![]() Every year Leafly editors round up the year’s weirdest, funniest, stupidest, and craziest cannabis stories for something they call, “The Doobious Achievement Awards.” It’s a nod to Esquire Magazines own list of the same name, but with a twist on the spelling of “dubious,” as in … “dooby!” The following are some highlights from that, along with a few of our additions: Minnesota’s Accidental Legalization of Edibles Minnesota state legislators legalized edibles on accident. Lawmakers unanimously passed an amendment in May that some thought was just regulating hemp-derived delta-8 THC products. But, if they’d have read it thoroughly, they would have noticed that the way the new law was written, it also legalized low dose edibles. The Star Tribune reported that Republican state Senator Jim Abeler said: “That doesn’t legalize marijuana — we just didn’t do that, did we?” Yep, they did. Senator Abeler wanted to repeal the new law, but Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and the Democrat-controlled House were in favor of legalization, so the law remains. Minnesota’s Democratic House Majority leader, Representative Ryan Winkler, emphasized that the new legislation was debated and passed in a public forum which the GOP were a part of. But he did add that he and his colleagues were strategic by not necessarily publicizing the edible policy change in the new law. Winkler said, “We absolutely did this on purpose. It was an intentional step forward.” In the end, residents of Minnesota are happy with the new suprise of legal edibles, as polls show that 58% of Minnesota residents are in favor of legalization. Mike Tyson’s Bitten-Ear Edibles Former boxing champ and now cannabis entreprenuer, Mike Tyson, debuted his bitten-ear shaped edibles called “Mike Bites” under his “Tyson 2.0” brand in 2022. The edibles were a nod to the controversial fight Tyson had with Evander Holyfield, where Tyson infamously bit off a part of Holyfield’s ear. The marketing gimmick worked, and the story on the ediblies went viral in the cannabis industry. Evander Holyfield also joined in on the macbre joke, and has recently signed on to launch a delta-8 version of the product—called Holy Ears— which is expected to hit the markets in 2023. Boldest Cannabis Candidates Democratic Senate candidates, Gary Chambers from Louisiana, and Thomas McDermott from Indiana, tie for the boldest cannabis candidates. In an advertisement video for his campaign, Chambers lit up a king-sized blunt to how his dedication to cannabis reform. Similarly, one of McDermott’s campaign video’s showed him light up a joint, inhale, and pass it around. While, sadly, neither of these candidates won their respective races, they did win the hearts of cannabis advocates. Conveinence Cannabis at Circle K In mid-October, a national cannabis company announced their plans to partner with Circle K to offer medical marijuana for sale at 10 Florida locations. Multi State Operator, Green Thumb Industries (GTI), said it would open RISE Express stores which would be adjacent to the Circle K stores, possibly as early as 2023. But those plans were dashed when just a week later, a spokesperson from the Department of Health told the Washington Examiner “Florida has never approved a Medical Marijuana Treatment Center to operate out of a gas station.” The Best Chia Pet Ever: The Chia Bong Online head shop, Dankstop, offered a Chiba Chia Bong for sale this year, which they described as a “handmade decorative planter” for $41.22. It quickly sold out. Like the typical “chia” pet, it grows plants on the outside, but inisde the ceramic done it’s a good ole fashioned, functional bong. The Chia Bong sold out quickly, but is now back in stock, just in time for Christmas! Don’t Lick The Toads While kissing a frog will get you a prince, licking certain toads will get you seriously high from the powerful hallucinogenic 5-MeO-DMT. New Mexico’s Department of Game & Fish has said that due to "collectors that want to use the animal for drug use," the Sonoran desert toad is now actually considered threatened in New Mexico. So, in November, the U.S. National Park Service issud a reminder to visitors, saying that in addition to picking up trash and preventing forest fires, they’d also like guests to ‘please refrain from licking’ toads. The park reminded people that the Sonoran desert toad, also known as the Colorado river toad, is highly toxic to humans, and people can get very sick from touching it, even poisoned if it gets into their mouth. Including licking. Rats Eat A Ton of Cannabis A police report submitted to a north Indian court allegedly claimed that rats had eaten hundreds of pounds of cannabis. The cannabis was evidence, seized from illegal sellers, and stored as evidence in police warehouses. At a court hearing, the police were unable to produce 850 pounds of cannabis that had been stored as evidence, and so the rats were blamed for eating the nearly half ton of weed. One Police Superintendent, however, told CNN that the cannabis had actually been “destroyed by rains and flooding” and not by rats. Happy Cows Come from Cannabis In a study published in Scientific Reports, Kansas State University scientists and veterinary researchers discovered that feeding cows a diet of industrial hemp mellows out the cows. The report said the hemp, “increases lying behavior and decreases biomarkers of stress and inflammation in cattle.” In other words, cows who consumed the cannabis were relaxed, happy, and very chill. Chickens Like the Wacky Weed Too A farmer from Thailand who is licensed to grow medical cannabis, decided to see what would happen if he fed the cannibis to his chickens. After positive results, Scientists at Chiang Mai University’s Department of Animal and Aquatic sciences eventually partnered with the farmer to further study the addition of cannabis to a chicken’s diet. They found that the chickens who were given cannabis had fewer sicknesses, needed fewer antibiotics, were more hardy in bad weather, and had much higher quality meat and eggs. And as for the farmer, because of the excellent outcome, his birds sold for twice what they normally do. Restaurants Recognize 420 & Give Thanks for The Munchies A lot of restaurant chains recognized and responded to the fact that they probably owe a lot of business to the cannabis industry, thanks to the munchies. And on 4/20 this past year, they gave back to the cannabis community with some special pot promotions.
The Smuggling Prosecutor The New York Daily News reported that just this month a former Brooklyn prosecutor pleaded guilty to helping weed smugglers move crates of illicit cannabis across state lines, while he was still working as a prosecutor. Here’s the odd part, though: they were moving the cannabis from New Jersey to the King of Cannabis state: California! San Bernadino Sheriff's Siezed Cannabis Cash, But Claims They "Are Not Highway Robbers" In other law enforcement news, the San Bernardino County (CA) Sheriff’s Department agreed to return more than $1 million seized from Empyreal Logistics, a company that transports cash for state-licensed cannabis companies. According to Reason, San Bernardino deputies stopped Empyreal armored trucks on three separate occasions in late 2021 and early 2022, and seized a total of more than $1 million in cash under asset forfeiture rules. Empyreal and its trucks were operating within state law. In a lawsuit, the company asserted that the stops were pretextual, meant to bolster the Sheriff’s Department budget while harassing legal cannabis companies. The joint agreement between Empyreal and the Sheriff’s Department said that the deputies “are not highway robbers as previously reported in the media.” Dr. Oz Got Smoked In May, Dr. Mehmet Oz won the Republican nomination for US Senate in Pennsylvania. Oz fumbled his campaign to a loss against outspoken cannabis advocate, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who ultimately won the Senate seat. While campaigning, Dr. Oz tried to take a lot of jabs at Fetterman’s support for cannabis. At one point Oz spoke to Newsmax and said, “You know there’s not enough Pennsylvanians to work in Pennsylvania. So giving them pot so they stay home is not an ideal move…I don’t want young people to think they have to smoke a joint to get out of their house in the morning.” What cannabis fans now want to know is: who’s giving away pot? And since when does pot make you stay home? And most importantly….. who’s telling young people they have to smoke a joint to get out of their house in the morning?? Stoney “Weed”dings A wedding video from South America went viral after it showed some very happy guests booging down after enjoying a special THC laced wedding cake. In the video, older guests can be seen dancing the night away and having a great time! At this wedding, guests were informed in advance of the THC laced cake, and given the choice to partake, or not. However, at an other weed laced wedding in North America, things did not go so well. THC laced food was served to unsuspecting guests, and not knowing what was happening, several felt terribly ill and went through various symptoms of rapid heart beats, paranoia, and more. Paramedics and police were called to investigate the suspected poisoning, and after testing they found that the guests and the food were laced with THC. The Bride and the caterer were arrested, and a $30,000 lawsuit has recently been filed. Comments are closed.
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