said. “The legislation would only address expungement of criminal records related to federal marijuana offenses; it would not provide relief from convictions for marijuana offenses in state courts.”
But CRS also floated potential solutions such as providing “an incentive for states to adopt uniform laws regarding the expungement of convictions for state level marijuana offenses.”
“For example, Congress may place conditions on federal criminal justice funding, such as the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program, or provide funds to states to help them implement expungement programs. Congress may consider providing guidelines to states on how to structure their expungement programs,” the report states.
CRS also noted that while the courts could be compelled to expunge records, the bill doesn’t address the fact that certain private companies harvest data on arrests and convictions when they’re publicly available.
“Policymakers might consider whether federal courts should be required to send lists of criminal records that would be expunged under the MORE Act to private background check companies in their respective districts to notify them of the expungement,” the report said.
CRS has dedicated significant time to exploring cannabis policy issues lately. Earlier this month, for example, it released a separate report that identified multiple problems caused by conflicting federal and state marijuana laws.
This article has been republished from Marijuana Moment under a content-sharing agreement. Read the original article here.
Featured image by Gina Coleman/Weedmaps
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