Why You Should Still Buy Cannabis Flower
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The cannabis industry has seen an influx of new consumption methods in recent years. New categories of products like vape cartridges sprung up to become major sellers in legal and illegal markets.
At the same time, edibles have become more reliable and evenly dosed. All the while, the potency of products continue to climb to the point that some exceed 99%.
Despite the enhancements and advancements in cannabis in recent years, flower still remains a present entity in the hearts and bloodstreams of users. In today’s landscape, the reasons can vary from history to business trends. Regardless, the question of why still buy flower abounds with quality reasons.
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The Natural, Full Effect of Flower
The major selling points of flower tend to center on its natural and often highly potent effects. Cannabis flower proponents often cite the full spectrum, natural benefits of going with the green, or purple, or any other stunning shades it may come in.
While the Entourage Effect continues to be debated, it’s clear that cannabis flower is the optimal source for all its effects. The plant itself is a guaranteed source of terpenes, cannabinoids and a range of secondary compounds that round out the effects of a particular strain.
On another note, with the natural movement sweeping into cannabis like most other markets, the market demands solvent-free products. Save for a few exceptions, few products on the market can claim to be solvent-free at this time. The trend is well underway and will likely shift in time, but many chemically extracted products can turn off some consumers.
Instead, with cannabis, cultivators continue to produce chemical-free crops. When buying flower, the consumer just needs to ensure that their grower used a chemical-free process. If you’re in the market for a quality source, seek out chemical-free sun grows for the most natural flowers.
Additionally, despite product potency becoming a critical buying factor for many, there are benefits in the lesser strength flower products. For one, those seeking a short-term high will likely benefit from sticking to smoking flower rather than opting for an edible or concentrate. And let’s not scoff at flower’s potency. While it may not come close to 99%, some of the top yields can easily reach or exceed 30%. And even in states where cannabis isn’t legal, it’s possible to buy high THCa hemp flower strains that can reach nearly 25% total THC (take a look at the best strains here).
The History Behind the Plant
Evolution is great and bound to happen. That said, we shouldn’t let our history fade away. As Taylor Blake, Co-Producer of The Emerald Cup, told Nugg how cannabis flower connects us to our past.
“The practice of using specifically the cannabis flower itself can be traced throughout our greater history around the world.” Blake added that “When you consume the flower itself, all of your senses are invoked and it’s something that cannot be described as anything less than inspiring.”
This is a sentiment often shared by those attending the Emerald Cup, which is regarded as the largest, most respected, organic, outdoor, medicinal cannabis competition in the world.
There’s certainly room at the table for all consumption methods to be welcome. Yet, no others rival the legacy of cannabis flower. While hitting a vape pen, doing dabs or eating more sophisticated edibles are all well and good, they lack the history and spirit.
Cannabis flower has been considered an essential herb to ancient healers and swept across the globe. Without flower, we would not be where we are today. The connection it carries to the earliest eras of humanity is not lost on plenty of modern consumers. Even with incredible innovations arising, the plant itself will always be held in rarefied air.
Cannabis Flower Sales Declining
According to the Cannabis Intelligence Briefing from BDS Analytics and The Arcview Group, the need for flower will grow 26.5% by 2022. Currently, 2.1 million pounds of dried flower is needed to meet market demands. By 2022, it will take 6.9 million.
Calling it “The Foundation of the Cannabis Industry,” the report notes that buying trends have shifted. Now, cultivators are growing product for other consumption means. U.S flower demand is dropping to a low 68.6% in 2017.
However, the report notes that it won’t drop off the list of entirely.
“Burgeoning international markets and emerging adult and medical markets in North America are expected to help temper the decline in flower cultivation demand, but the days of flower dominance are behind the cannabis industry.”
Jessica Billingsley, CEO & Co-Founder of MJ Freeway, the company which invented seed-to-sale technology, explained to Nugg that data shows it is still viable.
“Although flower’s percentage share of the pie is less than when adult use markets first opened, demand for flower in established states like Colorado, continues to increase in volume year over year.”
Billingsley added that MJ Freeway consultants recommend OG Kush and Blue Dream as top strains which are easy to cultivate and produce good yields.
A World of Flower Awaits
The best part of cannabis flower may have to be its innovation. Keeping up with strain advancements is rather taxing. Cultivators create incredible hybrids at such a rapid rate these days. Classics and new favorites intermix on sales shelves across legal markets. In turn, they often provide the inspiration to push other products to new heights in the process.
Each cannabis consumer has different taste. Some like sweet while others prefer fuel. One may love smelling like a citrus grove and another the forests of Northern California. Thankfully, cannabis flower offers a favorite for each consumer.
With an array to choose from, consumers can get lost in a slew of indicas, sativas and hybrids. Hybrid fans, especially those leaning towards indicas, may find themselves loving Korova Mendo Breath. Meanwhile, sativa lovers may go gaga over THC Designs’ Grape Head. The best way to find out which suits a consumer best is to sample as many as possible.
While flower gets lapped in potency and consumer demand, let’s not put it to rest any time soon. Demand will always exist, even if it cedes dominance to concentrates and edibles. Nothing can top the original, and we wouldn’t be here today without its continued progress.
Nugg has countless cannabis flower options available for delivery. Visit GetNugg.com and see if your favorite dispensary delivers to your door. If you have questions, our Cannabis Concierge is here to help you find the strain you’re looking for. Chat live with our experts today!
Why Does Weed Make You Laugh? As Told Through Film
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We all know that marijuana can make you laugh hysterically–at almost anything–but why? Here we’ll examine cannabis use in movies and how the plant’s social stigma has changed since the the early days of cinema.
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The Beginning of Cannabis in Cinema
In 1936, a church group financed a film titled Tell Your Children, intended to depict use of marijuana (or “marihuana” in the terminology of the film) as a one way ticket to crime and debauchery. It was soon purchased by an exploitation film producer, who re-released it as Reefer Madness. The entirety of the film is rooted in baseless scare tactics, written not to educate viewers about potential risks of cannabis use, but to make marijuana look very bad.
A poster for Reefer Madness
In the 1970s, when cannabis counterculture was on the rise, the film became an ironic cult classic and is still screened to this day. Though public perception of marijuana is following an upward trend in terms of acceptance, some law and policy makers are still influenced by less extreme but nonetheless analogous rhetoric to the same, unsubstantiated propaganda found in the film.
But rather than focus on these modern day echoes of some of these unfounded allegations, today’s viewers opt instead to make light of what’s ultimately a ridiculous and poorly made film. Something about the idea that marijuana leads to murder is so funny that it’s remained a cult classic for the forty odd years since its rediscovery.
The Rise of the Stoner Comedy
Around the same time that Reefer Madness got big, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong invented the stoner comedy. In my eyes, this dynamic duo is a quintessential example of why weed makes you laugh. Though they had been a popular comedic duo for years before the release of their debut film, it was Up in Smoke in 1978 that laid the foundation for the still thriving subgenre.
What, exactly, constitutes a stoner comedy is up for debate. Films like Half Baked or Pineapple Express, whose plots revolve entirely around weed, are unarguably stoner comedies that make you laugh. Other films, like The Big Lebowski or Clerks, feature plenty of marijuana use and are generally enjoyed by pro-cannabis audiences, but have enough fans within the filmgoing public to generally not be pigeonholed into the subgenre.
However, it’s a testament to the comedic viability of marijuana that critically acclaimed directors like Joel and Ethan Coen (of The Big Lebowski and many other great films) would make it a focal point of possibly their most beloved comedic film. Likewise, Pineapple Express was well received and earned more than double its high Hollywood budget.
Why Does Weed Make You Laugh?
Marijuana is funny for two directly related reasons: weed makes you laugh, and it’s fun to laugh about weed.
This first reason is the more obvious one. Though Reefer Madness has probably been enjoyed by some sober viewers, it’s no coincidence its popularity spiked in an era when marijuana use was beginning to become far more widespread. The change in perspective that often accompanies cannabis-induced inebriation can be enough to make something totally normal—say, typical living room furniture or the way a friend says a certain word—seem inexplicably funny. To the minds of those under the influence, absurd stories about marijuana can seem like comedy gold.
A classic sequence from Dave Chappelle’s Half-Baked introduces audiences to the Enhancement Smoker, played by Jon Stewart. He asks Guillermo Díaz’s character if he’s ever seen Scent of a Woman (he has). But more importantly, has he ever seen Scent of a Woman… on weed? This is absurd not because Stewart’s character is smoking pot and watching movies, but because he’s championing Scent of a Woman, of all possible films. In large part, the Enhancement Smokers of the world are to thank for the lasting popularity of films like Reefer Madness and Half-Baked.
Even audiences a little more hostile towards marijuana than the average person may still find material about weed funny. Take The Big Lebowski as an example: its central characters are not just dumb, but profoundly dumb; heroic, some might say, in their stupidity. But, like the archetypal cinematic stoner, they may not always be responsible human beings, but they will always come through with lots of laughter and positive vibes.
These character traits are far from indicative of all marijuana users, but are uniquely compelling due to the low-stakes fun implicit in marijuana use. “Low-stakes” is the key term here: the comedy of most stoner films relies on mining this low-stakes fun for any and all comedic potential. This is how a stolen rug in the beginning of The Big Lebowski results in multiple near-death experiences later on in the film.
Jeff Bridges as “The Dude” in The Big Lebowski
Exactly why marijuana tends to induce laughter is up for debate, though scientists have come up with a few significant theories. One study attributes increased blood flow to the right frontal and left temporal lobes of the brain, which are regions of the brain associated with laughter. Exactly how much these regions are stimulated has not been concluded, however, so this could be the sole contributing factor, or one of many. Another theory involves the capacity of cannabis to work as an antidepressant. Mood is thus improved, and most likely—though not conclusively proven—a good mood makes people more likely to laugh.
Stoner Comedy in 2016
Like most other art forms, stoner comedy is evolving alongside technology. Internet memes are one way acolytes of our current technological paradigm are sharing weed jokes with one another. Reddit’s hugely popular r/trees board is one notable source of cannabis-related memes.
A popular image posted to the r/trees board by user KittyChanelle5
On Facebook, the terminology for a high quality meme is taken directly from cannabis culture (the term is “dank meme.”) With currently more than 21,000 likes, a page called Bernie Sanders’ Dank Meme Stash is one of the top hubs of support for the presidential candidate outside of his official fan pages. The page is so popular, Vice recently published an article about it.
Or consider comedian Doug Benson, who’s championing a newer, purer kind of stoner comedy. Benson is the first comic to develop a successful podcast based on live consumption of medical marijuana. The show, titled Getting Doug with High, has featured Jack Black, Margaret Cho, David Cross and many other successful comics under the influence of cannabis alongside Benson.
It’s no surprise that jokes about marijuana follow new opportunities allowed by advancing public policies and technologies. Marijuana will always be funny to both those under its influence, as well as those who enjoy the laid-backness of stoner comedy.
As long as people are still creating online content, there will be new memes about weed—and fortunately, a lot of them are pretty funny.
Bernie Sanders Proposes Taking Marijuana Off The Government’s “Most Dangerous” Substances List
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WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, called on Wednesday for marijuana to be removed from the federal government’s list of the “most dangerous” substances.
The United States has five categories for drugs and drug ingredients under the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule I is reserved for what the Drug Enforcement Administration considers to be the “most dangerous” drugs lacking currently accepted medical value and carrying the highest potential for abuse. Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug, alongside substances like heroin and LSD.
Sanders said at an event at George Mason University in Virginia that marijuana should be taken off the Schedule 1 list. The Washington Post first reported the news.
“In the United States we have 2.2 million people in jail today, more than any other country. And we’re spending about $80 billion a year to lock people up. We need major changes in our criminal justice system – including changes in drug laws,” Sanders said at George Mason. “Too many Americans have seen their lives destroyed because they have criminal records as a result of marijuana use. That’s wrong. That has got to change.”
Sanders’ chief rival for the nomination, Hillary Clinton, has said she wants to see how laws legalizing marijuana for recreational use in Colorado, Washington and other states work before supporting federal changes to how marijuana is classified. Four states and the District of Columbia have now legalized recreational marijuana, and 23 states have legalized the drug for medical purposes. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) has said he’d reclassify marijuana to Schedule II, where substances like cocaine and oxycodone reside.
A Gallup poll from last week found that 58 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana, but the poll question did not distinguish between recreational and medicinal legalization.
Sanders has previously hinted that he supports loosening restrictions on marijuana. During the first Democratic primary debate Oct. 13, he said he would vote “yes” on a statewide ballot initiative to legalize and regulate marijuana for adult use. The Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-legalization group, has given the candidate an “A” grade for his stances on the issue.
“I would vote yes because I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for nonviolent offenses,” he said. “We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away, and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana. I think we have to think through this war on drugs which has done an enormous amount of damage.”
Samantha Lachman Staff Reporter, The Huffington Post
Top 10 Cannabis Sativa Strains for Overcoming Writer’s Block
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Cannabis cures a variety of ailments, and while writer’s block isn’t on the list of medical ailments to get you a medical card in any state, recreational marijuana can still assist in artistic endeavors. If you’re looking to spark up something creative, try one of these tasty sativa strains, favored by writers for their brain-stimulating properties.
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Strawberry Cough
Leafly Rating: 4.1
Strawberry Cough combines the Strawberry Fields strain with Haze genetics to create a potent sativa blend. The skunky, berry flavors will capture your senses while the cerebral, uplifting effects provide an aura of euphoria that is sure to leave a smile on your face. Strawberry Cough has been a popular strain since medical and recreational decriminalization began, so it’s easy to find in dispensaries. This will quickly become your go-to strain to overcome creative obstacles.
Chocolope
Leafly Rating: 4.2
DNA Genetics developed Chocolope by crossing Chocolate Thai with Cannalope. The hefty sativa buds give earthy, sweet coffee flavors that provide a dreamy, cerebral effect. Chocolope is your morning or dessert coffee and smoke rolled into one mocha-flavored blunt. It’s also a great strain to blend with tobacco for a quick spliff.
Moby Dick
Leafly Rating: 4.0
Moby Dick is a cross between indica-dominant hybrid White Widow and sativa Haze, creating a mostly sativa plant that delivers a charged buzz. The aroma is a sweet citrus from the Haze, which dominates the palate with vanilla and eucalyptus tones. Named for the literary whale, Moby Dick isn’t a myth you have to hunt – it’s the motorized, GPS-enabled submarine you’re hunting it in.
Maui Waui
Leafly Rating: 4.1
Maui Waui (or Maui Wowie) is a classic sativa straight from the shores of Hawaii. Lightweight sativa effects allow your mind to drift away to creative escapes, while Maui Waui’s motivating, active effects may be all you need to get outside and enjoy the sun. The first marijuana strain I ever smoked, Maui Waui is the perfect meditative bud to get you focused on creating a space in the world around you.
Lamb’s Bread
Leafly Rating: 4.3
Also called “Lamb’s Breath,” Lamb’s Bread is a bright green and sticky sativa strain. The effects have been known to give mass amounts of energy and positive introspection. Even Bob Marley encountered this wonderful slice of cannabis genealogy while exploring his philosophical and political ideologies. Lamb’s Bread is one of my favorite fast-thinking smokes to get the mind revved up and thinking.
Sour Diesel
Leafly Rating: 4.2
Sour Diesel, or Sour D, is an invigorating sativa named after its pungent, diesel-like aroma. This fast-acting strain delivers energizing, dreamy cerebral effects that have pushed Sour Diesel to legendary status. Many writers, musicians, and artists use Sour D to push beyond the walls of creative blocks, and it can have the same effect on you, if you’re over 21 and living in the right place.
Laughing Buddha
Leafly Rating: 4.3
Laughing Buddha is an earthy cross between Thai and Jamaican strains with a sweet, fruity smell broken up by hints of spice. It provides a rich, pungent smoke. As the name implies, the strain will leave you feeling giggly, so humor writers will enjoy smoking Laughing Buddha most while writing. Writers in other genres, however, will likely only need it for brainstorming.
Willie Nelson
Leafly Rating: 4.1
Willie Nelson is a mostly sativa cannabis strain lauded for its euphoric, creative effects. This strain leaves you clear-headed, allowing you to perform artistically the way you want. There’s nothing worse than hitting that mental wall you can’t overcome. A walk will clear your head, as will a quick meditation and yoga break, but to prepare for all of it, you need Willie Nelson.
Mexican Sativa
Leafly Rating: 3.0
Mexican Sativa is a 70/30 sativa-dominant hybrid that offers an uplifting, clear-headed buzz alongside a fresh sandalwood aroma. Being raised on the Mexico/Arizona border, Mexican dirt weed was all we had to smoke back in the day. Though filled with stems and seeds, and not nearly as potent as today’s strains, Mexican Sativa inspired nearly everything creative I wrote from my late teens to mid-20’s.
Green Crack
Leafly Rating: 4.1
Few strains compare to Green Crack’s sharp energy and focus as it induces an invigorating mental buzz that keeps you going throughout the day. With a tangy, fruity flavor redolent of mango, Green Crack is the perfect daytime smoke for writers looking for a creative boost. This strain will get your brain going, but don’t worry about the name – there’s no cocaine or baking soda anywhere near it, and there is no spoon.
If you need a long-term creative boost, you’re not going to find it in drugs. Working in the creative arts requires you to be a little unhinged, but if you’re fueled by substances, you’ll end up on the wrong path. For short-term help with creative projects, there’s no better natural and organic substance than cannabis. So head to your nearest dispensary, caregiver, or street dealer to find out if they have any of these strains in stock.
Brian Penny is a former Business Analyst and Operations Manager at Bank of America turned whistleblower, freelance writer, and troll. Penny has been featured on Huffington Post, Lifehack, The Street, Cannabis Now, and Hardcore Games.
South Dakota Tribe to Open Nation’s 1st Marijuana Resort
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The Santee Sioux tribe has already proven its business acumen, running a successful casino, a 120-room hotel and a 240-head buffalo ranch on the plains of South Dakota.
But those enterprises have not been immune to competition and the lingering effects of the Great Recession, so the small tribe of 400 is undertaking a new venture — opening the nation’s first marijuana resort on its reservation. The experiment could offer a new moneymaking model for tribes nationwide seeking economic opportunities beyond casinos.
Santee Sioux leaders plan to grow pot and sell it in a smoking lounge that includes a nightclub, arcade games, bar and food service and, eventually, slot machines and an outdoor music venue.
“We want it to be an adult playground,” tribal President Anthony Reider said. “There’s nowhere else in America that has something like this.”
The project, according to the tribe, could generate up to $2 million a month in profit, and work is underway on the growing facility. The first joints are expected to go on sale Dec. 31 at a New Year’s Eve party.
The legalization of marijuana on the Santee Sioux land came in June, months after the Justice Department outlined a new policy that allows Indian tribes to grow and sell marijuana under the same conditions as some states.
Many tribes are hesitant to jump into the pot business. And not everyone in Flandreau, about 45 miles north of Sioux Falls, believes in the project. But the profit potential has attracted the interest of many other tribes, just as the debut of slot machines and table games did almost 27 years ago.
“The vast majority of tribes have little to no economic opportunity,” said Blake Trueblood, business development director at the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. For those tribes, “this is something that you might look at and say, ‘We’ve got to do something.’ “
Flandreau’s indoor marijuana farm is set against a backdrop of soybean fields. If not for a security booth outside, the building could pass as an industrial warehouse.
Inside, men are working to grow more than 30 strains of the finicky plant, including those with names like “Gorilla Glue,” ”Shot Glass” and “Big Blue Cheese.”
Pot is prone to mildew and mold, picky about temperature and pH level and intolerant to tap water. So the Santee Sioux have hired Denver-based consulting firm Monarch America to teach them the basics.
Tribal leaders from across the country and South Dakota legislators will tour the Flandreau facility in mid-October.
“This is not a fly-by-night operation,” said Jonathan Hunt, Monarch’s vice president and chief grower. Tribal leaders “want to show the state how clean, how efficient, how proficient, safe and secure this is as an operation. We are not looking to do anything shady.”
Elsewhere, crews have begun transforming a bowling alley into the resort.
A marijuana resort open to the public has never been tried in the U.S. Even in states such as Colorado and Washington, where pot is fully legal, consumption in public places is generally forbidden, although pro-pot activists are seeking to loosen those restrictions. Colorado tolerates a handful of private marijuana clubs.
Unlike the vast reservations in western South Dakota, where poverty is widespread, the little-known Flandreau Santee Sioux Reservation is on 5,000 acres of gently rolling land along the Big Sioux River. Trailer homes are scarce and houses have well-trimmed lawns.
The Santee Sioux hope to use pot in the same way that many tribes rely on casinos — to make money for community services and to provide a monthly income to tribal members. The existing enterprises support family homes, a senior living community, a clinic and a community center offering after-school programs.
Reider hopes marijuana profits can fund more housing, an addiction treatment center and an overhaul of the clinic. Some members want a 24/7 day care center for casino workers.
The prosperity that marijuana could bring to Indian Country comes with huge caveats. The drug remains illegal under federal law, and only Congress can change its status. The administration that moves into the White House in 2017 could overturn the Justice Department’s decision that made marijuana cultivation possible on tribal lands.
Meanwhile, tribes must follow strict security measures or risk the entire operation.
The marijuana cannot leave the reservation, and every plant in Flandreau’s growing facility will have a bar code. After being harvested and processed, it will be sold in sealed 1-gram packages for $12.50 to $15 — about the same price as the illegal market in Sioux Falls, according to law enforcement. Consumers will be allowed to buy only 1 gram — enough for two to four joints — at a time.
Want another gram? The bar-coded package of the first gram must be returned at the counter.
Since the Santee Sioux announced their plans, the Passamaquoddy Tribe in Maine signed a letter of intent with Monarch to build a cultivation facility for industrial hemp. The Suquamish Tribe and Washington state officials signed a 10-year agreement that will govern the production, processing and sale of pot on the tribe’s land.
In the long run, Reider is certain that the benefits will outweigh the risks of tribal marijuana enterprises.
The tribe, he said, must “look at these opportunities because in order to preserve the past we do have to advance in the present.”
Associated Press
Copyright © 2015, Chicago Tribune
SC Senate Subcommittee Passes Medical Marijuana Bill
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A state Senate subcommittee passed a bill Thursday to allow the use of medical marijuana in South Carolina. The bill will now go to the full Senate Medical Affair Committee, but the subcommittee will meet again first to get input from opponents on how to make the bill better.
The bill would allow the use of medical marijuana only for patients suffering from a list of ailments and with a doctor’s prescription. The bill also sets up a seed-to-sale tracking system and would have the state Department of Health and Environmental Control license marijuana growers, processors, and dispensaries.
The subcommittee heard from opponents of the bill Thursday, including State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel. He said other states with medical marijuana laws have seen increases in overall marijuana use, traffic accidents caused by drivers high on marijuana, and emergency room visits caused by marijuana when children ingest edible forms. He said in those states some doctors become “pill mills,” writing prescriptions for a fee for medical marijuana for just about anyone with any kind of ache or pain. And there’s nothing stopping people with marijuana prescription cards from getting the drug and giving it or selling it to others, including minors.
“I don’t know of any other proposed legislation that I’ve been aware of, and certainly not since I was director of the Department of Public Safety and more involved with the legislature or since I’ve been the chief of SLED, that I think has the opportunity to negatively impact the state that we live in than this piece of legislation,” Chief Keel told senators.
But senators sponsoring the bill say there’s a long list of illnesses and conditions for which marijuana provides relief, and lawmakers shouldn’t block a doctor from being able to prescribe something that will help a patient.
Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, one of the sponsors of the bill, said, “If a doctor, with all his or her training, believes something can be of therapeutic benefit, why in the world would we as politicians, for reasons that are non-medical, step in and say no?”
Co-sponsor Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said, “It should not be illegal in South Carolina for a doctor to prescribe medicine to a patient that’s going to help that patient.”
Men’s Wearhouse Founder Comes Out in Favor of Pot Legalization
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John Mackey, co-CEO of Whole Foods Market; Richard Branson of the Virgin Group; billionaire financier George Soros; and Peter Lewis of Progressive Insurance (who was a longtime advocate before passing away in 2013).
Now, there’s a fifth CEO–George Zimmer, founder of Men’s Wearhouse, a company that fired him two years ago. He divulged to CNBC that he’s a cannabis aficionado of sorts.
“I’ve been smoking marijuana on a regular basis for about 50 years,” Zimmer said to CNBC, before joking, “As you can see, it’s really impacted me in a negative way.”
check out the video here!
Zimmer gave the keynote speech Friday at the Cannabis World Congress & Business Expo in Los Angeles, pushing for legalization. “Everybody in the country knows what the truth here is, except the 535 people we elect to make these decisions in Washington, D.C.,” he told attendees. “It’s astounding.”
He’s throwing his support behind an initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in California next year, just as he supported the proposition that failed in 2010. No matter what form legalization might take, Zimmer said, “I think it’s important that we protect limited home cultivation without any government licensing, so whether it’s one plant or 10 plants, I don’t know, but I think that’s very important.”
Inside the Los Angeles Convention Center, he was surrounded by a variety of start-ups hoping to cash in on the legal pot craze. Zimmer said he looked into investing in one such company a year ago but decided not to—not least of which had to do with the Internal Revenue Service.
“There are still a lot of questions that are raised in terms of dispensaries, and the way the IRS does not allow normal business deductions.” He’s hoping that could change, and that at the very least, the federal government will remove marijuana from the list of Schedule I drugs.
“It’s treated like it was heroin,” he said. “Everybody’s who is in high school hears that and goes, ‘What are they talking about?'” He said it’s as if “The emperor’s not wearing any clothes. This is the biggest con that has been perpetrated on this country in the last century.”
Meantime, Zimmer is also back in the men’s apparel business. He just launched an online suit and tuxedo rental site called Generation Tux.With the website, a groom or best man can submit measurements and rent formalwear for as little as $95.
“Our business model involves having the tuxedo arrive a week ahead of your event, and you to try it on. If there’s a mistake, we will FedEx another out to you, and if it’s still not right, we will dispatch a tailor to make it right,” he said. Zimmer has also started a tailoring company called zTailors, and he said both companies cost $50 million to start.
Generation Tux has a distribution center in Louisville, Kentucky, with 30,000 suits and tuxedos, and the company hopes to break even in 2017. If it takes off, Zimmer said they will need to raise more money. So would he ever consider going public again? “I wouldn’t go public if it [was] my call, but I’m not going to stand in the way if other people want to do that,” he said.
It’s understandable. His ouster from Men’s Wearhouse was not pretty. Zimmer recalls having dinner with his family the night he was forced out. “It was a sort of uncomfortable quietness at the table,” he said.
“I said to my children, who were probably 10 and 12, I said, ‘Hey, look, Dad got fired,” he said. “It’s not going to mean anything to our lives, but I want you to understand that in life you’re going to have these adversities, and you have to overcome them, you have to learn to overcome all adversity in fact.”
Zimmer also said being fired was “probably the greatest thing that ever happened to me.” It forced him to learn about the latest technological developments in retail, which led to his new businesses.
“My best advice is, ‘You only lose if you don’t get back up off the ground. Every time you get back up, you win,” he said.
Scientists Can Now Make THC from Yeast
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Yeast is an incredible organism—you can thank it for booze!—and thanks to the marvels of modern genetics, we’ve made it incredibly versatile. Just a month after announcing a method for hacking yeast to produce narcotics, researchers just announced that the creation of yeast that produces THC and cannabidiols.
You’re probably thinking this will yield a whole new industry of beer that will get you high, but the scientists’ focus is much more, well, scientific. (EDITORS NOTE: weed-infused beer already exists.) The THC- and cannabidiol-producing yeast could prove integral to developing more clinical applications for the compounds. The pharmaceutical industry is eager to get its hands on a more efficient method for synthesizing yeast for drug research. After all, the fact that cannabis, the best producer of these chemicals, remains illegal in many parts of the world.
“This is something that could literally change the lives of millions of people,” Kevin Chen, chief executive of Hyasynth Bio, told The New York Times. The newly engineered yeast could not only enable scientists produce THC and cannabidiol more easily but also help them understand how the compounds work.
There’s still work to be done, though. Researchers have been working on synthesizing THC and cannabidoils for years, and the latest breakthrough involves yeast that use precursor molecules to product small amounts of the chemicals. Ideally, they’d use simple sugars, as bioengineers have already done with opiate-producing yeast strains.
Inevitably, scientists say, the real challenge is to come up with a method that works better than cannabis plants themselves. “Right now, we have a plant that essentially the Ferrari of the plant world when it comes to producing the chemical of interest,” explains Dr. Jonathan Page. “Cannabis is hard to beat.”
Truer words have never been spoken.
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Oregon Legalizes Recreational Pot
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On Wednesday July 1st, history was made. Oregon became the fourth state to legalize recreational pot with Measure 91. Oregon joins Alaska, Colorado, Washington and the capital, Washington D.C. as trailblazers in the recreational marijuana legalization movement. Oregonians will not be able to purchase marijuana from a retail location until sometime later this year, but that hasn’t stopped people from celebrating the win.
What you need to know for you next trip to Oregon:
1. It is not yet legal for anyone but medical cannabis patients to purchase marijuana
2. Adults 21+ can have up to 8 ounces of cannabis in private, and 1 ounce in public
3. Adults 21+ can grow up to 4 plants on their own property
4. No marijuana possession or delivery penalties for adults
5. No felony for minors
6. No buying, selling, or transporting recreational marijuana across state lines
7. Rumors are swirling that a bill is likely to pass on October 1st that will let many of the 250+ marijuana dispensaries sell to all adults in Oregon
8. Taxation won’t start until 2016 (tax-free for the last 3 months of 2015, boo-ya)
9. As of right now, you can give away marijuana and receive it as a gift
Oregon is setting a fast pace with a projected quick three month process of legality to sale (Washington took 18 months). Simultaneously, advocates are making moves for the legalization of recreational marijuana in Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada to name a few.
Which states do you think will see progress in 2016?