A new app connects mental health professionals with people using psychedelics.

4 Perks Of Taking A Cannabis Tolerance Break

Tolerance breaks are deliberate time-outs from cannabis with the purpose of resetting your body’s resistance to THC.

The post 4 Perks Of Taking A Cannabis Tolerance Break appeared first on The Fresh Toast.

Parents who like to puff, puff, pass are really going through it during COVID-19. Don’t despair, cannabis parents! Here’s some tips.

The post Cannabis parenting: pandemic edition appeared first on Leafly.

Why Cannabis Juicing Can Be Good For You

As the THC in cannabis only becomes psychoactive when heated, consuming raw cannabis allows one to get the benefits of the plant in a non-intoxicating way.  

The post Why Cannabis Juicing Can Be Good For You appeared first on The Fresh Toast.

Can Canadians soon have cannabis covered by insurance?

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Two candidates running for the West Virginia House of Representatives will introduce one of the country’s most comprehensive cannabis reform bills if they are elected this November.

Democratic candidates Rusty Williams and Chris Yeager unveiled their proposed bill in a live stream from a hemp farm last Friday. The bill, titled “The Normalization of Cannabis Act,” is supported by WV Can’t Wait, an advocacy group pushing for a wide range of progressive political policies, including a workers bill of rights, cannabis reform, and small business support.

Both candidates have first-hand experience with the healing powers of cannabis. Williams began campaigning for medical marijuana after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and helped push the state to pass its medical cannabis law in 2017. Yeager, a Marine Corps veteran, runs a hemp company, Appalachian Cannabis Co., which produces CBD products.

“People hear the term ‘comprehensive cannabis’ and want to know what that means,” said Williams during the live stream, Marijuana Moment reports. “What that means is this bill will decriminalize the cultivation, production and personal use of cannabis for all West Virginia adults over 21.”

On top of allowing adults to possess and use weed, the proposal would allow home-grows of up to 12 pot plants for personal use. The bill would also create a taxed and regulated retail market, but uniquely, it would block large corporations from dominating the industry. Instead of leaving applications open to anyone, the state would only offer micro-permits to small, vertically-integrated weed businesses. The cost of these permits would be discounted by 50 percent for any applicant who had previously been convicted of a nonviolent weed crime.

“One of the major criticisms we’ve had with the Medical Cannabis Act is that the entire industry was going to be run by ten companies,” said Williams. “When we end prohibition, we have got to make sure that we clear a path for small businesses and small farmers to get into the game and participate in this industry, and that’s exactly what micro permitting will do.”

The bill would also direct the state courts to expunge all nonviolent cannabis-related convictions dating back to 1937, when prohibition began. “Not only will we release people from jail who are wrongfully incarcerated for possessing or using a plant, but this bill also provides for transitional services for people released, so we can help them with schooling, education, housing, anything that we can help them with to get them back into society, which is where they should be in the first place,” Williams explained.

A third Democratic candidate, Hilary Turner, also announced her support for the proposal at the event. “I support full cannabis and hemp legalization across our nation and right here in West Virginia,” she said at the event, Marijuana Moment reports. “My family had a farm in Greenbrier County for six generations, and we would love to be able to grow industrial hemp, but the current regulations are so burdensome that it makes it really hard for small family farms to just get started.”

To address these concerns, the bill would ease restrictions on hemp production and raise the THC limit on hemp to 3 percent, ten times the 0.3 percent limit imposed by the federal government and pretty much every US state. 

Voters in Arizona, South Dakota, New Jersey, Montana, and Mississippi will get a chance to vote for either adult-use or medical cannabis legalization this year, but voters in other states still have the means to enact cannabis reform. The election brings a chance to vote pro-cannabis candidates into office on state and federal levels. It also brings an opportunity to vote prohibitionist lawmakers – like senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – out of office. Minnesota even has a pro-cannabis political party, and Nebraska is working to establish their own pro-weed party.

Vermont Is This Close To Legalizing Recreational Marijuana Sales

A new measure would prioritize minorities, women, and those disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs for a marijuana business license.

The post Vermont Is This Close To Legalizing Recreational Marijuana Sales appeared first on The Fresh Toast.

5 Things To Keep In Mind When Using Cannabis For Sleep

Cannabis and sleep go great together. Here’s a few things you should keep in mind when using the herb to help you rest.

The post 5 Things To Keep In Mind When Using Cannabis For Sleep appeared first on The Fresh Toast.

Cannabis plants aren’t people, so why use an HVAC system designed for human comfort for your grow?

The post Is a tailor-made HVAC system the key to creating ideal cannabis growing conditions? appeared first on Leafly.

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A new survey regarding marijuana as a treatment for migraine headaches is the latest example of how, at long last, science is formally documenting what cannabis users have known all along: Weed heals.

The survey, conducted by healthcare technology provider Healint, found that nearly one-third of migraine patients have used cannabis to effectively manage pain. Among medical marijuana patients, 82 percent said weed provided significant relief.

“Cannabis is becoming a prominent treatment option for chronic pain patients, especially for migraineurs,” Healint CEO Francois Cadiou said. “With more and more states across the United States legalizing medical marijuana, migraine patients are becoming acquainted with cannabis as a natural remedy that can help alleviate migraines and even prevent them. Research about the benefits of cannabis use among migraine patients is slowly emerging, but more must be done to properly inform individuals about the use and dosage of medical marijuana to treat migraines.”

The Healint survey is in keeping with a number of other recent studies exploring the use of marijuana to treat migraines. This past July, for example, a Journal of Integrative Medicine study reported that 94 percent of migraine sufferers who inhaled pot said they felt relief within two hours, specifically experiencing a drop in symptom intensity of 3.3 points on the ten-point scale.

Last June, the journal Brain Sciences reported similar results that connected long-term cannabis inhalation with a reduction in migraine frequency.

A 2019 Journal of Pain study reported that “inhaled cannabis reduces headache and migraine severity ratings by approximately 50 percent.” That same year, the journal Neurology reported a 42 percent reduction in average monthly migraine occurrences after patients ingested cannabis.

For a 2016 study, 121 migraine sufferers reported a decline from 10.4 to 4.6 migraine headaches per month after they started using cannabis.

Paul Armentano, Deputy Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), pointed out that this data is useful and encouraging but, that it’s not exactly shocking for those who use cannabis.

“Migraines have a debilitating impact on tens of millions of Americans and, in many cases, are poorly addressed by conventional therapies,” Armentano said. “Therefore, it is not surprising to see a significant percentage of migraine sufferers turning to cannabis as a therapeutic option. Those that do so are consistently reporting it to be safe and effective at reducing both migraine symptoms and migraine frequency. With the legal status of cannabis changing in more and more states, no doubt this population of medical users will continue to grow over time.”