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Works of fire: Best July 4 weed strains of 2022

by Sonny | Jun 28, 2022 | Leafly

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Fact: Americans enjoy more weed freedom and variety than any people in the history of the Earth. Our global competitors? Crazy backward about the pot.

Ganja’s a $25 billion legal industry and the country’s 5th largest cash crop, with 19 rec legalization states and more on the way. The California market alone boasts a mind-boggling 39,000 types of products. This July, newly legal New Yorkers will put smoke in the air. Floridians can hit a medical dispensary. Legalization polls better than any party or politician, because freedom effing rules.

Put down those M-80s and pick up some zaza—here’s 9 scorching weed strains of Independence Day 2022.

Red Velvet

We gotta start with the colors. When I think of a hot ‘red’ strain in summer 2022 that’s actually on the market, my mind goes to Red Velvet. Lemon Cherry Gelato to Pina Acai is pretty on-trend, and top Oakland growers Grandiflora claim it. Our Sunset Connect brand bag had a red hot cinnamon smell to it. There’s a lot of room for more red strains besides Red Dragon and Red Congo.

White Runtz

Sheesh, UMMA Sonoma has the world’s best version of White Runtz, one of July’s most hyped strains. Just look at it—it’s literally white with trichomes. As if Runtz wasn’t blingy enough, White Runtz gets even icier than Runtz, which is Zkittlez x Gelato. That means tropical berry syrup over ice cream cookie smells—and yes, weed can do that. Umma grows for the best breeders and brands in the world, including Compound Genetics.

Blue Power

Shout out one of Las Vegas’ most impactful creations, Blue Power—powering today’s top flavors like Apples and Bananas from Cookies and Compound Genetics. Sin City Seeds’ Blue Power (Power x White Moonshine) has at least 43 direct offspring, and has spawned nine generations of strains: SinMint Cookies, Animal Mints, Kush Mints, Animal Face, Mint Chocolate Chip and on and on. Put some respect on Sin City’s name.

See also: Fig Farms Blue Face (‘blue’ pheno of Animal Face)

GMO Rootbeer

We spotted legit root beer-smelling weed in the wild for July 4—the mythical GMO Rootbeer strain. It’s like GMO lent all of its loudness to some root beer terps. Crazy high in THC and sets you down, of course. GMO x Rootbeer is reportedly a project of breeders Skunktek, and Mean Gene from Mendocino (aka Freeborn Selections). It’s been closely held, but it seems ready for a national debut. Root beer remains hella American for the 4th.

See also: Archive Portland MoonBeam, which combines YuckMouth (GMO x Dosidos) x MoonBow.

Miami Punch

Time to get sweaty. Chicago-based Revolution out in the midwest serves up Miami Punch this July 4th—a crowd-pleasing mix of Florida Orange x Purple Punch. The tropical, cream-cake taste precedes energizing, sativa hybrid effects. Terp heads will note the terpinolene, ocimene, and limonene leading the pack.

Spritzer

It’s really important to stay hydrated over the long 4th of July weekend, and that includes periodic hits of Spritzer. The Colorado breeder Cannarado combines Runtz, Grape Pie, and MAC—pretty much all the great stuff right now. Peel back layers of candied gas, sugary cereal, and bubblegum funk; the olfactory kaleidoscope never stops turning. This is what even the most the jaded industry folks get excited to smoke.

Jack Herer

Illinois, the land of Lincoln, cruises into summer number three of legalization with a classic: Rythm’s award-winning sativa staple Jack Herer. July 4th and the fight for independence lives in every puff of the sweet, energy strain. Activist Jack Herer envisioned radical pot freedom blooming across the land. Dare to dream just as big.

Landslide #4

Washington fire flower growers Freddy’s Fuego democratized exotic pot selection with The Hunt—a collection of fresh flavors smokers can buy and vote on this July. We’re shamelessly lobbying for Landslide #4, a canny cross of Lava Cake x Fleetwood MAC bred by Lit Farms. We voted it terpiest of the bunch during a June field trip. It’s got bright, intense Cake and MAC terps that just sweep you away; probably from the Melonade parentage. Put on some Stevie Nicks and vibe.

See also: Item #9 by Colorado’s Veritas (Kush Mints x Wedding Cake)

Permanent Marker

The writing’s on the wall—Los Angeles indie brand Doja Exclusive dropped Permanent Marker in June on both coasts. Bred and grown by Seed Junky Genetics’ JBeezy and selected by Doja Pak, the strain fuses several well-established cultivars: Biscotti x Jealousy x Sherb Bx. Floral, soapy, candy, and gassy funk smells fully translate into the taste. It has a lingering pungent flavor of a soapy funk with a hint of candy and floral gas tones. The potent strain brings out creativity for daytime relaxation, followed up by the munchies and the urge to roll up some more.

OK, we got an SUV to pack with camping gear, so we’re stopping at these nine. But rest assured, the country is blooming with fragrant, fresh, freedom-blessed trees. So light one up, and take a breath—because far more work on America awaits.

LA freelancer Dan Wilson contributed to this story.

Like this post? Fave it, comment, and order some trees on Leafly.

David Downs

David Downs directs news and lifestyle coverage as the California Bureau Chief for Leafly.com. He’s written for WIRED, Rolling Stone and Billboard, and is the former cannabis editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as the author of several cannabis books including ‘Marijuana Harvest’ by Ed Rosenthal and David Downs. He co-hosts The Hash podcast. TW: @davidrdowns | IG @daviddowns

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Viridis Laboratories Continues to Fight for Safety of Michigan Cannabis Consumers

by Sonny | Jun 28, 2022 | High Times

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Viridis Chief Operations Officer and Founder Todd W. Welch sent an email on June 17 with a statement addressing the company’s values and recent information that has come to light regarding the CRA.

“These CRA allegations against Viridis are from last August and continue to be baseless, meritless and totally detached from science, facts and data,” said the statement. “We intend to defend our business against these false claims during the court process and show the vindictive and retaliatory nature of the CRA’s actions which are clearly designed to cause maximum disruption and damage.”

“Court-ordered proficiency test results that Viridis is in possession of, which the CRA had been withholding, will directly contradict these findings, and we’re confident the truth will prevail when all facts come to light,” the statement continued. “We hope these legal proceedings will pave the way for more transparency, accountability, and reforms at the CRA. Our hope is that the CRA can one day fulfill its true mission of promoting patient and product safety instead of unfairly targeting Michigan businesses trying to grow, compete and create jobs.”

The email also shared that nearly all of the company’s customers have returned, with an added 63 new customers. The company supports testing for approximately 62% of the state’s flower.

The CRA (formerly called the MRA, or Marijuana Regulatory Agency, as of April 2022) issued a recall for products tested by Viridis Laboratories and Viridis North in November 2021, with claims that Viridis products contained “inaccurate and/or reliable results,” for products analyzed within the range of August 10 and November 16, 2021. This resulted in the recall of an estimated $229 million in product value.

The MRA claimed that Viridis’ methods of testing were “unreliable” and “inaccurate,” which Viridis responded to by filing a Court of Claims lawsuit against the MRA on November 23.

By December 3, the court ruled that the CRA must release half of the accused products, which were tested by Viridis North, LLC. Viridis Attorney Kevin Blair praised the court decision, even if “the entire recall was completely without merit.” “This ill-advised recall has caused irreparable harm not only to Viridis but to growers, retailers and consumers throughout the state. The MRA needs to be held fully accountable for violating state law, ignoring the advice of respected national experts and causing mass disruption to the Michigan cannabis industry,” he said in a press release.

Months later in February 2022, more news came forward regarding the CRA’s conduct. Judge Thomas Cameron released a court opinion that “the issuance of the recall against the Bay City facility was, on the Court’s review of the record, arbitrary and without basis.”

Shortly after this, it was revealed that CRA had instructed its agents not to seize illegal cannabis found at CRA-licensed facilities. New evidence from CRA depositions shared troubling truths about the inner workings of the MRA when it comes to following its own policies.

In March, Senator Aric Nesbitt questioned the CRA and its management. “I think it was poorly communicated to your licensees and it didn’t seem like you had thought through the impact on the wider marketplace before acting on the recall, and I thought it was very poorly done and very clumsy in the implementation of the recall,” Nesbitt said at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Licensing and Regulatory Affairs/Insurance and Financial Services.

Most recently in May, the CRA filed formal complaints about the accuracy of Viridis’s THC test results. According to Viridis CEO Greg Michaud, described that allegations from the CRA “continue to be baseless, meritless and totally detached from science, facts and data.”

Furthermore, Michaud shared that the CRA’s Inter-Laboratory Proficiency Test, which was obtained via a court order, reveals some shocking finds about other lab testing facilities in Michigan. The test results are not yet public, but Welch’s email suggests that more news will be announced soon.

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Meet the CLIMB Act, a new bipartisan cannabis banking bill

by Sonny | Jun 28, 2022 | Leafly

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Move over, SAFE, there’s a new cannabis banking bill in town.

On June 23, US Representatives Troy A. Carter, Sr. (D-LA) and Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) introduced the Capital Lending and Investment for Marijuana Businesses (CLIMB) Act.

If signed into law, the bill would enable cannabis businesses to access a wide array of banking services, from lending to credit card services and money transfers. It would also allow the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and other national securities exchanges to list cannabis businesses, providing them with a new avenue to generate capital and grow.

The bill’s sponsors intend to provide targeted financial relief to small businesses, and businesses run by veterans and members of disenfranchised communities.

“The CLIMB Act is critical because it provides state legal American businesses with traditional funding and support mechanisms for this emerging industry, which other domestic industries currently enjoy,” said Saphira Galoob, Executive Director of the National Cannabis Roundtable, in a recent press release.

“The more financing sources available to cannabis businesses the better, particularly for entrepreneurs, small and minority-owned businesses that may have otherwise faced challenges in obtaining access to capital,” Galoob added.

What’s in the CLIMB Act?

The CLIMB Act would primarily allow the cannabis industry to access a multitude of “business assistance” opportunities from banking institutions. The term encompasses a wide range of activities: Not just credit card services, but money transfers, accounting services, and lending, to name a few.

“American cannabis companies are currently restricted from receiving traditional lending and financing, making it difficult to compete with larger, global competitors,” said Rep. Reschenthaler via the same press release.

“The CLIMB Act will eliminate these barriers to entry, and provide state legal American cannabis companies, including small, minority, and veteran-owned businesses, with access to the financial tools necessary for success. This bipartisan legislation will boost the economy, create jobs, and level the playing field for American businesses,” he added.

At press time, neither Representative could be reached for comment.

The bill would additionally allow government agencies to offer grants and other sources of government funding to cannabis businesses, with an emphasis on those in areas most impacted by the War on Drugs.

Lastly, the CLIMB Act would amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to create a “safe harbor” for national securities exchanges like NYSE and Nasdaq to list cannabis businesses and permit stocks of these businesses to be traded on the market.

Currently, cannabis businesses can only be found on the Canadian Securities Exchange and traded via over-the-counter (OTC) markets, which do not provide the security of a third-party broker, like a conventional exchange. Since a third party doesn’t set a value for a specific stock in an OTC market, the prices of OTC stocks are determined solely by buyer and seller.

Business Insider reports that OTC markets are prone to scams and criminal activity.

For the time being, the future of the CLIMB Act is as clear as month-old bong water. What the bill’s passage would mean for businesses big and small, how it would operate in concurrence with the SAFE Banking Act, and whether it can garner enough support to pass Congress in the first place, all remain to be seen.

Stay tuned for more updates on the CLIMB Act, the SAFE Banking Act, and other federal cannabis reform legislation on Leafly.

Max Savage Levenson

Max Savage Levenson likely has the lowest cannabis tolerance of any writer on the cannabis beat. He also writes about music for Pitchfork, Bandcamp and other bespectacled folk. He co-hosts The Hash podcast. His dream interview is Tyler the Creator.

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Maryland Court: Cops Can Stop, Question Someone Who Smells of Pot

by Sonny | Jun 27, 2022 | High Times

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Officers in Maryland may stop and question an individual who smells of cannabis, a court ruled last week.

In a divided ruling, the state’s Court of Appeals said “the drug’s aroma provides police with ‘reasonable suspicion’ that the person may have 10 grams or more, thus permitting the officers to conduct a brief ‘investigatory’ stop,” the Daily Record reported.

But the ruling does not give law enforcement carte blanche in those circumstances. According to the outlet, those officers “must end the stop if they do not quickly obtain information that gives them probable cause to believe the person has at least 10 grams or has committed another criminal offense.”

And the Daily Record noted that, despite the ruling, “possession of less than 10 grams of the drug is not a crime in the state.”

The ruling stems from a case involving a 15-year-old who was found to have a handgun in his possession. Officers found the weapon on the juvenile’s waist after conducting a frisk that was prompted by the odor of cannabis.

Last year, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals––an intermediate appellate court––took up the case and ruled that the smell of weed does not justify a cop to conduct a search, citing the decriminalization of possessing 10 grams or less of cannabis in Maryland.

“Because possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana is no longer a crime, the suspicion required to support a stop for the crime of possession of marijuana, therefore, is that the person is in possession of more than 10 grams of marijuana,” Judge Kathryn Grill Graeff wrote in her opinion, as quoted by local news outlet WTOP. “And because the ‘odor of marijuana alone does not indicate the quantity, if any, of marijuana in someone’s possession,’ [citing a previous case], it cannot, by itself, provide reasonable suspicion that the person is in possession of a criminal amount of marijuana or otherwise involved in criminal activity.”

But last week’s ruling from the state’s Court of Appeals undoes that opinion.

In a 4-3 decision, the majority “public interest in investigating and prosecuting criminal offenses, balanced against an individual’s freedom of movement and reasonable expectation of privacy in their person, leads us to conclude that the odor of marijuana by itself justifies a brief investigatory detention,” according to the Daily Record.

“Given the important governmental interest in detecting, preventing, and prosecuting crime, the Fourth Amendment allows a brief seizure, based on reasonable suspicion, to attempt to determine if criminal activity is afoot,” Judge Jonathan Biran wrote in the majority opinion, as quoted by the Daily Record. “An officer who lacks probable cause to arrest is not required ‘to simply shrug his shoulders and allow a crime to occur or a criminal to escape.’”

Judge Michele D. Hotten, writing for the minority, said that the “smell of odor on a person, alone, makes it impossible for law enforcement to determine whether the person has engaged in a wholly innocent activity, a civil offense, or a crime.”

“While reasonable suspicion is a relatively low barrier, law enforcement may not rely on a hunch that a person may possess 10 grams of (marijuana) odor in a non-medicinal capacity to form a basis of reasonable suspicion,” Hotten wrote in the dissenting opinion, according to the Daily Record.

Another judge in the majority addressed the particulars of the stop involving the 15-year-old, saying that the “officer in this case was justified in stopping [the juvenile] because police were responding to a call that a males [sic] were smoking a controlled dangerous substance in the basement of an apartment complex, which would indicate an amount of marijuana of at least 10 grams,” according to the Daily Record.

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You Can Now Grow Your Own Medical Cannabis in Brazil after Historic Supreme Court Ruling

by Sonny | Jun 27, 2022 | Cannabis Culture

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Brazil medical marijuana legal grow you own

Recently, medicinal cannabis programs have been adopted by more than 50 countries (Brazil inclusive) while other countries like Uruguay, Mexico, South Africa, and Canada have their recreational use legalized. Other countries have laws that are more restrictive and only allow the use of certain Cannabis-derived pharmaceuticals which include, Marinol, Sativex, and Epidiolex.

Brazil decided on Tuesday, June 14th, 2022, that cannabis can be cultivated by sick people in a bid to extract its component into oil as a means of treating patients with chronic pain. The case is considered to be domestically important. Personal usage of cannabidiol was contemplated in the decision thereby allowing the cultivation of marijuana only for medical purposes followed by a prescription.

A legal precedent is given to home growers which might lead to more complex legislation using Argentina as a case study where the production of medicinal cannabis and hemp are being carried out legally.

Due to this decision, rules and regulations must be set by the Ministry of Brazilian Health to serve as a guide. This is the main intention of the judges. It was said by Judge Rogério Schietti that the government has refused to take a scientific approach to the issue and this has caused the court to act in that manner. He claimed that the debate against the possibility is proper. It is usually religious, based on false truths, stigmas, and dogmas. He affirmed by saying that moralism and prejudice that slows down the growth of the issue in the judiciary should be stopped.

What he forgot to mention was the fact that the issue has clouded the minds of both the legislators and judges in other countries as well. The concept of patient home grow is an issue that is very controversial almost everywhere. Notwithstanding, this right has fueled the movement of cannabis reform in lots of countries with Canada being the first.

For instance, patients in Germany were deprived of the right to grow their cannabis in 2017 almost immediately after it was allowed by the court decision after the legislature made it legal for medical use. The refusal rate at which insurers failed at covering sick people was recorded as 50% by some analysts made the country consider such legislative changes for further reforms. Nonetheless, Germany is not the only country wrestling with these legal challenges.

Why does it matter?

The medical use of marijuana was legalized in Brazil in 2015, but not until recently, all kinds of domestic cultivation is prevented by the law and all medicines that are cannabis-based must be imported with stern authorization from National Sanitary Surveillance Agency, even though Brazil is presently struggling with ways to proceed with more advance domestic reform.

Brazil became the third country after Uruguay and Columbia to regulate medical marijuana product sales in 2019. The semi-finished products can only be imported by the manufacturers after a special certificate is received from ANVISA. This is because there are still prohibitions on the importation of the whole plant.

In 2022, the cannabis-based drug was approved by ANVISA, Cannabis Sativa Extract Ease Labs, joining the other ten drugs that have been approved by ANVISA in the same sector. Six of them contain only CBD while the other six are extracted from the whole plant.

Why Home grow is seen as treasonous

Legalized cannabis industries are one of the largest antagonists to home grow. On the commercial side of this discussion are many others including the medical practitioners who strongly oppose home grow. The basis of their arguments was the lack of standards and their introduction to the black market or children.

While these situations were considered not to be ideal, the repeal of rights of chronically sick people, in particular, has always been the answer in any jurisdiction. Furthermore, as the implementation of recreational reform has been a major challenge for some countries in Europe, this is fast becoming a fairly secure half step. This has also been a burning question for some countries like Italy, Luxembourg, and Malta which has not been answered by the debate on recreational reform currently ongoing in Germany.

Looking from an industry’s perspective, human rights deliberately become less active towards profit. This is one of the reasons why constitutional rights are being trumped by commercial ones. This is why the industry lobby directly opposes the right to grow cannabis for either recreational or medical use. This is another reason why the cultivation of plants at home for medical use still remains a crime in many legalized countries. As a result of this, the laws are challenged by patients, not an industry on a case-by-cace basis.

Most people are not willing to be remembered as “cannabis gandis” for attempting to address the awful outcome of being both poor and sick. But the truth is, this is exactly the situation every country which does not allow patient home grow puts their severely sick populace in. Causing a change to this cruel reality is long overdue and already on an international level.

Peradventure the same philosophy would be applied to the topic by Germany which is the next country to experience this on a federal basis. After all, it was said by the government to the former President of the United States, Donald Trump that there are limits to capitalism, when he tried cornering the market on a covid vaccine that is German-made. In Brazil, that principle has just been affirmed by the Superior Court of Justice

Cannabis companies already in business in Brazil

In September 2021, it was confirmed that MediPharm Labs Corp is in partnership with a distributor based in Rio de Janeiro, XLR8 BRAZIL. The delivery services of the company to the biggest medical cannabis market in Latin America would be strengthened by this move.

The product’s authorization would kick start the two-year deal. By it, a wide range of cannabis concentrate formats would be provided by MedPharm Labs for the products that would be formulated by XLR8 BRAZIL.

Bottom line

What do you think of the latest developments in the cannabis space in South America? Is the global cannabis industry trending upward? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.