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In the modern world, pharmaceutical drugs are the go-to for most people. However, the current trends are turning away and more are looking to get back to their roots…literally. If a zombie epidemic happened today and shut down the world as we know It, how do you think you would fare? Do you know which […]
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Some rock stars aren’t just rocking the stage — they also rock their own cannabis business. With the creativity and empathy-enhancing effects, it makes sense why many musicians are open about their love of Mary Jane, whether for creativity, medical reasons, or just for fun. You may have heard of brands like Leafs by Snoop, TICAL, […]
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When law enforcement officers searched an elderly woman’s house and farm last Monday in Jackson County, Tennessee, they got more than they bargained for.
Peggy Brewington told officers that there was “maybe an ounce” of pot on her farm before officers searched the premises and found dozens of cannabis plants and 20 pounds of flower.
After Drug Task Force officers booked the woman, she flipped off the camera for her mugshot as a token of defiance.
On August 30, the 15th Drug Task Force and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search on the property after slowly building a case against her. Three days earlier, on August 27, Brewington was arrested for trespassing. The 15th judicial district Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force covers Trousdale, Smith, Macon, Jackson and Wilson Counties in Tennessee.
Officers confronted Brewington and asked how much pot was in the residence. Brewington replied, “maybe about an ounce.” Once the search was completed, officers recovered around 20 pounds of flower from the residence and approximately 40 cannabis plants from the property.
A second search was conducted at a nearby residence and more growing marijuana and processed cannabis was recovered. All drug cases will be presented to the Jackson County Grand Jury. Agencies assisting with the search were the TBI and THP Eradication Task Force.
“Officers recovered over 20 pounds of marijuana from the residence and approximately 40 marijuana plants from the property,” the post reads. “A second search was conducted at a nearby residence and more growing marijuana and processed marijuana was recovered. All drug cases will be presented to the Jackson County Grand Jury.”
The officers at 15th Drug Task Force Tennessee—a government organization—posted three additional photos of lush cannabis plants being ripped from the soil on her farm and tossed in bags like trash.
Brewington was arrested, and promptly flipped off the camera in her mugshot, which is likely to go viral. In line with other cannabis-related arrest posts, reactions were mixed, and many commenters questioned if the streets are any safer without a nonviolent elderly woman growing pot in peace.
As noted by some concerned commenters on the post of the arrest, “a law is a law,” and it’s illegal to grow cannabis, especially in the amounts Ms. Brewington was growing. Medical and adult-use cannabis cultivation and sales are illegal in the state. But that’s likely to change in Tennessee, possibly sooner than later.
Representative Bruce Griffey, a Republican representing District 75, introduced House Bill 1634 last month, slated for the 2022 ballot in the state.
Tennessee still does not have a cannabis industry, and is only one of 14 states that still does not have some type of medical system in place. Call it an “island of prohibition.”
Senate Bill 854 was sponsored by Senator Janice Bowling and would have legalized medical cannabis for certain patients and developed a Medical Cannabis Commission that would have regulated the production and sale of cannabis. While the Senate Government Operations Committee approved the bill back in March, it was rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee later that month.
Tennessee voters consistently support cannabis according to polls, but the state doesn’t have a voter initiative process. That means only elected officials can change state law, so the ballot initiative for 2022 won’t complete the entire process of legalization. For now, people like Brewington will have to resort to other, law-abiding hobbies.
The post Granny Flips Off Police in Mugshot After Cannabis Farm Bust appeared first on High Times.
For quite some time now, the US Drug Enforcement Agency has been trying to add kratom to the Schedule I list of controlled substances. The available government information, plus a handful of misguided university studies, peg kratom as a “dangerous” plant with no known medical benefits. However, as a lifelong cannabis user, and someone who has watched weed transform from illegitimate and “dangerous” to a trending wellness product, I can say with certainty that we’re not getting the full story about kratom either.
When it comes to firsthand accounts from others, as well as my own personal experiences with the plant, and the hundreds of reports I’ve read online – everything indicates that kratom has therapeutic benefits that are worth investigating. As a matter of fact, the most common concern among consumers had nothing to do with the plant itself, but rather what will happen to them when they no longer have access to kratom products.
Kratom is made up of dozen of alkaloids, compounds which are known to hold medicinal value and have been studied independently for decades. Quite a few independent studies have noted the pharmaceutical potential of Kratom.
That’s not to say there are no risks. But, as is the case with any consumable product, some people may experience unexpected, adverse effects while the overwhelming majority do not. For the most part, people largely support the use of kratom and feel it’s vital to their quality of life – and when people talk, I think it’s important for us to listen.
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Although scientific literature on Kratom is scarce, it’s been around for a while and has piqued the interest of a few select researchers from around the world. What we do know that a total of 26 alkaloids have been isolated from kratom, and many of these compounds have been studied individually.
Alkaloids are a class of basic, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. They are produced by a large variety of organisms including bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals and can be purified from crude extracts of these organisms by acid-base extraction, or solvent extractions followed by silica-gel column chromatography. Alkaloids have a wide range of pharmacological activities and a lot of research to back this up.
The most abundant alkaloid in Kratom is mitragynine, and for decades it was also believed to be the most potent. Then in 2002, a group of Japanese researchers found a variant called 7-hydronitragynine was discovered. This minor compound is extremely potent, more powerful than morphine, and despite being found only in trace amounts, it’s responsible for most of kratom’s pain-fighting properties. Further research has determined that both alkaloids act as partial opioid receptor agonists by activating the supraspinal mu- and delta- opioid receptors.
The alkaloid structure of kratom bares many similarities to those of other psychedelic drugs like LSD and psilocybin, but no mind-altering effects of that nature have even been reported after kratom use. Rather, kratom can be energizing and increase focus at low doses, and act as a depressant at higher doses. Regardless of the amount ingested, a certain level of pain relief can also be expected, thanks to kratom’s many alkaloid compounds.
Researchers have been able to isolate the following 26 alkaloids from kratom: Ajmalicin, 7-acetoxymitragynine, Corynantheidin, Corynoxein, Corinoxin, 3-Dehydromitragynin, (-)-Epicatechin, 3-Isocorynantheidin, 3-Isopaynanthein, Isomitraphyllin, Isospeciofolin, Isospecionoxein, Mitraciliatin, Mitrafolin, Mitragynalin , Mitraphylin, Mitraspecin, Mitraversin, Paynanthein, Speciociliatin, Speciofolin, Speciogynin, Specionoxein, Speciogynin, Speciofolin, and Stipulatin.
In total, kratom actually contains over 40 chemical compounds, but we’ll narrow it down to the three most important ones, 7-Hydroxymitragynine, Mitragynine and (-)-Epicatechin.
7-HYDROXYMITRAGYNINE
7-Hydroxymitragynine is technically a minor compound in kratom, but it’s by far the most potent, making it the main active ingredient in kratom powders and other products. This alkaloid has opioid agonistic activity and interacts with the three major opioid sites Kappa, Delta and Mu.
MITRAGYNINE
Mitragynine is an indole alkaloid that was isolated for the first time by D. Hooper in 1907. It’s the most abundant compound in kratom, and until 2002 was believed to be the most potent, although the latter turned out to not be the case. Small doses bind to the Delta receptors and act as a stimulant, while larger doses bind to the Mu receptors and have sedative effects.
(-)-EPICATECHIN
Epicatechin is a versatile flavanol that has anti-inflammatory effects and can help protect against free radicals. Epicatechin is one of the most abundant flavonoids present in different fruits such as apples, blackberries, broad beans, cherries, grapes, pears, raspberries, cocoa, and tea leaves.
Kratom use spans back centuries and it’s hard to argue with a plant that has existed around humans for so long and has so many people and from different regions and cultures advocating for it.
As with most of the existing natural and holistic remedies, kratom use can be traced back to traditional Eastern medicine. Historically, in regions such as the Philippines and New Guinea, the chopped leaves were chewed or brewed into tea by local manual laborers who needed to stave fatigue and improve productivity at work. Additionally, various kratom preparations have been used during social and religious ceremonies and to treat numerous different medical conditions.
In Western literature, Kratom was first noted in the early 19th century but Dutch botanist Willem Korthals, who worked for the East India Company, an English company formed for to exploit trade options between the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and India. Researcher E. M. Holmes also referred to Kratom’s use as an opium substitute, identifying it specifically as Mitragyna speciosa in 1895.
Again, official studies on kratom are lacking, but a recent survey of more than 2,700 self-reported users conducted by Johns Hopkins University found that a large majority of people are using this plant to alleviate pain. They also concluded that kratom “likely has a lower rate of harm and abuse” than prescription opioids, which are responsible for almost 50,000 deaths in the United States every year.
In a report on the findings, published in the Feb. 3 issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, the researchers caution that “ while self-reporting surveys aren’t always entirely reliable, they confirmed that kratom is not regulated or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and that scientific studies have not been done to formally establish safety and benefits.”
According to American Kratom Association (AKA), a consumer advocacy group, an estimated 10 to 16 million people in the U.S. are using kratom regularly. Kratom is full of alkaloids, which are present in many aspects of human life, including much of what we consume. Alkaloids have showed anti-inflammatory, anticancer, analgesics, local anesthetic and pain relief, neuropharmacologic, antimicrobial, antifungal, and many other activities
Benefits of kratom use include but are not limited to: elevated mood, increased energy, healthy and restful sleep, boosted energy, muscle relaxation, natural aphrodisiac, eliminate social anxiety, pain relief, and it can be used to help minimize the symptoms of withdrawal from illicit drugs.
The jury is still out on what exactly the risks of kratom are, and whether they outweigh the benefits or not. Clueless researchers who have no firsthand experience with the plant say “yes” the risks are far too great, whereas anecdotes from people who have been using kratom regularly for years say “no” it’s totally safe and beneficial for overall wellness and quality of life.
That said, some people actually do have negative reactions to kratom such as high blood pressure and seizures. I feel like it’s important to emphasize that this can happen with anything though, just like people can have allergic or other physical reactions to perfectly healthy foods and natural compounds.
Data from the Poison Control states that, between 2011 and 2017, call centers in the United States received about 1,800 reports that involved kratom use – although many of them were more a combination of paranoia and hypochondria rather then any real physical symptoms. Additional side effects can include dry mouth, dizziness, drowsiness, hallucinations, shortness of breath, and chills.
In the same vein as other pain medications, problems with negative side effects typically occur when kratom is used in unusually high doses or for a prolonged period of time. From what I’ve read, all of the negative experiences with kratom involved the use of highly concentrated extracts, not the bulk powered or teas that most people are using.
So, now that you’re more informed on the inner workings of this natural pain reliever, you’re probably wondering if kratom is right for you. Ultimately, that’s up to you to decide, but it’s certainly a sought-after, natural pain-reliever for anyone who doesn’t have a medical condition that would prevent them from using kratom.
What are your experiences with the plant? What are your favorite kratom products? If you have an opinion on the matter, we would love to hear more from you! Drop us a line in the comment section below and don’t forget to subscribe to the CBD Flowers Weekly Newsletter for more information on flowers and exclusive deals on flowers and other products.
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Today’s interactive weed Wordsearch is all about growing cannabis plants. Since it’s legal, it’s time to familiarize yourself with some plant jargon. Have fun and remember, it’s always important to take the time to smell the roses… and dank bud! Did you win the puzzle? Want to play again? Refresh your screen and get ready […]
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