(Photo: Flickr user Siberian Elessar)
Every week, Psychedelic Times will bring you a few of the most interesting, overlooked cannabis stories that we come across. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep in the loop on marijuana and psychedelic news.
People Are Putting Marijuana In Their Butts And Here’s Why — The Fresh Toast
There are many ways to ingest cannabis—smoke it, drink it, eat it, vape it…and yes, put it up your butt. Marijuana suppositories are a real thing, and they are surprisingly effective. If you smoke a joint, you’re receiving about 15 percent of weed’s medicinal value and 50 percent if you eat a pot brownie.
But anal suppositories give you a whopping 80 percent of the medicinal effects. And hey, here’s a link for you to make your own at home. Have fun!
DOJ is secretly using IRS to investigate Colorado pot shops in guise of audits, lawsuit says — The Denver Post
If it wasn’t already apparent to you, the U.S. Department of Justice hates the legal marijuana markets in certain states. As if Attorney General Jeff Sessions wasn’t the biggest clue. But the DOJ has had trouble going after medical and recreational cannabis programs—so now they’re using the Internal Revenue Service as a guise for criminal investigations, according to a lawsuit.
Rifle Remedies, a medical marijuana company in Silt, Colorado is suing, alleging that the IRS is abusing its authority and that the Drug Enforcement Administration has been training tax agents how to investigate drug enterprises.
Should California start its own bank to serve marijuana companies? It wouldn’t be easy — Los Angeles Times
Part of the reason why the IRS is doing what they’re doing above is because medical marijuana facilities can’t legally use banks. All banks in the United States are tied to the federal government, which still sees marijuana as a drug as dangerous as heroin.
So most dispensaries deal solely in cash, which, as you can imagine, is quite risky. So some people, including California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson, have suggested creating their own public banks.
But is that idea feasible? Read the article to find out—I’m not going to spoon-feed you everything. Sheesh.
House GOP blocks vote protecting medical marijuana states — The Hill
Yikes. Republican leaders have blocked a House vote on the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment, which prohibits the Justice Department from using money to go after states with medical marijuana laws. The amendment floundered in Congress for 11 years before becoming law in December 2014. Before all that, the DEA was allowed to raid marijuana dispensaries—and they often did.
Now, with this vote blocked, it looked like the DOJ under Jeff Sessions can begin going after these states again. However, at the last minute, the amendment was added to an emergency aid bill for Hurricane Harvey victims, extending the deadline until December 8, according to Marijuana Business Daily. So that’s sort of good news, right?
Weed Warriors: Meet Six Women Shaping the Cannabis Industry — Rolling Stone
The news this week is quite depressing, so let’s end on a positive note. As you may know, the marijuana industry is currently represented by mostly white males. This is unfortunate, as the vast majority of the victims of the war on drugs have been people of color.
But Rolling Stone’s recent profile shows that the industry is slowly diversifying. For example, there’s Johanna Mortz, who is pioneering more ethical ways to grow cannabis and there’s Ariel Clark, an attorney who represents some of California’s largest marijuana companies. Give the piece a read, it’s quite nice.
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