California’s attorney general on Thursday approved language for a ballot initiative aiming to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms for those 21-years-and-older, according to NBC News San Diego. Activists are looking for the initiative to appear on the 2022 ballot. According to the report, backers would like psilocybin, an entheogen found in various species of mushrooms, to be sold in stores.
“I believe it is possible that eventually, a critical mass or even a majority of states will legalize or decriminalize some or all of these psychedelics,” acting director of policy and advocacy for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) Ismail L. Ali told NBC News.
In addition to the initiative, legislators will be taking up a psychedelic decriminalization bill sponsored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D) during the 2022 session. The proposal passed some key hurdles last session, is backed by MAPS, and would decriminalize small amounts of psilocybin, psilocyn, ecstasy, LSD, DMT, and mescaline, the report says.
Although activists see these policy proposals as progress, Ali says much of the hard work for psychedelic decriminalization remains and that “policy change regarding psychedelics is not inevitable.”
“We are in an early and sensitive phase in the process, and much remains to be seen in how different states navigate the emerging policy landscape.”—Ali via NBC News
Opponents of the proposals view them as one more step toward legalizing drugs. Additionally, some advocates are cautious about psychedelic decriminalization — Matthew W. Johnson, associate director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research, said that any decriminalization efforts should be paired with public education about the effects of the drugs.
“If someone’s using, the best way to deal with it is not to give them a felony or misdemeanor. I am supportive of decriminalizing drugs in general, but that doesn’t mean I want to encourage their use,” he said in the report.
The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) has missed a statutory deadline to begin accepting industry applications, NJ.com reports. The deadline had been set for September 18—30 days after the agency had adopted its initial rules.
The commission last week did approve a new licensing platform for cannabis permits. An unnamed commission source told NJ.com that, in addition to not meeting the deadline, officials had no immediate plans to open applications. The agency plans to publish notice in the New Jersey register that lists the application filing start date and clarifies what materials an applicant will need to submit, the source told NJ.com.
Mike McQueeny, a cannabis attorney with Foley Hoag, told NJ.com that there are few consequences for missing the deadline; however, someone could file a writ of mandamus which could compel a court order for a CRC to fulfill the licensing obligations. McQueeny added that by including deadlines in the law, “the Legislature loud and clear said: Let’s get this moving.”
The commission has still yet to issue 24 medical cannabis licenses approved in 2019—which the CRC source told NJ.com is the agency’s “highest priority” but added it “can do more than one thing at once.” In all, the agency had received 150 medical cannabis applications in the 2019 round.
Under the reforms approved by lawmakers, industry rules were required by the CRC within six months of the law’s signing and within six months after that, the agency was supposed to pick a date for the launch of sales.
Niagara College’s Commercial Cannabis Production program has received a license to cultivate hemp from Health Canada which will enable students a hands-on opportunity to learn about the crop. The program will teach students how to grow cannabis indoors, in a greenhouse setting, and outdoors.
Alan Unwin, Niagara College’s Dean of Business, Tourism, and Environment, called the license “a natural progression” for the program.
“The uses and the industries for the hemp plant and the cannabis plant are quite different so this will help them when they graduate. It’s staying on top of things that we’re seeing in the industry. Our responsibility as a college is to meet that demand for the labor market.”—Unwin in a press release
Over the summer, students enrolled in the program grew a small hemp crop from seed in the college’s hop yard.
“It provides students with an opportunity to gain hands-on knowledge of outdoor hemp production,” Laurie Zuber, horticulture technologist with the Commercial Cannabis Production program, said in a statement. “This is a good introduction crop.”
Niagara College has two campuses in Ontario. The Commercial Cannabis Production program is a one-year, post-graduate, program.
In Canada, industrial hemp contains less than 0.3% THC. According to a Hemp Industry Daily report, Canada hemp exports exceeded $110 million Canadian dollars (USD $85 million) in 2019, which represented an increase of more than 20% from the year prior.
A recent study published in the journal Psychopharmacology suggests that users of synthetic cannabinoid products—such as Spice or K2 —experience more severe withdrawal symptoms than cannabis users, according to an International Business Times outline of the research. It is the first study focused on the long-term and withdrawal effects of using synthetic cannabinoids.
The researchers found that the withdrawal effects from synthetic cannabinoids appeared more rapidly than those of cannabis with consumers reporting more severe symptoms of insomnia, irritation and bad mood, heart palpitations, and loss of appetite.
Sam Craft, the study’s main author and a Medical Research Council-funded doctoral candidate said that data demonstrates “that Spice is a significantly more dangerous substance and those seeking to quit are likely to face a range of severe withdrawal symptoms.”
“It is critical, then, that greater effort is made to ensure that Spice is not taken in place of cannabis or any other substance and that individuals suffering difficulties with Spice receive treatment.”—Craft to the International Business Times
The study conducted by psychologists from the Addiction and Mental Health Group in the University of Bath’s Department of Psychology included 284 participants in the Global Drug Survey who had previously attempted to abstain from Spice.
A previous study by researchers at the University of Birmingham purported that Spice could cause a variety of health problems, including seizures, abnormal behaviors, intoxication, heart and kidney problems, and death.
The campaign to decriminalize cannabis in Italy has gathered the 500,000 signatures required to put the issue to voters ahead of the September 30 deadline, CNN reports. The proposal must first be submitted to lawmakers before being sent to the nation’s Supreme Court of Cassation, which would have to approve the petition before it moves to the Constitutional Court which will determine whether or not it is constitutional.
The group collected half a million signatures in just one week, the campaign said on its Facebook page.
If it survives the process, the Italian president would set a date for the referendum, which would likely be next year, the report says.
Italy initially decriminalized cannabis possession in 1993 but a 2006 law tripled prison sentences for cultivation, sales, and possession until that law was reformed in 2014. Earlier this month, lawmakers decriminalized cannabis cultivation of small amounts for personal use while increasing the penalty for sales from six to 10 years, Ansa reports.
Campaign organizers said that legalizing cannabis in Italy “would put an end to unnecessary trials for small amounts of the drug and ensure that patients who use it to relieve their excruciating pain will never have to face a court again.” The group added that full legalization could lead to about 7 billion Euros in revenues (about $8.2 billion) for the nation, noting that there are about 6 million cannabis consumers in Italy.
If approved, Italy would become just the fourth European Union member state to pass the reforms, joining Portugal—which has decriminalized all drugs—the Czech Republic, and Estonia.
A cannabis industry association last week launched in Nebraska, which is one of just two states that has neither medical nor adult-use legalization. The Nebraska Cannabis Association is the state’s first organization dedicated to lobbying for cannabis policy, advising on regulations, and supporting cannabis industry entrepreneurs, the Hastings Tribune reports.
John Cartier, president of the association’s board of directors, said the group was formed because “it is not unreasonable to predict that some form of legalization will happen before this decade is done.” He added that there are already “several ballot initiatives” planned for next year which could lead to some form of legalization in the state by 2023.
In 2020, the state Supreme Court struck down efforts to legalize medical cannabis ruling that the proposal violated the state’s single-issue rule for referendums but this year, advocates have launched two ballot initiatives in tandem to legalize medical cannabis. One question would require lawmakers to pass bills protecting physicians who recommend medical cannabis along, with their patients who possess or use the product, from criminal penalty. The second question would require the Legislature to enact measures protecting private companies that produce and supply cannabis for medical purposes.
Another petition to broadly legalize cannabis remains on file with the Secretary of State’s Office, the report says.
The Nebraska Cannabis Association’s board members include Cartier, who is also the director of voting rights for Civic Nebraska and a member of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana; Andrea Holmes, a Doane University professor of chemistry who created the state’s first cannabis studies program and co-owner of multiple CBD companies; Dr. Amanda McKinney, a physician and founder of the Institute for Human and Planetary Health; and Grant Wistrom, a former National Football League defensive lineman who owns two medical cannabis licenses in Missouri.
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) is making cannabis legalization a centerpiece of his campaign for retiring Sen. Pat Toomey’s (R) U.S. Senate Seat, according to Forbes. Fetterman, a 14-year mayor and “populous” candidate, says he did not have to “evolve” into supporting legal cannabis.
“It’s always been the right thing to do,” the Senate candidate said in an interview with Forbes.
“It never should have been illegal in the first place. This is a plant with no known medical overdose. This is a plant now that’s helped 350,000 people, just in my state alone, with their medical issues.” — Fetterman to Forbes
Fetterman has been working to reform cannabis laws in Pennsylvania since his election in 2018. In 2019, he embarked on a 98-day, 67 county tour town-hall tour with only cannabis on the agenda. Additionally, Fetterman, as chair of the State Board of Pardons has worked with Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, to release dozens of non-violent cannabis offenders. Despite his efforts, however, the Lt. Gov. has been unable to advance adult-use cannabis legalization in the Republican-controlled state senate, but he tells Forbes the policy change is “inevitable.”
Removing cannabis as a Schedule 1 narcotic, reforming cannabis banking laws, and “mass expungement for every nonviolent offense”, are issues Fetterman says must be addressed at the Federal level. Commenting on the different paths to cannabis reform in Washington D.C., he said a group of Senators prefer to separate out decriminalization and other divisive issues from banking and insurance reform and other legislators like New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker (D) prefer a more comprehensive approach, Fetterman told Forbes.
“I support whatever gets it done. I’m not a purist in terms of the process. I just have always run on this and know that it’s something that needs to happen,” he said. “There isn’t one justification not to support it, other than this vestigial reefer madness, or just the toxic political culture of opposing what we want just for the sake of opposing it.”
A referendum in Italy to decriminalize cannabis is on track to meet the 500,000 signatures it needs to be considered by lawmakers prior to the September 30 deadline, Euractiv reports. If approved, Italy would become just the fourth European Union member state to pass the reforms, joining Portugal—which has decriminalized all drugs—the Czech Republic, and Estonia.
The referendum has already garnered more than 420,000 signatures in just four days.
Under Italian law, possession of personal amounts of cannabis is punishable with the suspension of one’s driver’s license, while cannabis sales are met with two to six months incarceration.
Giuseppe Civati, founder of Possibile, a progressive party that is promoting the referendum alongside other groups, told Euractiv that Italy’s “politics has long been completely static on subjects that are considered taboo in a purely electoral logic, and the current government—including everyone from left to right—doesn’t help.”
“There are around a million cannabis consumers in Italy. The people who use it are not the kind of marginalized members of society as right-wing parties describe them, and many parts of the United States have made it legal through referenda too.”—Civati to Euractiv
He added that the referendum process in Italy “has become much easier” due to the introduction of digital signatures, “which seriously cut organization costs.”
The legalization of divorce and abortion in Italy was achieved through the referendum process. Another campaign to legalize euthanasia has already surpassed the 500,000-signature threshold.
The Delaware Supreme Court last week ruled that cannabis odor during a traffic stop by itself is not enough to trigger probable cause for arrest, according to an ABA Journal report. The decision is, in part, due to cannabis decriminalization in the state.
The 4-1 decision reverses the delinquency case of a juvenile, known in court documents by the pseudonym Heather Juliano, on the basis that the cocaine and cannabis found following her arrest should be suppressed as “fruit of the poisonous tree”—an exclusionary rule to make evidence inadmissible if it was illegally obtained.
According to the report, police pulled over the car in which Juliano was a passenger because she wasn’t wearing a seat belt and the car’s occupants were arrested after police said they smelled cannabis. At the police station, the 15-year-old removed a bag of cannabis and a bag of cocaine from her pants to avoid being strip-searched, the report says. Juliano was found delinquent on charges of aggravated cocaine possession, aggravated possession of marijuana, and drug dealing.
“Under the totality of the circumstances presented by the state in this unusual case, including the vagueness of the officers’ description of the marijuana odor, the timing of their detection of that odor, and the absence of any other observations indicative of criminality, Juliano’s arrest was unreasonable.”—the Delaware Supreme Court, Juliano v State of Delaware, Sept. 10, 2021
The cannabis odor from the vehicle didn’t establish a fair probability that Juliano consumed cannabis in a moving vehicle, the court ruled, and the record does not support a conclusion that the officers knew that Juliano or other vehicle occupants were younger than age 18—for which possessing even a small amount of cannabis would have triggered a misdemeanor charge under state law. The court also concluded that there was no evidence providing officers with a reasonable belief that Juliano had a larger quantity of cannabis that was subject to stiffer penalties, the state supreme court said.
Delaware law allows warrantless arrests for misdemeanors officers have probable cause to think that the crime was committed in the officer’s presence but warrantless arrests for civil violations are not permitted.
Missouri officials on Thursday transferred more than $6.8 million derived from cannabis taxes in the state to the state Veterans Commission as required under the state’s medical cannabis law. In all, the commission has received $8.9 million from cannabis-derived taxes, according to the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).
The agency said that, since October 2020, the state has sold more than $113 million of medical cannabis. Those sales are taxed at 4%, but the first transfer of funds—$2.1 million—to the Veterans Commission came from industry fees.
Lyndall Fraker, director of the Section of Medical Marijuana Regulation with DHSS, noted in a statement that there are more than 140 dispensaries throughout the state and that regulators “are very pleased to see their sales revenue where it is.”
“Ultimately, this is how we are able to provide much-needed funding for the veteran’s commission.” — Fraker in a press release
Paul Kirchhoff, Missouri Veterans Commission executive director, said that a portion of the funds will be used to complete the Missouri Veterans Cemetery – Jacksonville columbarium wall.
Last month, adult-use advocates in the state filed a ballot initiative to legalize cannabis. The campaign must collect 175,000 signatures to put the issue to voters during next year’s midterm elections. The proposed constitutional amendment includes a 6% retail tax and the option for local governments to collect their own 3% tax on sales. Some funds derived from adult-use sales would be earmarked for veterans’ healthcare under the proposal.
Three New Hampshire legislators have filed separate proposals to put adult-use cannabis constitutional amendment questions on the 2022 ballot, Marijuana Moment reports. State Reps. Joshua Adjutant (D), Renny Cushing (D), and Andrew Prout (R) each filed a request with the Office of Legislative Services to write legislation that then would need a supermajority approval—60%—in both houses of the Legislature to refer the amendments to the ballot in 2022.
The move appears to be a way to avoid a legislative battle with anti-legalization Gov. Chris Sununu (R) but legislation for the three amendments still face challenges in the Republican-controlled Senate, where a legalization bill died in the 2021 session.
However, if the new approach is successful, then a “Yes” vote from 67% of New Hampshire voters on any of the amendments would make them the law. According to the report, this is a real possibility as three out of four New Hampshire voters approve of adult-use cannabis reforms.
Adjutant’s amendment provides that the state shall make no law prohibiting the use, sale, or cultivation of cannabis for persons over 18 years of age; Cushing’s proposal would provide that adults shall have the right to possess cannabis for personal consumption; while Prout’s amendment would give all adults the right to possess, use, and cultivate cannabis, subject to regulation by the legislature.
“Granite Staters are tired of watching cannabis bills pass the House and then die in the Senate,” Matt Simon, Director of Public and Government Relations at Prime Alternative Treatment Centers of New Hampshire, told Marijuana Moment. “Public opinion is overwhelmingly favorable on the issue, so it’s no surprise that legislators have finally decided to try this approach.”
In this edition of Canna-Bias, we examine how NBC’s hyperbolic coverage of C.H.S., or Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome, spawned a wave of similar news stories from other mainstream and local publications.
In July, NBC News published a report on C.H.S., which led to a cascade of similar reports from the mainstream media including an Independent article (a day later, with the word “scromiting” in the headline), and at local news organizations throughout the U.S.
Presence of bias:
In 2017, Ganjapreneur interviewed several individuals who suffered from C.H.S. and two physicians who have worked directly with patients who suffered from it. The issue with the NBCNews and Independent articles is not that they chose to cover this condition, but how they went about doing so.
In particular, NBC News plants several tidbits in their article that are designed to make people afraid for the safety of their children in a post-legalization world.
To start with, the NBC News piece states, “Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012. Several years later, doctors in Colorado and other states are expressing alarm over the increasing potency of cannabis and the health risks it may pose for young users – from psychiatric issues, including violent psychotic episodes, to the mysterious condition that plagued Gribbon.”
NBC News does, in fact, interview four Colorado physicians; however, that’s it. There are no physicians from other states interviewed for the story. Bias occurs when news deviates from the ideal, and, ideally, NBC News should have found experts from other states if they were going to make the claim that the alarm about these specific issues is widespread (and omitting them amounts to quality bias).
Another major element of bias within the piece stems from the fact that the two primary sources are an 18-year-old and a 17-year-old, for whom it is not legal to purchase, possess, or consume cannabis under Colorado’s state law. Additionally, C.H.S. does not only affect young people, although they are the focus of the article. Running with these interviews as the focus results in context bias and misleads the reader into thinking this condition is a threat to young people in particular.
The Independent story and its “scromiting” headline contains various bias types, including adjective bias. In Ganjapreneur‘s interviews with C.H.S. patients – both on and off the record – the word “scromiting” never came up. Maybe it’s a UK thing.
There is no denying that C.H.S. is a real condition and that it may be linked to high-potency cannabis–this was a common thread in Ganjapreneur‘s interviews from 2017–but the NBC News article doesn’t include voices of anyone who overcame the condition and is quite one-sided in its presentation (which amounts to gatekeeping, quality and tone bias).
How to remedy:
The Independent doesn’t seem to be interested in covering any facts beyond NBC News’ report, and it seems like they really just wanted to run a headline with the word “scromiting” in it.
To avoid bias in their coverage, both news organizations (and those that followed suit) should include relevant context and multiple perspectives instead of building a narrative around fear.
A group of more than 150 high-profile individuals including musicians, athletes, elected officials, advocates, law enforcement, and prominent business leaders delivered a letter to President Joe Biden (D) on Tuesday requesting “a full, complete, and unconditional pardon” for all federal cannabis offenders.
Some signees of the letter include celebrity musicians Drake, Killer Mike, and 2 Chainz; pro athletes Deion Sanders and Kevin Garnett; former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and a host of elected state officials from around the nation; and cannabis advocates Weldon Angelos and Shaleen Title.
The letter calls on the president to honor his election campaign promises, recalling a 2019 Democratic Party Debate where then-candidate Biden said: “I think we should decriminalize marijuana, period. And I think everyone—anyone who has a record—should be let out of jail, their records expunged, … completely zeroed out.”
The letter also references the drug war’s unfair treatment and disproportionate punishments for poor communities and communities of color and highlights the successful state legalization policies that have carried cannabis reforms over the last near-decade.
“Although the [drug] war impacts individuals of all races, the effects of drug prohibition—from surveillance and arrest, to trial and conviction, to incarceration and reentry into society—are felt most keenly by the poor, the powerless, and people of color. Reckoning with these harms is a critical civil rights issue, which must proceed with what Dr. King memorably described as the ‘fierce urgency of now.’ This resolve is witnessed today in both red and blue states, from coast to coast, as the American people call for an end to marijuana prohibition.” — Letter excerpt
While Biden was considered the more reform-friendly candidate in the 2020 presidential election, his administration has so far failed to follow up on any cannabis-related campaign promises. Instead, the White House has punished cannabis use among its staff members and, in April, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki suggested that the president’s reform plan still includes rescheduling the plant to Schedule II, which would make it easier to research but would maintain prohibition for general consumption.
In this edition of Canna-Bias, we examine how mainstream news organizations covered a recently-released study from Danish researchers on the possibility of a link between cannabis use and schizophrenia.
The article by CNN, “Schizophrenia linked to marijuana use disorder is on the rise, study finds,” and the article by Fox News, “Cannabis-infused psychosis: Amid push for legalization, sister says brother ‘was lost to us for a decade,'” were quick to publish eye-catching headlines but both failed to provide accurate context.
Presence of bias
Although its coverage came on the heels of CNN’s, Fox News didn’t even address the Danish study, instead leading their story with a cannabis opponent who describes lawmakers talking about legalizing cannabis “like it’s chamomile tea.” This alone amounts to attribution bias, as one would be hard-pressed to find a single federal lawmaker who would approve of a cannabis bill that would allow sales in the same manner as tea – available far and wide to anyone with $6.00, at farmers’ markets, and growing on the windowsills of grandmothers around the country.
The Fox News story, moreover, relies on the opinion and experience of one anti-cannabis advocate – a singular story – with an agenda to push. Fox News also buries a key detail of the Reefer Madness-like tale deep within the article – that the brother of the anti-cannabis zealot “suffered from an undiagnosed mental illness” which may have contributed to his schizophrenia, rather than the cannabis he consumed.
To CNN’s credit, one source who is quoted points to people who seek treatment for so-called ‘cannabis-use disorder’ saying that they “tend to have multiple mental health problems” and that “there are far more recreational cannabis users who manage cannabis well than cannabis-dependent users who cannot manage it.” However, the CNN story buries quotes from the study author to the sixth graph, where he notes that the study’s “findings will have to be replicated elsewhere before firm conclusions can be drawn.”
The CNN story doesn’t even include a key quote until the very last graph (structural bias) where Tyler J. VanderWeele, a professor in the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, says that “cannabis use disorder is not responsible for most schizophrenia cases, but it is responsible for a nonnegligible and increasing proportion.”
Taken together, both stories – published four days apart – mislead readers with wild headlines that are not entirely accurate.
How to remedy
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Fox News story is–more or less–a hit piece, and uses one biased source for the entire story. If the author wanted to pursue this topic from an actual journalistic perspective, the article would need to be completely rewritten with a wider lens and additional sources.
CNN’s coverage of the Danish study could be improved by referencing the study author’s own notes about the limitations of the study earlier, and including commentary from qualified experts before the writer’s analysis & speculation based on those comments. The CNN article could also have reached out to additional experts on the topic of cannabis as it pertains to mental health.
Context is another factor that is lacking in these articles. For example, neither Fox News nor CNN discusses the criminal justice implications of legalization (with an estimated 40,000 people still in prison for cannabis-related offenses), or the fact that the U.S. ranks 37th in the world for healthcare and that about half of all Americans with mental illness don’t receive the treatment they need, which could exacerbate symptoms of schizophrenia and psychosis more than cannabis use. For comparison, there is also no mention of the many widely-known health problems associated with legal substances like alcohol and tobacco — or comparable medical terms like ‘alcohol use disorder,’ ‘tobacco use disorder,’ or ‘opioid use disorder.’
Since July, New Jersey courts have expunged at least 362,000 low-level cannabis-related criminal records and there are an estimated 125,000 to 150,000 similar cases that could be automatically expunged under the state’s legalization law, NJ.com reports. Individuals with convictions that have not been automatically cleared can file a motion for review with the courts.
The eligible charges include cannabis possession and sales of less than one ounce, possession of drug paraphernalia, being under the influence of cannabis, failing to turn over cannabis, or possession while in a vehicle.
Michael Hoffman, a defense attorney, told NJ.com that the charges expunged under the legalization law do not include offenses outside of the state Supreme Court order, which laid out a process for expunging records and eligible charges; so, cannabis charges that occurred alongside traffic violations or other crimes will remain on records for now.
Hoffman added that the system leaves many in the dark about whether their cases were included in the process. He described the procedure to obtain a certificate confirming expungements as “convoluted.”
“In a COVID world, they created a brand-new process that requires you to appear in person and present photo identification. That’s just to determine if you were subject to and got the benefit of automatic expungement.”—Hoffman to NJ.com
Chirali Patel, an attorney with Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, estimated that there “should be upwards of millions of cases” affected by the reforms.
“Decriminalization and legalization are trying to work hand-in-hand,” Patel said in the report. “Of course, this is just one step. Dealing with the collateral damage of having had a record— it still prevented them from so much. They’re finally getting to be getting to the starting line.”
South Dakota lawmakers on Monday approved most of the state Department of Health rules for the state’s voter-approved medical cannabis program but rejected some proposals including limiting the amount of high-potency cannabis patients can possess, requirements that medical practitioners could write recommendations for patients that want to grow more than the three plants allowed under the law, and a defined list of qualifying conditions, the Associated Press reports.
The Legislature’s Rules Committee approved provisions that set a $75 application fee for medical cannabis ID cards—with a discounted fee of $20 for low incomes applicants—along with a licensing fee of $5,000 for any medical cannabis facility.
Republican Gov. Kristi Noem, who long opposed the reforms, said the approvals will help keep her administration on track to implementing the program.
“I commend the Department of Health for its hard work to streamline the process. South Dakota will continue to implement the best, most patient-focused medical cannabis program in the country.”—Noem, in a statement, via the AP
Secretary of Health Kim Malsam-Rysdon said she was “disappointed” that the committee rejected a defined list of qualifying conditions. When questioned by lawmakers about the proposed rule about highly potent concentrates, Malsam-Rysdon argued that concentrates have been “shown to be more addictive,” a claim that was rejected by lawmakers.
The Health Department can rework the rejected rules and resubmit them to lawmakers for reconsideration. The medical cannabis law requires officials to enact the rules by October 29 and be ready to issue patient ID cards by November 18.
The National Underwriter Company, an ALM business, is launching the Cannabis Insurance Coverage Specialist (CICS) program—one of the first certifications for insurance agents and brokers, risk managers, and other professionals who advise cannabis-related businesses.
The program was created by ALM’s experts and thought leaders in conjunction with insurance, legal, and cannabis industry experts.
Molly Miller, ALM’s chief content officer, said the “courses will focus on providing an in-depth look at the challenges and opportunities businesses face daily.”
“We wanted to create a forward-thinking certification that would benefit professionals serving the cannabis industry, as well as growers, suppliers, manufacturers, dispensaries and others who are a critical aspect of this still evolving industry.”—Miller in a press release
The first course in the program, Cannabis Insurance 101, will include such topics as risk management, real estate issues, product liability and claims, cannabis issues for business advisors—including financial services professionals and attorneys—and medical and health issues surrounding the use of cannabis, including workers’ compensation and employment law concerns.
The Cannabis Insurance 101 program has been approved for continuing education credits in Arizona, Illinois, Ohio, and Washington state, and is pending in California, Colorado, Nevada, New York, and Oregon.
Kieran J. O’Rourke, vice president and director of underwriting for Cannasure Insurance Services, a subsidiary of One80 Intermediaries, said in a statement that the cannabis industry faces “many of the same daily issues as other enterprises, but with some unique challenges” due to cannabis federal Schedule I status.
“Educating the insurance industry about these unique risks allows carriers to better serve these expanding businesses,” he said.
The Emerald Triangle—made up of California’s Humboldt, Trinity, and Mendocino Counties—is known as the largest cannabis-producing region in the country. Literally shaped like a triangle, the region is home to some of the world’s best and most experienced cannabis cultivators. It’s said that the Emerald Triangle first started developing its reputation after San Francisco’s Summer of Love in 1967, when the flower children gathered in Northern California to create a magical place known today as the cannabis mecca of the United States.
Sun-grown cannabis plants at Bennett Farms. Photo credit: 1st Lady of the West Coast
“These three Northern California counties have the ideal terroir – that combination of soil and climate – for growing the best weed on the planet. These three counties make up the largest cannabis growing region in the United States. There are more weed farmers growing more weed here than any place else in the country, and they’ve been growing here for generations.”
Here, we are paying homage to the region that has been taking care of the needs of those in the United States by growing cannabis for decades; to the region that has saved lives in the face of adversity; to the hippies, cultivators, allies, and women in the soil. Here, we highlight and honor four women cultivators in the Emerald Triangle: Wendy Kornberg, Karla Avila, Sequoyah Hudson, and Chiah Rodriques.
Wendy Kornberg is the owner of Sunnabis: Humboldt’s Full Sun Farms. Sunnabis is a legacy Humboldt, female-owned and operated, DEM pure regenerative cannabis farm specializing in natural farming.
Karla Avila is the owner/operator of Flowerdaze Farm. Flowerdaze is a regenerative cannabis farm; Karla is also an author and the creator of Rose Lemonade.
Sequoyah Hudson is the co-owner/partner of 8-Mile Farms. 8-Mile Farms is a multi-decade farm specializing in growing cannabis with the natural resources that the region provides. Sequoyah is also the founding farmer of True Humboldt and the CEO/CFO of Humboldt Sun Growers Guild.
Chiah Rodriques is the owner/co-owner of Mendocino Generations, Arcanna Flowers, and River Txai. These farms/brands specialize in off-grid, sun-grown, organic, solar cannabis.
Generational Farming: Passion, Inspiration, and Mentors
Recently I traveled up to the Emerald Triangle for a full, three-county tour led by Lele Dubois. I met the most amazing people, some of the most skilled cultivators, and all were some of the most humble people I have ever met. It wasn’t until my visit up that I witnessed true passion for soil, nature, plants, and the medicinal and overall healing benefits of cannabis.
I had the honor of meeting several cultivators, but the women cultivators were my highlight. Cannabis is very much a male-dominated industry so it was magical to meet second, third, and even fourth-generation women farmers/cultivators. I wanted to pick the brains of legends in the cannabis space and they graciously allowed it.
Do you come from a generation of women in cannabis? If so, what generation are you?
Chiah Rodriques: “I am the first woman in my line of cultivation. But I come from a large community where about half of the cultivators are women around me.”
Wendy Kornberg: “I am a second-generation female cannabis cultivator. My mother ran the garden, really more of a hobby farm with about an acre of: veggies, fruits, orchard trees, and cannabis.”
Karla Avila: “I am a 4th generation herbalist and homesteader where cannabis was part of the homestead apothecary garden along with myriad other medicinal and useful plants.”
Sequoyah Hudson: “I am the 1st generation woman cannabis farmer in my family.”
Where did your passion to cultivate come from?
Chiah Rodriques: “My father was a guerilla grower back in the 70s/80s/90s and I watched what he did. At that time, I was coming into my teens in the mid ’90s and started using cannabis so, the passion grew for learning. I grew my first crop when I was 18.”
Wendy Kornberg: “I’ve always loved gardening and farming, but cultivating cannabis seems to have been born into me. My family didn’t grow at home, but guerrilla gardening ran strong in our blood. One late summer at the age of about 13, I decided it was far time to grow my own.”
Karla Avila: “It is in my bones, in my blood. For as long as I can remember, cultivating, nurturing and caring for life and the life-giving plants that heal and sustain us, has been important in my family.”
Sequoyah Hudson: “My passion really developed from growing cannabis as a hobby with my husband. It has always been so rewarding to have successfully grown a ‘crop’ whether it was 1 or 500 plants.”
Do you believe that women have a kindred connection to plants—why or why not?
Chiah Rodriques: “Yes I think that women have a unique connection to all plants. Typically we are the healers, the medicine women, the herbalists, the witches. Cannabis is a female plant when flowering and I feel a connection with that plant more than any plant.”
Wendy Kornberg: “I believe most people have a kindred connection to plants, when they allow themselves to feel it and focus on it. Women seem to be especially in tune with cannabis, perhaps because we cultivate and culture the females more than the males.”
Karla Avila: “Absolutely, without a doubt. Women, perhaps by their nature to be nurturers, caregivers, healers, organizers, connectors, and mothers, vibrate in harmony with useful medicinal and spiritual plants. As a woman who spends time with plants, we become attuned to their vibrational existence and to the connections between us and all life ”
Sequoyah Hudson: “Women absolutely have a kindred connection to plants. Our keen intuition, ability to adapt, and desire to nurture just fosters a relationship naturally.”
8-Mile Farms. Photo credit: Veronica Castillo
Lessons learned and lessons taught
As cannabis legalization continues to sweep the nation, current and aspiring cannabis cultivators are leaving the shadows for the light.
What lesson about plant cannabis has stayed with you since learning it—and is it something that you pass on to women that you teach and inspire?
Chiah Rodriques: “I can’t think of one specific lesson from my years right now, but the main thing is that cannabis is a healer for almost everything—humans, the body, ailments, the land, the soil, and the community. I listened to the wisdom of the plants and created some remedies that help hundreds if not thousands of people over the years.”
Wendy Kornberg: “Cannabis has taught me so much, but mostly that it is so important for bringing our bodies into balance. Every time an ailment hits someone it appears that cannabis has the potential to alleviate some, if not all, of the pain and suffering the illness has caused.”
Karla Avila: “This plant is a teacher, there can be many lessons. This plant is adaptive, it will give you rest if you need it, it will give you wisdom if you seek it. It is a teacher, and it teaches you to be your own teacher, to know your own wisdom. It is an ally.”
Sequoyah Hudson: “The lessons are endless and she makes you want to share all you have learned to everyone—men and women, boys and girls, old and young. But mostly there is beauty and resilience in all things.”
Legacy cultivation and the journey from prohibition
Many of the cultivators in the Emerald Triangle grew cannabis during the prohibition era and have transitioned, like these ladies, from prohibition, to medical, to recreational.
What has it been like as a woman in cannabis to go from prohibition, to medical, to adult-use legalization?
Chiah Rodriques: “I was not the main cultivator on my farm because I was raising the babies mostly for years, but once we got through legalization I began to use my creativity and ingenuity to build a better farm, a brand, and began to network and connect with others as women do.”
Wendy Kornberg: “California has really messed up this time. We had a thriving market for small farmers who risked everything to bring this medicine to the people prior to a list use regulations, and now we have corporations who swooped in during the green rush and have deep pockets, enough to last a couple more years of losses. As a female in a very male-dominated marketplace, it’s been hard to claim a seat at the table with the guys.”
Karla Avila: “NOT easy. The regulatory system for adult-use legalization has a long way to go before it is truly the end of prohibition. Small legacy farmers in particular, those on whose backs this industry was built, are at massive risk of being able to survive and thrive in the new regulatory framework, which is extremely prohibitive to small farmers.”
Sequoyah Hudson: “It has been quite the roller coaster ride for sure. It has been extremely disheartening to see our small rural communities—across California— that had been thriving, caring for one another, developing ‘neighborwoods’ with character, supporting local businesses and charities who were thriving FOR DECADES begin to crumble and suffer and struggle just to make ends meet. A battle has come down on us that none of us could have ever been prepared for.”
Final words—advice and encouragement for aspiring cannabis cultivators
Chiah Rodriques: “Growing cannabis is not for the faint of heart. Growing your own medicine is one of the most satisfying and empowering things a person can do. You can change the world one person at a time.”
Wendy Kornberg: “Find someone who inspires you and intern or train under them, just like with any other crop or career. Having patience and determination is key. Also, don’t step on others to get to where you want to be.”
Karla Avila: “If you have a passion for cultivating, do not ignore it. Practice. Become a Master. Surround yourself with a team of dedicated women and men, build community around this plant and the values that it teaches, and stay true to those values.”
Sequoyah Hudson: “Cannabis has nurtured a community of teaching, learning, giving, and sharing. If you want to learn, she will teach you. In return, teach what you learn to others. She will provide abundantly. In return, share what she gives to you.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have warned against the use of products containing delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
Delta-8 THC is a natural isomer of the cannabis plant but is much less common (and less potent) than delta-9 THC, which is the psychoactive chemical most commonly associated with cannabis. But delta-8 is still psychoactive and modern hemp processors have determined methods for synthetically converting hemp-derived cannabinoids like CBD into delta-8 THC. And, because these companies are operating under the 2018 Farm Bill—which federally legalized industrial hemp and its derivatives—the products can be shipped nationwide, even to states that have not yet legalized cannabis.
First reported by Marijuana Moment, the agencies released documents on Tuesday covering the potential health risks of delta-8 THC and warning consumers against experimenting with such products. In the CDC’s Health Alert Network Health Advisory and the FDA’s “5 Things to Know About Delta-8 THC” fact sheet, the agencies argue that delta-8 THC hasn’t been properly researched.
“The health effects of delta-8 THC have not yet been researched extensively and are not well-understood. However, delta-8 THC is psychoactive and may have similar risks of impairment as delta-9 THC. As such, products that contain delta-8 THC but are labeled with only delta-9 THC content rather than with total THC content likely underestimate the psychoactive potential of these products for consumers.” — CDC Health Advisory excerpt
The agencies also highlight an uptick in “delta-8 THC-involved adverse events” including pediatric hospitalizations and calls to Poison Control as additional causes for concern.
Delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol, aka delta-8 THC, is a psychoactive substance found in the Cannabis sativa plant, of which marijuana and hemp are two varieties. Delta-8 THC products haven’t been evaluated or approved by the FDA for safe use in any context. https://t.co/YI4yWhUeyn
Meanwhile, a growing list of states including Colorado and Washington—the ground zero states for cannabis legalization—have banned delta-8 THC products from retail shelves. Additionally, a study in June found that more than half of commercially available delta-8 THC products contained illegal levels of delta-9 THC.
In an interview last month with HempGrower, renowned cannabis researcher Dr. Ethan Russo suggested that the proliferation of such gray market, hemp-derived THC products was a byproduct of ongoing prohibition.
“If there were legalization of cannabis products with appropriate regulation, I don’t think any of this would be happening,” he said. “The continuation of prohibition has basically been a catalyst to this kind of development of products that people would like to think are legal but clearly are not.”
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will review its cannabis ban following the suspension of Sha’Carri Richardson during the Summer Games for failing a cannabis test, Swimming World Magazine reports. Richardson’s ban renewed the debate on the WADA’s cannabis policy, and the agency’s executive committee endorsed the decision to review the cannabis rules during its Tuesday meeting.
Richardson was suspended in July and the ban also forced her off the relay team, which prevented her from competing in the Olympics. WADA said they could not overturn the suspension despite sympathizing “with the circumstances” of the case. Richardson said she used cannabis to deal with the “emotional panic” following her mother’s death. WADA praised Richardson for her “accountability for accepting that the rules are in place for athletes worldwide.”
Following the meeting, WADA President Witold Bańka said that he was “pleased with the decisions that were taken today by the Executive Committee on a range of key topics.”
“These will help further strengthen the global anti-doping program and the protection of clean sport. In particular, the decisions made by the committee in relation to compliance, the 2022 Prohibited List and in a number of science-related areas will prove to be important for the continued success of the system and for the good of athletes around the world.” — Bańka via Swimming World Magazine
In 2017, WADA removed CBD from its banned substances list, while adding synthetic cannabinoids, such as “Spice.” The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency also includes THC on its prohibited substances list.
The review will be conducted by WADA’s 14-member executive committee.
A package of bi-partisan bills introduced in Michigan on Tuesday would reduce the number of patients allowed per medical cannabis caregiver from five to just one, which would also limit the amount of plants caregivers could grow at one time from 60 to 12, MLive reports.
The reforms are backed by the Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers Association, which released a study in June that estimated about two-thirds of all cannabis sales in the state occur outside of the legal market.
The report by Anderson Economic Group found that in 2020, 30% of Michigan cannabis sales—or about $930,000—were driven by caregivers and medical cannabis cultivation at home. The report also found that 39% of sales, or about $1.2 million, were from illegal sales and adult-use cultivation. Comparatively, the report estimates that adult-use sales at dispensaries represented $510,700 in sales—15% of the market share—while medical cannabis sales at dispensaries comprised about 16% of the market, or about $474,000.
Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers Association Board Chair Shelly Edgerton told MLive that the state’s “unregulated cannabis market poses an immediate threat to the health of all Michiganders, and the Michigan Cannabis Safety Act updates outdated laws to help ensure all Michiganders have access to tested, tracked, and labeled cannabis products.”
“We look forward to working with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to bring Michigan’s unregulated, unlicensed cannabis market in line with the rest of the cannabis industry to help ensure safe, high-quality cannabis is available for all Michiganders.”—Edgerton via MLive
Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers Association Director Steve Linder, who is a former Republican lobbyist, described the supply of cannabis not in the licensed marketplace as “huge” and untested.
“People are not employing, they’re not investing in infrastructure, they’re not paying taxes,” he said in the report. “So, we have to get at the unregulated supply and that law needs to be passed. And we’re going to lead the charge.”
Jamie Lowell, the director of social responsibility and advocacy at the Botanical Company, said that caregivers are not responsible for the state’s oversupply of illicit cannabis.
“There is no good reason to create any further restriction or burdens on the current caregiver system,” Lowell told MLive. “There is no health or other issues warranting any prohibitive changes to caregivers.” She added that the proposals didn’t include input from “important stakeholders” and that “it seems as if it is common knowledge in Lansing that Steve Linder and the (Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers Association) are behind” the proposed bill package.
Rick Thompson, a caregiver supporter and director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) Michigan chapter, described the push as a “smoke and mirrors game.”
Pennsylvania officials will soon have to disclose how many of the state’s medical cannabis patients are certified under each of the state’s qualifying conditions, Spotlight PA reports. It would be the first time the state has revealed that information and is only doing so at the order of the Office of Open Records, which ruled this month in favor of Spotlight PA as the news organization seeks information on how many Pennsylvania medical cannabis patients are enrolled for opioid use disorder.
The state Department of Health refused to provide the information citing the state’s medical cannabis law protecting patient and caregiver information. However, the Open Records Office rejected the argument that releasing patient figures would violate confidentiality rules in the law.
Spotlight PA is seeking the information in their coverage of a story of a Bucks County man who was wrongly denied addiction treatment funding because he was enrolled in the state’s medical cannabis program. The man died a few weeks after the denial due to a drug overdose.
While Spotlight PA’s appeal of the denial was pending, the Office of Open Records approved the request of another organization, CNHI, which was seeking information on how medical cannabis patients lived in each of the state’s counties. The data showed that more than 50,000 patients live in one of 29 rural counties without a dispensary.
Spotlight PA was provided numbers on how many medical cannabis patients were enrolled in New York and New Jersey for opioid use disorder. In New Jersey, more than 2,200 patients were enrolled for the condition as of July, according to a Cannabis Regulatory Commission spokesman; in New York, that figure is more than 2,100 through July.
Helping Women Everywhere Say Goodbye to Pain, and Hello to Pleasure
BALTIMORE, Maryland, September 14, 2021 – Every day, millions of women are suffering in silence from pelvic pain, menstrual cramps, and painful sex which ultimately impacts both a woman’s physical and mental health, as well as their quality of life. Over the past few decades, modern medicine has created various over-the-counter products to address the symptoms of these issues. The problem: those treatments leverage chemicals to ease pain, which eventually creates long-term problems for women. Be Jubie has stepped in to help women ditch the pain using natural CBD + CBG suppositories.
Founded by Jen Jackson in 2019, Be Jubie has set out on a mission to dismantle the stigmas and misconceptions around therapeutic cannabis consumption to act as a tangible advocate for patients in pain. For far too long, women have sought help for their pain, only to be met with pills or a hysterectomy as their only options for relief. Jen saw her mother suffering from endometriosis and many of her friends suffering from fibroids and she knew there had to be a natural alternative to pill consumption.
Reproductive health and sexual pleasure are sacred and deserve the proper attention, and treatment to help people with vaginas thrive. To change the game in reproductive health Be Jubie has launched their proprietary CBD + CBG Suppositories designed to reduce pelvic pain and improve sex. Natural, safe, and effective, Be Jubie’s CBD + CBG Suppositories use three simple ingredients; cocoa butter, full-spectrum CBD, and CBG isolate to create an entourage effect to promote pain relief.
“By the age of 50, 90% of black women and 70% of white women will have fibroids, and black women are 2 to 3 times more likely to suffer from reoccurring fibroids and impactful complications. Understanding first-hand the power of healthy cannabis consumption, I knew we could do more to advocate for women and help them improve their quality of life through targeted pain relief.” – Jen Jackson, Founder & CEO
Through proof of concept, dedication to natural wellness, and unwavering commitment to normalizing the healthy consumption of cannabis; Jen Jackson’s purpose-driven vision has come to fruition with the launch of Be Jubie’s game-changing CBD + CBG Suppositories.
Be Jubie is a purpose-led CBD company dedicated to creating cannabis products that empower us to live more fulfilled lives.
Founded by Jen Jackson in 2019, Be Jubie seeks to improve the wellness of our communities, normalize healthy cannabis consumption through education, and support advocacy for cannabis criminal justice reform to free prisoners locked up for cannabis-related offenses.
Be Jubie is a black-owned family business inspired by reducing Jen’s mother’s (Mama Sue) prescription pill intake with an all-natural alternative. Offering a variety of products to help with various conditions, Be Jubie is dismantling the stigma surrounding cannabis, replacing them with hope for an improved quality of life through purpose-driven products.
In this edition of Cannabias, we examine a recent news story that made the rounds in the mainstream media, pertaining to cannabis gummies being consumed accidentally by children in states where it has been legalized.
The Arizona Republic article, “‘They look like candy’: Poison call for kids ingesting marijuana on the rise in Maricopa County,” (July 12, 2021) describes an increase in reported cases of children who accidentally consumed cannabis-infused products.
Presence of bias:
This article contains two bias types: context and omission bias. The article fails to put into perspective several issues or provide additional information that may cause less alarm.
Ideal, Baseline and Evidence: The ideal for any article focusing on post-legalization issues related to child ingestion of cannabis edibles would not include a click-bait headline, such as the Republic’s “They look like candy…”, because the headline implies that the products are created by the cannabis manufacturer with the purpose of appealing to children.
While infused gummies are candy, there is an expectation that parents should carry the burden of keeping their children safe — just as they would with colorfully-packaged and fruit-flavored alcoholic beverages kept in their fridge, like hard cider. Cannabis companies, by-and-large, don’t want children consuming their products, but they cannot control who has access to their products once they leave their business.
Further, the state of Arizona only just recently legalized cannabis. Once more people have access to a product, of course there are going to be more accidents involving that product. It’s also more likely that parents feel safer bringing their children to the ER following an accidental ingestion now that cannabis is no longer criminalized, which would also contribute to an increase in the total number of visits.
The third graph highlighted by the Republic also leaves out the number of calls from THC exposure from 2016-2020, so using data, such as “as recently as five in 2014” makes it seem like there is a sudden spike but does not offer any additional context. Hard news articles should not cherry-pick information.
While the reporter quotes Maureen Roland, a registered nurse at the Banner Poison and Drug Information Center, the story fails to include any other sources or voices in the piece speaking to the issue.
The article does point out, rightly, that no one has died, but then relies on the opinion and speculation of Roland. The article should include physicians from other states with a mature market who have witnessed the longer-term trends over several years. Also, it leaves out data from the rest of the state, which would certainly be helpful for a broader perspective.
How to remedy:
To avoid bias in their reporting, the author could have simply included elements discussed in the IBE discussion but also pointed out some other statistics for comparison’s sake: such as how many children are brought to the ER for accidental ingestion of pharmaceuticals, or alcohol and how many of those ER visits lead to death.
Including the fact that there have been no fatalities in the lede graph would also help balance the story. The headline could read, “Poison calls for kids ingesting marijuana on the rise in Maricopa County: No Deaths,” which would serve to inform the reader rather than baiting for clicks, which seems to be the goal of the current headline structure (this is also known as structural bias).
To be clear, this is an issue that should be covered, and parents in states where cannabis is legal should be informed about their responsibilities and the potential outcomes of storing products where they can be accessed by children. The expectation is not that coverage related to accidental cannabis consumption by children be ignored; however, in order to prevent fear mongering, journalistic reporting should include all relevant information, including experts, other stakeholders, and any available research on the topic. This story fails to meet those expectations due to its failure to provide context and the omission of other relevant facts and voices.
