WeedLife News Network

A member of the Partnership for a Healthy Iowa is calling for a statewide campaign to reverse widespread social acceptance of marijuana among young people.

Why it matters: He believes it can help save children from longer-term substance abuse issues or death.

Driving the news: Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among people between the ages of 15 and 19 in the U.S., according to the CDC.

Almost 25% of 11th graders and more than 20% of eighth graders who responded to the Iowa Department of Public Health's 2021 youth survey reported they thought about suicide in the past year.

Yes, and: Growing research suggests frequent use and higher-potency marijuana dramatically increases the chances of developing psychosis, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The availability, potency and diversity of marijuana products is rising, making it one of the top health and safety concerns, according to an October report by the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy.

Two marijuana consumers have sued a California marijuana company because its joints contain a lower percentage of THC that declared and accused it of false advertising.

According to the plaintiffs, the preroll joint advertised as the one "that will get you to Mars quicker than Elon Musk" allegedly raised concerns over the mislabeling of marijuana products to sell at a higher price.

The plaintiffs, Jasper Centeno of Long Beach and Blake Wilson of Fresno, are involved in a suit against the defendant, California marijuana company DreamFields Brands, Inc. and Med for America, for false advertising.

Santa Monica-based law firm Dovel & Luner seeks unspecified damages and restitution for the two plaintiffs who purchased the allegedly mislabeled products and class-action status for the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed on October 20, states that the plaintiffs purchased DreamFields Brands' Jeeter pre-rolled joints, which allegedly had a THC content lower than was advertised, and, therefore, the declaration of THC content on the company's labels is false.

"Testing by independent labs reveals that the true THC content of Defendants' products is materially less than the amount listed on the label. Moreover, the difference is far greater than the 10% margin of error that DCC [California's Department of Cannabis Control] regulations permit," the lawsuit states.

“Germany has long been the leader in medical cannabis reform and all the other countries in EU will follow with similar versions once completed,” said Mike Sassano, CEO of Somai Pharmaceuticals.

Germany, the largest economy in Europe, is making plans to legalize and regulate recreational cannabis. On Wednesday, the health minister, Mr. Karl Lauterbach, presented a plan for cannabis legalization to the German cabinet. This move will make Germany among the first countries in Europe to legalize recreational cannabis, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Currently, Malta is the only country in Europe that has made this bold move.

Legalizing cannabis for recreational use was captured in the coalition government’s manifesto. The coalition government is made up of three parties: Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and liberal Free Democrats.

How things are unfolding is therefore not surprising. How long the process will take is however not clear. While the Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) believes that this should happen by 2023, the Federal Drug and Addiction Commissioner Burkhard Blienert suggested that it will not be possible to have the law in place before the end of 2024.

According to Lauterbach’s plan, about 4 million Germans used cannabis in 2021. This signifies the existence of a vibrant illicit market which by all means presents a significant public health risk.

The plan presented by Lauterbach made a number of provisions for adult-use cannabis in Germany. Adults will be allowed to use and possess 20 to 30 grams of cannabis. Private cultivation of cannabis will be restricted to 2-3 plants per household, according to reports from the local media. In addition, marijuana-related cases that are ongoing but no longer illegal due to the new laws will be dropped. The coalition government plans to introduce a special tax for marijuana consumption alongside the usual sales tax. The plan also includes rolling out country-wide cannabis education and drug abuse prevention programs.

PAWNEE COUNTY - Keith Buntin is the fire chief for the volunteer department at Station 58 in Pawnee County.

He took pictures of what appears to be gloves, cans and other trash partially buried under mulch near Keystone Lake. He says he found the mess while responding to a fire a couple months ago.

The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics confirms they are investigating some of the grows in the Terlton area to make sure they are legal when it comes to who regulates what. They say when it comes to dumping, that is on the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA).

OMMA says: “The rules allow licensees to dispose of root balls, stems, fan leaves and mature stalks—parts of the cannabis plant not generally used as medical marijuana or in a medical marijuana product—at their own licensed premises by open burning, incineration, burying, mulching, composting or any other technique approved by the state Department of Environmental Quality.

The licensees must also maintain a disposal log with a signed statement attesting that the plant parts were disposed of lawfully.”

Chief Butin says in the Cleveland and Terlton zip code there are 54 legal and licensed grows or dispensaries.

There are various mechanisms by which cannabis could impact creativity and focus. But is there any scientific data that supports the idea that it actually has a positive effect on either?

Many people who consume cannabis for a cognitive boost are seeking to enhance their creativity and their focus at the same time.

It could be a computer programmer who finds that consuming a 1:1 CBD-THC edible in the morning settles her nerves for the day and opens her mind up to new solutions; a 70-year-old triathlete who discovers that a few drops of a sativa tincture allows him to stay focused during grueling bike rides; or a PhD student who breaks up long hours in the lab with a few tokes from a high-CBD joint.

Is cannabis or CBD the right choice for you to enhance your focus and creativity? Jointly can help you find out, but first let’s review what is known about cannabis, focus, and creativity!

Is Cannabis a Cognitive Booster?

In the popular imagination, cannabis has a much closer link to creativity than it does to focus, but there is also a long tradition of cannabis being used to enhance focus, especially during prolonged physical activities.

Wrestlers in Northern India traditionally took bhang, a cannabis infused drink, “to ensure long term concentration during exhausting all day practice.” Similarly, a survey of adult athletes who use cannabis revealed that 46.3% of athletes who used cannabis in the hour prior to exercising did so to improve focus.

In recent years, the cannabis industry has been booming. Research has created a new way to treat patients with debilitating health issues, like seizure disorders and chronic pain.

Businesses have created marijuana-friendly spaces such as coffee shops, restaurants and lounges. Cannabis is becoming increasingly normalized in our society and the drug has begun to lose a majority of its negative connotations with younger generations.

The wide variety of cannabis uses is astounding, from medicine to hemp-based products that help to fight pollution, to a recreational activity for those 21 and over. The United States has also made huge legal strides in terms of marijuana throughout the last decade, with 18 states having it fully legalized and 36 states having medical marijuana legalized. Rather than continuing to criminalize marijuana users, states have been able to make a profit from the product and allocate the funds to cities and programs in need.

Yet, there are still 40,000 Americans incarcerated for nonviolent marijuana-related charges. States are steadily continuing the legalization of marijuana but are not releasing people from prison at the same rate. This leaves our prisons overpopulated and underfunded, and ruins the lives of people who are, respectively, innocent.

Studies have found that people of color and white people use marijuana at roughly the same rate, yet people of color are four times as likely to be arrested for using the drug. Data collected from the New York Police Department found that in 2020, 94% of all people arrested on marijuana-related charges were people of color.

The popularization of marijuana usage has focused on white people and has become normalized by white people repeatedly speaking out about the benefits. Less than one percent of all dispensaries across the country are owned by people of color. Recently, a dispensary was under fire for naming a new strain of marijuana, “Strange Fruit.” The name was taken from a Billie Holiday song that was written as a metaphor to describe the abuse African Americans endured in the deep south.

While the draft of Germany’s cannabis laws has received a mixed response, those in the country’s hemp industry have welcomed developments.

Earlier this month the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) confirmed the suspended prison sentences of two commercial traders of CBD flowers. 

This was the latest in a long list of similar rulings with possibly hundreds more similar cases due before the country’s courts – which continue to view hemp/CBD as having narcotic properties.

However, it is understood that the country’s new cannabis regulations are set to finally remove hemp/CBD products from the German Narcotics Act.

Removed From Narcotics Law

This direction of travel has been welcomed by Jürgen Neumeyer, Managing Director of the Cannabis Business Industry Association (BvCW). 

He told BusinessCann that it appears that ‘in the future, cannabis – and thus also commercial hemp and CBD – will be completely removed from the Narcotics Act in Germany’.

TUCSON - A house that basically heats and cools itself, doesn’t catch fire, and helps reverse climate change may sound too good to be true.

That’s what Tucson general contractor Micaela Machado hears from people when she describes homes made with hemp lime.

”You can grow a two thousand square foot home on four acres, in one season, which is four months,” Machado said. “You can heat and cool it so easily, especially in a place like here in the desert, it’s just a whole lot less energy to heat and cool your house.”

Machado mixes hemp stalks with lime and water and shapes it into bricks. No, this is not the kind of hemp that creates a high. There are thousands of varieties of cannabis, and industrial hemp must have less than three-tenths of a percent of THC, the psychotropic chemical in marijuana.

Hemp cultivation became legal at the federal level with the 2018 Farm Bill.

“There’s a total stigma to it still, because it’s cannabis, but people don’t understand, it’s not a smokable cannabis,” said Machado.

South Carolina is one of only 13 states where marijuana is illegal.

But some lawmakers and doctors in the state continue pushing for the legalization of medical marijuana, which they say can be a safer treatment for people with debilitating illnesses than some prescription medications.

An attempt to legalize medical marijuana failed this spring, passing in the state Senate but not the House of Representatives .

Rep. Tommy Pope, R-York County, who voted against the bill, said he thought it went too far.

“My biggest concern is that I feel like it sets up an infrastructure for (full) legalization,” Pope said. “As opposed to focusing on taking care of those that probably need help the most.”

Still, legislators who support medical marijuana argue that legalization could significantly reduce the impact of the opioid epidemic.

Applications for medical cannabis licenses are scheduled to be sent out today, but it may still be months before the first products hit dispensary shelves in Alabama.

Meanwhile, marijuana remains classified as an illegal narcotic in the eyes of the federal government, whether it's bought illicitly off the streets or recommended by a doctor.

So far, 39 states have legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, and the federal government has mostly looked the other way. Yet there exists a tension between state and federal laws concerning the drug, and it has led to confusion among lawmakers and enforcers over how the new Alabama law will work on a practical, day-to-day basis.

"Right now, there is no such thing as a prescription for marijuana," State Sen. Larry Stutts (R-Tuscumbia) said. "By the FDA guidelines, marijuana is still listed as a [schedule] 1 narcotic… which is in the same category as heroin; no known medical benefits and can be used only in research."

Stutts said doctors would only be able to recommend medical cannabis for patients, not prescribe it like other medicines due to Food and Drug Administration's guidelines.

"Drug stores won't be stocking it, pharmacists can't dispense it, and physicians can't write a prescription for it," he said. "The deal is, on the federal level, they have just chosen not to enforce that rule in other states, so I'm sure Alabama will not be an exception."

SIOUX FALLS - When it comes to marijuana, South Dakota has been a leader among its Great Plains neighbors: one of the first to legalize recreational use, the first to approve both medical and recreational forms on the same ballot and the only one to have its recreational measure reversed.

Legalization is back on the ballot in November, but whether the politically red state will become the first to pass it twice remains in doubt.

It’s facing strong opposition from conservative groups and figures determined to pull the state back from legalizing pot. And though 54% of voters approved a constitutional amendment to legalize cannabis in 2020, that campaign may have benefited from the medical marijuana measure that appeared on the same ballot.

This time, recreational marijuana stands alone on the ballot. And it likely faces a different demographic of voters — older and perhaps less inclined toward the drug — in a midterm election rather than in a presidential year, said Matt Schweich, who organized that campaign and is doing so again this year.

“I think this is a close race,” he said at a news conference to kick off a statewide voter registration tour last week. “We need our people to come out and vote.”

Pot legalization advocates have found success primarily through ballot measures rather than legislatures, especially in GOP-held states. Voters in three states where Republicans control the governor’s office and both legislative chambers — Arkansas, Missouri and North Dakota — are deciding on recreational marijuana this year, as is politically divided Maryland.

Cannabis has come a long way in the US since it was first legalized medically in California in 1996.

Now, 18 states have legalized medical and recreational marijuana, 21 have legalized medical marijuana, and Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota have all put recreational marijuana on the ballot for the midterm election season. And with over a third of the country readily available with dispensaries, restaurants, tours, and even churches, a cannabis-themed vacation is far from far-fetched.

Still, you might be wondering where to go. A study conducted by Upgraded Points, a company that helps consumers with information on points and miles, conducted a study to find the best cities for a cannabis vacation.

The study found that the most cost-effective places for a cannabis vacation are Oakland, California and Spokane, Washington. Researchers said the data showed a correlation that the longer a state has had legalized recreational cannabis (Wahington tied with Colorado for first in 2012 and California in 2016) had, the lowest prices. A four-day cannabis vacation in Oakland would run you about $1,068, followed by Spokane with $1,135. However, go somewhere where the cost of living is high, and you’ll pay the price. A four-day stay in Anchorage, Alaska, will run you $1,551, with Los Angeles trailing behind at $1,540.

Portland, Maine, turned out to be the second cheapest city due to the vast number of 420-friendly stays. The study found Portland has 102 cannabis-friendly Airbnb listings per 100,000 people. Denver reigns supreme due to its number of 420-friendly accommodations, its 64 licensed dispensaries per 100,000 people, and the average price of a quarter ounce of weed averaging at about $60 if you know the best spots to buy.

The 10 best cities for a cannabis vacation

To find the best cities for a cannabis vacation, Upgraded points looked at50 of the largest cities in states where recreational marijuana usage is legal. The cities were then ranked on a scale from one to five in 10 categories: average Cost of round trip airfare, the average nightly price at weed-friendly accommodations, number of weed-friendly Airbnbs, the average cost of rideshare, number of dispensaries, the average cost for a quarter-ounce of weed, number of guided cannabis tours, the average price of weed-friendly experiences on Eventbrite, and the number of available fast food restaurants. These scores were then rated according to their impact on cannabis tourism. Each city then received a final score on a scale of one to 50.

‘This will lead to increased patient access to plant-based medicine and will introduce new patients to the flourishing local medical marijuana landscape’

Saying that cannabis is a panacea would imply that cannabis cures all types of diseases. Even in real life, it’s difficult to find one solution that fixes every problem.

The cure-all cannabis narrative has left many rational humans with unsettling feelings about cannabis legalization. Just Google “cannabis -panacea” and what you’re likely to come up with are a number of rebuttals. If anything, the world is just moving from the prohibition era when cannabis was demonized for being one of the greatest ills in society.

Just as a reminder, here are some legendary Henry Aslinger quotes on cannabis:

With such a past that we are only beginning to recover from, it’s not surprising that any attempt to sanitize the herb is met with the level of fire and fury that it deserves. It doesn’t help that cannabis is still regarded as a compound with “no medical use and a high potential for abuse” under federal law. How then can the same plant be a panacea?

What Is a Panacea?

Merriam-Webster defines panacea as “a remedy for all ills and difficulties.” Saying that cannabis is a panacea would imply that cannabis cures all types of diseases. Even in real life, it’s difficult to find one solution that fixes every problem.

So this panacea narrative automatically comes across as a desperate attempt at marketing snake oils to an unread audience. If anything, such “exaggerated” claims seem to be doing more harm than good to the legal industry, at least superficially. But is cannabis really a “cure-all” remedy and where does such a narrative even come from? Here is a good argument for considering cannabis as the ultimate panacea.

Around 1.3 million women experience menopause in the United States each year.

Although menopause begins between 51 and 52 years old, about 5% of women experience early menopause between 40 and 45 years old, while 1% experience premature menopause before the age of 40.

The most significant symptoms of menopause are hot flashes, sleep problems, low libido, and mood changes.

There are different treatments to manage menopause, including hormonal and non-hormonal therapies. Furthermore, lifestyle changes, such as eating well, exercising, and looking after mental well-being, can help with symptoms during menopause.

But as cannabis has become legally available due to its regulation in many US states for both medical and recreational purposes, some women are consuming it to successfully manage menopause, as a recent study has recently shown.

Researchers from McLean Hospital Imaging Center, Belmont, MA, and Department of Psychiatry, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, conducted a survey study recently published in Menopause: The Journal of The North America Menopause Society to find out how the use of cannabis affects women with menopause-related symptoms.

In a surprise move, this month President Joe Biden pardoned people convicted of marijuana possession at the federal level – and encouraged state governors to follow suit.

In the same statement, he asked the U.S. attorney general and secretary of health and human services to review marijuana’s classification as a Schedule 1 drug under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act – a change that could have huge ramifications for Florida’s booming cannabis industry.

Federal law currently classifies marijuana as a dangerous substance on the same level as heroin, with no medical benefit. For context, that’s a higher classification than drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamine (both Schedule 2), which are responsible for thousands of U.S. overdose deaths each year.

Rescheduling marijuana as a Schedule 3 substance or descheduling it altogether could pave the way for cannabis growers and dispensaries to function as legitimate businesses. One of the biggest wins would be the ability to qualify for standard business tax deductions, said Nima Tahmassebi, partner at Perlman, Bajandas, Yevoli & Albright in Coral Gables.

Section 280E of the federal tax code eliminates trade or business deductions for businesses that traffic Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 drugs, including cannabis sellers. That applies even if ventures operate in states where cannabis is legal. 

“That can cause the effective tax rates on cannabis businesses to be extremely high – 40% to 80%, rather than 21%,” Tahmassebi said.

USC students and pro-cannabis groups on campus are hopeful for a renewed perspective on marijuana after President Joe Biden promised to fix the country’s “failed approach” toward the drug.

On Oct. 6, President Biden pardoned thousands of people convicted of simple marijuana possession. The president released a series of Twitter statements justifying the decision and called on local and federal officials to review marijuana-related policies, such as the classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug. 

“Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana,” Biden wrote in a Twitter post following the pardons. “Today I announced a pardon of all prior federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana, urged governors to do the same, and asked HHS and the DOJ to review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.”

Biden pardoned prior federal offenders on the basis that people convicted of such offenses may be denied employment, housing or education.

Marijuana advocates at USC applauded Biden’s efforts while pushing for increased tolerance of the drug. Christophe Merriam, a freshman majoring in business of cinematic arts, said he believes the legalization of marijuana is long overdue.

“Nobody is dying from marijuana, and marijuana isn’t a health crisis,” Merriam said. “If you’re really gonna be like, ‘It makes a person lazy or act stupid,’ you can easily say the same thing about drinking, but drinking is so normal and socially acceptable, so that’s just ridiculous.”

BALTIMORE - Members of the Maryland House of Delegates and community members, including retired law enforcement and former Baltimore Ravens player Eugene Monroe, said legalization of recreational cannabis would create new jobs and investment opportunities and save the state money by eliminating the incarceration of thousands of residents annually on marijuana possession charges.

Spearheaded by Monroe’s advocacy organization, Yes on 4, the group urged Maryland residents to vote yes on question four to approve legalization of recreational cannabis when they go to the polls Nov. 8.

“Marijuana sales would create tens of thousands of well-paying jobs.” Monroe said during a press conference in West Baltimore. “It would also open doors for hundreds of new small business owners and create opportunities for workers in other industries, including those in real estate, construction and manufacturing.”

A recent poll by the Washington Post and the University of Maryland showed that 73% of registered Maryland voters support legalization of recreational cannabis.

“The numbers show Maryland residents want to legalize cannabis, because they know it will create good paying jobs and boost the state’s economy,” he said.

Maryland is one of five states that will consider legalization initiatives on Nov. 8, including Arkansas, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota. So far, 19 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized cannabis for adults 21 and older.