The 9-11 Memorial Stair Climbs are not timed race events, but a way for firefighters and the community to honor and remember the FDNY firefighters who selflessly gave their lives so that others might live.
Each participant pays tribute to a FDNY firefighter by climbing or walking the equivalent of the 110 stories of the World Trade Center. Your individual tribute not only remembers the sacrifice of an FDNY brother, but symbolically completes their heroic journey to save others. Through firefighter and community participation we can ensure that each of the 343 firefighters is honored and that the world knows that we will never forget. The proceeds of these events help the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation create and maintain programs that support fire service survivors. Your support of the 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb events provides assistance to the surviving families and co-workers of the 343 firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice on September 11, 2001.
From firehero.org
Cannabis users were 45 percent less likely to contract bladder cancer than their more abstemeous peers, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) – a branch of the National Institutes for Health.
The NCI study examined 82,050 men of different ages and socioeconomic backgrounds from 2002-2003 with the purpose of discovering any links between smoking tobacco and smoking marijuana and the risk of bladder cancer. Researchers followed up with the respondents 11 years later.
Just over 40 percent of those surveyed said they had used marijuana compared to 57 percent who said the same of tobacco. The report found that “cannabis and cannabinoids may have benefits in treating the symptoms of cancer or the side effects of cancer therapies.”
Tobacco smokers were found to have higher rates of bladder cancer. The NCI, however, wasn’t wholly positive about the effects of cannabis use, with paranoia and low blood pressure listed as potential downsides of excessive marijuana smoking.
As both the recreational and medical marijuana industry continue to grow doctors and scientists will likely increase the exploration of positive and harmful effects of cannabis.
In 2013, speaking to the American Urological Association, Dr. Anil Thomas said:
We know that tobacco smoking is the best established risk factor for bladder cancer. But to date, there are no epidemiologic studies accurately characterizing the association between cannabis use and bladder cancer.
The study was careful not to draw direct causation from the results but it may open the way for further studies investigating the impact marijuana could have in reducing the risk from various cancers that scientists have had limited success in understanding.
Marijuana for recreational use is legal in Alaska, Oregon, Colorado, Washington and the District of Columbia. In total, 23 states have legalised marijuana for medical use.
By Guy Bently
Deeply influenced by a childhood spent growing up on Long Beach in Sag Harbor, N.Y., artist Grant Haffner tries to capture the color and feeling of sunsets burnt into his memories. Haffner works primarily with a mixture of acrylic, marker, pencil and paint pen on wood panels to create vibrant neon depictions of Long Island landscapes from the viewpoint of roadways punctuated with power lines. He shares about his paintings:
The East End of Long Island has been my home for most of my life. I spent many years exploring the trails through the woods, cruising the quiet country roads, and hanging out on the beaches. My childhood here, surrounded by nature and water, was an experience that I cherish. Now that I am older, I can see how the landscape is changing and am reminded that it will never be the same. Hopefully, my paintings will capture the memory of that landscape before it fades.
Haffner is represented by Damien A. Roman Fine Art where you can see more of his recent work. (via My Modern Met)
Christopher Jobson on September 8, 2015
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A caped green superhero stumping for marijuana-legalization votes at college campuses and bars in Ohio has sparked debate over its impact on children.
“Buddie” is a fuzzy, ever-smiling pot bud in a bulging white muscle suit with green trunks, gloves and boots. He arrives in a truck painted with marijuana leaves declaring: “Yes on legalization.”
Children’s health advocates opposed to legalization said Buddie is reminiscent of Joe Camel, the cartoon dromedary proven so effective at marketing cigarettes to teenagers in the 1990s that R.J. Reynolds was forced to retire his image. They said the pot mascot makes light of a dangerous illegal drug in a manner appealing to kids.
“We didn’t believe it when we saw the photos. We were pretty shocked,” said Nick Lashutka, president of the Ohio Children’s Hospitals Association that’s involved in fighting the legalization effort. “This is nothing less than a ploy to market to children.”
ResponsibleOhio, the campaign seeking in November to legalize marijuana for medical and recreational use, said Buddie is nothing like Joe Camel. Executive Director Ian James said the mascot is not marketing marijuana but asking for votes — and speaking exclusively to voting-age students.
“Buddie only addresses people that are 18 and older, and Buddie works specifically with voters,”
“Buddie only addresses people that are 18 and older, and Buddie works specifically with voters,” James said.
“Buddie has no connection with anybody under 18 because anybody under 18 can’t vote.”Also, James said, Joe Camel’s tobacco product was legal whereas anyone selling marijuana in Ohio today “would go to jail.”
Lashutka said he has children, and it is the younger ones who find superheroes most appealing.
“As someone who has a recent college graduate in the family, he’s not playing with superheroes or watching cartoons, but my younger kids are,” Lashutka said.
The legalization question is fiercely dividing the state. It would make Ohio a rare state to move from total prohibition to total legality for those 21 and older. The measure also sets up a network of 10 authorized growing sites in the state.
Republicans who control the state Legislature believe the growing network to be a monopoly, oligopoly or cartel. They’ve placed a separate issue on the ballot barring such economic arrangements from Ohio’s constitution without two separate votes of the people.
Amid the intense and expensive fight emerged Buddie.
“They need an attention grabber,” said Casey Newmeyer, an assistant marketing professor at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management. ”
They need something that’s going to catch young people’s attention to come over and talk to them.
They need something that’s going to catch young people’s attention to come over and talk to them. Just one or two random people standing on a campus passing out fliers isn’t going to do that.”Newmeyer said she agrees with critics that merging superhero imagery with marijuana is “toeing the line.” But she said Buddie differs from Joe Camel.
“He’s not on billboards, he’s not on clothing, he’s not available for children to see,” Newmeyer said. “They’re not marketing him to the masses.”
But not everyone promoting marijuana legalization is psyched about Buddie. Sam Tracy, a marijuana consultant at 4Front Ventures, slammed the mascot, calling its use an “irresponsible tactic.”
Scott Cecil, an outreach coordinator at Students for Sensible Drug Policy, did the same.
Still, Chris Pullig, professor and chair of Baylor University’s marketing department, said Buddie is “closer to Tony the Tiger than Joe Camel.”
“The legalization group has paid close attention to what many mainstream marketers have done to create an effective personification of their brands. Tony the Tiger, Ronald McDonald, the Nesquik Bunny, Jack from Jack in the Box — the list goes on,” Pullig said. “Also, it is obvious that many of these characters endorse products that are not always good for consumers. They also are targeted to younger consumers.”
James said ResponsibleOhio is seeking the youth vote and Buddie is a way to get it.
“When you look at the millennial voters, they are the least likely to vote in an off-off-year election, but the most likely to appreciate a goofy, off-the-wall, irreverent character, and so we provided them one,” James said.
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
If you follow politics, or for that matter if you follow any media outlet in America, then you know that the 2016 Election is in full swing, and there are a number of candidates that are running for President of the United States. The candidate that has been receiving the most attention lately, for better or worse depending on how you feel about him, is clearly Donald Trump. Donald Trump has been a long time businessman, has been a reality TV star, and is one of the most controversial figures in America right now. Putting all of his other political views aside, how does he feel about marijuana?
As seems to be the case on a lot of things with Donald Trump, the answer is not exactly clear. Donald Trump has made conflicting statements over the years in regards to marijuana. Tom Angell highlighted some of those statements in an article that he wrote for Marijuana.Com:
In 1990, Trump called for legalizing all drugs. ”We’re losing badly the war on drugs. You have to legalize drugs to win that war,” he said. “You have to take the profit away from these drug czars… What I’d like to do maybe by bringing it up is cause enough controversy that you get into a dialogue on the issue of drugs so people will start to realize that this is the only answer; there is no other answer.”
But at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump stated that he’s against the legalization of marijuana. ”I think it’s bad, and I feel strongly about that,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of problems going on right now in Colorado, some big problems.” However, when asked about the states’ rights aspect to marijuana laws, Trump said, “If they vote for it, they vote for it.
“Medical marijuana is another thing,” he added. “I think medical marijuana, 100 percent.”
So based off of those statements, it sounds like he is against legalization and feels ‘strongly about that’ but that he is behind medical marijuana ‘100 percent.’ He respects states rights when it comes to marijuana policy. How about marijuana decriminalization? For that I turn to an interview that Trump did on the Morning Joe show, which was quoted by The Daily Caller:
Joe Scarborough: What about like marijuana? Should a kid be thrown in jail because he gets busted for marijuana?
Donald Trump: I don’t really think so. And I think that maybe the dealers have to be looked at very strongly. But then you have states all of a sudden legalizing it. So it’s sort of hard to say that you’re in one side of the border and you go to jail and you’re on the other side and can you go into a store and buy it. So there is going to be changes made there, Joe, and there has to be. But you just can’t. So when you mention the marijuana, that is a very tough subject nowadays, especially since it’s been legalized.
So essentially Donald Trump is against legalization, but doesn’t think that anyone should go to jail, and that states need to have similar marijuana policies and that ‘there is going to be changes made there,’ specifically referring to states that have legalized. Clear as mud? Would Donald Trump be a marijuana friendly President? It sounds like if your state voted for reform, he will respect that. However, don’t expect him to spearhead any marijuana reform efforts from the White House if he is elected. Donald Trump is better than most candidates when it comes to marijuana policy, especially compared to people like Chris Christie who leave no doubt when it comes to their opposition of marijuana. But, Donald Trump could definitely be better at establishing exactly where he stands on marijuana policy in America.
By Johnny Green
Chipotle is expanding its delivery partnerships to target the sought-after college market, specifically, more than 100 campuses by next spring.
The Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill announced that it will deliver to 40 college campuses this fall with the delivery company Tapingo. In addition to the cost of your burrito or whatever Chipotle food product, the delivery price ranges from $1.99 to $4.99 depending on the market, according to Tapingo.
Chipotle is currently doing deliveries to these college campuses:
Arizona State University
California State University Chico
Louisiana State University
Northern Arizona University
University of Arizona
University of Southern California
Want to find out which one’s are next on the list? See the full story here.
Original story by Susanna Kim, ABC News, September 1, 2015
Jeff Mizanskey released (soon!) — a Missouri man who’s been in prison for over 20 years serving life without parole for a cannabis charge, will be set free tomorrow, September 1st.
Jeff, who was arrested in 1993 on his third non-violent cannabis-related charge, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole as part of the state’s three-strike law, had his sentence commuted by Governor Jay Nixon in May, which led to a parole hearing on August 6th. Officials quickly decided to grant Mizanskey parole after being imprisoned for 21 years. Jeff, who’s 61-years old, will officially walk free from Jefferson City Correctional Center between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. tomorrow.
Prior to Governor Mizanksey’s commutation by Governor Nixon, a petition with over 400,000 signatures was delivered to the governor asking him to set Mizanskey free. This petition included the signatures of over 100 lawmakers.
Originally posted by The Joint Blog — August 31, 2015
On Wednesday, one of America’s largest marijuana advocacy groups — the Marijuana Policy Project — released a list of who it thinks are the top 50 American individuals who have used cannabis. It identifies people who have achieved high-levels of success and influence, and uses factors like “power to influence cultural and social attitudes, political clout, individual wealth, and personal media profile” to choose who takes the cake.
To qualify for MPP’s list, individuals must (1) be alive, (2) be a U.S. citizen, and (3) have consumed marijuana at least once in their life according to either their own account or that of a legitimate source. They do not need to currently consume marijuana or support marijuana policy reform.
1. Barack Obama
2. 2016 Presidential Hopefuls
3. Oprah Winfrey
4. Bill Clinton
5. John Kerry
6. Stephen Colbert
7. Clarence Thomas
8. Katy Perry
9. LeBron James
10. Jay Z
11. Bill Gates
12. George Soros
13. Jon Stewart
14. Bill Maher
15. Rush Limbaugh
16. Andrew Cuomo
17. Sanjay Gupta
18. George W. Bush
19. Seth MacFarlane
20. George Clooney
21. Lady Gaga
22. Ted Turner
23. Brad Pitt
24. Rihanna
25. Whoopi Goldberg
26. Morgan Freeman
27. Angelina Jolie
28. Conan O’Brien
29. Martha Stewart
30. Gov. John Hickenlooper (CO)
31. Gov. Charlie Baker (MA)
32. Tom Brokaw
33. Michael Bloomberg
34. Justin Timberlake
35. Aaron Sorkin
36. Glenn Beck
37. Al Gore
38. Matt Damon
39. Susan Sarandon
40. Madonna
41. Robert Downey Jr.
42. Phil Jackson
43. Rick Steves
44. Jennifer Lawrence
45. Miley Cyrus
46. Jennifer Aniston
47. Matthew McConaughey
48. Snoop Dogg
49. Hugh Hefner
50. Maureen Dowd
You’re a medical marijuana user in Southern California. You’re blessed with more options when it comes to your cannabis medicine than you know what to do with. Heck, you see “Blue Dream” on the menu more than you see “chicken burrito.”
And just like every restaurant makes their chicken burrito a little differently, you know all Blue Dream sativa strains are not created equal. They smoke, smell, look, and feel different. They give you different types and intensities of “high” and what’s even more is they are priced differently.
That’s right. The Blue Dream found at your Hollywood storefront dispensary is by no means the same as delivered to you by Fast N Friendly in the South Bay, even if it does cost the same. Just like the Super Silver Haze you tried last month in San Diego doesn’t even come close to rivaling that “same” strain you ordered online for delivery in Orange County.
Indeed, our selection of price, quality, and cannabis services in So Cal is a blessing and a curse.
A blessing because there’s no doubt the right cannabis product for you is out there, and a curse because it can be insanely difficult to find.
So how DO you find a specific product? Then how do you find a cannabis dispensary or delivery service that sells it? How do you know if the price is competitive or if the lab results are accurate?
Before, you couldn’t do any of these things. But now you can.
With Nugg’s new search function, our cannabis curse is no more. Anywhere in Southern California, you can now visit our site, enter your zip code along with any search criteria you want, and be given a list of marijuana products that match your preferences. Then just take your pick, add to cart and sit back and wait for it to be delivered to your door.
The same way Trivago or Kayak.com let you compare hotels and prices nearby, Nugg let’s you do for cannabis providers and prices in your area. It compiles all the complicated steps of getting marijuana into one simple search bar.
So if you’re looking for a strain with “High CBD,” all you have to do is search it. If you’re looking for a vape cartridge with “250mg” of liquid in it, just search it. If you don’t know what it is exactly that you want, but you know it’s to treat your arthritis, just search “arthritis” and you’ll be given strains and products known to treat your pain. It’s that simple.
And it doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned cannabis connoisseur or a total amateur. We let you save time and money getting the right marijuana products for you, from the right collective in your area, delivered straight to your door. Nugg gives you total control over what you buy, when you buy, and who you buy it from.
Keep in mind, Nugg is NOT its own marijuana delivery service. We don’t employ drivers, nor do we ever see or touch the cannabis products you order. We just find the best dispensaries, with the best products and deals, then let you choose and order in one place.
We’re a site that flips the traditional way of purchasing medical marijuana on its head. Instead of having to sift through menu after menu and hundreds of fake reviews (as found on sites like Weedmaps) to find cannabis that fits your budget and preferences, we do that for you. We only let the absolute BEST cannabis providers offer their products on our site, and let you order from any of them with the tap of a button on any device.
And guess what — it’s free. Yep, free and always will be.
So what are you waiting for? What cannabis products will you look for? Which marijuana dispensary will you choose? What killer deals will you find that you never knew existed?
It’s all out there, just waiting to be searched and discovered.