Cannabis-based booze to be ‘biggest disruptor ever’

US election day didn’t just mark the naming of a new president – 8 November also saw a fresh wave of cannabis legalisation spread throughout the US. But as marijuana increasingly gets the green light, what does it mean for spirits?

Can cannabis and alcohol ever coexist as happy bedfellows?

California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada were united in more ways than one on 8 November 2016. While the landmark day saw Donald Trump secure his route to the White House, the four US states voted blue for Hillary – and they also leaned green, opting to legalise recreational cannabis use.

Drugs and fashion have always been intertwined, and not always in the best way.

Heroin chic was popularised by Kate Moss in the ’90s, but it’s not all glamour: fashion giants like Alexander McQueen and John Galliano have all spoken out about their struggles with addiction.

However, now drugs are taking a slightly different path in the world of fashion in a way that is, dare we say it, much less destructive.

Kate Moss | Calvin Klein S/S 1997 pic.twitter.com/ohurdmxGFW

— Lost In History (@HistoryToLearn) January 5, 2017

A $887,491 loan to implement the voter-approved recreational marijuana law was approved by the state.

On a 2-1 vote, the Board of Examiners on Tuesday approved $887,491 to enable the Department of Taxation to move forward on regulations to implement the new law.

Deputy Taxation Director Rick Gimlin said without that money up front, the department wouldn’t be able to meet the statutory mandate that they get the program up and running by the end of this year.

“If this request is not approved, we really do not have the resources to meet the timeline of this program,” he told the board consisting of Gov. Brian Sandoval, Attorney General Adam Laxalt and Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske.

For now—and for at least the near future—Denver is America’s de-facto capital for recreational cannabis. It was the first, and until California or Las Vegas get their acts together, it remains the biggest show around.

As such, “Denver” is dangled in front of fearful, parochial City Councils and excitable NIMBYs as a cautionary tale of damage done by legal marijuana sales—apparently, “jobs” and “tax revenue” aren’t for everybody—and alternately held up as a model for how other cities can seize a piece of the weed billions for themselves.

One thing other cities won’t do, if they choose to follow Denver’s lead, is close up shop early.

Legislators in more than a dozen states have introduced measures to loosen laws restricting access to or criminalizing marijuana, a rush of legislative activity that supporters hope reflects a newfound willingness by public officials to embrace a trend toward legalization.

The gamut covered by measures introduced in the early days of legislative sessions underscores the patchwork approach to marijuana by states across the country — and the possibility that the different ways states treat marijuana could come to a head at the federal Justice Department, where President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to become attorney general is a staunch opponent of legal pot.

Cannabis Cultivation Q&A: Jorge Cervantes gives us a countdown of his five favorites

Question: Big fan! What are your 5 favorite strains to smoke?

— Jacob, Australia

Answer: Great question, Jacob! I love so many different varieties of cannabis that it is difficult to narrow them down.

First, let’s distinguish a couple of things: Most cannabis aficionados agree on the general distinction between cannabis indica and cannabis sativa plants. Indicas come from more mountainous areas and grow short and squat. Sativas come from tropical regions and grow tall and lanky. Hybrids are a mix of indica and sativa varieties.

Across New England, two issues appear to be driving legislatures this year — and they both have to do with drugs.

States are grappling with the emergence of marijuana legalization. But the region is also the epicenter of the opioid crisis, with overdose rates in New Hampshire among the highest in the country.

These two debates — separate, but not unrelated — transcend party. Marijuana legalization efforts have been supported by Democrats and Republicans, but none of the region’s six governors fully support recreational use of the drug. On the opioid crisis as well, there is bipartisan consensus about the importance of the issue — as well as the fact there’s no silver bullet to solve the problem.

Since Proposition 64 passed, many Californians have assumed that all sales and use of marijuana have become legal.

But in fact, recreational sales don't become legal until next year.

There is additional confusion over what's legal and what isn't.

"When Prop. 64 passed, all the personal rights kicked in the next day," said Brooke E. Staggs, a reporter with The Cannifornian, a California-based marijuana information site. "That means anyone 21 and over can have up to an ounce of marijuana. You can grow up to 6 plants per home. But what did not become legal overnight was selling marijuana."

New York should eliminate penalties currently handed down to individuals caught possessing small amounts of marijuana, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday, citing a “dramatic shift in public opinion” evidenced by pot prohibitions being reined in from coast to coast.

The governor’s recommendation to remove criminal penalties appeared buried in a 383-page book containing his 2017 plans distributed Wednesday evening among the state legislature, New York Daily News reported.

“The illegal sale of marijuana cannot and will not be tolerated in New York State, but data consistently show that recreational users of marijuana pose little to no threat to public safety,” the Democrat wrote on page 191 of the report.

North Korea has been getting some pretty high praise lately from the stoner world.

Marijuana news outlets including High Times, Merry Jane and Green Rush — along with British tabloids, which always love a good yarn — are hailing the North as a pothead paradise and maybe even the next Amsterdam of pot tourism. They’ve reported North Korean marijuana to be legal, abundant and mind-blowingly cheap, sold openly to Chinese and Russian tourists at a major market on the North’s border for about $3 a pound.

But seriously, North Korea? Baked?