Ganja Vibes Blog

HIGHTIMES.COM | New Jersey’s First Pot Dispensary Opens

 

 

Cannabis whole plant extract is now an approved drug in Germany | Naturopathic Pain Clinic

 

Cannabis whole plant extract is now an approved drug in Germany | Naturopathic Pain Clinic.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

The idea of "being blessed" is not only a monetary existence, it's a state of mind. In the realms of having everything, there are some that could find it in them to still be ungrateful and unhappy. Not around here, Not us. Beautiful things about Ganja, the frame of mind it induces and the bottom lines such inhibitors help you find are the simple ideas of life is beautiful, small things are wonders and we all can exist in love, light and peace. So many amazing events have occurred, incredible people have given the world their gifts and communities have band together this year to find the grounds they need to stand upon and make change for the better. We are truly in amazing times. As eyes, hearts and minds open wide to where reality meets possibility, we all rise. Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for your support, family, friends and strangers....light and love to you in all forms!  

Doug Fine // Too High To Fail

Too High To Fail

From the bestselling author of Farewell, My Subaru, Too High to Fail is the first in-depth look at the burgeoning legal cannabis industry and how the “new green economy” is shaping our country. “Fine has written a well-researched book that uses the clever tactic of making the moral case for ending marijuana prohibition by burying it inside the economic case.” -Bill Maher in The New York Times “Fine examines how the American people have borne the massive economic and social expenditures of the failed Drug War, which is ‘as unconscionably wrong for America as segregation and DDT.’ A captivating, solidly documented work rendered with wit and humor.”  -Kirkus (Starred Review) “In his entertaining new book…(Fine) successfully illuminates an unusual world where cannabis growers sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to (friendly law enforcement) while crossing their fingers against the threat of federal raids.This informative book will give even hardened drug warriors pause.” -Publisher’s Weekly “An important book.” -Michael Pollan The nation’s economy needs a jump start, and there’s one cash crop that has the potential to help turn it around: cannabis (also known as marijuana and hemp). According to Time, the legal medicinal cannabis economy already generates $200 million annually in taxable proceeds from a mere five hundred thousand registered medical users in just sixteen states. Though thanks to Dick Nixon and America’s longest war — the War on Drugs — cannabis is still technically synonymous with heroin on the federal level even though it has won mainstream acceptance nationwide – 51% of Americans support full legalization (cannabis regulated for adults like alcohol), and 80% support medicinal cannabis legalization. ABC News reports that underground cannabis’s $35.8 billion annual revenues already exceed the combined value of corn ($23.3 billion) and wheat ($7.5 billion). Imagine if the American economy benefited from those numbers, instead of going into criminal drug gang bank accounts.  Actually, you don’t have to imagine: it’s already happening in Canada and Europe, though as yet U.S. leaders won’t heed the call to end the forty-year, trillion-dollar Drug War you have been financing to almost no effect since 1971. Considering the economic impact of cannabis prohibition—and its repeal—Too High to Fail isn’t a commune-dweller’s utopian rant, it’s an objectively (if humorously) reported account of how one plant can drastically change the shape of our country, culturally, politically, and economically. In what can now be called his usual wild, hysterical fashion, and with typically impeccable investigative journalistic result, globe trotting, vegetable oil truck-driving rugged individualist goat herder Doug Fine extrapolates a model for the multi-billion-dollar legal, sustainable, cartel-crippling economy that can result when the failed Drug War is finally called off and cannabis is regulated like alcohol in North America. Too High to Fail covers everything from a brief history of hemp to an insider’s perspective on a growing season in Mendocino County, California, where cannabis drives 80 percent of the economy (to the tune of $8 billion annually). Fine follows one plant from seed to patient in the first American county to fully legalize and regulate cannabis farming. He profiles an issue of critical importance to lawmakers, venture capitalists, climatologists and ordinary Americans—whether or not they inhale. In classic Doug Fine fashion, Too High to Fail is a wild ride that includes swooping helicopters, college tuitions paid with cash, cannabis-friendly sheriffs (a decorated lawman who says, “I woke up and realized the sun still rises and there is still an America with legal cannabis”), and never-before-gained access to the world of the emerging legitimate, taxpaying “ganjaprenneur.” What the critics are saying: Fine examines how the American people have borne the massive economic and social expenditures of the failed Drug War, which is “as unconscionably wrong for America as segregation and DDT.” A captivating, solidly documented work rendered with wit and humor.  -Kirkus (Starred Review) In his entertaining new book…(Fine) successfully illuminates an unusual world where cannabis growers sing “Happy Birthday” to (friendly law enforcement) while crossing their fingers against the threat of federal raids.This informative book will give even hardened drug warriors pause. -Publisher’s Weekly “Fine has written a well-researched book that uses the clever tactic of making the moral case for ending marijuana prohibition by burying it inside the economic case.” -Bill Maher in The New York Times “An important book.” -Michael Pollan http://youtu.be/W-i79S13YPA via Doug Fine // Too High To Fail.    

After Long Night, Chinese Sex Toys See New Dawn - Asia Business News - CNBC

Sex toys in China are not hard to find. They're sold in "adult health" shops around the country, available in hotel minibars, and even on sale by the checkout counter at some convenience stores, next to the gum and candy. Peter Dazeley | Getty Images Yet this is a country where just 30 years ago public criticism erupted when a magazine published a picture of a couple kissing on its back cover. The about face in attitudes towards sex in China, which began when the prudish Communist government launched its opening and reform drive in the late 1970s and has been catalyzed by the Internet, is creating a prime business opportunity for the sex toy industry, insiders say. The market will grow to around 40 billion yuan ($6.4 billion) by 2014 from around 10 billion yuan at the end of last year, predicts Lin Degang, chief executive of an online retailer of sex toys, www.oyeah.com.cn. "Within five years, sex toys will be a common commodity for everyday use," he told Reuters." Sex toys will be a key element of a fashionable lifestyle." Sex toys have become so ubiquitous that various kinds of vibrators can even be bought at FamilyMart Co Ltd convenience stores throughout Shanghai. With price tags of $15 to $17, they are sold by the cashier, along with condoms. Highlighting expectations of a strong upward trajectory in domestic sales, two private equity firms in August jointly invested 300 million yuan into Love Health Science & Technology Co Ltd, the biggest Chinese sex toy manufacturer. Sex toys have existed in China for centuries. The concubines of Chinese emperors who failed to find sexual satisfaction often turned to them, and there were also sex toys for men, according to Peng Xiaohui, a professor of sexology at Central China Normal University, in the central city of Wuhan. Their use was forced underground after the Communist Party took over the country in 1949 and adopted policies aimed at repressing people's personal desires, including romance and sex, in favor of ideas of revolution and collectivism. Forbidden Puppy Love Even teenagers were officially "forbidden" to have crushes on each other. "We can say that after 1949, Chinese society was more conservative than in ancient China," said Peng. Things have changed following social and economic reforms that began in the late 1970s, but many Chinese still hold conservative views towards certain elements of sex, such as homosexuality and pornography. Pornographic websites and publications are banned, while young homosexuals often marry to conform to society. But over the last decade, the subject has become an increasingly open topic for debate, mainly due to the Internet. Many online communities, such as those for gays and lesbians and those seeking partner swaps, have sprung up over recent years, said Fang Gang, director of sex and gender institute at Beijing Forestry University. The country's state-run broadcaster has aired a program featuring a controversial sexologist, who on the show called for the legalization of homosexual marriages, while an annual sex fair in Guangzhou in southeastern China drew 250,000 visitors last month. Fang said sex is far more than a physical act. "It is a barometer of the entire society. With a more free society comes a more free attitude towards sex, and vice versa," he added. Lin said around 70 percent of his clients, mostly in their 20s and early 30s, were male. Most purchase items — the favorite being a double vibrator — for their girlfriends. At Yamete Love Store, in a residential area of downtown Shanghai, customers can browse items ranging from inflatable dolls to sexy costumes amid low-key lighting as mellow music plays. Most of the items are imported from Japan and Sweden, and carry prices from $100 to $210. Most shoppers, though, still seem to prefer buying online. "I feel too embarrassed to buy any sex toys in actual stores," said Candice Zheng, a 25-year-old office worker in Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai. "I just order them from on-line shops." via After Long Night, Chinese Sex Toys See New Dawn - Asia Business News - CNBC.  

Bed, please, but hold the romance :GENERATION Y: SEX - Life & Style - The Independent

Bed, please, but hold the romance :GENERATION Y: SEX - Life & Style - The Independent.

Marijuana-dispenser stock gets too high - MarketWatch

By Quentin Fottrell

A company that creates medical-marijuana dispensing machines says its stock is getting way too high.

Medbox MDBX -90.24%   shares surged 3,000% this week -- from roughly $4 Monday to $215 Thursday -- before falling to $100 after executives sought to dampen investor enthusiasm.

In a news release today, the company said that the stock’s rocket launch, which sent its market cap skyrocketing from $45 million at the start of the week to a staggering $2.3 billion, was ignited by a MarketWatch story Tuesday on how to invest in legalized marijuana (see How to invest in legalized marijuana .) (That’s about double the market capitalization of retailer Jos. A. Bank Clothiers.) The stock, which fell around 50% in early trading Friday, still hovers at $100. “We believe an appropriate trading range is between $5 and $10 but, alas, the market will do what it will do,” says Medbox founder Vincent Mehdizadeh.

At the height of trading this week, $600,000 to $700,000 worth of purchases were made, an unusually high volume for a company of this size. “It was astonishing,” Mehdizadeh says. “We couldn’t really understand why that was happening other than that there was a high demand for stock with limited supply.” It was “thin volume,” but Mehdizadeh says he doesn’t know whether it was one hedge fund or several big buyers.

The company says it’s also investigating ways to minimize any potential shareholder losses. Medbox is in discussions with its attorneys to see if it can reward early investors with company-owned shares should the price they bought at in recent days fall significantly. “We don’t want those investors to have sour feelings about what happened,” Mehdizadeh says. “Obviously day traders are having a field day lately trading our stock.”

But it’s very risky to invest in drugs prohibited at a federal level, experts say. Nearly 500 of the estimated 3,000 dispensaries nationwide have closed or were shut down by the federal government in the past year, according to StickGuide.com, an online directory for medical marijuana dispensaries. Currently, Medbox has 130 dispensers in the field and is due to install 40 more next month, and says it’s looking at the broader pharmaceutical market.

While the rush investors got from the company’s wild surge this week may be matched in coming years, the Hollywood, Calif.-based company says it is confident in its future prospects. Medbox reported a third-quarter revenue of $1.3 million, up from $850,000 in the second quarter. Medbox forecasts revenue of $24 million by the end of the fiscal year 2014 and $48 million by the end of fiscal 2016. It expects earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization to remain at a “healthy” $10.2 million and $22.1 million during those periods. “Real companies don’t need hype,” Mehdizadeh says.

“We feel within 10 years we could legitimately have share prices hit $215 again,” Mehdizadeh says. Currently, there are around one million shares available for trade and, this time next year, he says there will be another one to two million shares trading. Although the company focuses primarily on medical marijuana, he says the temperature-controlled dispensing machines could also be used in prisons and 24-hour drug stores for a larger range of drugs Marijuana-dispenser stock gets too high - MarketWatch.