Six years after Californians legalized weed, it remains illegal to make a grilled cheese sandwich and serve it to someone in a licensed cannabis lounge. God forbid a folk singer strums a guitar, too. Someone could report the lounge to both the local Health Department and the Entertainment Commission.
But California legal cannabis laws might get less onerous this year with three proposed bills to allow prepared and served food, cannabis music events, and even licensed cannabis catering.
Listen to Leafly Senior Editor David Downs explain the legal lounge landscape in the state, and the bills’ odds—part of an interview with National Public Radio affiliate KCRW, a three-years-running ‘This Week in Weed’ segment.
On Feb. 24, publicists at Stanford University issued a press release that researchers had found an association between daily cannabis use and a 34% increase in coronary artery disease. Is that true? And what’s cannabis’ heart risk relative to other lifestyle choices, medications, or, strenuous activity like shoveling snow?
Listen along as Leafly Director of Science and Innovation, Nick Jikomes PhD, explains how the study has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, and arrives amid mixed data on the topic. Learn about the pernicious cycle of science reporting by press release. And understand the other heart studies and background information on cannabis and the heart.
Click the below play bar to listen along.
Top consumer tips:
wait for the full peer-reviewed study
compare how the findings stacks up against other studies
an association does not equal causation
pay attention to modality (smoking versus vaping, edibles)
pay attention to dose (high doses can affect your body differently than low doses). “Dose matters, so start low and go slow,” said Jikomes.
ask your doctor about any recreational activity or medication, if you have heart issues
and consider a flower vaporizer. Flower vaping with the PAX or Volcano produces far, far less toxic byproducts of combustion than smoking. “You’re not going to get a lot of that nasty stuff that combines with lighting plant matter on fire,” said Jikomes.
Thousands and thousands of pounds of cannabis already leave California every year thanks to the illicit market. We’re America’s number one plug. But can we move some legally for once?
The regulator for the world’s biggest legal cannabis market thinks the feds won’t mind, and now awaits a potential green light from the state’s attorney general.
Will America drop the charade and engage in free cannabis trade? Will the US Constitution’s Commerce Clause force states’ hands?
Listen to Leafly Senior Editor David Downs breaking it down for National Public Radio affiliate KCRW in Santa Monica, CA. We’ve been doing a three-year-running ‘This Week in Weed’ appearance there. The Interstate section begins at minute 4:00.
