Just when you thought all variations on the Ice Bucket Challenge had been exhausted, rapper B-Real from Cypress Hill shows up with a bucket of marijuana.
“I know we’re going through a drought with water and all that stuff, so we’re going to do it a little different, but I accept the challenge,” B-Real, a noted marijuana advocate, says in a video posted last week to Hustla Subs, a hip-hop YouTube channel, just before a large bucket of marijuana buds is dumped over his head.
“Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson, Woody Harrelson — you’ve got 24 hours to accept,” B-Real says at the end of the video, challenging three other celebrities with well-known affinities for cannabis.
We eagerly await responses from these three.
Donations inspired by the ubiquitous Ice Bucket Challenge — in which participants pour a bucket of ice water on their heads to raise awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative nerve disease — have been coming in at an astounding rate since the practice went viral earlier this summer.
As of Tuesday, the ALS Association (ALSA) — which fights the disease by funding research, supporting people with the condition and corralling federal resources — had collected $88.5 million toward its efforts, a majority of which had been donated in the past seven days. It’s a particularly stunning figure considering that the organization took in just $2.6 million in the same period last year, according to a statement released by the group.
And while B-Real is having some fun with the viral video craze, substituting marijuana for ice water, research suggests that the plant may in fact be an effective treatment for ALS. A study published earlier this year in the journal CNS Neuroscience and Therapeutics found that Sativex, a drug developed by GW Pharmaceuticals that contains both cannabidiol (a non-psychoactive compound found in marijuana) and THC (the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that causes the “high” sensation), may slow the progression of ALS symptoms in mice.
There is no known cure for ALS, a condition that affects the nerves and muscles of approximately 30,000 Americans at any given time, according to ALSA. More than 5,000 new cases are diagnosed in the U.S. annually.
