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How to Handle Edibles In Front of the Family on Thanksgiving

✇Cannabis Now
By: K. Astre
24 November 2025 at 13:36

It’s that time of the year when everyone is coming together to celebrate everything they are grateful for with the people they love and a lot of food. Whether you’re going to be chilling at home with your loved ones, heading to an extended family member’s house for a big Thanksgiving feast or putting together a special Friendsgiving, you definitely want to know how to handle your edibles to ensure you can enjoy the day your way without making anyone else feel uncomfortable.

If you plan on partaking in edibles to enhance your Thanksgiving experience, there are a few things to consider before you commit to your plan. Do you want to arrive before or after the edibles kick in? Should you eat enough of your edible to make it last a while or consume it in a few smaller doses to keep you nice and evenly lit throughout the celebration? The details are really up to you, although there are some basics to follow that will ensure that you not only make it through the meal but through the entire day with a little grace.

Don’t Overdo It

Although you might have a usual amount of THC that hits the spot when you’re eating edibles, you should plan to have a little less than normal on days when you might need to have more of your wits about you. Even if you have a long car ride ahead of you or know that you will be sitting around for a few hours until the food is finished, don’t go overboard or you most likely end up sleeping through the festivities.

Give Yourself a Minute

Depending on when you eat your edibles, it may take a little longer than usual for you to feel the effects of them — particularly if you choose to eat them during (like with these recipes) or after you get nice and full. If that happens, then you will be a little more patient and wait to feel the way you’re typically used to. Just resist the urge to have more of your edible and you will be fine.

One Thing At a Time

If you have decided you want to enjoy edibles for the day, then just stick with edibles until you’re home or the party has ended. It may be tempting to go take a puff or dab with your favorite cousin or sneak your vape with you, but for your own sake, just take it easy. The same goes for wine and spirits, so make sure you have made your choice so that you won’t regret overindulging later.

Have a Back-up Plan

Getting higher than planned after eating an edible can happen to the best of us. If that happens, there are a couple of things you can do to make sure you are able to keep your cool and come back down to earth. First things first, have some CBD help calm things down. If things don’t settle, you can follow some of these tips for what to do if you get too high, which include finding an entertaining distraction, going for a stroll or just taking a nap.

Stick With What You Know

Yes, special days do call for special treats, but it’s probably best to stick to an infused snack that you have tried before just to be on the safe side. Even if you are pretty confident about how 10 mg or 50 mg of THC makes you feel on a normal day, there’s no use taking any risks with an unfamiliar brand that may be using an oil or strain you aren’t used to. So, you will have to wait to try that new soda or spicy nut mix until you’re in an environment where you can relax and see how it affects you.

The post How to Handle Edibles In Front of the Family on Thanksgiving appeared first on Cannabis Now.

New Legislation Bans Hemp-Derived THC

✇Cannabis Now
By: Bill Weinberg
14 November 2025 at 18:34

President Donald Trump signed a spending measure Nov. 12, funding federal operations through January and ending the longest government shutdown in US history after 43 days. The Senate had approved the measure the previous day, with seven Democrats crossing party lines to reach the needed 60-vote majority. They were won over by a Republican pledge to revisit the question of subsidies for Obamacare in December.

However, a sideshow to the fight over the Affordable Care Act is causing outrage in the hemp industry—and among farmers in hemp-producing states like Kentucky. A last-minute provision added to the spending bill will effectively ban all hemp-derived THC products.  


The Dreaded ‘Loophole’

This concerns what has been derided as a “loophole” in the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized the production of industrial hemp in the United States. The Farm Bill kept the federal ban on cannabis and cannabis products with more than 0.3% Delta-9 THC—and on Delta-9 THC itself, whether derived from hemp or “marijuana.” However, in a measure intended to legalize the CBD market, it allowed extraction and sale of cannabinoids other than Delta-9 THC, if derived from hemp. 

This had an unanticipated effect. In the wake of the 2018 law, an industry suddenly boomed around hemp-derived cannabinoid products—and not just CBD but psychoactive THC. Particularly at issue was Delta-8 THC, an isomer of Delta-9, which behaves much the same way in the human organism. Products containing Delta-8 were suddenly available in convenience stores, gas stations and truck stops coast to coast.  

A backlash also quickly emerged. Critics argued that because the industry was essentially using a subterfuge to skirt the law, these new products were basically unregulated. 

The new law contains a provision added to Agriculture Department funding that restricts hemp and hemp-derived products to those containing low concentrations of all THC—not just Delta-9 THC. It is to take effect on Nov. 12, 2026, one year from the date of signing. 

The new provision “prevents the unregulated sale of intoxicating hemp-based or hemp-derived products, including Delta-8, from being sold online, in gas stations, and corner stores, while preserving non-intoxicating CBD and industrial hemp products,” reads a Senate Appropriations Committee summary.  

Media reports warn of an “extinction-level event” for the hemp industry when the provision kicks in. 


Bluegrass Senators at Odds

Kentucky’s Republican Sen. Rand Paul pushed an amendment to strip the provision from the bill, but this failed in a 76-24 vote. And his principal opponent was fellow Bluegrass State GOP senator, Mitch McConnell—who had championed the 2018 Farm Bill as then-majority leader of the Senate. 

The Louisville Courier-Journal quoted Kentucky farmers fearing that the new law could be a “death sentence.” 

The move is also meeting with pushback in Texas, where the GOP-dominated political establishment is divided over an effort to ban Delta-8 at the state level. Officials with the Texas chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars told Waco’s KWTX that many vets use hemp-derived THC products to treat PTSD and other ailments related to their service. 

“What in the world just happened last night?” Thus responded Mitch Fuller, legislative chair for Texas VFW, after the Congressional logjam broke. Fuller had successfully lobbied Gov. Greg Abbott to veto the Delta-8 ban in the statehouse earlier this year.  

Abbott’s big rival on the question in his own administration was Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who had pushed for the state ban and enthused in a tweet about the federal one after it passed: “As part of the resolution, consumable, highly intoxicating hemp-derived THC is essentially banned in America. Farmers are protected to produce industrial products. CBD and CBG are still legal. However, Delta-8, Delta-10, and candies, snacks, and gummies with high dosages of intoxicating THC are all banned. Hemp-derived Delta-9 will only be allowed to be sold in very low, non-intoxicating dosages.” (This is a reference to the 0.3% cap, well below the threshold for any psychoactive effect.)

Mitch Fuller retorted: “Of course, safety is important, of course children not having access to this is important. But let’s not use a chain-saw approach to this, let’s use a scalpel approach to it, and regulate it.”

The VFW chapter said they will use the year before the ban takes effect to organize pressure to have it reversed.

Industry Voices Sound Alarm 

The hemp and cannabis industries are, predictably, distressed over the new measure. Adam Stettner, CEO of financial lender FundCanna, said in a statement: “Banning intoxicating hemp through a government funding bill isn’t policymaking; it’s panic disguised as progress. You can’t erase a $28 billion market or the millions of consumers who already exist. You can only decide whether those dollars flow through legal, regulated channels or into the shadows. You’re kidding yourself if you think consumers will stop buying hemp beverages, gummies or wellness products because Congress flipped a switch.” 


Stettner raised the specter of backsliding toward prohibition: “Dismantling compliant supply chains won’t make these products disappear; it will make them untraceable, untaxed and unsafe. What we need isn’t a ban, it’s balance and logic. If lawmakers want safer products and clearer rules, they need to regulate, not eradicate. The responsible path forward is to regulate hemp like we do alcohol or caffeine at the federal level, with age limits, testing and labeling. Inserting a blanket prohibition by sneaking it into a budget deal won’t work; prohibition never works.”

Thomas Winstanley, executive vice president of infused products purveyor Edibles.com, emphasized the ironic role of the former Senate majority leader, who has announced that he will retire next year.

“Mitch McConnell has once again proven himself the architect of the law of unintended consequences,” Winstanley said. “When he introduced the 2018 Farm Bill, it was celebrated as a lifeline for America’s farmers—a rare bipartisan achievement that gave rural communities a new cash crop and built a thriving, homegrown industry. What no one expected was that it would also ignite a $28 billion consumer market, create over 300,000 American jobs, and form a domestic supply chain rooted in U.S. agriculture and innovation. That was the first unintended consequence, a positive one. Today, history repeats itself, but this time, the fallout will be devastating. By attaching a sweeping hemp restriction to the government spending bill, McConnell has chosen to end his career by crippling the very industry he created.”

He too pledged to use the one-year grace period to organize resistance: “Farmers, brands, and consumers, once fragmented, are now mobilizing together to defend what they’ve built and to finally push for the federal framework the hemp industry has long demanded.”

The post New Legislation Bans Hemp-Derived THC appeared first on Cannabis Now.

Buds & Baby Boomers

✇Cannabis Now
By: Dragonfly de la Luz
7 November 2025 at 18:45

Steve, 51, remembers well the first time he got high.

“I was a freshman in high school and my friend Chovi from India found me on the handball court where I had been spray-painting images of Alfred E. Newman with a stencil I’d made,” says Steve. “Chovi must’ve been about 4’6” and had this massive afro shaped like a square helmet that was three sizes too big for his face. The guy was hilarious based on looks alone. I had low expectations, because I had tried pot twice before and had never felt anything. And I didn’t notice much from this at first, either, but it turned out to be a creeper.”

Heading home, Steve remembers “feeling like Albert Hofmann on his famous bike ride” after discovering the formula for LSD. Then, suddenly, he found himself overly high and met with a locked door at his parent’s house – meaning he’d have to confront his mom.

“Oh God, my mom was going to have to let me in,” he recalls. “I couldn’t face my mom like that. As soon as she opened the door, I pushed past her and dashed up the stairs. She shouted up to me all concerned, ‘Is everything okay?’ And I shouted back, ‘Yep! Everything’s great, Mom!’ And I locked myself in my room and played my KISS records.”

That was 1977. Three businesses and a home in the wealthiest zip code of the Bay Area later, Steve finds himself enjoying a new wave of Mary Jane’s alluring wiles. Only these days, instead of rolling a doobie, he puffs his vape pen.

Steve’s story isn’t particularly unique. Baby boomers across the nation are getting reacquainted with cannabis after a hiatus from pot through their middle years. According to a 2012 study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration comparing trends with 2002, cannabis use among people between the ages 50-54 and 60-64 has almost doubled. Meanwhile, pot use among boomers age 55-59 has more than quadrupled. And they’re not merely dabbling. The National Institute of Drug Abuse reports that baby boomers are regularly consuming cannabis an average of once a week. And these numbers are expected to rise. By the end of 2015, nearly 111 million Americans over 50 were projected to be cannabis consumers, according to research by IBISWorld. That figure could jump another seven percent by 2020.

Baby boomers across the nation are getting reacquainted with cannabis after a hiatus from pot through their middle years.

Partly responsible for this reefer renaissance is the rapidly increasing social acceptance of cannabis as a medicine and recreational choice. 

“When medical marijuana became a thing and I realized I could get a pot prescription and get my anxiety issues under control at the same time, that’s when I got reacquainted with pot,” says Steve.

Indeed, studies suggest that boomers are using cannabis medicinally more than recreationally, often to deal with age-related issues such as chronic pain, depression and rheumatoid arthritis. Even Steve calls his vape pen “the most entertaining anti-anxiety medicine I’ve ever been prescribed.” In fact, the only time he labels his cannabis consumption recreational is in the context of a bad trip.

“When I first came back to it around 2009, I had just met a lady, so I asked the budtender to give me the very best they had. I didn’t ask for a strain that does a particular thing, or makes you feel any particular way – just the best.”

The budtender recommended OG Kush, a name that he says he’ll always remember just so that he can avoid its super strength. 

“It was unbelievably intense,” he says. “Way too advanced for my old-school roots. I brought it with me to my lady friend’s house, thinking I’d impress her with how hip I was. We had tickets to a show, but ended up just sitting on the couch for about four hours. Not talking, not moving; I wasn’t even sure she was still there most of the time. Every now and then, she would laugh, then I’d start laughing. Then it would be silent again for another hour. That was awkward. I will never smoke a strain that strong again, not unless I’m method-acting for the role of a corpse. There was nothing recreational about that experience at all.”

With potency five to 10 times greater than the Mexican swag smokers enjoyed in the ’70s, baby boomers are understandably trepidatious about coming back to cannabis.

“I miss the giggling,” continues Steve. “Pot back then used to be really light and giggly. Today’s pot is too heavy for me. It weighs me down.”

Despite the industry’s race to breed strains with the highest THC possible, options do exist for baby boomers who want to get pleasantly elevated without blasting off into the stratosphere. Cannabis with THC in the low double-digits – say, the 10-14 percent range – may provide a low-impact way to get a gentle buzz. And with the advent of the vape pen, boomers are strolling the path back to pot with more ease and grace than ever.

“Last year, I was bed-ridden after a skiing accident,” recalls Judith, a 60-year-old San Francisco travel agent. “All I could do was lay in bed taking pain killers and watching Netflix. The pain pills had me so groggy and out of it that I would suffer through [the pain] as long as I could before finally giving in and taking one. When my son came over and offered me a puff off his new vape pen – my first thought was, ‘My goodness, what kind of robot joint is this?’ But let me tell you, it literally changed my world.

“I mean, it [worked] faster than the pain pills, and it didn’t turn me into a zombie,” she says. “Pretty much one little puff every hour or two kept my pain at bay, and I have to admit, it was pretty fun, too! I mean, I was laughing at things that, on the pills, I couldn’t do more than stare at with my eyes glazed over. With that little pen, I felt like myself again. And bonding with my son, watching documentaries and laughing at movies together, was a brilliant, unexpected bonus. Now when I have friends over, we’ll have a little vape with our tea.”

Vape pens are becoming ubiquitous as a discreet way for cannabists, many of them boomers, to consume concentrated versions of the plant. Because it lends itself so easily to taking just one puff at a time, the vape pen provides users with an easier way to manage dosage. And because the oil contains such a high concentration of THC to begin with, one hit will often suffice.

“That’s just a classy way to get high, in my opinion,” says Steve about vape pens. “Mine even doubles as a stylus. It’s my new favorite way to get high.”

Originally published in the print edition of Cannabis Now.

The post Buds & Baby Boomers appeared first on Cannabis Now.

Weird Ways the Internet Says to Calm Down THC-Induced Panic Attacks

✇Cannabis Now
By: Mike Adams
5 November 2025 at 17:18

Getting way too high is just a badge of honor that all of us diehard cannabis enthusiasts must earn. There is something to be said about pushing one’s limits, regardless of whether it is intentional or not, by ingesting more THC-infused Capow! than a fragile mind is prepared to handle at the moment. It is almost certainly a horrific experience, though, dealing with the souped-up anxiety and paranoia that an overzealous evening with the leaf can bring. If that rhymed a little, you’re probably too high right now. My advice is to get through as much of this article as possible while you still can.

No matter how much the many articles published on the subject of cannabis-induced paranoia and panic keep preaching, “Hey, man, never fear, you’re not going to die from this, you’re just freaking out,” nothing and I mean nothing is going to talk a person down from this madness once it takes hold. Still, that hasn’t stopped the internet from spreading all sorts of hippy-dippy come down tactics for calming down a wicked canna-panic. Presumably, they hope that people suffering from too much highness will click on their reports and find some comfort inside their lunatic brain. But I’m going to let you in on a little secret: They probably won’t find much. Especially not with these five wacky remedies for taming that THC-infused animal running wild inside your skull.

Just Relax

The first thing people like to tell someone who is far too high for their own good is to just “try to relax.” The operative word here is try. Sure, the person hiding underneath the coffee table begging someone to call 911 may have embarked on their stoned journey fully aware that there was absolutely no possible way that they could die from biting off more than they could chew. They may have seen all the statistics, saw how even the DEA admits there have been no reported cases of fatal marijuana overdose. By all accounts, they were ready. Yet, in spite of their preparedness, the weed has them flipping their script, summoning all sorts of stink demons up from the bottom of the Earth to suck out their soul one shallow breath at a time. And all everyone around them keeps saying is, “Yo, you need to relax.” Listen, that’s easier said than done, we don’t care who you are. Edibles in high doses just have a way of climbing on top of a person and makes it hard to calm down. I’m not saying that trying to keep calm isn’t a solid move, but most people in this condition are far too busy trying to keep their heads from spinning off their shoulders to do it alone.

Break Out The Pepper & Maybe A Squirt of Lemon

When the situation involving an extremely high individual takes a turn for the worse — because none of that relaxation talk worked out — there is some science out there that suggests black pepper, and maybe even some lemon juice will help take the edge off. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but the pepper trick apparently works for Neil Young! Still, it’s not like sprinting off to the kitchen and snorting up lines of spices will keep your skeleton from clawing its way out of your skin. It’s a bit less Scarface meets Hellraiser than all of that. But there are some studies that show crushing up a pile of peppercorns and inhaling the aroma is effective at easing a relentless buzz. This is because the pepper binds to the same receptors as cannabis and works to produce a calming effect. Now, repeat after me: Om….. Om….. Achoo! The same goes for lemon juice. Science shows that knocking back some fresh lemon juice with some of the zest from the peel can help fight off the THC demons playing paddywhack in the brain. There is a distinct possibility, however, that the person leaning on the pepper and lemon methods to kick their canna-panic might just end up sneezy, all puckered up and still desperately wishing their high would go away.

Jump In A Cold Shower

Okay, I’ve have seen this method used countless times in the movies whenever someone gets insanely drunk and has like 30 minutes to sober up and get to work. But if you’ve ever tried this at home — and some of us have — the trick here is a bit of a disappointment considering that it really just leaves you drunk, cold and sopping wet. Nevertheless, some publications believe that tossing a person into a cold shower is a sure-fire way to get then to calm down from a buzz that just won’t let go. The idea is that by shocking the central nervous system with a cold shower, the THC will learn who’s boss and back off its mission to drive the person straight over the edge. But go ahead and give it your best shot. As far as we can tell, a legion of THC has no fear of whatever elements you throw at it. This cannabinoid is the postal worker of all cannabinoids. “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” will ever keep an overabundance of THC from knocking your face in the dirt.

Get Some Fresh Air

Chances are the first place a THC spawned werewolf is going once a high gets too hard to handle is outside. It’s the next best thing to an oxygen tank, which they will most certainly be kicking themselves for not having around the house once the involuntary act of breathing all of a sudden exclusively falls on them. But in the dozens of times I have witnessed someone running for the door, trying to escape the high horrors that keep nibbling at their backside like a school of piranha with the munchies, I’ve never known a couple of whiffs of fresh air to help anyone get straight. But at least it gets these fools out of the house. As long as they don’t start howling at the moon and getting the cops snooping around, outdoors is probably the best place for them.

Get Some Rest

Oh boy, this one is a doozy. After all else fails, some of the best advice the internet has to offer is to just get the person to crawl into bed and get some rest. Only much like some of the other methods on this list, that’s not exactly the easiest thing to do. Trying to get someone who is freaking out on weed to lie still in a dark room with only their racing thoughts to keep them company is a recipe for taking a gnarly situation and making it worse. I’m sorry to say, but just putting the super high to bed and hoping they will no longer annoy everyone else in the house is never going to work. These people need special care — someone to talk to and coax them down off the proverbial ledge — otherwise, they could ultimately lose their composure and fall to pieces. Honestly, we’ve only seen this method work if a bottle of benzodiazepines is close by.

TELL US, what do you do to calm down when you get too high?

The post Weird Ways the Internet Says to Calm Down THC-Induced Panic Attacks appeared first on Cannabis Now.

Urmawm’s wellness: Low-dose cannabis for life on the go

✇Leafly
By: Leafly Staff
28 October 2025 at 16:00

Sometimes hitting pause means staying present, not zoning out — and that’s where Urmawm comes in. Life can feel relentless, but finding balance doesn’t have to mean losing focus. Enter Urmawm  (pronounced “Your Mom”), a brand of low-dose gummies, balms, and tinctures formulated with hemp-derived CBD, THC, and supportive botanicals for those looking for functional […]

The post Urmawm’s wellness: Low-dose cannabis for life on the go appeared first on Leafly.

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