Bye-bye, Dry January. Millions of weed smokers say adios to winter’s worst with a breathtaking selection of lucky green across the USA and Canada this St. Patrick’s Day. Legalization in over 20 states offers ever more affordable alternatives to booze. The California outdoor is perfectly cured. Your favorite musician has a new strain.  Maryland has […]

The post Best St Patrick’s day cannabis strains, edibles and drinks appeared first on Leafly.

The post Best St Patrick’s day cannabis strains, edibles and drinks appeared first on Paradise Found.

With Zoap, Cadillac Rainbow, and Blueberry Caviar.

The post Leafly Buzz: 12 hot strains to smoke in 2025 appeared first on Leafly.

The post Leafly Buzz: 12 hot strains to smoke in 2025 appeared first on Paradise Found.

Leafly’s September hemp report has novel cannabinews you can use.

The post USC Trojans launch first-ever Cookies CBD partnership appeared first on Leafly.

The post USC Trojans launch first-ever Cookies CBD partnership appeared first on Paradise Found.

Go night-night, with this 88-pointer.

The post Heavy Eye—Cookies, Illinois, Winter 2024 appeared first on Leafly.

The post Heavy Eye—Cookies, Illinois, Winter 2024 appeared first on Paradise Found.

Grammy and Emmy award-winning comedian and actress Tiffany Haddish is celebrating a new partnership between cannabis brand Cookies and the animated series The Freak Brothers that was marked by a 4/20 product launch in California. Haddish, who voices one of the characters in the show and serves as an executive producer, recently appeared at a Cookies dispensary in Los Angeles to kick off the collaboration. Entrepreneur and Billboard-charting rapper Berner, co-founder and CEO of the international cannabis and lifestyle brand, will join the show in future seasons of the animated series celebrating weed culture.

The Freak Brothers hit the cannabis scene in 1968 with the debut of the underground comic “The Furry Fabulous Freak Brothers” by creator Gilbert Shelton. The franchise, considered by many to be one of the most influential underground comics ever, soon became a counterculture hit, with more than 45 million comic books sold around the world. 

In 2022, the Freak Brothers concept was translated into an animated series for the Fox streaming platform Tubi. In the television show, the protagonists Fat Freddy Freekowtski (voiced by actor John Goodman), Phineas T. Phreakears (Pete Davidson) and Franklin Freek (Woody Harrelson) are transported from the freewheeling 1960s to modern times after getting so high that they pass out for five decades. After waking up, still in their San Francisco basement apartment after 50 years, the Freak Brothers try to find their way in the seemingly futuristic setting, with highly hilarious results.

Haddish, who plays the brothers’ sassy cat Kitty, says the collaboration between Cookies and The Freak Brothers was a natural fit. 

“The Freak Brothers is an old stoner comic book from the ‘60s and in the new show they smoke that good weed that transports them 50 years into the future,” Haddish said in an exclusive statement to High Times, “and we knew Cookies had that good weed that the Freaks would smoke so it was like BAM!”

Co-Branded ‘LSD Joint’ Hits Store Shelves

Last month, The Freak Brothers joined Cookies to celebrate the collaboration and launch of a new co-branded pre-roll dubbed the ‘LSD Joint,’ which hit store shelves just in time for 4/20. The launch also celebrated Berner’s upcoming addition to the star-studded cast of “The Freak Brothers” alongside Harrelson, Goodman, Haddish and Davidson. 

“We felt like ‘LSD Joint’ was an appropriate name for our collab given the Freak Brothers are from the ’70s, from San Francisco, and this joint is EXTREMELY strong,” Berner said in a statement about the collaboration, adding “I love that the animated show is so weed-friendly and done with class. I’m incredibly excited to announce that I am joining the Freak Brothers show alongside an epic cast.”

Greg Goldner, head of brand and strategy for Freak Brothers, says the new collaboration with Cookies celebrates the two brands’ shared heritage.

“This is the first-ever official cannabis product for ‘The Freak Brothers,’ so we wanted to lean into the cool trippy Bay Area heritage shared by both brands while producing a product the Freaks themselves would have loved to spark up,” Goldner said in a statement to the press.

“From the intricate details of the engraved, reusable wood tips to the vibrant, psychedelic designs of the package, every aspect of this collaboration perfectly captures the creative ethos both ‘The Freak Brothers’ and Cookies are renowned for,” Goldner added.

Haddish says she leaned into the partnership when she heard about the exclusive cannabis products planned for the collaboration.

“Berner and the Cookies team talked to the Freak Brothers team to come up with something cool, and once I knew there was going to be a marijuana line, I said let’s do this because she ready over here – and we just getting started,” said Haddish.

The first two seasons of The Freak Brothers are currently streaming for free on Tubi. The show is executive produced by Courtney Solomon and Mark Canton, along with award-winning showrunners Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland. Haddish, Harrelson, Davidson, Shelton and Manfred Mroczkowski also serve as executive producers of the series. 

“We’re excited to welcome Berner to the show. His proven track record of innovation and his authentic love of cannabis culture is a perfect marriage with the Freak Brothers,” said Courtney Solomon, Freak Brothers’ CEO and show executive producer. “We look forward to a long collaboration together.” 

Season 3 of The Freak Brothers animated series is currently in the works, although a release date for new episodes has not yet been announced.

The post Berner To Join Cast of ‘The Freak Brothers’ first appeared on High Times.

The post Berner To Join Cast of ‘The Freak Brothers’ appeared first on Paradise Found.

14 expert picks from across the US and Canada.

The post Best St. Patrick’s Day cannabis strains for 2024 and more appeared first on Leafly.

The post Best St. Patrick’s Day cannabis strains for 2024 and more appeared first on Paradise Found.

2090 Shit scores 86 points.

The post 2090 Shit—Cookies, New Jersey, winter 2024 appeared first on Leafly.

The post 2090 Shit—Cookies, New Jersey, winter 2024 appeared first on Paradise Found.

On Feb. 6, a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Georgia by resident Hannah Ledbetter against 12 cannabis companies. The claim alleges that all of the companies mentioned have sold cannabis products as delta hemp products instead of cannabis products and is asking for a total of $150 million. The companies listed include STIIIZY, LLC; Cookies Creative Consulting and Promotions; Cloud 9 Online Smoke & Vape, LLC; Green Rush LLC dba Xhale City; TheSY LLC dba Element Vape; Savage Enterprises; Delta Extrax; L&K Distribution; Columbia Laboratories; PharmLabs; Encore; and Pur ISO Labs LLC.

The plaintiff claims she was deceived by the companies into buying federally illegal products that were being sold as federally legal hemp products (with 0.9% THC or less). “Defendants have conspired to import, manufacture, distribute, and possess illegal (delta-8) THC vape pens that are marijuana,” the lawsuit stated. “This scheme could only be accomplished through a pattern of racketeering activity.”

According to Justia, a “racket” refers to a single fraudulent service, while “racketeering” defines multiple illegal activities, usually done collaboratively through a group via organized crime. The Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act describes racketeering activity with crimes such as fraudulent offenses, murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking, bribery, and more. 

Ledbetter purchased delta-9 THC products from Cloud 9, Element, Xhale City and/or Xhale Franchise locations in and near Atlanta, Georgia. She alleges that the products contained far more than what is legally acceptable by law. The lawsuit claims that all cannabis companies named “have facilitated the manufacturing, distribution, and/or sale of illegal marijuana to thousands of people over the course of the last four years.”

Ultimately, the lawsuit summarizes its accusation. “In essence, [customers of the defendants] are paying for legal hemp-derived THC but are receiving illegal marijuana, which has created millions of dollars of fraudulent profit,” it stated.

Ledbetter’s team is accusing the defendants of finding third party testing labs Columbia Laboratories in Oregon, and Encore and Pharmalabs SD in California, that would issue false certificates of analysis for the five products. Results showed that “the hemp-derived D9 variance levels that was in excess of the legal limit” included hemp-based vape pens with the following strains: Cookies’ Huckleberry “Gelaot” (assumedly Gelato but there is a typo in the lawsuit text), Extrax’s Forbidden Jelly and Power Plant, Looper’s Blue Gusherz, and STIIIZY Hemp’s OG Kush.

“To facilitate this fraud, the Lab Defendants knowingly created false test results that were advertised over the internet hundreds of times for publication and marketing through the wires, and such activity is wire fraud,” the lawsuit continued.

According to an article published by Green Market Report, a STIIIZY spokesperson said in an email statement that the lawsuit “contains absolutely no factual evidence to support its conclusory and baseless claims against STIIIZY. We intend to defend ourselves vigorously against this meritless lawsuit and seek to have it dismissed since it has no factual basis.” At the time of publishing, Cookies and other defendants had not yet provided a statement.

The lawsuit calls on the court to determine it as a class action lawsuit, which must first be granted by a federal judge. RICO lawsuits state that plaintiffs are entitled to three times the listed damages, and this lawsuit requests $50 million for damages, referencing “treble” damages, which means that a successful lawsuit could lead to the plaintiff receiving up to $150 million.

A similar lawsuit was filed in California last summer between the state of California and nine individual cannabis companies based in California, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, or Wyoming. The lawsuit claimed that cannabis products should include a Proposition 65 warning label on delta-9 THC cannabis products, because it is “known to cause harm to the developing fetus.”

According to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the potential dangers of illegal hemp products should be addressed. “I want to be clear: The sales of industrial hemp products that do not comply with California law, and the illegal sale of inhalable hemp in California will not be tolerated,” said Bonta. “The dangers of these products must be communicated for sale to the public, and the sale of all industrial hemp inhalable products must cease altogether. The California Department of Justice will continue to protect the legitimate businesses who are operating responsibly in this space. There is no room for illegal inhalable hemp products in our state.”

The rise in hemp-derived cannabis products began after the 2018 Farm Bill was passed. It authorized the use and sale of hemp-based products, mainly CBD. Since then, many state legislators have introduced bills to regulate such products. One of the latest examples of this was seen in Missouri last December, when Sen. Nick Schroer introduced Senate Bill 984, also titled the “Intoxicating Cannabinoid Control Act.” If passed, the bill would regulate delta-8 THC products as cannabis, not hemp. The most current action for SB-984 includes Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee hearing held on Feb. 12.

The post Georgia Lawsuit Claims 12 Cannabis Companies Mislead Consumers With Delta Products appeared first on High Times.

The post Georgia Lawsuit Claims 12 Cannabis Companies Mislead Consumers With Delta Products appeared first on Paradise Found.

Ukrainian immigrants looking for a better future are turning to opportunities in medical cannabis in multiple states.

The Herald-Dispatch reports that a pair of Ukrainian immigrants are owners of a new dispensary opening up in Huntington, West Virginia. While one of the operators emigrated to the U.S. decades ago, they are proudly supporting their home country as it battles Russian forces.

Over 271,000 Ukrainian refugees have been admitted to the U.S. since Russia invaded Ukraine over a year ago, according to the Department of Homeland Security, as of Last February. 117,000 of those came via the Biden administration’s “Uniting for Ukraine” program, which allows Americans to sponsor Ukrainians.

Huntington Gardens co-owner Frederick Bartolovic, professor from Marshall University’s Art Department, and his partner Michelle Strader painted a Ukraine-inspired mural on the building with yellow and blue to show support for the homeland. Co-owner Rita Tsalyuk, a cannabis entrepreneur and native of Ukraine, left her country over 30 years ago, but is promoting awareness for the injustices of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Some immigrants are working their way into the cannabis industry in multiple states, including West Virginia. Kayla McClaskey told the paper that she is opening a new dispensary in Huntington for the Colorado-based multistate operator Yuma Way.

“Huntington Gardens at 1338 3rd Avenue should be open by mid-October,” McClaskey told The Herald-Dispatch. “We still haven’t made a decision on our hours of operation, but will finalize all of that [once] our inspections are complete and we are closer to opening.”

​​​​​​Senate Bill 386, signed into law on April 19, 2017, by Gov. Jim Justice, created the Medical Cannabis Act that allows for cannabis to be used for certified medical use. Huntington is the second-largest city in West Virginia, and dispensaries are just beginning to open in the city.

“I am sure that the blue and yellow in the middle of Herd Country must be odd to see for some, especially this time of the year with football season,” McClaskey said. “Rest assured though, it is not some bold representation of the Mountaineers of WVU, in fact the owners of the new dispensary are actually Ukrainian immigrants who have lived and built many successful businesses across Colorado, California, Michigan, New Jersey, and now here in West Virginia.”

Members of the Worldwide Cannabis Community Stand with Ukraine

High Times reported in April 2022 about the small but growing cannabis community in Ukraine that’s standing strong with their country as the nation resists the Russian invasion.

One group, Freedom March, has been advocating for progressive drug policy, leading demonstrations for the legalization of cannabis in Ukraine and defending the rights of medicinal cannabis patients since 2005. Freedom March member Nazarii Sovsun says the majority of the group’s activists are involved in the resistance to the Russian invasion in some fashion.

Freedom March has launched a fundraising campaign, Cannabis Stands with Ukraine, that is seeking donations from the worldwide cannabis community and freedom lovers everywhere. Donations to Freedom March will support the cause in conjunction with the Kyiv School of Economics Charitable Foundation, which has already purchased nearly $300,000 worth of emergency medical supplies for delivery to the region, according to wire transfer documentation and invoices provided by Sovsun.

Reform is taking place on Ukrainian soil as well. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last June called on lawmakers to legalize medical cannabis, saying the treatment could provide relief to those in the country suffering from the “trauma of war.” 

Huntington’s First Dispensary

Berner, as it turns out, was the first entrepreneur to open up a dispensary in the city, as part of his large dispensary chain Cookies, according to a Sept. 22 press release. Cookies opened their first West Virginia cannabis dispensary on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 2689 5th Ave. in Huntington.

Cookies is partnering with local retailer Country Grown Cannabis to open the Cookies dispensary at 2689 5th Ave in Huntington on Saturday, Sept. 23. Cookies is also collaborating with West Virginia professional growers Harvest Care Medical to cultivate Cookies’ acclaimed cannabis cultivars.

“We have been working hard to ensure the highest quality product is ready for the market, and we are excited to offer Cookies products to the growing number of West Virginia patients in need of medical cannabis,” Berner said in a press release. “We can’t wait for West Virginia patients to enjoy our world-class staple menu, and experience a cannabis dispensary like no other—an experience that Cookies is proud to bring to West Virginia.”

The opening of Huntington Gardens and the latest Cookies location provide choices for residents of the city who are taking advantage of West Virginia’s fairly recent medical cannabis law.

The post Ukrainian Immigrants Open Dispensary in West Virginia appeared first on High Times.

The post Ukrainian Immigrants Open Dispensary in West Virginia appeared first on Paradise Found.

Erykah Badu joined Leafly for a quick sesh to discuss what strain she’s smoking, how cannabis helps her perform, and which healthy munchies she loves to snack on when her high is coming down.

The post What are you smoking? Erykah talks ‘That Badu’ strain with Cookies & more appeared first on Leafly.

The post What are you smoking? Erykah talks ‘That Badu’ strain with Cookies & more appeared first on Paradise Found.