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How the Mormon church unlocked medical pot for deep red states

When Madsen first introduced a medical marijuana bill in 2015, a church representative showed up to his office to inform him of its opposition.

“They came in and told me, ‘We're opposing your bill.’ There was no discussion,” said Madsen, the grandson of former LDS prophet Ezra Taft Benson who served as a senator for ten years and remains an active church member.https://medicalcannabis-shop.com/product/dabwoods-cart-vape-online/

“[They said] ‘we just came by as a courtesy call to tell you we're going … in to Senate leadership, and we're going to tell him to do everything he can to kill the bill,’” he explained.

Despite that opposition, the bill passed the Senate, but it went nowhere in the House.

Current Senate Majority Leader Evan Vickers said the church has never asked him to kill a piece of legislation. Still, he explained that the church does step in when they're concerned about an issue and, he acknowledged, they got involved on marijuana.

“The general stance, where the church comes out and says, ‘We're opposed to this or you know we favor this’ … it happens less than you think,” Vickers said in an interview.

After three years of failed legislative efforts, cannabis advocates took the issue to voters. The church initially opposed the ballot measure, and on Aug. 23, 2018, church leaders sent an "official church announcement" to members in Utah urging them to vote against the measure.

In May 2018, support for medical marijuana in Utah was at 72 percent. But opposition from the church and other groups significantly chipped away at its approval so that by October, support had dipped to 51 percent.

Behind the scenes, however, the church was working to forge a compromise that would result in a medical bill they could live with. In an email to medical marijuana advocacy group TRUCE on June 7, 2018 obtained by POLITICO, church lobbyist Marty Stephens asked the group to work with him on creating a list of key components needed in a medical bill, and offered to take the document “to Church leaders, the UMA, the [Salt Lake City] Chamber, legislative leaders and the Governor’s office.”

Mormon marijuana https://medicalcannabis-shop.com/product/dabwoods-cart-vape-online/

The bill that emerged from the compromise was more conservative than the referendum approved by voters. Patients can’t smoke marijuana flower — they can only vaporize it — and there is a lower monthly purchase limit that some advocates say is barely enough for patients with severe conditions.

Beyond dolling out medical marijuana cards, doctors have the ability to prescribe specific amounts below the state-mandated monthly limits, and to limit patients to a specific type of product — edibles only, for example.

Fewer business licenses and qualifying conditions were allowed in the compromise bill. Every dispensary — or pharmacy, as they’re called in Utah — must also have a licensed pharmacist on hand to check each purchase against the statewide tracking system and the doctor’s prescription.

Vickers, a pharmacist by trade, was the lead sponsor of the bill and was closely involved in crafting it.

“People that were supportive were looking at it as a medicine — how can it help people?” Vickers explained. “Because our conservative religious principles also tell us that we want to help people.”

Connor Boyack of the Libertas Institute, a Utah-based libertarian think tank, said the church’s position was focused on making sure the bill did not create loopholes that might allow for recreational use of marijuana. “They felt that our medical cannabis initiative was actually recreational — that was the nature of the opposition language during the campaign, and it was what they communicated in private conversation.”

Medical programs in states like Oregon and California have earned a reputation for making it very easy to obtain a medical marijuana card. In Oklahoma, almost 10 percent of the overall state population possesses a medical marijuana card — nearly the rate of adult recreational use in some legal states.

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Here’s where you can get free weed for getting a COVID vaccine

From our friends at Nautilus.

As the number of people seeking out a COVID-19 vaccine starts to ebb, officials are trying out methods to motivate the hesitant. Cash incentives, free beer, and even free guns are all being offered by different entities, and even weed has joined the list of rewards for getting a jab. That’s right, in some U.S. states getting your COVID vaccine could earn you free marijuana. BUY DABWOODS CART ONLINE

Washington state, New York, and Washington D.C. are all offering free cannabis to people who get the vaccine. Individual dispensaries in a number of other states are also offering free marijuana to people who get their COVID vaccine, including in states like Arizona and Michigan.

Read the rest of the story at Nautilus.

From our friends at Nautilus

*First Published: Jun 8, 2021, 4:12 pm CDT

Nahila Bonfiglio

Nahila Bonfiglio reports on geek culture and gaming. Her work has also appeared on KUT's Texas Standard (Austin), KPAC-FM (San Antonio), and the Daily Texan.

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Is weed gay?: Cannabis and queer health

When it comes to caring for ourselves and our community, cannabis has an important role in the past, present and future of LGBTQIA+ healthcare.

Healthcare is an important issue facing the queer community. That’s because we know how critical the care of our bodies, our minds, and our community is core to continued survival and success.

Queer people face unique healthcare resourcing and health challenges that deserve attention and support.

Unique health challenges faced by the LGBTQIA+ community:

Physical and mental health-related challenges to HIV/AIDS

Gender reconfirmation care

Prominence of addictive recreational substances

Mental health challenges related to trauma

Any discussion about cannabis without talking about its medicinal uses is incomplete. And when it comes to the health of queer people, cannabis plays an important role. BUY DABWOODS CART ONLINE

Only 16% of respondent institutions had comprehensive LGBT-competency training, and 52% had no LGBT-competency training at all.

Queer people, like many underserved communities, often struggle to find equal access to health care, good quality insurance, and financial stability; all of which can make health and wellness a struggle.

Queer people live in poverty at disproportionate rates, a number that’s driven particularly high by the struggles transgender people and queer people of color face, including barriers to housing and employment in addition to barriers to health care.

“LGBT individuals are twice as likely to be uninsured as non-LGBT individuals and many have difficulty finding providers who will treat them without passing judgment on their sexual orientation or gender identity or offer the services they need, particularly in rural areas. Some have difficulty finding providers who will treat them at all.”

Human Rights Watch, 2018

Some medical establishments turn a blind eye to the intricacies that come with treating queer bodies and needs or provide little guidance to the care they need.

According to a survey of American medical schools that quoted in a Human Rights Watch report, “The creation of LGBT competency modules in physician training programs is a relatively recent development; a survey of US medical schools conducted in 2012 found that only 16% of respondent institutions had comprehensive LGBT-competency training, and 52% had no LGBT-competency training at all.”

For queer people, cannabis is a way to seek relief when medical professionals have been less than helpful. It’s been a tool to continue to try and maintain physical and mental health in a world that does not always protect them.

(Cannaclusive)

When looking at the disparity and challenges queer people have faced from the medical community, there is no example quite as devastatingly powerful as that of the AIDS crisis.

When members of the LGBTQIA+ community started dying from HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, America’s healthcare system and political machine largely turned a blind eye to the epidemic that would go on to kill hundreds of thousands of queer people.

Related

Cannabis and HIV/AIDS

In the void of medical care, national empathy, and viable treatment options; cannabis became a helpful tool for combating some of the worst complications and symptoms of HIV/AIDS. Cannabis consumption often helps boost patients’ appetites, reduce nausea, and ease muscle pain – some of the most common complications of the disease. BUY DABWOODS CART ONLINE

And of course there were poeple who advocated for both AIDS patients and cannabis. One of the earliest champions of cannabis legalization for medical use was Dennis Peron, an activist and early medical marijuana advocate.

Peron co-authored the first state-wide medical cannabis bill in California, Proposition 215 (aka The Compassionate Use Act of 1996). Peron also helped found the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club, the first dispensary in the United States, to help HIV/AIDS patients access medical marijuana.

Activists and early studies of HIV/AIDS treatment proved that cannabis could provide compassionate care for HIV/AIDS patients, helping medical marijuana become a more widely accepted option.

Related

Medical marijuana

One does not need to have surgery (or hormones or any specific presentation) to be trans and completely valid in their trans identity. However, for many trans people, gender confirmation surgery is an important part of feeling authentically like oneself.

Among queer medical patients, no group sees as much healthcare discrimination as the trans community. These barriers often come in the form of access to and education around gender confirmation surgery.

Trans people who decide to pursue gender confirmation surgery have utilized cannabis for its assistance with pain relief and anti-inflammatory properties during the recovery process.

This was not only a DIY treatment in the early days of trans healthcare. Cannabis still serves as a pain remedy that helps aid in recovery and offers an alternative to addictive pills.

Quick tips for those considering marijuana use after confirmation surgery include:

Don’t smoke right before your procedure.

Plan to consume your cannabis without smoking it to keep oxygen flowing through the body.

Discuss cannabis use with a doctor you trust before adding it to your post-surgery recovery plan.

Cannabis also offers an alternative pain aid and recreational enjoyment tool for LGBTQIA+ people that doesn’t come with a high risk of addiction.

Queer people are more likely to suffer from substance abuse and addiction to opioids, tobacco, and alcohol compared to straight and cis people. Because of this, it’s vital for many queer people to have options that help pain and do not include opioids.

The state of Illinois started the Opioid Alternative Pilot Program in 2019 to help people that had been prescribed opioids trade them in for a temporary medical marijuana card.

Programs like this can help people avoid opioid addiction or help recovering opioid addicts treat their pain without risking a relapse.

Related

To My Fellow LGBTQs: Let’s Have an Honest Talk

In addition to offering a less addictive clinical solution, weed also offers a recreational option for queer people who want an outlet for socializing or unwinding that doesn’t involve alcohol or pills.

LGBTQIA+ people often struggle with mental health conditions such as depression, PTSD, and anxiety.

Cannabis has been widely reported to help those living with PTSD. And while there are still many studies that need to be completed on anxiety and depression, there have been some promising findings. As a note, however, you should be careful with mixing cannabis with medication, including with antidepressants.

With its relaxing qualities, cannabis is a flexible, vital tool for many wellness regimens. It’s just one more way that cannabis gives queer people help living a happier, healthier life.

As cannabis becomes more widely available, studied, and accepted, queer patients and LGBTQIA+ people can use it to help them get the care they need.

This Pride month, and every other month, it’s important to take time to take care of yourself, your people, and your community. And if weed is part of that journey for you, you’re in good company with millions of queer people who believe in its place in health and wellness.

C. Merten

C. Merten is a Chicago-based writer, creative, and cannabis enthusiast. Their passions include breakfast, 70's music, pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain.

View C. Merten's articles

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Buying Weed On Amazon? Don’t Hold Your Breath

One of the biggest stories to hit last week was news of Amazon’s newly adopted drug policy stating that it would no longer test employees for marijuana. Every media outlet known to man had something to say about it. But the basic message contained in them all was that the company’s willingness to support legalization and eliminate pot testing might be a sign of higher times. Perhaps the nation was making real progress on this issue and would soon be prohibition free.

One cannabis news outlet even posted an article branded with a headline that was borderline click-bait, predicting that weed sales through the online retailer was on the horizon. The publication came right out and said, “Yes, Amazon will sell weed,” seemingly trying to pull one over on the readers by giving them hope that they might soon have the luxury of ordering bud in the same way they do with things from books to protein powder. The only caveat to the future of Amazon’s speculative marijuana marketplace, according to the article? Well, let’s just say it’s a big one. BUY DABWOODS CART ONLINE

Photo by Getty Images

Cannabis advocates believe all that is standing in the way of Amazon becoming one of the largest pot dealers in the country is federal marijuana prohibition. That once weed is removed from the Controlled Substances Act, of course Amazon is going to get in on the mix just like everyone else. Why in the heck wouldn’t they? After all, alcohol is legal, and the company recently nabbed a piece of that action. It makes sense that the next logical move would be cannabis. Right?

Although it is conceivable that Bezos and crew will attempt to capitalize on marijuana to some degree once it is legal nationwide, Amazon’s weed distribution center is not going to flourish right away. The company is sure to encounter a slew of challenges if it decides to move on pot products.

Even if changes come to federal law, some states will opt to maintain pot prohibition. Furthermore, the company’s entry into alcohol — a totally legal substance — is far from being anything to write home about. Search the site to buy “alcohol,” “beer,” “wine,” “spirits,” and you’ll inevitably end up running to your neighborhood liquor store instead. The selection is limited, and it’s primarily full of non-alcoholic choices and brew supplies. Amazon might sell booze, but just barely.

RELATED: Amazon Bans CBD Sales, But Here’s How You Can Buy It On The Platform

Furthermore, despite the legality of booze at the federal level, some states still don’t allow alcohol to be delivered. Right now, Alabama, Utah, Kentucky, and Mississippi do not permit alcohol delivery of any kind. As for the states that do, the regulations are different for each, making it next to impossible for an international company like Amazon to comply easily enough across the board to supply booze for all.

Photo by Westend61/Getty Images

Right now, only 12 cities (not states, cities) enjoy the convenience of Amazon’s alcohol sales. That’s just a drop in the bucket for a substance that has been legally accessible in this country for decades. Rest assured, Amazon will expand as local and state laws allow. But the company has a long way to go before mom-and-pop liquor stores have anything to worry about.

A fully legal national pot market is destined to turn up these regulatory snags and probably even more.

RELATED: Is This The Real Reason Amazon Is Supporting Marijuana Legalization?

Standing in the way of Amazon’s potential weed business is Congress. Regardless of the unbridled optimism of most cannabis advocates, federal lawmakers are still a long way from legalizing marijuana nationwide. Although Senate Democrats are planning to push a comprehensive marijuana legalization bill later this year, the wonky dynamic in the upper chamber — the filibuster, Mitch McConnell, pot-hating Democrats — could and probably will prevent legal weed from going the distance.

RELATED: Uber Wants To Explore Marijuana Delivery Once It’s Federally Legal

In fact, even with marijuana reform having more support than ever on Capitol Hill, there’s a good chance that federal legalization will not take shape for several more years. There just isn’t enough bipartisan consensus in the nation’s capital to further this issue all the way. Not even President Biden agrees with the Senate’s legalization plan.

Photo by Jose Luque / EyeEm/Getty Images

Don’t expect to buy legal weed from Amazon anytime soon. If that development does eventually come to pass, much like its alcohol business, it’s going to take time to mature beyond a limited reach. There’s no doubt about it, cannabis dispensaries will continue to be the go-to legal source for marijuana for many years to come. But if you’re done visiting retailers and are hoping to use online sources to fill the void, you might be better off learning to grow your own.

Amazon might not sell weed or seeds, but it does have a variety of books on cannabis cultivation. We guess they have to start somewhere.

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Medical Cannabis to Prevent/Treat COVID-19? High-CBD Sativa Extracts Modulate ACE2 Expression

‘The Aging-US authors developed over 800 new C. sativa cultivars and hypothesized that high-CBD C. sativa extracts may be used to down-regulate ACE2 expression in target COVID-19 tissues.’

Aging-US published “In search of preventive strategies: novel high-CBD Cannabis sativa extracts modulate ACE2 expression in COVID-19 gateway tissues” which reported that Cannabis sativa, especially those high in the anti-inflammatory cannabinoid cannabidiol, has been found to alter gene expression and inflammation and harbor anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties.

Working under a Health Canada research license, the Aging-US authors developed over 800 new C. sativa cultivars and hypothesized that high-CBD C. sativa extracts may be used to down-regulate ACE2 expression in target COVID-19 tissues.

Using artificial 3D human models of oral, airway, and intestinal tissues, they identified 13 high-CBD C. sativa extracts that decrease ACE2 protein levels. BUY DABWOODS CART ONLINE

Some C. sativa extracts down-regulate serine protease TMPRSS2, another critical protein required for SARS-CoV-2 entry into host cells.

Effects of novel C. sativa extracts on the levels of TMPRSS2 in the EpiAirway-FT (A) and EpiAirway (B) tissue models upon induction of inflammation by treatment with TNFα/IFNγ. Three tissue samples were used per treatment group. Protein extracts were prepared from each sample, and equal amounts of each sample in each group were pooled together. Each bar is an average (with SD) from three technical repeat measurements. * – p<0.05, Student’s t-test. Credit: © 2020 Wang et al.

While their most effective extracts require further large-scale validation, their study is important for future analyses of the effects of medical cannabis on COVID-19. The extracts of their most successful novel high-CBD C. sativa lines, pending further investigation, may become a useful and safe addition to the prevention/treatment of COVID-19 as an adjunct therapy.

Dr. Olga Kovalchuk and Dr. Igor Kovalchuk said, “There is a global pandemic of the COVID-19 disease, which is caused by the zoonotic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).”

Similar to other respiratory pathogens, SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted through respiratory droplets from coughing and sneezing. However, aerosol transmission and close-contact transmission cannot be ruled out as means of disease spread.

An in-depth analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas and Functional Annotation of The Mammalian Genome Cap Analysis of Gene Expression datasets revealed that ACE2 is expressed in oral mucosa and enriched in the epithelial cells of the tongue.

High levels of ACE2 expression in oral epithelial tissues suggests that the oral cavity could be highly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and thus an important target for prevention strategies.

Similarly, numerous studies have reported high levels of ACE2 in the lower respiratory tract; higher levels of ACE2 expression, such as those seen in smokers and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, are associated with higher COVID-19 predisposition and enhanced disease severity.

Using artificial 3D human tissue models, the authors show that high-CBD C. sativa extracts may down-regulate ACE2 expression in target COVID-19 tissues, suggesting an importance of these extracts in COVID-19 prevention.

The Kovalchuk/Kovalchuk Research Team concluded in their Aging-US Research Output, “While our most efficacious extracts require further validation through large-scale analyses, our study is important for future analyses of the effects of medical cannabis on COVID-19. Given the current dire and rapidly developing epidemiological situation, every possible therapeutic opportunity needs to be considered and researched.”

Reference: “In search of preventive strategies: novel high-CBD Cannabis sativa extracts modulate ACE2 expression in COVID-19 gateway tissues” by Bo Wang, Anna Kovalchuk, Dongping Li, Rocio Rodriguez-Juarez, Yaroslav Ilnytskyy, Igor Kovalchuk and Olga Kovalchuk, 22 November 2020, Aging-US.DOI: 10.18632/aging.202225