Trippy Sips

TRIPPY SIPS… After a long day’s swim, Squid enjoys relaxing with a shrimp cocktail. But Squid hears that sometimes, the cocktails humans like come with a surprise. The Monterey County District Attorney- announced on Sept. 15 that SoCali Manufacturing, Inc., maker of CANN, a cannabis beverage company, will pay $115,000 to settle a consumer protection case.

The civil complaint, filed in Monterey County Superior Court, alleged that SoCali falsely advertised the amount of THC or CBD claimed on the label. Investigator Leo Gomez from the DA’s office began an investigation into the cannabis beverage company in 2022, conducting testing after it was discovered that a dispensary offered free samples of it – which is also illegal. Typically, their products advertise that they contain 2 mg of THC and 4 mg of CBD, but testing of these beverages purchased across California showed quite the variation, often containing less or more of these ingredients by margins greater than 10 percent. Many of the sampled products had no detectable THC or CBD. SoCali was ordered to pay $115,000, in addition to implementing an array of quality control measures.

Squid will stick with the shrimp cocktails – what you catch is what you can consume in Squid’s lair. Except for shrimp-flavored popcorn, of course.

WORKING FOR WHO?… In Squid’s oceanic eat-or-be-eaten world, there is no representative government – it’s every creature for themselves. In the human world of politics, things seem to be… well, the same. As of this writing, the federal government is shut down, with zero signs of a negotiation that could lead to reopening, with hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed.

Squid has been oozing around locally, looking for signs of what’s operational and what’s not – so-called “essential” workers, like Transportation Security Administration agents, are still active at MRY. Some employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, like the National Weather Service, are still working; but those at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary are furloughed. (Squid takes this attack on Squid’s lair personally.) “The U.S. government is closed. This site will not be updated,” a simple note on top of the Sanctuary’s website alerts visitors.

The message is different on the website of the Los Padres National Forest, where Squid encountered the following political spin: “The Radical Left Democrats shut down the government… President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.”

That would be (Squid checks Squid’s notes)… the same president who eliminated Los Padres National Forest jobs early in his term.