Campaigning Against Censorship, CannaSmack Announces "Free The Leaf," Partnership with NORML

CannaSmack pledges 2% of profits to NORML in efforts to legalize and normalize Cannabis.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT, February 16, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- To date, 28 of 50 states, plus Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and Guam, have legalized forms of medical and recreational marijuana. With the growing popularity of cannabis in the U.S., there's a growing amount of censorship; personal accounts, advertisements, brands and businesses, even mainstream journalists have had their cannabis content censored online.

Enter CannaSmack, a woman-owned and operated company that manufactures all natural, cruelty free, hemp-infused lip balms and lotions plus a line of SPF products made entirely in the USA using domestic hemp sourced from Oregon. CannaSmack products are both 100 percent legal under federal, state and local laws and their products are 100 percent non-psychoactive.

"Our feed was censored on social media the Monday before Black Friday, and for four months after we were unable to advertise. That's normally our busiest time of year for sales," says Kenia Taylor, Marketing Director for CannaSmack. Taylor is the graphic designer behind CannaSmack's funky cannabis leaf designs. Her colorful artistry is a hallmark of the brand's scented lip balms and lotions with cannabis themed names like Cherry Cough, Blue Dream, Pineapple Express, Maui Wowie and Mango Kush.

The company was born upon discovering all natural hemp as the ultimate body care product. "Hemp is full of essential fatty acids including Omega-3 and Omega-6, Vitamins A, E, D and B12. These nutrients are easily absorbed by your skin. Hemp has a positive impact on us, our economy and environment," says Taylor.

As CannaSmack grew, Taylor and owner Suzanne Hoggan began realizing just how many people are affected by the lack of knowledge and censorship surrounding cannabis. So, CannaSmack began work developing its #FreeTheLeaf campaign. What originated as an initiative to fight the media censorship of the cannabis leaf has since transformed into a positive education movement with the aim to support legalization and normalization of cannabis.

CannaSmack also hosts an innovative program that invites people who have a strong relationship to the plant to become ambassadors and help foster pro-cannabis awareness. Madison Ortiz, professionally known as Happy Tokes, is both a social media consultant for the brand as well as one of CannaSmack's most active and vocal ambassadors. CannaSmack recently launched a co-branded, collaboratively designed lip-balm with Ortiz, the Happy Tokes Peach Natural Lip Balm.

"After years of misdiagnosed conditions and negative reactions to pharmaceuticals, my family doctor prescribed cannabis to alleviate chronic nausea and stimulate an appetite," shares Ortiz, who's a Michigan mmj cardholder. "I'm passionate about normalizing medication rituals and creating a safe space for cannabis communication and education because every patient deserves to empower themselves with knowledge about this miracle plant."

And now, CannaSmack is pledging two percent of all profits to support NORML. NORML is a leading nonprofit lobbying organization working to stop arrests of consumers, provide educational research and legal information on cannabis, and help move public opinion to the legalization of responsible use of cannabis by adults. Other NORML supporters include celebrities Willie Nelson, Woody Harrelson, former Chief of Police Norm Stamper, and the late Hunter S. Thompson, among others.

"This plant has so much to offer. We're going to see this thing through, and we'll continue to bolster our partnership with NORML until cannabis is exactly that," says Taylor.

People interested in joining CannaSmack's #FreeTheLeaf Movement can visit the CannaSmack #FreeTheLeaf landing page to sign up for action alerts (also available by texting FreeTheLeaf to 88202) and "follow & engage" with the movement plus "share the light" using CannaSmack's embeddable cannabis education materials, videos, stickers and more, found here: https://cannasmack.com/free-the-leaf.

U.S. Domestic Hemp & Legalization Information

Domestic hemp cultivation was made legal under the federal 2014 Farm Bill which specifically enabled individual states to enact hemp cultivation programs and regulate industrial hemp at the state level. Hemp is classified as the Cannabis sativa species of cannabis producing no more than 0.3% THC. Previously, U.S. agricultural and industrial hemp products were manufactured using imported hemp as the 1970 Controlled Substances Act excludes sterilized forms of industrial hemp imported to the U.S.

The 2014 Farm Bill was landmark legislation signalling the people's interest in cultivating a domestic hemp industry. Since, 33 states and Puerto Rico have introduced pro-hemp legislation, many of which, Oregon included, now allow hemp cultivation for commercial production. Industrial hemp is now legal to grow in more than 30 countries across the world.

With the domestic hemp industry expanding, much of hemp for use in the United States is still imported from China and Canada, two of the world's largest exporters of industrial hemp. The overall U.S. market for hemp is an estimated $600 million per year and growing. Hemp has a documented 25,000 uses including food, cosmetics and biofuel. Agrarian economies were largely impacted in the latest recession and domestic hemp production is a burgeoning industry able to create new jobs and growth for the U.S. economy.

Since the passing of the 2014 Farm Bill, two subsequent bills have passed along with accompanying amendments allowing for the unobstructed sale and interstate commerce of domestic hemp and hemp products, H.R. 4660, The FY 2015 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Act, H.R. 2578, The FY 2016 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Act (CJS). One of the amendments to the CJS even stated that "none of the funds made available by [the] Act may be used to take any action to prevent a State from implementing any law that makes it lawful to possess, distribute, or use cannabidiol or cannabidiol oil."

With reference to medical and recreational cannabis, 28 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, and Guam already have some form of cannabis legalization in place. Eight of those states regulate cannabis recreationally like alcohol and some have even begun to expunge prior cannabis convictions. An additional 11 states have recreational cannabis bills pending, while eight states are seeking to implement comprehensive medical cannabis programs.

While the 115th Congress is just taking session, there were dozens of bills in the 114th Congress supporting federal hemp and cannabis reform. At least four bills passed plus a provision in the FY15 spending bill to prevent the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) from spending funds to prevent states from implementing medical marijuana laws. Two bills were introduced, but failed to pass by the end of the 114th Congress, H.R. 1013 (Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act) introduced by Colorado Congressman Jared Polis and H.R. 1014 (Marijuana Tax Equity Act) introduced by Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer. The bills sought to replace marijuana prohibition with a comprehensive licensing and oversight system to tax and regulate the production, distribution and sale of marijuana in the United States of America.

Due to the ever evolving and complicated legal framework for cannabis in the U.S., most cannabis businesses whether hemp based, medical or recreational adult-use, still face b2b restrictions imposed on advertising, banking and commerce despite regulatory policy. To resolve cannabis related conflicts, for both businesses, citizens and mmj patients, cannabis must be federally de-scheduled. Recent polls show a majority of Americans support recreational adult-use cannabis, while 86 percent of Americans support medical mmj. 68 percent of all Americans now live in states with reformed cannabis laws

About CannaSmack

CannaSmack is a woman-owned and operated company with a compelling story. The founder, Suzanne Hoggan, was born and raised in Utah, a state notorious for its strict laws against cannabis. She lost her brother after years of prescription drug abuse. This life changing event inspired her to research alternative medicine and she stumbled across information about hemp and cannabis. That's when CannaSmack was born. CannaSmack offers high quality, all natural, made in the USA, cruelty free, hemp lip balms and lotions plus a line of SPF products. These products are legal and non-psychoactive.

About NORML

NORML's mission is to move public opinion sufficiently to legalize the responsible use of marijuana by adults, and to serve as an advocate for consumers to assure they have access to high quality marijuana that is safe, convenient and affordable. http://norml.org

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