THE CANNABIS THREAD 101!!

[roots69]

13 Must-Know Facts for Cannabis Beginners


People will wonder. People will ask questions about cannabis, especially if they have never used it before. People will try cannabis-derived products when they know the facts. So, here are 12 things about cannabis you must know:
1. What’s this stuff called “cannabis?” Hemp, cannabis, and marijuana are not quite the same. Hemp is a cannabis raised for its fiber, an agricultural crop dating back to 8,000 B.C.E. It has been incorporated into the manufacture of health foods, textiles, paper, rope, beauty products, and nutraceuticals.
“Marijuana” and “cannabis” are used interchangeably, but cannabis usually refers to the plant and genus Cannabaceae while marijuana identifies the cannabis-derived product that is smoked or consumed.
2. How many types of cannabis are there? Most discussion focuses on three species: cannabis indica, cannabis sativa, and cannabis ruderalis. They differ slightly in appearance and effects.

• Cannabis sativa is a unisex, annual, flowering plant native to warm climates. It’s tall (8-to 12-feet high) and scraggly with thin leaves and wiry stocks.
• Cannabis indica grows short and stocky with dense foliage and full leaves. The subgenus is native to harsher mountainous environments, so it produces rich resin which adds to its generally high THC potency.
• Cannabis ruderalis grows between 1- to 2.5 feet with a rugged shaggy appearance. Its buds are small but plumb. Hearty and easily grown, many buyers grow it themselves indoors. Professional cultivators like the short growth and flowering cycle and have used it in formation of multiple hybrids.

3. Do plants have sex? There are male and female cannabis plants. Female plants hold the THC, but the male plants do produce the seeds to grow additional plants.
The female plants are grown or their potent resinous flowers that are processed into marijuana. Male plants issue the seeds needed for breeding and cultivation. Cannabis plants have developed an ability to change or compromise its gender to survive in punishing environments. And, seeds can be feminized by breeders to control their crop.
4. Is cannabis legal? It depends where you are. For eons, cannabis and its use were not regulated. Legislation banning its use did not appear in the U.S. until 1937. The DEA (1970) categorized it as Schedule I: “heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana (cannabis), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy), methaqualone, and peyote.”
Its legal status varies from country to country, but it is generally prohibited internationally. However, an increasing number of countries and individual United States have approved growth, sales, and possession of cannabis and cannabis-derived products.
5. Why do users like it so much? Our bodies and cannabis are natural allies. Israeli researchers discovered how the plant’s cannabinoids interact naturally with the human endocannabinoid system.
This synergy soothes and settles disturbances and imbalances in the brain and body neurotransmission. This center regulate appetite, bliss, pain, perception, sleep, and more.
6. What are these “cannabinoids?” Cannabis plants hold eighty or more cannabinoids, but the focus is on THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol).
THC is the psychoactive piece that triggers the high you are looking for. And, CBD accounts for the relaxation, anti-anxiety, and anti-inflammatory qualities used in so many medical applications.
7. When did they start to smoke marijuana? Archeologists have found evidence of smoking cannabis as early as 2,500 B.C.E. Evidence has been found throughout Central Asia. It’s origins in the Himalayas spread to Thailand, India and on to Africa, Brazil, and Jamaica.
The U.S. caught on after the Civil War as immigrants into western, southern, and eastern states brought new tastes and products for pleasure. Ganja, hashish, kush, and other versions arrived and fed appetites for enjoyment and/or medical treatment.
8. How good is the medicine? States approving the availability of cannabis for medical care list as many as 40 ailments eligible for treatment. Its anti-inflammatory qualities treat a dozen or more medical problems. The anti-anxiety properties reduce anxiety, depression, and insomnia. And, its anti-spasticity effects have become a treatment of choice for some patients with epilepsy, MS, and cerebral palsy.
Perhaps, as important, tests indicate it may be a positive treatment for cancer tumors, Parkinson’s Disease, and ALS.
9. What’s the problem with the DEA? There are signs that the DEA may reconsider its position on cannabis as a Schedule I drug. Under the current administration, it will not change its position, but it has made some small exceptions in recent years. For example, it has approved the use of Sativex®, a cannabis derived medication for treatment of a severe form of epilepsy.
In the meantime, it has scared away research or made it difficult to initiate. For years, the University of Mississippi has been the only lab approved for research on cannabis. It is the only institution permitted to grow research quality cannabis. And, the funding it received from NIDA (National Institute of Drug Abuse) promotes research on the bad effects of cannabis use. Other investors are wary of investing in what is officially illegal.
Still, the government opened a window to permitting other university labs to grow and test. So, research continues to thrive in Israel, even though marijuana use is illegal, and England where G.W. Pharmaceuticals produces pharmaceuticals worth testing.
10. Where do I buy it? In most places, cannabis remains a street drug that you must buy on the black market. In an increasing number of states, you can purchase, possess, and use cannabis products and marijuana from a medical marijuana pharmacy.
In an increasing number of states, you can buy product at a recreational or adult-use, licensed, cannabis, retail dispensary. State control and monitoring of these outlets assures a level of quality assurance because there is seed-to-sale tracking and labeling required.
11. Do I have to smoke cannabis? No, it comes in any number of forms. Smoking marijuana remains the most popular. But, it also sells as concentrates, edibles, oils, tinctures, beverages, hash, kief, and more. You can buy cannabis-based lotions and transdermal patches.
Lozenges, candies, chewables, and lollipops are available, especially for medical patients who have difficulty in consuming it in other forms.
12. What’s going to happen to me? Smoking marijuana will produce different highs depending on the strain of cannabis. If the strain is heavy with THC, the high will approach a pleasant euphoria and can produce paranoiac hallucinations.
CBD rich strains will produce a total relaxation in body and mind leaving you pain free and generally drowsy or a couch-locked hit. New users should start with low THC content until they can increase it over time.
13. Will it hurt me? Smoking anything will affect your lungs. But, most pot users do not smoke joints back to back the way cigarette smokers do. If a user smokes heavily and frequently, it is bound to have some impact on the lungs.
But, most smokers use only occasionally because of the price and the preferred social involvement. Most users like to smoke with others.
There is no scientific proof that marijuana is addictive. Where addiction happens, it is in people prone to dependency. But, it can cause dizziness, dry mouth, lightheadedness, and accelerated heartbeat. On the other hand, ample evidence shows how cannabis can positively affect patients with many chronic health conditions.
All you need to know!
Cannabis will treat you well. It’s an adventure you can enjoy, especially when you know the facts. It can produce some risk, but moderation in any pleasure is the best way to go. Beginners will enjoy the first trip, especially if they smoke or try with others who can ease them into it. These 12 must-know fact for cannabis beginners only begins the list of natural concerns of any novice, but they’re enough to provide some confidence in going for it.

 

[roots69]

Top 10 THC and CBD Cannabis Strains for Chronic Pain Relief


Among the results of cannabis legalization and the broader access to medical marijuana is the multiplication of products. There are candies, beverages, cookies, oils, salves, lotions, patches, and many more options.
Dispensaries are chock-full of devices and accessories, and they’re inviting people to shop expanding inventories for flowers they are used to and new strains they’ve never tried. Most customers are browsing through flavors and potency to find new experiences.
Those suffering from chronic pain are drifting in to find strains with therapeutic benefits. But now they face larger menus to make decisions about the best in THC and CBD cannabis. I’ve divided the top 10 strains for chronic pain here for convenience.
Top 5 THC strains for chronic pain relief:
You’ll find some of these recommendations hard to find for the time being. New strains tend to remain local for a while, so most of these are located on the west coast and northwest. But medical needs will increase the demand for:
1. BlackBerry Kush is a California Indica with a hefty 17 to 24 percent THC. That’s enough THC to lay you low and put you to sleep. It won’t hit you hard or quickly, but It will creep up on you so prepare to go to bed. It’s not for daytime use or socializing, but it tastes great and kills your pain for a long sleep.
2. Mega Queso™ is a Sativa-dominant hybrid bred by Nameless Genetics to deliver a cheesy and earthy taste and aroma. With THC averaging 21.9%, it will deliver a rejuvenating euphoric without knocking you out. The SoCal Medical Cannabis Cup winner in 2017, it delivers a full body relaxation with an unfocused bliss.
3. Mandarin Cookies come from Ethos Genetics in Washington. A mix of Forum Cut Cookies and Mandarin Sunset, it holds 70% Sativa, and some tests show a whopping 30% THC . Fast growing with heavy yields, it is attracting pain patients who grow at home. You can’t work under this influence, but it will not sedate you. A euphoric tingle will wash over you quickly before setting into a lasting creative relaxation.
4. French Cookies comes from TH Seeds with a spicy grape flavor. The hybrid is only slightly sativa-dominant but tests at 17 to 23% THC. This is for evening use because the impact progressively expands your brain with each puff. You’ll feel increasing euphoria and clarity before settling into comfortable relief from pain and anxiety.
5. Kush Mountains by Cannabiotix won High Times First Place Hybrid of the Year (2018). A child of White Walker OG and Flame OG, it has tested at 29.5% THC. But the experience in smooth enough for late afternoon or after dinner with a slowly calming sedation reducing stress and treating chronic pain.
Top 5 CBD strains for chronic pain relief:
While the Sativa-dominant strains will help you accept or ignore the pain, CBD has research-proven anti-inflammatory benefits. There’s always Charlotte’s Web, of course, but if you are not comfortable with the euphoric headiness of THC-strong cannabis, you can shop for the top CBD strains:
1. The Wife has a super CBD: THC 20: 1 ratio. It has proven helpful for chronic pain as well as chemotherapy side effects and pain-related depression. Effects are mild enough to use throughout the day and last for hours. Tasting of cherries and bananas, the slight euphoria helps you move into its lasting bodily calm.
2. Dancehall is an award-winning slightly-sativa strain of rare parentage. It hits fast and giggly, so you’ll want to avoid this at work. But the giggles will settle into a deep happiness after you pass the -1% THC into a comfortable pain-free socialization. It’s perfect for end of day and after dinner.
3. ACDC remains a favorite go-to. Another 20: 1 CBD: THC item, it’s the “gold standard” in pain reduction for many. It’s an effective therapeutic remedy for pain patients. With little sense of being high and breeding from Ruderalis and Cannatonic, ACDC has an aroma that will give you away, but it removes the pain so you can work and socialize while treating chronic pain, chemotherapy side effects, and seizures.
4. Remedy has a flower garden in each puff. With a CBD: THC content at 18: 1, its attraction is largely medical. Worth trying during the day or evening, it is a smooth therapy for chronic pain, tremors, and spasms. Mildly and slowly relaxing, it doesn’t come with sedation or paranoia.
5. Ringo’s Gift comes from ACDA and Harle-Tsu with a very high CBD content at 24: 1. The effects are slowly warming and cerebral for a mellow and relaxing buzz with an earthy taste and minty aftertaste. Commonly available, Ringo’s Gift is supplying an increasing medicinal cannabis demand.
Parting thoughts!
The THC-dominant strains help you forget the pain. They distract you with an uplifting euphoria and make life easier for those suffering from multiple sources of chronic pain. But the CBD-strong cannabis strains will significantly reduce the pain for long periods allowing less adventure and more cellular recovery and rejuvenation.
CBD-dominant strains also suit patients who are less comfortable with the THC experience, so you might eventually expect some of these strains to appear in options other than smoking experiences. But we’re not there yet!

 

[roots69]

5 Biggest Differences Between Eating and Smoking Cannabis

Which is the better experience? Eating or smoking your cannabis? “Better” is in the mind of the user, but the experiences are clearly different. They’ll both get you high in different ways, and there is no reason you cannot do both.
Old school stoners have trouble getting past smoking. They might vary their strains or smoking technology, but they generally lack interest in edibles. On the other hand, an increasing number of consumers opt for edibles because they serve their medical needs and/or because they don’t like to smoke in principle.
It’s certainly easier to smoke than it is to prepare a recipe, but there are at least five bigger differences between eating and smoking cannabis.
Absorption:
Your body and brain process cannabis differently when you smoke and when you eat. When you smoke marijuana, the chemical compounds are absorbed through the lungs to the bloodstream. The psychoactive THC expands the blood vessels and increases the blood pressure rushing the effects to the brain.
Edibles, on the other hand, take longer to process in the liver tempting users to unwisely increase the dose. The liver processes the THC into 11-hydroxy-THC which produces a much more intense high, and this complicates the dosing, too.
Duration:
Depending on the individual’s physical constitution, the smoked grass hits sooner while the edible takes from 30-minutes to two hours to hit and lasts much longer, a subtler stable high. Compared to the inhaled cannabis, edibles deliver a smaller concentration of cannabinoids to the user’s neuro-chemistry thus delaying the effects.
Dosage:

Inhaled cannabis produces a quick buzz, and with experience, users come to know what they want in terms of an effect. They can raise or lower the dose to suit their taste for high. At the same time, they run the risk of reaching a level of tolerance where they want something more or something different. And, there are enough strains out there to vary the palate.
Commercially available edibles should have the dosage on the label. That helps you understand what works best for you. But, because the effect takes longer, you must avoid doubling up on the dosage to trigger the high. It is not hard to overdose on edibles.
In homemade edibles, you must follow instructions on the cannabis ingredient. Recipes that include chocolate, fruit, and other flavors may hide the hashish, diesel, and skunk flavors. But, that should not tempt you to increase the quantity of grass.
The wide variety of edibles – from candies to bake goods – lets you consume your ganja casually and discretely during the day and in environments where the prohibit smoking.
Temptation:
The cost of cannabis has a leveling influence on smokers. They are likely to smoke with others, but they are also likely to limit their reputation because the grass doesn’t come cheap. Like it or not, they are aware of the cost of each joint they burn.
Edibles offer a different temptation. They taste so good, and who wants just one brownie or one piece of candy? So, users must stay aware of what they are doing with repeated use. If a candy is correctly labeled as having 10 milligrams of cannabis, you shouldn’t be popping one after another in your mouth.
Experienced consumers recommend starting small and being patient. If 10 milligrams are a standard norm, you can portion foods with larger doses. Trouble is that once you prepare a recipe, it is not clear what the potency is or where it lies.
In many cases, commercially sold edibles come in small packages of five or ten pieces, a caution not to indulge too much too soon.
Smoke:

Edibles do not provide or cause you the harsh sensation and effects of smoking. There is no cough, no smoke-related aftertaste, or potential damage to the lungs, tongue, or gums. They are, therefore, a preferred option for those with asthma, allergies, or respiratory problems.
Edibles come in many forms besides the proverbial brownies. In addition to the candies, lozenges, and beverages, cannabis can be a core ingredient in soups, breads, pastries, and more. Cannabis butters, oils, and grains can supplement granola, salads, and smoothies.
This is a great solace to medical patients who may have difficulty with appetite, nausea, or swallowing. The longer lasting effect is a great help to those suffering from chronic pain, problems related to AIDS and following chemotherapy, and autoimmune conditions like arthritis, Lupus, and Chron’s disease.
The takeaway
There are clear differences between eating and smoking cannabis. When smoking, you will feel the highest THC hit in brain and body in 15 to 30 minutes, and it will slack off over the next two hours. When consuming cannabis edibles, you won’t feel that high in the brain as much as body for up to two to four hours, but it will last up to eight.
You will more likely cough after smoking, but you are more likely to mistake the dosage in edibles. So, moderation is recommended whether inhaling or ingesting.

 

[roots69]

Guide to Making Cannabis Tinctures

Cannabis Tinctures, often preferred by those who cannot tolerate inhalation methods of using marijuana, are made by using an alcohol bath to create a liquid extract of THC and other cannabinoids. A few drops of concentrated serum administered sublingually (under the tongue) work rapidly, usually within 15 minutes -- much more quickly than other cannabis edibles. This allows patients to adjust dosing within a shorter time frame if the desired peak has not been reached. (Edibles can take more than an hour to reach full effect.) In addition to delivering results quickly, tinctures are known to provide steady relief over a longer period of time. (See: Guide to Cannabis Edibles & Making Your Own CannaButter.)
There are two recommended ways to make alcohol extraction cannabis tinctures:

• Warm Brew
• Cold Brew

Both methods require using decarbed cannabis, which is a process that activates the medicinal properties of THC and CBD. (See: Guide to Decarbing Cannabis for Edibles and Topicals.) Each of these methods should yield about two cups of cannabis tincture at a strength of about 60 percent THC, depending on the quality of the cannabis bud.
Equipment:
After your bud has been decarbed, you’ll need the following equipment regardless of your tincture “brew” method.

• Grinder
• Glass Bowl
• Mesh Strainer
• Cheesecloth (warm brew) or Unbleached Coffee Filter (cold brew)
• 1-Quart Canning Jar with Lid
• Dark-Tinted tincture bottles with droppers

Warm Brew
Ingredients

• 1 Ounce roughly ground, decarbed cannabis
• 1 quart jar full of alcohol, with ½ inch unfilled at top (Everclear is the highest proof, or use the highest proof vodka you can find)

Directions

1. Mix the cannabis and alcohol in a one quart mason jar. Cover tightly; shake well.
2. Completely cover the jar in a manner that blocks out all light (which can cause the tincture to spoil) – a heavy brown paper bag, for instance.
3. Place the covered jar in a warm, dry place for 30 – 60 days (the longer the stronger).
4. When ready to process, strain the mixture through a double thick piece of cheesecloth over a mesh strainer into a glass bowl. The mixture will be a dark green.
5. Transfer the alcohol tincture into dark-tinted bottles quickly (to avoid exposure to light). Store in the refrigerator. (Some brewers place the tincture bottles in an opaque container in the refrigerator.)

Cold Brew
Ingredients

• 1 oz decarbed, high-quality bud, fully dry and crisp
• 1 quart jar full of alcohol , with ½ inch unfilled at top (Everclear is the highest proof, or use the highest proof vodka you can find)

Directions

1. Place the marijuana into a freezer bag and place in the freezer for two or three hours, or until frozen.
2. Place the mason jar of alcohol
3. Grind the frozen marijuana into rough chunks
4. Mix 1 ounce of your frozen, ground cannabis with the quart of alcohol.
5. Close the jar tightly and shake vigorously for five minutes and return the mixture to the freezer.
6. Every four to five hours for two days, shake the jar vigorously and return to the freezer.
7. After two days, strain the mixture through an unbleached coffee filter into a glass bowl. The mixture will be a pale-to-golden green.
8. Transfer the alcohol tincture into dark-tinted bottles quickly (to avoid exposure to light). Store in the refrigerator. (Some brewers place the tincture bottles in an opaque container in the refrigerator.)

User’s Guide
Always label and date your tinctures and keep them out of the reach of children!
Start small with just a few drops under the tongue to guage your reaction. Wait at least 30 minutes to an hour after first use before increasing dosage.
Because of the strong cannabis taste of sublingual cannabis tinctures, many people add them to beverages sweetened with honey or sugar. Hot beverages like coffee, tea and cocoa may activate higher levels of THC. Caution is advised if adding cannabis tinctures to alcoholic beverages.

 

[roots69]

5 Easy Ways to Hide Your Cannabis Smoke


You can pick a cannabis strain with a sweet or fruity aroma. But, that won’t hide the smell of your ganga smoke.
Cannabis smokers have tried forever to fool their parents and dorm assistants. But, cannabis will find its way into the air and fabric of your hideaway.
Smoke is made of debris that disburses to contaminate the air and everything nearby. So, you’ll want to do your best to minimize smoke and its effects
5 Easy Ways to Hide Your Cannabis Smoke:
You are pretty much fooling yourself if you think you can totally eliminate cannabis odors. (This also goes for tobacco smoking.) With regular use, cannabis smoke odors will embed fabrics, wallpapers, furniture, and carpets. And, if you are using cannabis enough that you just notice the smell, it probably doesn’t matter to you. Still, you might find these easy methods to follow:
1. Sploof — Many smokers prepare and use a sploof or sploofy. Easy as one is to make, it seems to be a simple overreach. It’s a sort of homemade muffler for your smoke.
You take a dryer fabric softener sheet and attach it to a toilet paper roll with a rubber band. You then, push some crumpled toilet paper — with or without some charcoal granules — into the toilet paper roll until it pushes against the dryer sheet.
Then, after you inhale your smoke you exhale through the filtering tube. The idea has been around a while and has many variations, but the whole idea is neither convenient, adult, or truly effective. You might have better luck purchasing a ready-made sploof unit from SmokeBuddy.
2. Odor Eliminators — Readily available sprays like Febreze, Glade, and Lysol really don’t do the trick. They just mix their smells with the cannabis aroma, and sometimes the combination of scents is annoying.
However, many users recommend Ozium® made with triethylene glycol and propylene glycol to kill bacteria and smoke odors. Ozium® is very strong and may damage skin and fabrics.
Neutron No Smoke Odor Eliminator works on odors at their source even after fire damage. It claims to work on fabrics, carpets, and upholstery to break up odor-causing molecules.
And, a new 420 Odor Eliminator is marketed as a dry aerosol with a clean linen scent that leaves no residue on fabrics or surfaces.
3. Scented Covers — Smokers have spent money on scented covers forever, but they really only present an olfactory distraction rather than eliminate odors.
Scented candles, for example, add a nice visual touch at home, especially in the event of a social gathering. But, if you go that route, choose a candle scent that complements your cannabis strain. You don’t want too many odors mingling, but you might select an apple-scented candle to blend with a woody aroma. Beamer markets a candle claiming the scent kills cannabis odors.
Incense is designed for its aromatic smoke, so it offers an accent for your cannabis smoke. Incense can be a dead giveaway to non-smokers because it has been used for centuries to disguise smells. But, it has also long played a role in spiritual rituals which can suit many smoking occasions like meditation or smoking circles.
Perfumes and colognes are probably a poor choice. Applied to skin and clothes, they may fool you into thinking you have solved the problem of odor on your skin and in your hair, but they only turn off others. You would do better to wash your hands and face thoroughly.
Plug-in air fresheners are convenient, easily purchased, and low-cost. They are unobtrusive, subtle, and work throughout the day and night. They may not kill odors directly, but they will reduce the smell over time.
4. Open Windows — Smoking cannabis begs you to invite clean air. You should always open windows before, during, and after smoking — weather permitting. Few things dispel odors the way fresh air does. Using fans to direct smoke toward an open window beats air conditioning. Or, you might invest in a whole room air purifier that some in various sizes and with different features to capture odors, allergens, and air-borne bacteria.
Where- and whenever possible, you should smoke outdoors. You will enjoy a social smoking circle much more in the evening around an outdoor fire where the night will accept the smoke. And, whatever you can do to bring the outdoors in might help. For example, there are plants and foliage, like eucalyptus or evergreens, that counter or absorb odors.
5. Stop Smoking — There are options to smoking cannabis joints. There are edibles and oils, of course, but if you switch to vaping, you can reduce or eliminate much of the problem. You can vape indoors or outdoors without annoying smoke odors.
The volume of the “smoke” from vaping may give you away, but that depends on the e-liquid and the vaper you use. Many e-liquids contain no nicotine, and they have been helpful to those wanting to wean off cigarettes. They satisfy the oral fixation involved in smoking, but they still produce a large cloud of vapor that can be pleasantly aromatic.
Pipes and bongs offer another option because you can manage the smoke and aroma volume. It is important, for lots of reasons, to keep your pipes and bongs clean, so they do not add even more pollutants to the smoke.
Why bother?
You should want to eliminate cannabis odors for several reasons:

• Where smoking is still illegal, the skunky smell of cannabis will give you away.
• Legal or not, the odor will seep into porous surfaces and stick to your hair, skin, and clothing.
• It can be lurking in corners when your house or apartment is checked by potential owners or renters.
• And, the odor is made up of lingering molecules that can hurt you and others as secondary smoke.

But, if you smoke heavily and have little concern for the odor, you may be smoking too much too frequently. If smoking cannabis has isolated you because others are offended by the odor, you may have a stoner problem that’s affecting other parts of your life.

 

[roots69]

5 Easy Ways to Hide Your Cannabis Smoke


You can pick a cannabis strain with a sweet or fruity aroma. But, that won’t hide the smell of your ganga smoke.
Cannabis smokers have tried forever to fool their parents and dorm assistants. But, cannabis will find its way into the air and fabric of your hideaway.
Smoke is made of debris that disburses to contaminate the air and everything nearby. So, you’ll want to do your best to minimize smoke and its effects
5 Easy Ways to Hide Your Cannabis Smoke:
You are pretty much fooling yourself if you think you can totally eliminate cannabis odors. (This also goes for tobacco smoking.) With regular use, cannabis smoke odors will embed fabrics, wallpapers, furniture, and carpets. And, if you are using cannabis enough that you just notice the smell, it probably doesn’t matter to you. Still, you might find these easy methods to follow:
1. Sploof — Many smokers prepare and use a sploof or sploofy. Easy as one is to make, it seems to be a simple overreach. It’s a sort of homemade muffler for your smoke.
You take a dryer fabric softener sheet and attach it to a toilet paper roll with a rubber band. You then, push some crumpled toilet paper — with or without some charcoal granules — into the toilet paper roll until it pushes against the dryer sheet.
Then, after you inhale your smoke you exhale through the filtering tube. The idea has been around a while and has many variations, but the whole idea is neither convenient, adult, or truly effective. You might have better luck purchasing a ready-made sploof unit from SmokeBuddy.
2. Odor Eliminators — Readily available sprays like Febreze, Glade, and Lysol really don’t do the trick. They just mix their smells with the cannabis aroma, and sometimes the combination of scents is annoying.
However, many users recommend Ozium® made with triethylene glycol and propylene glycol to kill bacteria and smoke odors. Ozium® is very strong and may damage skin and fabrics.
Neutron No Smoke Odor Eliminator works on odors at their source even after fire damage. It claims to work on fabrics, carpets, and upholstery to break up odor-causing molecules.
And, a new 420 Odor Eliminator is marketed as a dry aerosol with a clean linen scent that leaves no residue on fabrics or surfaces.
3. Scented Covers — Smokers have spent money on scented covers forever, but they really only present an olfactory distraction rather than eliminate odors.
Scented candles, for example, add a nice visual touch at home, especially in the event of a social gathering. But, if you go that route, choose a candle scent that complements your cannabis strain. You don’t want too many odors mingling, but you might select an apple-scented candle to blend with a woody aroma. Beamer markets a candle claiming the scent kills cannabis odors.
Incense is designed for its aromatic smoke, so it offers an accent for your cannabis smoke. Incense can be a dead giveaway to non-smokers because it has been used for centuries to disguise smells. But, it has also long played a role in spiritual rituals which can suit many smoking occasions like meditation or smoking circles.
Perfumes and colognes are probably a poor choice. Applied to skin and clothes, they may fool you into thinking you have solved the problem of odor on your skin and in your hair, but they only turn off others. You would do better to wash your hands and face thoroughly.
Plug-in air fresheners are convenient, easily purchased, and low-cost. They are unobtrusive, subtle, and work throughout the day and night. They may not kill odors directly, but they will reduce the smell over time.
4. Open Windows — Smoking cannabis begs you to invite clean air. You should always open windows before, during, and after smoking — weather permitting. Few things dispel odors the way fresh air does. Using fans to direct smoke toward an open window beats air conditioning. Or, you might invest in a whole room air purifier that some in various sizes and with different features to capture odors, allergens, and air-borne bacteria.
Where- and whenever possible, you should smoke outdoors. You will enjoy a social smoking circle much more in the evening around an outdoor fire where the night will accept the smoke. And, whatever you can do to bring the outdoors in might help. For example, there are plants and foliage, like eucalyptus or evergreens, that counter or absorb odors.
5. Stop Smoking — There are options to smoking cannabis joints. There are edibles and oils, of course, but if you switch to vaping, you can reduce or eliminate much of the problem. You can vape indoors or outdoors without annoying smoke odors.
The volume of the “smoke” from vaping may give you away, but that depends on the e-liquid and the vaper you use. Many e-liquids contain no nicotine, and they have been helpful to those wanting to wean off cigarettes. They satisfy the oral fixation involved in smoking, but they still produce a large cloud of vapor that can be pleasantly aromatic.
Pipes and bongs offer another option because you can manage the smoke and aroma volume. It is important, for lots of reasons, to keep your pipes and bongs clean, so they do not add even more pollutants to the smoke.
Why bother?
You should want to eliminate cannabis odors for several reasons:

• Where smoking is still illegal, the skunky smell of cannabis will give you away.
• Legal or not, the odor will seep into porous surfaces and stick to your hair, skin, and clothing.
• It can be lurking in corners when your house or apartment is checked by potential owners or renters.
• And, the odor is made up of lingering molecules that can hurt you and others as secondary smoke.

But, if you smoke heavily and have little concern for the odor, you may be smoking too much too frequently. If smoking cannabis has isolated you because others are offended by the odor, you may have a stoner problem that’s affecting other parts of your life.

 

[kain]

I am learning a lot in this thread. Great work!!!

 

[roots69]

I am learning a lot in this thread. Great work!!!

Right on, bruh... Im glad you getting sum good info.. This green rush is coming to every state in this colony.. Im just trying to get Kats ready and not want to be standing in line to buy sum cannabis,,, but have people standing in line to buy their cannabis products!!

 

[roots69]

A Complete List of Marijuana Consumption Methods

Even as more people wrap their minds around the idea of using marijuana either for medication or recreation, one of the challenges faced by potential users is the suitable method of consumption. Their dilemma arises from the fact that many of them are familiar with smoking only. Unfortunately, smoking marijuana, commonly known as bhang or cannabis, has been a taboo in many communities. For this reason, not many people are positive about smoking marijuana no matter how bad they may need it, especially, for medication. This brings us to one common question among such potential users; what other consumption methods can one use?
Today, there are numerous methods of administering marijuana. All these come with some strengths and weaknesses. Also, the mental and physical effects of cannabis will depend on the method of administration. Depending on the kind of problem you are medicating, it could help to experiment with a few to experience the different effects before choosing one that suits you best.
Marijuana consumption methods are divided into three broad categories, namely; inhalation, oral techniques, and topical. Under the category of inhalation consumption, there is smoking, vaporization (vaping), and dabbing. Oral consumption techniques include all methods that administer marijuana through the mouth. Some examples are edibles, beverages, tinctures and ingestible oils. The third category involves the external application of cannabis extracts to be absorbed through the skin.
1. Smoking
Smoking is a popular method of marijuana consumption. It is probably the first idea that will come into the mind of a person if you mention marijuana. In this method, the consumer puts a reasonable amount of cured cannabis flowers into a rolling paper, hookahs, water pipe, hand pipe or some homemade device (usually for a one-time use) and lights it. The pipes have a mouthpiece where the consumer inhales the smoke obtained when the dry substance burns. One can inhale the smoke in short puffs so they don’t hold it in the lungs for long.
Even non-marijuana smokers are probably familiar with the terms joint and blunt. A common misconception in the nonsmoking community is that those two terms describe the same thing. There is a difference, though. Joint refers to a cannabis rolled in a paper which might consist of plants like hemp and bamboo while blunt is a cannabis rolled in a paper made from tobacco plant and contains nicotine.
From all the listed smoking devices, the most common ones are probably the hand and water pipes. They come in a vast variety of shapes and sizes which is one of the reasons why they are so popular.
If there is one thing on this list you didn’t hear of before, it’s probably hookahs. Hookahs are mostly used for smoking wet tobacco, but can be used for smoking cannabis too. Due to the way hookahs work, to increase its effectiveness, the smoking material often consists of the mixture of cannabis and tobacco.
Benefits of smoking as a method of marijuana consumption
There are numerous advantages of consuming marijuana this way. Most of them relate to efficacy. Here are some of them;

• It is cheap since doesn’t require any sophisticated gadgets
• One can effortlessly regulate the dosage
• Smoking provides immediate relief
• One enjoys the real power of marijuana since the substance is less processed

Limitations of smoking marijuana.
Since one is inhaling smoke which goes into the lungs, there are several issues that could be related to smoking marijuana;

• The constant smell of cannabis smoke can be disturbing
• Complete combustion of cannabis produces other by-products such as tar, toluene, and others. These go into the lungs as smoke. Such can irritate the throat, hurt the lungs and so forth.
• Smoking is also associated with difficulty in breathing
• Not suitable for anyone with known pulmonary complications such as asthma, lung cancer, or so.

2. Vaporizing
Commonly known as vaping, this is another method of inhaling cannabis smoke which involves burning the dry flowers of cannabis at a temperature lower than its combustion point. The heat supplied is just enough to break down the medicinal compounds such as THC and CBD without leading to full combustion. This way, the modern method eliminates the harmful effects of marijuana smoking and significantly reduces the odor. Because of this, it is no surprise that vaporizers are gladly accepted and used among more health-conscious cannabis users.
The process begins by heating the vaporizer first to a predefined temperature. Then, the user inserts the desired amount of cured cannabis flower. Once it breaks into vapor, one will press a button and inhale the fumes from the other end of a vaporizer.
Vaporizers aren’t that new to the market anymore so they can be found in many different designs. They can be divided into two broad categories – portable and fixed models. Hash, kief and butane hash oil are just some of the cannabis concentrate used in vaporizers.
Benefits of inhaling marijuana through vaporization

• It provides immediate relief
• The resultant fumes are mild to the lungs
• You won’t worry about smelling cannabis smoke
• A variety of stylish vaping devices exist in the market, most of them being portable

Limitations of vaping

• Requires more time to prepare than smoking
• You’ll keep replacing batteries for battery-powered devices which can be expensive in the long run
• Vaping devices are expensive

3. Dabbing

This is the latest method of vaporization and involves heating a dab on a hot surface mostly a heated nail. The dab vaporizes and the fumes are trapped in a glass spherical vessel and inhaled from there. So, what is a dab? A dab is a cannabis concentrate prepared from THC, an extract of cannabis, and other cannabinoids. Dabs exist in the form of sticky oils, butane hash oil (BHO), wax and shatter.
The main challenge with dabbing is that these substances contain high doses of THC, a psychoactive component of cannabis, and thus not suitable for new consumers of marijuana or those with low tolerance to THC. In fact, it is likely that a patient can get a suitable dose of THC through other methods of consumption. This makes it necessary to consult with your physician before dabbing.
Benefits of dabbing

• Provides quick effects and thus the best for emergency medications or acute sicknesses
• Inexpensive
• The best choice for consumers who require high doses of THC

Limitations of dabbing

• It involves the use of solvents to extract THC. Such chemicals could remain in the concentrate thus creating a harmful dose
• Presents high chances of overdose
• The extraction process is challenging
• The device used are not easy to handle and present high chances of accidental burns

4. Beverages

Drinking something made with marijuana could be a good way to enjoy the therapeutic benefits of this drug. Some common beverages that could be mixed with marijuana include juices, teas, smoothies, and sodas, among others. In fact, one can make their own cannabis beverage by dropping a tincture, a bit of wax or a bud into their hot drink or so.
Drinkable cannabinoids can be just as effective as their counterparts in solid food products. For example, pulp in lemonades and milk fat in infused milk and creamer products help cannabinoids bind more effectively.
There are many different recipes for marijuana-infused drinks out there, but what is even more interesting is the fact that they can be found on the shelves in many stores where they are legal. As one can expect, they aren’t lacking in the number of available flavors and tastes like sparkling pomegranate or cold brew with milk and sugar.
Benefits of marijuana beverages

• Delivers long-term relief
• A good alternative for those hesitant about inhaling marijuana
• It results in a distinguishable feeling, like energy boost or pain relief
• Doesn’t have similar cerebral effects to smoking or vaping

Limitations

• Requires at least 30 minutes to take effect
• Can be challenging to regulate dosage

5. Edibles

Just like beverages, marijuana edibles provide a different kind of effect from smoking or vaping. In the recent past, the culinary science involving marijuana eatables has evolved making it possible to find a variety of delicious edibles in the market. In fact, it is hard to out rightly tell that some of these edibles have cannabis. The common edibles that can have marijuana as an ingredient include lollipops, gummy bears, cookies, crackers, ice cream, chocolate bars, chewing gums, popcorns and nut mixes, among others.
A major benefit of using edibles is that children and the elderly can easily medicate without exposure to possible toxic fumes or the stigma associated with smoking or vaping. The doctor will recommend a suitable dosage for each patient depending on their prior interaction with marijuana, weight, metabolism and other considerations.
Benefits of using marijuana edibles

• They deliver lasting relief
• One can easily get precise dosage
• They are a medicine wrapped in a delicious treat
• The best choice for those hesitant about inhaling marijuana

Limitations

• Takes at least 30 minutes for the consumer to experience the effects
• Should be kept away from children and pets
• Won’t give the same feeling of “high” as inhaling

6. Transdermal patches
For the users who do not want to inhale marijuana or have had no success with other options, applying a patch could be your best bet. All you need is to identify a clean, hairless and dry skin area, preferably around the inner wrist, the top of your ankle or foot and apply the patch. The transdermal patches are packed with 10mg dose, but can be sliced into half to suit small dosage needs.
They work like nitroglycerin and nicotine patches. The medicine goes through all seven layers of skin and enters directly into the bloodstream (while, for example, most topical creams get absorbed by the top 3 layers of skin). The transdermal patches itself aren’t something new but using them as a method for delivering cannabis is relatively new.
Benefits of patching

• You don’t need to smoke
• They allow for a steady rate absorption over a longer period of time
• You don’t have to remember to dose at regular intervals
• Available in mild doses
• Can be used with an upset stomach
• Can come in a variety of formulations

Limitations

• Some people can be allergic to the patches
• The surface of application must be clean, dry and hairless

7. Suppositories
Though a controversial method of marijuana consumption, suppositories deliver immediate results that last long. The controversy lies in the fact that one has to insert a mass of cannabis into their rectum, a process that doesn’t feel honorable. Once in the rectum, marijuana will diffuse through the colon to the rest of the body.
To insert the cone-shaped cannabis extract mass, wear some protective gloves and slouch on your side. Next, push the suppository 1.5 inches into your rectum. Tighten your sphincter muscles and hold for several minutes. You can wake up, dispose of the gloves, wash your hands and continue with your daily duties. There are suppository sizes for adults and children containing 2mg and 1mg of marijuana extracts respectively. These can also be cut to suit smaller dosages.
Benefits of marijuana suppositories

• They are a sure substitute to edibles or smoking
• Cause immediate and long-lasting effects
• A very efficient method of digestion

Limitation

• It is embarrassing to administer
• The suppositories must stay refrigerated

8. Sublingual sprays

Also known as tinctures, they are good delivery methods of marijuana for people who want to experience fast effects and exercise precise control of the dosage. Also, tinctures eliminate the health threats and discomfort associated with smoking. Tinctures are usually extracts of cannabis mixed with either alcohol, Medium-Chain Triglyceride (MCT) oil or glycerin solution and packed in small bottles. One will administer by squirting a few drops under their tongue which absorb within 10 minutes.
Benefits

• Socially acceptable
• Does not affect the lungs
• Very easy to manage the dosage to get even small amounts.
• The method of choice for kids
• Has a mild taste
• Faster effects than eating
• Free of unpleasant smells common with smoking

Limitations

• Usually expensive for those who must take higher doses
• Takes longer than inhalation

9. Topicals

This method of delivery uses cannabis extracts packed with all components of cannabis. They come in the form of a dense decarboxylated oil that has active cannabinoids. Such are applied on the body and will absorb through the skin. It is a great method of application that saves users from the cerebral effects of cannabis(they don’t give a feeling of “being high”). Common products in the market include ointments, s[rays, lotions, salves and so forth. They can be used on chapped skin, tendonitis, swellings, minor burns, sunburns, arthritis, joint pain, eczema and muscle soreness, among others.
Benefits

• Very helpful for different skin problems
• Does not affect the brain’s function
• Provides pain relief for a specified area

Disadvantages

• Some users have reported that certain products do not work
• Not helpful for cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma or PTSD patients

Since the topicals are for external use, it is unlikely that you will suffer any harm using such. In case you are using for medication, make sure you find prescriptions that match the ailment you want to treat. It is alright to apply as many times as you want so long as you are comfortable. In the case of a skin irritation, discontinue use or seek the help of your doctor.
10. Consuming Fresh marijuana/plant parts
There are many people who hold on to the idea that some medicinal properties of the cannabis plant are mutilated when it is heated, carboxylated, or dried. This makes them consider ingesting the raw leaves or buds from the plant. The common method is to prepare a smoothie or juice and add the raw cannabis plant parts.
Advantages

• Can be a good alternative for those patients who did not respond positively to other methods of delivery
• Raw cannabis has high contents of TCH-A, an acid variety of THC that doesn’t have any psychoactive effects. Doctors are yet to determine its unique medicinal qualities though it is believed to have some

Disadvantages

• One will have to harvest and use plenty of raw cannabis plant parts
• No studies to support its efficacy claims
• Bears an unpleasant vegetable taste

Conclusion
Thanks to the growing technology and creativity of mankind, one does not have to shy away from marijuana due to the constraints of the consumption method. Marijuana has proved effective in relieving pain and other symptoms of deadly diseases. A wide selection of delivery methods avails numerous options for even the conservative and health conscious possible beneficiaries.

 

[roots69]

9 Reasons Why It is Time to Grow Your Own Cannabis


As more states approve the grow, sale, and possession of cannabis, there’s more attention being paid to the grow. The media is full of advice on soils, seed, and systems to grow.
There’s a bit of a split here between advice to and by professional producers and to and by amateurs. I’ll leave the pro advice to the professional farmers. But, indications are that more folks are growing their weed at home.
Growing your own cannabis is not like raising geraniums. It takes the information, supplies, and skill you might associate with raising orchids or African violets. “Growing” cannabis requires knowledge of breeding, carefully selected soils and nutrition, and lots of patience.
Another difficulty is trying to address those who are satisfied with raising one or two plants and those who have defined grow rooms where they develop a crop of ten or more plants. But, if you’re thinking of growing your own, it makes sense to put things in context.
9 reasons why it is time to grow your own:
1. Money savings: If you’ve been shopping at legal dispensaries, you must have felt some sticker shock. The taxes laid on the product to satisfy the state’s concerns have amped up the price. And, if you’ve relied on your neighborhood in the past, you must be surprised by what they’re getting for a “dime bag” these days.
Whether you use a little or a lot, you can save money by growing your own. Even if you have some startup cost, it should pay off. And, if the price is not your motive, you may want to ensure quality, organic production, and personal taste. Growing becomes a rewarding hobby for many who become experts in cultivation, harvesting, and curing product for themselves—and maybe a small group of friends.
2. Perfect favorite strains: Users get into home growing to cultivate their favored strains. If you find a strain you really like or one that treats your medical problems, you might find bargains in raising your own. If you weigh the cost of raising the stash you need against the store price, it should make sense to grow your own.
You can select the seeds you want from the buyer you trust and develop the plants you favor. With enough experience, you can grow several strains at the same time, and you might even learn to breed.
3. Quality control: When you buy from a neighborhood dealer, you have no idea where it came from and how it was raised. If you buy from a dispensary, you are trusting the vendors’ claims on growing conditions.
But, one problem with the products coming from agribusiness farms is that they are flattening the product, homogenizing it with large production methods. Growing your own guarantees your full control over quality and purity. It allows you to manage irrigation, heat, light, pesticides, and nutrition.
4. Make it better: Raising your own cannabis lets you play with the product. You can experiment with fertilizers, soil ingredients, and pesticides and their effect on your strains. It might allow you to enhance potency or harvest at the peak of the season.
You might go for plumper nugs, richer trichomes, and fuller harvests. It could develop or increase your passionate interest in the hobby, and you might stumble on something you really like.
5. Easier than you think: There are more tools and equipment available at reasonable prices. They make growing you own more fun and cheaper than you think. You can buy portable grow rooms, automated irrigation systems, and specialized lighting and humidity controls without spending a fortune.
There is more reliable information and advice online, more how to lessons, and more reviews of equipment. There are more packaged goods creating shortcuts for you. Manufacturers of soils, additives, and tools are building trust among shoppers and growers.
6. Learning process: Growing your own cannabis is a hands-on learning experience. Trial and error, success and failure will teach you more about the plant. Home growers find themselves drawn into the botany and biochemistry of cannabis.
It becomes interesting, fascinating and just plain fun to grow, manipulate, and perfect your own product. You might even join forums and conversations on farming with other novices like yourself.
7. Control your stash: If you grow your own, you control the stash you want or need. Growing it, curing it, and storing it, you can master a revolving inventory with just enough of various strains for your regular and future needs.
In fact, you may be inclined to overproduce at the start when all you need is enough fresh for your daily or occasional needs. While you can store cannabis well, you don’t want to stash more than you can use.
8. Use it all: When you grow your own cannabis, you have control of the entire plant. You have access to all the parts that you don’t find conveniently in dispensaries. You can gather the seeds, stems, leaves, and trim for use in other formats.
You’ll have everything you need for edible recipes, creating tinctures, producing oil, or processing as drinks. You have everything you need to prepare cannabis derivatives from teas to lotions to soaps.
9. Treat the ill: Growing your own allows you to pick plants that will serve your specific medical needs. You can choose the strains that ease anxiety and depression or those that reduce inflammation and spasticity.
Growing your own assures 100 percent quality control over the preparation of your medicinal cannabis. It lets you eliminate toxic pesticides and synthetic nutritional supplements.
It is Time to Grow Your Own Cannabis
An increasing number of states have legalized growing cannabis. Their legalization has extended you the right to grow cannabis (within some limitations in some states). It’s now you right to grow what you need for medical or recreational use. And, you’ll be joining more and more people doing the same.

 

[roots69]

How to Get Started Growing Your Own Cannabis


When you are just starting out, the prospect of growing your own marijuana can definitely be a scary one. There’s such a wide base of knowledge available to new growers that it can quickly become overwhelming. Do you really need to know everything there is to know about every nutrient system, lighting pattern, and the latest and greatest in growing equipment before you get started? It can feel like that at times, but the real answer is no- you don’t. It doesn’t need to be as convoluted and complex as some cultivators make it seem. It’s not rocket science. The plant is called weed for a reason- it will grow almost anywhere given the proper conditions! So don’t worry too much about whether or not you’re going to be successful. The chances are good that you will, because honestly, you would have to make several big mistakes in a row to ruin your crop completely, and if that happens you’ll know what to avoid the next time around!
Instead of making you wait until you achieve guru status and know everything there is to know about growing marijuana (which will be never, by the way) this simple guide will give you just enough information to get you started on the road to success. Whether you intend to grow just one pot plant in your home for personal use or you intend to use an elaborate setup and take the world by storm, the first steps are the same. So, here’s the least you need to know in order to start growing one plant in your home today.
What You’ll Need
There’s no getting around it, unless you’re a dedicated gardener already, you WILL need to buy some specialized equipment for growing your own marijuana. However, you may also find that you have several of these items on hand already. Here’s a plain and simple list of all the materials you will need to get started:
1. A Grow Light

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These come in many different varieties, but don’t get carried away here. If you have a good window that gets bright sunlight for most of the day, you’re already ahead of the game. In that case, you could probably get away with just a small fluorescent bulb like a T5 or a T8 to shine on your plant after the sun sets. In a pinch, you could even get away with a standard CFL bulb. If you don’t have a sunny window, you’ll need something more powerful like a 250 watt HID bulb. You can find these at your local hardware store, but don’t forget that you’ll need to install a special HID -compatible fixture because these bulbs won’t plug into anything you’ve got at home already. The more intense light you can give your plants, the better your yield will be, but this is also usually the most expensive aspect of any grow, so don’t overreach yourself.
2. An Enclosed Cabinet or Closet
Once your plant begins flowering, you’ll need to move to a strict light cycle with 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. You’ll need a small, enclosed space where you can house your plant during this time to control the amount of light it gets and prevent any light leaks.
3. Light Timer
You can get a simple light timer at any hardware store. You’ll need it to automatically turn the grow lights on and off according to your plant’s light cycle schedule.
3. A Container
Anything that’s breathable and has good drainage will do. Fabric pots are a popular choice, but you could use any type of container with drainage holes in the bottom. If they’re not there already, you could even drill some in yourself. It’s critical that the plant’s container has good drainage so that the roots aren’t constantly sitting in stagnant water, which may cause them to rot. Set this container on top of a tray or saucer to catch any runoff that will seep through after you water your plant.
4. Planting Medium

Breathability is key here too. There’s a lot of chatter about which medium is best, and a lot of weird terms being thrown around like coir, sphagnum, and peat. The truth is, a basic, organic potting soil will work just fine. Pick it up at any garden or home improvement store. The best part is that a lot of these organic potting mixes come with some nutrients already incorporated, so you may not have to worry about adding any more at all until your plant begins to flower.
5. Nutrients
These aren’t strictly necessary, but adding in some nutrients, if only while the plant is in its flowering stage, will really help your yield. You can find a wide variety of organic nutrients and compost at your local garden store. Most any of these will work, just make sure to avoid salt-heavy artificial formulas like Miracle Grow, which will do your plant more harm than good. Add once a week while your plant is flowering. Putting in too many nutrients too soon can harm your plant, so don’t go crazy with it.
6. A Clone or Seeds

If you can get hold of one, a clone is definitely the easier way to go, since it’s already survived through infancy and they cut a month or more off your total grow time. They also produce a more predictable result, so if there’s a specific strain you want to replicate, it’s best to get a clone of it. If seeds are your only option, make sure to buy them from a reputable grower.
7. A Good Scale
After all’s said and done, you’ll want to know how much you were able to harvest, right? A good weed scale can help you keep track of your yields from year to year and help you figure out which techniques work best for you.
When to Start
If you’re growing indoors, there’s not really a right or wrong time to start your grow. In an outdoor environment, weed starts to flower in the Fall when the days start to get shorter. That’s why we replicate this indoors with the 12/12 lighting cycle when we want the plant to flower. But, to get the best harvest it’s better to let the plant grow in its pre-flowering vegetative state for at least a month, until it gets big enough to give off a good yield of buds. The sooner you start, the sooner you can enjoy your own custom pot, so the very best time to start is right now.
What to Do
Gather your supplies. Plant your clone firmly into the planting medium in your container of choice. Deep enough that it’s supported and can stand up straight. If you’re using seeds, dig a hole, place them in, and cover with 1 to 2 inches of soil. Place the plant either in your sunny window or in your grow cabinet, whichever setup you decide on.
Do not overwater the plant. This is one of the classic mistakes that beginners tend to make, and it can lead to fungal or mold growth, which you definitely don’t want. Speaking of water, most of the water we get from the tap is treated with chlorine at some point. Unfortunately, even this small amount of chlorine can really hinder your plant’s growth and negatively affect your harvest. To combat this, leave water out in an open container for at least 24 hours before you water your plant with it. This will allow the chlorine to evaporate off, and your plant will definitely thank you for the extra effort with a more bountiful harvest. The easiest way to make sure your plant is getting enough water, but not too much, is to only water when the soil is dry. This likely won’t be every day, but every day you should do a touch test and if the soil feels bone dry, drench it with water. Then, don’t water again until the next time the soil feels totally dry.
Let your plant grow in the vegetative state until it is strong, large, and healthy. This should take at least a month of the 18/6 light cycle. Once you feel confident that it’s big enough to support a healthy harvest, switch it to the 12/12 cycle and watch the flowers come in. During the flowering stage it is very important that it gets all the dark time it needs WITHOUT any light leaks, so use all your willpower not to peek at it when it’s “sleeping”. Doing so could cause the plant undue stress and it may even start to go hermaphrodite, which will ruin your harvest, so don’t do it! Not even once.
Once the plant is flowering, feel free to add extra nutrients to the soil once per week. Don’t do it any more than this, or you could give your plant nutrient burn. Follow the directions on the packaging of your specific nutrients, but most of them are designed to be added to water, so just add the designated amount to your aired-out water once a week when you were going to be watering the plant anyway. Don’t incorporate an extra watering session just to add nutrients if the soil isn’t dry yet.
After 8 to 10 weeks of flowering, you will be ready to harvest. You’ll know your plant is ready for harvest by a number of signs. In general, it will look as if your plant is starting to decline in health. The pistils of the plant may turn red, resin on the buds will start to turn brown, and the leaves of the plant will yellow and start to fall off. This is good news for you! You’re ready to undertake your first ever harvest of your own premium bud. Carefully cut off each and every sticky bud that you’ve worked so hard to grow over these last few months. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for!
All that’s left now is to dry and cure your bud. The easiest way to do this is to hang your buds upside down in a cool, dark location. It’s vital to have a cool, dark place to keep mold growth at bay and also ensure that chlorophyll production in the plant has stopped. Leave them to dry out slowly over the course of 4 to 10 days, and don’t use any fans or heaters to try and speed up the process.

 

[roots69]

The Short Guide to Picking the Best Fertilizer for Your Marijuana Plants


The Short Guide to Picking the Best Fertilizer for Your Marijuana Plants
Fertilizers feed and nourish plants. Using too much of the wrong thing will curse or kill your plants. And, that applies to cannabis plants, too.
Whether you’re growing grass indoors or out, organically or not, or in a kitchen window or hothouse, you should feed their growth. Here’s a short guide to picking the best fertilizer for your marijuana plants.
The key fertilizer elements:
Growing things need trace minerals, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. You work these amendments into the soil before planting, and without official standards, they vary from one fertilizer brand to another.
But, you can look for the N-P-K on the label. These are chemical table symbols for Nitrogen-Phosphorous-Potassium. These appear as a three number sequence representing the element’s percentage of the weight. Still, you are left to trust to the manufacturer’s labeling.

• Nitrogen: The growth of all flowering things depends on Nitrogen. Natural sources include blood meal, guano, and manure. Nitrogen is key to the photosynthesis that generates chlorophyll, converts carbon to sugar, energizes rapid growth, and increases foliage volume.
• Phosphorous: They refine phosphorous from phosphate, process it from bird and bat guano, and grind it from bone meal. It really goes to work when the plants reach flowering stage. Blooming needs phosphorous feeding and responds with bud health, volume, and density.
• Potassium: An alkali metal, potassium markets as potash to avoid unstable reactions with water and air. So, you must read labels to exclude potassium oxide because the K2O is caustic. Potash labeled K2SO4, K2SO4, 2MgSO4, and K2Mg2(SO4) should help strengthen plant immunity and improve flower growth and bloom.

Farmers committed to strictly organic products mix their own fertilizers, but even they risk undesirable chemical balances and reactions. Purely organic or homemade fertilizers release nutrients slowly, and that reduces the risk of overdoing it.

How to fertilize:
Fertilizer differs from plant food. Feeding plants helps them grow. But, fertilizers make them produce. All soils have some level of N-P-K, but growth will use it up without supplementation.
Cannabis fertilizers are readily available and vary from need to need. Because they pair fertilizers to the growth stage, you want to buy and use them as instructed. And, each strain has its own schedule of rooting, budding, and flowering.

1. Dissolve the fertilizer in water when irrigating, but you must flush all fertilizers from the soil over with clean water through the two weeks prior to harvest.
2. Spray leaves of larger plants with fertilizer solution and watch leaves for signs of nutrient deficiency.
3. Choose potting soils with a pH value of seven in high organic content, but because N-P-K lowers the pH value, you should add calcium as needed.
4. Fertilize and water according to plant size, pot size, and soil type understanding that too much water or too much fertilizer will damage or kill the plant.
5. Avoid concentrated dosages by fertilizing every two weeks after the fifth week until plants flower.

The key growth stages:

Germination: Seeds and clones do not need help in their earliest stage. There’s no sense feeding them extra nutrients until they have developed a tap root.
Vegetation: N-P-K requirements change through the growth period. For example, seedlings look for a 2-1-2 ratio. At three to four weeks, the early plants want more nitrogen at 4-2-3. And, at five to six weeks, they need even more nitrogen at 10-5-7. You also should follow manufacturer’s instructions for growth in coco air or hydroponics.
Flowering: As the plants bloom, they need a phosphorous boost. As the respective strain’s schedule approaches flowering, you can use a 7-7-7 mixture for about a week before to help the plant transition. Next, increased phosphorous enters the balance. At first flowering, the ratio is 5-10-7. Mid-flowering needs 6-15-10, and late stage flowering benefits from 4-10-7.
Some recommendations
The most effective and efficient fertilizers may be handmade. Compost and meals do the job, but they remain inconvenient.
It makes good sense to favor product lines that offer each of the needs for your farming. Some lines offer soils, liquids, nutrients, and fertilizers, each of them balanced with its related products. Fox Farms and Flower Power, for example, offer total care with feeds configured for each stage of marijuana farming.
Scotts® Miracle-Gro® with its 24-8-16 ratio is water soluble and low cost. Some users complain of an ammonia taste, and some growers report burning plants out. But, Scotts has purchased General Hydroponics to enter the cannabis economy more fully.
Milorganite® is a high-nitrogen, organic innovation produced by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District. The reclaimed sewage water and by-products are processed through a complex system that adds microbes that consume the nutrient. They then settle to the bottom before they are kiln-dried and tested.
Dyna-Gro™ has its own line of high phosphorous hydroponics. But, they also offer total planning through Foliage-Pro®, GROW™, and BLOOM™. The Dyna-Gro Bloom’s 3-12-6 ration fills most cannabis growth and flowering needs.
Potassium silicate increases production of resin glands which hold the THC. Larger glands mean more THC and more strain potency. Available as liquid or powder under many labels like AgSil®, potassium silicate resists fungus, reduces water loss, and increases growth and yield.
What you’re left with
There is no single best fertilizer for your marijuana plants. So many factors come into play that you need personal flexibility and a lot of knowledge.
If you raise a plant or two in the house, it calls for one strategy, just as you might have for caring for succulents or violets. If you raise many plants in a greenhouse, you must bring lighting and irrigation into the mix. If you raise plants in a natural outdoor environment, you must adapt fertilizers and their administration to their biosphere, including temperature, aeration, and rain.
Try not to over buy. Study the strains you are planting, their respective climate tolerance, and the growth cycle. Test your local soil or purchase soil developed for marijuana productivity.
And, remember, yield volume is not the only metric of productivity. Only experience will prove what fertilizer helps grow products with the best flavor, aroma, and impact for you.

 

[youngfocus]

23 pages of fire!!!!! Thanks for this thread. I dabble in making my own Tintures and now capsules of CBD. This thread has given me the information to be confident enough to know what I am talking about and produce to the public. Appreciate it!

 

[roots69]

Which Growing Lights Are Better for Indoor Weed Plants?


Bringing the light indoors? Easier said than done! Home growers have argued for years which growing lights are better for your indoor weed plants. Sooner or later, you must make a choice.
You should start where it matters. It’s about size. What you need for raising three plants in your kitchen window and what you need for a total crop in your garage, there’s a big difference in what you need.
Bearing that in mind, here are some of the pros and cons of the most commonly used grow lights.
What the weed wants you to know.
It’s simple: more light equals more growth. Photosynthesis converts light to plant growth. So, the quality of the light affects their health. As Colorado Pot Guide says, “Cannabis cultivation has specific light requirements. It is not enough to shine a bright light on the plant and be done with it.”

• Without sufficient light, plants stretch tall and leafless to find it. At the same time, powerful light will shrivel the plants. So, you need to balance and distribute the intensity.
• Plants do not need or expect sunlight all day and all night. They prefer a circadian rhythm with some darkness, resting and growing after producing flowers during the day. So, you want some balance in the light’s duration.
• Each color in the light spectrum triggers different effect. The bluer colors “cool” to prompt vegetation; the redder colors “warm” to produce flowering. And, trying to please every plant with its preferred spectrum can complicate things.

Photosynthesis splits oxygen from hydrogen and produces glucose that fuels plant growth. But, light also heats and dries the environment. Cannabis plants like heavy lighting, but that means you must adjust for air temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide level.
Ilovegrowingmarijuana.com suggests, “you want a minimum of 30,000 lm [lumens] per 10 square feet in your grow room. With the proper balancing of the environment, you can go all the way up to 80,000 lm per 10 square feet. Don’t do this unless you are planning on devoting a lot of time, energy, and money into making sure that the environment is constantly getting the necessary tweaks.”
Fluorescent Bulbs

The long fluorescent tube has been the old school reliable and still have many benefits. They produce a low level of heat and a constant light distribution. That makes them perfect for seedlings and baby plants.
They are cheap to buy and operate and will long outlast any incandescent bulb. Of course, there’s a downside there because the low cool spectrum does not promote flowering.
Compact Fluorescent Grow Lights (CFL)
CFLs are fluorescent specifically designed for raising indoor plants. Readily available, they have become more affordable with their increasing popularity.
Unlike the fluorescent tube, the CFL fits a standard light socket. They come in varying wattages from 40W up. They also come in varying color temperatures like bright daylight, cool blues, and warm reds. With the right kind of lighting rig, you can include a variety of colors and power them in automatic sequence.
That rigging can be a problem for your small environment. So, they best suit the smallest setups where you can move or change them at will. CFLs for not produce a lot of light or heat, so you need them near the plant. That makes them good for seedlings.
Check out WeedBulbs: PowerMAX – Single Stage/Full Spectrum CFL, SunLight 125 Fluorescent Fixture with Lamp, and Vivosun Horticulture CFL Grow Light Bulb.
Metal Halide (MH) Lights
Metal halide imitates natural daylight (6000K) with a cool light that helps vegetative growth, and warmer red versions are also available.
Their long life is a plus, but the power they drain is a negative. Operation requires special lamps or ballasts, and they the rigs can be very costly.
High Pressure Sodium (HPS) Lighting

HPS lights are super for flowering stages because of their warm spectrum energy. If you want plants to flower and fruit, go HPS. Much more energy efficient than incandescent, they need some balance with a cooler spectrum or plants will grow tall, wispy, and washed out.
You might try Apollo Horticulture 400 Watt Grow Light Digital Dimmable HPS MH System, iPower 600-Watt Light Digital Dimmable HPS MH Grow Light System, or Hydrofarm 150-Watt Mini Sunburst with HPS Lamp.
Light Emitting Diodes (LED)

LEDs are superbly energy efficient with nearly no wattage loss. They provide the most light compared to operating costs. Because they produce less heat, they eliminate scorching and burning, and that low heat reduces air-conditioning expenditures. They are programmed to produce a specific spectrum color temperature and can be rigged to produce a dual spectrum simultaneously. Still, they are expensive to rig and light over fewer square foot.
LED grow lights consist of diodes on a board and are rated by lumens per watt or COBs (“Chips on Board”). In the long run, that will save you money, but the set up for any sizable crop is going to cost thousands. And, until the industry sets some standards, you risk buying poor quality.
You might shop Advanced Platinum P-Series LED Grow Lights, GalaxyHydro LED Grow Lights, or Roleadro Chip on Board (COB) LED Grow Lights.
High-Intensity Discharge (HID) Lamps
HIDs include the previously mentioned MH and HPS lights. The MH good for vegetation, and the HPS good for flowering.
You can now find combination setups including bulbs, ballast, and reflectors. They cost a little more at the beginning, but they set up easily.
Unfortunately, they take a lot of power increasing electricity costs and produce a lot of heat needing exhaust and ventilation. And, because they degrade in time, their lifespan is shortened requiring periodic placement.
What’s your best bet?
What’s right for your plans depends on many factors. You must deal with temperature, air quality, and ventilation. These are largely functions of the size of the space. And, you must consider the irrigation system and growing medium.
For the average grower with basic to medium experience and know-how, the cost of installation and maintenance will rule the decision making. They are both a function of what you are growing and how much production you want. It takes research and good advice on what works best for your plants in your space.

 

[roots69]

23 pages of fire!!!!! Thanks for this thread. I dabble in making my own Tintures and now capsules of CBD. This thread has given me the information to be confident enough to know what I am talking about and produce to the public. Appreciate it!

Good luck in those tinctures and capsules, bruh.. I mess around with making tinctures also, I made one and let it sit in the cabinet for almost a year with a big bud inside.. Bro that was the best stuff Ive ever made.. And the best part, I could get blasted and not one person would know. If you need sum tips on making tinctures, feel free to ask. I have no problem sharing that information..

 

[roots69]

Can Hydroponic Cannabis Cultivation Really Help You Get Bigger Yields in Less Time?

One sign of the growing “legitimacy” of all things cannabis the increasing amount of scholarly research on a subject matter that used to be “hush-hush.” The interests in the environmental potential of hydroponic farming in general has drawn researchers to focus on its application in cannabis cultivation.
And, there is increasing evidence that hydroponic cannabis cultivation really can help you get bigger yields in less time.
New Zealand, for example!
As an island nation, New Zealand has only so much arable acreage. Hydroponic farming has the potential to raise more per square foot in more manageable seasons.
Gleynis Knight lead a group of university researchers out of Auckland in a study published in Forensic Science International. The study was actually commissioned to provide evidence in court proceedings against illegal cultivation, to help courts determine the severity of the offense, to determine the income derived.
“The aim of this study was to ascertain the potential yield of Cannabis female flowering head which could be obtained from crops of six plants grown in a given area using a particular growing method (ScrOG).”
The research focused on three tracks:

1. Observing phenotypes
2. Analyzing THC levels of the plants grown
3. Analyzing DNA

And, their results showed:

1. Of the 18 plants grown, the yield varied between a maximum of 47.27 oz. and 11.99 oz. of dry, groomed female flowering head per plant, with an average of just over 1.5 lb. of head per plant.
2. It is possible to obtain THC levels up to a maximum of 30% from Cannabis plants available in New Zealand.
3. DNA analysis distinguished distinct groups of plants in general agreement with the phenotypic variation observed. Two plants with Sativa characteristics produced significantly higher THC levels.

Great Britain, for example!
C. Bone and S.J. Waldron represented Forensic Science Service laboratories in Birmingham and Chepstow respectively in research published by United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC). This was another attempt to analyze the “illicit” indoor cultivation of cannabis.
Their conclusions about the increasing shift to indoor cultivation effectively analyzed the role of hydroponics:

• Fast growth. Hydroponics maintain a constant supply of nutrients of known composition and to control the number of hours of light from powerful electric lights. This accelerates vegetative growth and induces flowering at will. This means earlier yields and more harvests a year.
• High yields. Less competition for nutrients and water means less extensive root growth, so more plants grow per unit area, from three to four harvests achieved annually.
• Clean and sterile. Inert sterile growing media make it easier to maintain a clean, infection-free environment, reducing the potential for pest diseases.
• Lower risk. The risk of overwatering is automatically diminished in hydroponics because the root region is well aerated.
• Prolific. The cannabis plant can complete its growth cycle, producing more female flowers for harvesting.
• Quality control. Plants can be cloned from cuttings taken from specially selected mother plants that are known to be of a variety high in THC. The result is similar female plants with a high THC content.
• Clandestine. Hydroponic systems allow people to raise cannabis out of public view and law enforcement scrutiny.

Their study of hydroponic cultivation observed cuttings are “typically grow to a height of about a metre before they are transferred to another area to flower.” High-wattage lamps are used, and timers reduce the hours of light per day to prompt the plants to flower. If they are not pollinated, they produce prolific female flowers high in THC. If these processes are followed properly and the irrigation feeds adequate nutrients, “three to four harvests a year are easily possible.”
The internet verdict, for example!

The internet is packed with opinions on a feud between those who favor organic cultivation and the hydroponic proponents. Opinions fill forums with views pro and con.
For instance, according to Independent Drug Monitoring Unit, hydroponically cultivated plants tend to yield the same as those raised organically. More specifically, short-medium plants yield the same, but taller plants yield more.
But, THC Farmer disagrees, “I have to respectfully disagree that hydroponics will yield higher than organics. There is a difference between growth rate and the yield. Because something grows faster does not mean it yields more in the same space. If you factor in time for veg growth, hydroponics will have the edge in yield. If you have a separate veg area, that timing issue is irrelevant.”
Perhaps, the Colorado Pot Guide puts it the most clearly, asserting that hydroponic growth (which includes any method that does not use soil as its growing medium):

• Maximizes yields
• Provides just the right amount of nutrients
• Avoids soil borne diseases and pests
• Larger yields
• Controls problems more easily
• Maximizes use of space
• Faster yields
• Produces better looking product
• Automated cultivation

Grow Weed Easy makes similar claims:

• Faster vegetative growth than any other growing method, which can result in harvests that come in sooner.
• Experienced hydroponic growers usually get bigger yields than experienced soil growers - given the same conditions.
• Of all the grow types, hydroponic growers are least likely have their garden attacked by bugs or pests. Many pests need soil as part of their lifecycle, and many growers accidentally introduce pests into their grow room when buying new soil.

Frequent unsettled arguments claim soil raised cannabis has better taste. It’s clear that hydroponic cultivation comes at a higher price in terms of gear and maintenance.
The hydroponic future
The cannabis economy will determine the future of cannabis farming. If hydroponic methods produce more volume, more frequently, and more efficiently it will rule weed farming. It simply enables maximum and quality controlled outputs in processes that enable the seed to sale tracking state regulation will require. If you’re look to invest in the canna-economy, hydroponics offer the best option.

 

[roots69]

6 Tools Every Cannabis Grower Should Have


LEAF is a state-of-the-art fully self-contained and remotely monitored cannabis grow box. At 27” wide by 25” deep by 42” high, it looks like a small refrigerator you can fit into any room or closet.
It holds and grows one plant with automatic watering, fertilizing, and lighting. It includes an odor filter, humidity controls, toolbox, and HD camera. You can operate or monitor the garden with an iOS and Android app.
This may be the future of home appliances, but it doesn’t seem like home gardening and lacks the nitty-gritty feel of dirt farming.
The average cannabis grower, who wants to raise a few plants, perhaps for medical purposes, enjoys the hands-on gardening.
So, here are 6 tools every cannabis grower should have:
1. Pots are not all equal. People have used everything from coffee cans to mason jars to start their growth. But, you should pay more attention to the pot, bucket, or container you use.
Smart Pots are fabric containers that prevent overwatering, correct bad soil, encourage root expansion, and prevent root rot. They come in various sizes, but the five-gallon container will produce a healthy plant.
These pots are soft-sided and fabric-aerated containers rigid enough to hold their shape. The fabric aeration allows air in and excess heat out. At 12 x 0.5 x 12.5 inches, the five-gallon pot works in the outdoor garden, indoor grow station, or large farm.
2. Scope it out. Healthy growth depends on visual scrutiny for progress, pests, and disease. Growers will use old school jeweler’s loupe or those magnifying eye-glasses use by jewelers and watchmakers.
Modern tech has introduced LED lit loupes like those marketed by GrowBright and Dreame. You might do better with something like the CC-JJ - 60x Handheld Mini. It’s a pocket microscope with LED illumination. And, there are loupes that connect to your smartphone where you can view and photograph the stalks and leaves of your plants.
3. Support your plants. You should know what to expect from your plants in terms of potential growth, high and wide. It’s up to you to prune and shape the growth. And, for this, you need some common garden tools.
Vinyl tapes are available at any garden store or nursery. But, you might invest in a KingSo Tying Machine. This stainless steel, plier-shaped tool dispenses tape and, then, straps and seals the tape around branches or leaves.
Cannabis plants need pruning to encourage growth and flowering. While there are hundreds of shears available, you should favor long-nosed clippers like the Tabor Tools K-17 straight blade shears favored by florists for thinning and trimming or harvesting.
A DeroTeno Mini Garden Tool Set will help dig, weed, aerate, and transplant. A combination of polished wood and non-corrosive iron, these tools are meant for miniature gardens.
4. Custom eyewear protects your eyes when working under the bright grow lights, LED and HPS lighting. Low-priced but effective Apollo UV400 LED grow room glasses also protect against UV rays. Or, you may prefer the Apollo UV400 fit wear that covers your prescription glasses.
Both products meet ANSI Z87+ and CSA Z94.3 safety standards. They wrap around to protect from all angles. And, they come with a warranty and protective pouch.
5. Soil needs regular testing for its pH factor. The Kany Soil Moisture Meter is cheap enough to place on in every plant. It’ a 3-in-1 light and pH acid tester.
You insert the device’s probe into the soil until it can stand on its own. It requires no batteries to measure moisture at the root level to manage watering needs. And, it measures pH to tell you when it is time to correct it.
You need a tester that will read the chemicals present in your grow media. Growers must know what nutrients the plants need and when. The Xidada Combo Digital PH Meter & TDS Meter Set, for example, will measure parts per million to display the chemical content of the nutrient-added water you use for irrigation at different stages of growth.
6. Cannabis plants depend on ventilation. They need the airflow to reduce their pest levels, breathe easier, and moderate their temperature. But, they also want CO2-rich air, and if you are growing your plants in a closet or small grow room, you must help them along.
Plants are passive, but they still need active inflow and outflow air circulation. They are happier when there’s enough air to rustle their leaves. That takes a fan that will move a cubic foot per minute (CFM), so you must select yours with the volume of the grow area in mind.
The IdealAir Hurricane 171 CFM 4” Inline Fan comes with a fan-speed controller. It comes in other sizes appropriate for your grow area. They all come AC/DC brush-type motors, and commercial grade steel.
Or, consider the Yield Lab Pro Series Inline Hush Duct Fan with its variable speed controller for intake and exhaust flow. The 6” fan easily handles 390 CFM to manage odors, heat, and humidity.
Tools every cannabis grower should have
You’ll need more, of course. You may need a grow tent or box. You certainly need a light fixture proportioned to space and plant temperature needs. You want the best plant medium and nutrients. And, of course, you need good seed or clones to start your garden.
The needs for hydroponic gardens differ, of course, but you don’t have to buy into the idea that you never have enough tools. If you’re growing indoors, you need what’s necessary for a gardening approach where you can closely monitor the plant. If you’re growing outdoors, the tools will multiple with the square footage under cultivation. But, you must have a lot under growth before you add a tool shack.
You can grow any garden with a minimum of special tools. Almost all tools also work for your flower or vegetable garden. So, if you are starting small, you can take the advice of your nursery pro on how to plant, transplant, and cultivate herbs. That’s what you’re dealing with after all.

 

[roots69]

A Complete Beginner's Guide to Cannabis Seeds


Cannabis growers don’t make the headlines. Still, as states approve permission to grow, sell, and possess, citizens can and will grow their own. They may use their harvest for personal recreational use or medical therapy. But, grow they will!
Growing cannabis is not like any other houseplant. If you plan to nurture a few plants in your kitchen window or a sizeable crop in a grow room, you must start with seeds. That takes little more education than you’d think.
A Complete Beginner’s Guide to Cannabis Seeds

• It takes two! Holly, gingko biloba, willow, yew, laurel, and many other plants are dioecious. That is, to reproduce, you need a male and a female plant. Cannabis, too, is dioecious.

So, to create the most potent marijuana, female plants are kept from male plant contact to avoid a drain on their flowers. The most valued cannabis product is without seeds (sinsemilla), plump with resin pods.
But, if you want seeds, you must mate the male and female. Once the male pollinates the female, female produces seeds. Unfortunately, that will kill her, and the seeds will drop.

• Some plants cross-gender. They become monoecious as the result of some environmental stress. A Darwinian survival mechanism, such plants produce both male and female flowers.

You can produce the hermaphroditic condition intentionally. Feminized seeds produce buds on every plant. You can feminize the seeds with treatments that fool the natural sexual development. Growers may use Silver Thiosulfate, Colloidal Silver, or Rodelization methods. But, it’s not a plan for beginners.
Because most feminized seeds produce imitations of their female parent, they tend to produce male and female flowers. Because that reduces the yield and potency, most professional growers avoid them altogether and not use them for breeding.

• Buy seeds smart. It’s tough to recognize sex in seeds; it’s easy to find seeds around your growing plants. In both case, you want to trust credible sources. High Times listed these sources best for 2017:
• Swamp Boys Seeds developed McFly White Fire #3, Nookies, Triangle Kush, Trigerian, Nookies, The White, and more. They distribute through SeedsHereNow.com, SoleSeeds.com, NeptuneSeedBank.com, Greenline Organics Seed Bank, and other authorized dealers.
• Source Genetics won awards for Cookie Monster, Gluekie Monster, and Schlemons. When Brian Kaiser interviewed the legendary O. G. Kush Man for Frank at Square Space, Kraiser opened with, “The THC levels of his flowers are incredible and their flavors are equally impressive.”
• Top Dawg Seeds, creator of JJ’s Nigerian Haze, Tres Dawg, and Star Dawg, offers scores of strains through dispensaries throughout the Bay Area and other locations in California.

There are many more reputable seed breeders and dealers. But, with a little self-education, you can prepare yourself for a visit to your dispensary where your budtender should be able to pick out for strain, quality, and growing support.

• Seeds want to germinate. They are engineered to do so. In the wild, they would fall to the ground, and under the right conditions, they would sprout and grow. But, you want to do this more carefully to get the value from the price you paid.

The right conditions allow an epicotyl to sprout from the seed. Some growers use tweezers to fold the seeds in a damp paper towel until the epicotyl breaks through a crack in the seed. It will be the source of the plant stem and leaves.
The easier way may be to place the seed 0.25-inch into a potting soil in a starter pot or plug. Covering the seed with the soil, you keep it moist and warm (70°F) until you have a seedling.

• Invest in the best. Quality cannabis comes from quality seeds. It helps if your seeds come with an explanation of their genetics. Breeders take pride in the products they create over time, blending and merging genetics for health, safety, flavor, and psycho-physical effects.

You can observe some qualities in color, size, and feel. In most cases, you want to favor plump round seeds. You want seeds that are dark and rich in color. And, you want to confirm the seeds are free of mold and pathogens.

• Store seeds well. When you consider price per seed, cannabis seeds are not cheap. The cost reflects the science and patience that produced them, the risk taken by breeders, and the expense of distribution. So, you should care for your seeds.

If you grow at home, the grow space decides how many plants you can raise at a time. Most growers try to cycle their grow, so they always have something blooming. But, you must take care of those extra seeds or seeds waiting planting.
Seeds should be handled with care. Touching them risks transference of your germs to the seeds and the final product. So, most growers use gloves and tweezers to handle them. They store them well in containers certified as organic-worthy. They prefer amber glass containers with tight lids stored in dark cool places. Refrigerating or freezing seeds or storing in plastic kitchen bags may compromise the moisture and degrade the seeds over time.
All you need to know
Growing cannabis takes time and patience. Cannabis seeds, seedlings, and plants do not take care of themselves. Raising weed from seed is not like planting and ignoring a philodendron houseplant. It is more like fussing over homegrown African violets or orchids.
For those who care about their strain of choice, it is worth the trouble. For many, it is a fascinating hobby. And, most of all, it saves money for and provides a source for medical marijuana needs.

 

[roots69]

How to Use Cannabis Flowers to Make Hash


No one knows the origin of hashish. It’s not that they have forgotten or lost the history while stoned. Hash has just been around so long that only speculation can nail down the first use.
George Nahas, M.D. at Columbia University says, “Cannabis was used as an intoxicant @hang) in India and Iran as far back as 1000 B.C.” Dr. Nahas didn’t go back far enough. He reasons that, because “the holy Koran, which formulates in detail all of the rules of daily Muslim living, does not forbid explicitly the consumption of cannabis,” cannabis had no significant cultural presence until the 9th-century, well after Mohammed’s passing.
The words “hash” and “hashish” are attributed to Arabic for “grass.” (No pun intended!) And, its distribution widened across the known world at the time of the Arab supremacy stretching across and around the Mediterranean and East to India. The Arab presence, the international trade routes created by Alexander the Great and reconfigured by Marco Polo, these all enabled the transport of cannabis in dozens of forms.
While we know cannabis was used for recreational and medical use further back in Asian history, hash is nonetheless attributed to Sheik Hasan ibn al-Sabbah (circa 1090). He led a group of young Muslims with promises of paradise if they killed the Christian Crusaders. This cult of Hashishin (assassins) were correctly or incorrectly credited with the stigma attached to hashish use.
In any case, the geopolitical migration of Islam, Mongols, Sufis, and more expanded the taste for the psychoactive and medical benefits of hashish to modern Afghanistan, Greece, India, Kashmir, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, Syria, Turkestan, and Turkey. And, travels to those areas and wars in those regions have facilitated its spread throughout the world.
How to make your own hash
The history draws attention to the use of cannabis in this form for centuries, partially testifying to its efficacy as recreational or medical. Because its popular use during the Islamic influence was not linked with smoking, we should look at how it’s made. And, because the legalization of cannabis has made possession and use easier, we should look at how you can make it, too.
Hash is derived from the resin excreted by the terpenes in flowering female cannabis plants. Taken simply, it is very potent because, with 10-15% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), it can outdo most marijuana.
Hash is a concentrate where all the cannabis’ strength is pressed into consumable forms from capsules to snack bars.
Preparation
The power in hash lies in the trichomes you must separate from the plant. They contain all the “good” stuff in addition to the terpenes that carry the strain’s aroma. The trichomes are then pressed into balls or blocks.
You can buy kief at most dispensaries. But you can make your own fresh by grinding your flowers with a 3-chamber grinder. It’s the fine powder that drops through the grinder’s sieve. If you want a bigger stash, you can opt for other methods:
♦ Blend it! You can use a household blender or food processor. Adding your cannabis trim, you will cover the product with water and ice three-quarters full. Blending it for 1-1.5 minutes should produce an aerated frothy mix.
Using a fine sieve, cheesecloth, or coffee filter, you can clean the mixture as you pour it into a large Mason jar. At the end of 30-minutes, you should see the hash sediment at the bottom. Being careful not to lose the hash, you will pour off 75% of the water slowly.
You then repeat parts of the process. Filling the jar to the top with more ice water, you put back the lid and let it settle for 3-minutes. Then, you filter the contents once more to dissolve as much of the plant material as possible.
Finally, you pour off the remaining water through a filter until you have a damp cold mash. Once it has dried, you have what you want.
This is one of the easiest and most popular forms of making hash. It involves sifting cannabis trimmings through a fine sieve in order to create a highly potent kief which is later pressed into a block.
♦ Sift it! This recipe calls for to freeze your cannabis for the night in sealable Ziplock bags. You will also need a silkscreen place above a larger sheet of baking (parchment) paper.
Spreading the frozen cannabis across the silkscreen, you just use your hands to move the trim around the screener. The repeated movements should separate the trichomes which, then, fall through to the paper below.
You will see the kief come off on your hands, but you want to move the trim around until the kief accumulates below. You are looking to gather 10-20% of the original amount in kief powder. For instance, 50g of cannabis should produce 10g.
You can use a credit card or other straight edge to scrape the kief from your hands. Spreading the kief across the baking paper in a thick layer, you top it with another layer of paper to hand press the kief contents into a cake. Using that same credit card, you can cut the cake into usable blocks.
♦ Roll it! If you like using your hands and have a lot of time on your hands, you can remove the trichomes by hand. This method does not use cannabis trimmings. You need non-dried cannabis buds—and very clean hands.
Removing the leaves and stems, you place the cannabis bud between your palms and gently roll the bud in a circle as the kief falls off and comes off on your hands. You don’t use much pressure, but you will see the black resin clinging to your palms and fingers.
Using a straight edge, you can scrape the hash from your hands onto clean parchment paper below. The first attempt can be discouraging because it produces so little. But repeat the process with other buds until you have the supply you need.
♦ Shop for it! As I said, you can buy it at your dispensary. But you might also look for more sophisticated tools and equipment. PurePressure markets bubble hash washing equipment. Bubble Magic has a 5-gallon, post-harvest, washing machine. And, BUBBLEBAGDUDE sells a 5-bag, 5-gallon process at a low price.
You should see more competition for this market as legalization expands to invite consumers to manage their likes and rights better.

 

[roots69]

12 Most Shocking Cannabis Statistics You Won’t Believe


There is a world out there that thinks it knows all there is to know about cannabis. They consider it bad or good, and nothing else matters because they are so convinced they are right.
But, bad for you and good for you are opinions, not facts. Statistics are numbers in which people see trends and probabilities. And, the firmer the probability, the more likely you have facts that matter.
12 most shocking cannabis statistics you won’t believe
Well, this may overstate what you do or not believe. But, some cannabis statistics make you think.
Most of the numbers summarized here are taken from the Marijuana Factbook 2017 (available to the public) and New Frontier Data (available for a fee), both of which report on statistical data of interest to cannabis investors.

1. Some 69 percent of Americans surveyed by Pew Research think alcohol is worse for your health than cannabis. Even if marijuana becomes as widely available as alcohol, 63 percent still think alcohol does more harm. It’s also true the decline in cigarette smoking will cross paths with the increase in cannabis sales
2. In 2017, 61 percent believe marijuana should be legalized, and that doubles the 31 percent who approved in 2000. That trend translates into the support for legalization (53%) passing the opposition (44%). That support rose 11 points between 2010 and 2013.
3. The demographics of cannabis popularity indicate 40 percent favor legalization as do 68 percent of Millennials. Only 29 percent of The Great Generation want legalization, but 50 percent of Baby Boomers do.
4. Just because the majority favor the legalization of cannabis, 57 percent would still object to a medical or recreational cannabis dispensary opening in their neighborhood, Moreover, 62 percent would object to people smoking cannabis in public.
5. In 2016, 12 percent of Americans admitted using marijuana at least once while 49 percent say they have tried cannabis, 7.3 percent in the previous month.
6. During 2017, legal sales of cannabis produced $5.8 to $6.6 billion in revenues. And, based on that data, reports expect $7.9 to $9.7 billion during 2018. If you sort of average that out, you might see a 43 percent year-on-year growth. That exceeds the growth of the finance and insurance, private and professional services, and information industrial sectors.
7. Even though only six states permit legal sales, the increase in revenues will come from recreational cannabis sales, perhaps, in California alone. The same trajectory puts legal sales at $22 billion by 2022, a 27 percent increase each year.
8. The Marijuana Factbook forecasts an economic impact of between $28 billion and $34 billion in 2018 and $75 billion by 2022. The math says this forecast assumes a multiplier effect of 3.5. That is, every $1 consumers or patients spend on medical or recreational cannabis will create another economic benefit of $2.50.
9. This growth should build a million new jobs across the United States in the next 10 years. Currently, the canna-industry employs 125,000 to 160,000 people. If the growth continues, that means more job opportunities than healthcare.
10. Experts estimate the legal and black-market demand for cannabis add up to $52.5 billion. But, given the actual legalized revenues and their rollout, it means more than $46 billion in sales occur in off-market sales.
11. Medical cannabis revenues should reach $5.9 to $7.3 billion in 2022. But, recreational marijuana should hit $12.1 to $14.8 billion in 2022. That doubles the sales of medical cannabis.
12. If legalized in all 50 states, medical and recreational cannabis would create at least a combined $131.8 billion in federal tax revenue between 2017 and 2025 from an estimated 15 percent retail sales tax, payroll tax deductions, and business tax revenue.

What’s the takeaway?
Speaking as one who hates statistics and did what he could to avoid courses in statistics, I am both impressed and skeptical.

• Statistics are not hard evidence. At best, they suggest probabilities. That’s like constructing a bridge with approximations.
• Currently, the statistical sample may be too small to make reliable forecasts. After all, these numbers are extrapolations on experience in only a few states. The older the experience and the more population represented, the more narrowly valuable the probabilities.

Now, it’s true that what’s true of California is true of a dense population segment, but it really doesn’t speak for the Dakotas or Carolinas.

• Surveys that depend on self-disclosure are notoriously unreliable. Participants will shade the truth on their admission of doing things illegal, disreputable, or socially stigmatized. For example, no one puts much trust in the self-disclosure of teens regarding sexual experience.
• Scales, graphs, and charts are metaphors for the numbers. They purport to display the statistical base, but they are only visual approximations of calculation approximations.
• Statistics are usually secondary data. That is, most of the statistics available to the public come from reworking or reimaging primary data.
• Statistics tend to emphasize correlation, not causation. Statistics focuses on comparisons and contrasts. This is horizontal thinking not vertical. That doesn’t make it incorrect, but it narrows its value.
• Another problem with statistical analysis is the tendency to jump to unjustified conclusions about causal relationships. In fact, statistical analysis does not prove a causal connection between two factors.

This is not to discount the 12 most shocking cannabis statistics listed here. It asks you to keep them in perspective. They are prepared for and by marketing interests. So, you might notice the wide range in the forecasts. You might also notice that if all the cannabis industry reaches all these forecasts, it will also mean a fundamental redirection of the U.S. economy, surpassing the exports, supporting the nation’s infrastructure, and developing the industries necessary to a vital economy. That may be the most shocking forecast.

 

[roots69]

How to Talk to Loved Ones about the Benefits of Cannabis


When it comes to educating others about the benefits of cannabis, you seem to be talking down or talking up. You might find yourself explaining the good and bad to your kids or helping your elders appreciate what’s in for them.
How to talk to the teens
You may feel you can’t tell your teens anything that they will listen to or that will change their minds, But, parenting still requires you to have “the talk” about marijuana.
Even regular users understand that teens should wait until they are mature enough to make adult decisions. The fact is that most adolescents do not use cannabis, so the argument that “everybody’s doing it” doesn’t hold. And, the fact that sound science indicates that cannabis use can alter the developing adolescent brain.
There are the practical issues that some teens find valuable and personally applicable:

• Use of recreational cannabis is illegal in most states. Even where recreational and medical marijuana are legal for growing, buying, and carrying, you must be at least 18.
• Cannabis use affects the health of adolescents differently than it does adults.
• Adolescents are more likely to develop a psychological dependency.
• Marijuana use has been linked to poor motivation and performance in school.
• Effect of use can mask other adolescent issues like depression and anxiety.
• Some evidence indicates that marijuana may reduce developing cognition and IQ scores.
• Arrests for marijuana violations may create a criminal record that can affect future employment, scholarship, and college admissions.

You’ll succeed better when you have a conversation with your teen, a dialogue more than a lecture. You’d be smart to consider the environment. It should be comfortable enough for parents and teen to speak naturally.

• Let the teen know what you want to talk about by asking about what they know.
• When they hesitate, as they will likely do, help them understand the conversation is a no fear situation where the teen can talk here or anytime and anywhere.
• Listen more than you talk. Listening pays respect and fills you in.
• Explain your understanding about cannabis, its values, and its side-effects, but be prepared to support your position with facts — not preconceptions, biases, or rumors.
• Build your case on legal and health issues, not on moral issues, and then frame the consequences for behavior.

Now, talking to teens about your use is another matter.
Trying to explain your use of recreational marijuana to a teen will strike the teen as hypocritical, and there’s not much chance of salvaging your good intentions.
It does help if you are honest, deliberate and calculated about your conversation. The relevant facts are still the facts, and you can persuade a patient and self-possessed teen to follow what you say and not what you do.
However, if you are explaining why you use cannabis for medical purposes, you should find it easier to show and tell they positive results. If the teen appreciates what you’ve been through physically or emotionally, they will embrace whatever it takes to make you better.
Talking to your elders about cannabis use
If you fully appreciate the benefits of cannabis, you owe it to your parents and grandparents to explain the benefits that could benefit them:
♦ Fun doesn’t age. Regardless of aging, folks have a right to fun, even uninhibited euphoria. They have the right to enjoy things with or without a medical benefit.
Older people, especially disabled, restricted, or widowed need to laugh and socialize with others. Business Insider reports on Octavia Wellness that provides “wellness consultants, who tour California's senior communities — those geared towards active adults — and host parties that educate residents on the medical uses of cannabis. The startup specializes in non-smokeable materials, like oils and tinctures, that provide relief without the high.”
♦ Cancer fears. Your elders deserve the truth, so you should tread lightly about cannabis and cancer. However, the facts of the matter can offer some comfort, hope, and therapy for seniors.
The fact is that numerous medical studies around the world, including animal and human subjects, show positive effects in the treatment of tumors and in the reduction of metastasis in treating brain tumors, lymphomas, and cancers of the breast, cervix, colon, lung, prostate, thyroid, pancreas, and uterus.
Individual studies have shown cannabis use has prevented the formation of blood vessels that fuel tumor growth, stopped cell reproduction, induced apoptosis or natural death of cancer cells, and differentiated cancer cells from healthy cells.
♦ Pain relief. For many, aging means the accumulation and aggregation of pain from one or more sources.
Seniors find themselves in final stage arthritis, back pain, and more. They find little or no benefit in pain management pharmaceuticals and look for alternative solutions to pain produced from lasting autoimmune and progressing degenerative conditions.
♦ Early-onset Alzheimer’s concerns. No one can avoid news about the threats of Alzheimer’s disease. The attached dementia affects over five million Americans a year. And, there are few things in the way of its spread throughout the aging population.
But, some studies find that cannabis reduces the amyloid plaque that plagues brain corridors and generates new cell growth. Both THC and CBD appear to have direct and indirect influences in reducing the neuroinflammation present in Alzheimer’s patients.
While far from the researched satisfaction in cannabis as a curative therapy, seniors might be encouraged to investigate the cannabis option on their own.
How to Talk to Loved Ones about the Benefits of Cannabis
Talking to young or old loved ones about the benefits of cannabis is easier than it used to be. Cannabis, medical and recreational, is so much a part of the daily national conversation, it’s more natural to initiate a conversation even over dinner or out with friends.
In fact, this is increasingly a discussion you should have sooner than later. If you know what you are talking about, you now have an obligation to share.

 

[roots69]

The Real Reason(s) Cannabis is Illegal in The United States


An in-depth look at anti marijuana lobbying industry
“The Devil’s Lettuce”

“Mary Jane”

“Weed”

These are several of the nicknames that marijuana has garnered over the past 81 years since it was made illegal by then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. There is zero evidence of an overdose off of cannabis, (2,200 people die a year from over consumption of alcohol) yet federally, it is still considered a schedule I drug, equal to the severity of heroin or MDMA. Not to mention the potentially life saving benefits that cannabis can provide to those that suffer from seizures, anxiety, and in my own family’s personal case, making brutal chemotherapy treatment for cancer more tolerable. However, this is not an article supporting marijuana or telling you to go out and eat a pot brownie. This is an article informing you the facts on exactly why it is still federally illegal in the United States of America, “The land of the free”. In short, there is a vested interest in keeping marijuana illegal. Yup, you guessed it. Money. The straight forward reason for marijuana being illegal in the U.S. is because there is money to be made. There are three heavily invested entities whose priority it is to keep marijuana illegal.


first of these entities is the pharmaceutical industry. Case and point is simply that the pharmaceutical industry would lose money if marijuana were legal. This is the main reason why pharmaceutical company Insys spent $500,000 to block legal marijuana legislation in the state of Arizona. The pharmaceutical companies see medical marijuana as competition and would lose money if it were legal. It is a fact that marijuana is far less addictive (if addictive at all) than the opioids that the pharmacies would rather have you hooked on. The country is currently suffering from a severe opioid epidemic. During 2017 alone, there were almost 50,000 opioid abuse deaths in the United States. In an award winning investigation conducted from 2007–2012, Eric Eyre of the Charleston Gazette-Mail found that in the state of West Virginia had “780 million painkillers poured into a state where the population was about 1.8 million.” The absolute devastation of communities comes as a result of the benefit of the drug companies making a profit. To put it simple, these companies would rather have you or a loved one addicted to their pills because it keeps their pockets full. This is only the first piece of the anti marijuana puzzle.


(CNBC)
second main entity is the private prison industry. That’s right, for-profit prisons that make more $$$ by more people getting put in the back of a cop car for small possession of cannabis. 1 in 5 incarcerated people are locked up for non-violent drug charges such as possession or trafficking. If marijuana was made legal, this means that almost a fifth of the prisons would have to be set free. This means a huge decrease in the amount of money that these people would make. They have a vested interest in keeping marijuana illegal. “The two largest for profit prison companies in the U.S. have spent nearly 25 millions dollars in lobbying against marijuana decriminalization since 1989. Meanwhile, these two companies have made a combined 3.3 billion dollar annual revenue while the private prison population has more than DOUBLED from 2000 to 2010. These private prison companies again have a vested interest in keeping marijuana criminalized.


(PrisonPolicy.ORG)
The third and final entity is none other than the alcoholic beverage industry. The reason behind this is simply as marijuana is a competing drug to alcohol. In the state of Massachusetts, the Beer Distributors PAC gave $25,000 to an anti marijuana campaign. This is all because of a University of Colorado Denver study concluding that legal marijuana leads to decreased alcohol consumption. This instills fear in alcohol companies because they would be losing money. Alcohol impaired driving fatalities accounted for 29% of traffic fatalities in 2017. (Responsibility.org) Everyday, 28 brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, parents, ETC die as a result of drunk driving crashes on average. (Backtrack.com) In states with legalized marijuana there was an average increase of 6% in motor vehicle accidents. Marijuana does not help the driving statistic, but it does give a greater chance that a person will stay in for the night and watch a movie, rather than do something adventurous like get behind the wheel of a vehicle under the influence of alcohol. Morally, the alcohol companies lobbying against marijuana legalization is wrong. Marijuana is the “safer” alternative and is classified among drugs like heroin where as alcohol is socially acceptable.


In conclusion, our rights are being infringed upon by those with money and power. The simple fact is that as long as there is money to be made or money that can be lost, these entities will do whatever they can in their power to make sure their cash flow is not impeded. This is an ongoing continuing struggle for those suffering from physical ailments and chemotherapy treatments everywhere. A plant can save lives, and improve the lives of thousands but this is not a reality because some rich person would make less money. As long as there is money to be made, our rights as American People will be put on hold so a greedy group or individual can make more money.

 

[roots69]

The Real Reason Hemp Is Illegal

The real reason Cannabis has been outlawed has nothing to do with its effects on the mind and body.
MARIJUANA is NOT DANGEROUS. Pot is NOT harmful to the human body or mind. Marijuana does NOT pose a threat to the general public. Marijuana is very much a danger to the oil companies, alcohol, tobacco industries and a large number of chemical corporations. Various big businesses, with plenty of dollars and influence, have suppressed the truth from the people.

The truth is if marijuana was utilized for its vast array of commercial products, it would create an industrial atomic bomb! Entrepreneurs have not been educated on the product potential of pot. The super rich have conspired to spread misinformation about an extremely versatile plant that, if used properly, would ruin their companies.

Where did the word 'marijuana' come from? In the mid 1930s, the M-word was created to tarnish the good image and phenomenal history of the hemp plant...as you will read. The facts cited here, with references, are generally verifiable in the Encyclopedia Britannica which was printed on hemp paper for 150 years:

* All schoolbooks were made from hemp or flax paper until the 1880s; Hemp Paper Reconsidered, Jack Frazier, 1974.

* It was LEGAL TO PAY TAXES WITH HEMP in America from 1631 until the early 1800s; LA Times, Aug. 12, 1981.

* REFUSING TO GROW HEMP in America during the 17th and 18th Centuries WAS AGAINST THE LAW! You could be jailed in Virginia for refusing to grow hemp from 1763 to 1769; Hemp in Colonial Virginia, G. M. Herdon.

* George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers GREW HEMP; Washington and Jefferson Diaries. Jefferson smuggled hemp seeds from China to France then to America.

* Benjamin Franklin owned one of the first paper mills in America and it processed hemp. Also, the War of 1812 was fought over hemp. Napoleon wanted to cut off Moscow's export to England; Emperor Wears No Clothes, Jack Herer.

* For thousands of years, 90f all ships' sails and rope were made from hemp. The word 'canvas' is Dutch for cannabis; Webster's New World Dictionary.

* 80f all textiles, fabrics, clothes, linen, drapes, bed sheets, etc. were made from hemp until the 1820s with the introduction of the cotton gin.

* The first Bibles, maps, charts, Betsy Ross's flag, the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were made from hemp; U.S. Government Archives.

* The first crop grown in many states was hemp. 1850 was a peak year for Kentucky producing 40,000 tons. Hemp was the largest cash crop until the 20th Century; State Archives.

* Oldest known records of hemp farming go back 5000 years in China, although hemp industrialization probably goes back to ancient Egypt.

* Rembrants, Gainsboroughs, Van Goghs as well as most early canvas paintings were principally painted on hemp linen.

* In 1916, the U.S. Government predicted that by the 1940s all paper would come from hemp and that no more trees need to be cut down. Government studies report that 1 acre of hemp equals 4.1 acres of trees. Plans were in the works to implement such programs; Department of Agriculture

* Quality paints and varnishes were made from hemp seed oil until 1937. 58,000 tons of hemp seeds were used in America for paint products in 1935; Sherman Williams Paint Co. testimony before Congress against the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act.

* Henry Ford's first Model-T was built to run on hemp gasoline and the CAR ITSELF WAS CONTRUCTED FROM HEMP! On his large estate, Ford was photographed among his hemp fields. The car, 'grown from the soil,' had hemp plastic panels whose impact strength was 10 times stronger than steel; Popular Mechanics, 1941.

* Hemp called 'Billion Dollar Crop.' It was the first time a cash crop had a business potential to exceed a billion dollars; Popular Mechanics, Feb., 1938.

* Mechanical Engineering Magazine (Feb. 1938) published an article entitled 'The Most Profitable and Desirable Crop that Can be Grown.' It stated that if hemp was cultivated using 20th Century technology, it would be the single largest agricultural crop in the U.S. and the rest of the world.

The following information comes directly from the United States Department of Agriculture's 1942 14-minute film encouraging and instructing 'patriotic American farmers' to grow 350,000 acres of hemp each year for the war effort:

'...(When) Grecian temples were new, hemp was already old in the service of mankind. For thousands of years, even then, this plant had been grown for cordage and cloth in China and elsewhere in the East. For centuries prior to about 1850, all the ships that sailed the western seas were rigged with hempen rope and sails. For the sailor, no less than the hangman, hemp was indispensable...
...Now with Philippine and East Indian sources of hemp in the hands of the Japanese...American hemp must meet the needs of our Army and Navy as well as of our industries...
...the Navy's rapidly dwindling reserves. When that is gone, American hemp will go on duty again; hemp for mooring ships; hemp for tow lines; hemp for tackle and gear; hemp for countless naval uses both on ship and shore. Just as in the days when Old Ironsides sailed the seas victorious with her hempen shrouds and hempen sails. Hemp for victory!'

Certified proof from the Library of Congress; found by the research of Jack Herer, refuting claims of other government agencies that the 1942 USDA film 'Hemp for Victory' did not exist.

Hemp cultivation and production do not harm the environment. The USDA Bulletin ..404 concluded that hemp produces 4 times as much pulp with at least 4 to 7 times less pollution. From Popular Mechanics, Feb. 1938:

'It has a short growing season...It can be grown in any state...The long roots penetrate and break the soil to leave it in perfect condition for the next year's crop. The dense shock of leaves, 8 to 12 feet above the ground, chokes out weeds.
...hemp, this new crop can add immeasurably to American agriculture and industry.'

In the 1930s, innovations in farm machinery would have caused an industrial revolution when applied to hemp. This single resource could have created millions of new jobs generating thousands of quality products. Hemp, if not made illegal, would have brought America out of the Great Depression.

William Randolph Hearst (Citizen Kane) and the Hearst Paper Manufacturing Division of Kimberly Clark owned vast acreage of timberlands. The Hearst Company supplied most paper products. Patty Hearst's grandfather, a destroyer of nature for his own personal profit, stood to lose billions because of hemp.
In 1937, Dupont patented the processes to make plastics from oil and coal. Dupont's Annual Report urged stockholders to invest in its new petrochemical division. Synthetics such as plastics, cellophane, celluloid, methanol, nylon, rayon, Dacron, etc., could now be made from oil. Natural hemp industrialization would have ruined over 80f Dupont's business.

THE CONSPIRACY
Andrew Mellon became Hoover's Secretary of the Treasury and Dupont's primary investor. He appointed his future nephew-in-law, Harry J. Anslinger, to head the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

Secret meetings were held by these financial tycoons. Hemp was declared dangerous and a threat to their billion dollar enterprises. For their dynasties to remain intact, hemp had to go. These men took an obscure Mexican slang word: 'marihuana' and pushed it into the consciousness of America.

MEDIA MANIPULATION
A media blitz of 'yellow journalism' raged in the late 1920s and 1930s. Hearst's newspapers ran stories emphasizing the horrors of marihuana. The menace of marihuana made headlines. Readers learned that it was responsible for everything from car accidents to loose morality.

Films like 'Reefer Madness' (1936), 'Marihuana: Assassin of Youth' (1935) and 'Marihuana: The Devil's Weed' (1936) were propaganda designed by these industrialists to create an enemy. Their purpose was to gain public support so that anti-marihuana laws could be passed.

Examine the following quotes from 'The Burning Question' aka REEFER MADNESS:

a violent narcotic.
acts of shocking violence.
incurable insanity.
soul-destroying effects.
under the influence of the drug he killed his entire family with an ax.
more vicious, more deadly even than these soul-destroying drugs (heroin, cocaine) is the menace of marihuana!
Reefer Madness did not end with the usual 'the end.' The film concluded with these words plastered on the screen: TELL YOUR CHILDREN.

In the 1930s, people were very naive; even to the point of ignorance. The masses were like sheep waiting to be led by the few in power. They did not challenge authority. If the news was in print or on the radio, they believed it had to be true. They told their children and their children grew up to be the parents of the baby-boomers.

On April 14, 1937, the Prohibitive Marihuana Tax Law or the bill that outlawed hemp was directly brought to the House Ways and Means Committee. This committee is the only one that can introduce a bill to the House floor without it being debated by other committees. The Chairman of the Ways and Means, Robert Doughton, was a Dupont supporter. He insured that the bill would pass Congress.

Dr. James Woodward, a physician and attorney, testified too late on behalf of the American Medical Association. He told the committee that the reason the AMA had not denounced the Marihuana Tax Law sooner was that the Association had just discovered that marihuana was hemp.

Few people, at the time, realized that the deadly menace they had been reading about on Hearst's front pages was in fact passive hemp. The AMA understood cannabis to be a MEDICINE found in numerous healing products sold over the last hundred years.

In September of 1937, hemp became illegal. The most useful crop known became a drug and our planet has been suffering ever since.

Congress banned hemp because it was said to be the most violence-causing drug known. Anslinger, head of the Drug Commission for 31 years, promoted the idea that marihuana made users act extremely violent. In the 1950s, under the Communist threat of McCarthyism, Anslinger now said the exact opposite. Marijuana will pacify you so much that soldiers would not want to fight.

Today, our planet is in desperate trouble. Earth is suffocating as large tracts of rain forests disappear. Pollution, poisons and chemicals are killing people. These great problems could be reversed if we industrialized hemp. Natural biomass could provide all of the planet's energy needs that are currently supplied by fossil fuels. We have consumed 80f our oil and gas reserves. We need a renewable resource. Hemp could be the solution to soaring gas prices.

THE WONDER PLANT
Hemp has a higher quality fiber than wood fiber. Far fewer caustic chemicals are required to make paper from hemp than from trees. Hemp paper does not turn yellow and is very durable. The plant grows quickly to maturity in a season where trees take a lifetime.

ALL PLASTIC PRODUCTS SHOULD BE MADE FROM HEMP SEED OIL. Hempen plastics are biodegradable! Over time, they would break down and not harm the environment. Oil-based plastics, the ones we are very familiar with, help ruin nature; they do not break down and will do great harm in the future. The process to produce the vast array of natural (hempen) plastics will not ruin the rivers as Dupont and other petrochemical companies have done. Ecology does not fit in with the plans of the Oil Industry and the political machine. Hemp products are safe and natural.

MEDICINES SHOULD BE MADE FROM HEMP. We should go back to the days when the AMA supported cannabis cures. 'Medical Marijuana' is given out legally to only a handful of people while the rest of us are forced into a system that relies on chemicals. Pot is only healthy for the human body.

WORLD HUNGER COULD END. A large variety of food products can be generated from hemp. The seeds contain one of the highest sources of protein in nature. ALSO: They have two essential fatty acids that clean your body of cholesterol. These essential fatty acids are not found anywhere else in nature! Consuming pot seeds is the best thing you could do for your body. Eat uncooked hemp seeds.

CLOTHES SHOULD BE MADE FROM HEMP. Hemp clothing is extremely strong and durable over time. You could hand clothing, made from pot, down to your grandchildren. Today, there are American companies that make hemp clothing; usually 50emp. Hemp fabrics should be everywhere. Instead, they are almost underground. Superior hemp products are not allowed to advertise on fascist television. Kentucky, once the top hemp producing state, made it ILLEGAL TO WEAR hemp clothing! Can you imagine being thrown into jail for wearing quality jeans?

The world is crazy...but that does not mean you have to join the insanity. Get together. Spread the news. Tell people, and that includes your children, the truth. Use hemp products. Eliminate the word 'marijuana.' Realize the history that created it. Make it politically incorrect to say or print the M-word. Fight against the propaganda (designed to favor the agenda of the super rich) and the bullshit. Hemp must be utilized in the future. We need a clean energy source to save our planet. INDUSTRIALIZE HEMP!
The liquor, tobacco and oil companies fund more than a million dollars a day to Partnership for a Drug-Free America and other similar agencies. We have all seen their commercials. Now, their motto is: It's more dangerous than we thought. Lies from the powerful corporations, that began with Hearst, are still alive and well today.

The brainwashing continues. Now, the commercials say: If you buy a joint, you contribute to murders and gang wars. The latest anti-pot commercials say: If you buy a joint...you are promoting TERRORISM! The new enemy (terrorism) has paved the road to brainwash you any way THEY see fit.
There is only one enemy; the friendly people you pay your taxes to; the war-makers and nature destroyers. With your funding, they are killing the world right in front of your eyes. HALF A MILLION DEATHS EACH YEAR ARE CAUSED BY TOBACCO. HALF A MILLION DEATHS EACH YEAR ARE CAUSED BY ALCOHOL. NO ONE HAS EVER, EVER DIED FROM SMOKING POT!! In the entire history of the human race, not one death can be attributed to cannabis. Our society has outlawed grass but condones the use of the KILLERS: TOBACCO and ALCOHOL. Hemp should be declassified and placed in DRUG stores to relieve stress. Hardening and constriction of the arteries are bad; but hemp usage actually enlarges the arteries...which is a healthy condition. We have been so conditioned to think that: Smoking is harmful. That is NOT the case for passive pot.

Ingesting THC, hemp's active agent, has a positive effect; relieving asthma and glaucoma. A joint tends to alleviate the nausea caused by chemotherapy. You are able to eat on hemp. This is a healthy state of being.
The stereotype for a pothead is similar to a drunk, bubble-brain. Yet, the truth is ones creative abilities can be enhanced under its influence. The perception of time slightly slows and one can become more sensitive. You can more appreciate all arts; be closer to nature and generally FEEL more under the influence of cannabis. It is, in fact, the exact opposite state of mind and body as the drunken state. You can be more aware with pot.

The pot plant is an ALIEN plant. There is physical evidence that cannabis is not like any other plant on this planet. One could conclude that it was brought here for the benefit of humanity. Hemp is the ONLY plant where the males appear one way and the females appear very different, physically! No one ever speaks of males and females in regard to the plant kingdom because plants do not show their sexes; except for cannabis. To determine what sex a certain, normal, Earthly plant is: You have to look internally, at its DNA. A male blade of grass (physically) looks exactly like a female blade of grass. The hemp plant has an intense sexuallity. Growers know to kill the males before they fertilize the females. Yes, folks...the most potent pot comes from 'horny females.'

The reason this amazing, very sophisticated, ET plant from the future is illegal has nothing to do with how it physically affects us..
POT IS ILLEGAL BECAUSE BILLIONAIRES WANT IT THAT WAY!!

 

[roots69]

Why Is Cannabis Illegal? The Story of Cannabis Prohibition Will Shock You


Ever ask yourself why cannabis was made illegal in the first place?
The real reason why cannabis is illegal is shocking.
Humans around the globe have cultivated the plant for thousands of years, yet it is only in the last 100 that cannabis prohibition has rocketed around the globe.
But, why the sudden change?
Here’s why cannabis is illegal:
Humans and cannabis have a long history
If you really want to know why cannabis was made illegal, you have to familiarize yourself with the history of cannabis.
Not just when was cannabis made illegal, but its long history leading up to prohibition…
Cannabis is thought the be one of the oldest agricultural crops.
Humans have used cannabis for over 10,000 years, dating our relationship to the plant at the start of the Neolithic era.
The Neolithic era marked the very beginnings of modern agriculture. However, some experts speculate that the cannabis-human connection began earlier than that.
The herb is one of a handful of plants that has been used for millennia in a variety of different ways, including as food, fiber, medicine, and as a spiritual aid.
It’s also thought to be one of the oldest plants traded for economic value.
Cannabis seeds dated as old as 10,000 years have been found in fossilized Japanese pottery relics, along with scraps of woven cannabis fabrics.
Yet, Japan isn’t the only prehistoric location to show evidence of cannabis remains and cultivation.
The multitude of uses for the plant meant that it was likely an extremely valuable herb to have handy.
The archeological evidence thus far suggests that cultivated cannabis likely originated in Central Asia, spreading to many different regions and continents with human migration.
Access to cannabis not only gave people the means to make durable housing materials and clothing, but nutrient-rich hemp seed provided a brain-healthy dose of essential omega fatty acids. Oils from the herb were possibly even used as some of the first cooking oils.
Our ancestors valued cannabis as a staple crop and medicine.
In medical applications, some of the earliest records of cannabis as a healing aid come from ancient China.
Emperor Shen-nung was one of the first to write about the uses of cannabis as medicine in the Pen Ts’ao Ching. It’s estimated that he lived sometime between 3494 and 2857 BCE. His manuscripts are dated as early as an estimated 4700 years before present time.
According to these writings, cannabis was used to treat ailments like menstruation, constipation, rheumatism, and absentmindedness.
Throughout ancient history, the herb was also frequently used as a women’s medicine in many different cultures.
Other ancient uses of the plant include pain relief, an anesthetic, an antibiotic, migraine relief, antiparasitic, sedative, and many more.
Doctors used to prescribe cannabis
Fast forward several thousand years.
Cannabis continued to be used in the form of hemp in countries all over the world. The first U.S. President, George Washington, even grew hemp on his plantation, Mount Vernon.
Washington used the hemp for industrial purposes, particularly for fishing nets and perhaps rope and cloth sails for boats.
Several countries around the world, such as India, had fully integrated the cannabis plant into medical practice.
In Western countries, cannabis tinctures and preparations were frequently used and prescribed by doctors.
Sir John Russell Reynolds, doctor to Queen Victoria in the 1890s, famously prescribed the queen cannabis tincture to ease symptoms of menstrual distress.
He even wrote about the importance of the herb, one time explaining,

“When pure and administered carefully, [cannabis] is one of the most valuable medicines we possess.”

Why is cannabis illegal
After all of this, it’s obvious that cannabis has played a rich role in human history.
So, why and when was cannabis made illegal? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is complex, racist, and shocking.
Here is a very brief breakdown of how opinions of cannabis, along with its legal status, began to change over time:
The mid-1800s to early 1900s
In the mid-1800s to early 1900s, hashish consumption was a growing trend among elite western consumers.
Hashish is an extract of the cannabis plant made by sieving psychoactive resin from plant materials and pressing the resin into a sticky brick or rolled ball.
While archeological evidence suggests that cannabis has been used for both its medicinal and psychoactive properties for millennia, the plant was more widely used for recreational purposes in Central and South East Asian countries.
Yet, by the mid-1800s, hashish had become a hit among subsets of science and literary circles.
One of the product’s most active campaigners was French writer Pierre Jules Theophile Gautier, who loved it so much he founded a club dedicated to introducing other hot intellectuals of the time to the mind-expanding powers of the herb.
The club was called Le Club des Hashischins and it met every month for a number of years.
Famous artists and writers like Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas were in attendance, as well as several other intellectuals of the time.
Dumas’ was inspired by his experiences with hashish, which is why cannabis is referenced in The Count Of Monte Cristo, one of the most famous pieces of literature from the 19th century. The story was greatly captivating to both elite and mainstream audiences in Western countries.
Throughout the 1800s, cannabis saw a small spike in popularity among elite Western consumers.
Yet, things began to change in the early 1900s.
The early to mid-1900s
Correcting the wrongs of cannabis prohibition starts with education.
In 1913, the U.S. State of California passed the first law banning the cannabis plant.
The bill was tacked on as an amendment by the Board of Pharmacy, which was in the middle of launching one of the largest anti-narcotics campaigns in U.S. history.
While cannabis was not frequently used for recreational purposes in the region, cannabis was added onto a bill targeting opium by a man named Henry Finger.
According to a 1999 report published in Contemporary Drug Problems, Finger urged the Board of Pharmacy to take up the cannabis issue, writing in 1911:

"Within the last year we in California have been getting a large influx of Hindoos and they have in turn started quite a demand for cannabis indica; they are a very undesirable lot and the habit is growing in California very fast.”

Of course, after this law, cannabis began to gain popularity in the United States.
Around this time the Mexican Revolution had begun, leading to an influx of thousands of refugees.
While cannabis had been used in various parts of the world in a variety of different ways, smoking the herb was not common in the United States. However, this habit was a trend in Mexico.
The Mexican government was actually the first to ban the herb in 1920, almost two decades before the United States.
Into the 1920s, the term “marijuana” began to enter the American lexicon.
Though cannabis had been used as medicine throughout the 19th century, the psychoactive side effects of smoking the herb were new and frightening.
As noted by NPR, headlines such as the New York Times’ “KILLS SIX IN A HOSPITAL.; Mexican, Crazed by Marihuana, Runs Amuck With Butcher Knife”, began to pop up.
However, Mexicans and Hindus were not the only minorities targeted by slanderous, sensational, and racist propaganda. Legislators and media outlets also harped on African American Jazz musicians and Filipinos for cannabis consumption.
In a mind-boggling and flagrantly racist remark, Henry Anslinger, the first Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, reportedly stated:

“Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men[…]the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”

The Federal Bureau of Narcotics was established in 1930.
Anslinger led the Bureau in lobbying for harsh penalties for those who violated recently passed laws restricting trade in opium and other narcotic drugs. The institution also enforced taxation on those who produced products like opiates and coca.
Anslinger’s Bureau of Narcotics is the earliest predecessor to what is now the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The 1937 Marijuana Tax Act
If you're looking for a precise year as to when was cannabis made illegal in the U.S. this is it.
Anslinger’s years of lobbying culminated in the first federal ban on cannabis production, and zero scientific evidence was involved.
In 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act was passed (lawmakers didn’t even know what ‘marihuana’ was). The legislation placed a steep $1 tax on anyone who sold the plant, effectively outlawing the herb.
One dollar may not seem like much, however the law was very strict, confusing, and later deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Other special interest groups like bootleggers and those advocating for prohibition for religious reasons may also have contributed to creating the right public atmosphere for the Marijuana Tax Act to pass.
Reefer madness
Between the sensational headlines, Anslinger’s crusade against cannabis and minority groups, and the new tax, the U.S. masses were exposed to nearly two decades of harsh anti-cannabis propaganda throughout the 20s and 30s.
The country entered into what is often referred to as the Reefer Madness era. Reefer Madness is a propaganda film that came out in 1936, originally funded by a religious group.
The film showcases white youth who are supposedly corrupted by cannabis, triggering youngsters into hysteria, promiscuity, sexual assault, and insanity.
The film began circulating in 1938 and continued to shape the mainstream understanding of cannabis through the 1950s.
The War on Drugs
These cops probably have no idea what they're looking at.
If cannabis prohibition was not strict enough before, things certainly became a lot tighter in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
In fact, the history of cannabis takes an even darker turn during this era…
During this time, military interventions and weaponized police forces were given permission to enforce drug policies.
In 1961, the United Nations passed the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, in which countries around the world agreed to outlaw and prohibit the production and export of cannabis and other drugs of concern.
The term “War on Drugs” was coined in 1971 after a press conference given by President Richard Nixon.
Drugs were deemed “public enemy number one”, including cannabis.
In fact, Nixon outright ignored science-based suggestions that he decriminalize cannabis – instead placing it in the strictest category of his Controlled Substances Act – schedule 1.
So if you're still asking why was cannabis made illegal, the short answer is for political purposes.
How do we know it was for political purposes?
Firstly, because Nixon’s domestic policy chief John Ehrlichman told Harper’s:

"You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities," Ehrlichman said. "We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."

In the years to come, heavy emphasis was placed on incarceration. U.S. states adopted mandatory minimum sentencing.
Stop and frisk policies as well as three strike policies have greatly increased both the ease of arrest and incarceration, as well as the amount of time nonviolent offenders must spend in prison.
Stop and frisk procedures allow officers to pull over a person for a simple traffic violation and check them for drugs.
If cannabis is found in a non-legal state, an individual can face jail time or a hefty fine.
Some U.S. states, like Missouri, those charged with possession or cultivation more than three times will face a felony and up to a life sentence in prison.
In some countries, cannabis trade can mean a death sentence.
At the dispensary level, federal officers can still raid dispensaries in adult-use cannabis states.
During these raids, federal officials can confiscate dispensary assets. Owners, employees, and patrons on site during the time of the raid may risk arrest and criminal charges.
The real reason cannabis is illegal
Entire industries depend on cannabis prohibition today.
In 100 short years, cannabis went from “one of the most valuable medicines we can possess” to “public enemy number one.”
While some experts speculate that cannabis played a role in the birth of modern agriculture and medicine, of the past has been forgotten and ignorance is left in its place.
The biased and discriminatory history of cannabis prohibition is still present in the policies of today.
Arrests for cannabis-related charges disproportionately affect African American and minority groups, through research suggests that both African Americans and Whites consume the herb at similar rates.
According to a 2013 report by the ACLU, an African American person is 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis than a white person.
And that’s just the average. In some states, the likelihood is much higher.
The ultimate reason that cannabis is illegal is difficult to discuss. However, it is clear that cannabis prohibition has a history fueled by fear, prejudice, and decades of misinformed drug policy.
Big industries lobbying against cannabis legalization
Big Pharma is one of many industries to lobby against cannabis reform on a regular basis.
Government bureaucracies and administrations have used cannabis prohibition for their own, respective political agendas, meanwhile entire industries have thrived around prohibition.
Specific industries would lose a lot of money and jobs if prohibition were to come to an end. These vested interests in cannabis prohibition include:

• The pharmaceutical industry
• The alcohol industry
• The tobacco industry
• Private prisons
• Police unions
• Drug testing companies

Why else would these industries lobby against cannabis legalization?
Drugs are a public health issue – not a criminal issue
Cannabis and any other drugs should never be treated as a criminal issue – but rather a public health issue.
If you agree, please reach out to your congressional representatives and let them know.
Many lawmakers and people in power recognize the war on drugs is harmful – but very few of them have the courage to act.
Note: This article is intended as a brief overview of why cannabis is illegal in the United States. Every country has their own cannabis story, though it’s arguable that some of the attitudes expressed in this piece are pervasive in international policy.

 

[roots69]

The Real Reasons Cannabis is Illegal

The real reason marijuana is illegal is because the powers that be do not want you to freely grow your own sustainable resource for medicine, food, oil, textiles, paper products, building materials and entertainment. They want you dependent on their pharmaceuticals, their alcohol, their cigarettes, oil, food, clothing and entertainment. The US "War on Drugs" results in the arrest of over 1 million Americans each year and sets the example for nations around the world to enforce similar hypocritical drug laws. Your tax money is spent on maintaining and expanding the prison infrastructure required to continue these policies. The growing, possession, and ingestion of all plants should be legal. It is that simple.


The truth is hidden right in front of your face!!! But as usual, aint nobody listening until the bullshit is slapping them in their face!!!

 

[roots69]

The Real Reason Marijuana is still Illegal

Okay, enough is enough. I’m am sick and tired of hearing about how bad marijuana is. I mean, come on, there are more issues with alcohol, by far, than with marijuana, including deaths and broken homes. To put it “bluntly”, weed is the least of our troubles as a race of humans. If marijuana was legal the world over, there would be less wars, crimes or accidents. I firmly believe this, so let me break it down for you with some statistics.

As you may have noticed, marijuana legalization was on the ballots in many U.S. states. It’s obviously a popular topic and should be addressed as so. Unfortunately, marijuana legalization isn’t taken seriously by too many individuals-it’s ignored, for the most part, even avoided in drastic circumstances. It’s a topic and a substance that is about to break barriers, I can feel it!


That’s mostly my opinion, but what of the facts?
The fact is marijuana is safer than both alcohol and tobacco. Since the alcohol and tobacco industries are aware of this fact, they are standing firm in their stance that marijuana is dangerous. The truth is marijuana would be a fierce competitor, stealing millions from these businesses. Although, marijuana usage doesn’t necessarily mean individuals won’t drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. It just means that sales will decrease regardless as a small percentage turns away from the detrimental effects of smoking tobacco and drinking whiskey in exchange for less consequences of actions.


And it is true as well that marijuana is safer health wise, seeing as tobacco kills thousands per day. Alcohol is next in line with deaths from accidents, over dose of alcohol consumption and by domestic abuse. It’s safe to say that marijuana is ahead of the game and should be taken very seriously indeed.

As far as addictions go, only 9% of users are addicted, while drinkers are up to 15% more likely to become addicted and smokers have 32% of addiction instances. It’s clear that marijuana should be preferred over both drinking and smoking. There is no wonder these industries are fighting cannabis tooth and nail. But who else is in the fight against legalization?

The drug industries are afraid
The pharmaceutical industry is firmly against legalization and I bet you can guess why. In all the states in the U.S. that have already legalized marijuana usage, there has been a huge decrease in prescription fillings for conditions such as depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and nausea. Most people are turning to medical marijuana as an option to treat these disorders. There are even less prescriptions for painkillers as well. In states where marijuana has been legalized, overdoses have decreased too! If this isn’t an indication of the usefulness of cannabis than I can’t imagine a more detailed justification.

The drug industry is losing a load of money, as you can imagine. With legalized cannabis, there is no longer any need for narcotics. Those with various disorders or diseases will turn to nature to ease pains and provide cures.

Less Criminalization
The prison system is another industry that will no longer profit from illegal marijuana. If marijuana is made legal, a large portion of drug crimes will be illuminated. Some, who would normally be considered criminals, will simply be entrepreneurs. That’s quite a different label huh?

So, I’m not saying that marijuana is completely harmless, but then neither is processed or fried foods. Decades ago, marijuana was made illegal for several ignorant reasons, including the United states dislike of Mexicans-seeing as they were the first to bring the plant to the U.S. there were others, as well, who out of political pressures, chose to taint the name of this mild-mannered plant. Regardless, time is passing and legalization is pretty much inevitable. Soon, marijuana will be legal for all of us and maybe then the world will start to show progress toward a more peaceful existence.

Try an open mind. There are many other sources on the topic of legalizing marijuana, many of which may surprise you.

Get educated and let your voice be heard.

 

[roots69]

Why Weed Is Illegal? Ladies Might Turn Into Nymphos
Fear Mongering and White Worry Lead Us To Today



Sometimes the guys at work call me Philmore.


You know, the hippie van from the movie Cars? Like that Philmore. If you ask them they'll say it's because Philmore is always going on about natural alternatives and government conspiracies. It's always used in a lighthearted way, but the connotation that I gather from it is negative.
Ever noticed how as soon as someone gets passionate about a cause that opposes popular thought, or as soon as someone opposes what we have been told and likewise believed, people seem to hold that person at arms length? As soon as someone smells a hint of a conspiracy theory they get very standoffish.
It's not always something done in a completely rude way either. Philmore’s a fun hippy van. He's goofy and wild. He goes on adventures and makes people laugh. Sure he's got some pretty out there ideas that make some uncomfortable, but they'll attribute his conspiracy theories to his goofy and wild nature; that way they don't have to take anything he says seriously and they can laugh it off as part of Philmore’s crazy ways.
The hard truth, however, is that the sometimes it's actually the strangest theory that holds the most weight. Sometimes it's the story we don't want to believe, that's actually true. Sometimes, the government lie to us. Knowingly. Recognizing these lies doesn't make anyone a conspiracy theorist to be held at a distance, it makes someone a revolutionary willing to admit that they have been had and striving to change the future not only for their sakes but for the sakes of their children.
Part of this freedom fight we're engaged in at this very moment has to do with the dispelling of coordinated deceit that most people find hard to swallow.

Since 1970, by mandate of Richard Nixon, cannabis has been a Schedule 1 drug. If you don't know exactly what a schedule 1 drug is, then listen up. Verbatim a schedule 1 drug, as defined by the Schedule of Controlled Substances Act says, “Schedule 1 drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule 1 drugs are the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence.”
Are you fucking shitting me? So you mean to tell me, that a room full of highly educated men and women, the very man that majority of the United States of America voted in to be their leader took one year of being in office to decide that a herb that has been used for medicinal purposes for millenia, was just as dangerous as heroin and contains zero medical benefit?
Tell that to a five year old child suffering from seizures who's only relief comes from CBD capsules.
I'm all about giving a person the benefit of the doubt, it feels pretty shitty to be called a liar if you in fact aren't, but anyone with even the slightest capacity to think for themselves should be able to call bullshit on that one.
Even if one decides to ignore historical reference and the fact that archaeological discoveries tell us that cannabis has been used as a medicine for at least 5000 years, America was using cannabis in a variety of medicines and funny little potions in the 18 and early 1900’s, now all of a sudden it has no medical value?
Sorry Dick, you sir are full of shit.
But we know that don't we? The guy basically created the DEA, so his interest in declaring such an all out war on cannabis is obvious, but there's a lot that's not obvious; like the indication that the prohibition on weed has very real, very large and very deep roots in fear and racial divide.
See this whole drug war goes way back; about 60 years before Dick branded cannabis in such a rude light, so let's look at the history of weed, just briefly, to see what it can tell us about the birth of the prohibition.

It all sort of started with Mexicans. Mexicans are pretty common in America now, their culture provides a richness to its own and many Americans have adopted Mexican traditions and national holidays. If you rewind the clock to around the early 1900’s when the first Mexicans started immigrating to the US, because of the Mexican revolution, the world was a different place. The Mexican culture was seen as lewd, loud and wild. To top it off, the Mexicans were all smoking a herb they referred to as marihuana.
So these rambunctious fellows start showing up smoking the marihuana and scared, white America decides it must be the weed that made them all a bit ‘crazy.’ What America didn't realize is that the same marihuana that the Mexicans were smoking was the exact same as the cannabis found in a wide variety of medicines and tinctures available at the time.
The eastern states found very much of the same problem. They were discovering not only an influx of Latin Americans bringing their reefer, but marijuana had also infused itself into the Jazz movement, which at the time was predominantly African American. Two minority races seen as loud trouble makers are smoking pot and an uninformed America hits the panic button. The panic was so severe that a 1934 newspaper editorialized these words: “Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.”

And so this unfounded and completely irrational fear began to grip the country. Throwing fuel to the raging fire was a guy name Harry Ainslinger. He was the first appointed commissioner to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. It's rumored that ol’ Harry didn't quite know what to do with his new job title when the prohibition on alcohol came to an end, so he began stoking the fire with a bit of good old fashioned fear mongering.
Taking advantage of his position of authority he decided to rape the minds of the countries men and women by penetrating their minds with false information, knowing that his position alone would bolster his credibility in their minds.
Think I'm exaggerating?
Ainslinger loved promoting and quoting “The Gore Files.” The Gore Files are a wild reefer madness style exploitation literature that tells of ax murdering pot heads, sex… and Negroes. (Oh my!) Here's a few of these little nuggets of wisdom, that the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics; who needed there to be a prohibition in order for his job to remain secure; can be found to have passed down to a scared population looking for guidance:

“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.”
“…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”
“Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.”
“Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”
“Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing”
“You smoke a joint and you’re likely to kill your brother.”
“Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”
Tell me now that this war on weed is not rooted deep in racial fear and superiority.
Time passes and the racial divide deepens. By the time Dick steps up to be America's leader things have come to a climax and the public is writhing with fear. Because America is the world's hero, naturally, they must act. So after years of propaganda and preying on the fears of vulnerable citizens cannabis is officially branded as one of the most dangerous drugs on the planet by an establishment that has too much pride, (and far too much money to lose), to admit that they were wrong.
There comes a time when we need to evaluate the present in light of the past. We need to tell this tale of injustice before people forget the real reasons the war began.
Check this out- Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda mastermind of the Nazi war machine said this, “If you tell a big enough lie and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”
Hey, but what do I know? I'm just a crazy hippie with conspiracy theories.
Gotta run for now folks, stay groovy.
Peace,

 

[roots69]

How to Become a Master Cannabis Grower?


The cannabis field is going to be worth almost $31.4 billion by the end of 2021.on the basis of these predictions; it is pretty evident that the opportunities of employment inside the industry are sure to grow.
A Director of Cultivation or master grower is one a position which is greatly sought after in the cannabis industry. Many people take this to be a title of honor. However, not everyone will know how they can become a master grower.
What is a Master Grower?
With more and more states changing their recreational and medicinal marijuana laws, the role of the master grower seems to be legitimized in the cannabis field.
A person who dedicates his life to attaining accuracy with the cannabis cultivation is called a master grower. Even though there are few exceptions, a master grower generally comes with a degree in horticulture of Botany. It is possible to become a master when you do not have the education required for it. This is because there are different forms of education but has more than five years of experience to cultivate cannabis in a big legal setting.
How to Become a Master Grower?
● You might have the experience to become a master grower. However, you should not go into the interview and call yourself one. One of the best things here to do when you interview for the position of a master grower is just to be humble. No one likes to hear that the plants you grow are the best and that there is nothing like it. There are many people growing great weed but are not master growers. You should not pose yourself to be that guy. Rather than focusing on a good the plants are, you need to let the prospective employer know that you are happy with the results you received in the past but are open to knowing new techniques and improve. Show interest in the methods which has worked for them.
● It is important that you know what you are doing. There are many growers who consider themselves to be masters but don’t know many details. In case you want to be the master grower, it is important that you master the basics. Start reading all the books about weed. To grow weed, you have to know about everything you can. This means the three stages of growth, environmental, and proper nutrients. You also need to know how you can harvest and cure them, successfully.
● If you have to grow weed at large scale takes a lot of time and is tedious than growing it in a backyard. Many people who become master growers might not realize that it might take a lot of time; hence, you have to be ready to be work hard. Feeding, watering, and observing plant health is important and has to be done every day. It might be a monotonous job but the results are going to be truly rewarding. From point A till harvesting is enough work.

Risk and Duties of a Master Grower
Like mentioned earlier, a master grower comes has to perform a lot of responsibilities. When some license cannabis grower looks for master growers they make sure that they have a horticulture background and managerial skills.
Here are some of the duties of the master growers,
● Ability to collaborate with other experts.
● Significant knowledge regarding gardening maintenance to grow and trim roots.
● Responsible enough to hire, as well as fire employees.
● Learn which pests should be used on the basis of the disease.
● Expertise in nutrients, plant soil, pH level and much more.
● Understanding the requirements of light for every plant.
● Expertise in state laws, POS systems, and inventory.
● Make sure that crops come with proper temperature, ventilation, and humidity.
On the basis of training and knowledge, the master grower varies from $90,000 in a year. Large scale cannabis grower might earn up to $150,000.
6 Things to Consider for Potential Master Growers
● It is necessary to have a robust understanding of horticulture. Having a master’s or an undergraduate degree is important for someone who would like to become a master grower. Make sure that you are ready to advance your education and gain exposure to various techniques of horticulture.
● You have been certified as the master grower. This is possible through the various in-person and online courses. Nevertheless, you should know that there is no national standard until now. Hence, these courses are helpful and education, it doesn’t guarantee anything.
● It is also necessary to get experience. Work at nurseries which produce food or flowers at a commercial scale. This can be really helpful for people who would like to become a cannabis grower.
● You need to know about the specific requirements of the plants and for this; you will get several books and resources over the internet. This will enable you to become a master grower. You can try to grow some cannabis like Purple Kush in your garden prior to applying for work as the master grower.
● Go for the job fairs, trade shows, and other events of the cannabis industries for networking with the cultivation businesses. Make sure that you inquire about open positions. Ask the local bud-tenders to find out if they know anything about an open position.
● Make sure that you check out the job sites like Cannabis Job Board, WeedHire, etc. meant for the cannabis industry. Here, you will find master grower jobs that find you adequate to take on.
Experience of Master Growers
· Nathan Ell
He manages Soma Cannabis which is the top one percent in the state when it comes to a big cannabis warehouse. It is recreational grow that uses hydroponics. He entered into this field after he was the head grower for 7 years. He says that it is difficult to work as it is a work that continues for 7 days in a week. Moreover, he has to be eager to learn all the time. Ell’s philosophy to grow is to make everything simple. This way there is less chance of spoiling things. A big part of the work of master cannabis grower is to manage the employees. He says that the best employees come from conventional nursery trade. These employees have significant cross-over skills and are much open to learning. According to him, in order to be a master grower, it is important to know what has to be added. This is the key to growing a good crop from starting to end.
· Thomas Wild
He has been growing cannabis from the 1980s. Presently, he works as a candidate. In the year 2000, he started growing cannabis indoors. He grew it in Arizona and California. It is here that he got his license for three and a half years prior to delving into the business of consulting. He says that the master growers have to be careful and need to train their employees so that they are able to spot issues. Moreover, there should be a system in place for reporting it. According to Wild, master growers have to be vigilant regarding bad clones and unhealthy plants. At present times, one of the primary challenges is that cannabis cultivation is being infected by tobacco mosaic virus. This is one of the viruses that growers should watch out for. However, on a positive note, master growers and the other are opting for tissue culture that takes out many problems which come with the clone, molds, and bugs. He advises that every plant should be checked every day. It is necessary to be diligent and patient, whether you grow Silver Haze, OG Kush, or some other strain.

 

[roots69]

Low Cost Growth Hacks to Increase the Yield of Your Cannabis Plants
Growth Hacking Your Cannabis Plants on a Low Budget


How to Increase the Yield of your Cannabis Grow with Grow Hacks

They say that smoking weed isn’t addictive, but growing it is! While there is no physical addiction to growing weed, there is a sense of wonder and discovery through the entire process. However, for most people, the ability to grow weed is restricted due to legal limits on how many plants you can possess at a time.
In these cases, finding out how to increase your yield can be crucial, especially since you have limited real estate to grow your crops. Thus, today we’re going to be looking over some of the easiest tricks to help increase your yield per plant.
In order to make this article as relevant as possible, I’m going to be focusing on “home grows” as opposed to commercial grows.
What does this entail?

• Home growers usually don’t have access to powerful light sources
• Home growers might be growing in soil or outdoors
• Home growers don’t have all the tech available for industry growers
• Budget restraints

Fortunately, most of the methods I’ll be discussing won’t require you to get a lot of tech. Rather, patience is the key to making your crop grow big and lush.
Start by Training
As a first time grower, I’d recommend that you only let the plant grow without too much interference. You don’t need to do anything special the first time around. Your goal is to simply crop out. However, if this is your 2nd or 3rd go at it, then perhaps it’s time to start training your plants.
There are a couple of methods you could implore;

• LST (Low Stress Training)
• Lolli popping
• SCROG (Screen of Green)
• CO2 Boosting

Below I’ll explain what each of these means and how to do them.
LST (Low-Stress Training)
Low-Stress Training requires a delicate hand and can significantly increase the yield if it’s done right. Essentially, you’ll be tying down shoots in order to create more horizontal growing space. What this means is that you bend the shoot outwards allowing more light to hit the nodes. This will promote further development of buds when it comes to flowering.
It’s important to understand that LST can’t be done late in the flowering cycle. Rather, this method is reserved for the initial vegetative stage where the shoots are still very malleable. You need to be careful to only bend the shoot and not break it.
Nonetheless, if you do break it, you can tape the wound back up and it should heal as long as you didn’t completely break the shoot off the stem.
It’s also important that doing it once is not enough. As the plant grows, you’ll need to continue to adjust your shoots and perhaps even tie-down secondary shoots over time. The trick is to always let the shoots be pulled “away from the main stem”. I prefer to use symmetry as well, creating a balance in the method. This allows the plant to remain strong as it continues to grow and doesn’t topple over to one side.
Lollipop
The next method is rather geared to making a few massive buds on your plant. If you simply let the cannabis plant growth, you’ll see little nugs appear all over the plant, however with the Lollipop method, you focus all the growth on a specific sector (the top).
Essentially, you’ll strip away all the smaller shoots at the bottom that will only take energy away from the plant when flowering. You want to eliminate smaller buds and focus the growing on the top buds that receive the most light.
This could be used in combination with LTS to create a few major “tops” which will be your “lollipop”. Simply use some sterilized scissors and cut the bottom shoots off at a 45º angle. This will allow the plant to heal quicker.
Don’t overdo it in the beginning. You need to allow the plant to grow to a decent size (about 3 weeks after germination) to start with the lollipop. There are plenty of tutorials online you can review. I’m just here to inform you that the technique exists.
SCROGGING
The next technique utilizes LTS and essentially weaves the shoots into a screen to create a canopy of buds. You’ll need a screen with 1-inch squares to pull this off. When you start training the plant, you’ll direct the shoots into each respective square. The rest of the shoots beneath the square will be clipped allowing all the bud production to focus on the top.
It takes some time to pull this off and you’ll probably lose between 2-3 weeks to finally get all of the shoots weaved into the screen, however, once you have achieved it you’ll have a “sea of top buds” which will be bigger and have more resin production. It’s a brilliant way to maximize grow real estate and make the most of your space.
CO2 Boosting
The final trick is more related to producing bigger more resin-covered buds. To do this, you’ll need to add additional CO2 into the flowering cycle. You can utilize dry ice and simply leave it in the grow box next to the buds during the flowering stage. You’ll want to do this when the light cycles are on as the plant absorbs more C02 during this stage.
This will increase resin production and allow the buds to become slightly bigger. Utilizing this with any of the techniques above will surely increase your yield.
And there you have it, some sure-fire ways to increase your yield!

 

[roots69]

3 Things You Can Make With 1 Gram of Weed (Other Than Smoking It)
Got an extra gram of cannabis lying around in your grinder?

If you have a couple of grams of pot lying around, it’s time to get creative.

There’s a lot more you can do with it than just smoking it in a spliff. A gram of cannabis can actually get you some really great medications in other forms. This is especially helpful for consumers on a budget, because every gram counts!
Here are some things you can do with your extra grams lying around. For extra potency, make sure to use the strongest cannabis strains you can find. Read up on our guide to decarboxylation here.
Cannabis Tea
Cannabis tea that can get you high? Sign us up! Tea is a great alternative to coffee, and when it’s spiked with pot you also get a more discreet way of medicating. When making this cannabis tea, remember that you’ll need fat and oil. These ingredients aren’t optional because they are necessary for extracting THC out of the cannabis.

Ingredients:

• 1 gram of ground cannabis that has been decarboxylated
• 1 tablespoon of coconut oil or unsalted butter
• 4 cups of water

Process:

1. Boil the water in a pan on your stovetop or cooker of choice. Add the oil or butter, then let it dissolve. Gently mix it around if you’d like. Add in the ground marijuana using a tea strainer, but if you don’t have one you can simply toss it in.
2. Let it simmer for 15-20 minutes.
3. Use a sieve or cheesecloth to separate the ground cannabis. Then, pour the latte-like tea into your cup. Some people don’t like the taste of cannabis, but you can add your flavoring of choice once done.

Tip: you can also opt to use cannabutter instead of decarboxylated cannabis; this’ll save you time!
Cannabutter
Most cannabutter recipes call for over a gram of weed, but it’s totally possible to make potent cannabutter with just 1 gram. The trick is to decarboxylate the cannabis first and make sure that you are using good quality, top-shelf pot.
Ingredients:

• 1 gram of decarboxylated flower
• 3-6 oz. unsalted butter
• ¼ cup of water
• Tools: a saucepan, stirring spoon, dense paper towel or cheese cloth, and a bowl to pour the strained infused butter

Process:

1. Place the saucepan on medium-low heat; add the butter in.
2. Once the butter has melted, add in the ground decarboxylated cannabis.
3. You’ll notice that the butter will start reducing quickly; this is when you pour in the water to prevent the butter from burning.
4. Once the mixture has boiled, reduce the heat a little and let it simmer for around 30 minutes, but frequently stirring.
5. After around 15 minutes, you’ll notice the butter turning into a shade of brown. If your butter is burning (you can tell by the dark color), add 2 tablespoons of water or reduce the heat.
6. Strain the cannabutter over the bowl; you can repeat this 2-3 times. Be sure to pour slowly.
7. Keep the butter in the refrigerator or freezer so that it can solidify. This can take 4 hours but leaving it overnight will yield better results.

Tip: Don’t throw the strained cannabis out just yet; keep it in an air-tight bag or freezer. The pot can still contain some valuable THC which you can eat or add into other infused edibles later on.
Firecracker
Generally speaking, firecrackers typically work well with a gram of weed whereas brownies or other recipes call for several grams. This delicious treat will satisfy your sweet tooth – maybe even better than space cakes!
Ingredients:

• 1 gram of ground weed
• 1 sheet of graham crackers
• 1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter

Process:

1. Preheat your oven to 325F. Prepare a sheet of aluminum foil.
2. Split the graham crackers into two, then spread the peanut butter onto ½ of each cracker.
3. Sprinkle the ground pot on top of the PB; make sure that the pieces are all directly in contact with the peanut butter because this following step will decarboxylate the weed to get you high.
4. Sandwich the graham crackers together.
5. Wrap each “sandwich” in foil; bake for 30 minutes.

There you have it! Super easy and delicious firecrackers with a bang. You can also enjoy this with some honey for even more sweetness.

 

[roots69]

What You Can Do To Help Legalize Marijuana In 2019


If 2018 was a momentous year for cannabis, 2019 has the potential to be even greater. We’re still waiting for cannabis to be rescheduled or legalized at the federal level, and several states are poised to legalize cannabis at the recreational level this year. These include New York, New Jersey, and Illinois. There are also rumors that cannabis will finally be legalized federally this year.
Whether you live in these states or not, there’s still a lot you can do to help legalize marijuana this year without having to be an activist.

• Vote. If you had a chance to do just one thing to help legalize marijuana, nothing will be more important than voting. Check if your state has any cannabis law reform ballots. The more voters exercise their right, the better the chances are of legalizing cannabis in your state.
• Tell your story. If cannabis has helped you or someone you love, sharing the positive impact of cannabis in your life help give it a voice while educating people about its benefits. Use social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to share positive experiences; doing so will have a huge impact about the reputation and awareness surrounding cannabis.

• Get educated. You may know a thing or two about how cannabis works, but do you know about the endocannabinoid system? How it works to treat cancer? The history of cannabis laws? Whether THC or CBD is best for you? There are new studies about cannabis being released almost every day, and staying informed and educated about the many new things we discover about this miraculous plant will come in handy not just for yourself but when talking to other people about the myriad of benefits about cannabis. Being informed also gives you more powerful arguments when you are given the opportunity to challenge a person’s beliefs about cannabis.
• Look for ways to help online. You don’t even have to leave your home to make a tremendous impact in the fight against prohibition. Simply go online and look for various non-profits and organizations whose objective is to help spread news and awareness on legalization. Several offer opportunities to volunteer in different ways, and you can also donate to their cause. When you donate, you give non-profits the help they need to promote drug law reform. Another way to help online is to look for pro-cannabis petitions online; placing your signature on it is a simple and awesome way to take action in supporting legalization. Some of them may be petitions urging vets with PTSD to medicate with cannabis in certain states, while others may be pushing for the federal legalization of cannabis. Don’t underestimate the importance of online activism!
• Find activists in your area. If you really want to lend a land, keep in mind that your physical presence will go a long way. Look for activist groups or drug reform organizations near your area; they exist almost everywhere. When you network with other activists, you also get a chance to learn more about the importance of legalization from the opinion of other people. Fighting as a group will do more good than going at it alone.
• Reach out to your local politicians and representatives. This is one of the most important things you can do. When you talk to your local representatives, it allows you to show your support on another level because just one email or phone call has the potential to make a huge difference. If you get the chance to, talking to them in person will also go a long way. Politicians are established public figures, so if you can persuade them to share their support for cannabis, it will have a big impact in your community and beyond.
• Educate your family and friends. Bring up cannabis use in the right place and time. Educating those around you helps legalize cannabis, since it helps spread awareness the quickest possible way and to people who may potentially need it the most. You may think it’s a small thing to do, but if you are able to convince even just one person on the importance of cannabis, this is already important.

What are you planning to do this year to help?

 

[roots69]

The Growing Cannabis Guide - How to Choose From Regular, Feminized, and Autoflowering Seeds verse Clones

Regular, Feminized, and Autoflowering cannabis or stick with clones?

Your Complete Guide To Growing: How To Choose From Regular,
Feminized, and Autoflowering Seeds vs. Clones

Growing good cannabis always starts from the seed.

As a grower, you’ll want to choose the best quality seeds possible because this greatly improves the chances you’ll grow top-shelf cannabis. But there are different types of seeds to choose from: regular, feminized, and auto-flowering cannabis seeds. You can also start with a clone. Each of these types of seeds presents its own benefits and advantages to the grower.
Choosing the right seed variety has a lot to do with your growing experience, desired flowering time, location, and the yield you’d like to get.
Regular Seeds

Regular cannabis seeds are just like your normal plant seed. They have not been altered or modified in any way such as genetic engineering to change how its grow process works. In other words, regular seeds will grow in exactly the way nature intended. For this reason, cannabis seeds are the easiest to find.
Regular cannabis seeds are derived from one female and one male parent. They can produce plants that are also either female or male. But there’s no way of really telling if a regular seed will produce a male or female one later on, until you get to the flowering stage. The calyxes of females resemble a teardrop, while male plants produce an oval pod.
Some growers prefer regular cannabis seeds and would recommend this variety to beginners. For one thing, regular seeds are the most inexpensive of all, and you’re likely to encounter several rookie mistakes as you learn to grow cannabis. If you work with expensive seeds straight away, you’ll only end up burning money if you end up with mistakes. Another reason is because regular seeds give a first-time grower a more thorough look into the plant’s complete life cycle, while teaching you exactly what it needs to thrive. Another advantage of using regular cannabis seeds is that these are necessary for developing new strains; growers interested in cross-breeding can use them as well.
Old school cannabis growers tend to prefer regular seeds, since they prefer to grow the plant in a way that it’s as close to nature as possible in all aspects. It’s also preferred by individuals who want to create their own seeds.

The drawbacks to regular seeds is that it doesn’t have other modified properties that the remaining two seed types have. They are also just a little more likely to produce female plants instead of males, and this unpredictability makes experienced growers prefer other types of seeds. If you are after a crop of consumable flowers, you need female plants; male plants only end up in the bin. Extreme care and attention to your growing environment can up the chances your seed will produce a male plant, but at the end of the day, you really have no control over the sex produced so even after a long time of caring for them, you might have to discard half the plants since they are males, which greatly reduces the crop’s potential yield.
Feminized Seeds
Feminized seeds are exactly what its name implies: it’s meant to give you female plants. Growers no longer have to play the guessing game when it comes to the sex of the plants produced by feminized seeds. Although they are considered better than regular seeds, growing these seeds still requires the same kind of care and growing conditions that you would with regular seeds.
Female cannabis plants that have been prevented from becoming fertilized also end up producing seedless flowers. This is what most growers prefer. Simple and faster cultivation are the primary advantages to using feminized seeds. It also saves time because whereas regular seeds require you to identify the gender and discard male plants early in the flowering phase, feminized seeds eliminate this need since the plants are always female.
Since feminized plants produce only female flowers, there’s a really good chance that every plant produces consumable cannabis. This gives the grower a significantly higher yield, and it ensures that your growing space is maximized since it enables you to use it in a more productive way by eliminating growth of male plants. Additionally, many growers appreciate the uniformity of product produced by feminized seeds, even if it’s used in large-scale production.
However, creating feminized seeds is considered new technology. In some cases, they don’t work as planned; they may end up not germinating properly, or they may even end up producing male or hermaphrodite plants (cannabis plants with both male and female flowers). You can avoid these issues by working with a legitimate seed breeder. Ask if they used hermaphoriditic pollen in creating the seeds. Some breeders use colloidal silver and other chemicals. Either way, none of these methods will guarantee 100% that feminized cannabis seeds will always germinate properly, grow well, or be female. Keep in mind that if your goal is to produce cannabis seeds, feminized seeds are not the way to go.
Autoflowering Seeds
Autoflowering cannabis seeds result in smaller plants, which are ideal for growing outdoors. Seasonal changes and a decrease in daylight hours are not necessary for them to flower. Because of this, autoflowering plants are low maintenance, which makes them a suitable choice for cultivators who don’t have the perfect growing conditions such as limited space, or an area that has a limit on plant height. You can even easily grow them discreetly, even in terraces or balconies. Its shorter height allows you to camouflage the plants by using other flowers and plants. Discretion made easy!
Cannabis plants typically flower by the end of the summer season, since days are shorter and sunlight decreases. Cannabis plants understand that maturation is necessary before winter. But with autoflowering plants, they start the flowering phase even if they are exposed to 24 hours of light. Their grow cycle is around 10 weeks, from beginning to end. Feminized autoflowering seeds provide growers with the best of both worlds: no need to identify plant genders, plus a quick harvest. Since autoflowering plants are small, it’s easy to plant several of them in every square foot.
Autoflowering seeds are the most popular among novice growers. They are so easy to use, grow quickly, and aren’t as complex as other kinds of seeds to produce an abundant harvest. These types of seeds are known to be resilient, and can protect themselves from pests, frost, and mold since they can grow anywhere you plant them, anytime of the year as long as temperatures aren’t too cold. Autoflowering seeds also generally produce shorter plants than others, usually around 10-23 inches, which is important for growers in a location that has a limitation on plant height.
On the other hand, the fact that autoflowering seeds yield smaller plants means that you get less consumable product. Some breeders have also noticed that their THC potency tends to be below 16%, and the average is usually at 20%. But while THC tends to be low in autoflowering seeds, the good news is that they are known to produce higher CBD levels, which is ideal for patients and medical users. CBD interacts with our endocannabinoid system, stimulating and activating our biological response to anxiety, stress, pain, and others. CBD can be used for a myriad of conditions including nausea, vomiting, seizures, psychosis, inflammation, depression, and neurodegenerative conditions to name a few.
Another factor to take into consideration is that autoflowering plants tend to have inconsistencies in speed of growth and size, even if you’re growing the same strain.
Clones
Clones are pretty much just a copy of another plant’s DNA. These seeds are made by cutting off a branch from a mother plant, and then forcing it to root. The result is a cannabis clone with the same DNA as its mother plant. If the mother plant was healthy, the clone will naturally have the same positive qualities, including resilience and resistance.
Some growers prefer to work with clones because they are effective ways of preserving a specific strain. For this reason, you may come across several strains in the market that are described as “clone only”. There’s just no way to recreate them. Other advantages of working with clones is that it has the potential to grow much faster than regular seeds.
But getting access to clones can be like pulling teeth, especially if you don’t live in a state where cannabis is legal. It’s important to get your clones from a reputable garden to make sure that you get the strain that you want. A reputable source is also critical because otherwise, you may end up introducing a clone that has existing diseases. This isn’t uncommon; sharing clones is one of the most common reasons why cannabis gardens end up with mold and pests.
Conclusion:
Before deciding on the type of seed that’s right for you, it requires a lot of research on your end. Read up on the various strains and keep in mind that some cannabis seeds are made to grow best indoors, while others thrive outdoors.

 

[roots69]

Tips For Growing Cannabis Indoors In The Winter

Winter cannabis growing can be tougher than Summer

With winter here, many of you who may be growing cannabis at home might be wondering how to help your plants thrive during the colder months. The truth is that, no matter what the weather is like outside, you still have to pay attention to the right growing conditions for cannabis.

Grow cannabis indoors right during the winter, and you’ll find that it’s just as fulfilling as growing in the summer. However, considering that the temperatures outside are much colder, there are a few more responsibilities that you’ll need to do this winter.
Indoor Temperature
Your grow room will need additional heating during the cold, winter months. During the day, your cannabis plants should be exposed to temperatures of 75-86F, while at night it should be somewhere between 64-72F. It’s especially important to keep in mind that the speed of growth, and the quality of your grow, will be seriously affected if nighttime temperatures drop below 61F.
Additionally, you should be keeping a close eye on the difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures especially during the first 3 weeks of the flowering phase. If the change in temperature when you go from day to night is far too big, this may result in stretched-out cannabis plants with wide spaces among its internodes. For optimum growing results in the first 3 weeks of flowering, the temperature differences from day to night should be around 3.6-7.2F. For the rest of the growing period, you should be looking at a discrepancy of around 18F when going from night to day.

Lighting, of course, will also play a role here. If you’re already using a lighting setup that gives off a lot of heat, you’re at an advantage because these will already give your plants adequate heat to stay warm enough during the day. But at night, a significant reduction in temperatures overnight may be dangerous particularly after your lights are switched off. To resolve this, just switch your cycles around: see what happens if you leave your lights on overnight to make up for the cooler temperatures, then turn them off at daytime when the temperatures are more consistent and appropriate.
If you don’t have one already, this winter is a good time to invest in a thermostat so that you can always keep a close watch on the temperature especially this time of year when it’s prone to rapid and quick changes.
Humidity
It’s also important to monitor the ambient humidity of your indoor grow during the winter. Between temperature and humidity, most novice growers tend to underestimate how critical humidity can be during the winter.
When temperatures in the air drop, the amount of water that becomes vapor also decreases. For example, when your air temperature is 41F, this can sustain much more water than temperatures of 60F. However, it isn’t just the amount of moisture in the air that will impact your cannabis grows in the winter; instead, you should consider how winter temperatures may increase the possibility of condensation especially when temperatures drop at night.
In other words, these damp conditions and drops in temperatures are perfect breeding grounds for mold and mildew. If you allow moisture and condensation to accumulate on your plants over a period of time, you’re setting yourself up for a devastating scenario. To solve this issue, keep your temperatures a bit higher than normal. It would also be a good idea to invest in a good quality dehumidifier for your grow room, which would make a huge positive impact in ensuring your plants grow well during the winter.
Winter tends to be the driest time of the year for many areas, which is why it can be problematic if you’re growing any kind of plant especially cannabis. Winter can mean that air in your grow room becomes too moist, and air brought in from the outside may be extremely dry. Either way, having a humidifier will go a long way. This, and a careful, close watch on your end will help you be on top of humidity levels in order to find that perfect balance.
The Bottom Line
During winter, closely monitoring your grow is critical to ensuring your plants withstand the cold temperatures. Small things can dampen your efforts, such as leaving a small window open which allows bitter, cold air to come in; having your heating systems break down at night; the presence of mold, and much more.
But that’s not to say that growing cannabis indoors during the winter is impossible, or even rewarding. It’s just a matter of taking charge with the added responsibilities during winter, and accepting that yes – you do have to be more careful than you normally would during other times of the year.

 

[roots69]

How to Create Your Own Marijuana Strains

Make a Cannabis Strains That Fits Your Needs

Growing cannabis is one of the greatest experiences you can do with marijuana. Sure, smoking it gets you high…but there’s a sense of completion when you grow a plant and harvest it.
While I have written many times about how to grow weed in the past…today we’re going to be talking about the art of cross pollination and how you can make your own cannabis strains at home.
But first, what do you need?
What do you need to make your own cannabis strains?
There’s a couple of things you’ll need to get your hands on. The first one is access to a variety of seeds. You need different genetics to cross breed plants. Taking plants from the exact same family will only replicate the genetics within that particular strain.
Secondly, you’ll need a place to grow. In fact, you’ll need a dual chamber grow set up. This means you have one chamber dedicated solely to flowering while the other is only meant for vegging. It’s important because this way you have more control over the cross pollination of your plants.
First thing is first
You’ll need both a male cannabis plant and a female cannabis plant. While you plants are in veg mode, they won’t show you their sexes. This is why the second flowering chamber is so important. You’ll need to first take a cutting from your cannabis plant and dip it in root hormone. You’ll want to wait a few days for the roots to develop.
Then, you’ll move your clone to your flowering chamber and reveal its sex. You’ll know it’s a female when there are white pistils developing at the inner nodes of the branches. You’ll know it’s a male when there are pollen sacks developing in the same area.
Make sure to properly label your plants when you’re flowering them so you know which one of the “vegging plants” is actually the male.
Now that you’ve identified your male, it’s time to make the magic happen.

Cross Pollinating
Now that you have both your male and female plants identified, it’s time to let them make sweet-sweet love. You will move both of the plants into the flowering chamber and start the process. Wait until the male develops the pollen sacks and then remove it from the flowering chamber.
Let the female plant develop nicely over the period of a month or so. Then, take some of the pollen from the male plant and rub it over the buds of the cannabis plant.
Depending on how many seeds you want, you’ll dose it with the appropriate amount of pollen.
Waiting to Harvest Seed
What you’re interested in this time is not the buds, but the seeds of your cross-pollinated plant. Wait for the plant to fully mature and harvest it like you would any other.
This time however, if all went successfully, you’ll have a bunch of seeds stuck in the buds. The THC count of the plant would be lower, but those new seeds are your new cross-pollinated strain.
Then, all you’ll have to do is germinate your seed and let it go through the entire grow cycle to reap the benefits of your labor.
Putting it into perspective
If it takes between 4-6 months for you to grow a cannabis plant, it will take you about 10-12 months to get your first cross-pollinated seeds. You can reduce the time by adding in more grow chambers, however that could become really expensive really quickly.
Why you should cross-breed
For those of us who like to grow our own weed, cross breeding and making your own strains is a must. Not only could you potentially make a new strain that rocks the world, you’re actually influencing the genetic profile of your cannabis plants.
Over time, you’ll refine your methods and will learn how to increase particular effects of your cannabis plants by mixing it with the genetic profile of another plant.
It’s all quite fascinating and trust me…once you start it’s nearly impossible to stop.
I mean think about it, the next time you go over to a social gathering and everyone is whipping out their stashes only to find you reveal a strain that nobody has ever smoked in the world…ever….well it’s a special feeling.
I for one am currently playing around with Mexican Landraces and mixing it with Powerhouse Strains from Europe and the US/Canada. Why? Because while the Mexican Landrace strain might lack in THC content, it makes up for in resilience. You can drop a seed of Shwag on the ground virtually anywhere in the world…and it will grow a marijuana plant.
My goal currently is to get the potency of the premium strains with the ability to survive harsh conditions of brick weed. It’s a challenge of course, but I got time…

 

[roots69]

What is Terp Sauce?
What is cannabis terpenes sauce and how do you make it?

Terp sauce, also known as terp juice, is one of the newest and most potent forms of consuming cannabis concentrates. It is the also the MOST flavorful form of cannabis in the market right now.
What makes terp sauce different from other forms of concentrates is that its potency is the result of high levels of terpenes as well as phytocannabinoids. Terpenes are plant-based compounds responsible for giving some cannabis strains its floral, sweet aroma; while others have a more pungent flavor. Terpenes are also present in other plants. However in cannabis, each strain possesses its own unique terpenoid profile.
Consuming terp sauce is a distinct experience because it can contain up to as much as 60% more terpenes and phytocannabinoids, resulting in an intense aroma and flavor that you won’t find in any other concentrates (or strains, for that matter). That’s not all – some terp sauce manufacturers make terp sauce that contains around 40% THC, so you’ll get a solid high out of it too.

How Terp Sauce Is Made
Terp sauce is manufactured using standard butane hash oil (BHO) methods, although it uses flash frozen or freshly cut material. This is because terpenes tend to degrade as soon as the cannabis plant has been harvested, but using freshly cut or flash frozen material gives you as much of the terpenes and cannabinoids as possible.
During a THC distillation process, terpenes are usually lost since the method separates THC from all the other compounds. What you get is a concentrate that lacks odor and flavor. But terpenes can also be extracted from flower as well as hash – and that’s what makes terp sauce different and more enjoyable for many. Think of terp sauce as THC distillate but with twice the amount of terpenes in it – just think about the sheer intense flavor that you’ll get out of it.
Consuming Terp Sauce
The science behind making terp sauce is relatively new, and cannabis enthusiasts are only now exploring how it can be used. Some use it as a flavor enhancer, adding it to cannabis products that are poor in the flavor and aroma department. It can also be added to rig or bong water.
If you’re interested in trying out terp sauce in the future, keep in mind that this is a highly concentrated product that can cause irritation to the skin and eyes. It’s meant to be used in small amounts, and never ever dab or vape pure terp sauce.
Medicinal Benefits Of Terp Sauce
Terp sauce isn’t just for recreational users. Patients can also try using terp sauce, since terpenes have the ability to enhance the medicinal properties of THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids when combined.
Some of the popular terpenes include:

• Linalool has one of the most distinct flavor profiles among all terpenes. Linalool is even used in many cosmetics and fragrances on the market today. If you know what lavender smells like, it’s linalool that gives the plant its easily-recognizable aroma. Linalool has a multitude of health benefits: it has powerful anti-inflammatory properties, is an anti-convulsant, relieves pain, and helps treat anxiety.
• Myrcene is responsible for the mango-like, earthy, and musky aroma of some strains similar to the smell of clove. Myrcene has anti-inflammatory properties, aids in the treatment of chronic pain, improves analgesic responses in the endocannabinoid system, acts as an antibiotic, and has relaxing properties.
• Beta-caryophyllene is best known for its spicy, peppery aroma. It’s also found in black pepper, rosemary, and hops. Recent research into the health benefits of this specific terpene has shown that beta-caryophyllene has powerful anti-inflammatory and neuropathic pain-killing properties. Beta-caryophyllene also has therapeutic benefits for anxiety and depression.
• Limonene is one of the most widely used terpenes, valued for its refreshing flavor. Limonene is also present in pine, rosemary, juniper, and mint but it’s most abundant in citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons. Studies show that limonene has cancer-fighting properties, thanks to its ability to strengthen the immune system. Limonene may give new hope for cancer patients since studies show it can prevent tumors from affecting nearby tissue. Other medicinal benefits of limonene include its ability to aid in the regeneration of cellular tissues, and heal damaged skin.