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From Market Watch
Oscar ‘swag bags’ are packed with cannabis this year
The cannabis truffles and beauty products rolled into the $100,000 gift bags are legal in California — but, for attendees crossing state lines, things could get sticky
Published: Feb 21, 2019
There’s a lot of green in this year’s (unofficial) Oscar swag bag.
The annual treasure trove of over-the-top gifts for the acting and directing nominees is packed with cannabis chocolates, CBD beauty products and a year-long VIP membership to L.A.’s first cannabis-friendly social club. Marketing company Distinctive Assets has been gifting the swag — this year valued at more than $100,000 — for the past 17 years. But company founder Lash Fary told MarketWatch that the 2019 gift assortment is directly tied to the broad legalization of cannabis in California last year.
“We had a huge influx of inquiries from brands in the cannabis space,” Fary wrote in an email. “Very excited and proud to have chosen companies we feel are the leaders in their respective gift categories.”
Of course, brands drop upwards of $4,000 to be included in the swag bags in exchange for “bragging rights,” as Fary previously told CNBC.
The buzzy products in this year’s bag include cannabis-infused edibles such as truffles, chocolate bars and single-serving chocolate squares from Colorado’s Coda Signature. Distinctive Assets highlights the “Crescendo Collection” of hand-painted truffles in particular: white-chocolate-filled with fresh lemon and a hint of juniper berries, milk chocolate steeped with Earl Grey tea leaves and sweetened with Colorado Honey, and caramel spiked with Maldon salt crystals as the coup de grâce. Plus, 10 milligrams of THC.
The company website advises that newbies who try these items “start low, go slow,” sampling just one to five milligrams for starters. The swag bag also includes the brand’s cannabis bath bombs and oils to soothe the night’s big winners and losers, alike.
There’s also a VIP membership to MOTA (short for Medicine of the Angels), L.A.’s first cannabis-friendly social club, plus CBD-oil-infused beauty products like Age Interventionist Renee Lynn’s CBDRxSupreme protocol, High Beauty High Five Cannabis Facial Moisturizer and High Expectations Cannabis Facial Oil Instytutum skin-care products.
dstinctivessets
Coda Signature cannabis bath bombs are in the swag bag.
“And yes we are aware of and in adherence with any and all regulations regarding how cannabis products are procured and sampled!” Fary added.
Because while 10 states have legalized marijuana for both recreational and medical use — Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington — traveling with these goodies becomes a sticky situation.
Paul Armentano, the director of marijuana advocacy organization NORML, advised MarketWatch in an email that “the possession of cannabis is illegal under federal law, as it is a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Therefore, technically, it is a federal offense to engage in the act of transporting and/or shipping cannabis products across state lines.”
So if such nominees as Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Mahershala Ali, Glenn Close, Spike Lee, Rami Malek, Emma Stone and Christian Bale do accept these swag bags, they should avoid packing those edibles in their carry-ons. “I’d suggest consuming the chocolates the night of the Academy Awards,” laughed cannabis industry insider Michael Klein, CEO of the CannabisMD digital media company. “You’re not going to want to take it across state lines.”
The CBD (cannabidiol) products are slightly less problematic; unlike THC, the chemical compound in cannabis that gets users high, CBD is nonpsychoactive. So 47 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have passed laws allowing the use of CBD to at least some extent. Thus, the CBD market is expected to reach nearly $2.1 billion by 2022, which is why you’re now seeing CBD rolled into everything from mascara and body lotion to menstrual-pain relief oils to duck confit and cocktails and even sparkling water.
Still, the FDA largely considers CBD products illegal to add to food or health products without approval from the federal agency, since products have not been clinically proven to be safe or effective. Each state has its own specifics about the legality of CBD, which you can check on NORML’s site. “All of this is clear as mud,” said Klein. “Consumer interest and uptake has completely outpaced regulation.”
Distinctive Assets
A trip to the Amazon is included in the swag bag.
There’s plenty of legal loot left in the swag bags that will raise eyebrows, of course, including:
• A trip to the Galapagos, the Amazon, Iceland, or Costa Rica and Panama, featuring spa treatments and cooking lessons, from International Expeditions that Forbes valued at $15,000 to $20,000 per person.
• $30,000 toward chemical peels, laser skin resurfacing, injectables/fillers, Botox and other rejuvenation procedures from facial plastic surgeon Konstantin Vasyukevich.
• An 18-minute session with phobia-relief expert Kalliope Barlis.
• Stained-glass portraits by artist John Thoman.
• 10 personal training sessions with Alexis Seletzky, which can run $900 apiece, according to Business Insider.
• Couture bow ties from ZuZu Kim, which start at $75 apiece.
• A glow-in-the-dark novelty plunger from Mister **** that’s modeled on the **** emoji.
And, of course, more.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/oscar-swag-bags-are-packed-with-weed-this-year-2019-02-21
Oscar ‘swag bags’ are packed with cannabis this year
The cannabis truffles and beauty products rolled into the $100,000 gift bags are legal in California — but, for attendees crossing state lines, things could get sticky
Published: Feb 21, 2019
There’s a lot of green in this year’s (unofficial) Oscar swag bag.
The annual treasure trove of over-the-top gifts for the acting and directing nominees is packed with cannabis chocolates, CBD beauty products and a year-long VIP membership to L.A.’s first cannabis-friendly social club. Marketing company Distinctive Assets has been gifting the swag — this year valued at more than $100,000 — for the past 17 years. But company founder Lash Fary told MarketWatch that the 2019 gift assortment is directly tied to the broad legalization of cannabis in California last year.
“We had a huge influx of inquiries from brands in the cannabis space,” Fary wrote in an email. “Very excited and proud to have chosen companies we feel are the leaders in their respective gift categories.”
Of course, brands drop upwards of $4,000 to be included in the swag bags in exchange for “bragging rights,” as Fary previously told CNBC.
The buzzy products in this year’s bag include cannabis-infused edibles such as truffles, chocolate bars and single-serving chocolate squares from Colorado’s Coda Signature. Distinctive Assets highlights the “Crescendo Collection” of hand-painted truffles in particular: white-chocolate-filled with fresh lemon and a hint of juniper berries, milk chocolate steeped with Earl Grey tea leaves and sweetened with Colorado Honey, and caramel spiked with Maldon salt crystals as the coup de grâce. Plus, 10 milligrams of THC.
The company website advises that newbies who try these items “start low, go slow,” sampling just one to five milligrams for starters. The swag bag also includes the brand’s cannabis bath bombs and oils to soothe the night’s big winners and losers, alike.
There’s also a VIP membership to MOTA (short for Medicine of the Angels), L.A.’s first cannabis-friendly social club, plus CBD-oil-infused beauty products like Age Interventionist Renee Lynn’s CBDRxSupreme protocol, High Beauty High Five Cannabis Facial Moisturizer and High Expectations Cannabis Facial Oil Instytutum skin-care products.
Coda Signature cannabis bath bombs are in the swag bag.
“And yes we are aware of and in adherence with any and all regulations regarding how cannabis products are procured and sampled!” Fary added.
Because while 10 states have legalized marijuana for both recreational and medical use — Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington — traveling with these goodies becomes a sticky situation.
Paul Armentano, the director of marijuana advocacy organization NORML, advised MarketWatch in an email that “the possession of cannabis is illegal under federal law, as it is a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Therefore, technically, it is a federal offense to engage in the act of transporting and/or shipping cannabis products across state lines.”
So if such nominees as Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Mahershala Ali, Glenn Close, Spike Lee, Rami Malek, Emma Stone and Christian Bale do accept these swag bags, they should avoid packing those edibles in their carry-ons. “I’d suggest consuming the chocolates the night of the Academy Awards,” laughed cannabis industry insider Michael Klein, CEO of the CannabisMD digital media company. “You’re not going to want to take it across state lines.”
The CBD (cannabidiol) products are slightly less problematic; unlike THC, the chemical compound in cannabis that gets users high, CBD is nonpsychoactive. So 47 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have passed laws allowing the use of CBD to at least some extent. Thus, the CBD market is expected to reach nearly $2.1 billion by 2022, which is why you’re now seeing CBD rolled into everything from mascara and body lotion to menstrual-pain relief oils to duck confit and cocktails and even sparkling water.
Still, the FDA largely considers CBD products illegal to add to food or health products without approval from the federal agency, since products have not been clinically proven to be safe or effective. Each state has its own specifics about the legality of CBD, which you can check on NORML’s site. “All of this is clear as mud,” said Klein. “Consumer interest and uptake has completely outpaced regulation.”
A trip to the Amazon is included in the swag bag.
There’s plenty of legal loot left in the swag bags that will raise eyebrows, of course, including:
• A trip to the Galapagos, the Amazon, Iceland, or Costa Rica and Panama, featuring spa treatments and cooking lessons, from International Expeditions that Forbes valued at $15,000 to $20,000 per person.
• $30,000 toward chemical peels, laser skin resurfacing, injectables/fillers, Botox and other rejuvenation procedures from facial plastic surgeon Konstantin Vasyukevich.
• An 18-minute session with phobia-relief expert Kalliope Barlis.
• Stained-glass portraits by artist John Thoman.
• 10 personal training sessions with Alexis Seletzky, which can run $900 apiece, according to Business Insider.
• Couture bow ties from ZuZu Kim, which start at $75 apiece.
• A glow-in-the-dark novelty plunger from Mister **** that’s modeled on the **** emoji.
And, of course, more.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/oscar-swag-bags-are-packed-with-weed-this-year-2019-02-21
