English Version

Bill Murray: the stoner from the month of March

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Each month, our reporter Alexis presents to you an iconic figure relating to cannabis. For March, Bill Murray, a legend from the American cinema.

The quintessence of the quirky persona, always in the spotlight, Bill Murray has developed, in forty years of career, a genuine profile of the nervous yet peaceful person.He has elevated the notion of “coolness” to the level of art.
Portrait of an actor who, after his arrest for weed trafficking and after the false announcement about his death, remained faithful to his motto: “It just doesn’t matter”.

Ganja Buster
It’s at the Chicago O’Hare airport that the mischievous Bill Murray will encounter his first audience, carrying two big metal suitcases loaded with 5 kilos of weed.The young man is yet to go to Denver to start his medical studies.
Times being hard and weed being trendy, Bill thinks it is a good idea to combine entertainment and the resale of weed on his university campus. Hence, he presents himself at the boarding gate on the 21st of September 1970 with 10 pounds of Mexican sinsemilla. Precisely the day of his 20th birthday: could it have been any different? Is it due to his nervousness, the reminiscence of the consumption the night before or a detached sense of irony?

Whatever it was, in the waiting line, when a passenger – looking for a person to talk to – asks him what he can possibly be carrying in these heavy suitcases, Murray told him: “two bombs”. This buffoonery, definitely very Bill Murray, will not make the passenger laugh. On the contrary, he will inform the airport authorities. The buffoon, seeing that his joke has been misunderstood, decides to leave the waiting line as soon as possible to rush to the nearest storage holder where he will frantically try, without success, to store his two suitcases in a storage unit unfortunately too small for them. He is arrested, his suitcases are opened, and the aspiring intern finds himself behind locked up. “But I still had the time to swallow one if his clients’ checks” (the benefit of munchies?)This guy owes me his career and reputation”, will he say at a later stage, amusingly. As he had no judiciary history, he will miraculously only get 5 years of probation. His medical studies? He can forget about those.
Bill Murray decides to turn to a longtime friend who offers a flat share in New York: John Bellucci

From Hunter S Thompson to Wes Anderson
His encounter with the talented and stunning John Bellucci will facilitate, luckily enough, his entry on the small screen, His first appearance as a comedian will be on the “Saturday Night Live” (NBC), a renowned show across the Atlantic.
The success is instant. The audience cannot get enough of this clown’s appearances, disillusioned and dreamy, always on the verge of a loss of control. His career is launched.

His first success at the cinema is Caddyshack, in 1980, in which he plays the role of an employee at a golf club, very much initiated to the subtlety of the magic herb. Besides, he delivers an outstanding connoisseur analysis: “It is a hybrid between the Kentucky bluegrass and the sinsemilla from Northern California. What is surprising is that you can play 36 holes of golf while smoking all afternoon. Then, going back home on the evening, you can get a lot higher, kind of like adapting it.” Thanks for the advice, Bill.

Faithful to his convictions just like he is to his mentors, and actually not very specialised in character roles Murray will play the role of Hunter S. Thompson in 1981 (long before Johnny Depp), and as crazy as it can get, in “Where the Buffalo Roam”. In the fantastic “Broken Flowers” by Jim Jarmush in 2005, in a scene where he shares a big joint with his neighbour, we hear him say between two tokes: “This… this yeah, is just really good Satvia.”. This honest terseness, his trademark.

In Wes Anderson’s “The Life Aquatic” in 2005, he plays the role of officer Cousteau’s ersatz, without hiding his excessive love for weed. (Love which has been immortalised in the famous scene where he shares a joint with Owen Wilson, his son, with David Bowie’s “Life on Mars” playing in the background.).  So many different roles where he played a nice, easy-going ganja smoker, which will eventually give him the coveted award of … Stoner of the year 2005” during the Stony Awards, organised by the highly respected High Times Magazine. (The former awardee was Snoop Dogg, the next one will be Seth Rogen… Setting the bar high).

After that, there was Zombieland in 2009 where he will play his own role, with a slight bit of fiction (he finds himself recluse in his house in Beverly Hills, following a zombie attack).  During a quarter of an hour, he shares a bong-chicha with skunk with Woody Harrelson and Emma Stone. They then try to act a scene in Ghostbusters.

“Lessons learned from a famous man”.
The pitch; since a few years, many urban myths have been going on around Bill Murray. The actor-performer would have, for example, turned up at a party of about fifty students in Austin although he absolutely did not know them. He would have been there, first of all, to party, and then to lpay with a local band before playing the “roadie” by carrying amplifiers and drum-kits. After that, later in the night, he would have convinced the police which came because of night din, to let them be. It was successful. The three policemen on duty would have even danced for a bit… Murray’s twin effect.

In the same city, he would have been spotted in a pub where he had never been, and he would have been a bartender there in order to help the actual bartender. The (real) bartender would have told him that he needed to take care of his dog that was ill and therefore had to close the bar for a moment. Bill would have happily taken over behind the bar.

We would have also seen him enter a cabin that was already booked for a karaoke in Charlottesville (yes, a little bit like Lost in Translation) for the greater enjoyment of the four singers that were there.

In the State of New York, we would have also seen him turn up in the house of a couple that he hardly knew, yet he knew it was their wedding anniversary. He would have turned up in order to help them prepare the dinner, share it with them, and then do the dishes.

Of course, all of this is true.

Conclusion of a life around cannabis.
With regards to cannabis (and of its legalisation, for which he actively advocates),the actor says that he “still finds it ironic how the most dangerous aspect of weed is to be arrested in one’s possession of it”.

More honestly and politically, he claimed that “marijuana is the cause of a large number of imprisonment, for the crime of auto-medication. And it costs millions and billions of dollars to imprison people for this crime against themselves. People realise that the war against this particular drug is a failure (…), it is only creating an army of people (from the prison administration, NDLR) and of detainees”.

More precisely, “The fact that certain States enact laws in the favour of weed proves that the alleged danger of cannabis has been over-assessed. Psychologists recommend smoking instead of drinking if one needs to relax.”“I personally stay on the safe side. I do both. I don’t joke about these things: it’s a matter of rigour”.  Amen.

Alexis

 

How do the Lebanese smoke ?

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Ariel, avid smoker, is our special envoy in Lebanon. There, he delves into the different facades of cannabis from one of the major producers of hash in the world.

Upon my arrival in the country of Cedars, people have indiscriminately repeated to me: “If you have understood Lebanon, it is because it was badly explained to you.” Between the Maronites, the Orthodox, the Druze, the Shiite the Sunnis, and many more, I cannot claim that I have deciphered the Lebanese societal landscape, despite having spent several months here. Numerous cultural practices coexist, even though they are sometimes divergent. From the use of the language to the approach to sexuality, as well as the culinary traditions, there are very few Lebanese practices that are shared throughout all these layers of society. However, there is one practice which I have systematically found in every religious community and social class: the consumption of hash.

Although it is strictly illegal, hash is produced profusely in Lebanon, to the point where the country supplies its eastern neighbours and is one of the top 3 global producers. Accustomed to the European prices, having hash for $2 a gram was rather pleasing to me. In a highly unequal country, hash is accessible to everyone, and, in fact, everyone smokes hash. It did not take long for me to join the movement.

In the middle of an interview for a local newspaper, my interviewee interrupted me: “Would you like to smoke a joint?

This was my first interaction with Lebanese hash. Disconcerted, I accepted. Once the interview over, I called my friends in France and, overexcited, I describe the scene. And then, I understood that, here, there was nothing unusual about it: I conducted more interviews sharing a joint than without. After a while, I took advantage of the situation by asking where I could be provided with hash. Yet, suddenly, nobody could help me out on that question. The people were more enthusiastic about giving me a whole block of hash rather than reveal their contacts. I had to wait several months, with a lot of secrecy and patience, to finally be guided to someone who knows someone, who knows someone, and so on. And even to this day, I have never seen a dealer with my own eyes.

Despite the omnipresent nature of the situation, smoking hash in Lebanon constitutes a dangerous practice. Local authorities even proclaim their ability to imprison someone for three months for a single joint. Denunciation is also very common, as it is rewarded by the police. Naïve, I would talk about smoking and wanting to smoke without barriers, in whichever context. However, my friends would urge me to be quiet. Likewise, I once lit a joint in one of the few parks of Beirut, which caused great panic around me. Since then, I have learnt. Only the privacy and secrecy found in people’s apartments is suitable for – what is after all – a relaxing moment. Once at home or at a private party, hash is abundant, as if compensating for hard regulation in other contexts. Here, the quality of hash is such that one can easily crumble into powder, often over a small ceramic dish filled with rolling tobacco. To blend into local traditions, I bought such a dish, but I continue to roll my joints with the broken off end of an industrial cigarette as a filter. I try and convince locals of this technique, yet they remain abstinent to use a roach.

All in all, I am completely adapted: I have gone from smoking only weed to smoking only hash. In Lebanon, weed is even more expensive than in France. Approximately $15 per gram, meaning that even those that have it will not share with others, even at a social event. Compared to hash, weed is a sign of social standing in Lebanon, and, hence, its presence is rare

Between the risk of imprisonment and the widespread smoking of joints, the way one smokes in Lebanon seems to be a quasi-schizophrenic practice. Hash in Lebanon is a bit like “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”; it can be found everywhere, but best avoid mentioning it too often.

Ariel Iglesias

Cheffe Jessie : The CBD Haute-Cuisine made in London

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Chef Jessie L.E, is the CBD Gastronomy specialist who is rocking West London fine dining scene with her CBD dinners.
Zeweed went to meet her.

Zeweed : Hello Jessie, please tell us a bit about your background and your experience as a Chef?
Jessie :
  When I was a kid, I used to watch cooking shows all the time. I loved how chefs and people in the food industry described food & showed passion for something that we must do to survive. It gave me a sense of escapism. My mother adores eating out and socializing and as her only child I was always taken to places far beyond my pallet and exposed to new dishes and experiences. This plus the fact that at home I had complete freedom of the kitchen as my mother wasn’t interested in cooking. She would let me buy whatever I wanted and gave me the opportunity to freely explore gastronomy.

Salmon Canape

When I was in school I always worked in kitchens but I never went to school for cooking, I went to study fashion. I was always working to put myself through university. Whereas in restaurants or private catering I always had very good mentors.
When I was 18, 20 I didn’t feel like going to school for food, at that age you kind of follow other passions. I have been working as a private Chef for the last 10 years, for high profile individuals and creating bespoke experiences.
I’ve been professionally working in private homes and for events for the last decade. I work closely with the client to create a bespoke and highly personalised food. Everyone is different and having a chef that understands your pallet and is very important to my clients.
At the moment I’m working at the Saatchi Gallery but I only do bespoke experiences there. I am also working for www.hometainment.com  and did a CBD dinner for them last week.

Sliced raddish as a starter

How did you come up with the CBD dinner idea ?
I’ve always had the idea of hosting an immersive fine dining marijuana dinner here in London but didn’t have the clientele. What I did have though was a clientele of “yummy mummies” who were just coming round to the idea of CBD and thought that it was a modern twist on dinner parties I was already offering them.
I also met Antoine, the founder of HOMETAINMENT around this time, who gave me a platform to promote this style of dining and the people were receptive to it.
It gave me an opportunity to educate on this beautiful plant and create interesting and original dishes that I wasn’t really show casing in my day-to-day life as a private chef.

CBD Roe Pate : the perfect entrée plate

ZW-How long have you been offering this CBD dinner experience ?
It all really kicked off summer 2020. I had spent a lot of lockdowns cultivating many organic plants of different origins. The only thing they had in common is that they were all auto flowering. To which I had to do something with. I spent a lot of time researching how to make the purest tinctures and oils and from there I started balancing flavour profiles, effects and strengths. It was my covid project and I honestly was so happy to have something to focus my time on in those unsure times. Horticulture is a beautiful thing!

Roe Toast to follow nicely…

ZW- Do you find ready to use ingredients or do you create your own mix ?
All the CBD I use personally and for my dinner is home grown here in west London.
It has definitely opened my eyes to what it is that is sold at “dispensaries” & what real quality is. I was really adamant that it was quality that I was looking for.
Its 100% a massive part of what clients appreciate about the dinners. Knowing a product is coming from a trusted source, uses organic mediums, has had limited interference and is first pressing. Appeals to thoughs both experiences and new to marijuana of any kind. I even cultivate some plants using 100% vegan medium.
I make tinctures, I make oils, it’s really about balancing the flavors with the dishes I’m creating.

What strains of CBD are you using ?
For the last 2years I have grown over 3 dozens strains.
Among them are :

  • Valentine X
  • Cherry wine
  • Suzy Q
  • ACDC
  • Charlotte’s web
  • Elektra
  • Harle-Tsu
  • Sour Tsunami
  • Crème de la crème

We know about the health benefits of CBD, but is the taste of CBD really important in your menu creation ?
Of course, knowing the benefits and effects of each induvial plant is wonderful but a little nuanced if you’re not familiar with CBD. But having a fabulously tasty dinner with a new ingredient is much more palatable I’ve found.
A plants Terpenes play a major part in creating a dish. Whether it be working with citrus, sea food or white chocolate there will always be a cbd strain that compliments the produce best. I’m experimenting more every time I think of a new dish, I’ve found some fabulous flavour profiles that I wouldn’t of every experienced if it wasn’t for that particular plant’s characteristics.

Smoked carrots by chef Jessie

Give us some examples of dishes that can be part of your CBD menu.
Here is a menu for a dinner I recently hosted :
Canape :
Organic blueberry OG tinctureYellow fin sashimi / elderflower vinegar / amaranth petals / pineapple and scotch bonnet jam
Starter
Organic Jilly bean oil and vinegar/ Crab / pink fennel coleslaw / grated bottega / squid ink rye bread
Mains :
Organic Orange peel
Ginger and star anise marinated rack of lamb with a hazelnut crust / smoked new potatoes / cavolo Nero / & hibiscus sherbet
Desserts :
Organic Harle-tsu flower indoor tincture & cows die
Cereal milk panna cotta / honeycomb / basil oil

Each dish has been matched with a strain that works alongside it and enhances the flavour. it doesn’t overpower or create an astringent taste on the pallet all while being the cleanest version of itself. It’s been a true pleasure to work with this plant in a professional way. cannabis knows no bounds.

Do you have a signature dish ?
There is one dish, which has been very popular, I have used it in different forms and it is still being requested a lot :  pork belly, cooked for 24 hours.
The pork belly is slow cooked in a ginger, star anise, lemongrass and carrot broth for 12 hours, topped up with water as and when. (The key is to ask your butcher for a centre cut piece of belly with the bones and skin removed) keep them as the bones will flavour the stock and the skin will protect the top for the more intense heat)
Then when cooked press the pork belly between two weighted baking trays for another 12 hours so it is evenly set. You will now be able to slice the perfect pieces of pork!
Brush with a paste made of equal parts of agave, gojuchang, garlic powder and freshly squeezed orange juice and pop under the grill for a few minutes till bubbling and charred.  serve in tacos, bao or on ramen or alongside garlic cavolo nero, sweet potato puree and with a blackcurrant jus. anyway you decide to eat this, it’s a real crowd pleaser !

The verde gaspacho

How is the customers’ reaction so far?
It’s been nothing but positive. Everyone has been open minded and extremely inquisitive about my techniques and uses. It’s been beautiful for people to see cbd as a real benefit and how there are a pleather of different directions in which you can take it and enjoy it.
Just like anything, it’s not a one size fits all motif. having clients taste and experience a variety of CBD’s and Giving people the opportunity to explore it through the vehicle of the culinary art has as I said make it much more palatable to thoughs who may of dismissed it due to its relationship with THC based flower.
This activity has really taken off, I’ve got an average of 2 CBD dinner parties a week and they’re usually quite big affairs. As the 2 things I love the most are weed and food I couldn’t be happier.
I really try not to repeat the same dishes to keep the experience always exciting.

Do you have any competition in London ?
There have been some THC dinners around, but there is definitely no one doing the same thing I do.

As CBD products are everywhere now, how do you see the future of CBD and gastronomy ?
 I think quality will always beat quantity in any and every way.
I’m hoping to see a decline in subpar hemp oil based cbd oil and a real movement toward quality and focus on small local production.
And with this, I hope to see pioneers of the marijuana industry really taking control of the products that are out there and always pushing quality and education.
We live in countries that are yet to legalise cannabis and I hope that with the advancement of that we will see many more young chefs mixing the beautiful worlds of food and weed more often and in environments that promote good times a truly unique experience.
I will be continuing to build upon this idea, I want a boutique general store here in Notting hill where everything is enhanced using 100% organic produce and hopefully in a few years a biodynamic farm in which we can expand into more horticulture and propagating.

 

A Quick Guide To The World’s Different Types Of Hash

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Hash has long been considered a delicacy by cannabis lovers all across the globe. But there’s a lot of differences between the Black Afghan you’ll find in a Dutch coffeeshop and the BHO you’ll get at a North American dispensary. In this article, we’ll walk you through different kinds of hash from all across the world.

Trichomes – The Key To Making Any Kind Of Hash

Weed, Trichomes, Ganja, Cannabis, Pot

First thing’s first; to better understand hash, you need to understand the cannabis plant. Female cannabis plants produce flowers which, when left unpollinated for long periods of time, produce a thick, sticky resin. This resin is made up of trichomes; tiny hair-like structures that look like crystals to the naked eye and tiny glass mushrooms under a microscope.

Trichomes are the powerhouses that create the cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids that give cannabis its unique effects, aromas, and flavors. Hash is made by separating these trichomes from cannabis buds and trim and concentrating them into a potent extract.

Hand-Rolled Live Resin Hash – Indian Charas and Nepalese Temple Balls

haschich, Charras, fait main, Inde,

The Indian Subcontinent is home to Cannabis Indica and one of the oldest forms of hash manufacturing. In India and Nepal, hash (or Charas, as the locals call it) is made by rubbing live cannabis buds between the hands for hours. Eventually, the trichomes from the plant form a thick, dark resin that is scraped together into balls or sticks with a creamy texture similar to chocolate truffles.

Dry Sift Hash – Black Afghan, Red Lebanese, Pakistani, Turkish Brick, and Moroccan Pollen

Dry sift hash is made by gently sieving dried cannabis buds and trim through fine-mesh screens. This gentle friction helps separate the trichomes into a fine powder known as kief. This kief is then pressed into blocks using different techniques depending on the area of production.

In Afghanistan, for example, hash (locally known as Chars) is made by mixing kief with small amounts of tea to form a kind of dough that’s kneaded over low heat until it takes on a deep black color and a thick, smooth consistency similar to soft toffee.

Moroccan hash, on the other hand, is made by repeatedly pressing kief using only pressure and heat. Pakistani hash is made using a similar technique, although some Pakistani locals will cure their hash in a dried sheep or goat’s skin to enhance its flavor.

Rosin

Making rosin is simple. It just entails pressing dried cannabis buds with a lot of pressure and heat. The result is a clear, golden extract free of contaminants and big on flavor and potency.

Ice Water or Bubble Hash

Bubble Hash (sometimes called Ice Water or Ice-O-Lator hash) is very different from the hash types we mentioned so far. It’s made by mixing frozen cannabis buds with water and ice, agitating that mixture to help separate the trichomes from the plant material, and finally running the water through different size mesh sieves. The result is a crumbly hash with a consistency similar to crystallized honey.

 

Bubble Hash can be very aromatic and flavorful, as the cold temperatures used during extraction help preserve some fragile terpenes and flavonoids which can be lost in the presence of heat.

The Butane, Propane, And CO2 Revolution – Shatter, Wax, Crumble, and Budder

Hash hasn’t quite been the same since people learned they could use solvents like butane, propane, and CO2 to extract huge amounts of cannabinoids and terpenes from weed. Today, these kinds of extracts, often sold under names like Shatter, Wax, and Budder, are completely dominating the cannabis market, especially in North America.

Hash made using butane, propane, or CO2 needs to be purged extremely carefully, as the chemicals used in the extraction process can be toxic and extremely volatile. However, these new extraction methods are capable of producing some of the most potent hash available. Some of the BHO sold at US dispensaries, for example, contains well over 50% THC.

 

Online Shopping Review: Zamnesia

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In this article I am going to review Zamnesia, an online retailer that, based on my experience, delivers on all of these fronts and many more. Read on to learn more about Zamnesia, what it does best, and what to keep in mind when shopping at one of Zamnesia’s online stores.

Today, there’s no shortage of online retailers selling cannabis seeds, smoke accessories, or vapes. Great prices, reliable and discreet shipping, and a sense of trust, however, are what make me (and probably you too) choose one site over another when you’re buying seeds, vaporizers, or other smoking accessories online.

The Zamnesia Seed Shop

The Zamnesia brand basically comprises 6 different online stores that cover all things cannabis and legal psychedelics. The Zamnesia Seedshop, as the name implies, is devoted to selling cannabis seeds from 100+ seed banks from across the globe.
Shopping at the Zamnesia Seedshop is super easy. The entire store is organized in a way that’s very user-friendly and makes finding the right strain for your garden or grow room really simple. You can browse seeds based on whether they are regular, feminized, or autoflowering; by seed bank; THC or CBD concentration, and much more.
Zamnesia also regularly publishes hand-curated lists highlighting their favorite strains across different categories (feminized, auto, high THC, high CBD, etc) which can be a great source of inspiration when you’re stuck on what to grow next. The site’s search function also works great if you’re looking for something specific.

Prices across the Zamnesia seed store vary depending on the strain and seedbank, and shipping costs vary between €5 and €10 depending on the country you’re in (note that Zamnesia currently only ships to Europe and The UK).
I particularly like that each Zamnesia product listing comes with reviews where you can read about other users’ experiences with a particular strain. Zamnesia also regularly holds promos where you can score free seeds or accessories on your next purchase.
Besides its seed store, the Zamnesia brand also encompasses the following online shops:

  • Zamnesia Headshop, which features a wide variety of smoking accessories, including everything from grinders and rolling papers to bongs and pipes, cannabis-related books, lighters, scales, and much more.
  • Zamnesia Vaporshop, dedicated to vaporizers of all shapes, sizes., and price points. From big, table-top units like the Volcano to small, portable units like the Pax or G-Pen, the Zamnesia Vaporshop has a ton of variety.
  • Zamnesia CBDshop. If you’re looking for legal CBD from reliable manufacturers, I highly recommend checking out Zamnesia’s CBD shop, which carries oil tinctures, capsules, edibles, cosmetics, and many other products from brands like Cibdol, Zamnesia, SupMedi, and more.
  • Zamnesia Smartshop. Inspired by Amsterdam’s infamous smart stores, the Zamnesia Smartshop sells natural aphrodisiacs, herbs, mushroom tinctures, salvia divinorum, and many other natural and legal psychedelics and plant extracts. *

Zamnesia guarantees fast, discreet shipping across all of its stores. The brand also stands out for accepting various payment methods (including credit cards, bank transfers, and cryptocurrencies), and its attentive customer service.
If you’re looking for great cannabis seeds, vaporizers, or other smoke accessories, I highly recommend checking out Zamnesia and signing up to their mailing list for a 10% discount off your first purchase.

 

*Be informed before you purchase. Always check your local laws before ordering such products.

California approves $100 million stimulus package for legal cannabis industry

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California’s State Legislature approved a $100 million stimulus package to save its struggling weed industry on Monday. The money will go to a total of 17 Californian cities and counties to support local cannabis companies, most of which continue to operate on provisional cannabis licenses or illegally.

The stimulus package forms part of the California Comeback Plan, a larger budget initiative proposed by Governor Gavin Newsom in May. Newsom marketed his $100 billion plan as the “biggest economic recovery package in California history” and promised comprehensive measures to help the state bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Part of Newsom’s plan is to inject $100 million dollars into California’s cannabis industry, which continues to struggle against a major licensing logjam. Despite approving Proposition 64 (Cali’s Adult Use of Marijuana Act) 5 years ago, over 80% of the state’s weed companies continue to operate on temporary licenses.

To date, California has only approved 1,086 permanent cannabis licenses, and industry reports suggest that there are almost 3-times as many unlicensed weed companies operating across the state.
Meanwhile, companies operating on provisional licenses can legally engage in commercial cannabis activity for just 120 days and may apply for 90-day extensions if their application is for an annual license. According to the United Cannabis Business Association, however, Cali’s weed companies can wait anywhere from 2 to 4 years to get fully licensed, and many have to face the prospect of closing their doors, at least temporarily, in that time.

So, what’s the hold up when it comes to licensing California’s weed companies?
Answering that question is complex.

Some sources point to an environmental review; in order to get a permanent license, cannabis companies need to go through an extensive review of the negative environmental impact of their operations and present a plan for reducing those harms. This review process is known to be complicated, expensive, and time-consuming.

But it doesn’t stop there; California’s weed industry is notoriously hard to break into. A license alone can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000, and navigating the legal framework to apply for one is arguably impossible without the help of an attorney.
More specifically, California has made it particularly difficult for low-income or minority communities (those most affected by the War on Drugs) to get into the cannabis industry. While Prop 64 approved equity programs to prioritize licensing for members of these communities, the efficacy of these programs has seen plenty of scrutiny.

And while Governor Newsom’s cannabis stimulus package has certainly turned heads, industry professionals doubt whether it’s enough to address California’s licensing issues.
It is a significant amount of money, but I don’t know that it actually answers the problem of provisional licenses making it through CEQA analysis in a timely manner to get an annual license,” says Jerred Kiloh, president of the United Cannabis Business Association.

Kiloh also criticizes the scope of the plan; the $100 million grant will be split between a total of 17 cities and counties, all of which already allow legal cannabis sales, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Long Beach, Desert Hot Springs, and more.
It’s not incentivizing localities who have cannabis bans to get their ordinances up and running,” he says. “The real problem is that CEQA analysis is a very arduous process,” he added. “I think it would be good to have more reform of the licensing system instead of just putting money to it.”

 

How to properly manage the temperature and humidity in your grow room

Temperature and relative humidity are easily 2 of the most important factors impacting your grow room and the health of your plants. Unfortunately, they are also often overlooked, especially by beginner growers.
In this article, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about the ideal temperature and humidity levels for each stage of a cannabis plant’s life, and help you spot and control temperature/humidity issues before they get out of hand .

Wait, What’s Relative Humidity?

Before we continue, you need to understand relative humidity, a concept that’s crucial to growing great weed but often misunderstood.
Relative humidity is a measurement (displayed as a percentage) of the amount of water vapour present in the air relevant to the temperature. Warm air can hold more moisture than cold air, which is exactly why using relative humidity is so important to growing cannabis; it gives us a more accurate measure of the amount of air present in our grow room.

Image courtesy of Gasparetto Engineering. 

One cubic meter of air at 30°C, for example, can hold roughly 30g of water, while the same amount of air at 10°C can only hold roughly 10g of water. The maximum amount of water air can hold is known as its Dew Point; once we exceed this Dew Point, excess moisture in the air will form as condensation like dew, fog, or rain. The graph above shows the different Dew Points of air at different temperatures.

To measure the humidity in your grow room, invest in a digital thermometer/hygrometer. These inexpensive devices make it easy to track the humidity and temperature inside your grow room and create the perfect environment for your plants.

What’s The Perfect Temperature And Relative Humidity For Growing Cannabis?

Cannabis is a hardy plant that can grow and adapt to various conditions. As we saw in our earlier chapter on the cannabis life cycle, cannabis plants germinate in spring and begin to flower after the summer solstice in response to changes in their photoperiod (except autoflowering strains, which flower based on age).

While individual cultivars might prefer slightly different conditions, most cannabis varieties like warm summers and plenty of sunlight. As they pass through the different stages of their lives, however, cannabis plants favour slightly different conditions; seedlings, for example, love warm, humid conditions, whereas flowering females like things a little drier).

If you’re growing outdoors, you obviously don’t have a lot of control over the temperature and RH in your garden. Indoor growers, on the other hand, can closely monitor and tweak the temperature and RH in their rooms/tents to create the perfect environment for their plants at all stages of their lifecycle.

The table below highlights the perfect growing conditions for cannabis plants in the seedling, vegetative, and flowering phases:

Ideal Temperature Ideal RH Description
Seedling phase Lights on: 20-25°C

Lights off: 20°C

65 -70% Young cannabis seedlings or clones like warm, humid conditions that allow them to take up water via their leaves while they develop their roots.
Veg. phase Lights on: 22-28°C

Lights off: 18-20°C

40-60% Once your plants have developed a solid root system, you can start gradually lowering the humidity and increasing the temperature in your grow room/tent until you reach the ideal conditions described here.

Note: Never change the temperature or humidity in your room/tent drastically as this can shock your plants and stunt their growth, cause pest/pathogen problems, and greatly impact both the size and quality of your yields.

Early and mid-flowering phase (weeks 1-6 approx) Lights on: 20-26 C°

Lights off: 18-20°C

40-50% Flowering cannabis plants like slightly cooler and drier conditions. Female cannabis flowers can trap a lot of moisture, which can lead to bud rot and attract other pests or pathogens into your grow room. This is especially true if you’re growing indica-dominant strains with a dense bud structure. Sativa strains tend to have whispier buds that are better suited to more humid conditions (see our chapter on cannabis genetics for more info).

Again, remember to gradually adjust the conditions in your grow room to avoid stressing your plants.

Late flowering phase (final 3-4 weeks before harvest) Lights on: 20-24°C

Lights off: 15-20°C

30-40% As your plants enter the final stages of their flowering cycle, we recommend further lowering the humidity and temperature in your grow room/tent to avoid bud rot and other humidity issues. Increasing the thermic amplitude (the difference between nighttime and daytime temperatures) can also help promote more trichome production and bring out some vibrant colours in your plants buds, especially in purple strains or Indica-dominant varieties.

 

How To Create The Perfect Conditions In Your Indoor Grow Room/Tent

  • Know what a particular cultivar likes! Different cannabis strains prefer different conditions. Whenever you’re growing a new variety, try to gather as much information about it as possible (preferably from someone who has grown the same strain or the seedbank that bred it), and also pay close attention to how the plant reacts to different climatic conditions.
  • Buy a thermometer/hygrometer. Don’t even try to play around with the temperature/RH in your tent/room until you’ve bought a thermometer/hygrometer.
  • Know what to look for. While plant’s obviously can’t talk, they are very good at communicating when something isn’t right. Study the list of warning signs of temperature/humidity issues below in order to catch these problems early and adapt accordingly.
  • Use a humidifier/dehumidifier to adapt the relative humidity in your grow room/tent.
  • Use intake, outtake, and oscillating fans (and heating/cooling, if necessary) to keep temperatures optimal.

Signs of Plants Stressed By Temperature/Humidity Issues

Signs of heat stress

  • Rapidly drying soil.
  • Leaves cupping and pointing upwards.
  • Visibly burnt or dried out leaves or buds.
  • Flowering plants exposed to hot conditions grow airy, thin buds and sometimes start developing new, whispy flowers on top of older ones.

How to drive down the temperature in your grow room/tent:

  • Increase air circulation and use intake and outtake fans to keep hot air flowing out of your tent/room and fresh, cool air flowing in.
  • Switch to LED lights that produce less heat.
  • Move your grow lights further away from the top of your plants.

Signs of cold stress

  • Stunted growth. Cold weather affects many of cannabis’ metabolic processes, making it harder for the plant to take up nutrients and water to fuel its growth.
  • Nutrient deficiencies. As temperatures drop below optimum levels, cannabis plants struggle to take up certain nutrients and may develop signs of a nutrient deficiency.
  • Soil that stays moist for extended periods of time.
  • Wilting.

How to increase the temperature in your grow room/tent:

  • Move your plants into a warmer area of the house.
  • Switch from LED lights to a grow light that emits more heat.
  • Turn off or slow down your intake and outtake fans.

Signs of high humidity

  • Soil that never completely dries out.
  • Limp, weak plants.
  • Stunted growth. Just like with low temperatures and low humidity, high humidity also affects the metabolism of plants and their ability to take up water and nutrients.
  • Bud rot, botrytis, or other fungal pathogens thrive in humid conditions, attacking your plants’ buds, foliage, and roots and causing them to rot.

How to decrease humidity in your grow room/tent:

  • Increase air circulation using outtake, intake, and oscillating fans.
  • Water your plants less frequently.
  • Use a dehumidifier.

Signs of low humidity

  • Soil that dries up extremely fast. Plants exposed to dry conditions drink a lot more water.
  • As a side effect of drinking more water, plants might also take up more nutrients from their soil and fertilizer and develop nutrient burn.
  • Stunted growth and weak, feeble plants.

How to increase humidity in the grow room

  • Use a humidifier.
  • Mist the air in your grow space (do not do this during the flowering phase).

While many people think cannabis grows like a weed, there are many ways we can help our plants grow even faster and produce bigger, better harvests. And maintaining the right temperature and relative humidity is one of the first and most important ways of doing exactly that.

Training Italy’s next doctors to use medical Cannabis

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The University of Padua (UNIPD) is one of the 5 oldest surviving universities in the world. It’s served as a hub for medical studies since 1250, and is home to one of Europe’s oldest anatomical theatres. Today, almost 800 years after opening its doors in 1222, UNIPD remains at the forefront of pioneering medical education, serving as the only European university offering cannabis courses to its undergraduate med students. 

It’s a long and winding road, but today marks the beginning of a new era” confesses Dr Viola Brugnatelli, a cellular neuroscientist and cannabis lecturer at the University of Padua.
Viola is celebrating arguably one of the biggest milestone’s of her career; 56 6th-year med students just enrolled in La Cannabis Medicinale 2020-2021, the first medical cannabis course within the University of Padua’s curriculum for undergrad medicine and surgery students.

This is a huge achievement that hopefully will be followed by all other Italian academies. And I’m proud to be part of the cultural revolution.Viola has been lecturing about cannabis at UNIPD since 2017, when the school started offering a 1-year postgraduate course on medicinal cannabis to MDs and other health professionals. This year, however, she won’t just be lecturing graduated professionals: for the first time, she’ll be introducing undergraduate students to the power of medicinal cannabis. 

Teaching “the power of medicinal cannabis”

This new course is directed by Professor Gastone Zanette, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at UNPID’s Department of Neurosciences, who also teaches the course alongside Dr Viola Brugnatelli, Dr Stefano Bona, Dr Stefano Dall’Acqua, and Dr Ulderico Freo.
It may seem like a small achievement,” explains Viola, “but it will have a huge impact on our healthcare in the medium to long term.” 

La Cannabis Medicinale offers an in-depth look at medical cannabis and explores the historical use of the plant, its clinical application today, the biochemistry and pharmacology of cannabinoids, and the processes behind extracting and analysing medical cannabis and its compounds.
By introducing undergraduate medicine students to cannabis early on in their education, Gastone and Viola hope to address one of the main downfalls of Italy’s medical cannabis system, namely the difficulty for patients to find doctors and/or pharmacies capable of prescribing cannabis or incorporating it into their therapy. 

Cannabis is not a ready-to-use drug, meaning it is critical for MDs to understand different methods of administration and pharmacokinetics in order to prescribe the right product. For these and many other reasons, it is critical for health professionals to be trained in endocannabinology and cannabis botany, biochemistry and pharmacology.”

The Beginning Of A New Era 

Gastone Zanette and Viola Brugnatelli presenting at the 2019 International Association Cannabinoid Medicine conference in Berlin.

Professor Gastone Zanette headed the long and arduous process of launching UNIPDs cannabis courses almost 10 years ago.
Unfortunately, both the university and the necessary public authorities, such as the Italian Medical Association, were skeptical about Gastone’s initial proposals.
But he wasn’t so quick to give up.
I started to attend important events on cannabinoids and medicine held by the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS) and the International Association for Cannabinoids in Medicine (IACM) to gain expertise, information, and skills from the scholars in this area, such as Mark Ware, Ethan Russo, John M McPartland, and William A Devane,” explains Pr. Zanette 

In 2016, Gastone finally succeeded at getting approval to direct a 1-year postgraduate course at the University of Padua, titled La cannabis medicinale: aspetti agro-produttivi, botanici, medici, legali e sociali (or Medicinal cannabis: agro-productive, botanical, medical, legal and social aspects).
This course was born after a huge effort to overcome an antagonistic medical and healthcare environment characterized by bias and false belief. It was a big challenge. The real problem with medicinal cannabis is the paucity of scientific evidence supporting its use, which is a consequence of the legal difficulties restricting the ability to perform high-quality studies on it. It’s a vicious cycle” he continues. 

Unfortunately, UNIPD was unable to offer its postgraduate degree during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought with it a lack of enrollments and a sudden shift to online tuition models.
But even in the face of a global pandemic, Gastone and Viola weren’t willing to give up their efforts to continue training Italy’s medical professionals on how to use cannabis in their practice. 

3 master degree, 6 courses

In order to be able to continue offering their post-graduate course, Viola called on her own private online academy, Cannabiscienza.
To keep offering up our knowledge on cannabis during these challenging times, Cannabiscienza stepped in to recreate UNIPD’s entire post-graduate course and adapted it to the online tuition model. This halved the tuition costs for applicants and has allowed us to start offering the course again in October 2021” .
Viola founded Cannabiscienza in 2017 to help address the lack of formal cannabis education and training for Italy’s healthcare professionals.

Today, Cannabisscienza is sponsored by some of the most prestigious medical and scientific institutions in Italy as well as the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), an international leader in psychedelic research.
The academy currently offers 3 Masters degrees and 6 courses (all taught completely online) highly-targeted to veterinarians, MDs, pharmacists, chemists, pharmacologists, nurses, and more.
When used consciously cannabis is an incredibly useful tool in the healthcare tool bag, However, due to its nature of containing a multitude of compounds, we need an updated understanding of its pharmacodynamics.” details Viola.

Through her work at the UNIPD and Cannabiscienza, Viola and her team-mates are helping construct this understanding and pass it on to Italy’s next generation of healthcare professionals.
“The University of Padua will be celebrating 1000 years in 2022. Since its early days, the university has played a leading role in the identification and treatment of diseases and ailments, confirming its role as a solid science-based hub dedicated to innovation, even in the face of stigma. Through launching this year’s undergraduate course, we hope to have set a positive model for academies worldwide. Ad maiora semper!

 

How Cannabis Helps Veterans Heal Their Battle Scars

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Many veterans swear cannabis helps them cope with their post-war symptoms. And thanks to Bryan Buckley and the team at the Battle Brother’s Foundation, US vets might soon have a stronger case to support their claim that cannabis can help treat PTSD. 

Bryan Buckley served in the US Marine Corps for 9 years, his first deployment was to Fallujah, Iraq. He has also served in Africa and SouthEast Asia.
I went into the military after the events of 9/11,
Once he made Team Commander for the Marine Raiders (the US Marines’ special operations force), Bryan also served in Afghanistan, particularly in the Helmand Valley. 

I’ve had some high ranking people tell me that the summer of 2012 when we were in Afghanistan was the bloodiest summer for American special operation forces since Vietnam”, Bryan explains, remembering his service in Operation Enduring Freedom (the US government’s tag name for its Global War on Terror).
“And I came out of the military 100% disabled and with 100% post-traumatic stress.”

I swallowed before asking Bryan about his injuries.
In 2012, we were fighting in the Helmand province”. His words cut through the silent phone line like a knife.
During one of those days, I heard a round go past my head. It was from an underbarrel grenade launcher. The grenade exploded right next to me. I took shrapnel to my leg, all throughout my back and to my face. Two of my teammates were wounded as well; one of them lost part of his tricep and the other guy took shrapnel to his stomach.
Bryan nearly lost his left leg following the injuries he sustained that day.
Later that year, he also fell 15 feet from a helicopter, dislocating his ankle and fracturing his spine.
War is a crazy place”.

Image courtesy of Helmand Valley Growers Company.

Bryan’s physical wounds healed quickly. In fact, he was back out in the field just 1 week after having surgery to save his leg from the grenade shrapnel.
But when he transitioned out of the military, Bryan realized that he’d brought home emotional wounds that were a lot harder to heal than the physical ones.
In the military, you always have to stay focused on the mission, even when you’re taking casualties. You just have to focus on the enemy and keep the fight on them. You can’t go internal because that’ll just create more casualties“.
War is a crazy place indeed.


Once I got out and life slowed down, that’s when some of the things you suppress in your mind start to come back up”.
After coming back from war, Bryan’s PTSD started to make its mark. He suffered from sleep issues, depression, and anxiety.
He often found himself reliving his past on the battlefield, especially once he had children. 

The enemy would often use women and children as human shields. You just see some gnarly things”.
Most importantly, Bryan felt like he’d lost his identity and purpose after he returned home to a civilian life.
I couldn’t watch the news for years because they’d talk about actions in Afghanistan and Iraq and I’d feel guilty for not being there” remembers Bryan.
It’s this lack of purpose that leaves many vets battling depression and substance abuse.
It’s also what leads almost 22 US veterans to take their own lives every day

Luckily, Bryan was able to regain that lost sense of purpose by teaming up with fellow Marine veterans Andy Miears and Matt Curran to form the Helmand Valley Growers Company (HVGC); a Californian cannabis company that donates 100% of its profits to researching the benefits of medical cannabis for veterans.
Alongside HVGC, Bryan, Andy, and Matt also founded the Battle Brothers Foundation; a non-profit NGO that aims to empower US veterans through personal development, employment opportunities, and the right kind of medical support. 

It all started in 2016, when Bryan suddenly noticed his friend and co-founder Andy looking better than usual.
He didn’t have that lethargic look about him like he’d been drinking the night before”.
He admits that drinking is one of the most common ways veterans face the symptoms that strike once they end their service.
It’s just part of our culture, but when I asked Andy what was going on, he said ‘I’ve traded in a 5th of Jack for a joint.”
Besides using cannabis to sleep better and relieve his PTSD symptoms, Andy was also working to become a licensed cannabis cultivator. 

Image courtesy of Helmand Valley Growers Company.

One day, Andy told me that cannabis was helping him transition from a warrior to a gardener”, Bryan recalls.
After seeing the positive effect cannabis was having on his friend, Bryan decided to try cannabis for himself.
It was incredible. I was sleeping better, I was waking up feeling refreshed, it was helping my anxiety and depression. Now, cannabis is just part of my daily routine“.

And it wasn’t long before he realized that cannabis could be the purpose he’d been missing after leaving the army.
From the get-go, one of Battle Brothers main goals was to change the US medical landscape by making cannabis a legal and accessible treatment option for veterans, be it for pain-relief, better sleep, or any other medical condition.
Cannabis isn’t for everyone” Bryan says firmly. “But it should be a tool in the toolkit”.

And the Battle Brothers foundation is well underway to completing its mission; it just got approval from a private institutional review board to conduct an observational study that’ll evaluate the safety and efficacy of using medical cannabis in the treatment of PTSD.
In 2016, we spoke to members of Congress to see what it would take to make cannabis available to veterans, they told us to collect reliable data alongside American doctors and build a strong case to present to Veteran’s Affairs. And that’s what we’re doing.”

The study is expected to launch in July and will involve 60 Californian veterans with moderate to severe PTSD.
The participants will purchase and dose cannabis products at their own discretion over 90 days and report to a team from NiaMedic, a medical data company from Israel, to evaluate the effects the different products have on their PTSD symptoms.
And while this is a huge milestone for Bryan and his team, they show no signs of slowing down.
Confident that this study will harbour positive results, Bryan believes this research will put down the foundations for more aggressive studies in the future that will help build a better reality for America’s veterans. 

These brave men and women raise their right hand and sign a blank cheque that’s payable with their lives. And when they’re back here in America, maybe they’re back here in a physical sense, but not spiritually or mentally. At Helmand Valley Growers Company, we want to be that beacon in the night that lights the path so that these people can live the life of peace that they deserve, and live the American dream that they fought so hard to defend.” 

 

 

Highly Inventive : The Ultimate Weed-Related Bathroom Read

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What do King Tut, Christopher Colombus, Louis Armstrong, and Al Capone have in common? Find out in Highly Inventive, the perfect bathroom book for weed lovers

I have a lot of ideas and not all of them are good, explains BS Wedeman as I am interviewing the two authors of  Highly Inventive: A Highbrow History of Man’s Quest For Weed, a fantastic book that was published last summer.
But this was a good idea,” Ted Tronnes quickly chimes in.
Together, Ted and BS Wedeman wrote and illustrated the hilarious Highly Inventive: A Highbrow History of Man’s Quest For Weed, a piece that  instantly became my number one read whenever I had 10 minutes to spare. And that happens to often be in the loo. 

“The idea came about, as most of my ideas do: as I was rolling a joint.”

This “bathroom book,” as the authors so lovingly describe it too, boasts a collection of vignettes and illustrations that offer a brief-yet surprisingly detailed, quirky, and ultra-funny look into mankind’s history with weed.
The idea came about, as most of my ideas do: as I was rolling a joint.” laughs BS Wedeman,
I’d been reading a book about Benjamin Franklin, who of course invented bifocals. I was using my bifocals at that very moment to see and be able to roll my j, and I started thinking; ‘what other people have, through an invention or some other way, influenced my ability to enjoy marijuana?’” she says, immediately recalling some of the early stars of her book:
There’s John Landis Mason, who invented the mason jar (a go-to recipient for weed); Luis Marcus who invented the bobby pin (which many people use to hold a joint), and the Phoenicians, who discovered glass-blowing and may have invented some of the first glass pipes.
Immediately, I called Ted and told him about my new idea,” adds BS Wedeman. 

Trump, weed,
A little indulgence in marijuana makes the people in the U.S. government much easier and nicer to deal with. John Adams recognized this 1763 when he wrote under the pen name “Humphrey Ploughjogger” for the Boston Evening Post, “Seems to me if great men don’t leave off writing politics, breaking heads, boxing ears, ringing noses and kicking breeches, we shall by and by want a world of hemp for our own consumption.” In other words, not much has changed in politics over the past 250 years. (excerpt)

Fun facts for a witty weed read

From Ancient Egypt to the colonial US, Ted and BS Wedeman managed to combine close to 90 weed-related vignettes that offer an eye-opening account of just how present cannabis has been throughout human history.
Did you know, for example, that Egyptian pharaohs like Hatshepsut and Tutankhamun used cannabis to relieve menstrual cramps, cleft palate, scoliosis, malaria, and hemorrhoids?
Or that refusing to grow hemp as a US farmer was a crime punishable by jail time up until the 1800s? 

One of the biggest challenges we faced was differentiating between what was true and what wasn’t” explains Ted.
Luckily, BS Wedeman is a professor and professional researcher, so she had access to plenty of reliable databases and information to fuel her research.
To help add some weight to the stories she and Ted included in the book, the two decided to add an appendix with links for those readers wanting to dive deeper into weed history. 

 

Madison, Weed,
James Madison, fourth president of the U.S., said that hemp gave him wisdom on how to structure a democracy and inspired the writing of the Constitution. Unlike another, more recent American president, Madison no doubt inhaled!. (excerpt)

Banned from advertising

Now, almost 18 months after BS Wedeman first called Ted with her idea, the two are psyched to have published their work.
We never thought we’d publish a book about weed,” laughs Ted, who works as a freelance graphic designer and art director in Kansas City, Missouri.
BS Wedeman also has a well established career as a renowned author, researcher, and consultant.
But the comfort of their day-jobs hasn’t slowed the authors’ enthusiasm for getting their book out there:
“I’d love for this book to earn it’s place in every weed-lover’s bathroom,” says BS Wedeman. 

Unfortunately, like with most cannabis-related business ideas, achieving that goal is no smoke in the park.
We just learned that we can’t advertise on Amazon,” says Ted, “because the book relates to an illicit substance.”
BS Wedeman has also opted to write under a pseudonym out of fear of being criticized in her industry.
If the book were really successful, I would put my name on it. But right now I can’t risk it,” she says.
But the two hope to overcome these hurdles by getting their book into brick-and-mortar retailers like CBD stores and vape/head shops this year. 

A podcast based on the book

They are also planning on launching a new line of merch, a podcast with the working title The One Hitter by Highly Inventive (made up of 1-2 minute segments of more weed trivia), and possibly even a second book.
We’re just having fun with it,” says Ted. “If the book manages to rake in a few dollars, then great, we’ll just pass them on to Haley (the Highly Inventive one-woman marketing team),” he laughs. 

If you’re looking for the perfect gift for that weed-loving friend or want to stock up on facts to fuel the banter at your next smoke sesh, make sure to check out Highly Inventive: A Highbrow History of Man’ Quest For Weed on Amazon. 

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