A man uses a lighter and glass pipe to smoke some cannabis.

Massachusetts Cannabis Regulators Back Social-Use Program

5/17/2019

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Cannabis regulators in Massachusetts voted 3-2 on Thursday in favor of a social-use pilot program that would allow cannabis consumption clubs to open in 12 cities throughout the state, the Boston Herald reports. The program would give social-equity applicants the first crack at new licenses.

The board still needs to craft regulations for the clubs – which could come as soon as the end of this month or as late as the fall, the report says. Vaping and edible consumption would be allowed indoors while smoking would be limited to outdoors until the rules for ventilation could be crafted.

Opponents of the proposal cited drugged-driving concerns, including Chelsea police Chief Brian Kyes who said the law enforcement community is “concerned” with permitting social use because there are no mechanisms in place to test for individuals driving under the influence of cannabis. Cannabis Commissioners Britt McBride and Jennifer Flanagan both voted against the plan, with McBride calling the sequence “all wrong.”

“I don’t think that we should be allowing social consumption unless and until the state addresses the ability to better detect marijuana impairment. … The potential for harm outweighs the potential for good that could come out of us moving ahead with this.” – McBride, during the meeting, via the Herald

Only Alaska allows social cannabis use statewide. Las Vegas and Denver, the largest cities in Nevada and Colorado, both allow for social-use within city limits, along with some California cities.

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UW Researchers to Study Cannabis Use During Pregnancy

5/17/2019

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The University of Washington is undertaking a study to measure the effects cannabis has on an infant’s brain development, cognitive and motor development, medical health, and social behavior after prenatal exposure. Unlike other studies that have not excluded alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs, these study participants will only consume cannabis during pregnancy.

During the study, test subjects are required to report their cannabis use weekly, only use cannabis from a licensed vendor, and send digital photos to record CBD and THC concentrations. Leading the research are Dr.’s Natalia Kleinhans and Stephen Dager, who say they will track cannabis use through pregnancy and scan infant brains at six months to identify any negative side effects.

“The very few investigations that have studied prenatal cannabis exposure and infant brain development have all involved women who are polysubstance drug users. No one has looked at marijuana use exclusively.” — Dr. Kleinhans, in a statement

The researchers are recruiting seventy pregnant women less than thirteen weeks pregnant, thirty-five for test and control groups.  The control group will consume no cannabis, alcohol, tobacco or illicit drugs. The test group will consume cannabis at least twice a week primarily to control morning sickness. Participants will be drug tested during the study rather than mothers self-reporting their drug intake.   

“Most medications prescribed for morning sickness have not been rigorously tested in pregnant women and appear to have side effects that are not minor. Remember that thalidomide, a particularly extreme case, was given to women to reduce nausea during pregnancy,” Dr. Kleinhans said. “Pregnant women have minimal drug-safety information to rely on when deciding whether to take a pharmaceutical, but it’s marijuana that has the negative connotation.”

At six months, both groups of infants will be evaluated for cognitive and social development, communication, motor skills, temperament, and other behaviors. Researchers will also use Functional MRI (FMRI) technology to assess if cannabis exposure affected parts of the brain responsible for reward and addiction.

“Smell is one of the earliest developing senses, and it activates brain regions that have cannabinoid receptors and are involved in reward and addiction. We will use fMRI to look at the integrity of the reward system that we think could be affected by marijuana – to see if there is a change,” Kleinhans said in a press release.

The study comes at the same time as the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board are requiring all retail cannabis shops to display mandatory signage warning against using cannabis when pregnant and/or breastfeeding.

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Adult-Use Bill Introduced In Delaware

5/17/2019

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Delaware lawmakers have introduced recreational cannabis legislation nearly one year after the House rejected a different legalization proposal, Delaware State News reports. The new bill does not include home-grow provisions, as its predecessor did, but contains much of the same language.

The measure would impose a 15 percent sales tax at the point of sale, limits customers to one-ounce purchases, and allows municipal control to block industry operations.

Democratic state Rep. Ed Osienski, the bill’s main sponsor, said the measure would have “numerous benefits” for the state including “good-paying jobs” and weakening the illicit cannabis market.

“There’s a tremendous amount of public support for legal, recreational marijuana, and what we are proposing is a measured, reasonable approach that addresses many of the concerns people have raised while providing a framework that will allow for a successful industry.” – Osienski to Delaware State News

Like alcohol sale in the state, cannabis sales would only be allowed from certain hours. The state would issue 15 retail licenses within 16 months of the bill’s passage.

The measure does not have the support of Democratic Gov. John Carney, whose spokesperson said the governor “does not believe [Delaware] should move forward with legalization.”

“There are still unanswered questions, and he believes we should continue to monitor progress in other states that have legalized,” Jonathan Starkey said in the report.

Last year, the House received 21 votes of 41 in favor of legalization but the state requires 60 percent legislative support in both chambers to pass measures that would levy a new tax. That bill estimated the state would see $9 million to $50 million in industry-derived tax revenues.

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New Jersey Voters Could Decide Legalization in 2020

5/16/2019

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New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney is planning to put a recreational cannabis legalization question on 2020 general election ballots after proponent lawmakers couldn’t get enough votes to pass the measure legislatively, according to a Politico report.

“The votes aren’t there. I’m disappointed. The 2020 general election, I think, will be successful, and we will move forward with adult use.” – Sweeney, at a press conference, via Politico

During his remarks, Sweeney said that while Gov. Phil Murphy tried to get the bill passed, he “didn’t listen to the advice that legislators gave him” on the legalization issue. Sweeney suggested that Murphy’s decision to unilaterally expand the state’s medical cannabis regime hampered his ability to sway opposition votes.

Murphy, at an unrelated press conference, rejected that premise.

“I reject being blamed for trying to help citizens out who have nowhere else to turn, whose lives are at stake or quality of life is a stake,” he said during the presser. “I wouldn’t call that blame. This is my responsibility as governor.”

The Democratic governor did praise Sweeney for his support of an expungement bill for low-level cannabis charges, which Murphy said he is open to signing. The expungement legislation would allow offenders 10 years removed from their most recent conviction, fine, or successful complete of parole or probation, a “clean slate.” However, Murphy said he was concerned that the bill expunges charges for crimes that a person could still be arrested for under the state’s current laws.

Lawmakers are also considering the addition of language from the legalization bill allowing individuals convicted of possessing up to five pounds to expunge their records as well but Sweeney believes those limits are too high.

It’s unclear whether the legislature plans to take up the expungement bills before the session concludes.

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Texas Senate Approves Industrial Hemp Bill

5/16/2019

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The Texas Senate has unanimously approved an industrial hemp bill that includes legalization of the production and sale of non-smokeable CBD-rich products in the state, the Texas Tribune reports. The House passed the bill last month but the two chambers must agree to a compromise version of the legislation before it can be sent to the governor.

The Senate version includes language that would implement random testing of CBD products sold in the state and require retailers to obtain licenses to sell the cannabinoid-infused goods. The Senate version would also levy fines on people growing hemp crops over the 0.3 percent THC threshold. Manufacturers would not be allowed to produce products that could be smoked.

The upper chamber version of the bill also gives law enforcement broad powers to seize any crops or products they believe to be THC-rich or another controlled substance.

The state’s medical cannabis program only allows a small number of patients access to CBD products and it’s unclear how the law changes would impact that program. Earlier this month, House lawmakers approved a measure to expand that program but it does not raise the THC threshold.

Texas is one of just six states without a legalized hemp cultivation program but joins the list of states making changes to their laws following last year’s passage of the Farm Bill which removed hemp from the federal Controlled Substances Act. Under those changes, states who wish to allow hemp cultivation and production must submit their proposals to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for approval.

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Nebraska Senate Kills MMJ Legalization Bill

5/16/2019

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Medical cannabis legislation is dead in Nebraska even after the bill sponsor agreed to all of the opposition’s amendments to limit the products and delivery methods that would be allowed under the regime, the Lincoln Journal-Star reports. The measure did get hours of Senate floor debate before being pushed from the chamber’s agenda.

“Honestly, this was my colleagues’ chance to do something, and I was giving them the decision on whether they wanted to take action or not.” — Sen. Anna Wishart, the bill sponsor, to the Journal-Star

Wishart had worked with opponents of the measure and eliminated the home-growing and smoking provisions provided in the original version of the bill. She said she also would have supported a ban on edibles if it would have helped get the measure approved.

Opponents argued that cannabis products have not been approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, warned of the dangers of drug-impaired driving, and other dangers associated with cannabis. One prohibition group, Moms Against Marijuana, brought in a physician who moved to the state from Colorado who said that after recreational legalization in Colorado about “a quarter” of her patients were suddenly “daily users.”

Gov. Pete Ricketts also opposed the bill, arguing that medicinal legalization will allow the cannabis industry to put down roots in the state and “pressure to legalize recreational use” will follow.

Wishart indicated that she, along with state Sen. Adam Morfeld, have already started gathering signatures for a petition initiative to get the issue on 2020 general election ballots. While Wishart gave the legislative path as 30 percent chances of success, she gives a voter initiative an 80 percent chance – and a successful ballot initiative measure would give less control over the law by the Legislature.

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thcv

THCV: The Next CBD?

5/15/2019

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During the last decade’s explosive cannabis market growth, consumers have been treated to a wide array of cannabis products high in relatively common cannabinoids like THC and CBD to the almost complete exclusion of lesser-known but potentially efficacious compounds naturally produced by the plant-like THCV. For years, cannabis aficionados have been hoping to get their hands on these rarer compounds to unlock health benefits related to anxiety, pain, diabetes, weight gain, and a host of other ailments.

What is THCV?

Among the lesser-known cannabinoids, THCV (tetrahydrocannabivarin) has emerged as a strong contender for being “the next big thing” from the cannabis industry. THCV has been shown to offer a unique array of effects and medical benefits that set it apart from other lesser-known cannabinoids.

The only structural difference between this cannabinoid and THC is the presence of a three-carbon “propyl” group, rather than the typical five-carbon “pentyl” group abundantly found in the more common components of cannabis. While this may seem subtle, it causes THCV’s effects on a consumer to greatly vary from those of THC. These have been shown to include a reduction in panic attacks, suppression of appetite, the ability to regulate blood sugar levels, management of motor disorder-related symptoms, and even cognitive enhancement.

Anti-munchies and more

“THCV is widely considered to be an appetite suppressant, offering people a ‘munchie free’ alternative to other cannabis products,” said Dr. Kymron DeCesare, chief cannabis research advisor at Steep Hill. “It is also known to reduce anxiety.”

“I have been most excited about its potential to help with PTSD and have worked with a group of veterans who have had positive interaction with THCV for health concerns.  The community is also hopeful that patients with Parkinson’s, MS and those with certain sleep disorders may get health benefits from THCV. More research is needed but this is all very promising. Having it widely available in the marketplace may lead to other applications as we found with CBD.” — Dr. DeCesare, in an interview

Meanwhile, several case studies and medical research conducted over the past several years appear to show many potential benefits of THCV.

The British Pharmacological Society, for example, reported that “THCV has a promising pharmacological profile for delaying disease progression in Parkinson’s Disease and also for ameliorating parkinsonian symptoms.”

While it’s still challenging to conduct human cannabinoid trials in the U.S., states like California have allowed cannabis for medical use for over twenty years, which has led to an accumulation of anecdotal data. During this time, THCV has proven to be a buzzworthy offshoot of cannabis products.

Additionally, researchers at the University of California School of Medicine have launched a clinical trial to assess the efficacy and tolerability of CBD and THC as a treatment for adults with essential tremor (ET). This is the first such research of its kind and could be an important step toward researching THCV as a potential remedy for ET and other ailments related to treating bone density, particularly osteoporosis.

“Given the wide array of human physiology, any individual person may benefit from THCV,” said Dr. DeCesare. “THCV is generally absent in the vast majority of cannabis products but is known for its unique properties which can only be experienced when it is consumed in higher amounts.”

Product lines incoming

Products infused with this cannabinoid have already burst onto the scene in California’s cannabis market.

According to David Lampach, CEO of California Cannabinoids, “For years, there has been high demand for THCV, but until now there have been virtually no products available. People are literally hungry for access to this rare but promising cannabinoid and we’ve seen a great deal of excitement.”

Lampach’s company recently released “Doug’s Varin,” a line of cannabis products including vape pens and more that emphasizes high THCV content.

Level Blends, another California company, also recently released a line of sublingual tablets offering doses of the cannabinoid in edible form.

As more consumers and cannabis product manufacturers become aware of this cannabinoid and its effects, both the supply and the demand for THCV products are likely to increase. “The market is wide open, leaving a blue-skies opportunity for THCV,” Lampach said.

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Michigan Licenses First Cannabis Delivery Services

5/15/2019

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Cannabis regulators in Michigan have licensed the state’s first cannabis delivery services in Detroit and Portage, according to an MLive report. The two Detroit licenses were issued to Utopia Gardens and BotaniQ, while Lake Effect received the Portage license; however, the services can only bring products to patients in municipalities where cannabis sales are outlawed.

Jevin Weyenberg, general manager of Lake Effect in Portage, called the new rules “life-saving for some people.”

“We know a lot of the patients we’re going to be delivering to – a lot of them are in wheelchairs. Convenient access to medicine – you can never put a price on that.” – Weyenberg to MLive

The Marijuana Regulatory Agency delivery rules require dispensaries to hire their own drivers, document delivered inventory, and track the delivery route with GPS, the report says. Delivery businesses can only deliver 2.5 ounces – the maximum daily limit – during home deliveries. Weyenberg said the company is taking security steps beyond what the agency requires including equipping cameras on delivery vehicles and drivers.

Utopia Gardens owner Stuart Carter said patients will be able to place orders online or by calling the shop, noting that their drivers will not accept cash but can accept debit cards. Carter said they are already doing two to three delivery runs per day.

Since voters approved legalization in 2016, the state’s industry has undergone many changes, including the closure of dozens of dispensaries over licensing issues and the elimination of the all-volunteer Marijuana Licensing Board. The approval for delivery services came last November as part of a larger overhaul of the medical cannabis rules and regulations.

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Quebec Lawmakers Reconsider Public-Use Ban

5/15/2019

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Lawmakers in Quebec, Canada are planning to amend the language banning public cannabis consumption and raising the legal age for purchasing and use from 18 to 21-years-old, according to a report from the CBC. The Quebec Union of Municipalities also opposed the public-use ban and officials determined it was unenforceable.

In most Canadian provinces, the legal age for purchasing and consuming cannabis is 19; Alberta is the only other province with a legal age of 18.

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante also opposed the ban, telling the CBC that the restrictions posed “significant difficulties” for the province. While Lionel Carmant, Quebec‘s junior health minister, has revised the measure to give cities and towns more control over cannabis rules.

The proposed changes come as federal agencies adopt, or move toward adopting, new rules and regulations for the nation’s legal cannabis industry. Last week, Health Canada announced would-be industry operators would have to show that they have a fully built cultivation site before applying for a license; the agency said that 70 percent of applicants who pass the initial paper-based reviews over the last three years have not proven they have a facility that meets the national regulatory requirements.

Lawmakers are still devising rules for the rollout of edibles, which are not allowed in the current marketplace after lawmakers decided to wait one year until allowing the products for retail sale. In its budget proposal, the Liberal government included a THC-based tax rate for edible, and topical, products.

All of the proposed changes must be approved by the National Assembly, which adjourns next month.

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The Vermont Capitol Building in Montpelier, Vermont photographed on a colorful, autumn afternoon.

Vermont Cannabis Sales Bill Likely Dead Until Next Year

5/15/2019

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Legislative plans to pass cannabis tax-and-regulate laws in Vermont have stalled and are likely dead for the session, VT Digger reports. The bill is currently before the House Ways and Means Committee and, while Democratic House Majority Leader Jill Krowinski called the situation “fluid,” she indicated even getting the bill to the floor for a vote is “looking less and less likely.”

House Speaker Mitzi Johnson told VT Digger that creating a legal cannabis market is not one of her top issues and she is willing to wait until next year to pass the legislation.

“My attitude all along on that bill is that we need to be thorough on the policy. The policy needs to drive the timeline, the timeline cannot drive the policy.” – Johnson, to VT Digger

Republican Gov. Phil Scott has promised not to support any tax-and-regulate bill that does not include provisions for roadside testing for cannabis impairment and told NECN that the state could wait to pass the reforms until next year. Scott has also indicated he believes the bill as written violates the state constitution because it doesn’t allow governors the authority to determine the makeup of the panel to regulate the industry.

Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, who supports cannabis legalization and taxed-and-regulated sales, told VT Digger that “a few people at the top of the House” are the real challenge in getting the bill passed.

“It’s clearly a missed opportunity to bring the underground market above ground, generate revenue to put towards prevention, highway safety, and invest in any number of things,” he said in the report.

The Ways and Means Committee has only had the bill since the beginning of the month but Committee Chair Janet Ancel, a Democrat, said she had concerns that taxes would be used to run the Cannabis Control Commission for the first two or three years while the industry matures and tax revenues derived from it are able to foot the bill of about $1 million per year.

Cannabis legalization took effect in Vermont last June but the reforms did not include a legalized industry. Vermont is still the only state to enact adult-use legalization via the legislative process.

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Five Predictions for the Pre-Roll Sector of the Cannabis Industry

5/14/2019

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We estimate the pre-roll market to be about 492.8MM pre-rolls sold in 2018 across the United States and Canada. This was calculated by looking at public data regarding the percentage of cannabis sales that are attributed to pre-rolls, which is about 7.7% of the total market, equaling about $985MM in retail sales out of total cannabis sales of $12.8BN. We estimate the average wholesale price of a pre-roll is $2, so we can then estimate that 492.8MM joints are sold per year in Canada and the United States. Although the concentrate and edible categories are growing at an incredibly fast pace, pre-rolls are one of the quintessential forms of consuming cannabis and still make up a fair portion of the market.

As the industry continues to evolve it will be interesting to see how pre-rolls progress in the ever-expanding cannabis market – below are our five predictions for the pre-roll sector of the cannabis industry.

Smaller Pre-Rolls and More Multi-Packs

Prediction: Average pre-roll size will shrink from 1 gram sizes toward half-gram and even smaller sizes.

We’ve already seen this trend starting to take effect, based on pre-rolled cone sales at Custom Cones USA, we have started to see half-gram and ¾ gram overtake the full gram sized cone in sales. I think the average consumer does not want to smoke a whole one-gram pre-roll alone and even sharing between two people, one gram can be daunting. Further, as the price of cannabis continues to go down, companies are starting to realize it’s much cheaper per joint to offer multi-packs. When cannabis went recreational in 2016, there were not that many pre-roll multi-packs available; however, take a look during your next dispensary visit and you’ll notice many more multi-pack options.

Companies are getting really creative with their multi-packs by offering multiple different strains in each box. Multi pre-roll packs entice the consumer with variety. Compared to just selling one pre-roll to a consumer, you now have the consumer smoking your pre-rolls every time until that multi-pack runs out. At Custom Cones USA we have helped companies tell different strains apart with custom branding on the filter tips, this helps drive your branding home and makes for amazing social media posts.

Pre-roll Automation

Prediction: The pre-roll manufacturing process will soon become fully-automated, eliminating the need to manually weigh, twist, and packaging pre-rolls.

Automation is everywhere and if you thought it wasn’t going to find its way into the cannabis industry, you must be high on something. Pre-roll manufacturing is one of the most labor-intensive cannabis products because the current equipment is so new and super manual. Compared to extraction and edible equipment, which has largely been adapted from other industries, the pre-rolled cone-filling machine was invented solely for cannabis, thus it’s very new and not that advanced. That being said, automation is already here. There are a couple of companies that just released fully automated pre-roll manufacturing machines, which can produce up to 2,000 pre-rolls per hour with only 1 employee.

Based on our conversations with processors, your typical knockbox with a two-person team can fill 1,000 joints per hour, but the post-processing of weighing, twisting, and packaging the joints yields only 1,000 finished pre-rolls in an eight-hour shift. Some companies we work with have multiple pre-roll filling machines and a full team twisting and packaging pre-rolls. Don’t be surprised when a shiny new machine replaces almost your entire pre-roll team.

CBD Pre-Rolls and Cigarettes

Prediction: CBD pre-rolls will continue to gain market share and will eventually take over cigarette alternatives like clove and herbal cigarettes.

Compared to their THC counterpart, CBD pre-rolls are legal in every state and already have a national presence. Available online, you can even find CBD pre-rolls in your local head shop or gas station. CBD flower is still more expensive than recreational legal cannabis, but as the price of CBD flower continues to drop, you’ll see more and more CBD pre-rolls on the market. Multi-packs of CBD pre-rolls will be everywhere, especially as automation continues to develop into the pre-roll space.

CBD pre-rolls are being sold in the classic cone shape, as well are more traditional cigarette style tubes. There are already a few CBD pre-roll companies selling packs of CBD cigarettes made on old tobacco equipment. In Switzerland, Heimat was approved to mix tobacco with CBD flower, making them the first and only legal spliff. I know it’s not a real spliff and don’t expect anything like that soon in the U.S. — I don’t see any state governments getting anywhere near legalizing the mix of tobacco and cannabis (ignore the illegal companies still rampant in California).

Currently, the rules around mixing CBD flower and recreationally grown flower make it rarer than you might think, but we predict you will start seeing more CBD rich pre-rolls being sold as states loosen the regulations regarding CBD flower grown outside the regulated market.

Variety of Pre-Rolls

Prediction: The variety of pre-rolls will continue to expand, matching the huge variety of products seen in nearly every other industry.

When cannabis was first legalized, you had pretty much two options – half-gram or full gram pre-rolls. Now you are starting to see pre-rolls made with hemp wrap blunt cones, leaf cones, and really specialty pre-rolls with glass or wood filter tips. Pre-rolled blunt cones are giving producers an easy way to expand their pre-roll line, simply load the pre-rolled blunt cones in your knockbox and you’ve instantly got a new product – same with the pre-rolled leaf cones.

We are also starting to see more unique sizes of pre-rolled cones come up. Companies are now offering mini pre-rolls, measuring .35 or .25 grams. At Custom Cones USA we have had many inquiries on two-gram pre-rolled cones or cones with extra long crutches, so don’t be surprised if you start seeing a ton of new sized pre-rolled cones.

Advanced Filtration

Prediction: Selective filter technology will be developed, which will selectively filter out harmful carcinogens and tar while filtering out relatively little cannabinoids.

Despite the evidence that smoking any substance is bad for you, cannabis advocates see smoking cannabis as a powerful medicine. Scientists theorize the beneficial impact cannabinoids have in our bodies may offset some of the negative impacts of combustion. Edibles and concentrates have been exploding in growth, but smoking provides cannabis users with a unique smoking experience. There’s no doubt smoking will never fully fade away and we predict selective filter technology will help mitigate the dangers of smoking, while still providing cannabis users with fast-acting relief.

Compared to traditional cotton filters, which catch anything and indiscriminately filter out a little bit of everything from the smoke, the idea behind selective filtration technology is a filter medium that filters out the bad stuff, but passes through all the beneficial cannabinoids. Compared to edibles, which have a very slow absorption rate, smoking cannabis has almost immediate absorption into your body. Selective filtration technology will be seen as a huge advancement in the medical community.

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Democratic Leaders Reintroduce Legalization Bill

5/14/2019

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Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries — the Senate leader and caucus chair respectively — plan to reintroduce the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act, which would remove cannabis from the federal Controlled Substances Act and authorize the feds to spend $100 million over five years to help states expunge old low-level cannabis-related records.

Schumer previously introduced the legislation last year, but it was never moved from the Senate Judiciary Committee. The previous version of the bill included 7 co-sponsors including former vice-presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine and current presidential candidates Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

“The Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act would give states the right to make their own choices when it comes to regulation; better equip all Americans, particularly communities disproportionately impacted by marijuana’s criminalization, to participate in the growing marijuana economy; and, by incentivizing sealing and expungement programs, provide Americans with low-level marijuana convictions the opportunity to move forward.” – Schumer, in a press release

The measure includes provisions dedicating funding to women and minority-owned cannabusiness through the Small Business Association; a $250 million authorization – over five years – for highway safety research to “assess the pitfalls” of driving under the influence of cannabis; a five-year, half-million investment for cannabis-related public health research; and restrictions on advertising to minors.

In a statement, Jeffries called the $100 million expungement investment helps “correct the injustice” of America’s “archaic” 70-plus-year-old cannabis laws.

The Senate, however, is controlled by Republicans and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – who controls which bills make it to the floor for a vote – told The Hill last year he has “no plans” to endorse cannabis legalization. In December 2018, McConnell blocked the SAFE Banking Act, which would give legal cannabusinesses regular banking access, from being considered in the chamber.

Democratic Sen. Corey Booker has also introduced legalization legislation, the Marijuana Justice Act, which was referred to the Judiciary Committee in February.

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New Jersey Gov. Expands MMJ Program

5/14/2019

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With broad legalization not likely to reach New Jersey this year, Gov. Phil Murphy is moving forward with plans to expand the state’s medical cannabis program via executive order. The new rules, announced by the Department of Health, include changes to fee and permitting structures and the addition of new products.

The changes codify some rules that were already in effect but were temporary, including: halving the registration fees for patients and caregivers from $200 to $100; reducing the registration fees for military veterans and seniors to $20; allowing physicians to opt-out of the public list of medical cannabis providers and allowing the sale of vape pens.

The order also keeps post-traumatic stress disorder anxiety, chronic pain of visceral origin, chronic pain related to musculoskeletal disorders, migraines, Tourette syndrome, and Opioid Use Disorder on the list of qualifying conditions.

The new rules remove previous requirements for qualifying condition petitions to be first approved by the Medicinal Marijuana Review Panel, and for children to undergo a psychiatric evaluation before being registered with the program.

“These rules solidify key program reforms to ensure greater patient access to this effective therapy. With these changes, the Department will be able to add conditions more rapidly, remove barriers for minors and increase supply of product available.” — Health Commissioner Dr. Shereef Elnahal, in a statement

Notably, the order creates separate permit systems for cultivation, manufacturing, and dispensing, in an effort to increase the available supply of cannabis for qualified patients and allow “specialization in the market.”

Murphy included recreational legalization in his campaign platform; however, Democratic-led Senate President Stephen Sweeney tabled the measure after not finding the 21 votes needed to pass the chamber. Murphy said in April that he would expand the medical cannabis program in the event that lawmakers could not come to an agreement.

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Iowa Gov. Signs Hemp Bill

5/14/2019

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Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed the hemp legalization measure passed by the legislature late last month but noted that the measure “does not legalize the sale or manufacturing of…CBD.”

In a statement, the Republican governor noted that the federal Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved the cannabinoid for human or animal consumption.

“The FDA has also declared that CBD is not a dietary supplement. State law cannot preempt the federal law, and Iowans engaging in the manufacture, sale, or purchase of hemp-derived products should carefully consider the legality of their actions under Iowa and federal law.” – Reynolds, in a press release

The measure, which passed the House 95-3 and the Senate 49-1, does allow licensees to cultivate up to 40 acres; however, hemp farming isn’t expected to begin in the state until next year.

Under the federal hemp law changes approved last year, states must submit their proposed hemp regulations to the Department of Agriculture for approval prior to farmers putting seeds into the ground. The USDA released guidance for importing hemp seeds last month which requires imported seeds to include documentation that the strains will produce less than 0.3 percent THC and are free of pests.

In her statement, Reynolds said the hemp industry is still evolving and “it is imperative” that state agencies and the legislature “remain vigilant in evaluating the effects of this legislation and the need for additional changes to ensure that our laws protect the health and safety of all Iowans.”

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Washington Gov. Signs Expungement Bill Into Law

5/14/2019

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After years of lobbying efforts by citizens, activist groups and legislators in Washington State, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) has signed SB 5605, “Concerning misdemeanor marijuana offense convictions.”

The new law allows Washingtonians who were previously arrested for misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor cannabis possession to request a court vacancy for that conviction. This would allow said individuals to answer “No” when asked, “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?” on job and/or housing applications.

The new law, however, does have some hoops to jump through. To be eligible for the program, a person must:

  • Have been twenty-one or older when convicted.
  • Have been convicted under Washington state law.
  • Have been sentenced between January 1, 1998, and December 5, 2012.
  • And only been convicted of the one cannabis possession charge.

The court reserves the right to not vacate a sentence for various other administrative reasons, but it’s estimated the new law will help roughly 69,000 Washingtonians. The “Act” must be funded in the Omnibus Appropriations budget by June 30, 2019.

In an email, Danielle Rosellison — president of the Cannabis Alliance, a Washington State trade organization who lobbied heavily for the bill — said, “Cannabis Alliance is proud that our members voted expungement of non-violent cannabis convictions as one of the priorities they wanted to address this session and we could not be more excited about the passage of this bill!”

“This is one small step to righting the wrongs of the War on Drugs. The work is not done, but this will help about 69,000 Washingtonians,” Rosellison said. 

The legislation comes on the heels of the governor’s “Marijuana Justice Initiative,” a program which allows applicants to ask the governor for a pardon for their misdemeanor cannabis convictions. Pardoning, however, does not completely erase the crime from a person’s record, so the legislature opted for conviction “vacancy” to go one step further in erasing some damage the drug war has caused. 

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CBD 101: What is CBD? Benefits and Side Effects

5/13/2019

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Most of us have heard a lot about cannabis and its many components, yet there is always someone who needs that extra bit of explanation. So, today’s CBD 101 guide is for all those people who are looking to learn all about this miraculous (too much? We’ll get back to that) cannabinoid.

Starting from the beginning:

What is CBD?

CBD is many things, but to be precise: CBD is a cannabinoid, which is a type of chemical compound found in cannabis. There are more than a hundred cannabinoids in cannabis and CBD is one of them.

CBD has gained immense popularity in recent times because it is credited with being able to help in treating several mental and physical conditions without giving the psychedelic ride which is usually associated with the other popular cannabinoid, THC. CBD is not psychoactive and has that benefit over THC.

The cannabidiol products that are available and being used throughout the entire nation are currently made using CBD extracts from industrial hemp. While some states are allowing the amalgamation of the primary cannabinoids — both CBD and THC — others have not made THC legal yet and, for the people of those states, hemp-derived CBD is the only natural alternative for health enhancement.

Other than CBD’s affinity to our CB receptors (We have CBD receptors that react to both, endocannabinoids that our body produces and phytocannabinoids like CBD and THC) which affects almost all the human functions, CBD is also a great source of nutrition. Primary vitamins, fatty acids, and more importantly, all 20 amino acids including the essential ones which the human body needs to source externally, CBD has it all.

Thus, CBD is not just another part of cannabis but is one of the most effective components for improving mental and physical health.

3 Health Benefits of CBD That Made It So Popular

1) CBD oil is hugely accepted by users as a pain reliever

Chronic pain is an emerging health issue in the US, and people are sick of using painkillers, which carry the risk of opioid addiction as a side-effect. Although people started trying out CBD-derived products to manage their pain because of their curiosity, the cannabinoid seems to have proved its worth as a healer because of its ever-increasing sales.

Several clinical trials have been conducted to study CBD’s effects on various pains including cancer pain, and CBD has proved its efficacy by lowering the pain levels in the patients seeking chemotherapy. According to a comprehensively published report, various CBD-infused drugs showed considerable improvement in managing different pains. Thus, maybe not entirely, but CBD has been shown to be a positive influence in healing chronic pain.

2) CBD oil has gained popularity with its capacity of decreasing epileptic seizures

You might be living under a rock if you haven’t heard about the Figi family, who chose to treat their daughter Charlotte’s for Dravet syndrome symptoms using CBD oil. The results were so amazing that the news became an eye and ear opener for the entire nation.

From 300 seizures per week to just one episode per week, Charlotte Figi lived the benefits of CBD oil. Although this CBD oil was an amalgamation of CBD and THC, it gave hope to hundreds of parents looking for something that would work for their epileptic children as well.

Hundreds of surveys, online and offline, are pointing towards the cannabinoid’s ability to decrease epileptic seizures irrespective of their cause. In a particular online survey targeting a Facebook group of parents in the US who supported the use of CBD for epilepsy. These were the key findings of the survey:

  • There were 117 respondents
  • 85% reported a decrease in the frequency of seizures
  • 14% reported complete freedom from seizures
  • Children showed improved sleep, alertness, and mood

3) Addiction treatment has become easier with CBD’s inclusion

According to the World Drug Report published in 2014, approximately 183,000 deaths are believed to be drug related in a year. Yes, deaths caused just by drugs, we haven’t talked about alcohol, tobacco, and other substances yet. So, addiction is a real problem, and we are amidst an opioid crisis where people are not able to let go of their painkillers due to their addictive properties.

CBD, the non-psychoactive cannabinoid, is a subject of research for various institutions, who are studying its capacity to manage addictive behavior in animals and humans. In a study focused on CBD and tobacco addiction that involved a CBD inhaler and a placebo, the participants observed a significant decrease in the urge to smoke post two weeks.

The same could be said for alcoholism. CBD has also shown its effectiveness in reducing cannabis addiction in a study involving 134 participants. A simple inclusion of CBD oil may help you get off the hook successfully.

Apart from these three CBD benefits that played a significant role in popularizing CBD, the cannabinoid is also known for inducing sleep and a feeling of relaxation. Anxiety and depression are other major health hazards which are convincing people to try natural alternatives such as CBD which have better tendency to work. However, most of the users still have a fear of its risk.

So, let’s talk if CBD has any side-effects!

Side-Effects of CBD — does it have any?

Unlike some modern medicine, CBD doesn’t have the symptom as its side-effect — like headaches as a potential side-effect of a pill that’s supposed to treat headache! Thankfully, CBD doesn’t work that way.

No major CBD side-effects have been registered yet which could change the dynamics of the cannabinoid. However, people have experienced dry-mouth, psychomotor slowing, a little sedation, and lightheadedness after bigger CBD dosages. The only thing that should concern any user is to not mingle CBD with pharmaceutical drugs without consulting your physician as the same enzyme is responsible for its metabolism.

Wrapping up!

The things that generate the most curiosity about CBD are questions of its makeup, its uses, and its side effects. As we discussed, CBD is a chemical compound found in a wide variety of cannabis species. It has amazing health benefits as it interacts with our endocannabinoid system that pretty much affects all our systems including sleep, appetite, pain, etc.

And, as for CBD side-effects, we can say that they are bare-minimum. In all, CBD oil is rightfully popular today as people really want to use this cannabinoid to its maximum extent. Stay tuned to Marijuana Span to know more about cannabis, CBD benefits, and everything related!

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Ohio Medical Cannabis Sales Top $5.8M

5/13/2019

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Medical cannabis sales in Ohio have topped $5.8 million for the first five months since sales began in January, according to state data outlined by the Associated Press.

Dispensaries have sold more than 750 pounds of flower to the state’s patients, which now exceed 30,000.

The program has signed up 484 physicians to recommend qualifying patients but many of the industry operators have yet to come online and even fewer producers and processors have their operations up and running.

Of the 29 provisional licenses for cultivation, 17 licensees have received their operating certificates for their facilities. Just 15 of 56 dispensaries are selling products and only two of the state’s 39 producers have received certification to begin manufacturing edibles, tinctures, and salves.

According to Board of Pharmacy figures, there are 2,386 military veterans signed up with the medical cannabis program, and 1,216 patients with indignant status; additionally, there are 2,109 registered caregivers to serve some of the state’s patients while regulators continue issuing licenses – caregivers have a two-patient cap. In April, dispensaries served more than 15,330 patients.

Last week, the Medical Board of Ohio recommended that the agency add anxiety and autism spectrum disorder to the state’s current list of 21 qualifying conditions for medical cannabis. Adding anxiety could greatly increase the number of patients registered under the state regime. The board is expected to approve or deny the conditions on June 12.

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The state capitol building of Connecticut.

Connecticut Gov. Signs Industrial Hemp Bill

5/13/2019

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Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, has signed legislation creating a pilot program for hemp cultivation in the state. Lamont said the program will strengthen officials’ efforts to grow the agriculture economy and create jobs “in a responsible manner.”

“With this program, farmers will have the opportunity to bolster their profits with hemp, and veteran and first-time farmers alike will be attracted to a new and growing market that will offer crop diversification, increased revenue, and expertise in an expanding field.” — Lamont, in a press release

According to the bill text, the Connecticut Department of Agriculture will use Kentucky’s industrial hemp program as a policy guide for the state’s hemp regulations. The pilot program aims to study the growth, cultivation, and marketing of industrial hemp in Connecticut “in a manner that ensures that only such department grows or cultivates such industrial hemp through the use of sites that are certified by, and registered with, the Department of Agriculture.”

The measure received unanimous support in both chambers of the state General Assembly.

Connecticut Agriculture Commissioner Brian Hurlburt said that while the measure doesn’t outright legalize hemp – as many other states have done following the passage of the federal farm Bill last year – it is a “giant step closer” to broad reforms.

“Hemp has the potential to stabilize the agricultural economy and attract new farmers to the industry while providing consumers with a locally grown product that is in high demand,” he said in a statement. “This ties in with the governor’s budget to support a hemp program and the desire to create new market opportunities for the small business men and women in Connecticut.”

Interested farmers will pay a $50 annual application fee and a cultivation fee of $50 per planned acre of hemp; processors will pay a $250 licensing fee.

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Asian Potential MMJ Market Worth $5.8B by 2024

5/13/2019

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Asia’s medical cannabis market could reach $5.8 billion by 2024 if it were legalized throughout the region, according to a new study from Prohibition Partners. Although, it’s unlikely that broad reforms will occur in more conservative nations such as Hong Kong and China, where legalization is improbable in the next five to 10 years.

“In our view, while Asian investors and startups continue to keep an eye on legal developments in Europe and North America, western-based cannabis companies are getting ready to explore new opportunities in the Asian market.” – Prohibition Partners’ Asian Medical Cannabis report, via the South China Morning Post

In Asia, Thailand, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan have medical cannabis regimes while South Korea has legalized the use of CBD-rich products for medical use.

According to the report, China and Japan represent the region’s two largest-value medicinal cannabis markets – worth almost $4.4 billion and $800 million by 2024, respectively – accounting for an estimated 90 percent share of the market.

India has an estimated 38 million cannabis consumers, the most in Asia. Meanwhile, China accounts for nearly half of the world’s hemp supply with an industry estimated at $1.2 billion. Daragh Anglim, Managing Director at Prohibition Partners, said that China’s existing hemp industry provides the nation with a “huge opportunity to capitalize on this emerging market and help to shift opinions in favor of the therapeutic effects of different cannabinoids.”

A Reports and Data study published last week estimated the global hemp market could hit $13.03 billion by 2026 and the Asia-Pacific market would grow faster than anywhere else in the world – at a rate of 14.2 percent.

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Blissiva: Bridging Cannabis and Women’s Medicine

5/10/2019

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Dr. Leslie Apgar and career entrepreneur/investor Gina Dubbé are co-founders of Blissiva, a Maryland-based dispensary with a scientific approach to cannabis medicine and an emphasis on providing women with cannabis-based relief; Blissiva is perhaps best known, however, for designing and manufacturing particularly approachable vape pen products.

The two recently joined TG Branfalt on the Ganjapreneur.com podcast to discuss how, as business partners, Gina and Dr. Apgar made the leap from mainstream business and medicine into the medical cannabis industry. They also share stories of overcoming industry obstacles and finding success as women entrepreneurs in cannabis, their thoughts about Maryland’s medical cannabis regulations, and more!

You can tune in to this week’s Ganjapreneur.com podcast episode via the player below or scroll further down to read a full transcript of the interview.

Listen to the podcast:

Read the transcript:

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TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m your host TG Branfalt, and thank you for listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, where we try to bring you actionable information and normalize cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders.

Today I want to start by wishing everybody out there a happy Women’s History Month, and I’m delighted to be joined by two women on the front lines at Maryland, it’s Dr. Leslie Apgar, she’s an OB/GYN, along with her partner, serial entrepreneur, Gina Dubbé. They’re the co-founders of Maryland based Blissiva, a cannabis company focused on women’s health. Their first product, the Blissiva Balance pen, sold out in just three weeks after it’s launch. How are you ladies doing today?

Gina Dubbé: We’re doing terrific. Thank you so much for having us.

TG Branfalt: I’m absolutely stoked. Before we get into the success with the Balance pen and talk about that story, tell me about you guys, how did you both end up in the cannabis space, and tell me about how you guys linked up and established this partnership.

Leslie Apgar: All right. So hi, this is Leslie Apgar. Gina is actually, was my backdoor neighbor, and so I moved into her neighborhood and she brought a freshly baked pie across the backyard to me, and I just looked at her with raised eyebrows, saying like, “Who is this woman who is like… Is it Betty Crocker?” Because as a physician, as a single mom and a physician, I really never had time to hardly cook let along bake a pie, but she certainly made an impression on me, and we quickly became fast friends. So that’s how we met.

Gina Dubbé: Tell them a little bit about your background, Les.

Leslie Apgar: So I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, in a small island outside of Seattle, and I went to medical school at Penn State, and stayed for residency. And then when I was done I moved to Baltimore and I joined a female OB/GYN practice, and Gina was in the neighborhood that I’d moved into, in fact she was my backdoor neighbor, and so I met her in that way.

TG Branfalt: And how about you Gina, how did you come about to the cannabis space?

Gina Dubbé: A long and checkered past. I was actually an engineer by trade-

TG Branfalt: Oh, wow.

Gina Dubbé: … and ran a venture fund for a while, and I sold my last company which was a company called Therapro, which was an ice pack company to Biofreeze, and I had retired, and I was approached to invest in a lot of small businesses, and Leslie had a colleague in this field that approached us to invest in a cannabis grow.

So here we are driving back from tennis, right, in the car, hot summer day, and we have the guy on speaker, and he’s telling us all about why he’s going to win, and he’s going to bid for a dispensary, and a grower, and a processor, and would we like to invest with him, and I said, “Well, what’s your return profile?” And he said, “Oh, honey, you would never understand that.”

TG Branfalt: Oh, no.

Leslie Apgar: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Oh, yes.

Gina Dubbé: We got mansplained. So we decided that we would bid it ourselves, and that is what we did. And it was an interesting place from which to come because I had never smoked marijuana, knew nothing about it. We laughingly say it was our greatest writing of fiction-

Leslie Apgar: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Gina Dubbé: … the proposal, and we opened, December of last year. So we’ve been in business just a little over a year. It’s going fabulous. Our dispensary is called Greenhouse Wellness. It’s a departure from many dispensaries, we’re staffed with doctors, nurses, as well as other people who are very smart in the industry. It is a beautiful med spa like environment, and we see the sickest of patients here, and because of that, and because of our knowledge with patients, that’s really what launched us into Blissiva.

Leslie Apgar: Yeah, we noticed really early that women were underrepresented in the industry, and given that women had been complaining to me for 20-something years about what hurts and what ails them, and given my knowledge of the female anatomy, and the physiology, cannabis really seemed to be a perfect fit. And so we decided to put our heads together and we said, “Hey, there’s a real need here. We could really do something cool.” And so we did. We had watched our patients complaining of sleep and anxiety, and obviously that’s pretty common in the general population, but certainly in the female population, and that’s why we decided to tackle those symptoms with our first pen, which was the Balance pen.

It was designed intentionally to have CBD and THC in it, and also to have just the perfect terpene mix to address those issues It’s soft, it’s not like what’s available in the recreational market, it’s just enough to take the edge off. We really specifically approached it so that it would be attractive from every angle, not only did it look nice, but it felt nice, it tasted nice, it had pretty graphics, and we knew exactly what we wanted it to be because we’re women ourselves, and again, I’d been taking care of women for so many years, but it was really well received, I mean, patients were delighted that they were being, sort of celebrated.

Gina Dubbé: The result of an inhale Blissiva is like an overdue massage, or glass of wine, or a deep breath. There’s no real psychoactive effect other than to just take a deep breath and allow you to relax a bit.

Leslie Apgar: We really, sort of tongue in cheek, were thinking about the soccer mum who’s on the side of the soccer field with a to go cup in her hand, and while like you think that it’s coffee, or something, it’s really vodka. And so it was really sort of in place of that to go cup. It was, she’ll have a Blissiva in her hand, and she’ll be able to sort of concentrate on her kids soccer game, and get rid of the stress of the traffic she was just sitting in, or her marriage that’s crumbling, or her problems at work, and just take the edge off, because we had heard those stories again, and again, and again.

TG Branfalt: So since you both come from outside of the space, can you tell me a bit about the development process? You know, who did you talk to? What were you looking for?

Leslie Apgar: You know, it’s funny, Gina and I have approached this the same way we approach kind of everything, which is, what would we want. If we were sick and we needed medicine in the cannabis space, what would we want the experience to feel like for us? And because of the way that the system is in place medically, meaning that you don’t get a doctor’s prescription to come in and be told what to do, we felt that it was super-important to educate our staff out of the gate, so that we were going to be a resource for patients to get educated, and we were going to be the people to help educate then the state, and the other providers. So we really spent a lot of energy on education, education, education, and that meant that I had to get educated myself, obviously, because none of this was taught in medical school, so I did that. And we set it up kind of like a residency program, so I’m the medical director, and then we have nurses, and sort of chief residents that are under us, and honestly, they’re smarter than I am at this point, which is fantastic.

And as far as the actual space, we wanted it to be comfortable. We actually went to the West Coast and visited dispensaries, so we could say that we’d been there, done that, because we really started from square one, and one of the things we noticed was the security guard standing outside, and maybe metal detectors or things, and it was really very off-putting, so we wanted to create an environment that was just welcoming, and friendly, and clean, and so when we decided to focus on Blissiva, again, what would we want? What effect would we want, and what did we want it to look like, smell like? Et cetera, et cetera.

Gina Dubbé: So we went through a long vetting process. We looked at all the research, primarily that was done in Israel, and then met with chemists here, selected the terpene profile that we knew would work the best, because interestingly, women are more than twice as likely to develop an anxiety disorder as men are, and there are so many different biological and psychological factors that impact mental health treatments in women versus men, that we wanted a special, kind of recipe for Blissiva, because the brain is involved in the fight or flight response, and in women, that’s more readily activated and stays longer.

Leslie Apgar: Mm-hmm (affirmative). And it’s funny because our bodies as women are really wired for cannabis very differently than men, and I think it was high time that we started to address that, no pun intended.

Gina Dubbé: And the interesting thing with Blissiva is, it tastes and smells exactly the same. We started out with two different flavors, Cool as a Cucumber, which is a cucumber lime, and Vanilla Chilla, which is a straight vanilla. It smells exactly like it tastes, which is lovely, light, and not cannabis like, and so it’s very discreet. It took us about six months to develop, we had some prototypes done. We are on the precipice of announcing a major relationship and roll out here shortly.

TG Branfalt: So Dr. Apgar, I’ve got to ask you, you know, you had mentioned that, that cannabis isn’t really something that’s taught in medical school, and I have spoken to many physicians who say this as well. Was there any hesitation on your part entering the space because cannabis is still not really a mainstream therapy in the medical community at large?

Leslie Apgar: Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Honestly, it’s a combination of factors as to why I decided to take the plunge. Number one, very early on in my career as a practicing OB/GYN, it was very clear to me that traditional medicine was never going to pay off my med school loans, and I knew that I had to own my own business, or do something alternative, or outside of traditional medicine that’s going to pay off my debt. I actually opened up a medical spa in 2008, and that is actually how I paid off my medical school debt, and I dabbled between OB/GYN, and the med spa for years, and Gina was a big part of the courage that I had to do that in the first place. She has always said that you should re-pot, hah-hah, yourself, every 10 years or so, and that’s not something that doctors ever do. You spend so many years training to be your specialty, and then you really learn how to do it while you’re in practice, that’s when you really get good at it, so to leave and to do something else is really sort of unheard of.

So because I had had success in running my medical spa, and because of my sort of dissatisfaction with the way that traditional medicine was going, it was an easier decision to take on. I had already been on the receiving end of some fellow colleagues who were turning up their noses at me, and you know, “Why is she doing this? Who does she think she is?” And also, I just sort of felt like I was ready to take on the fight, the national fight. I think that obviously the options that we had to treat patients are so limited, and traditional western medicine tends to put Band-aids on things, instead of actually go to the root of the problem, and cannabis is more of a medical modality that can create balance and health in the body so that the body can then run at its best, and that was an idea that was very attractive to me.

TG Branfalt: And Gina, you had said that you had retired? What-

Leslie Apgar: Yeah, for like 10 minutes.

TG Branfalt: Why did you decide to un-retire and focus on this industry?

Gina Dubbé: Well, I truly believe you have to re-pot yourself, right?

Leslie Apgar: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Gina Dubbé: So I had my first 10 years in my career as a hardcore engineer. I’m a licensed professional engineer in a couple of disciplines, and I designed avionic warfare gear, it was an interesting career, and then I took a company public and went into the venture world. Once we sold that, absolutely loved being a venture capitalist, when that fund was done, I retired, started a little ice pack company, mainly to teach my children the entrepreneurial process. When we sold that, I retired again, and then when we were approached with cannabis, I thought, “This is like the internet was in the early 2000s. We have got a fundamental change in how we live and do business. It’s the green rush.” And so I decided it was time to step in and do something different. Now bidding this and winning was a shock to both Leslie and I-

Leslie Apgar: Oh, my gosh.

Gina Dubbé: No one was more surprised than we were.

Leslie Apgar: Yeah. Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Gina Dubbé: That being said, it is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my career. We won. The first thing that happened was my bank called and invited me to leave the bank. This is the bank that my children’s little savings accounts are in, my mortgage is in, and they said, “You won a medical marijuana dispensary, we don’t want you as a banking client.”

TG Branfalt: Unbelievable.

Gina Dubbé: Because it’s federally illegal.

TG Branfalt: Yeah, yeah.

Gina Dubbé: And you know, I quickly told them, when they asked all the men who won to leave the bank, I would leave too, until then, they had my business. And they backed off.

TG Branfalt: Wow.

Gina Dubbé: Even like finding real estate, no one wanted us.

Leslie Apgar: Uh-uh (negative).

Gina Dubbé: The hardest thing of opening the dispensary was finding real estate.

Leslie Apgar: You know, TG it’s been such an interesting thing for both me and Gina to negotiate this space. I mean, as a physician, usually people call you back, usually you’re not a pariah, but we really felt like pariah’s of society. It was very strange that nobody wanted our money, nobody wanted our business, they didn’t want to be associated with this. It’s been a very interesting test for our egos, you know, don’t take things personally, et cetera, et cetera, but it’s certainly, we ran into troubles that we wouldn’t have foreseen.

Gina Dubbé: For example, I have a friend that’s been a friend for 20 years, 30 years, who just can’t conscion this particular industry, and I asked her, “Can’t we agree to disagree?” And the answer was no. And so I think that people think that this is easy, and it’s a panacea, when its really very difficult.

TG Branfalt: That is really, absolutely outrageous. I just want to note that. I want to take a step back for a quick second and talk more about the women’s health aspect of what you guys are doing, and there’s sort of three questions that I’m going to ask you, and you can sort of answer all of them, or some of them in part, however you’d like. What are the conditions and ailments that predominantly affect women could be targeted by cannabis? I know the Blissiva pen is focused on anxiety. And are members of the women’s health community taking cannabis seriously as a potential therapy? And then finally, are there more effective dosing methods for women’s health products that target women’s health issues better?

Leslie Apgar: Great questions. So the conditions that we are targeting right now, that patients have been talking to me about for years, and years, are in large part a lot of hormonal disturbances. We have the PMS, and the post-menopausal symptoms, which can present with a bunch of anxiety. So we also have chronic pain, chronic pelvic pain, endometriosis, we also have difficulty with sleep, so we have some definite conditions that affect women intensely, and as you are exposed to more studies, and we see more data coming out, we’re understanding the role that hormones, especially estrogen, play within our own endocannabinoid system, so that some of the dysfunction seen in my OB/GYN history, say with, with recurrent losses, or pre-term labor, or unexplained infertility, as well as the change in patient’s moods associated with different stages in their life, might have something to do with the deficiency in the endocannabinoid system and the relationship of the endocannabinoids to estrogen. So it’s really interesting to see how that might get applied in the future.

As far as how to take the medicine, most of our patients are really only familiar with vaping or smoking, because that’s all they’ve ever had access to, but the educational opportunities are so plentiful, and I don’t necessarily know that it matters men versus women as far as how to take the medicine. I think oral absorption is so much more important, and we can get into why that is, you know, the role of the liver, et cetera, et cetera, but most patients are not taking their medicine in a way that’s going to actually supplement their endocannabinoid system, I mean to vapor, to smoke is not going to necessarily do it. So we spend a lot of time educating patients on how important it is to ingest the medicine.

Now specifically for women, obviously we have a lot of sexual dysfunction, and as a gynecologist, that’s all I’d talked about for, I mean there would be days where that was all that anybody wanted to talk about is pain during sex, or lack of libido, et cetera, and certainly there are vaginal suppositories and vaginal applications of cannabis that are very exciting that we’re working on with our Blissiva line.

Gina Dubbé: The interesting thing though is only 80% of our patients are women for Blissiva. We have men who’ve tried it, and love it.

Leslie Apgar: Love it. Right? In fact, I’ll do consults with guys, and they’ll talk to me about their anxiety and their problems sleeping, and I just kind of say, “Hey, would your testosterone levels be bothered by the fact that I’m going to offer you this really pretty, purple, exposable pen?” And they’re like, “No, if it works, I’ll take it. I don’t care what color it is. I don’t care that it’s marketed towards women.” And so, and they love it, and they come back and they want it as well. So that’s been entertaining, because it’s not exclusive for women, we’re just, you know-

Gina Dubbé: It’s just oriented toward them.

Leslie Apgar: Yeah.

TG Branfalt: So it’s been reported that women are among the fastest growing segments of cannabis users of virtually any side-by-side survey that you see from various medical cannabis companies, it’s consistently women are up several percentage points, why do you guys think that that’s happening?

Leslie Apgar: Well, number one, there’s no calories in it, like there is in wine. Okay, so that’s huge. Number two, I think that women are very interested in health, and because of the way that cannabis works, and because of the balance that it creates in your body, women are very receptive to that, I mean they’re all about wanting to lead a healthier lifestyle.

TG Branfalt: And I mean, why do you think, it’s not like the fact that cannabis has less calories has changed, right, compared to wine? So why do you guys think that women were not as robust a customer base in the earlier stages of the market?

Leslie Apgar: Well, because they weren’t marketed to. I mean nobody’s been having the conversation. I mean it seems like the taboo of this is just not as severe anymore and that people are asking questions, and obviously as more and more states become legal, and cannabis exposure becomes greater, the conversations are happening more and more.

Gina Dubbé: I also think that you must appeal to a woman at a different point in her life cycle. You do not want a pregnant woman-

Leslie Apgar: Right.

Gina Dubbé: … to be using cannabis and/or CBD, you just don’t, so you lose that many years in a woman’s fertility and cycle. We do find that a lot of our patients, our average patients, shockingly is 60 years old. It’s not the 20-year-old stoner that people think about when they think about cannabis, it’s a 60-year-old person who typically is now suffering from anxiety, or localized pain, or has Parkinson’s, or cancer. I mean, sadly, much of our practice is cancer and Parkinson.

TG Branfalt: Was that surprising to you that that its turned out to be sort of your average customer?

Leslie Apgar: Well, you would not believe, our mouths have fallen open so many times. I mean every time we think we know what we’re doing, and we think we know what’s going happen, yeah, not so much. It’s been crazy how much sicker, and how much older our patients have been, and I think that that speaks to our significant medical approach, that we’re known in the community as being the ones that you go to if you’re sick, or you’re older, whatever. A lot of patients will have gone somewhere else first, and then maybe not had the greatest of educational opportunities, and so they’ll come to us for education, but I mean, don’t you think that’s the thing you were most surprised on?

Gina Dubbé: I was surprised. I figure we would have the 23-year-old male, on a skateboard, with a black hoodie.

Leslie Apgar: Right.

Gina Dubbé: And we don’t have any of those.

Leslie Apgar: Mm-mm (negative). And you know, even the ones we do get, when you actually talk to them, funny enough they’re treating a medical problem. Nobody’s ever taken the time to investigate it, and potentially they never have taken the time to investigate it, but if you ask the questions, there’s a lot of anxiety and PTSD in there that patients have just been using recreational cannabis to treat.

TG Branfalt: So I know that the answer to this question’s going to be yes, so you know, do cannabis co companies focus on women need to market their products differently? How do you have to market it differently aside from sort of the purple packaging? What do you have to do differently?

Gina Dubbé: Well, there’s a number of things. The first one of which is figuring how to reach that demographic, right? Because, typically, if I have a Sour Diesel, most men have heard of that, understand it, resonate it, but let’s talk about customer acquisition for a moment, how do you reach a 50 to 60-year-old woman that’s not on a cannabis list serve? It’s very difficult. We have to do outreach in the market. We talk to the pain physicians. We talk to OB/GYNs. We do marketing sessions. We do cannabis insight round tables at our place. It is a very different place to market, and when you add the federal regulations, and the illegality of the product, it’s just difficult, we can’t boost on Facebook.

Leslie Apgar: We also are trying to take barriers away. So touching on what Gina had just said, you know, the name Sour Diesel, while a lot of people may know what that means, to somebody who’s never tried cannabis or has not really been exposed to the cannabis world, they don’t know what that means, and it’s fairly off-putting, these names, I mean these, you know, AK-47, I mean, are you kidding me? That’s a barrier. If you’ve already got something that people are a little nervous about trying, and they know that it’s federally illegal, and they’re a little hesitant, we’re trying to decrease the barriers to them actually trying the product. So we want to create names that actually mean something, so that patients can expect to know how they’re going to feel when they choose a certain strain name, and we want to have a very easy way in which they can use the medication, especially our older patients who have never rolled a joint, smoked, have no idea what we’re talking about. So we do try and approach this from a sort of user-friendly perspective, especially as we are appealing to women specifically.

TG Branfalt: You guys have mentioned several times terpenes, and there’s still a lot of research to be done on what they do, what they are. With sort of your individual backgrounds, and your patient base, what is your approach, I guess, to explaining what these are?

Leslie Apgar: So terpenes are the magic, right? I really feel like terpenes are the most important part of the plant, funny enough. If I could be Queen, and I could redo this industry from the beginning, I would focus on CBD as being the most important molecule, then THC, and then the terpenes. The terpenes are, like you said, we have only just scratched the surface, and there’s so much more that needs to be done with terpenes and flavonoids, and all of the other components, I mean there’s something like 400 to 500 different components in the plant. But one thing that also surprised me, specifically, is that Gina and I really didn’t want to focus on the flower at all, we thought it was dirty and tawdry, and not a great way to delivery the medicine, and we thought, “Oh, we’re going to move toward 80% concentrates, and 20% flower.” And the doctor in me has been astonished at how the plant knows how to do things better than we do. Mother Nature has created something that is very, very delightful and smart. It’s very intelligent. So for us to try and replicate that is a little difficult.

So I think I have certainly had a realization that my goal to be 80% concentrate and 20% flower is maybe not entirely correct. So when you talk about terpenes, we have to look at the actual flower, and how the plant is put together to try and learn some of that magic that happens with terpenes.

TG Branfalt: So you guys are my first guests actually from Maryland, so I sort of want to switch gears a little bit, and talk to you about Maryland, which had some issues rolling out their program initially, I know that you guys were sort of shocked to get your licenses and that whole thing, but what has been your experience entering the cannabis space, specifically in Maryland, and what is the current state of Maryland’s market? Have they sort of worked out some of the kinks that initially hampered the program?

Gina Dubbé: Well, I think that Maryland has worked out some of the kinks, not all of the kinks. And that’s true with an evolving program pretty much wherever you are. Maryland licensed 102 dispensaries of which 70 are now open 16 months after the licenses were granted. Everyone was supposed to be opened within one year, that didn’t happen. Zoning, getting property was much harder than people expected. Getting funding, getting banking, getting all of the ancillary support services, harder, and I also think that many of the dispensary owners weren’t perhaps as business savvy as we might have hoped.

Leslie Apgar: Oh, yeah.

Gina Dubbé: And so that was a problem. So the program is rolling out. It has not been without its ups and downs. Tough market to be in, because highly regulated, everything’s tracked seed to sale, and they’re still putting the programs into place to track it. That being said, it’s getting better, day to day, but it wasn’t for the faint to heart.

Leslie Apgar: You know, one of the weird things about Maryland is that they required real time limit updates, which none of the software platforms could handle, so the volume of traffic coming into Metrc was so intense that it kept crashing the system. I don’t know if you had heard about that?

TG Branfalt: I did. I did.

Leslie Apgar: Yeah. It was, while I think, well intentioned, it was just not… What did you say? You used to say, it wasn’t fully baked, the system.

Gina Dubbé: It was just not fully baked.

Leslie Apgar: Yeah, it wasn’t fully baked when they rolled that out. Yeah. Do you want to touch on the environment as it is today with what Maryland had intended, and what it’s turned into?

Gina Dubbé: Well, that’s another hard one. When we were awarded, we bid for five dispensaries, in Maryland you could only be awarded one dispensary, so we got to choose from the five regions we bid in, which one we wanted to stay in. However, we found out that people aren’t following those rules now. Many of the large growers, or large national consortiums, are coming in, buying up dispensaries after the fact, or putting them under management agreements so that they don’t violate the rules, which means now you’re becoming a more vertically integrated environment, and it has become, “If I grow, and I have five dispensaries, I’m going to give my five dispensaries a better price,” which was not what Maryland intended, but what is happening in the industry.

TG Branfalt: Wow. Do you know if there’s any sort of effort by the legislature, or by the regulators to address this issue?

Gina Dubbé: Well, it’s on the floor of the House right now for decision. The growers, of course, want to be able to own six dispensaries, and if I do the math, there are 15 growers times 6 dispensaries each, that’s 90 dispensaries that will be vertically integrated, which will make it very hard for the independents. So we are hoping that Maryland will continue to embrace the independent operators like ourselves, who aren’t vertically integrated, and how the program was designed for. But it’s unclear right now. Big business is coming in under the covers. They want to own multiple dispensaries. So we’ll see, we’ll see what the small guy gets to do from here on out.

TG Branfalt: And what are you guys preparing for? You know, DC is supposed to have legal cannabis access, but because of federal regulation that basically controls DC, that’s not allowed. Are you guys preparing yourselves for an eventual rollout of legalized recreational cannabis in the capital?

Gina Dubbé: We fully anticipate that. We think that the dispensaries that are close to the boundary, the DC boundary will be affected by that. We believe that it’s also going to be on the ballot for legalization here in Maryland probably in the 2020 timeframe.

Leslie Apgar: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Gina Dubbé: Who knows if it will pass, but we think that the tipping point has happened in the nation, as more and more states decide to legalize, or put their toe in the water with medical, eventually this is going to be a nationwide change.

TG Branfalt: So I want to ask you guys, what is your advice for women who may be skeptical about cannabis, and your advice for other female entrepreneurs who are looking to enter the space?

Leslie Apgar: Well, number one, get educated. Okay, like we had touched on it a little bit before, but I think only eight to 10% of medical schools have this in their curriculum, so the providers that are out in the world, who are giving advice to the patients, who are having a hard time with traditional medicine, and having their disease states not respond, you really have to do the research yourself because your physicians were never educated, so there’s plenty of really good research available, there’s really good resources available to read and get yourself educated. Women should absolutely jump at the opportunity to enter the space. I think that there’s a ton of opportunity, and what Gina and I tell each other, and tell our kids, and tell our friends is just do it. I mean just do it, don’t say no, just jump.

Gina Dubbé: Well, the other thing is, there is a wide ancillary market attached to cannabis that’s virtually untouched. And so while cannabis is illegal, if I’m selling other adjuncts, vape pen, or a case, there’s all kinds of products that we sell here in the dispensary that aren’t federally illegal and make for a great business, either part-time or full-time.

So we encourage men and women alike to really look at the industry, it’s burgeoning, it’s like the internet, we’re right at the beginning and there’s opportunity. Mm-hmm (affirmative).

TG Branfalt: And can you tell us where we can find more about your story and more about your products?

Gina Dubbé: You can go to www.blissiva.com, which is B-L-I-S-S-I-V-A. And Blissiva was named by a combination of the words bliss and sativa, because we think that that’s what women want.

Leslie Apgar: It was also a nod to anandamide which was the first endocannabinoid discovered, which is Sanskrit for bliss, the bliss hormone, so it was a really sort of mindful name, because we really wanted it to bring the bliss back into our own lives, and to our patients lives. And then we’re also at www.greenhousewellness.com.

TG Branfalt: Well, ladies, this has been a really enlightening conversation, maddening at times knowing what you had to go through to get the license and everything else, so I really appreciate your insight, and look forward to seeing how you guys do as the market matures over there in Maryland. Thank you so much.

You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur.com podcast in the podcast section of Ganjapreneur.com, and in the Apple iTunes store on the Ganjapreneur.com website you will find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs updated daily, along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the Ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by Trim Media House. I’ve been your host, TG Branfalt.

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USDA Issues First Organic Hemp Flower Certification

5/10/2019

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture has given South Carolina-based CBD brand Palmetto Harmony organic certification, marking the first time the agency has given the designation to a hemp flower product, according to a Bezinga report.

Company CEO Janel Ralph called it “one of the most important certifications” they could obtain.

“Many of the people that purchase CBD products are usually medically fragile, which is why it is very important for these people to have a level of security to know that there are no chemicals that could harm them going into their products.” – Ralph, to Bezinga

According to the report, organic status is among the more challenging USDA certifications to receive as crops must be grown in soil free of synthetic chemicals for at least three consecutive years. Farmers must provide the agency with a detailed list of items used in the cultivation process, including tools, containers, and the labels they use.

According to the USDA, certified organic product sales reached $7.28 billion in 2017 up from $3.12 billion in 2012. The Organic Trade Association says organic food accounts for 5.5 percent of total retail food sales.

Prior to last year’s federal de-scheduling of hemp by the Farm Bill, the USDA was unable to certify hemp-derived products as organic. Some hemp and cannabis companies did seek organic certification from private companies and non-profits in lieu of state or federal programs. In Maine, for example, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association provided their certification for medical cannabis products grown in the state.

Editor’s note: The certification described above marks the first organic certification for hemp flower specifically, but it is not the first organic certification for any hemp product. This article was updated for clarification.

Haleigh’s Hope was officially certified in March 2019, making that the first organic certification for a hemp product since hemp was federally legalized in late 2018. The first-ever hemp product certification, however, was issued in 2016 but was rapidly rescinded by the USDA.

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California’s Expected Cannabis Tax Revenue Drops $223M

5/10/2019

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California officials are scaling back the state’s estimated cannabis tax revenues by $223 million through June 2020 amid slower-than-expected sales, the Long Beach Post reports. The state taxes both medical and recreational cannabis products at 15 percent but total taxes can be as high as 50 percent in some communities.

In Long Beach, city leaders cited slow cannabis sales as the reason for a projected $9 million budget gap. In the city, the overall tax on cannabis products is 33.25 percent, which includes the 15 percent state tax, an 8 percent city excise tax, and a 10.25 percent sales tax. Long Beach officials have discussed giving medical cannabis businesses a tax break and provide incentives for other businesses to reduce prices and bring in more operators.

In 2018, California raised just $345.2 million in cannabis tax revenues, which represented about half of what lawmakers originally expected. The lower-than-expected revenues are likely the result of the high taxes and the persistence of the illicit market.

California lawmakers are considering a measure that would reduce the cannabis tax rate from 15 percent to 11 percent – that bill was referred to the Appropriations Committee on May 1. A previous version of the bill passed that committee 16-1 on Aprrl 24.

In their report on the legislation, the committee said state taxes are not the only reason why legal cannabis businesses are at a disadvantage, citing local tax policies, licensing requirements, banking restrictions, and laboratory requirements.

“Absent cannabis taxes, legal businesses still would be at a significant disadvantage relative to illicit market operators,” the report says.

The committee also noted that if the tax-reduction law passes it would likely face a court challenge because, since it was a voter-approved initiative, it’s unclear whether the legislature can amend the law’s tax structure.

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Survey: Canadians Less Interested in Edibles Post-Legalization

5/10/2019

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Interest in edible cannabis products among Canadians appears to have waned with just 36 percent of participants in a Dalhousie University survey indicating they are interested in trying edibles – down from 46 percent pre-legalization, according to a Global News report.

Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of the university’s Agrifood Analytics Lab, said that despite edible sales set for October, the demand for “cannabis-infused food products” has dropped.

“What we are getting out of the survey is that people aren’t quite as excited or enthusiastic about cannabis in general,” he said.

“By seeing cannabis on the street and with many people consuming cannabis freely, we thought people would say once cannabis edibles become legal, it would be an opportunity for anybody to try cannabis.” – Charlebois, to Global News

Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health, noted that under the current laws individuals can make their own edible products for personal use.

Additionally, the survey of 1,050 Canadians found that 37 percent of respondents consume cannabis in one form or another and 70 percent of consumers have already tried edibles. However, despite last October’s legalization of cannabis, 60 percent of the survey respondents still purchase their cannabis outside of the taxed-and-regulated system – which isn’t entirely surprising considering the nation saw a 17 percent price-per-gram spike following legalization.

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Denver Votes to Decriminalize Mushrooms

5/09/2019

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Voters in Denver, Colorado have taken the historic step of passing a city initiative to decriminalize mushrooms containing psilocybin, known most commonly as psychedelic mushrooms, according to a Harvest Public Media report.

During initial returns on Tuesday night, it appeared at first that the initiative would fail; election officials announced late on Wednesday, however, that Ordinance 301 had passed with just 50.56 percent of voter support.

The initiative does not legalize the federally prohibited mushrooms but does prevent city police and prosecutors from arresting and/or prosecuting adults aged 21 or older for the possession or use of psilocybin mushrooms. The grassroots initiative also states that adults who grow the fungus for personal use will be considered a low priority for city law enforcement.

“Our victory today is a clear signal to the rest of the country that Americans are ready for a conversation around psilocybin.” — Kevin Matthews, director of the Denver campaign, via Harvest Public Media

Supporters of the initiative pointed to research indicating the mushroom’s huge medical potential for the treatment of depression, addiction, and potentially PTSD. Other research has shown that the fungus is not addictive, contrary to the substance’s Schedule 1 status under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Advocates of psilocybin mushrooms have announced plans to push for similar ballot initiatives in California and Oregon for the 2020 elections.

Colorado — of which Denver is the capital and largest city — made history in 2012 when voters there decided to legalize adult-use cannabis, which set the state down the path to creating the first state-wide taxed and regulated cannabis marketplace.

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