WeedLife News Network

When you think of hemp, you might think of a cannabis variation like CBD or THC, but leaders of a new facility in Orangeburg County hope to change that.

Leaders with BrightMa Farms say they’re doing it by using technology. It's an effort to reveal the benefits of hemp that many people may not know of.

Before hemp farming was legal in South Carolina in 2018, it was made out to be dangerous plant and an outdated farming practice.

But it’s a farmer from Johns Island who's taking a different approach while bringing minority communities to the forefront of the industry.

Harold Singletary comes from a family of hemp farmers.

“I'm a fourth-generation descendant of BrightMa, who was enslaved on a plantation,” Singletary said.

Throughout the past decade, the phrase “Cannabis is Safer Than Alcohol” has become the official slogan for why the average stoner should damn well be able to appreciate the same freedom as those who enjoy a stiff drink. After all, pot is arguably less risky than the sauce Americans pour down their gullets during sporting events, weekends, or any other day where it becomes absolutely imperative to either celebrate the good times or drown out the bad. But no matter how tightly the bottle is woven into the puke-stained fabric of civil society, alcohol remains one of the most savage serial killers of any inebriating substance, legal or not.

The nation’s affinity for all things beer, wine, and spirits snuffs out roughly 95,000 diehard drinkers from ills such as liver failure and cancer every year. Meanwhile, the most horrendous consequence that the average cannabis fan might endure, at least as far as we can tell, is perhaps putting on a few extra pounds after stuffing their face with everything in the kitchen once the munchies kick in. But we digress. Considering what we know about both substances, the plant does appear to be a safer alternative to alcoholic beverages. A legion of advocates even claim that legalization may assist in pulling the great, slobbering drunkard out of the nation’s gutter of destitution and despair, ultimately putting them on the path of the straight and narrow.

Fast forward some years, and cannabis legalization for adults 21 and older has taken hold across more of the country. Yet, alcohol-related harms continue to increase. In Colorado, one of the first states to legalize the leaf in a manner similar to alcohol, booze continues to wreak havoc.

A recent study from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) finds that alcohol-related deaths increased by nearly 30% in the Centennial State during 2020. Despite having the option of using cannabis as opposed to alcohol for the past eight years, Colorado residents are evidently still drinking themselves to death at alarming numbers. Liver disease, alcohol poisoning, unsafe behavior under the influence, mental health conditions, and alcohol-induced damage to other organs are turning up on coroner’s reports like wildfire. This uptick in booze-related death isn’t just happening in Colorado either. In other legal states, the statistics are similar. Overall, with or without pot, people are still drinking in excess and paying the price.

Nevertheless, some cannabis supporters still believe that legal weed could be a saving grace for an inebriated nation.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) from Florida, called President Joe Biden a “recalcitrant boomer” criticizing him over the lack of marijuana reform, a policy change that he campaigned on, reported Marijuana Moment. (Benzinga)

The Congressman made the ageist comments during an episode of his podcast “Firebrand.” He contrasted his stance toward legalization against that of President Biden. 

Gaetz boasted that he was one of just three Republican members of the House who voted in favor of a Democratic-led bill to end federal cannabis prohibition, while Biden opposes adult-use marijuana legalization.

 Priority Aviation, Inc. (OTC Pink: PJET) (“PJET”) today announced the company has partnered with Puration, Inc. (OTC Pink: PURA) to build student housing from hemp.

PJET is a technology company focused on student life.  The company’s core technology is its soon to be launched Student Housing By Owner (SHBO) APP designed to connect communities local to college campuses with students through an APP similar to Airbnb and VRBO but specific to the college community.  PJET plans to evolve the relationship with the students into a lifelong relationship that extends beyond graduation providing a more socially conscious Amazon alternative.

PJET is building its own pilot student housing project in Texas near a small prominent, college campus to build first-hand experience that can be added to the ongoing development of the company’s SHBO APP.

PURA has launched its Farmersville Hemp Brand to usher industrial hemp solutions into the market and contribute to the net zero, 2050 global carbon neutrality goal.

Part of the Farmersville Hemp Brand strategy is targeted at disrupting the $600 billion global lumber market.

Hemp is a textile and lumber industry disruptor. Hemp fiber is an alternative to cotton and traditional construction lumber that in fact has many characteristics superior to cotton and traditional lumber before considering the environmental benefits of using hemp. Hemp grows faster than cotton and hard wood forests, uses less water and absorbs more carbon. Hemp can be used in the production of bioplastics and has even been tested for use in supercapacitors which hold the potential to outperform batteries and do so with far less detriment to the environment.

Acreage Holdings, Inc. has completed the sale of its cultivation and processing facility in Medford, Oregon, and in conjunction with the sale, closed its dispensary in Powell, Oregon. Total consideration for the sale of the Medford cultivation and processing facility was $2 million, including $0.75 million paid to Acreage in February 2021, $0.5 million due August 1, 2022, and the remaining balance of $0.75 million due May 1, 2023. Additionally, the company has completed the consolidation and conversion of its dispensary in Brewer, Maine to adult use. (Benzinga)

“We are thrilled to convert our Brewer dispensary in Maine to adult-use, further solidifying our leading retail market share position in the state,” stated Peter Caldini, CEO of Acreage. “We look forward to expanding access to Maine residents as we continue to grow our footprint in this market. We are also pleased to have closed the sale of the facility in Oregon, as we work to complete our wind-down of operations in the state and focus on growing our presence in our core markets.”

Article by Vuk Zdinjak

Robert Wolf, Managing Executive at Grow Space New England was a guest speaker at Benzinga’s Cannabis Capital Conference (CCC). (Benzinga)

Grow Space New England operates as a gateway to cannabis cultivation in Massachusetts. The company finds legally compliant sites, gets the necessary construction permits, then constructs greenhouse and outdoor grow facilities that are leased to licensed cultivators. 

Article by Jad Malaeb

“Bliss,” “Bombay Blue,” “Genie,” “K2,” “Spice” — those aren’t fragrances or happy hour cocktails. They’re names for synthetic cannabis, or marijuana or weed. While products like K2 synthetic marijuana are often marketed as safe alternatives to natural marijuana, they’re anything but.

How dangerous is synthetic marijuana and what can it do to your body? Psychiatrist and addiction specialist Akhil Anand, MD, explains what synthetic marijuana is and answers those questions.  

What is synthetic weed? 

Before we get into that, Dr. Anand says it’s important to understand one thing: Your body already has cannabis-like molecules called “endocannabinoids” that mainly work on the “endocannabinoid system” (ECS), which is a very important brain system.

“We need the ECS because it helps with things like fertility, appetite, memory, pain and inflammation,” says Dr. Anand.

“There are two primary endocannabinoid receptors as well. They’re known as cannabinoid receptor one (CB1) and cannabinoid receptor two (CB2).”  

For those that end up unproductive with THC, even at small doses, you can also try CBD products which has been shown in studies to fight daytime sleepiness.

Adults are extremely prone to fatigue. With so many things that cause it in our daily lives, ranging from lack of sleep to parenting, lack of exercise, stress, and much more, it’s not uncommon for people to constantly seek more ways we can get more energy in our daily lives. In fact, a study shows that up to 45% of the general population struggle with fatigue.

For this reason, it isn’t surprising to see that coffee has become our number one drug. Coffee is the substance most of us look for upon opening our eyes to give us that much-needed jolt of alertness both physically and mentally. There is also a growth of energy-boosting products on the market ranging from beverages to pills and everything in between.

However, the answer to fatigue may have been lying in front of our very eyes: cannabis.

A new study conducted by researchers at the University of New Mexico involved using a mobile software application to gauge the real-time effects of various common marijuana flower on fatigue levels. The study, entitled, “The Effects of Consuming Cannabis Flower for Treatment of Fatigue”, was the first large-scale experiment and it revealed that people have a good chance of seeing improvements in fatigue after smoking cannabis flower.

For the study, the researchers studied data taken from 3,922 self-administered cannabis sessions from 1,224 participants. The app, called Releaf, is a renowned mobile application that is designed to help individuals take note of the effects of the different cannabis types they buy while being able to record real-time changes in their symptoms. It’s a common issue for cannabis consumers to struggle with identifying which strains help them feel their best or which may have undesirable side effects for them, due to changing chemical compositions and availability of strains and batches, which is what the app aims to solve.

CBD of Denver, Inc. (OTC Pink: CBDD), a distributor of CBD and unique CBD products sold in Switzerland and throughout Europe, is pleased to announce its expansion into the German medical cannabis market with the hiring of Bijan Hezarkhani to lead CBD of Denver's growth in this fast growing European market. Bijan has extensive experience in the cannabis industry, including building out a medical cannabis franchise in Germany. He was the business development manager for Khiron Life Sciences for the last three years, visiting doctors and pharmacies in Germany to build Khiron's medical cannabis business. Previously, he spent time at Canopy Growth as a business analyst covering Europe. Bijan will be the head of the Company's medical cannabis sales in Germany and will be based in Frankfurt.

Germany officially approved medical cannabis in 2017. Germany is the largest medical cannabis market in Europe at 15 tonnes annually and generated approximately US$300 million of revenue in 2021. According to Forbes Magazine, over a million patients in Germany will have access to medical cannabis by 2024, with the German medical market worth €7.7 billion by 2028.

The German market appears to be moving closer to adult-use legalisation, a market estimated at 400 tonnes annually, making it critical to have the infrastructure in place in country. With 83 million people, Germany is the most attractive market in Europe for cannabis. CBD of Denver believes the leaders in the German adult-use market will be those companies already having exposure to the legal market.

The medical market in Germany is import driven and requires an experienced sales force to facilitate the education process around different products.

"This is a seismic moment in the history of our company. Our expansion into the German medical cannabis market is a key part of our new strategy to diversify our revenue streams. This gives our company exposure to the largest cannabis market in Europe and allows us to expand out of our core in Switzerland," said CBD of Denver CEO Paul Gurney.

Millennials, Gen Z, Gen X and Boomers all noted they think cannabis is less risky than alcohol.

A new poll shows just how much Americans have stopped fearing weed. The majority of those surveyed reported they consider alcohol to be more harmful than cannabis, indicating just how much perceptions around the plant have evolved. The poll, conducted by market research company SSRS, showed that more than half of respondents (58 per cent) of respondents believe cannabis is safer than alcohol. Millennials, Gen Z, Gen X and Boomers, in that order, all noted they think cannabis is less risky than alcohol.

A deeper look into the results shows these are in line with what previous cannabis polls have demonstrated: the vast majority of Americans believe in legal medical marijuana (92 per cent), a smaller yet still large percentage believe in recreational marijuana (69 per cent) and Democrats (78 per cent) and Independents (74 per cent) are more likely to support legal marijuana than Republicans (54 per cent).

While national policies remain slow to embrace change, with every passing year people in the U.S. continue to warm to cannabis.

Comment on the poll’s results, Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws noted in a statement that :voters support legalizing marijuana regardless of political party affiliation.”

Armentano went on to say:

It’s a game of num­bers for Dem­o­crats in Wash­ing­ton who want bold re­form on a num­ber of key boil­er­plate is­sues.

But even if they add one more to their ranks in the 50-50 Senate by way of Penn­syl­va­nia, it still may be un­likely that le­gal­ized mar­i­juana be­comes a re­al­ity on the fed­eral level.

All three of the top Demo­cratic con­tend­ers here — John Fetter­man, Conor Lamb and Mal­colm Ken­yatta — fa­vor some de­gree of mar­i­juana re­form, but if they pull off a win in what’s one of the coun­try’s most im­por­tant races, they’ll face an up­hill climb in the Senate.

HuffPost, check­ing in with nu­mer­ous U.S. sen­a­tors last week, re­ported that it’s not just Re­pub­li­cans who could stall move­ment on le­gal weed in the cham­ber. A num­ber of Dem­o­crats are hes­i­tant, too, ei­ther be­cause they say there are too many un­an­swered ques­tions on the con­se­quences or be­cause they say there are big­ger is­sues on their minds.

None of the three Penn­syl­va­nia Dem­o­crats would in­sist mar­i­juana is the only is­sue on their ra­dar, but it’s one that pro­po­nents say could raise bil­lions in tax rev­e­nue, re­move the re­li­ance on an of­ten-dan­ger­ous black mar­ket and re­lieve ra­cial dis­par­i­ties in en­force­ment — all while align­ing with pub­lic poll­ing.

This so hap­pens to be a race, too, in which the fron­trun­ner, Mr. Fetter­man, has made le­gal­iz­ing mar­i­juana a sta­ple of his po­lit­i­cal rise.

Biden administration officials said they’re “very aware that there are other Americans held in Russia,” and added that Whelan and Griner are “very much in our minds.”

The Biden administration participated in a prisoner swap with Russia last week involving the exchange of a convicted Russian drug smuggler jailed in Connecticut for Trevor Reed a Marine veteran imprisoned in Russia since 2019. Meanwhile, the fate of WNBA superstar Brittney Griner and former marine Paul Whelan remains unclear. (Benzinga)

What is clear is that leaders in Washington and Moscow are still speaking to each other, regardless of the daily sputtering and saber-rattling following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Brittney Griner

Like other female athletes who play abroad during the off-season for extra income, Griner had been playing on a Russian team for the past seven years. The huge gender pay gap in professional sports places women at additional risk.

Paul Whelan

Whelan, a former marine arrested in Moscow in 2018, was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years of hard labor and is still being held in Russia.

Finding high-quality cannabis seeds in Europe is about to get easier. Franchise Global Health announced that its Danish subsidiary, Rangers Pharmaceutical, will be Europe’s “first legal and registered” seed bank in Copenhagen, Denmark, according to an April 28 press release.

The seed bank is home to one of the largest collections of its kind with 286 strains, including several world-class genetics and winners of 19 High Times Cannabis Cups. The company has a footprint all over the globe, including Germany, Canada, Colombia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Portugal, and Denmark.

While seed banks can be found in places such as the Netherlands and the U.K., this seed bank is licensed to store, sell, and export cannabis seeds globally under legal international trade frameworks, with permits to import and export. Rigorous adherence to good manufacturing practices (GMP) is part of the equation.

“In Europe, we abide by EU-GMP standards, which requires a rigorous approach to production of all medicines,” Franchise Global Health Executive Chairman and CEO Clifford Starke told High Times via email. “Medical cannabis is by definition a medicine and we are committed to adhering to these requirements so that patients can have the confidence that they are ingesting consistently high-quality product.”

New Frontier Data special contributor Oliver Bennett explained in an article why EU-GMP certification is critical in Europe—especially in the world of medical cannabis, in which quality control is of the utmost importance. Adhering to those good manufacturing practices is key to surviving in the regulated market.

Products like wax and shatter can have THC levels up to 90 percent, and states like Washington and Colorado are looking at potency caps and product warnings.

With national cannabis legalization poised to be introduced in the Senate, states that legalized recreational marijuana 10 years ago are now studying the public health implications of a variety of new high-potency products amid questions about a possible link to psychosis.

The newer products are called marijuana concentrates and are commonly known as wax and shatter. They can have levels of THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana, as high as 85 percent to 90 percent. By comparison, researchers say, the marijuana level in a typical joint 20 years ago was closer to 5 percent. States like Washington and Colorado are now considering product warnings or potency caps to limit access.

At a January forum, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Dr. Nora Volkow, raised concerns that teens are increasingly vaping high-potency cannabis.

Volkow said she worries that “huge concentrations” of THC could have serious consequences.

“We are seeing a very significant rise in psychosis associated with the consumption of marijuana,” she said.

Last week New Jersey kicked off long-awaited recreational cannabis sales.

On the first day of sales, April 21, over 12,000 customers spent nearly $2 million for cannabis, according to NJ's Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC). (Benzinga)

Some worried about the availability of cannabis for both the recreational and medical markets, but there was plenty to go around. The MMJ supply remained strong, with 64,000 ounces of products sold to patients and their caregivers over the past month.

Packaging that mirrors major brands called 'unscrupulous' and potentially dangerous for children. 

At first glance, there is little indication the snack-size bag of Trix is meant to get a user stoned. Every detail of the packaging has been copied from General Mills' cereal, and the company's logo even adorns the corner.

But the cannabis edible recently pulled from the market was a "copycat" product with a combined 1,000 milligrams of THC, the main intoxicating compound in marijuana. (A standard dose is 10 mg.)

The Consumer Brands Association and several major food companies, including Minnesota-based General Mills and Post Consumer Brands, are urging Congress to crack down on the practice.

Growing chorus of officials want to ban officers from partaking in weed

During his decade in law enforcement, AJ Jacobs fell into a trap of cracking open a beer after a long, stressful shift in the suburbs of Phoenix.

Jacobs didn’t spend much time with his family — he had the “super cop” mentality to work all the time, he said.

But after 11 years on the force, he sustained a career-ending back injury, and turned to cannabis to alleviate the pain from five herniated discs in his back. He said marijuana also helped him work through PTSD, and he recommends it to police officers.

“I would rather them come home and smoke a joint to decompress and deal with their life and their emotions, as opposed to drinking that handle of Jack Daniels and then suppressing everything,” said Jacobs, now the secretary for Arizona NORML, a nationwide marijuana advocacy group. 

In Arizona, police aren’t allowed to consume marijuana, recreationally or medicinally, so some of Jacobs’ former colleagues can’t partake like he can. Jacobs thinks more states should follow New Jersey’s lead. Acting Attorney General Matt Platkin reminded law enforcement chiefs recently that the New Jersey law allowing for recreational marijuana permits cops to consume it off duty.

The 2022 Pennsylvania Hemp Summit ran Tuesday and Wednesday in Lancaster, featuring nearly 100 hemp growers and entrepreneurs.

Industrial hemp is grown for fiber and seed. It is a different variety of the plant that produces marijuana and became regulated with marijuana in the 1950s and 1960s. Industrial hemp must maintain a concentration of the psychoactive chemical tetrahydrocannabinol below the 0.3 percent legal threshold.

“Industrial hemp is an economic driver delivering innovative approaches to everyday challenges,” Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said, opening the trade show.

The governor’s amendment would have made possession of over 2 ounces of cannabis punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.

An amendment to Virginia’s Senate Bill 591, proposed by Gov. Glen Youngkin (R), would have made marijuana possession a more serious matter than it is today. However, Youngkin’s efforts fell flat because lawmakers refused to advance the bill altogether, advocacy group NORML reported. (Benzinga)

SB 591 was re-referred by legislators to the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services committee, but, since the 2022 legislative session already ended, the legislation will not advance any further this year.

The governor’s amendment would have made possession of over 2 ounces of cannabis punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine. Possession of over 6 ounces of weed would have been punishable by up to 12 months in jail and/or a $2,500 fine.

“The bad news is lawmakers’ inaction today allows for products containing unregulated and potentially unsafe synthetically-derived THC products to continue to proliferate in Virginia,” Pedini added.

No matter how old you are, cannabis is a fantastic aid that will help make the aging process much simpler for both men and women.

Seniors are part of the fastest growing demographic of cannabis consumers. The growing population of older cannabis users find great relief in the natural benefits offered by cannabis, whether they choose CBD products or those with THC. It makes sense, as cannabis is a wonderful natural solution for many ailments that afflict the elderly.

According to a study conducted by researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, seniors use marijuana mainly for treating medical conditions such as insomnia, anxiety, depression, and pain. “Surprisingly, we found that nearly three-fifths of cannabis users reported using cannabis for the first time as older adults. These individuals were a unique group compared to those who used cannabis in the past,” explains the study’s co-author, Kevin Yang.

“New users were more likely to use cannabis for medical reasons than for recreation. The route of cannabis use also differed with new users more likely to use it topically as a lotion rather than by smoking or ingesting as edibles. Also, they were more likely to inform their doctor about their cannabis use, which reflects that cannabis use is no longer as stigmatized as it was previously,” he adds.

Aside from that, cannabis use can also help you age gracefully. It can also be part of a holistic wellness regimen that will keep inflammation and disease at bay, or at least slow it down the way it works with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Whether you choose to get high or not, use it as medicine or for recreation, there are some things that seniors should keep in mind when using cannabis for the first time: