The federal government legalized agricultural hemp in 2018 after its prohibition nearly 50 years earlier. Cannabis is still considered a Schedule 1 drug by the Drug Enforcement Agency along with heroin and LSD, which is defined as not having any accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. The conflicting legal status of hemp […]
Special Issues & Guides
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides
Roots, Rock, Four-Twenty
The day in the life of a low-key 4/20
Ancient lore has it that in the 1970s a group of high schoolers would meet daily at 4:20 to smoke weed. One of these kids would eventually go on to become a Grateful Dead roadie, which would propel the ritual into a mainstream event. We all know some iteration of this story, amongst other hard-to-verify […]
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides
Baking to Get Baked
A local radio show offers a wealth of cannabis knowledge —including a segment on baking with ganja
TREATS + STONERS = A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN. A listener is checking in from the Kazahkstani embassy in Washington, D.C., where he’s out front smoking a joint, while the hosts of KPOV’s High Desert Co-op radio show and I start in on ingesting the ganja cookies I came here to eat. The listeners to […]
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Highs and Lows of Hemp
The hemp market stabilized, and farmers are shifting away from CBD and toward grains and fiber
The hemp industry in 2022 is in a strange spot. The market overproduced in 2019 and has since been trying to find a sweet spot for the crop while millions of pounds of excess biomass are still stored across the country. In 2020 there were over 200 million pounds of excess hemp, but it looks […]
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides
The MORE Act is a Great Idea
…but it’s not going to pass, again
On April 1, numerous news outlets reported that “Congress Legalized Cannabis.” Being a cannabis writer, my inbox was immediately inundated with emails from politicians and advocates sharing how “important” this development was, and all the “great things which were possible” with its passage. Both things are true. Congress did indeed pass the 2022 Marijuana Opportunity […]
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides
Central Oregon Pets – Spring 2022
Meet the winners in our Cutest Pets Contest, get tips on pandemic pounds, learn about ostrich farming and so much more
It’s time again for another Central Oregon Pets! Our entire team of pet lovers is thrilled to bring you a new edition of this special magazine, filled with lots of furry felines, precious pups and even a goat, and an ostrich or two. Central Oregonians came out in droves to enter our Cutest Pet Contest, […]
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides
Meet Central Oregon’s Cutest Pets!
From dogs to cats to goats, meet the winners in 11 categories of our Cutest Pets contest!
We asked Central Oregonians to share photos of their beloved dogs, cats—and even goats—and they sure did deliver! Our pet loving-team enjoyed seeing each and every adorable face, making this a tough decision… but in the end, we created 11 categories and recognized 17 pets. The winning “Cutest Pet, ” Remy, gets a custom pet […]
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A Spay/Neuter Clinic in the Yucatán
Bend’s Street Dog Hero teams up with nonprofits in Mexico to treat over 400 pets
Dogs and cats can be our faithful companions—but left unchecked and uncared for, their populations can quickly get out of control. A single unspayed female and her puppies can produce 67,000 puppies in just six years, says Bend-based nonprofit Street Dog Hero, with a single unspayed cat and her kittens able to produce a whopping […]
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides
Final Farewell
It’s never a good time to say goodbye forever to our beloved pets
Over New Year’s Eve weekend, our 21-year-old boy cat, Gallup, had pretty much stopped eating and was having trouble getting around on his own. By Sunday night, wife Floy and I knew it was time. I emailed the vet office and Dr. Byron Maas at Bend Veterinary Clinic had us come in on Monday morning. […]
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides
Losing the Pandemic Pounds
Pets, like their humans, tended to gain weight during the time of social distancing. Here are a few ways to help your pets get back to a more ideal weight.
The shock was real—but not entirely unexpected—the first time we brought our little (formerly) 11-pound rescue mutt to the vet after the pandemic had started. Three pounds is not a big weight gain for an adult human, but for this little guy, it was a lot. I guess all those evenings opting to watch “Dogs” […]