Innehållsförteckning för March 2021 från High Times

SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESSES While recreational cannabis sales began in some Michigan cities in 2019, officials in Detroit created specific legislation that supports ownership of cannabis businesses by actual city residents. The Detroit City Council approved an ordinance on November 24, 2020, that will allow recreational marijuana retailers and other adult-use cannabis businesses to operate within city limits. The ordinance includes provisions to ensure that at least half of recreational cannabis businesses are owned by city residents. The bill was introduced in October 2020 by Councilmember James Tate. Detroit’s “legacy applicants,” who have lived in the city for at least 15 of the past 30 years, will receive priority in submitting applications, be charged only one percent of license fees and be eligible to purchase some city-owned properties for their businesses…

The cannabis plant’s many medical properties are finally being recognized on a global scale after decades of willful ignorance. In the past, dozens of countries recognized cannabis as medicine—until the United Nations (UN) intervened in 1961, broadening the scope of prohibited substances to include cannabis. On December 2, 2020, a UN commission finally voted to remove cannabis from a restrictive category of the world’s most dangerous drugs, alongside heroin and other substances with no regarded medical value. The historic move in the UN’s 63rd reconvened session was supported by the US government and many other governments across the globe. The UN’s Vienna-based Commission for Narcotic Drugs (CND) considered a series of recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) to reclassify cannabis and its derivatives. One of those recommendations was to…

California’s Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) announced on November 13, 2020, that it will be granting a total of $29,950,494 to various state universities in order to fund cannabis-related research efforts. The agency split up the grant money between 34 university research groups, including both University of California and California State University colleges. The universities that received the largest amount of grant funds for a single research proposal include UC San Francisco, UC Santa Barbara, CSU Dominguez Hills and UC Berkeley. “The research conducted through these public university grants will provide critical information for evaluating our legal cannabis system and its impacts,” said former BCC chief Lori Ajax in a press release, about one month before she turned in her resignation in December 2020. “This research will be a valuable…

The southern African country of Zimbabwe made great strides in the cannabis world last year. In September 2020, the country’s government approved 44 cannabis cultivation and sales licenses, following the announcement of its official cannabis rule proposal. On November 26, 2020, the country’s finance minister, Mthuli Ncube, wrote in a 2021 national budget statement that “Cannabis (mbanje/imbanje) production has immense potential to generate export receipts and tax revenues. The potential value of cannabis exports for medicinal purposes is estimated at about US $1.25 billion for the year 2021.” Ncube also wrote a proposal for a “cannabis levy” which would impose a 10 percent tax on the export of medical cannabis oils, 15 percent on bulk medical cannabis extracts and 20 percent on medical cannabis flower. Tobacco is currently southern Africa’s…

“There were coyotes yipping in the background, and we were taking hits from bongs and dab rigs, and kept saying we were space coyotes. And that name really stuck with me.” Many cannabis brands have an intriguing backstory, but most of them have nothing on the origin story of Space Coyote. The high-end pre-roll company, now well-known across California, was founded in Joshua Tree, during a meteor shower, under the new moon, surrounded by the distant howls of coyotes. That’s hard to beat. “There were 25 friends around, and we were drinking mushroom tea,” Libby Cooper, CEO and co-founder of Space Coyote, tells High Times. “It was seriously the most amazing, magical evening ever. We were there specifically for a meteor shower, and it was timed with the new moon.…

Technological breakthroughs help to bring people together and improve our quality of life. When the subject of technology comes up in the cannabis industry, naturally we at High Times immediately think about technological advances that help bring us the most beautiful, potent, quality buds imaginable. If you’re looking to upgrade your grow gear, or learn more about what your home setup needs to excel, we’ve got you covered. Thanks to our annual Hydro Report as well as a thorough list of the leading DIY grow technology, your green thumb (theoretically, of course) may develop into more of a robotic appendage—who said automation was a bad thing? Anyone who loves learning about the newest advances in the tech world is usually fascinated by the otherworldly experience that is virtual reality (VR).…

The pairing of VR and cannabis isn’t just limited to scientific studies. The duo is also being utilized by the cannabis industry. The purchasing habits of cannabis consumers is affected by many factors, and the cannabis industry has evolved greatly from its underground roots in the past. Back then, it was difficult to tell strains apart due to a general lack of knowledge about their characteristic appearances, and a lack of scientific testing to ensure accurate THC levels. (Not to mention the vast difference in purchasing cannabis when it was illegal worldwide, compared with the present when many locales have more tolerant laws and regulations.) If one thing rings true, it’s that education is key to ensuring that cannabis consumers understand what they’re looking for and what to expect in…

NON-RECIRCULATING Examples of non-recirculating systems are wick systems, drain-to-waste drip systems, DWC buckets and even high-pressure aeroponics. In these systems, the nutrient solution is either delivered passively (without a pump) or actively (with a pump) to the root system. Nutrient-solution runoff, if any, isn’t captured or reused; it’s a single-shot or direct-feed affair. These methods can be very productive, as plants receive a consistently balanced nutrient solution. However, water use tends to be greater, as some runoff (waste) is generated in most systems. RECIRCULATING Recirculating systems are more popular and include aeroponics, nutrient film technique (NFT), recirculating deep-water culture (RDWC), flood and drain, and drip irrigation. Recirculating hydroponic systems almost always actively deliver the nutrient solution. With good management of total dissolved solids (TDS), pH (the measure of acidity to…

A good balance of reliability to performance and economy makes flood-and-drain (a.k.a. ebb-and-flow) systems very popular with growers. The drawback with this type of system is that some growing medium is required, so it’s not a “true” water culture. Plants in rockwool cubes or pots with hydroponic growing medium are maintained in watertight trays in the growing environment. A timed pump floods the growing medium from a reservoir below, adding oxygen, water and nutrients to the root zone. When the pump shuts off, the nutrient solution drains back into the reservoir below, drawing fresh air into the growing medium.…

@Spaceshipsflyin Replying to @HIGH_TIMES_Mag Love getting my #weed delivered! @pharmakontario @iamToddyTickles @HIGH_TIMES_Mag and @redlightholland [Cannabis] helped with my own traumatic brain injury. It’s a scary place to be. Personality changes can be really hard for the individual and their family alike. Concussions tend to be treated like an orthopaedic injury or masked with medications. There’s few public treatment options. @cannabismymedi1 @esoterickush @HIGH_TIMES_Mag We see these strange yet interesting mutants in extensive research on Cannabis/Hemp Domestication Syndrome. Genetic anomalies occur as the plant is more “domesticated”—after all it is a weed that grew in the wild for millions of years. @TheRealSamsonS @HIGH_TIMES_Mag “CBD” “CBD” “CBD” Everyone has forgotten about good ol’ THC, that catalyzes with CBD for greater effectiveness. CBD is soo last year! CBG is where it’s at now. The…

The Pacific Gas strain flowers out indoors under LEDs on a mobile racking platform in Watsonville, California. Double stacking their gardens for maximum efficiency, Fog City Farms furthers their sustainability efforts by reclaiming the indoor moisture through their HVAC system to water their plants. ON PAGE 82 The genetic future of cannabis is in the hands of researchers like the distinguished professor of plant and microbiology, George Weiblen. ON PAGE 96…

Diversity is rising in the industry, but it takes years to normalize it. On December 1, 2020, Maryland-based Curio Wellness announced that it would be creating a $30 million private-equity fund, called the Curio WMBE, to help women and minority groups gain ownership of cannabis dispensaries. “In looking at the systemic barriers that women, minorities and disabled veterans face in accessing capital, we decided to develop a solution that directly addresses this massive economic disparity,” said Curio Wellness CEO Michael Bronfein. “The fund provides qualifying entrepreneurs with the investment capital they need to become a Curio Wellness Center franchisee, while ensuring their success through our best-in-class business operations.” Curio is seeking up to 50 candidates to operate a Curio Wellness franchise within the next three years based on these criteria.…

Clad in leather and donning decorative pistolas, sombreros, fishnets, black makeup and chaps—Charros of Rock put on larger-than-life shows that will immerse your soul in the fringe of Latinx music subgenres and elements of folklórico style. Consisting of Ricky Rodd, Mavero Duran, Hendrique Haze, J.J. Salaz, Nico Stixx, Nandoom Vee, Belle Martele and Mara Felina—Charros of Rock have become a fixture in the Los Angeles Latinx music scene, including a recent gig opening (virtually, of course) for Cheech Marin, La Marisoul, Danny Trejo and others at La Onda Live! Combining rock, mariachi, boleros, sones, polkas, joropos and rancheras, the band creates a fusion of music that cannot be replicated. A charro (feminine: charra) is a traditional horseman or horsewoman from Mexico, which sets the basis for Charros of Rock. High…

New Frontier Data Senior Managing Editor Without question, 2020 will be remembered as a watershed for the legal cannabis industry. Marked by record public acceptance and popularity in the United States (a Gallup poll found that 68 percent of Americans supported legalization, an all-time high), passage of five more state programs (to raise the US count to 15 states with legalized recreational cannabis and 35 with medical marijuana) and given “essential business” status in 33 states during a global pandemic, the industry is enjoying unprecedented success in mainstream America. Projections call for the number of US cannabis consumers to reach about 46.6 million people by 2025, when New Frontier Data expects total sales to surpass $41.5 billion. Unlike virtually every other product on the planet due to the diversity of…

Virtual-reality (VR) experiences have been around for longer than you might think. Some of the earliest forms of VR were truly revolutionary at the time, with intriguing devices such as stereoscopes in the 1850s, the View-Master that debuted in 1939 or the Sensorama VR machine that was created in 1962. Humanity has always been fascinated with the exploration of new worlds or scenarios that are different from everyday reality. Today, VR experiences are more widely available than ever before, because technology has finally caught up with the idea, and it has become more accessible and affordable—leading to its inevitable rise in popularity. Especially now, in the COVID-19 era, the need to escape safely and resume some aspect of normalcy is more important than ever before. Today, VR is mainly associated…

In more recent news, and in light of the current state of the world, many cannabis companies have switched to safer methods of socializing and communication. Webinars, live streams and other remote communication methods have increased in popularity, but none of them quite deliver on replacing some of the cannabis industry’s most noteworthy gatherings, such as business events, conferences and conventions. The folks behind the Emerge Virtual Cannabis Conference & Expo, however, have taken the digital cannabis event to a whole new level. High Times spoke with the editor-in-chief of Cannabis & Tech Today, Charles Warner, who also works with a team on the Emerge events. Warner said that his team began to brainstorm ideas about holding events in the summer of 2020, with the first one occurring in September…

Welcome back—the last 12 months have been strange, to say the least. However, one of the better human traits we possess is the ability to try and make the best of a not-so-good situation—and that means that there are now more people than ever growing their own bud at home. Naturally, it also means that there are people growing even more bud than they already had before—a lot more bud, in some instances. Who can’t use a little relief these days? Besides, it’s always satisfying knowing how top-shelf tasty smoke is cultivated.…

Automation in your hydroponic setup doesn’t mean spending less time in the garden if you are serious about bigger buds and faster cropping times. Automation can mean more time spent observing your plants and assessing how different management techniques are working in the never-ending quest for yields of dreams. If your hydroponic system waters your plants automatically, for example, you can spend more time on what’s in the nutrient solution, rather than just making sure your plants are watered. Better attention to nutrient-feeding programs and measuring and adjusting for pH and dissolved solids can have a big impact on growth rates and plant health. Healthy growth rates and balanced crop nutrition can help you avoid many common growing problems too. Commercial growers have long known the benefits of automation—it’s quite…

As cannabis continues on the path toward normalization, Grove Bags has become the first company ever to get the nod from the famed Dow Packaging Innovation Awards for the advances it has brought to cannabis packaging. Make no mistake about it, the Dow Awards are the top of the mountain for consumer-goods manufacturers on the cutting edge of packaging technology. Since 1986, they’ve been the premier industry acknowledgement for the time and effort that design teams put into the craftsmanship and refinement of their products in their chase to create the next big thing before someone else comes up with it, like the first guy to fill a box with cereal. Last year’s top prize went to Henkel and Plastic Bank for their effort to create plastic redemption networks in…

Over the centuries, the meaning of the word “technology” has evolved as dramatically as the advancements that the word represents. Originally stemming from the ancient Greek words techn? (which means “art” or “craft”) and logos (which means “word” or “speech”), technology once referred to fine and applied arts, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Nowadays, technology represents the ways in which humankind changes and manipulates our environment—but even that definition doesn’t encompass the groundbreaking ways we approach the yearly High Times Tech Issue. Let’s talk about weed tech, baby. The history of the word “tech” is much less interesting than the latest technological developments in marijuana growing. For those of us who are dedicated to the soilless craft of cultivation, we’ve brought you our annual Hydro Report, penned by Erik Biksa.…

Welcome to the March 2021 issue of High Times and the “Twenty22Many Veterans Chronicles.” This is where I cyber-travel across America to speak with legendary and hardworking military veterans and cannabis activists about the current state of affairs in their home states. This month, I’m very proud and honored to speak with T.J. Thompson. I met Thompson five years ago at an Americans for Safe Access conference in Washington, DC. At the time, Thompson was still fighting for cannabis legalization in Virginia and I was celebrating Washington State being one of the first states to go fully legal and also add PTSD to its list of qualifying conditions for medical cannabis use. Right off the bat, I realized we (the movement) had a huge asset in Thompson. Thompson served his…

Traditionally, officials in Southern states have been the most hesitant to embrace cannabis; however, most states have legalized some form of medical cannabis now. States such as Arkansas are experiencing a booming industry after launching its medical cannabis program in May 2019. Nearly one year after the launch, an Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission (AMMC) report stated that approximately 80 percent of dispensaries are now open throughout the state. Medical cannabis sales revenue has also reached $187 million, according to the report, as of November 24, 2020. In a Facebook post, the AMMC unveiled data regarding the amount of cannabis sold, in pounds. “In total, patients have purchased more than 28,600 pounds of medical marijuana since Arkansas’ first dispensary opened in mid-2019,” the post reads. “We anticipate sales will surpass 30,000…

While COVID-19 vaccine testing was quickly expanded to human subjects late last year, the cannabis industry takes things a little slower. A study conducted by Spectrum Therapeutics, the medical division of Canopy Growth Corporation, was completed in mid-November—using worms as test subjects. Caenorhabditis elegans is a tiny worm (about one millimeter in length) that can be found in soil. Spectrum Therapeutics’ goal was to test the “solubility, stability, acute toxicity, thermotolerance and effects” that CBD can have on these organisms, which share an estimated 60-80 percent of their genes with humans. The study found that during the worm’s two-to-three-week lifespan, CBD wasn’t the cause of any major concerns. “Despite widespread use of CBD, no life-long toxicity studies had been conducted to date to determine the impact—or potential impact—of long-term exposure…

When people think of Bootsy Collins, the virtuosic bass player and Parliament-Funkadelic luminary, images of star-shaped glasses and outrageously colorful outfits likely come to mind—that and his 100-watt smile. Indeed, Collins has had something to smile about for the last 50 years as he’s sailed into bona fide funk-icon status. Now 69 years old, Collins is still going full-steam ahead with his latest solo album, The Power of the One, which arrived in October of last year. Boasting guest appearances from Snoop Dogg and Sly & the Family Stone bassist Larry Graham, the project effortlessly bridges the gap between the current musical landscape and the legendary music of the 1970s, especially on the song “WantMe2Stay”—a cover of the Sly & the Family Stone song “If You Want Me to Stay.”…

Price by the ounce MARCH 2021 PRICE INDEX US Price Index YTD Average: $307 East Price Index YTD Average: $318 South Price Index YTD Average: $324 West Price Index YTD Average: $279 High Times wants to know what you’re smoking. Submit your strain information including location and price by the ounce to thmq@hightimes.com, or tweet us (#THMQ). TOP FIVE STRAINS GRAPEFRUIT DURBAN “Super citrusy!” (Kalamazoo, MI) JUICEMAN “New strain of a Fabuloso and Papaya cross; smoke is earthy and pungent.” (Hot Springs, AR) SO DELICIOUS “From the brand of the bassist of System of a Down, top-notch bud that’s floral and fragrant.” (Los Angeles, CA) GLUE “Solid Glue at a great price!” (Oakland, CA) TRANS HIGH MARKET QUOTATIONS CANNABIS COMPANY STOCKS Reported on 12/14/2020…

Hydroponics is not a new technology. Hydroponic cultivation, historically speaking, becomes more widespread or an area of focus when people face challenges. For example, in World War II, when armed forces occupied islands in the Pacific, they found themselves cut off from traditional food shipments—so new methods to grow enough food to feed armies using very limited resources had to be developed and implemented quickly. And so they were. Sand was a readily available hydroponic growing medium, and soluble fertilizer components were easy to transport and didn’t spoil in tough conditions. Hydroponics has many earlier well-documented, working examples that are worth mentioning, including the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and floating raft systems still in use today in South and Central America. THE BIRTH OF MODERN HYDROPONICS Hydroponic cultivation methods used…

1 SOLID MARBLE $59 fundamental.berlin Let everyone know who’s boss! Show off your executive prowess with a solid black marble accent on your desk, which can function as a paperweight or an ashtray. The Kugel Bowl is the perfect ashtray that could potentially last through thousands of years of the elements. It’s created by removing a sphere hewn from a solid cube of elegant, authentic black marble. The inner surface is polished and the exterior has a matte finish. Invest in an ashtray that will last you a lifetime. German artists at Fundamental have really outdone themselves this time with the Kugel Bowl. 2 ELECTRIC SLIDE $22.00 shop-tetra.com Hate it when your Bic lighter runs out of gas? So do we. These lighters are rechargeable, fuel-free lighters that never truly…

I love my citrus strains. What’s new in limonene research? -Busta Limes Hi Busta Limes, In the lab, this fragrant terpene fights viruses and other microbes. Humans who eat citrus have lower rates of cancer, obesity and cardiovascular problems, but more than limonene contributes, so keep fresh fruit around for your munchies. Now that Uruguay’s had legal cannabis for a while, did the sky fall? -Chick Little Hi Chick Little, Nope. Adolescent’s claim that the plant is more available (of course) but their use and perceptions of risk haven’t changed. So much for the disasters of a regulated market. Is anandamide just in your brain when you’re happy? -Felice Navidad Hi Felice, Anandamide, one your cannabinoid system’s neurotransmitters, show up during blissful moments (like the exercise-induced euphoria of the “runner’s…

ACROSS 3 A mental health illness that causes nervousness and worry 5 A term that describes frequent dwelling or self-blaming 7 Involuntary muscle contractions 8 Opposite of dysphoric 9 A common symptom of most injuries 10 Something most commonly used to treat swelling (with a hyphen) 12 Term to describe the feeling that you might lose your lunch 15 Inability to focus DOWN 1 Having difficulty with or being unable to sleep 2 Another word for coitus or making love 4 Those who are prone to constant movement suffer from this 6 Extremely unpleasant dreams that cause a disruption in the sleep cycle 11 The desire to eat, which is often increased when consuming certain strains of cannabis 13 This part of a plant is used to make flour when…