As Colorado celebrated a year of cannabis legalisation, Founders Fund, a venture-capital firm with $2 billion in assets that backed Facebook, has announced an investment in Privateer Holdings, a marijuana outfit behind names such as Leafly and [Bob] Marley Natural. Four states and Washington, DC, have now legalised recreational weed. A further 21 allow medical consumption under differing restrictions. Legal recreational and medical sales amounted to $2.6 billion last year, most of them in California and Colorado. That is just 6% of the estimated $40 billion still going to criminals (over $200 billion a year is spent on tobacco and alcohol). Cannabis venture capital was a tiny $104m in 2014 and opportunities remain limited because of federal restrictions.

Marijuana caution

Sunday, January 18 2015

RECENT events in the news locally hint at a significant use of illicit marijuana by university students, a topic likely to be raised now by anxious parents with their youngsters in households across the country.

We think it is an apt time to sound a note of caution as to the drug’s harmful effects. At present, Trinidad and Tobago, like much of the rest of the world, faces a very confused picture as to how the drug should be viewed.

It is still illegal in most countries including ours, but has been decriminalised in places such as Uruguay and the State of Colorado and Washington DC. Even as in Europe some police forces now merely warn but not prosecute users.

• On January 1, laws making legal the use of recreational marijuana went into effect in Colorado and the state of Washington. Fifty-six percent of Americans now favor legalization and regulation of marijuana.

  In the meantime, there are 20 states plus Washington DC where medical marijuana is legal, and four states with pending legislation.

  “Medical marijuana” is something of a misnomer. A physician does not write a prescription for a specific compound at a specific dosage that a patient fills at a pharmacy. Indeed, the physician’s only involvement may be in issuing the requisite medical marijuana card. 

  The card allows users to shop at marijuana dispensaries. It also amounts to a “get out of jail free” card

“Right there. You feel that?” my partner whimpers in the dark. The pain and exhaustion in her voice are audible.

I press my fingers hard into her outer thigh and massage in an expanding circle, over ripples of sculpted rock. Her rectus femoris barely loosens as I knead harder, using my knuckles.

“Sssssssss,” she hisses. “Right there…You can press harder.”

Reaching toward the nightstand, I scan a line-up of spray bottles, lotions and balm jars sitting in the dim light. I grab the smallest jar, said to be the most potent, and scoop a large dollop with my index finger and rub it into her hip and get to work. It smells of herb and mint.

If you’re like most Americans, losing a few extra pounds is your goal for 2015. With holiday season in the rearview mirror and all of the leftovers finished, it’s the perfect time to get in shape.  While the idea of working out and using cannabis seem like diametrically opposed concepts to the anti-legalization crowd, it’s a movement that’s gaining steam in Denver—and people are seeing results.

The Pro Athlete

Clifford Drusinsky, 39, is the opposite of the “typical stoner” stereotype. With his own gym, a line of edibles in the works, and three Australian Shepherds, he’s a busy guy. He also placed at nine different triathlons in 2013. What separates Drusinsky’s workouts from others? Cannabis-infused edibles.