Steerpike

It was the same in CA when going from illegal to legal. The Netflix series "Murder Mountain" (over-long, a bit tedious at times, but - very fascinating history of marijuana in California) has some interviews with the 'old timers' who've been growing in CA for generations (I was smoking California pot when I was a student in London in the 70s). Some have 'bitten the bullet' and are in the process of 'getting legal', but others are complaining that the process is too hard / too expensive. They complain that they have to pay minimum wage; comply with labor laws in general (everything was, by definition, 'under the table' before legalization); pay income taxes; pay sales taxes; stop using various fertilizers; submit to inspections; comply with state water regulations; stop dumping runoff into rivers; and so on and so on (California has long been a pioneer of all these regulation areas). So it's not surprising that 'legal' pot is more expensive than illegal pot. I'm still shocked at how cheap it is to get (legally) stoned, though - helluva lot cheaper than drinking!

scrubbedexpat091

I could see how going from illegal under the table to having to follow regulations, pay taxes and such would be quite a major change for those folks.

They do touch on that a bit in the episode I watched and the owners of the legal pot businesses all said, you need deep pockets to keep a legal operation going, especially now in the early days when regulations change so quickly and fairly often as politicians try and figure out how to regulate it.

They also go to Mississippi and interview a man who has to illegally make edibles for his pain, as he can't legally obtain it.

They showed a bit of both sides with pro-pot side, as well as some doctors, scientists and police who are not as eager for legalization.

Steerpike

I'm 100% behind all legalization (medical and recreational), and I feel VERY strongly about medical. But on the recreational side, my motivation is more to reduce incarceration than it is to allow recreational use. I'm personally indulging now, recreationally, but I'm not yet convinced it's actually a great thing. I'm still not finding any 'blend' that helps me sleep, and I'm not sure I like waking up so sluggish in the morning. After a few years of quitting alcohol, I'm actually quite happy to have a clear head in the morning. I'm also not convinced that inhaling the vapor is worth the risk to my lungs, but 'vaping' is by far the most enjoyable means of taking it, relative to smoking it or ingesting (edibles). I'm going to keep trying different forms, blends, etc and see what I can find in the next 6 months but I may just give it all up at some point.

scrubbedexpat091

I had limited results with edibles, and at the legal stores the edibles are rather expensive as well. I wont smoke or vape, I did try when younger, but I always had respiratory issues from damage from second hand smoke for my first 20 years of life, so its not worth it for me. I also tried THC spray, but didn't feel anything, maybe I have a high tolerance to THC, I have high tolerances to many pharmaceutical medications so hey why not THC too...

Steerpike

Not Cannabis, but interesting article about psychedelics - The Psychedelic Drug Trial - Media Centre (bbc.co.uk) . Basically, Imperial College (no less!) looking into magic mushrooms as an alternative to classic anti-depressants.
I did mushrooms and LSD as a teenager (university was such a blast ) and remember it with great fondness!

caretaker

I've been dabbling in mushrooms a bit, though I hadn't taken them in about 10 years. Like the cannabis they're cheap and plentiful in Canada and recently I started getting 4 grams at a time as an adjunct to my edibles and shatter order, then saw a site that was all mushrooms and bought an ounce for $100. The small packages I got first contained slightly smaller mushrooms, and I think they may be marginally stronger than the big ones. Initially I broke up what I considered to be a good, but minimal hit, then checked on the scale and it was 1 gram. Took half, then came back an hour later and took the other half. It lasted about 5 or 6 hours. When taking the larger ones that may not be as strong I may take a gram and a half or just 3/4 depending on my mood. If I don't want the rest of the hit I'll put it back. At first I thought I would try doing them once a week, sticking to around a gram; just enough to get off but not have the full blown psychedelic experience in order to try to replicate what this micro-dosing thing is about. You still get a little brain zap every time you close your eyes... Anyway, although I do seem to feel better or maybe balanced after, I've only been doing them every 2 or 3 weeks; no point if I don't feel like it. I tried to read up on the clinical trials awhile ago, but ran into too many internet professionals who all had different ideas about what a micro-dose is and what a therapeutic dose is. Since I do get revved-up even on mushrooms (at least it feels like it) I worry a bit about my high blood pressure so keeping it down to a dull roar is probably best.

Lion in Winter

A bit of fallout from various States in the US coming around to more rational behaviour re bot medical and recreational use of cannabis, is that it has become a commercial crop/business for profit like any other. The result of that, in turn, is that there is now a big move on against Delta 8, produced by a lab from hemp as opposed to in the field. Never been illegal, but it's not only cheaper it seems to have all the relaxation, anxiety-relieving properties of Delta 9 (in weed) without the paranoia or racy thoughts that 9 can sometimes produce. Delta 8 can just be bought like low/no THC CBD products, currently, but various states are moving to make it illegal, under pressure from the large cannabis growers and manufacturers.

BuckinghamshireBoy

A recently published paper here.

caretaker

Found a Reddit thing on the mushroom trials, but there are too many people watching for me to download or view the documentary. Some of the comments are informative; one said the dosage they're using is equivalent to 2.5g of dried 'shrooms.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Documentari...trials_in_the/

caretaker

spouse of scouse

An update for all of you kind people who've helped my and my son with the medical cannabis search.

He decided to stick with the clinic rather than go on the trial, and it turned out to be a good decision. He's been prescribed cannabis oil with (hope I get this right) 10mg THC per ml and 15mg CBD per ml. His dose starts at .25ml twice a day, and if needed can go to .5 and then 1ml twice a day. If this isn't sufficient to keep his pain under control they're going to increase the strength of either/both the THC/CBD, until they get a mix that works for him.

Cost is AU$110 for 40ml, and this will stay the same no matter what the THC and CBD content. This is far less than I feared and very manageable. They also reduced his consultation fees by a fair whack, which was an additional lovely surprise!

So, so far all good. Thank you again for all the advice and information, it really did mean a lot to me xx

BuckinghamshireBoy

That's really good news, and the cost seems pretty reasonable to me, especially the drop in consultation charges.

5 drops twice a day seems a good starting point. It's going to be a few days at least before he feels any benefit - and any subsequent dosage/ratio tweaking can be put into place - so hope he keeps this in mind. What's the frequency of his consultations?

spouse of scouse

He can adjust up to 1ml twice a day himself for the next two weeks, then he has a phone consult to discuss how he's going. If the dosage/ratio needs tweaking at that point, his doctor will email the authorisation and prescription to a pharmacy close to my son's home. It's all very organised, which made me happy because I like organised

Once the dosage and ratio is right for him, it's just one consultation every two months. I'll be talking with him later tonight so will tell him about needing to give it few days to work. Thanks BB.

caretaker

caretaker

Cadbury's looking pretty good...
“If you come to Nottingham to deal drugs, we will find you,” said Sergeant Mark Southgate, who led the operation, while thanking members of the public for the intelligence. “We want to send the clear message that criminal behaviour will not be tolerated and we will continue to target offenders who persist in causing harm and misery in our communities,”
Sergeant Southgate and I have differing opinions on who is causing harm and misery.
https://www.thegrowthop.com/cannabis...milk-packaging