How to Grow Psilocybin Mushrooms

 

In a recent interview with the MM Report, Santa admitted that Mrs. Clause had been adding a pinch of magic mushrooms to his diet. St. Nick explained to us how with so many folks to add to the naughty list, micro-dosing has helped him maintain his jolly demeanor.    

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 12 cc spore syringe

For the Substrate:

• 12 wide-mouth 1/2 pint jars
• Strainer
• Hammer and small nail
• Mixing bowl
• Large pot with a tight-fitting lid
• Heavy-duty tin foil
• Small towel
• Micropore tape
• 70-120L clear plastic storage box
• Drill with 3/8th-inch bit
• Perlite
• Spray bottle

Hygiene Essentials:

• Rubbing alcohol
• Air sanitizer
• Disinfectant
• Torch lighter
• Latex gloves, surgical mask
• Still-air box (optional)

The Process:

1. Prepare the Jars

Disinfect the hammer and nail and use them to punch four evenly-spaced holes around the lid’s circumference.

2. Prepare the Substrate

Mix ¾ cup vermiculite and ¼ cup water per jar in a mixing bowl.

Disinfect the strainer and remove the excess water.

Add ¼ cup brown rice flour per jar and combine.

3. Fill the Jars

Loosely pack the substrate into the jars to around half-inch below the rims.

Sterilize the exposed glass with rubbing alcohol, then top off with dry vermiculite.

4. Steam to Sterilize

Screw the jar lids on tightly and cover securely with foil.

Ensure that no water or condensation can enter the jar through the holes.

Place the towel in the base of the pan and arrange the jars on top.

Add water to around halfway up the jars and bring to a slow boil.

Steam for 80–90 minutes, adding more hot water if the pan boils dry.

Keep the jars upright throughout.

Allow to cool to room temperature for several hours or overnight.

5. Prepare the Spore Syringe

Use the lighter to heat the syringe’s needle until red hot.

Allow to cool and wipe with rubbing alcohol, taking care not to touch it.

Pull back the plunger slightly and shake well.

Reduce the risk of contamination by wearing latex gloves and a surgical mask, especially if the syringe requires assembly.

6. Inject Spores

Remove the foil from a jar and insert the syringe as far as possible through one of the holes.

With the needle against the jar’s side, inject around ¼ cc of the spore solution.

Repeat for each of the holes, cleaning the needle with alcohol between each one.

Cover the holes with micropore tape.

Repeat for remaining jars.

7. Play the Waiting Game

Place the jars in a clean area where they won’t be disturbed.

Keep at room temperature (72–82-degrees Fahrenheit) and out of direct sunlight.

After 7–14 days, white mycelium should start to appear.

After 3–4 weeks, at least half of the jars should have successful colonies or ‘cakes.’ At this stage, wait an additional seven days to strengthen the mycelium.

If any jars show signs of contamination, dispose of them carefully. Do this outdoors using secure bags, without removing the lids.

8. Prepare the Fruiting Chamber

Drill 3/8-inch holes approximately two inches apart all over the plastic storage container, including its base and lid.

Place the box on four stable objects to allow airflow underneath.

Cover with a towel to retain moisture.

9. Add Perlite

Put the perlite in a strainer and soak it with water by running under the cold tap.

Allow to drain thoroughly, then spread over the base of the chamber.

Repeat the process until you have a 4–5-inch layer of perlite covering the base.

10. Rehydrate the Cakes

Remove the substrate cakes from the jars, taking care not to damage them.

Rinse the cakes under the cold tap to remove loose vermiculite.

Fill your cooking pot with lukewarm water and put the cakes inside.

Use another pot or a plate to keep them under the water’s surface.

Leave at room temperature for 24 hours while the cakes rehydrate.

11. Roll the Cakes

Remove the cakes from the water and put them on a disinfected surface.

Fill the mixing bowl with dry vermiculite and roll the cakes to coat.

12. Transfer

Place the cakes in the fruiting chamber, set upon foil squares big enough to stop them touching the perlite.

Space them evenly and mist with the spray bottle.

Fan with the lid before closing.

13. Wait for Fruiting to Start

Mist the chamber four times a day, but do not soak the cakes in water.

Fan with the lid six times a day to improve air circulation.

Some growers use lights set on a 12-hour cycle, but ambient lighting during the day is sufficient.

Wait for mushrooms to appear.

How Long to Grow Mushrooms?

How long do shrooms take to grow? This can vary according to the variety and conditions.

Keep a close eye on your mycelium cakes, and you should soon start to see them appearing as white bumps, which then sprout into ‘pins.’ The mushrooms should be ready to harvest 5–12 days after this. It is best to pick them before the veil breaks, revealing the gills.

Hopefully this guide on “how long does it take to grow mushrooms indoors” (~1–2 months) has been helpful. Remember, however – it is the responsibility of the reader to know and understand all rules and regulations regarding the cultivation of mushrooms in their specific state or region.

John Sinclair - Free the Weed #125 - December 2021

 

A COLUMN BY JOHN SINCLAIR

Hi everybody, welcome to the end of 2021 and the 50th anniversary of the John Sinclair Freedom Rally on December 10, 1971 and my release three days later from a 9-1/2 to 10 year prison sentence for giving away two joints to an undercover policewoman in Detroit just before Christmas of 1966.

This modest gift was a token of my belief in the necessity of giving away marijuana to those who don’t have any. When I was coming up in the marijuana culture of the sixties, we believed that if you had some weed and didn’t pass along a little bit to the next person who didn’t have any, you risked the distinct possibility of never being given any weed again for your own use. I didn’t want to face that particular reality and it was Christmas time, so I went ahead and gave the woman two joints when she asked for one.

I learned quite painfully from my first two marijuana busts—this was the third!—that it was more than just stupid to be selling weed in my position because the police would move in at their earliest convenience and knock you down for sales and possession of narcotics. 

That’s right: Believe it or not, marijuana was deemed a narcotic by the forces of law and order from 1937 until the 1970s and carried the kind of heavy penalties we’ve come to associate with narcotics law enforcement: ten years for possession and a mandatory minimum 20-years-to-life sentence for sale of marijuana. I was born in October 1941 and consequently suffered under this law for the whole of my adult life.

Well, not all of it, because when I was 30 years old, early in 1972, after contesting the established laws in Detroit Recorder’s Court for a period of five years since my arrest and initial incarceration on January 24, 1967 and after my release on bond, trying to prove that marijuana was not a narcotic and that twenty years to life constituted cruel and unusual punishment, I finally went to trial on what had become merely a simple possession change when the prosecution dropped the sales charge against me the day before the trial started in July 1969. My only defense was that marijuana was not a narcotic and, as a marijuana smoker, I was not a narcotics addict nor a criminal of any sort, so it was easy for the judge, the prosecutor and their carefully selected jury members to obtain a conviction for possession of marijuana.

Despite his last-minute amendment to the bill of particulars, the Recorder’s Court judge, Robert J. Columbo, and his virtually hand-picked jury went ahead and convicted me of narcotics possession just the same, and I was sentenced to 9-1/2 to ten years in prison and remanded to the penitentiary at Jackson to serve my time. 

To top it off, Judge Columbo refused to grant me an appeal bond while my case was being reviewed in the higher courts, so I had to do every day of the time to which he had sentenced me. Even worse, after my month in the Reception & Diagnostic Center at Jackson where they determined what to do with me for 10 years, I was sent 600 miles north to Marquette Branch Prison to settle in with the heavy criminals.

That’s the way it looked every day for my 29 months in Jackson and Marquette Prisons, although my colleagues and I did everything we could to try to shorten my sentence. Starting with the Trans-Love Energies benefit on January 29, 1967 and continuing until December 10, 1971, my friends and comrades staged countless events on my behalf, from little bitty dances in union halls and high school venues to multiple-day events at the Grande and Easttown Ballrooms in Detroit and everything in between.

Until just before I went to prison in July 1969 I had been functioning as the manager of a great Detroit rock & roll band called the MC-5 who were in the process of building a massive audience and gaining a major label recording contract with Elektra Records and a national and international reputation for themselves. 

The MC-5’s support for my case played an important role during my battle against the narcotics laws, and the band’s central position in its home town attracted the positive attention and undying support of almost every other band in the community—with the exception, of course, of asshole Ted Nugent, then in his early days as an anti-drug propagandist—so that dozens and scores of bands were enlisted to play benefits for my legal defense between 1967 and 1972. 

This effort culminated in the John Sinclair Freedom Rally of December 10, 1971, where John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Stevie Wonder, Bobby Seale, Phil Ochs, Allen Ginsberg, Ed Sanders, Archie Shepp & Roswell Rudd, CJQ, Bob Seger, the Up, Commander Cody and a host of others gathered with 15,000 supporters at Ann Arbor’s Crisler Arena to call for my release from prison. FREE JOHN NOW! was the battlecry, and it generated a whole new dimension of support for my case among the populace and, as it turned out, among the law enforcement community itself.

The Freedom Rally was scheduled for December 10 because, the previous year, the state legislature broke for the Christmas recess without voting on a bill that would have seriously altered the marijuana laws, removing marijuana from the narcotics laws and creating a special category called “controlled substances” to cover the weed. When the legislature passed on dealing with this question, they virtually sentenced me to an additional year in prison since I was sure that, if the new law ere to be passed, my incarceration would be at an end.

Thus it was my singular concern that we exert enough pressure on the state lawmakers to force them to a vote on this bill in 1971, and our strategy was to push them and push them until it was done. The Freedom Rally was organized as a means to force them to deal with this proposed legislation before the year ended, and the Freedom Rally was planned for December 10th to accomplish this goal.

I wanted to make the biggest possible splash, and accordingly our pal at the University of Michigan, Peter Andrews, who was my business partner in the Trans-Love Energies non-profit corporation through which we did our work in the music business, and who was employed by the U of M to teach them how to produce and profit from large rock concerts, managed to rent for us the 15,000-seat Crisler basketball arena as the venue for the Freedom Rally.

Of course our efforts were doomed to failure unless we could secure enough big acts to fill the arena, and everything appeared lost until Jerry Rubin let us know that he had talked the Lennons into being part of the show. That insured our success, and then other big names invited themselves onto the bill, like Stevie Wonder and Bob Seger, and everything was groovy. We had created a major attraction, and our reward was that the Michigan Supreme Court voted to release me on appeal bond three days later, and I was sent home from prison on Monday, December 13th. On March 12, 1972, the same court voted to remove marijuana from the narcotics law and create a new category to cover the medicine of our choice, from now on to be known as a “controlled substance.”.

That’s what we’re celebrating at the Ralston Holistic Health Center this month, and we’d be seriously remiss if we let this historic moment pass without singling it out somehow and blowing our horn in triumph 50 years after this miraculous accomplishment. Thanks, everybody, and may we never cease our efforts to FREE THE WEED!

Tim Beck - December 2021

 

The past few months have produced intense drama and some relief for the cannabis community in Michigan

There was a scary putsch by the “Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers Association” (MCMA)  and their friends in the Legislature, to destroy the medical marijuana caregiver system as we know it. However, the effort ran out of steam. They were unable to get a 3/4 super majority vote in the House needed to amend the MMMA.

 A few weeks later a massive, multimillion-dollar recall of impure marijuana by the MRA, hit over 400 dispensaries in Michigan. Some facilities operating on shaky financial ground could go under. Fortunately it seems the perps will  pay a heavy price down the road.

That said, one of the most intriguing things to happen in all this, is the rise, seemingly out of nowhere, of a new cannabis activist organization in Michigan whose goals are to vigorously defend the caregiver community. That group is the “Michigan Caregivers Association” (MCA).

Unlike most cannabis reform groups over the years, whose roots stem from either the counterculture or the progressive wing of the Democratic Party-- MCA’s key leaders are savvy,  seasoned, free market Republican/Libertarians.

George Brikho is the founder of MCA and his right-hand man is Scott Hagerstrom, creator of the political consulting firm “Rogue Strategies.”

Mr Brikho was the GOP nominee for the 9h Congressional District in 2016, unsuccessfully taking on Congressman Sander Levin. He owns some cannabis businesses along with other enterprises. In his various blogs, Mr. Brikho expressed his contempt for Tom Celani, a multimillionaire businessman who wants a marijuana monopoly in Michigan. In so many words he asserted Celani is selfishly screwing the Chaldean community. In other posts, he attacked a cabal of government officials linked to big Pharma, who are forcing school kids to wear COVID masks. He also castigated Roman Catholic Church leaders for “rolling over” and not resisting the Governor’s mask orders in Catholic schools.

I briefly met Mr. Brikho at a “Michigan Republican Leadership Conference” on Mackinac Island some years ago. He came across as an alert, streetwise, no nonsense kind of guy.

Scott Hagerstrom has been around for a very long time in the GOP milieu. Our paths crossed many, many times over the years laboring in the GOP vineyards. Among other things, Mr. Haggerstrom was the longtime director of the Michigan chapter of “Americans for Prosperity” funded by the famous billionaire economic conservative Koch Brothers. He went on to run the Michigan “Trump for President” campaign operation. He was a respected candidate for Chairmanship of the Michigan Republican Party when the position was vacant last time.

That did not work out however. Mr. Hagerstrom graciously conceded the race when Michigan real estate billionaire Ron Wieser and his running mate Meshawn Madock entered the fray. Meshawn, who is the spouse of State Representative Matt Madock, is the equivalent of a rock star in the Michigan GOP, for her early efforts to torch Governor Whitmers COVID lockdowns. She was the force behind  “Operation Gridlock” which brought over 4,000 cars to Lansing on a single morning early in the COVID outbreak, to fight the lockdowns. Her work made national news and is the stuff of legend for conservative activists and philosophers.

In an exclusive interview with MM Report, Mr. Hagerstrom explained what is up with the MCA.

“I’ve always believed the drug problem should be handled like they do in Portugal, where any drug is legal as long as the user is not harming anyone else,” he explained.

“This falls in line with any number of freedom issues” he continued, “like religion, freedom of speech and personal medical decisions.”

“The Republican Party is way behind the curve... and is missing out on a big opportunity as far as cannabis is concerned”  he asserted.

As far as the recent anti-caregiver hearings in the House Regulatory Affairs Committee  orchestrated by MCMA lobbyist Steve Linder, Mr. Hagerstrom declared, “this hearing was set up. The other side got 80 minutes and we got 20 minutes” 

Mr. Hagerstrom went on to blame the Michigan GOP House leadership for the problem, not grassroots Republicans. In fact, some of these “grassroots” persons are elected members of the House. He went on to say we “have around 10” GOP House members who are not  going to vote with the leadership on this one. Those GOP members, coupled with various Democrats, had the votes to block a 3/4 supermajority vote needed to amend the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.

Mr. Hagerstrom and the MCA have no interest in “negotiating” with Linder and his crew after their recent defeat. “We do not trust Steve Linder.” he explained. The idea of having “big government” stepping in to crush the small-time entrepreneur, who is operating legally, is anathema. This is “crony capitalism at its worst,” he said.

“Some of these people (various GOP legislators) are not used to all kinds of people calling their offices on this. They do not like it. They have never experienced real grassroots pressure and they are going to have to get used to it,” 

To date, MCA has been able to raise real money from various canna businesses in order to fuel their fire. This includes a $50K donation from one canna business entity and more money is coming in every day.

While this is not much of a match, compared to the millions of dollars Linder’s MCMA has at their disposal, it is enough to pay committed activists for their time. In this case, to specifically work on the GOP-- along with friendly politicians of any political party. 

When asked about infighting between existing cannabis reform organizations, Mr. Hagerstrom explained he knew nothing about such things when he first got involved in the struggle. “I’m getting to learn about it lately though” he quipped, suggesting it is all water off a duck’s back. Such things occur “in practically any political movement” and he’s gotten used to it over the years. Such squabbling will not deter MCA and its mission to protect the caregiver system.

Tinfoil Hat Time! - December 2021

 

“One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Government has once again become nothing more than humans placing symbols on smooshed ground up tree corpses and we, like fools, choosing to act as if that matters. We speculate, and argue, and take stances, and act sophisticated, and worse yet obey, all while playing a generations long game of make believe being dictated by some of the worst examples of our species.

Rarely anymore, if ever, is this done out of morality, or duty, or any sense that these scratches on paper are ‘just’ and ‘right’.  Almost always the threat of force, or some form of extortion or blackmail, must be used in order to gain compliance with some convoluted and overly complex yet totally vague law.  Money will be stolen, goods will be seized, livelihoods and lives will be upended, these are the reasons we continue to play pretend like abused wives acting as if there is nothing wrong, all the while under direct threat from a madman who will attack and bully us the instant we do not follow secret ever changing rules that only exist to satisfy him.  

There is no reason at all to continue to play pretend with an abuser.  A relationship such as this is beyond toxic, leaping clear over the border wall of self destructive.  No one is under any obligation to knowingly place themselves in, or remain in, this sort of immoral arrangement. 

People like Andrew Brisbo at the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency who describe their direct and open perversion of the American idea of a government of laws rather than of men as the “holistic approach” have no authority over us.  These crooked agencies are in direct violation of the basic tenets of our system of government and justice.  They can only bully and steal, and even then only if their victims comply.  Every one of their ‘punishments’ are completely self-inflicted wounds; you have to incriminate yourself, you have to send them money, you have to destroy your own inventory.  They do not have the right, let alone the manpower, to do anything that you do not voluntarily comply with.  These hacks can’t even send timely emails when METRC goes down.  Brisbo and crew have zero previous marijuana experience, they know literally nothing about cannabis, and rely on the input of lobbyists and special interest groups that get paid to manipulate regulatory bodies to the advantage of their clients.  

Incompetant absentee abusers who expect others to not only follow arbitrary rules, but actually voluntarily cause themselves harm at the abusers whim, deserve neither respect nor fealty let alone recognition of existence.  Governments like the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency are a game of pretend that none of us should be playing.

We are free people who wish to grow a plant.  To then harvest that plant, turn it into something useful, and to ingest and trade it as we choose.  To reap what we sow with our own efforts and engage in free commerce with our fellow free citizens.  To live our lives as we see fit, without being harassed or bullied into acting against our own best interests.  We do not need permission, or permit, or title, or license.  We are American citizens.  We are autonomous living beings.  

We are free as soon as we choose to be.  

Free of the rule of men and women who sit behind closed doors and determine the fate of others, never suffering the consequences of their actions.  Free from stepping and fetching at the arbitrary whim of those who defile the term holistic in the most egregious of ways.  Free from threats and self inflicted punishments imposed by liars and illusionists.  

To continue to pretend as if the MRA is a legitimate body places at risk not only the livelihoods of those who deal in cannabis in Michigan, but the very basic principles of the American revolution. Men do not rule from behind closed doors in this country.  They must write clear and concise laws that all can understand and obey equally.  These latest iterations of government are anti-American institutions who run outside their constitutional limits and outside the system of checks and balances.  They only get away with it because we go along with it.

No group in this country is in a better position to lead the stand against this archaic style of rule than the marijuana community.  We are professionals with decades of experience in defying the whims of unjust and immoral laws.  This plant was 100% illegal for the majority of our lives, and yet we grew, sold, and smoked it.  We took the risk because we knew we were in the right and we can do the same thing now.

In fact, we have a moral obligation to defy the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency.  It exists solely to control this market.  ‘Safety’ is nothing more than rhetoric used to justify its existence.  The exact same way Steve Linder uses safety to justify his anti-caregiver notions.  

The MRA  is a lever point that can be charmed and swooned into making market changes that benefit the charmers and the swooners.  It is a political weapon, the enemy of free people and free market principles.  Elitists, and those who benefit in some way from its existence, are the only ones who champion its necessity.  Those whose paychecks come from acting like good little tools of the MRA, those whose legal firms benefit from sifting through vaguely written rules,  along with those who use it as a political weapon, and those who use it to bend either the market to their favor or the rules to the favor of their market.

The marijuana community knows precisely what kind of lying, manipulating, crooked oppressors those in government truly are.  We know exactly how rigged data and censored narratives are used to steal rights and property.  Behind closed door bureaucrats destroying the lives and livelihoods of innocent citizens is something we are all too familiar with.

In order to truly free the weed we must free our minds and ourselves.  Big money, caregivers, acronyms, black markets, politics, parties, propaganda, government, all hold no value whatsoever.  It is a simple, effortless, truth.  These things do not matter.They are temporary, ever changing, and serve nothing but the self interests and personal desires of those who would manipulate us.  Desires born from a multitude of perspectives, all blending to create a soup of delusions we all agree to pretend are real, to our demise.

End the delusion.  Stop playing pretend.  Free your mind, and thus, your self.  

The weed will follow.

Lab Scandal Brings Recall, Lawsuit, Higher Prices and a History of Contempt - Ben Horner

 

SPECIAL REPORT

Lab Scandal Brings Recall, Lawsuit, Higher Prices and a History of Contempt

By Ben Horner

If it smells like hay or Italian herbs, it might not be ok. This old stoner adage is used to warn people about possibly moldy weed or a bag of fake weed.  Everyone is talking about the recall of licensed Michigan Recreational and Medical flower tested by Viridas Labs from August through November of this year. The recalled flower, approximately 64,000 pounds, represents nearly 70% of the marijuana flower in the commercial market. Viridas quickly fired back with a lawsuit against the MRA and its director Brisbo. It turns out there is an interesting history with folks connected to this lab, lobbyists and politically motivated Michigan marijuana activists. 

“We strongly disagree with this decision and firmly stand by our test results,” said Greg Michaud, CEO of Viridis Laboratories in a prepared statement. Greg Michaud is not unknown, or well liked by Attorney Michael Komorn, who in 2015 discovered that then Captain Grégoire P. Michaud, of the Michigan Forensic Science Division (MSP crime lab) was seeking clarification on case law (People vs Carruthers) in regards to medical marijuana cases involving patients and caregivers. This led to a change in policy that allowed prosecutors to strip away some protections under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act of 2008 (MMMA), particularly for any edible or concentrate that did not have visible plant material. Kormon was representing a medical marijuana patient that had lost custody of his child during a CPS home inspection where law enforcement found a small amount of unlabeled hash oil.   

Charmie Gholson, former writer for the Midwest Cultivator, was quick to reference a 2016 Leafly article (https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/leafly-investigation-great-cannabis-crime-lab-frame) that tells the whole story. Ms. Gholson is an activist that spent real effort in uncovering police corruption and advocating for families that were victims of the war on drugs, with a particular interest in CPS cases in which children were removed because of medical marijuana in the home. When at the Midwest Cultivator, Charmie also worked with fellow activists Jamie Lowell of Third Coast, which was where the newspaper was produced.  She was also featured on a MiCIA Magazine cover with Robin Schneider and other influential female cannabis leaders. 

Viridis Laboratories, the largest marijuana testing lab in Michigan, is accusing the MRA of attempting to breach their preparatory testing and then retaliating against them for having the “lion’s share”  of the state in order to “level the playing field,” according to a lawsuit filed Monday, Nov. 22. The lawsuit names MRA Director Andrew Brisbo and other agency officials.

According to the complaint filed in the Michigan Court of Claims Viridis “seeks to shed light on the activities that the (MRA) had hoped to keep behind closed doors and to obtain legal and equitable relief for the wrongs committed against it by the (MRA) and the responsible employees,” the lawsuit states. Also, in the complaint Viridis’ attorneys suggest that their competitors in the industry influenced the recall and that the MRA sought to distribute market share more broadly amongst the other testing labs in the state.

Prices at the dispensaries are up as many dispensaries are now left with empty shelves. If you haven’t noticed almost all of the corn crops around the state are left rotten in the fields, due to black mold contamination. Outdoor caregiver grows are reporting a huge loss around the state from the same mold, which is not lab tested. Most people consume mold, fugus and bacteria every day and for most people, unless you have certain allergies or have other health compromises, a small amount of microbes smoke with your weed won’t cause any health risks. Store owners think it is very possible that the majority of the recalled weed will be retested and found safe. 

Over the last few months, the fighting between the various lobbyists and their pawns has made the whole cannabis community look bad, according to many cannabis activists. The bolstered claims and obvious biases smell like a bag of oregano and parsley. Viridis is being slammed for having a former cop in charge, without any concern for how this may be harmful government overreach. Some speculate that if Viridis is correct about this being a political inside hit job, that there are many to gain big time from this recall. Could people that have an ax to grind with Greg Michaud like Komorn, and connections to cannabis businesses that could gain from the recall like Charmie Gholson and Jamie Lowell, that also have connections to lobbyists like Robin Schneider, have one party they need to get reelected next year?  Does Brisbo have political aspirations? If the reader thinks this system is not pay to play, you might just be interested a turn-key caregiver property for sale. 

Michigan News - December 2021

 

Shrooms Everyone?

Detroit, MI- Voters decriminalized “the personal possession and therapeutic use of entheogenic plants by adults the city’s lowest law-enforcement priority” in the November election. The measure passed with 61.08% of the vote. This was the first city in Michigan to pass an ordinance via the petitioning processes. 

Last year, Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids and  Oakland, California, also voted to decriminalize psychedelic plants, as did voters in Washington, D.C. and in Denver in 2019. In November 2020, voters passed Oregon Ballot Measure 109, making Oregon the first state to both decriminalize psilocybin and also legalize it for therapeutic use. 

Not everyone is happy about this national trend, “First marijuana, now hallucinogens and tomorrow heroin,” said Kevin Sabet, who advised three presidential administrations on drugs and now heads the group, Smart Approaches to Marijuana. “This is part of a strategy to legalize all drugs, and people will suffer as a result.”

Consumption Lounges Coming to Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo, MI - The former site of a beloved Kalamazoo restaurant, Great Lakes Shipping Co., is set to next become a micro-business with a consumption lounge according to plans submitted for review with the city of Kalamazoo.

This is the second set of plans for a cannabis consumption lounge that have been received by the city of Kalamazoo for the site plan review process.

The other facility is new construction proposed on Stadium Drive, which is the site of a former gas station. Gage, which owns and operates Cookies-branded cannabis stores in Kalamazoo and elsewhere, is the owner of the consumption lounge being planned on Stadium.

In May 2020, Kalamazoo approved growers, processors, retailers and consumption lounges.

MRA Issues Notification of MJ Product Recall

Lansing, MI - On November, 17th the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, sent a notice out to its “Stakeholders”.  The bulletin reads as follows:

The Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) has identified inaccurate and/or unreliable results of products tested by laboratories Viridis North, LLC and Viridis Laboratories, LLC.

In the interest of public health and safety, the MRA is issuing this health and safety advisory bulletin for all marijuana products tested by Viridis Laboratories, LLC (license numbers SC-000009 and AU-SC-000113) and Viridis North, LLC (license numbers SC-000014 and AU-SC-000103) except for inhalable marijuana concentrate products such as:

• Vape carts.

• Live resin.

• Distillate.

• Any other cannabis concentrate created through residual solvent extractions.

The marijuana products impacted have a test date between August 10, 2021 and November 16, 2021. All marijuana product labels are required to list the name and license number of the safety compliance facility that conducted the testing and date the product was tested.

 Note: An MRA investigation is still ongoing.

Consumers who have marijuana products in their possession that meet the recall criteria may return the products to the marijuana sales location where they were purchased for proper disposal. Consumers with weakened immune systems or lung disease are at the highest risk for health-related incidents such as aspergillosis, which can impact lung function, if these potentially harmful products are consumed.

Consumers who have experienced adverse reactions after using these products should report their symptoms and product use to their physician. Consumers are requested to report any adverse product reactions to the MRA via email: MRA-Enforcement@michigan.gov or via phone: 517-284-8599.

Marijuana sales locations that sold product covered by this bulletin must display this recall notice on the sales floor, visible to all customers, for 30 days from the date of this notice. Marijuana sales locations that receive adverse product reactions from consumers should report the adverse product reactions to the agency at MRA-Enforcement@michigan.gov and document these reports in METRC.

Licensees with products remaining in their inventory that meet the recall criteria have the following options:

Destroy the product and provide proof of destruction: MRA-Compliance@michigan.gov.

Have the product retested for the microbials compliance panel.

Send the product back to the original licensee source so they can destroy or have the product retested as a larger batch.

Licensees that opt to have product sent back or retested will need to create new METRC packages with new METRC identification numbers prior to transferring or submitting the products for testing. Additional guidance can be provided to licensees who need assistance in creating these packages by reaching out to MRA-Compliance@michigan.gov.

Additional questions can be sent to the MRA’s Operations Support Section: MRA-Compliance@michigan.gov.

National News - December 2021

 

Ohio Flying

Ohio - Medical marijuana has been legal since 2016 in Ohio. In 2018 the first medical dispensary licenses were issued there. Reported mid-November there were more than 1,400 new applications for medical marijuana dispensary licenses. Each applicant paid a $5000 application fee. Only 73 licenses will be issued. The licenses are chosen through a lottery system of people who apply that meet specific requirements, as well as issued by county. When the new licenses are distributed the number of medical dispensaries in Ohio will be doubled from what they are now.

Reported last month in the Michigan Marijuana Report, Ohio State Representatives proposed the “Ohio Adult-Use Act” in the middle of October. The Adult-Use Act is an act for the processing, distributing, growing, and selling of marijuana for those 21-year-old and over living in Ohio.

While waiting for the Adult-Use Act to come into place the lucky 73 medical dispensary winners, along with the already active dispensaries, will have a healthy head start in their sales.

High on the Hill

D.C. - District of Columbia, voted for Initiative 71 in 2014. The initiative legalized personal use, possession, and growing of weed at home in D.C.. There are no laws in place for recreational sales. Medical marijuana became legal in the District in 1998, and there have been medical dispensaries there since 2013.

D.C. is now enacting drafts for laws to legalize recreational sales. The bill is being sponsored by Democrat Chairman Phil Mendelson. Mendelson stated it would, “require a regulatory scheme to license the cultivation, production, and retail sale of cannabis in the District.” https://www.marijuanamoment.net/d-c-lawmakers-hold-joint-hearing-on-marijuana-legalization-bill-in-anticipation-of-end-to-federal-ban/

The law proposes that 50 percent of taxes generated from the sale of weed would be used for a Community Reinvestment Program Fund. Mendelson said the bill, “seeks to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for the cultivation, production and sale of recreational cannabis while centering reinvestment and opportunities for people in the communities hit hardest by the drug war.” The tax rate would be 13 percent for recreational weed, and six percent for medical marijuana sales.

Democrat, Eleanor Holmes Norton, congresswomen who represents the District of Columbia, Congress, said in a tweet on November 18th, “The timing of @CouncilOfDC’s hearing tomorrow on legislation to commercialize recreational marijuana couldn’t be better, as I am closer than ever to getting the anti-home-rule rider preventing commercialization removed from the DC Appropriations bill.”

It is looking good for a win for weed for the District of Columbia. Marijuana Moment wrote, “…another group of activists recently announced an effort to pressure local lawmakers to enact broad drug decriminalization, with a focus on promoting harm reduction programs, in the nation’s capital. A poll released last month found that voters are strongly in favor of proposals.”

Biden's FDA Pick is in on the Weed

Ohio - Biden’s FDA pick Robert Califf is positive on marijuana prescriptions. He himself, as a doctor, has prescribed weed.

“We understand that people have identified a number of possible uses of marijuana and marijuana-derived products. For example, AIDS wasting, epilepsy, neuropathic pain, treatment of spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis, cancer, and chemotherapy-induced nausea,” Califf said. “And I had the chance to prescribe some of this in my cardiology practice in people with extreme heart failure who get a wasting cachectic syndrome.” https://www.marijuanamoment.net/bidens-fda-pick-prescribed-cannabinoid-medicine-and-recognized-marijuanas-therapeutic-potential/

According to the Marijuana Moment article, “Califf also noted that FDA has approved synthetic cannabis products like Marinol for the treatment of anorexia associated with AIDS and nausea related to chemotherapy treatment.”

The nomination could be a key component of federal legalization, or the beginnings of the real facts of the medical benefits of weed being realized and thus pushed to the forefront of federal legalization discussions.

C'mon Indiana

Indiana - According to Indiana Democrats in a November 15th Twitter post, “Right now, Hoosiers are handing states like Michigan and Illinois millions of dollars in revenue for legal cannabis. It’s time to legalize weed because it’ll create jobs, bring opportunity to farmers, and deliver revenue to Indiana’s economy. #LegalizeIN.”

It is time, but when will they free the weed?

The citizens are waiting. On the same day, the Indiana Democrats also tweeted that “More than 80% of Hoosiers support some form of marijuana legalization. Also, 78% of Hoosiers believe no person should be charged with simple possession.”

Local Indiana news, WishTV.com reported, “The Indiana Democrats’ legislative proposal is bound to be stymied by the supermajority of Republicans in both the Senate and House of Representatives. Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, said during his reelection campaign in 2020 more study is needed before Indiana allows marijuana for medical use.” https://www.wishtv.com/news/indiana-news/indiana-democrats-call-for-marijuana-legalization/

Currently, medical marijuana is still illegal in Indiana. It is one of 14 states that have no medical marijuana law in place.

World News - December 2021

 

Gifting Wearing CBD

World - Looking for a new gift idea, try wearable CBD. Give it for some relax, warm up, and happy time.  

Hue has an assortment of CBD infused clothing to choose from. Check out CBD infused socks first. They have two kinds of socks to choose from. They have night crew, and day and night no show. Talk about staying warm in a chill. They also have CBD top and bottom sleep sets. Add the socks, and off to snuggle up to the warmest wonderland. Trying to stay warmer and chill more, Hue has three different leggings infused with CBD as well. Gifts that keep the warm super chill going.

According to Hue, the benefits of wearing CBD clothing “are thought to help relieve pain, improve bodily homeostasis in times of stress or fatigue, and enhance the body’s response to physical activities like exercise.” https://hue.com/leggings/featured/cbd-infused/.  CBD is released from the clothing onto the skin by friction. It should be noted that the site also states that the CBD lasts 30 washes. That could be 30 wears of an ultimate warm chill time.

Does CBD clothing really relax you? According to a Cnet article, wearing CBD leggings for a workout can seem to bring less pain. When comparing wearing the leggings to wearing CBD cream the article stated: “It’s basically like taking a much more complicated route to get to the same destination: CBD on your skin which can absorb into your muscles.”  https://www.cnet.com/health/nutrition/cbd-infused-activewear-does-it-work/

CBD cream, CBD jammies, CBD socks, add some lavender candles, and that would make the ultimate gift of all gifts. 

Three Cheers for Germany

Germany - As reported in the Michigan Marijuana Report and around the world in October, the politicians in Germany were heavily discussing marijuana legalization in the country as a major part of their platforms. With elections over and the new government leadership in place it is being reported that Germany will indeed legalize marijuana. When the laws come into place it will make them the third country in the world, and the first in Europe, to free the weed, next to Uruguay and Canada.

The Social Democratic Party, the Free Democratic Party, and the Greens that are now the German coalition said, “’introducing the controlled distribution of cannabis to adults for recreational purposes in licensed shops,’ according to a translation of a multi-party working group report first noted by Funke Media and circulated by Der Spiegel.” https://www.marijuanamoment.net/germany-set-to-legalize-marijuana-nationwide-after-major-parties-reach-agreement/

Even though the lawmakers say that the tax revenue from the sale of weed in Germany is not the reason for legalization, the revenue is estimated to give the country 1 billion euros a year.

As a part of the law, marijuana will not be allowed to be advertised in the country.

Luxembourg Coming Up Close

Luxembourg - Will Luxembourg beat out Germany to become the third country in the world to legalize Marijuana? As of mid-November, the race is close in determining who will be the lucky third. News outlets are stating that parliament in the country is set to vote to free the weed in the beginning of 2022.

According to a tweet from the European Greens, a group of parties in Europe that work as one party to support green politics across the continent, on October 22, stated that Luxembourg decriminalized marijuana. They posted that in Luxembourg, “Regulation of cannabis use and cultivation: adults will be able to legally cultivate up to four cannabis plants for their own use, provided the cultivation is happening at their place of residence.” https://twitter.com/europeangreens/status/1451564268340527113

Luxembourg has the highest GNP per capita in Europe, so freeing the weed will add even more money into the tiny, wealthy country with a population of 632,275.

The country may be hit with global warming flooding as was this past summer when the country was devastated in July when torrential rain made the many meandering rivers in the small country to overflow. Luckily there were no reported deaths as there were in Germany from the flooding. If there continues to be flooding from rains or warming, any extra revenue from marijuana sales would be a great net to aid for recovery and repairs.

High on the Highest Point

Nepal - Activists in Nepal are pushing for national legalization.

According to Nikkei Asia last year, “The legislation calls for decriminalizing the production, sale, and consumption of cannabis by nullifying the 1976 Narcotics Drugs Control Act. That law stipulates three years of jail and a fine of 25,000 Nepali rupees ($210) for anyone found growing marijuana. Similarly, anyone found trafficking in it faces a prison term of between two and 10 years, plus a fine of 1,000 rupees.” https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Nepali-lawmakers-push-marijuana-legalization2

Health Minister of Nepal, Birod Khatiwada said just this fall, “I am trying to make it a campaign and issue in Parliament because many countries including the most powerful and developed countries have allowed the use of marijuana. The new law would ensure that the benefit is not going to go to one industrialist or small group of businesspeople but rather it will benefit the poor farmers who would use their small plots of land to grow it.” https://www.ganjapreneur.com/cannabis-legalization-legislation-introduced-in-nepal/

Nepal is a special place. Mount Everest is located at the southeast side of the country, and there is Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal and THE spiritual and artistic realm. Even though weed is illegal now in the country according to Nikkei Asia, “Cannabis has had cultural and religious significance in Nepal since ancient times. For Hindus especially, the Shivaratri festival honoring the god Shiva is celebrated every year with offerings of the plant. It is widely used during the festivities and security officials refrain from making arrests.”