Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel (R-KY) announced a bill on Monday that would legalize industrial hemp as an agricultural product, according to a report by The Hill.
The bill — dubbed the Hemp Farming Act of 2018 — has bipartisan support, with Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) both listed as co-sponsors for the legislation.
Industrial hemp pilot programs are already underway in the sponsoring senators’ home states of Kentucky and Oregon, but the proposed legislation would legalize hemp federally by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act and would give states the right to determine their own regulations for hemp as an agricultural commodity.
“Hemp has played a foundational role in Kentucky’s agriculture heritage, and I believe that it can be an important part of our future.” — Sen. McConnell in the report
Under the proposal, researchers would be able to apply directly to the Department of Agriculture for grants to study the crop.
While hemp products are technically legal in the United States, the cultivation of hemp is currently restricted to only individuals who have received a license to grow it under a state’s pilot research program. So far, more than 30 states have established some form of pilot hemp program since they were made legal under the 2014 Farm Bill.
Arkansas Judge Wendell Griffen has declared the state’s medical cannabis cultivation licenses “null and void” finding that the state Medical Marijuana Commission disregarded the licensing rules in the voter-approved amendment, according to a 40/29report.
In the ruling, the judge said that the commission failed to verify the sites’ distances from schools, churches, and daycares, and failed to evaluate whether individuals listed on the applications were ever affiliated with “entities whose corporate status has been revoked for failure to pay franchise taxes.” Griffen also found that two members of the commission had a financial relationship with two people with ownership stakes in the cultivation centers.
“To put it bluntly, the Medical Marijuana Commission and Alcoholic Beverage Control Division have proceeded in a manner that defies due process and the rule of law, rather than in a manner that respects it.” – Judge Griffen, in his opinion, via 40/29
Last week, Griffen had put the state’s licensing process on hold after one of the unsuccessful applicants sued the state.
In the ruling, Griffen said he “takes no joy” in the decision to block the state from issuing the licenses.
“The prospect that Arkansans must now endure more delay before gaining much needed access to locally grown medical marijuana should be unpleasant to anyone concerned about providing relief to people who suffer from serious illnesses.” – Griffen, in his opinion, via the Associated Press
What comes next is unclear. Scott Hardin, the spokesman for the Department of Finance and Administration, said in a statement that the agency respects the judge’s decision but referred questions to the state Attorney General’s Office. The Attorney General’s Office told the AP that they were reviewing the ruling but did not indicate whether they would appeal to the state Supreme Court. Jay Bequette, an attorney for Naturalis Health LLC – the applicant who sued the state – told the AP that the company was “grateful for the judge’s decision” and wanted an independent evaluator to re-score the applications.
The Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission will not allow a local brewer to move forward with plans to roll out a CBD-infused beer, arguing that the cannabinoid is a Schedule I drug and the infusion would violate the Food & Drug Administration’s Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the Boston Business Journalreports.
“Even though retail sales of cannabis are expected to become lawful starting July 1, 2018, it will remain unlawful to manufacture and/or sell alcoholic beverages containing any cannabinoid extracts, including tetrahydrocannabinol (“THC”) and cannabidiol (“CBD”), regardless of whether it is derived from the cannabis plant or industrial hemp.” – the ABCC ruling, via Boston Business Journal
Alex Weaver, marketing director for Down the Road Beer Co. – the company that planned on creating the beer – said the company was “disappointed the current laws haven’t caught up with [the company’s] drive to innovate and continue to push the bounds of what craft beer could be.”
“Down the Road Beer Co. has been focused on innovation since day one. Our founder and head brewer, Donovan Bailey, loves pushing the bounds of what craft can be beyond the ordinary or expected. In that vein of innovation, brewing the first CBD beer in Massachusetts made perfect sense for us.” – Weaver to Boston Business Journal
The company still released a version of the brew, called Goopmassta Session IPA, but without CBD.
Down the Road is not the first craft brewery interested in infusing beer with cannabinoids. Last year, California-based Lagunitas Brewing Company released Supercritical IPA, which infused cannabis terpenes but neither CBD nor THC. Vermont’s Long Trail Brewing Company announced its own CBD-infused brew – called Medicator – last August; however, VT Diggerreported last week that the U.S. Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has not yet issued a certificate of label approval for the brew. Tom Hogue, a spokesman for the federal agency, said that while products containing hemp can pass inspection it cannot contain a controlled substance. Hogue said that approval could take 10 days or more.
Advocates in Oklahoma plan to file two petitions this week to begin gathering signatures in an effort to add constitutional amendments for both medical and recreational cannabis legalization in the state, according to a Tulsa Worldreport. Green the Vote President Isaac Caviness said the group is seeking to add the reforms to the state Constitution in order to prevent lawmakers from being able to change the laws.
“Oklahoma’s constitutional amendments can’t be changed or even made a constitutional amendment without going before a vote of the people. And that’s the biggest protection that we have … against our lawmakers changing it to what they want versus what the people want.” – Caviness to Tulsa World
In order to get a constitutional amendment on the ballots, advocates would need to gather more than 124,000 valid signatures. Caviness indicated that under the recreational use petition, the first $100 million derived via taxes would be earmarked for teachers.
Oklahomans will decide whether to legalize medical cannabis in June, but it (SQ788) wouldn’t add it to the state Constitution. That petition was spearheaded by Oklahomans for Health. A Sooner Poll in January found that 62 percent of respondents supported the ballot question, but just 37 percent supported recreational legalization.
According to new preclinical research by Scripps Research Institute, CBD could be used to reduce the risk of relapse among recovering cocaine and alcohol addicts, Science Dailyreports. The study on rats with a history of voluntary daily alcohol and cocaine self-administration found that CBD reduced relapse induced by stress and drug cues, and anxiety and impulsivity in the drug-addicted rats.
The researchers applied a CBD-infused gel to the rats’ skin once per day for a week and found that five months later the rats still showed reduced relapse by drug or stress cues. Moreover, the researchers found that the CBD was completely cleared from the brain and the rats’ plasma three days after the therapy was completed.
Friedbert Weiss, head of the investigative team, said the study “predicts therapeutic potential for addiction treatment across several classes of abused drugs,” including heroin.
“The results provide proof of principle supporting the potential of CBD in relapse prevention along two dimensions: beneficial actions across several vulnerability states, and long-lasting effects with only brief treatment. Drug addicts enter relapse vulnerability states for multiple reasons. Therefore, effects such as these observed with CBD that concurrently ameliorate several of these are likely to be more effective in preventing relapse than treatments targeting only a single state.” – Weiss in a statement
The study was published in Springer Nature’s Neuropsychopharmacology.
Canada’s Senate has passed the bill to legalize cannabis onto a second reading, moving it to five committees for further study, according to a report from the CBC. The measure passed 44-29, mostly across party lines; a defeat would have pushed the bill back to the lower chamber and jeopardized the chances of the program rolling out this summer.
All of the Senate’s 28 Conservative senators who were present voted against the measure, while all but one Independent voted for the bill.
Peter Harder, the federal government’s Senate representative, called the passage “an important statement by the majority that this bill must advance.”
“This is a bill that is of high interest to the Senate. There are many issues to be dealt with, and it’s important that second reading passed tonight so the Senate could get on with its study, meeting with experts, and deciding if the bill can be improved in any fashion.” – Harder to the CBC
Conservative Sen. Pierre Hugues Boisvenu called the bill “a piece of shit.”
“It doesn’t protect people, it will not exclude organized crime from the production. So, most senators say this bill was written badly. We have to rewrite the bill. It will be a good exercise for us. Every article must be amended.” – Boisvenu to the CBC
There were concerns that Conservatives could delay the measure until there were drugged-driving laws in place. However, the passage could maintain the summer timeline.
New Hampshire’s House approved a motion to refer its recreational cannabis legalization bill for interim study after a roll call vote to keep the bill alive was defeated 135-153. The vote effectively kills the bill for further consideration this year but leaves the door open for the House Ways and Means Committee to study the measure further.
The chamber had voted the measure “ought to pass as amended” in January. The bill would have legalized possession of three-quarters of an ounce of cannabis, 5 grams of “hashish” and home cultivation of six plants but would not have created a taxed-and-regulated market and it would have remained illegal to sell any amount of cannabis.
“House leaders should be ashamed of themselves for subverting the will of Granite Staters and failing to send this bill to the Senate. As election season approaches, voters will surely study today’s roll call vote with great interest.” – Matt Simon, New England political director for the Marijuana Policy Project, in a press release
The vote to punt the measure was influenced by Republican Rep. Patrick Abrami, who chairs the commission tasked with studying legalization and the Ways and Means Committee. The Marijuana Policy Project has called for Abrami to be replaced as head of the legalization study commission arguing that he has “misrepresented the testimony heard by the study commission to lawmakers” in the House. The advocacy organization launched a petition on Change.org calling on House Speaker Gene Chandler to remove Abrami as chair.
The first two applications for Michigan’s new medical cannabis business licenses – one dispensary and one transport service – were both rejected by the state cannabis licensing board, the Detroit Free Pressreports. The vote was 2-2 and the fifth member of the board was absent and couldn’t break the tie.
The applications were for pre-approval, meaning they have filed an application with the state but have not gotten local approval.
The owners of both prospective companies were found by the board to have previous misdemeanors they did not disclose to the board; and while the charges were not enough to immediately disqualify their application, it highlights the importance of candor on the applications. Both companies are expected to return to the board in April for reconsideration.
Tim McGraw, the dispensary applicant who was charged with misdemeanor cannabis possession in 2012, told the Free Press that the charge – his first offense – had been removed from his record after he had completed probation and he hadn’t considered it would show up on the state background check.
“Quite honestly, have you seen the application, it’s extremely confusing. I wasn’t trying to hide it. It’s a learning process for everyone. I guess they were trying to make us the poster children for the licenses and I understand that.” – McGraw to the Free Press
So far, Michigan has received a total of 411 applications for pre-approval. Another 141 have submitted complete applications, including approval from the communities in wish they wish to operate.
This time of year, many growers are in planning stages or already getting started on their outdoor gardens. These early decisions can play a big role in how your season goes and, ultimately, in your final yield. However, choosing your genetics is probably the most basic — yet extremely important — decision you will face.
Do you want to pop seeds or do you want to grow from clone? Many growers keep “Mother” plants of their favorite strains around to take cuts from. Then, there’s the question of whether to run all tried and true, high yielding strains (Blue Dream) or would you like to grow some of the more popular — maybe newer — trendy flavors that everybody is talking about (Sour D, Cookies, Gelato, etc.)?
One thing is for sure: the genetics that you start with can and will affect everything from your plants’ health to your final product. All seeds or clones of any particular strain are not the same. The further away a generation of clones or seeds gets from the original, the weaker the genetics will be. You will still have the strain you want, but it may not grow with the vigor and all of the original properties that the first generation cuts have.
Clones sit on a shelf inside of a Washington-based commercial cannabis grow. Photo credit: Sarah Climaco
The best way to make sure you are getting good genetics is to source them from reliable and reputable breeders. They can get more pricey than the $5 “Trainwreck” clones you will find on Craigslist, but it will be well worth it come harvest time. Clones, especially, are something that you want to be vigilant about. The cute little baby plant can bring with it all sorts of unwanted and unseen bugs, pests, and mold. Powdery mildew (PM) is systemic, which means it lives inside of the plant — and if the mother plant had PM, her offspring will as well. Bringing babies into your grow environment that have mites or mold can infect your whole room and bring down entire crops — so make sure you are being smart about where your clones come from and maybe consider spending the few extra dollars on some reliable babies.
Seeds most likely (hopefully) are not going to bring anything into your grow that will infect your plants. However, sourcing is just as important when it comes to acquiring your seeds. Yes, it is fun to throw your random bag seeds in the ground and see what kind of goodness emerges. But if you are serious about your garden and getting the most out of it, strong and reliable genetics are what you want to start with. Do your research, look for the companies who have the strains you want, see if they have them feminized (guaranteed female), and check what people say about their product. You do not have to buy feminized seeds, but make sure if your seeds are not feminized that you know what to look for in a male plant and how to safely remove it from your garden without pollinating your females. If you start with good seeds and take care of them properly, you will be happy with your end result.
Every grower is different. I know guys who have been growing from the same mothers for years. Some growers like to collect seeds. There are old timers out there that have been growing the same cut since the 1970’s. Everybody has their own technique, their own preferred equipment, and their own ways of deciding how to start their gardens. The one constant of every grow is that when the grower starts with strong genetics, they will have a happier, healthier, and heavier crop.
Canadian medical cannabis producer Tilray has signed a letter of intent with independent pharmacy Pharmasave as a distributor of Tilray-branded medical cannabis products. Pharmasave is a member-governed cooperative of more than 650 independently owned pharmacies throughout Canada.
Today’s announcement puts us in a strong position to expand the availability of our products to additional patients in need throughout Canada. It’s exciting that we have the potential to bring our medical cannabis products to patients via pharmacies in Canada with a partner like Pharmasave, a company that shares our commitment to patient safety and access.” – Brendan Kennedy, Tilray CEO, in a press release
Kennedy noted that the company’s products are available in pharmacies in 10 countries but not yet available in Canadian pharmacies.
In January, Tilray struck a deal with Shoppers Drug Mart, Canada’s largest provider of pharmaceutical products and services. Shoppers Drug Mart also has deals with Aphria and MedReLeaf; however, Shoppers Drug Mart’s parent company, Loblaw Companies Ltd., is still waiting for approval of its medical cannabis application from Health Canada.
Earlier this week, Tilray announced a partnership with Novartis International AG to develop and distribute non-smokable medical cannabis products. Novartis is the fourth largest pharmaceutical company in the world by revenue.
The amendment to protect state-approved medical cannabis programs, known as the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment, has been included in the federal omnibus funding package, which would keep the programs safe from federal interference until at least September.
The amendment explicitly prevents the Justice Department – headed by anti-cannabis zealot Jeff Sessions – from blocking states’ efforts to “[implement] their own state laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana.”
Last year, Sessions sent a letter to congressional leaders urging them to oppose the language of the amendment, which has been approved annually since 2014.
“I believe it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the Department to fund particular prosecutions, particularly in the midst of an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime. The Department must be in a position to use all laws available to combat the transnational drug organizations and dangerous drug traffickers who threaten American lives.” – Sessions in a June letter
Earlier this month during remarks to the Federalist Society, Sessions admitted that the feds do not have the resources to prosecute “routine” cannabis cases and would focus instead on gangs and other high-level illicit dealers.
According to a press release from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, more than 10,000 NORML members contacted federal officials over the last two days urging them to maintain the protections included in the amendment.
The bill to legalize medical cannabis in Tennesseehas been rewritten and the new version would make the program virtually unworkable as it calls for physicians to write a prescription for program access, rather than a recommendation, according to a Tennesseanreport. Rep. Jeremy Faison, the bill sponsor who also introduced the amendment, said he was forced to rework the measure “to meet the needs” of the House Criminal Justice Committee, calling the situation “political mumbo jumbo.”
The new bill would allow medical cannabis access for 15 qualifying conditions, including:
cancer
HIV and AIDS
hepatitis C
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s Disease
post-traumatic stress disorder
Alzheimer’s disease
severe arthritis
inflammatory bowel disease
Crohn’s disease
ulcerative colitis
multiple sclerosis
Parkinson’s disease
schizophrenia
or a number of chronic or debilitating diseases
The original measure would have required patients to obtain a registration card, with a chip reader, from the state; however, the new measure would only allow those with qualifying conditions to obtain a doctor’s note prescribing cannabis to prevent them from being arrested and prosecuted. Faison said the new language would likely require patients to get those notes from out-of-state physicians. Language to create a state board to regulate the program was also scrapped.
Denver, Colorado is using $1.2 million derived from cannabis tax revenues to pave city roads, according to a Denver7report. The funds will enable the Public Works Department to pave “at least 50” additional blocks, spokeswomen Nancy Kuhn said in the report.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said the city receives about $13 million to $14 million a year in excess cannabis revenues – some used for education and some goes to the general fund. The road repair money – $27 million total – is coming from the general fund.
Hancock said that he anticipates those excess revenues will likely decrease as more states legalize cannabis for recreational use, so the city doesn’t earmark those funds for long-term projects requiring steady funding, rather for one-time projects.
Kuhn indicated that this is the first time that the Public Works Department has received cannabis revenues.
“The marijuana revenue is on top of the $4.5 million that we’re receiving from Measure 2-A that voters passed a few years ago. Our funding levels are really optimum right now.” – Kuhn to Denver7
Denver isn’t the only city using cannabis money to improve the lives of citizens. Last August, the Aspen School District was given $250,000 from the state’s cannabis taxes to employ an on-campus social worker for three years. The state Department of Education announced in 2016 a program that would see cannabis-derived taxes fund an anti-bullying program.
According to Colorado Department of Revenue data, last year the state saw $247.37 million in revenues from cannabis taxes – its highest totals to date. Through February, the department has received $42.82 million.
Canadian medical cannabis producer Aphria has signed an exclusive supply agreement with an Argentinian-based pharmaceutical import and distribution firm to provide medical cannabis products in the Latin American nation.
“We are excited to enter the Argentinian market through this initial supply agreement. We see tremendous potential for medical cannabis in several emerging markets in South America, including Argentina. As the leading low-cost supplier of high-quality medical cannabis, Aphria will continue to expand its global leadership through strategic investments, partnerships and exclusive agreements such as this one.” – Vic Neufeld, Aphria CEO, in a press release
In January, Aphria announced it would acquire Nuuvera Inc. as part of its global expansion plans. Nuuvera already has relationships in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Israel, Malta, Lesotho, and Uruguay; while Aphria currently has agreements in Australia. The Nuuvera deal has yet to be finalized.
Aphria is also one of three firms to strike a deal with Shoppers Drug Mart, Canada’s largest provider of pharmacy products and services, to sell its products through the retailer. The company is also one of six chosen by the Quebec government to supply recreational cannabis to the government, which will be distributed to licensed outlets.
Neither the name of the Argentinian import company nor the monetary terms of the deal have been disclosed.
Nevada’s legal cannabis sales continue to outpace projections as January tax revenues reached $5.54 million, according to Department of Taxation figures outlined by Las Vegas Weekly. The revenues represent a stable market that has topped $5 million in tax revenues in four straight months.
It’s the fourth-highest total since the state launched its recreational cannabis program: October’s $5.8 million in tax revenues still holds as the state record, followed by $5.7 million in December, and $5.5 million in November.
Wholesale taxes – 15 percent on both recreational and medical products paid by cultivation and production facilities – represented $2.26 million of the revenues, while the 10 percent excise tax on sales was about $3.28 million.
The state projected tax revenues of $5 million a month from July 2017 to July 2019, totaling $120 million. Taxation Department Director Bill Anderson told Las Vegas Weekly that the “collections to date are around 70 percent of what was projected for the year.”
“Taxable sales of adult-use marijuana accounted for about $200 million of the total statewide taxable sales for the period of July through December 2017 and about 15 percent of the growth in taxable sales for that period compared to the year prior.” – Anderson in a Mar. 1 press release
Wholesale tax funds are used by state and local agencies to regulate the industry and for school funding. Excise tax revenues are deposited in the rainy day fund.
Voters in Cook County, Illinois – which includes Chicago – have approved a non-binding referendum calling on the state to legalize cannabis for recreational use, according to a Chicago Readerreport. Voters in the Windy City approved the measure 73 percent to 27 percent and overall Cook County voters approved the referendum 68 percent, KWQCreports.
“Shall the State of Illinois legalize the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, testing, and sale of marijuana and marijuana products for recreational use by adults 21 and older subject to state regulation, taxation and local ordinance?” – non-binding ballot question approved by Cook County voters
The Marijuana Policy Project estimates that a legal cannabis industry in Illinois could generate between $350 million and $700 million annually in tax revenues. The Reader has previously reported that in the first seven months of 2016 – before statewide decriminalization took effect – more than 3,300 people were arrested for low-level possession and 70 percent of those arrests were for 1 gram or less; 78 percent of those arrested were black, 17 percent were Hispanic, and just 4 percent were white – roughly the same percentages identified by Reader investigations from 2014 and 2011. And while just 59 people were arrested and charged with misdemeanor cannabis possession after the law took effect to the end of 2016, 80 percent of those individuals were black.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner does not support legalization.
“I think it’s a big experiment on young people’s brains and development. We should study what’s going on in Colorado and California. Even [Colorado Governor John] Hickenlooper says, ‘Bruce, you guys in Illinois, you ought to wait awhile and study what’s going on here. ‘Cause it ain’t all good.'” – Rauner in a Mar. 16 interview with radio station WJPF via the Reader
The referendum is solely advisory, but it could help pro-cannabis lawmakers make their case in the capital.
According to a Brookings Institute report, Uruguay’s legal cannabis program has been hindered by supply problems and curtailed access to financial services but the market is maturing and officials are planning to widen the legal points of sale from pharmacies to retail dispensaries.
“In order for the regulated cannabis market to displace the black market more effectively, authorities may need to reconsider rules that require users to choose only one of the three legal forms of cannabis supply: homegrowing, clubs, or commercial purchase.” – “Uruguay’s cannabis law: Pioneering a new paradigm”
The report indicates that, initially, more than 13,000 Uruguayans signed up with the government to purchase cannabis legally – up to 40 grams per month – but the 16 pharmacies signed up to sell the two government-approved strains could only receive 2 kilograms of cannabis per month, every two weeks which “created not just a shortage from the lopsided purchaser to dispensary ratio, but also in terms of the purchaser maximum to pharmacy monthly supply ratio.”
As of today, the number of registered buyers has swelled to more than 22,000 but the number of pharmacies selling the products has fallen to 12 – and five of them are in the Montevideo, leaving 11 of the state’s departments without a pharmacy selling the products.
Despite the challenges, the report authors conclude that the model, while not perfect, “is a pioneering effort from which other governments will surely learn.”
“Like any administrative model, there is room for improvement. The effort to strengthen an already robust regulatory and administrative program is critical to meet public expectations and to advance the overall goals of a law.” – “Uruguay’s cannabis law: Pioneering a new paradigm”
The authors suggest that the nation explicitly allow cannabis industry operators access to financial institutions, expand medical cannabis access, reconsider the exclusive sales model, allow tourists to purchase products, and educate both the medical and law enforcement community.
Michigan criminal defense attorney Michael Komorn has helped citizens submit more than 100 petitions to add illnesses to the state’s medical cannabis qualifying conditions list, according to a report from MINORML board member Rick Thompson’s Social Revolution. More than 20 of those petitions have been accepted by the Bureau of Medical Marihuana Regulation.
The petitions accepted by the agency include:
Anxiety
Depression
Obsessive-compulsive Disorder
Panic Attacks
Schizophrenia
Social Anxiety Disorder
Arthritis
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Brain Injury
Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury
Asthma
Diabetes
Colitis
Gastric Ulcer
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Ulcerative Colitis
Organ Transplant
Non-Severe and Non-Chronic Pain
Parkinson’s
Tourette’s Syndrome
Autism
According to a spokesperson for Komorn Law, the team plans on “fixing” some of the rejected petitions and resubmitting them to regulators for consideration. David Harns, the spokesman for the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, which oversees the medical cannabis bureau, indicated that the agency hopes to have a meeting date to consider some of the accepted petitions by the end of the month; although he did not indicate which petitions would be reviewed by the panel.
The report indicates, state officials have previously approved medical cannabis access for post-traumatic stress disorder via the petition process but has rejected many other conditions, including autism.
A cannabis cultivator in Carpinteria, California has won a $1 million insurance payout after ashes from the Thomas Fire destroyed thousands of his plants, the Santa Barbara Independent reports. However, because of the payout total, the carrier has decided it would no longer cover cannabis farmers.
The farmers paid $30,000 in premiums with a $25,000 deductible. The coverage was provided by Brown & Brown Insurance, who have about 20 clients in Carpinteria and Lompoc, and Vice President Matt Porter indicated they expected to get up to $8 million in payouts for their Carpinteria clients. The policy for the farmers included the precise language “change in atmospheric conditions.”
Tests found the plants were contaminated with high levels of asbestos, lead, arsenic, and magnesium following ash-fall and the farmers were able to get market price for the damaged products – or about $1,000-$1,600 per-pound.
Porter indicated that of the 50 times he has presented crop insurance, just about 10 percent of the clients decided to purchase it. Although the carriers who had to make the payout will no longer work with cannabis businesses, Porter said he is working with other European carriers to provide the insurance.
Physicians in Ohiocan now apply to the state to recommend medical cannabis for qualified patients after completing a two-hour course on the subject. The first round of approvals is expected by the State Medical Board on Apr. 11.
“Please note that just because physicians have an approved CTR, the Ohio Medical Marijuana Program is not fully operational. The program is anticipated to be in place by September 2018.” – State Medical Board of Ohio in a press release
According to the release, the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy is currently structuring the patient registry and officials anticipate the registry will go live “sometime this summer.”
The announcement includes a short video for physicians on how to apply to participate in the program, an application guide, and steps to apply for the state program via eLicensing. Only fully licensed medical doctors and doctors of osteopathic medicine are eligible to recommend medical cannabis to patients in the state.
Progress comes amid lawsuits. Last month six medical cannabis cultivator applicants sued the state claiming that regulators failed to follow their own rules in scoring and awarding the 12 licenses to grow cannabis for the state program. State Sen. Bill Coley has introduced legislation that would suspend the licensing process for 30 days as Auditor David Yost completes his review of that process.
Former National Football League running back Ricky Williams has unveiled his Real Wellness line – available today at five dispensaries in his hometown of San Diego, California. The line is organized into three categories: Solutions, which includes Head Ease and Serenity vape cartridges; Everyday, including Serenity Tonic and Ricky’s Choice vape cartridge; and Sport, which includes Maintenance and Repair Salve and the Optimize Tonic.
For Williams, a former Heisman Trophy winner who was suspended by the NFL for one year after failing a drug test for cannabis, his foray into the cannabis industry started “more than a decade ago.” Following a decision to temporarily retire from football in 2004, Williams attended the California College of Ayurveda, studying the ancient Indian system of holistic medicine. After his football career, he said he had “no idea” what he was doing or “where he was headed,” but he knew “there was something next.”
“Now that things are really starting to come to fruition it’s very rewarding,” Williams said in an interview with Ganjapreneur, adding that launching the products in San Diego “made sense” because, not only is it his hometown, but it’s where RW’s manufacturing partners are located.
Like most entrepreneurs interested in the cannabis industry, Williams said that finding partners was “a tough process,” explaining that when he first entered the space he was primarily “a content provider,” speaking at conferences and authoring articles but those opportunities allowed him to meet cultivators, manufacturers, and processors already entrenched in legal markets.
“I think in any industry – but especially a controversial one like this – it’s so important to find who to partner with,” he said, explaining that his first partnership with Weedmaps helped him curate industry contacts but he didn’t really meet anyone that had the same vision as he did.
That vision, the two-time NFL rushing leader explains, is utilizing cannabis as part of an overall wellness lifestyle. The formulations incorporate various herbal extracts like arnica, lavender, and turmeric. Williams said that one of the lessons he learned while studying herbalism was “you never use just one herb … and when you use other supporting herbs that have similar actions people can get more out of all of the ingredients” – in essence, Williams is seeking to enhance the entourage effect.
Linnea Miron, CEO of RW, called Williams a “pioneer and a visionary” who has “always been 10 steps ahead of what’s trending, especially as it relates to Eastern approaches to medicine.”
“While most cannabis-related brands are still catering to today’s recreational user, we’re developing a brand for tomorrow’s wellness user who is primarily female and interested in alternative therapies,” Miron said in a statement. “Our products are designed to help target certain conditions, which is a new way of approaching the cannabis market and one that complements the larger wellness movement.”
RW is partnering with Southern California’s largest, licensed, integrated cannabis company, OutCo to help cultivate, extract, and develop the line. Williams said that partnership took about a year to come to fruition, after nearly two years of searching.
“They asked what I want to do. I said ‘I want to make medicine,” Williams said. “We shared our philosophies and they were so closely aligned that we said ‘Let’s do it.’”
Williams’ idea to incorporate herbal extracts came during his time at the California College of Ayurveda when he was an intern at the institution’s herb lab, when, at about the same time he received his first medical cannabis recommendation. He said that during his NFL career, league and team physicians could only offer him prescription drugs for the pain, but after his career ended he was able to experiment with more “effective and gentle” herbal remedies – which he credits with keeping him healthy eight years after he played his last professional football down.
“The way I see it, cannabis is a reintroduction in the West and America to herbalism,” Williams explained. “But I want to capitalize on this momentum and reintroduce people to the whole world of herbal medicine and I thought ‘What a great way to enter into this market by teaching people, not just about cannabis, but other herbs and the philosophy behind herbal medicine. A big part of our push is empowering people to take their own wellness into their own hands.”
A part of that empowerment process, Williams said, is education: educating consumers about both cannabis and other medicinal herbs, but also educating cannabis industry operators as to how they can incorporate other herbs into cannabis products. To that end, RW has launched a program to educate budtenders on their products which allows them to learn directly from a member of RW staff.
And while RW and Williams are primarily focused on the medical side of the cannabis industry, Williams is certainly aware that there are overlaps between the medical and recreational sector. He said that some of his products – such as the Serenity cartridges – would also appeal to recreational users who want a lower-dose THC product with other herbs to help with relaxation.
“If the reason someone is using recreationally is to help calm them down or slow their mind down, now they’ll have a product that might be better than cannabis alone to accomplish that and they’ll still feel the euphoria from the THC,” Williams said. “It’s really about putting more sophisticated products into the market so people have more options.”
Starting today, RW products will be available at A Green Alternative, Golden State Greens, Mankind Cooperative, The Tree House Balboa and Urbn Leaf-Golden Hill in San Diego, and the company expects the products to roll out at dispensaries in Orange County and Los Angeles within the next few weeks. Additionally, starting later this spring, consumers will be able to purchase RW’s CBD-only products online at its website.
According to a study by California-based Dr. Francis D’Ambrosio, 74 percent of his 4,276 patients were able to use cannabis to “replace or reduce intake of their medications.” The study purports that 51 percent of those medications reduced or replaced by cannabis were painkillers, followed by antidepressants (27 percent), and anxiolytics, which are used for anxiety (10 percent).
The study shows that 63 percent of Dr. D’Ambrosio’s patients used cannabis to treat anxiety and 60 percent for insomnia. Another 43 percent of patients used cannabis to treat depression, while 36 percent used it for pain, 35 percent for general well-being, and 25 percent for headaches. Sixty-one percent of his patients used cannabis daily, and 71 percent used less than 1 gram per day.
The research found that men and women used medical cannabis almost equally – men had slightly higher rates at 53.7 percent, while women used at a 46.3 percent rate; although women preferred products with high CBD levels and edibles. Smoking was the preferred method of ingestion (41.7 percent), followed by edibles and vaping (28 percent each).
Most of the patients in the study obtained their products from a dispensary, with home delivery being the next most common, followed by “friend.” Home-growing was not common.
This is just the latest study to show that legal cannabis access reduces opioid use rates. A study published in February in the European Journal of Internal Medicine found 18 percent of 2,736 patients over age 65 were able to stop or reduce their opioid use. A November 2017 University of New Mexico study found a 47 percent reduction in daily opioid dosage in patients who also used cannabis. An October 2017 study published in the American Journal of Public Health suggested that cannabis legalization has led to a 6.5 percent decrease in opioid-related deaths in the state.
In May of 2017 the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a division of the National Institutes of Health, updated their website to reflect recent NIDA research on the effects of medical cannabis legalization on prescription opioid use outcomes.
A report by the Center for Disease Control released earlier this month found that opioid overdose rates rose by an average of 30 percent throughout the U.S. between June 2016 and September 2017.
In February, the city of Seattle, Washington announced it would vacate all misdemeanor cannabis convictions issued prior to the 2012 legalization of adult use cannabis. Mayor Jenny Durkan cited the need to reverse some of the damage done by the War on Drugs, especially to communities of color. The city attorney is also looking into possibly vacating felony cannabis convictions.
Now, neighboring Pierce County’s prosecutor Mark Lindquist has announced the county would follow Seattle’s lead and vacate cannabis convictions. Pierce County’s plan, unlike Seattle, who will clear the convictions with no questions asked, but will require those seeking their crimes vacated to come to the courthouse, fill out a form, and ask for a judge’s approval.
“We’re concerned about how these convictions might affect the ability of people to get jobs, get housing, and just generally do the things we hope people will do, right? We don’t want an old marijuana conviction, especially now that it’s legal, to be an obstacle,” Lintquist told KIRO News.
Seattle and Pierce County are just among the latest jurisdictions to vacate cannabis convictions. Last year, when California passed adult-use cannabis legalization, the initiative included a provision to expunge cannabis convictions that would no longer be considered crimes under the new law. Local governments like San Diego and San Francisco have followed the state’s lead and began expunging misdemeanor charges.
Other states, like Maryland, Colorado, and Oregon, have also sought to lessen the burden of these outdated convictions on their citizens. Last year, Vermont’s governor pardoned 192 individuals with low-level cannabis charges.
Currently, Washington has a bill in the House that clears cannabis related misdemeanors. Despite the bill having 12 sponsors, it has stalled two years in a row.
One of the Colorado State University-Pueblo professors who worked on the study which concluded that legalized cannabis is not the cause of Pueblo County’s crime and homeless challenges has offered to debate the study’s critics, the Pueblo Chieftain reports. Sociology professor Tim McGettigan is defending the study after Pueblo Police Chief Troy Davenport argued that his officers see a connection between legal cannabis and homelessness on the streets and after the Chieftain ran an editorialcalling McGettigan’s section of the report “junk science.”
“The authors of the impact study stand by their research. Science is a force for good because good scientists pursue the truth wherever it leads — even (or especially!) when doing so debunks lies propagated by the powerful. … Throughout history, scientists have often been attacked by narrow-minded egotists who prefer ignorance over enlightenment. The authors of the Social Impact of Cannabis Study encourage those who are interested in this subject to read the impact study and draw their own conclusions.” – McGettigan in an email to the Chieftain
McGettigan challenged the critics – including Davenport and members of the Chieftain editorial board – Publisher and President Jane Rawlings; General Manager Brad Slater; Editorial Page Editor Blake Fontenay; and Editorial Research Editor Tom McAvoy – to a debate at the Cannabis Research Conference at CSU-Pueblo in late April.
The editorial board did not indicate whether they would accept McGettigan’s challenge.
What portion are critics taking issue with? In the study, McGettigan argues that the homelessness is more likely due to the policies of utility company Black Hills Energy.
“When you have a utility kicking thousands of families out of their homes in a community where there are no more than 35,000 family homes in one year, that’s 20 percent of the homes with utilities cut off. And pushing those families out into the streets, you are definitely going to see an increase in homelessness.” – McGettigan in the study
The Chieftain editorial contends that McGettigan has already admitted that his number for the total households is incorrect and Black Hills said that service is restored to customers after their bills are paid.
“It’s reasonable to think that some number of people, while experiencing financial problems that eventually will lead to them become homeless, might have their utilities cancelled. But even if there are a significant number of these people — and the institute’s study offered no evidence that’s true — then blaming Black Hills for their fates would be like blaming the undertaker for the dead body on the slab in the morgue.” – Chieftain editorial board
However, the editorial board offers no counter-evidence – just rehashing Chief Davenport’s assertions, which must be taken at his word. The board says that the Institute of Cannabis Research could have used the funds from the study “to do more solid scientific research in areas like the medical benefits of marijuana” and hemp cultivation improvement.
