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A herd of sheep grazing in the semi-flooded plain of Thessaly, Greece “invaded” a greenhouse that cultivated medicinal cannabis and ate around a hundred kilograms, reports say. The incident happened near the town of in Almyros in Magnesia TheNewspaper.gr website reports. Sheep in Greece developed “strange behavior” after feeding on cannabis As the sheep in Greece developed strange behavior, shortly after grazing, the shepherd realized that the sheep had eaten a large part of the cannabis crop. The owner of the greenhouse saw that his production, which had already been heavily damaged by Storm Daniel, had now been consumed by...

The White House is promoting President Joe Biden’s mass marijuana pardon and scheduling review directive as part of a “Fight for Our Freedom” campaign meant to “mobilize young people” as next year’s election approaches. A factsheet about the campaign that the administration published on Thursday contains a section dedicated to the president’s cannabis reform actions from late last year titled, “Addressing a Failed Approach to Marijuana.” “The criminalization of marijuana possession has upended too many lives—for conduct that is now legal in many states,” it says. “While white, Black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown...

North Carolina Congressman Chuck Edwards, NC-11, has introduced the Stop Pot Act, which would withhold federal funding from states and tribes that allow the use of recreational marijuana. NC congressman introduces 'Stop Pot Act' to curb recreational marijuana legalization The bill calls for withholding 10 percent of federal highway funds from areas that violate federal law under the Controlled Substances Act, which prohibits recreational marijuana and classifies it as a Schedule I drug. Edwards released the following statement: "The laws of any government should not infringe on the overall laws of our nation, and federal funds should not be awarded...

Though tobacco use is declining among adults in the US, cannabis use is increasing. Laws and policies regulating the use of tobacco and cannabis are also moving in different directions. Tobacco policies are becoming more restrictive, with bans on smoking in public places and limits on sales, such as statewide bans on flavored products. In contrast, more states are legalizing cannabis for medical or recreational use, and there are efforts to allow exceptions for cannabis in smoke-free laws. These changes mean an increasing number of people are likely to get exposed to cannabis smoke. But how safe is direct and...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has delivered a recommendation to the Drug Enforcement Administration on marijuana policy, and Senate leaders hailed it Wednesday as a first step toward easing federal restrictions on the drug. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said Wednesday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the agency has responded to President Joe Biden’s request “to provide a scheduling recommendation for marijuana to the DEA.” “We’ve worked to ensure that a scientific evaluation be completed and shared expeditiously,” he added. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that HHS had recommended that...

It’s become a stink at the U.S. Open: a pungent marijuana smell that wafted over an outer court, clouded the concentration of one of the world’s top players and left the impression there’s no place left to escape the unofficial scent of the city. While the exact source of the smell remained a mystery Tuesday, one thing was clear: Court 17, where eighth-seeded Maria Sakkari complained about an overwhelming whiff of pot during her first-round loss, has become notorious among players in recent years for its distinctive, unmistakable odor. “Court 17 definitely smells like Snoop Dogg’s living room,” said Alexander...

Getting high is becoming as American as apple pie. Half of U.S. residents have tried marijuana, and 17% currently smoke weed — both new highs since the tune-in drop-out 1960s, a new Gallup survey released Thursday revealed. The poll attributed the increases to growing acceptance of cannabis, with 23 states including New York, legalizing recreational use of weed and 38 states allowing the sale for medicinal purposes. “As marijuana has become more available to Americans and legal in an increasing number of states, their reports of use and experimentation have increased too. Now, half of the country has tried it,...

A new lawsuit accuses Eaze, a major California cannabis company based in San Francisco, of running an illegal operation and defrauding investors. The lawsuit also accuses Eaze of being so low on cash that it is now “pending insolvency.” SNIP Eaze was formerly the buzziest cannabis company in California, running a delivery service that was valued at $700 million, with more than $255 million in total investment capital raised with the promise of becoming “the Amazon of weed,” according to TechCrunch. However, cash flow problems at the company have been documented for years, and Eaze has faced a series of...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency rooms saw a spike in cannabis-related events in adolescents, according to new data released on Thursday. Findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed the number of adolescents visiting the ER was higher during the pandemic years than in 2019. Most of the incidents reported by the CDC involved young adults aged 15 to 24 years, suggesting a potential link to self-soothing methods during the pandemic.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she's worried that President Joe Biden may derail a bipartisan push to address psychedelics due to his past rhetoric that questioned cannabis usage. "I am concerned about the president," Ocasio-Cortez of New York told The Washington Post's Ben Terris. Ocasio-Cortez said that her fears about Biden's approach to mind-altering drugs which have been gaining broader public acceptance are rooted in how he has talked about marijuana in the past. "I believe the president has displayed a regressiveness for cannabis policy," she said. "And if there's a regressiveness toward cannabis policy, it's likely to be worse...

Warning lights continue to flash bright red for California’s cannabis industry as companies struggle to pay their bills, legal cannabis sales continue to drop and pot tax revenue falls for the seventh straight quarter. The latest tax figures released by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, or CDTFA, showed that cannabis excise taxes fell a whopping 18.8% in the first quarter of 2023. That’s the seventh quarter in a row in which excise tax collections have fallen for the industry. The falling tax revenue is the latest domino to fall in what appears to be a long-brewing economic...

“The increased risk of getting schizophrenia after drug-related psychosis is even higher than what we find in first-degree relatives of those who have been given the diagnosis,” Bramness says. First-degree relatives are parents and children. The risk of being diagnosed with the malady for sons and daughters of a sick mother or father is "only" five to ten per cent. In other words, there is no other risk factor for schizophrenia that is higher than related to drug-induced psychoses. Trauma, infections and moving to another country are other known risk factors for schizophrenia, but these increase the risk to a...

Australian researchers have published the first robust clinical study proving that medicinal cannabis effectively treats the debilitating effects of Tourette syndrome. The findings show a statistically and clinically significant reduction in motor and vocal tics in just six weeks. The analysis found a significant association between levels of cannabis in the bloodstream and the response to active treatment. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the active hallucinogenic compound in cannabis that produces a "high" effect, while CBD (cannabidiol) is a non-psychoactive compound. Both are used medicinally in Australia. The study involved testing 22 adult patients with severe Tourette symptoms. In the double-blind study,...

An infectious pathogen inside California’s pot farms is attacking cannabis plants and growing invisibly for months only to spoil a crop just as a farmer is ready to harvest. Scientists believe that it’s in nearly every pot farm in the state and could be causing billions of dollars in damages to the national weed economy. Hop-latent viroid, or HLVd, shrivels pot plants and reduce how much weight they produce by as much as 30%. It also destroys the amount of THC, pot’s most common active compound, that a plant produces, greatly reducing the value of affected plants. Advertisement HLVd was...

An infectious pathogen inside California’s pot farms is attacking cannabis plants and growing invisibly for months only to spoil a crop just as a farmer is ready to harvest. Scientists believe that it’s in nearly every pot farm in the state and could be causing billions of dollars in damages to the national weed economy. Hop-latent viroid, or HLVd, shrivels pot plants and reduce how much weight they produce by as much as 30%. It also destroys the amount of THC, pot’s most common active compound, that a plant produces, greatly reducing the value of affected plants. HLVd was first...

A Columbia University study has found that teens who use cannabis recreationally are two to four times as likely to develop psychiatric disorders, such as depression and suicidality, than teens who don’t use cannabis at all. The research, published in JAMA Open Network(link is external and opens in a new window) May 3, also finds that casual cannabis use puts teens at risk for problem behaviors, including poor grades, truancy, and trouble with the law, which can have long-term negative consequences that may keep youth from developing their full potential in adulthood. "Perceptions exist among youth, parents, and educators that...

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) has dropped his opposition to legalizing marijuana in the state, putting forward a pathway for a legalization bill to be approved. In a Medium post Friday, Sununu said that he felt other states “rushed to legalize marijuana” with “little guardrails,” leading to the turning of “the culture and fabric of their state,” and that, “in the past, I said now is not the time to legalize marijuana.” But with New Hampshire being “the only state in New England” not to allow recreational marijuana use — and with a majority of its citizens supporting legalization...

The French psychiatrist Jacques-Joseph Moreau published a book called Hashish and Mental Illness in 1845, the same year that Scientific American brought out its first issue. In it, he explored his own experiences with the drug cannabis at the Paris-based Club des Hachichins—some of which took place alongside the likes of Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac and Charles Baudelaire. Two years earlier Moreau described the “undescribable delights” of a “marvelous substance.” But in his 1845 book, he noted in great clinical detail the similarities to psychosis when ingesting high doses. Nearly two centuries later the possible link between cannabis use...

Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan will resign next week. Fagan plans to resign on May 8 due to a political scandal. Fagan has received criticism for her decision to take a $10,000-per-month side job as a cannabis consultant. The contract came from the owners of a cannabis chain that her office was responsible for auditing, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. Deputy Secretary of State Cheryl Myers will take over the post until Governor Tina Kotek appoints a successor. Initially, Fagan tried to justify the role. However, she backed down in the face of increased scrutiny and apologized on Monday.

A federal law prohibiting marijuana users from possessing firearms is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Oklahoma has concluded, citing last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that significantly expanded gun rights.