Portfolio Category: Portfolio: Politics

DJ Cavem, Founder of Eco Hip Hop: Sowing Seeds and Dropping Beats

As DJ Cavem Moetavation, Ietef Vita created the genre of eco hip-hop. His lyrics tell stories of gardens and composting while his fans plant literal seeds in food deserts. The United States is a country of dichotomies. Few things illustrate this better than access to healthy food. Take for example the affluent city of Beverly…
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Puerto Rico and STEM: Where Politics and Culture Collide

While STEM education and funding in Puerto Rico is on the rise and shows promise as an engine to create well-paying jobs of the future, a long history of unfortunate political decisions and ongoing unfair treatment of the island’s people puts its future there at risk. Leer en español ____________________________________________________________ When we talk about the…
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Colorado to Consider Flavour Ban to Reduce e-Cig Consumption

Lawmakers in Colorado will soon be considering a new bill that would ban the sale of all flavoured tobacco products. The aim of the new law would be to curb the consumption of e-cigarettes by youth, in a state that has seen adolescent use of flavoured vaping products surge in recent years. The bill would…
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US Lawsuits End DEA Restrictions On Sources of Cannabis for Researchers

Lawsuits in the US have overturned the requirement that researchers interested in studying cannabis can only purchase from a single licensed source. This may open up research opportunities into more strains for more applications. Under rules established by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Department of Justice, federally funded studies had to purchase…
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How Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Maria Changed The Way We Grow Cannabis

In 2007, my husband Raul* and I decided to leave our corporate jobs behind and buy an organic farm. Feeling unfulfilled with the drudgery that comes with sitting behind a desk, day after day, we left the daily grind of California and bought an 18-acre farm in the interior of the Caribbean island of Puerto…
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Republican Bill Could Create Ingestible CBD Pathway, but Passage Remains Iffy

Nancy Mace, a first-term Republican Congresswoman from South Carolina, recently introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would decriminalize cannabis at the federal level. This legislation, which is entitled the ‘States Reform Act,’ would remove any and all barriers in the federal law that might conflict with the autonomy of states to decide for…
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40 Grams and a Bong?

In 2021, recreational marijuana officially became legal in New York. Among its various provisions, this legislation directs the newly created Cannabis Control Board to ensure that at least 50 percent of the cannabis business licenses it approves go to social equity applicants. This group includes people from marginalized communities negatively impacted by marijuana arrests (the…
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Op-ed: 6 Reasons People of Color Should Grow Their Own Food

In November 2007, my husband and I decided to leave our jobs in biotech, sell our Southern California suburban house, and buy an organic farm. Although we knew <em">what we wanted to do, we had no clue where we would do it. The only thing we knew for certain is that it would have to…
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History of CBD Use

Hemp-derived CBD, whether in the form of flower, a tincture or cream, oil, edible or non-combustible, has risen in popularity at near breakneck speed. So quickly, in fact, that if you are unfamiliar with its history, you may think CBD is relatively new. The history of CBD use may surprise you. As it happens, hemp,…
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