Recreational Marijuana Becomes Legal Today In Oregon — But Residents Can’t Actually Buy It Yet

(Great Beyond)

Oregonians across the state are grabbing their beloved bongs and reaching for the rolling papers today, as the state’s law allowing recreational marijuana use officially went into effect at midnight. But as with any marijuana law, there are some considerations before residents start lighting up — including the fact that they can’t legally buy recreational pot anywhere just yet.

Reuters reports that a crowd of hundreds of ganja fans gathered last night on Burnside Bridge in downtown Portland, counting down the minutes until midnight and then lighting up together to mark the moment the law allowing recreational use for adults 21 and over went into place.

Although there were no arrests reported at that event, under Oregon’s law, smoking marijuana in public is not permitted. And while you can share or give away any marijuana you might have, it’s still illegal to buy it or sell it until licensed retail shops open.

Therein lies the rub: CNNMoney (warning: link has video that auto-plays) cites the Portland chapter of NORML, a pro-legalization group, which estimates that the first state-licensed shops won’t open up until at least mid-2016.

In the meantime, you can keep up to four plants per residence, as long as they’re out of public view, so home gardening could be the only legal way to get your weed until those shops open. Unless you have very generous friends, of course.

Driving while high also remains illegal, and the law prohibits anyone from transporting pot out of state. Yes, even to Washington, where marijuana is legal, because using the stuff is still illegal in the eyes of the federal government.

If infographics are your thing, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission published a guide called “What’s legal? Educate before you recreate,” to school citizens on what’s legal and what isn’t.

Recreational marijuana is also legal in Colorado, Alaska, Washington and the District of Columbia, while Ohio could be the next up to legalize it. Medical weed is allowed in about 20 states.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

How To Make Sure Apple Music Doesn’t Automatically Charge You After The Free 3-Month Trial Ends

(Pixteca | Len & Pix【ツ】)

What’s that you say? You don’t like paying for things unexpectedly and automatically? Then if you’re trying Apple Music during the three months that it’s free, you’ll want to make sure to prevent it from charging your credit card when the trial is over.

The card you have on file with your Apple ID will get charged either for the $9.99/month or the $14.99 per month family plan, this of course, depends on what you chose when you signed up. You can either cancel your subscription completely or just set it to not auto-renew, so that you can make that choice whenever you want manually after the three-month period is up.

There are two ways to do this, through iTunes or with the new Apple Music app you’ve downloaded.

iTunes:
• Click on your account in the upper right hand of iTunes — this should have your name or Apple ID on it.
• Navigate to “Account Info” and then settings, and click on “Manage” beside subscriptions.
• Click “Edit” which is located next to “Apple Music Membership” — if you have multiple subscriptions.
• Hit “Off” next to Automatic Renewal

iOS:
• Click on your account — again, the silhouette icon, on the upper left hand of the Apple Music app.
• Next go to “View Apple ID,” then scroll down and hit “Manage” under the Subscriptions section.
• Toggle the “auto-renewal” option to “Off”

In either scenario this isn’t too tricky to do, but you might want to set a reminder for yourself for Sept. 29, or just switch it off now so you have no nasty surprise bills later.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Customer Claims Panera Soup Came With A Side Of Razor Blade

(Ryan)

When ordering a cup or bowl of soup from Panera Bread most people would prefer to have a roll or chunk of baguette accompanying their meal. But a Florida woman says her soup came with something extra on a recent lunch trip to the restaurant: a razor blade.

The woman says the sharp ordeal began after she went to a local Panera to pick up lunch for herself and a co-worker, Local 10 News reports.

Once back to work, the woman began eating her lemon orzo soup, only to find her spoon caught on something.

“I start eating the soup and then I hear this sound and the spoon is not moving, so I happen to look down and I see something shiny,” she said.

That something shiny happened to be a small razor blade, the customer claims.

The woman tells Local 10 News that she was so scared that she may have swallowed another blade, that she went to a doctor where she underwent blood work and received a tetanus shot.

“That could have been someone’s child. That could have been my child,” the woman tells Local 10 News. “That could have been anybody that could have gotten hurt. Thank God I didn’t, because I looked down.”

The woman then took the soup and its extra ingredient back to the Panera restaurant. The company apologized for the situation, issued her a refund and offered to pay her medical bills.

“I don’t want you to throw money at me,” she said. “I mean, thank you for trying to pay my medical bills and giving me a gift card, but I really want to know what you’re doing to make sure (this never happens again).”

In a statement to Local 10 News Panera said it had opened an internal investigation into the incident.

“Earlier this week, a guest in one of our South Florida bakery-cafes reported finding a foreign object in her soup. We immediately responded and began an investigation to determine its source. The investigation is still in progress and we remain in close consultation with the guest and associates at the bakery-cafe. As always, the health and safety of our guests is of utmost importance.

Reports like this are exceedingly rare, and we take them very seriously. Our bakery-cafe associates undergo consistent training to safely and efficiently serve more than 10 million guests per week. Our investigation is still underway. We use several tools with sharp edges for cutting, slicing and opening food in our bakery-cafes. The object in question has not yet been returned to Panera to be accurately inspected and identified.”

Customer finds what appears to be razor blade in soup at Panera Bread [Local 10 News]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist