WeedLife News Network

Cannabis processing and marketing companies are beginning to test the effectiveness of the metaverse to promote their products and educate consumers about the use of weed in its different presentations.

Like other companies from different economic sectors such as JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) & Co., Miller Lite, Estée Lauder or Wendy’s, companies dedicated to the marijuana trade plan to create virtual stores for the promotion and sale of real-world products and even market non-fungible tokens.

Cannabis sellers have seen in the metaverse an opportunity to market their products more freely than on other platforms like Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Cannabis Marketing Association executive director Lisa Buffo told The Wall Street Journal.

That is if the virtual platforms can continue to operate under a totally flexible and decentralized framework as they have been up to now. "It's a wide open space in Web3... regulators haven’t wrapped their head around it yet," Buffo said. Several companies have been operating in the metaverse since last year. This is the case of Higher Life CBD Dispensary LLC, which operates in partnership with Saucey Farms & Extracts LLC and is hosted on the Cryptovoxels virtual platform.

The store is visited by about 1,000 people daily, according to Higher Life CEO Brandon Howard. Although virtual visitors cannot buy CBD products directly there, they can purchase them by accessing a link to the Higher Life website.

The second floor of the store is occupied by Saucey. From there, visitors are also directed to the company’s official website, where they can purchase other types of products other than the cannabis products that Higher Life sells.

People have argued for over a century about whether the benefits of medicinal marijuana outweigh the risks. Supporters of marijuana as medication claim that it has many potential benefits and can alleviate symptoms more effectively than conventional pharmaceuticals. Risks are low since marijuana is generally effective at low doses. Marijuana also may allow patients to reduce or stop using other pain relievers or medications. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to look into each state’s regulations. If you are interested about the laws in our state you can see here a guide on how to get a medical marijuana card in Maryland, fully online.

Here are eight potential benefits of medicinal marijuana.

1. Reducing inflammation

Researchers have found that THC can suppress inflammatory processes, resulting in less pain. They showed the levels of inflammation in patients with osteoarthritis to be significantly lower after they were treated with THC compared with other analgesics. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis who used marijuana had less swelling, reported less pain, and experienced faster recovery than those who did not use marijuana. In several studies, the anti-inflammatory properties of cannabinoids were effective in treating both arthritis and neuropathic pain.

2. Increase appetite

The FDA has approved a synthetic cannabinoid spray known as dronabinol to increase appetite and manage weight loss in people with AIDS. This drug is sometimes prescribed “off-label” to cancer, glaucoma, and multiple sclerosis patients. Studies have shown that marijuana can be useful in treating anorexia and weight loss in people with cancer, HIV, and other conditions that cause side effects such as nausea or vomiting.

Individuals who are caught shipping marijuana, even from one legal state to another, can be prosecuted by the federal government.

The legalities of traveling and shipping cannabis or products made from it can be overwhelmingly confusing. There are many things to consider, and these are important to know especially for medical patients who rely on cannabis for managing diseases, have trouble getting to a dispensary near you, or need to dispose of marijuana after traveling to a cannabis-friendly state.

The short answer is: no, it’s illegal to ship marijuana products and edibles within the United States. At the time of writing, marijuana is still a federally illegal substance which means that it is illegal in the eyes of the federal government. The United States Postal Service (USPS), as well as other private postage companies, are managed and controlled by the government. If there is any criminal activity that has been discovered, coursed through the mail, it can lead to federal criminal offenses, which are discussed in the United States Code 1716.

Individuals who are caught shipping marijuana even from one legal state to another can be prosecuted by the federal government. This can also lead to state charges based on the quantity of illegal drugs. However, if you are caught mailing cannabis within a state where cannabis is already legal, the best course of action would be to seek the help of a drug defense attorney.

The current law states that shipping 50 kilos of marijuana through the UPS can lead to as much as 5 years in prison with a fine of up to $250,000. Both FedEx and UPS don’t allow shipping products that are not federally legal, though the USPS has to get a search warrant while FedEx, UPS, and other private couriers don’t. That means that they can open your package if they think that it’s necessary to do so. Keep in mind that postage workers are also given a reward, sometimes to the tune of $50,000, if they are able to identify packages that contain marijuana and report the people behind it.

Edibles

Since many people have been able to get away with traveling internationally with edibles in their suitcase, you may think that it’s okay to mail it. However, the answer is still no.

The New York Senate has approved legislation that gives officials new authority to address the state’s unregulated cannabis market.

The New York Senate voted this week to approve a bill to crack down on the state’s cannabis gray market, giving regulators the authority to seize illicit weed and increasing fines for unlicensed operators. State Senator Liz Krueger introduced the measure on Sunday and by Wednesday, the Senate had voted to approve the bill, offering an indication of the legislature’s interest in addressing New York’s unregulated pot market before legal sales of recreational cannabis begin later this year.

Justin Flagg, a spokesperson for Krueger, said that the bill is designed to empower the New York Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and the Department of Taxation and Finance to address unregulated cannabis retailers, which have become brazenly ubiquitous in Manhattan and other areas since state lawmakers legalized adult-use cannabis last year. The OCM is currently working to establish rules for the regulated market, which should begin licensed recreational cannabis sales by the end of 2022.

“This bill is aimed at gray market operators such as retail cannabis stores that have emerged during the period after legalization but before licensed businesses begin operating,” Flagg said in an email.

Flagg added that Krueger drafted the legislation with cooperation from OCM and the tax and finance department, noting that their action was “prompted by the difficulty of enforcement against several illegal cannabis stores that have been hard to shut down under the existing statute.”

The bill gives the OCM the authority to seize illicit cannabis and expands the authority of the Taxation and Finance Department to assess fines against unlicensed cannabis operators. The measure also doubles civil penalties for anyone who knowingly possesses illicit pot, which is defined as taxable cannabis products for which no tax has been paid. Flagg clarified that the legislation applies to any cannabis product that was not grown by or purchased from a cannabis business licensed by the state.

The new campaign celebrates "queer joy, inclusivity and cannabis"

Cannabis beverage brand Cann and Weedmaps have partnered on a new Pride campaign that features Patricia Arquette and a host of stars celebrating “queer joy, inclusivity and cannabis.”

Arquette joins Gus Kenworthy, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kornbread, Kerri Colby, Jorgeous and more in the original song and music video, dubbed “Taste So Good.”

Arquette is also the co-founder of the Los Angeles-based cannabis consumption lounge Fantom Flower, which is set to open next year. Arquette told Vanity Fair that her work in cannabis is about highlighting how “cannabis has been an element of cultures, throughout time.”

For herself, growing up in California, cannabis was often front and centre, even at home.

“I have an interesting history with cannabis, I guess, in that my dad was a real stoner growing up,” Arquette told Vanity Fair. 

Tyson 2.0's premium product line is now available at 16 retail locations across Washington in partnership with Mammoth Labs

Tyson 2.0 ("The Company"), legendary boxer, entrepreneur and cannabis advocate Mike Tyson's cannabis brand, today announced in collaboration with its exclusive partner, Mammoth Labs that Tyson 2.0's premium suite of cannabis products are now available at sixteen dispensaries across the state of Washington.

"Tyson 2.0 x Mammoth Labs products will pack twice the punch for Washington cannabis consumers with our high THC strains and superior terpene profiles,'' said Mike Tyson, Chief Brand Officer and Co-Founder of Tyson 2.0.

APPlife Digital Solutions, Inc. (OTCQB: ALDS) (“APPlife”, the Company”), a business incubator and portfolio manager that invests in and creates e-commerce and cloud-based solutions is pleased to announce that the Global Hemp Service LLC (“Global”) web site has recently completed its extended beta period and is now a fully-functioning e-commerce platform that offers an extensive line of hemp and CBD related products including those for personal, home, beauty, organic, and industrial uses.

“We are excited to see the products being offered by Global Hemp Service becoming more prominently featured in daily use around the world. Hemp is a game-changer for its benefits to our climate. APPlife is proud to have been the lead investor in this project and hope to see it flourish in the coming months,” stated Matthew Reid, CEO of APPLife.

"It is our mission at Global Hemp Service to unify hemp stakeholders and support the category growth in all industries where hemp can be applied. The challenge isn't how to make a better world, it’s to make it happen now. Our focus on hemp is the most intelligent decision for us to do our part and reach a sustainable society within a few years," said Paul Iglesia, founder and president of Global Hemp Services LLC.

The team at Global understands that humanity is need of both environmental and societal transformations and while our current resources might be enough, the way we consume them is not sustainable. While cures for these challenges are complicated and will take time, effort, and energy, Global believes part of the cure is a simple plant, created by nature itself, named cannabis, most commonly known as hemp. It’s been interacting with humans all over the planet and the course of history from ancient writings and customs to the present days.   There are hundreds of thousands of people all over the planet working with hemp, consuming hemp in their diet, their products, their habitat, and their farms.

Together, APPlife and Global believe that hemp’s diverse applications and attributes could be valuable components in achieving numerous global sustainability goals, some of which include:

Is this the industry's watershed moment, or is this just a one-off exception?

The marijuana industry still isn't legal in the U.S. even though dozens of states permit marijuana for either recreational or medical use. There are even many marijuana companies that trade on the stock exchanges that you can invest in today to gain exposure to the fast-growing industry.

However, not all marijuana companies can trade on the NYSE or Nasdaq. Specifically, plant-touching marijuana companies based in the U.S. aren't able to do so because they operate in violation of federal laws. But in May, one stock became an exception to the rule and made history.

Former Governor joins healthcare professionals to launch testing facility in new medicalmarijuana program for Mississippi.  

Former Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove will is joining an executive hospital team to form Magnolia Tech Labs. This new business will be a state of the art testing facility service for the state’s new medical marijuana industry.

Beginning yesterday, the Mississippi Department of Health opened applications for growers, dispensaries, and testing facilities to operate in the medical marijuana business. These applications are required to be filed in order to receive certification.

Quentin Whitewell and Dr. Kenneth Williams, as well as a Nashville partner Bappa Mukherji, have developed a comprehensive health care system in underserved areas of the North Delta. Over the years they have developed a friendship with Governor Musgrove leading to the most recent business venture.

“Governor Musgrove’s roots are where we have planted our healthcare flag, and his experience has brought a common bond. We share a passion of helping communities that were losing their hospitals,” said Whitwell.

“Musgrove had been involved in the trade association that helped the get the initiative passed. No one was really talking about safety testing of the product at that time, and we knew that was going to be a very necessary part of the public trust in the industry.”

The break in the ranks makes Munich CSU city counsellor (and medical doctor) Hans Theiss one of the first center right politicians in the German government to express support for recreational reform.

Hans Theiss has just made German history. He just came out publicly in favor of recreational cannabis reform.

This does not make him unusual right now as the country moves, however slowly and haltingly, towards a new cannabis reality. What does is where he is from—both geographically and politically.

Geographically, he represents constituents from a wealthy city in Bavaria, one of the country’s largest and most metropolitan cities. That said, Bayern is sometimes referred to as the “Texas” of Germany not to mention the most “rule-based” state in the country.

In the words of Theiss in a recent interview, “Bavaria already pursues a relatively strong rule of law policy and pursues things that are classified as illegal perhaps a little more consistently than is the case in other federal states.”

This is one of the reasons the state has one of the highest numbers of official cannabis patients. Doctors know that prescriptions are a form of protection for people too sick to be arrested.

A bill that would ban discrimination against state employees who use medical cannabis was approved by the Louisiana Senate on Wednesday, sending the legislation to the governor’s desk for his approval.

The Louisiana state Senate voted 26-8 on Wednesday to approve a bill that would protect public employees who use medical cannabis from job discrimination. The measure, House Bill 988, was approved by the Louisiana House of Representatives last week and now heads to the desk of Governor John Bel Edwards for his consideration.

Under the bill, public employees using medical cannabis with a doctor’s recommendation and in accordance with state law are protected from being fired for using medical pot. The bill also protects medical cannabis patients who are applying for state positions from being denied employment or other job discrimination based on their use of cannabis.

“This would basically be a first step to having laws on the books to protect people who have medical marijuana cards,” state Representative Mandy Landry, the sponsor of the bill, said last month after introducing the bill.

The bill does not apply to private employers or local government agencies, including police and fire departments. Landry told reporters that the legislation was limited to state employees to address likely opposition from politically powerful law enforcement and business lobbyists in the state Capitol.

Medical cannabis an alternative to opioids in Louisiana

The Louisiana House of Representatives approved the bill by a vote of 60-32 on May 24. While the bill was up for debate in the House, Landry told her colleagues that the legislation would help prevent state workers from becoming addicted to opioids, an argument that was echoed in the upper body of the state legislature by Senator Stewart Cathey.

OneLavi will soon carry Vido’s Health & Beauty USA skincare products that contain Hemp Seed Oil.

“We are thrilled that OneLavi, a boutique health, wellness, and beauty website, will offer our skincare products with HSO to its customers,” said Iva Plummer, one of the co-founders of Vido’s Health & Beauty USA.

“We are launching our products in the U.S. this year, and OneLavi will be one of the first retailers to see our HSO skincare products.”

Plummer said Hemp Seed Oil is perfect for the skin because it moisturizes and reduces inflammation.

“Because of HSO, our skincare products also are rich in anti-oxidants, ‘which can prevent or slow damage to cells caused by free radicals,’” Plummer said.

“Antioxidants help reduce inflammation, which is a common cause for a variety of skin conditions.”

Encouraging outcomes in recent studies have the authors of a recent review calling for more research on the effect of cannabinoids on sleep disorders.

For generations, Michael Marinaro’s family honed their cultivation techniques in the vineyards of Naples, Italy. Years later, the first-generation Italian-American is drawing on those techniques — not for grapes, but another agricultural pursuit: cannabis. 

Marinaro, CEO of Tyngsborough-based cultivator BadaBloom!, is part of the team behind Trevor Express, a proposed adult-use marijuana delivery operator seeking to open in Natick.

The company was formed through a partnership with Bada Bloom! — which holds provisional licenses from the state’s Cannabis Control Commission — and Revolutionary Clinics, which operates medical marijuana dispensaries in Cambridge and Somerville.

Trevor Express holds a lease at 1 Tech Circle/211 Oak St. in Natick, close to two other marijuana-related businesses: cannabis, CBD and hemp testing facility Kaycha Labs and proposed delivery operator Your Green Package, both at 16 Tech Circle. 

Trevor Express Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Tara Hopper said she and Marinaro, Trevor’s president, are looking forward to establishing the business in Natick, their hometown.

Hemp and CBD’s temporary legalization status in North Carolina is coming to an end, prompting the General Assembly to act.

A bill in North Carolina would ensure that hemp and CBD remain legal in the state beyond this month.

Members of the state Senate approved the legislation on Tuesday, which would permanently remove hemp from North Carolina’s list of controlled substances.

According to local television station WGHP, the bill passed the chamber by a unanimous vote.

As was the case in a host of other states, North Carolina greenlit the cultivation of hemp following changes to how the federal government treats the plant in the last decade.

The 2014 Farm Bill that was passed by Congress “provided a definition for hemp and allowed for state departments of agriculture or universities to grow and produce hemp as part of research or pilot programs,” according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.