marijuana

The presidential election wasn’t the only thing on the ballot yesterday. In fact, three states held votes to decide whether they would join Colorado, Washington, and Oregon to become the next 420-friendly states, and vote they did.

California, Nevada, and Massachusetts all legalized marijuana for recreational use yesterday. But that’s not all, “Voters in Florida, North Dakota, and Arkansas approved medical marijuana measures,” according to the Associated Press.

"I'm thrilled," said Northern California marijuana grower Nikki Lastreto to AP. "I'm so excited that California can now move forward."

So if you don’t like the election night results, no need to leave the country. You can simply go to Massachusetts, California, or Nevada and toke a load off.

via Wiffle Gif

You're going to love the way your feel on weed, he guarantees it.

Men's Warehouse founder George Zimmer has come out in favor of marijuana legalization in a big way, admitting that he regularly partakes of the drug that has seen sweeping support over the past few years.

He called the war against marijuana "the biggest con ever perpetrated" in an interview with CNBC:

"I've been smoking marijuana on a regular basis for about 50 years," Zimmer said to CNBC, before joking, "As you can see, it's really impacted me in a negative way."

Zimmer gave the keynote speech Friday at the Cannabis World Congress & Business Expo in Los Angeles, pushing for legalization. "Everybody in the country knows what the truth here is, except the 535 people we elect to make these decisions in Washington, D.C.," he told attendees. "It's astounding."

He's throwing his support behind an initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in California next year, just as he supported the proposition that failed in 2010. No matter what form legalization might take, Zimmer said, "I think it's important that we protect limited home cultivation without any government licensing, so whether it's one plant or 10 plants, I don't know, but I think that's very important."

We're not sure if you know this, but Snoop Dogg really likes marijuana.

So much so that he announced the launching of a new media platform from TechCrunch's Disrupt Conference Sept. 21.

D-O-double-G said the platform, called Merry Jane, will be many things, but most importantly a celebration of all things cannabis.

According to The Verge writing from Disrupt:

It sounds like the site will combine a traditional editorial voice with consumer-oriented features like a dispensary mapping service and a buying guide for marijuana-related products.

...The site doesn't officially open until October, but Snoop and Chung are giving 420 users per day — yes, really — access to its beta version until then. They've also shared an example of the kind of content they'll have on the site. Deflowered is a "groundbreaking interview series that will profile innovative people as they enjoy cannabis," and its first episode stars two former Marines talking about post-military life and alternative medicine. "After watching where the cannabis industry is headed, I wanted to create a platform that will take this movement further," said Snoop. "Merry Jane is a game-changing platform for pop culture."

Though the site is in beta, they're already released the first of the 'Deflowered' series on their YouTube channel featuring two former marines discussing how medical marijuana has helped them treat their PTSD.

You know you need less guilt in your life, so along comes science to give you the go ahead for picking up that bong.

A study that came out earlier this year proclaims a whole lot of good news for those who find recreation in a cannabis variety.

Essentially, the conclusion says that, within the confines of their data, marijuana use leads to a lower body mass index. Meaning, pot makes you skinnier.

The AV Club does a splendid job of summarizing the findings:

the brilliant researchers found that in their sample population—786 Nunavik Inuits whose health data were surveyed in 2004—marijuana use also corresponded with a lower incidence of diabetes. The authors of the study do caution that some "caveats must be considered when interpreting their results." In other words, you should definitely smoke dope right now because it would be irresponsible not to fill your body with that nourishing, disease-fighting devil weed.

You'd think this sort of habit would pile on the pounds, but don't worry, science has accounted for that. In their study, the researchers from the eminent and infallible CHU De Québec Research Center write, "Frequent cannabis use is associated with higher caloric intake, but investigations into overweight/obesity have yielded inconsistent results." See? The results are inconsistent, so go ahead and eat as much as you want—but only if you ingest plenty of that wholesome, slimming giggle grass first.

So there you go! It's never too late for beach body 2015 and science has the weight loss tip of a lifetime.

Idaho has not been too kind to the rash of legal marijuana that has sprung up in three states that surround its borders. The state legislature has preemptively voted against any possible future attempts at legalization and now it has removed a state reference to ganja.

KOMO News is reporting that the state has removed the 420 mile marker, replacing it with 419.9. The hope is to dissuade theft of the 420 sign, vandalism or stops to smoke at the spot.

Adam Rush of the Idaho Transportation Department says officials have replaced the old sign along U.S. Highway 95 with "MILE 419.9," just south of Coeur d'Alene.

Rush added that this is the only 420 sign the department has replaced in Idaho, a state known for its strict anti-marijuana laws despite being nearly surrounded by states with relaxed pot regulations.

Most highways in the country don't cover more than 400 miles. For example, Oregon has been spared the spike in sign thefts due to having no highways long enough to reach past a 400 milepost, even though it recently legalized marijuana.

Unfortunately for Idaho, that probably won't affect the usage of marijuana in the state.

Out, out damned pot!

I see Queen Dab hath been with thee...

Now is the winter of our spliff's content.

These are just a few of the pun-laden headlines you're sure to see following The Independent's report about the cannabis residue found in Shakespeare's pipes

State-of-the-art forensic technology from South Africa has been used to try and unravel the mystery of what was smoked in tobacco pipes found in the Stratford-upon-Avon garden of William Shakespeare.

Neither of the pipes with c0caine came from Shakepeare's garden. But four of the pipes with cannabis did.

Results of this study (including 24 pipe fragments) indicated cannabis in eight samples, nicotine in at least one sample, and in two samples definite evidence for Peruvian c0caine from coca leaves.

Shakespeare may have been aware of the deleterious effects of c0caine as a strange compound. Possibly, he preferred cannabis as a weed with mind-stimulating properties.

So, it turns out that the bard liked to get his smoke on. And are you at all surprised?

Considering the wild fantasies contained in A Midsummer's Night Dream or The Tempest, you could see how some herbal inspiration infused itself to his quill.

Nick Lachey's days of burning up the charts may be over, but he's not against burning other things.

According to The Cannabist, his next business venture is trying to see if the grass is greener on the other side of legalization.

Ohio resident and former boy band star Nick Lachey is among five investors in one of 10 marijuana grow centers that would be created across the state under a proposed ballot issue.

The ballot issue would limit the growing to specific locations where groups of investors financing the operations own or have the option to buy property.

ResponsibleOhio estimates the initiative would generate about $21.5 million in annual tax revenue for Summit County and its townships and municipalities.

That's not the end of the story for Lachey's marijuana empire and Ohio's legalization. Buzzfeed News is reporting that many opponents exist of the initiative and not just because of its pot content. The amendment sounds like it would keep any future weed business in the hands of a very select few, of which Lachey hopes to be a part.

The proposed constitutional amendment would restrict all commercial growth and extraction of weed to 10 specific farms — farms that are owned and operated by the investors bankrolling the effort to pass the initiative. That means the entire legal marijuana industry in Ohio would be controlled by a group of wealthy businesspeople, or what those opposed to the initiative are calling a monopoly, an oligopoly, or a cartel. The rest of the state would be able to apply for one of the 1,150 licenses for marijuana retail stores and testing labs, but all of the shops would need to buy their pot from a group that currently confers over conference call once a week.

Nancy Grace is not a fan of legalizing weed, and she had rapper 2 Chainz on her show Tuesday night in an epic debate about it called "#Pot2Blame".

The host tried and failed to convince him that changing the law would turn all children into pot smoking fiends, using a few videos of parents forcing their kids to smoke as an example.

"Some people actually love their child," he said. "Some people know that this is obviously wrong, so this is nothing to really argue about. These people are imbeciles. You can't use this case to define a whole community."

2 Chainz, whose real name is Tauheed Epps, came off as the calm, collected one and Nancy Grace probably should have taken a few hits herself before the interview to calm down. He argued that everyone can pretty much get weed if they want already, and that legalizing it would help with certain issues like the overcrowding of prisons and wasted tax dollars.

"We're in a deficit. We've got to find ways of getting out," he said. "If we got half of the states legalizing pot, if the rest of the community legalizes pot that frees up taxpayers money, that'll allow us to do something with this extra with these funds from fixing potholes in the street to building stadiums. I'm down with it."

Another great moment was when she read some of his lyrics to question his position as a role model for kids.

"'Smoking California weed with California whores' — excuse me, 'true.' I left that out," said Grace.

"Truuuue!" replied 2 Chainz.

He politely thanked her on his Twitter account afterwards and teased another debate that we hope will happen very soon.

Warning: Language in this video.

Pulitzer Prize winner Maureen Dowd follows a growing trend among traditional print journalists writing about modern drug culture. In this case, it's legally-recognized marijuana in Colorado. Here's the story in question with some great responses below:

Danny Sparks, the mayor of northern Kentucky town Olive Hill, was arrested earlier this week on felony charges of selling marijuana to a police informant within 1,000 feet of an elementary school, leading him to resign from the office that he has held for more than a decade.