The Seattle Police Department not only has a blog, but they have a sense of humor about the recent legalization of weed.
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IN LEGALIZING IT FOR THE MASSES, WE SEEMED TO HAVE SCREWED THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA PEEPS
The lazy-ass staff at Higher Ground would like to thank Steve Elliot and the Seattle Weekly for their excellent coverage of the ongoing trials and tribulations regarding the legalization of marijuana in Washington State. Steve Elliott edits Toke Signals, tokesignals.com, an irreverent, independent blog of cannabis news, views, and information.
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NOW HERE’S A FUN JOB: THC TESTING!
A new laboratory has opened in a building that once analyzed hops for beer-makers, but the green matter going under the microscope now is hop’s more notorious cousin, marijuana.
A Seattle company that operates a medical marijuana testing lab, Analytical 360, was the first authorized by the state Liquor Control Board to certify recreational marijuana at its new lab, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported Sunday.
The lab will measure the level of THC, which produces the high. It also will check for mold, bacteria, parasites and pesticides.
“It’s not only providing the relative dose, but safety for the consumer,” said Randall Oliver, Analytical 360’s chief scientist.
The state requires that marijuana producers provide a 7-gram sample from every 5-pound lot of marijuana buds. For liquids, a producer must give a 2-gram sample from each batch, while edible marijuana producers have to supply a single item from each batch for testing.
The full battery of tests takes about a week to complete. If a sample fails a test, it is retested again and rejected if it fails a second time. The company will post the results on its website for the public to see, just as it now does with medical marijuana.
Information on CBD, the chemical said to give marijuana its medicinal properties, will also be listed on product labels, lab director Lara Taubner said.
The company expects testing to begin in three weeks. More than a dozen people will work at the lab, which was already set up for laboratory work when it was sold last year.
Hops are from the same plant family, Cannabaceae, as marijuana and share some common chemicals that give the plants their distinctive taste and aroma, Oliver said.
Although, Yakima has banned the production, processing and sale of marijuana, it welcomes the lab, which tracks test samples to make sure none are diverted.
— The Associated Press
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HERSHEY SUES EDIBLE MARIJUANA CO. OVER EDIBLES (AND REEFERS PEANUT BUTTER CUPS)
(Washington Post)
The Hershey Co. has filed a trademark suit against an edible marijuana company for selling weed-infused snacks with packaging that mimics some of Hershey’s signature candies.
In the lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Denver, Hershey claims that the Colorado-based medical marijuana manufacturer Tincture Belle is selling products that look suspiciously like its Reese’s, Heath, Almond Joy and York Peppermint Pattie brands.
Not only are the products packaged in similar colors as the Hershey originals, the candy-making giant contends, their names are also reminiscent of their analogs: Hashees, Hasheath, Ganja Joy and Dabby Patty.
Hershey says that the packaging is not only a clear trademark violation, but also a safety risk to consumers — especially children — “who may not distinguish between Hershey’s candy products and defendants’ cannabis- and/or tetrahydrocannabinol-based products.”
Although recreational and medicinal marijuana sales are legal in Colorado, the burgeoning edible pot industry has raised some safety concerns.
In April, a Denver teen plunged off a balcony after eating six times the recommended amount of a marijuana brownie. And another man was accused of killing his wife in a hallucinatory episode after eating marijuana candy and rolling a joint, according to CBS News.
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd’s own encounter with a caramel-chocolate flavored candy bar prompted her to argue in her column for greater regulation of the edibles industry.
It appears that Tincture Belle’s Web site and Facebook page are down. But according to the Associated Press, the products can be found in Colorado’s pot shops and medical marijuana dispensaries.
According to Tincture Belle, their pot products are gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free, GMO-free and peanut-free — although they do come with a hint of imitation.
(Thanks to Abby Philip for original post in Washington Post)
