VAPOR TRAIL
Mother Jones|September/October 2023
After a cannabis product turned up at my kid's school, I rode into the Wild West of unregulated pot.
Doug Henry
VAPOR TRAIL

EARLIER THIS YEAR, I found an empty THC cartridge package by the court after one of my son's high school basketball games. Cannabis vapes are illegal for everyone in Texas, where I live, much less for minors. I scooped up the box, which displayed a California Republic bear and the brand Gold Coast Clear. Later, around the dinner table, 1 asked my two teens, "So, does anyone know anything about this company?"

After blank stares and an awkward silence, I decided to seek answers myself and hopefully shed light on what exactly had been inside. I'm hardly naive about the possibilities. As a medical anthropologist, I've spent 18 months trying to understand how society is adapting to cannabinoids-cannabis' psychoactive components-by talking to growers, retailers, cops, consumers, and chemists.

In 2018's Farm Bill, Congress federally legalized growing what's commonly known as hemp-cannabis plants with less than 0.3 percent THC, the compound that gets users high. But there was no regulation of products derived from hemp. Entrepreneurs and chemists jumped through this loophole, turning low-THC hemp into molecules that legally replicate, mimic, and even exceed THC's effects, creating a situation where it can even be cheaper to get THC from hemp than marijuana. That makes such cannabinoids, in the words of one of my college students, "just like regular weed, but better."

Denne historien er fra September/October 2023-utgaven av Mother Jones.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra September/October 2023-utgaven av Mother Jones.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA MOTHER JONESSe alt
Data Blockers- Overturning Roe didn't just bludgeon abortion access. It sabotaged science, too.
Mother Jones

Data Blockers- Overturning Roe didn't just bludgeon abortion access. It sabotaged science, too.

Overturning Roe didn't just bludgeon abortion access. It sabotaged science, too. In early May 2022, reproductive health researcher Liz Mosley was at a dinner celebrating her first day as an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine when the news broke: A leaked draft of the Dobbs decision revealed the Supreme Court’s plan to gut abortion rights in the United States—the “worst-case scenario,” as one dinner guest put it.

time-read
5 mins  |
July/August 2024
Growing Pains - Why are governors rejecting funds for kids' summer meals?
Mother Jones

Growing Pains - Why are governors rejecting funds for kids' summer meals?

The Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program for Children (EBT), the first new federal food aid initiative in decades, is a permanent extension of Congress’ Covid-era relief that sought to provide extra meals for more than 30 million school kids who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. But more than 10 million children will miss out this summer, according to the USDA. Thirteen other states—Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming—also chose not to enroll. And they all have something else in common: Republican governors.

time-read
3 mins  |
July/August 2024
Mission from God. Church And Statehood– A new Puerto Rican political party puts faith before status.
Mother Jones

Mission from God. Church And Statehood– A new Puerto Rican political party puts faith before status.

A new Puerto Rican political party puts faith before status. Puerto Rico’s churches, which in recent decades were mostly confined to private life, are now reshaping political dynamics. Proyecto Dignidad is a reflection of a broader populist global trend, and it draws inspiration from the Trump playbook and other domestic right-wing currents that helped him win over significant numbers of Latino voters in 2020.

time-read
6 mins  |
July/August 2024
40 Acres and a Lie
Mother Jones

40 Acres and a Lie

We compiled Reconstruction-era documents to identify 1,250 formerly enslaved Black Americans given land-only to have it returned to their enslavers.

time-read
10+ mins  |
July/August 2024
The Conversion Therapist Will See You Now
Mother Jones

The Conversion Therapist Will See You Now

The counselors once discredited for their "ex-gay" theories have rebranded. And now they're coming after trans kids.

time-read
10+ mins  |
July/August 2024
"I Hope My Hindsight Will Be Others' Foresight"
Mother Jones

"I Hope My Hindsight Will Be Others' Foresight"

A decade after Elliot Rodger's horrific massacre, his mother is on a quest to help threat assessment experts-and other parents-prevent the next tragedy.

time-read
10+ mins  |
July/August 2024
RAGING BULL DONALD TRUMP'S PUGILISTIC SPOKESMAN HAS TAKEN CAMPAIGNING TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF LOW.
Mother Jones

RAGING BULL DONALD TRUMP'S PUGILISTIC SPOKESMAN HAS TAKEN CAMPAIGNING TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF LOW.

IN late February, after Donald Trump had nearly vanquished the entirety of the Republican primary field, his spokesman, Steven Cheung, took aim at the one opponent still standing. \"Birdbrain, are you a liar or just plain stupid?\" he posted on X.

time-read
10+ mins  |
July/August 2024
SAVED
Mother Jones

SAVED

Finding self-love after Christian conversion therapy

time-read
3 mins  |
July/August 2024
WHAT WE ARE OWED
Mother Jones

WHAT WE ARE OWED

Technology and genealogy have made the case for reparations specific-and undeniable.

time-read
9 mins  |
July/August 2024
PARADISE STOLEN
Mother Jones

PARADISE STOLEN

Black families were cheated out of their land on Skidaway Island. Now it's a wealthy white enclave

time-read
7 mins  |
July/August 2024