Cannabis retail is getting closer to becoming a reality in Vermont.

Perfect plants to get your grow started, from the enduring legends to the instant classics.

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Voting for marijuana legalization was too risky for Democrats running in moderate districts.

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Legalization happens when voters—not politicians—force laws to change.

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Updated news on candidates and marijuana legalization efforts in your state and around the nation.

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How Rock Climbers Can Use Marijuana In Recovery And Training

Improved sleep, training motivation, and reduced anxiety are just some ways in which marijuana can help climbers.

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We can tell you if you’re registered, and get you signed up if you’re not.

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Anyone busted smoking weed on the Caribbean island of Barbados will soon be able to walk away with only a fine, instead of being sent to prison.

This week, Barbados Governor General Dame Sandra Mason announced that the country’s Drug Abuse (Prevention and Control) Act will be amended to decriminalize minor cannabis offenses. Anyone caught with 14 or fewer grams of pot will now be charged with a $200 fine, which must be paid within 30 days. Cops can no longer arrest people for minor possession, or for smoking pot in public, and these offenses will not show up on permanent criminal records.

Dame Sandra said that “the conviction and incarceration of scores of young men and some women, causing them to lose their jobs, reputation, opportunity to travel, and to become stigmatized over miniscule quantities of marijuana that on the street would be called ‘a roach’ or ‘a spliff’,” is an issue “that requires compassion, understanding, empathy and the intervention of my Government,” Barbados Today reports.

“A significant amount of the time of our law enforcement officers and of our Magistrates’ Courts is taken up with dealing with individuals with small quantities of cannabis,” the governor general explained. “In 2019, 4,295 drug and drug related criminal charges were laid against accused persons. This represented 30 percent of the criminal charges laid in that year and were laid against 534 persons.”

Dame Sandra added that although these charges are minor, they “required the deployment of significant police resources in investigating, processing, taking statements and taking the cases through to trial. This process has little or no redemptive value and in human terms, a large number of our young men are forever left with the taint of the drug charges and the possible conviction.”

The new law will also allow cops to remand certain individuals to drug treatment programs. Anyone under the age of 18 who is caught with half an ounce or less will be sent to the National Council on Drug Abuse for counseling, and police can also send anyone older than 18 that they deem to be dependent on weed to counseling as well. Those sent to counseling must still pay their $200 fine, however.

Barbados is also working to implement a medical marijuana program, following the lead of several other Caribbean nations that have recently relaxed their prohibitions against weed. Jamaica, long renowned for its love of ganja, decriminalized pot and legalized medical marijuana in 2015, and many neighboring islands, including St. Vincent, the US Virgin Islands, Trinidad, and Haiti have also taken steps toward substantive cannabis reform. The islands of St. Kitts and Nevis have fully legalized personal pot use, and Bermuda is also planning to legalize full adult sales and use.

Rock superstar Robert Plant recently talked about how touring with Willie Nelson was one of the high points of his entire music career—in more ways than one.

On his own podcast, Digging Deep, Led Zeppelin frontman recalled how honored he was to participate in Willie’s Outlaw Music Festival Tour last year and what a thrill it was to meet Willie himself. He also said his “most cherished memory” of the tour itself was watching Willie spread the uplifting power of pot nonstop by sharing his stash with all comers.

“[Willie] was traveling through his tour with his big bus giving away weed to everybody,” Plant said. “He just gives it away. It’s a truckload from here to the mirrorball and beyond. Free. With doors to go in, get your little hit, and go out the other side.”

Willie, who turned 87 this year, has long reigned as icon of both music and marijuana. His generosity is also legendary, especially when it comes to getting lit.

On the official Willie’s Reserve—the singer’s weed company—website it says: “For decades, as Willie and his band travelled from town to town, pot enthusiasts flocked to his shows, their pockets stuffed with offerings from their home gardens and local communities. They happily shared their bounty. And Willie gladly returned the favor.”

Willie’s famous hazy benevolence extends from the fans he adores to celebrities like his premiere pot pal Woody Harrelson and other noteworthy figures, some of whom are pretty surprising.

Earlier this month, for example, President Jimmy Carter revealed that his own son, Chip Carter, puffed joints on the roof of the White House in 1977. And last year, revered NBA coach Don Nelson told HBO’s Real Sports that his retired life in Hawaii is spent growing weed and partaking of the potent harvest with his dear friend, Willie Nelson.

And then there’s Snoop Dogg, who once told Cypress Hill’s B-Real, “That [Willie] is the only person that’s ever smoked me under the table.”

Elaborating on a night when the two chronic kings went drag-for-drag, Snoop said, “I’m like, ‘This old motherfucker’s gonna try to out-do me.’ And he really did. It got to the point where I was like, ‘You know what? Ay Willie, let’s take a break and play some dominoes, because I think we need to do something else right now.’” Snoop added that Willie then beat him at dominoes, too.

Now, please, Willie— just run for president and save us all!

Can Artificial Sweeteners Help Us Lose Weight?

Artificial sweeteners can be found in all kinds of foods and beverages. They don’t add calories but do they subtract them?

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