Answer Addiction

Tag: celebs & marijuana

  • Willie Nelson Has Quit Smoking Marijuana

    Willie Nelson Has Quit Smoking Marijuana

    The 86-year-old country legend has a history of emphysema. 

    Country legend Willie Nelson, who smoked his first joint in 1954, revealed in a recent interview that breathing problems have forced him to stop smoking marijuana, his notable drug of choice.

    “I have abused my lungs quite a bit in the past, so breathing is a little more difficult these days and I have to be careful,” Nelson told KSAT TV.“I started smoking cedar bark, went from that to cigarettes to whatever. And that almost killed me.”

    Why He Quit

    Nelson, who has a history of emphysema, made the difficult decision to give up smoking marijuana.

    “I don’t smoke anymore – take better care of myself,” Nelson said.

    The 86-year-old singer told Rolling Stone back in April, “I’m kind of the canary in the mine, if people are wondering what happens if you smoke that shit a long time,” he said. “You know, if I start jerking or shaking or something, don’t give me no more weed. But as long as I’m all right…”

    While the country legend first tried marijuana in 1954, it wouldn’t be until over two decades later before he opted to make it his number one vice – a decision that the singer stands behind. 

    “I wouldn’t be alive. It saved my life, really. I wouldn’t have lived 85 years if I’d have kept drinking and smoking like I was when I was 30, 40 years old. I think that weed kept me from wanting to kill people,” he told Rolling Stone, “And probably kept a lot of people from wanting to kill me, too — out there drunk, running around.”

    Willie’s Reserve

    Though he may not smoke it anymore, he is still in the marijuana business. His medicinal marijuana brand Willie’s Reserve launched back in 2016 and is still going strong. 

    “This is a culmination of Willie’s vision, and his whole life,” said Michael Bowman, Nelson’s spokesman said in a statement about the launch. “Really, he wants it, at the end of the day, to envelop what his personal morals and convictions are.”

    Bowman continued, “Willie has spent a lifetime in support of cannabis, both the industrial hemp side and the marijuana side. He wants to be something that’s reflective of his passion. Ultimately, it’s his, but it was developed by his family, and their focus on environmental and social issues, and in particular this crazy War on Drugs, and trying to be a bright light amongst this trail as we’re trying to extract ourselves from the goo of prohibition.” 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Drake Launches "More Life" Cannabis Brand

    Drake Launches "More Life" Cannabis Brand

    Drake began teasing the launch in downtown Toronto last week.

    Rap superstar Drake has thrown his hat into the cannabusiness ring with a recent announcement that he will be launching his own line of cannabis-based products.

    The “Nice For What” rapper is partnering with the Toronto-based Canopy Growth Corporation to launch the More Life Growth Company, named after his 2017 mixtape More Life, Pitchfork reports. 

    Teaser Alert

    The honorary Toronto Raptor began teasing the launch of More Life Growth Company earlier this week with billboard teasers and handing out Drake More Life flower bouquets in Downtown Toronto. 

    “The opportunity to partner with a world-class company like Canopy Growth on a global scale is really exciting,” Drake said in a statement about the launch. “The idea of being able to build something special in an industry that is ever growing has been inspiring. More Life and More Blessing.”

    CNBC reported that Martha Stewart joined the Canopy Growth in as an adviser earlier this year. Stewart will help the Canadian-based company create products for people and pets.

    “I am delighted to establish this partnership with Canopy Growth and share with them the knowledge I have gained after years of experience in the subject of living,” said Stewart, in a statment. “I’m especially looking forward to our first collaboration together, which will offer sensible products for people’s beloved pets.” 

    Other Celebs With Cannabis Wellness Brands

    Drake and Martha aren’t the only celebs in the cannabis wellness business. In 2017, Whoopi Goldberg launched her Whoopi & Maya line of cannabis products for women’s health. The products.

    “Our goal is to make you feel better, not get you high. There are plenty of products out there that will get you high, but we want to make sure you are feeling OK. We want to help women who have bad cramps be able to work a full work day without excruciating pain,” The Sister Act star said about her Whoopi & Maya Line.

    “Come To My Window” singer Melissa Etheridge was an early cheerleader for medicinal marijuana after using it for pain management during her bout with breast cancer. In 2014, she launched her own line of cannabis-infused wine in partnership with Greenway Compassionate Relief.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon: I Was Thrown In Disney Jail For Weed

    Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon: I Was Thrown In Disney Jail For Weed

    The rocker says her unique experience at the mega theme park highlighted how “consumerism is killing us.”

    Former Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon told a story of getting nabbed by Disneyland security for smoking cannabis on Tom Sawyer’s Island in an interview with The Guardian ahead of the release of her solo album.

    Nabbed At Tom Sawyer’s Island

    According to Gordon, she and a friend lit up a joint on the pirate-themed island described by Disney as a “secret island hideaway,” when the security officers found them and hauled them off to “Disney jail”—a juvenile detention cell in a secret underground area beneath the park.

    There, the musician recalls seeing “Mickey Mouse with a walkie-talkie” and being sexually harassed by one of the guards who asked her if her mother knew she was “not wearing a bra.” During this harrowing experience, Gordon was less concerned about being caught with marijuana than she was about justice.

    “I was writing this paper in my head about Disneyland and how fascist it was,” Gordon said, having been in a political science class at the time. “It confirmed my beliefs about American consumerism… Consumerism is killing us.”

    Gordon is no stranger to political discourse, having been a part of the famous punk band Sonic Youth for 30 years, playing songs like “Youth Against Fascism” and “Peace Attack.” In a 2016 interview with Billboard, she expressed her distaste for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign slogan and what it meant for the country.

    “And now, with Trump saying ‘Make America Great Again,’ no one ever asked him what that means,” she said. “When was America great to you? The decay of Detroit and the auto industry.”

    Aside from some early weed-smoking, Gordon didn’t have the same struggles with drugs that many musicians face, at least not publicly. She spent her time outside of the band acting, creating visual art, producing records, and dabbling in the fashion industry.

    Solo Album

    Her debut solo album No Home Record comes out on October 11 after she spent much of the eight years since Sonic Youth broke up in 2011 focusing on her career as a visual artist, which she always preferred to making music.

    “Playing bass was never my desire,” she said to The Guardian. “It was a byproduct of wanting to make something exciting.”

    Making art in a male-dominated field hasn’t been easy for her, however.

    “There’s some unseen wall of faceless men that I have to climb over,” she said, “as if on a mission.”

    The new album also explores political topics, including the “end of capitalism,” sexual harassment, Donald Trump, and forgiveness.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger Told Son To Skip Pot, Get High On Life

    Arnold Schwarzenegger Told Son To Skip Pot, Get High On Life

    Arnold’s son Patrick took to Instagram to reveal a conversation with his dad that led him to stop smoking marijuana.

    Movie star and former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger terminated his son’s pot habit with some well-timed fatherly advice. 

    Four years ago Arnold Schwarzenegger told his son Patrick, now 25, to skip the weed and get “high on life” after Patrick showed up to Easter brunch stoned. 

    Patrick shared the story on Instagram this weekend, which fell on both Easter and 4/20. 

    “FUN STORY: Few years ago (4 exactly) showed up lil high to Easter brunch… classic. My old man asked why… said ‘I dunno makes thing more fun.’”

    Arnold wasn’t convinced and told his son he shouldn’t need drugs to appreciate life.  

    “He replied how much more fun do you need to have, life is so good. I’m high on life. I never want anything that would take me out of my current life. Being high on life is better then [sic] anything else,” Patrick recalled in his Instagram post. 

    The off-handed conversation had a lasting effect on Patrick, who is following in his dad’s footsteps and working as an actor and model. 

    “Haven’t smoked since then… just HIGH ON LIFE NOW,” he wrote. “Happy & healthy & can’t thank god enough to see another day!” he wrote alongside a smiling selfie of him flashing a peace sign. “Happy 4/20 sorry if that was a buzz kill lol.”

    Schwarzenegger was serious about smoking pot when it came to his family, but as governor of California was relatively pot-friendly.

    When he was governor he downgraded the penalty for possessing pot, long before recreational cannabis use became legal in the state. However, at the time he wasn’t ready to speak out in favor of legalization. 

    “Well, I think it’s not time for that, but I think it’s time for a debate,” he said in 2009, according to the Guardian. “I think all of those ideas of creating extra revenues [are worth considering]… I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalized marijuana and other drugs. What effect did it have on those countries?”

    During Schwarzenegger’s bodybuilder years he appeared in a documentary taking a hit of marijuana. 

    He also joked about sharing a joint with Obama back in the 1970s, something that never actually happened. However, Schwarzenegger made an elaborate sketch about how the then-president wouldn’t share. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Olivia Newton-John Opens Up About Using Cannabis For Cancer Pain

    Olivia Newton-John Opens Up About Using Cannabis For Cancer Pain

    “I use a lot of cannabis in my healing. It helped me incredibly with pain and sleep. Opiates are killing people and cannabis doesn’t,” the prolific entertainer explained.

    Olivia Newton-John, the Australian star of Grease and Xanadu, is known for her bright and positive public persona, even in the face of fighting cancer. Newton-John has had to endure three bouts with it over the last 27 years, including her current fight with stage four breast cancer. She tells Yahoo Lifestyle that one of the key ingredients in fighting the disease is “a lot of cannabis.”

    As the singer explains, “I use a lot of cannabis in my healing. It helped me incredibly with pain and sleep. Opiates are killing people and cannabis doesn’t.”

    Newton-John’s husband, John Easterling, is in the wellness industry, and he grows cannabis in their home. Olivia told People, “He grows the plants and makes them into liquid for me. I take drops maybe four to five times a day.”

    Newton-John hadn’t indulged in cannabis much in her life, and at first she was “a little nervous” about taking it. But she then discovered that it was remarkably beneficial to managing her pain and contributing to her overall wellness. (Her daughter Chloe is also a cannabis farmer.)

    The singer-songwriter was pleasantly surprised to find that cannabis is “an amazing plant, a maligned plant, but it’s helping so many people.”

    Newton-John was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, but she refused to let her diagnosis affect her mental health. “I had to make a decision that no matter what, I was going to be OK,” she explains. “My main decision was, ‘I’m going to get better, and I have a young child to raise.’” (Her autobiography is titled, appropriately enough, Don’t Stop Believin’.)

    In addition to cannabis, Newton-John also prays and meditates as part of her wellness routine. “The first time I had breast cancer in 1992, I had a transcendental meditation teacher come and give me a mantra,” she said. “And Deepak Chopra, who was a friend, gave me a mantra [too].”

    Newton-John also told The Telegraph that her dream is that the medical marijuana laws will change in her native Australia and that “it will be available to all the cancer patients and people going through cancer that causes pain.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Whoopi Goldberg Talks Cannabis

    Whoopi Goldberg Talks Cannabis

    Goldberg discussed the benefits of marijuana and her company’s mission to offer women relief from cramps with her products. 

    Whoopi Goldberg has never been shy about speaking her mind. As a budding entrepreneur, she’s focusing her line of cannabis-based products on women’s health.

    Goldberg had been a big believer in cannabis for a long time. She says it’s helped her with menstrual cramps since she was young.

    “I realized it helped my cramps [then], and I’ve had a good relationship with it since,” she tells Forbes. “It continues to help me feel better as I get older. I’m a big fan of our products and my vape pen… they provide me relief as I get older.”

    Like many celebrities, Goldberg has gotten into the cannabis business herself, forming the company Whoopi & Maya with her partner Maya Elisabeth. As Goldberg explains, “I asked a friend in the cannabis industry if anyone was doing marijuana for menstrual cramps; and when he said no, I knew someone had to—and that it may as well be us.”

    Elisabeth founded the company Om Edibles in 2008, and she’s also the winner of seven High Times Cannabis Cup awards. “When we started looking for someone to help us make products, we saw that Maya won the most Cannabis Cups and was involved in a women-run collective,” Goldberg continues. “We met and we hit off immediately.”

    As Goldberg says her business isn’t about getting high—it’s about providing relief for women during their menstrual cycles.

    “Our goal is to make you feel better, not get you high. There are plenty of products out there that will get you high, but we want to make sure you are feeling OK. We want to help women who have bad cramps be able to work a full work day without excruciating pain.”

    Goldberg enjoys having control of where her company is going. “This is a long-term plan and we’re still a relatively small company. Entertainment projects come and go and there are so many things outside your control. I like that we can own this and have control over the direction of our business.”

    Now that Whoopi & Maya are providing the world with a cannabis wellness product for women, Goldberg says, “The response has been incredible and it’s very rewarding to offer a product that helps so many. Jump in and try it, you never know what can happen until you do.”

    View the original article at thefix.com