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Afroman is being used by police after he used home security footage of a raid on his Ohio property in his music videos.

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After police raided his Ohio property last September, the rapper and 2024 U.S. presidential candidate released a song, titled “Will You Help Me Repair My Door?”

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The police reportedly had a search warrant for suspicion of narcotics, drug trafficking and kidnapping, but left the home with a vape pen, some roaches and a jar of CBD flower. Police also seized about $5,600 in cash from a suit pocket.

Four deputies, two sergeants and a detective with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office have brought the suit against the 48-year-old, whose legal name is Joseph Foreman. The officers contend that the use of the raid footage has caused them “emotional distress, embarrassment, ridicule, loss of reputation and humiliation,” according to The Associated Press.

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The officers are now seeking all profits from the use of their images, including proceeds from songs, music videos and live event tickets, and are also demanding footage of them be removed from the internet.

Foreman was in Chicago at the time of the raid and the security footage shows police breaking through his front gate and door to enter the property. No charges were filed against Foreman and the seized cash was later returned, though it was reportedly $400 short.

A probe from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation later determined that deputies had miscounted the amount seized during the raid itself, according to AP.

On social media, Foreman responded to the suit in a series of posts, including noting that he hopes the officers “don’t feel any mental stress today like I did when you came to kill me in front of my kids.”

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In a separate post, Foreman released a statement from his attorney Anna Castellini. “We are waiting for public records requests from Adam’s county we still have not received. We are planning to counter sue for the unlawful raid, money being stolen, and for the undeniable damage this had on my clients family, career and property,” the post reads.

In December, Foreman announced he would be running for U.S. President and plans to “get recreational cannabis legal in all states.”

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Ben & Jerry’s has never been shy about its connection to cannabis.

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The Vermont-based ice cream company counts Cherry Garcia and Phish Food among its offerings and has previously partnered with dispensaries to offer free pints of its Half Baked ice cream, a combination of cookie dough and fudge Brownie.

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The company has also been outspoken about cannabis reform, including calling for amnesty for those previously convicted of smoking pot while also highlighting racial inequality in the U.S. cannabis industry.

Now the company is looking to “use the power of [its] business to Right the Wrongs of the War on Drugs” through the launch of Ben’s Best Blnz, or B3, a non-profit cannabis company.

Offering pre-rolls and full-spectrum vapes, the company is advocating for the release of prisoners held on non-violent cannabis charges, as well as record expungement, and for cannabis to be descheduled federally in the U.S.

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“The whole basis for the drug war is that the federal government puts pot on Schedule 1 — the same category as heroin. Schedule 1 is supposed to be for drugs that have a serious risk of addiction and no medical benefit. That doesn’t apply to pot. But it does apply to beer. So we say to the Feds — Take Pot Off Schedule 1 Or Put Beer On It,” the company notes on its website.

The company says it has partnered with Vermont-based independent craft growers who use “no non-organic anything,” as they grow “terpene forward” cultivars.

Eighty per cent of profits from B3 will be directed to Black cannabis entrepreneurs and the company reports it has established a low-interest loan fund for Black, Indigenous and people of colour cannabis entrepreneurs. Both the grant and loan programs are administered in partnership with Oregeon-based NuLeaf Project, a Black-led non-profit organization.

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The remaining 20 per cent of profits will be split evenly between the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance and the Last Prisoner Project, a national U.S. organization dedicated to cannabis criminal justice reform.

B3 notes that the company was founded with a no-interest loan and it licenses its “formulas, packaging, trademarks, and marketing materials to for profit businesses in exchange for a royalty.” All of those royalties, minus expenses, will be used to support its social missions.

The company’s products are currently available at four dispensaries in Colorado with plans for future expansion.

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Cannabis is a widely used psychoactive drug worldwide, and its popularity is growing: The U.S. market for recreational cannabis sales could surpass US$72 billion by 2023.

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As of early 2023, 21 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis for recreational use for people age 21 and up, while 39 states plus the District of Columbia have legalized it for medical use.

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The growing wave of legalization and the dramatic increase in cannabis potency over the past two decades have raised concerns among scientists and public health experts about the potential health effects of cannabis use during pregnancy and other vulnerable periods of development, such as the teen years.

I am a developmental neuroscientist specializing in studying what’s known as the endocannabinoid system. This is an evolutionarily ancient system found in humans and other vertebrates that produces natural cannabinoids such as THC and CBD.

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Cannabis and its constituents interact with the body’s endocannabinoid system to product their effects. THC and CBD are the most commonly known cannabis extracts and can be synthesized in a lab. My lab also studies the risks versus potential therapeutic value of cannabis and cannabinoids.

People often assume there’s no risk when using cannabis or cannabinoids during vulnerable periods of life, but they’re basing that on little to no data. Our research and that of others suggests that cannabis use during pregnancy and adolescence can present myriad health risks the public should be aware of.

Cannabis use during pregnancy

More and more pregnant people are using cannabis today compared with a decade ago, with some studies showing that nearly 1 in 4 pregnant adolescents report that they use cannabis.

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Many cannabis consumers may have not known they were pregnant and stopped using when they found out. Others report using cannabis for its touted ability to ease pregnancy-related symptoms, like nausea and anxiety. However, studies do not yet confirm those health claims. What’s more, the potential harms are often downplayed by pro-cannabis marketing and messaging by dispensaries, advocacy groups and even midwives or doulas.

In addition, physicians and other health care providers often are not knowledgeable enough or don’t feel well equipped to discuss the potential risks and benefits of cannabis with their patients, including during pregnancy.

While research shows that most people who are pregnant perceive little to no risk in using cannabis during pregnancy, the data show there is clear cause for concern. Indeed, a growing number of studies link prenatal cannabis exposure to greater risk of preterm birth, lower birth weight and psychiatric and behavioural problems in children. These include, for example, difficulties with attention, thought, social problems, anxiety and depression.

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Cannabis and the developing brain

When cannabis is inhaled, consumed orally or taken in through other routes, it can easily cross through the placenta and deposit in the fetal brain, disrupting brain development.

A recent study from my lab, led by medical student Mohammed Faraj, found that cannabis use during pregnancy can shape the developing brain in ways that are detectable even a decade later.

We used data from the National Institutes of Health Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, which is the largest long-term study of brain development and child and adolescent health in the U.S. It has followed more than 10,000 children and their families from age 9-10 over a 10-year period.

Through that analysis, we linked prenatal cannabis exposure to alterations in functional brain networks in 9- and 10-year-old children. In particular, prenatal cannabis exposure appeared to disrupt the communication between brain networks involved in attentional control, which may explain why children who were exposed to cannabis in utero may develop difficulties with attention or other behavioural issues or mental disorders as they develop.

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While alcohol abuse has steadily declined among adolescents since 2000 in the U.S., cannabis use shows the opposite pattern: It increased by 245 per cent during that same period.

Data reported in 2022 from the Monitoring the Future survey of over 50,000 students in the U.S. found that nearly one-third of 12th grade students reported using cannabis in the past year, including cannabis vaping. Yet only about 1 in 4 12th grade students perceive great harm in using cannabis regularly. This suggests that many teens use cannabis, but very few consider it to have potentially negative effects.

Cannabis use during adolescence

Research shows that the adolescent brain is primed to engage in high-risk behaviours such as experimenting with cannabis and other substances. Unfortunately, owing to ongoing brain development, the adolescent brain is also particularly susceptible to the effects of cannabis and other substances. Indeed, many neuroscientists now agree that the brain continues to develop well into the second and even third decade of life.

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In line with this vulnerability, research shows that, relative to those who did not use cannabis during adolescence, those who started using it during adolescence are at increased risk of developing depression, suicidal ideation, psychosis and reductions in IQ during adolescence and adulthood. Neuroimaging studies also show residual effects of adolescent cannabis use on brain functioning, even later during adulthood.

Reading beyond the label

Despite common misconceptions that cannabis is “all natural” and safe to use during pregnancy or adolescence, the data suggests there are real risks. In fact, in 2019, the U.S. surgeon general issued an advisory against the use of cannabis during pregnancy and adolescence, stating that “no amount … is known to be safe.”

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Cannabis may be harmful to the developing brain because it disrupts the developing endocannabinoid system, which plays a critical role in shaping brain development from conception into adulthood. This includes neural circuits involved in learning, memory, decision-making and emotion regulation.

While much of this research has focused on cannabis use, there is also other research that comes to similar conclusions for THC and CBD in other forms. In fact, although CBD is widely available as an unregulated supplement, we researchers know almost nothing about its effects on the developing brain. Of note, these harms apply not only to smoking, but also to ingesting, vaping or other ways of consuming cannabis or its extracts.

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In my view, it’s important that consumers know these risks and recognize that not everything claimed on a label is backed by science. So before you pick up that edible or vape pen for stress, anxiety, or sleep or pain control, it’s important to talk to a health care provider about potential risks — especially if you are or could be pregnant or are a teen or young adult.

Hilary A. Marusak, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and behavioural Neurosciences, Wayne State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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South African president Cyril Ramaphosa recently reiterated plans to accelerate the commercialisation of hemp as well as cannabis plants. His speech setting out government’s priorities for 2023 was a reminder of a pledge in 2022 – also in his state of the nation address – that the government would mobilise investment in the hemp and cannabis sectors.

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In his speech, the president indicated that government is in the process of addressing the conditions for the growth of the cannabis sector, particularly for rural farmers. The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and the Department of Health are working closely to address the existing conditions for growing hemp and cannabis to enable outdoor cultivation and harvesting by rural farmers.

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Currently farmers who have licences, grow their hemp and cannabis indoors under controlled conditions. The commercialisation will allow them to farm outdoors on a larger scale.

This is very exciting. The industry has the potential to create jobs, alleviate poverty and help reduce the extreme inequality in South Africa. One estimate is that the sector has the potential to create more than 130,000 new jobs.

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The opportunity to commercialise the hemp and cannabis industry is that it is a new, fast-growing, multi-billion dollar sector with local and international markets. The potential legal pharmaceutical market for hemp and cannabis in South Africa alone has been estimated at over R100 billion a year.

But there are challenges.

First, that the government fails to implement changes needed to ensure the sector grows in a way that benefits township and rural entrepreneurs farmers. Adding a paragraph dedicated to the cannabis and hemp sector to the annual state of the nation address each year is one thing. But seeing action being taken and plans implemented is another.

The second is that, from mid-2022, small scale farmers farming cannabis promised to be issued with licences to farm legally. However, some farmers in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape are still waiting.

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But there is a way forward. Based on my experience as a member of the Cannabis Organisation University of Pretoria and a member of one of the working groups set up to give inputs for a government masterplan first drawn up in 2021, I make four recommendations to fast-track the process.

These include reviewing and revising the existing master plan, getting defunct working groups up and running again, ensuring the plan is in place before investments begin and setting up a monitoring and evaluation capability.

A stalled process

The president mentioned that, in accelerating commercialisation of the sector, urgent work is being finalised by government to create an enabling regulatory framework for hemp and cannabis plants. This includes their use for complementary medicines, food, cosmetics as well as some industrial products.

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The president said that the government was urgently finalising the work to create this enabling environment.

But some crucial questions need answering: what happened to the cannabis master plan working groups and workstreams set up in 2021/2022?. These working groups and workstreams consisted of representatives from government, the private sector, academic institutions and the cannabis research community. The groups got off to a good start and were in a process or reviewing and revising a plan to commercialise hemp and cannabis. One of the key objectives was to ensure that township entrepreneurs and rural farmers would benefit from any changes.

But working groups collapsed and disappeared without trace.

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The president’s comments therefore invite the question: what happened to the master plan working groups, and the workstreams? When the president speaks about acceleration to commercialise the cannabis sector, which includes the participation of rural farmers, how far along is the planning?

The way forward

Firstly, the presidency must reinstate the cannabis master plan working groups and workstreams. They must be allowed to finalise the review and revision of the current master plan.

The revised master plan should enable the inclusion of township entrepreneurs and rural farmers. They are currently excluded from the mainstream commercialisation of hemp and cannabis due to a cumbersome licensing process.

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Secondly, investments in the hemp and cannabis sector should only be implemented once the master plan has been reviewed and revised. This will provide guidance on how the proposed funds can be properly channelled.

The wheel should not be reinvented. Neither should time and effort be wasted.

Thirdly, a monitoring and evaluation committee needs to be set up to look after the hemp and cannabis project implementation. It should be set up in the same way as the working groups were formed with representatives from all interested players. This will ensure that all players in the sector are included. And that funds are appropriately spent.

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Law enforcement officials in Antigua seized almost $750,000 worth of cannabis in a series of joint operations at the V.C. Bird International Airport.

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Police and customs agents seized three separate shipments of weed this month, reports Antigua Observer.

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In the first seizure, officials discovered 57 vacuum-sealed packages of cannabis, weighing about 26 kilograms with an estimated value of $342,000. The packages were found inside a cardboard box at the Customs Cargo Shed.

Two other shipments were also seized at the airport, with one containing a total of 31 vacuum-sealed packages of cannabis weighing 14kg while the other contained 15 vacuum-sealed weighing about 8kg. The two packages were estimated to be worth $278,700.

Police also found a portion of cannabis-infused candies. All of the packages were confiscated and taken to the police station as part of an ongoing investigation.

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Medical cannabis was legalized in Antigua and Barbuda in 2018. The recreational use of cannabis remains illegal in the country but is also partially decriminalized. Residents can possess up to 15 grams, cultivate up to four plants, and not be guilty of an offence.

The 2019 International Religious Freedoms Report, which details the status of religious freedom in every country, highlighted Antigua and Barbuda’s decriminalization of weed, which allows the government to uphold the religious rights of Hindus and Rastafarians.

The annual report covers government policies violating religious belief and practices and details U.S. policies to promote religious freedom around the world. It identifies a dozen or so countries and territories where cannabis laws either support or interfere with religious liberties. 

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In contrast to Antigua and Barbuda, the report notes that Rastafarians in the Bahamas report government discrimination against them and sanctions on the use of cannabis.

While the U.S. contributes to the report, it is not included.

“The administration has answered the call to fight for people of all faiths, everywhere, at all time,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement announcing the release of the 2019 report. “It’s been a very fulfilling job for me working with the incredible staff and pushing for religious freedom in every corner of the globe.”

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