WeedLife News Network

Our furry friends have been sleeping better, relaxing more, and are slightly less anxious about our arrival home from work — at least that’s the promise from skyrocketing sales for cannabidiol (CBD) pet products.

As the cannabis industry flourishes in Arizona, pet owners are turning to CBD as a viable alternative medicine for their pet’s ailments. And with the uptick in pet ownership during the COVID-19 pandemic and the normalization of CBD usage across the nation, CBD sales are only expected to grow.

The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to address whether the federal drug law that criminalizes possession of marijuana invalidates state orders requiring employers and their workers’ compensation insurers to pay for medical marijuana prescriptions for employees injured on the job.

However, before it fully takes on the question, the high court has asked the Solicitor General, who represents the federal government before the high court, for guidance in light of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution that gives federal statutes primacy over state laws.

Five state supreme courts have addressed whether the reimbursement of medical marijuana costs is permissible, with two ruling yes and three ruling no. The Supreme Court is being asked to resolve this split in authority.

Under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the manufacture, distribution or possession of marijuana is a criminal offense, with the exception of when the drug is part of a Food and Drug Administration research study.

The Supreme Court’s involvement is related to two cases from Minnesota — Bierbach v. Diggers Polaris and State Auto/United Fire & Casualty, and Musta v. Mendota Heights Dental Center — in which injured employees challenged their employers and their insurers for refusing to reimburse them for their medical marijuana prescriptions. Musta suffered a neck injury in her work at a medical facility; Bierbach was injured in an accident while working for an all-terrain vehicle dealer.

TLC, home of the Jungle Boys, was raided by law enforcement over $66,000—which the collective had already disputed, and had a hearing date for.

Tuesday night saw one of Los Angeles’s most storied dispensaries have a rough run-in with law enforcement and The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.

TLC is famously the headquarters of the Jungle Boys. They are one of the premier examples of urban farmers bootstrapping their way to success in the modern cannabis industry, which has seen so many tragically fall short and have to sell a piece, or sell out completely. So as one of the culture’s best success stories in a world of corporate dogs, the community was pissed to see what they had to go through last night. 

Why? Because we’ve watched them jump through every hoop that’s ever existed for the legal cannabis market in L.A. and maintain a quality that is better than most. While some would say, “Well, this is legal cannabis,” in regards to the raid, and wouldn’t be wrong, those with a bit more hope in their hearts would be pissed to see someone who’s done so well up to this point be treated like this.

So what happened? We talked with Ivan from the Jungle Boys to find out. 

“At five o’clock in the evening, we’re all sitting inside of the shop. It’s the first of the month so we’re paying all our bills,” Ivan told High Times.

Mount Shasta is a beacon on the horizon in Siskiyou County with clear skies and beautiful open land.

However, as you drive through the rural communities, greenhouses and trash-filled illegal grows dotting the hillsides create another perception entirely.

“There’s a correct way to grow cannabis and this is not it,” Siskiyou County Sheriff Jerimiah LaRue said.

The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department received a search warrant to eradicate an illegal marijuana grow just south of Yreka. The parcel had 107 greenhouses, and each greenhouse had an estimated 1,000 individual plants.

“We’re dealing with a city of cannabis,” LaRue said.

But Stiffer Odor-Control Regulations Are Coming in North County, Supervisors Say

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors this week expanded the burgeoning cannabis industry in the North County and Carpinteria Valley, removing processing buildings from the acreage caps on cultivation there — a change that some residents viewed as a broken promise.

The new rule was part of a final 4-1 vote on Tuesday, with Chair Joan Hartmann opposed, on several amendments to the county’s cannabis business license.

Also on Tuesday, the board unanimously approved a 25,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art processing building at Glass House Farms, where eight acres of cannabis are under cultivation at 3561 Foothill Road in the Carpinteria Valley.

Processing is the smelliest stage of cannabis operations, but the building proposed by Graham Farrar, the Glass House president, is designed to be airtight and equipped with 19 carbon filters to “scrub” out the “skunky” smell of cannabis. The building will maintain negative pressure; that is, whenever a door is opened, the air will flow in so that odors can’t flow out.

“This is a historic day,” said Supervisor Gregg Hart, who represents the Goleta Valley. He praised Farrar’s plan as “a significant achievement, something to celebrate.”

The new policy underscores how the business of weed, ever more legitimized, is forcing adjustments by the feds.

Minnesota residents can now purchase medical cannabis, making products more affordable for patients who need access.

Sales of medicinal cannabis flower began in Minnesota on Monday, giving the state’s medical marijuana patients a new and more affordable option to access their medicine of choice. The Minnesota Department of Health announced in February that cannabis flower would be added to the state’s medical marijuana program, which until this week only permitted patients to use processed cannabis products such as extracts, distillates, capsules, and topicals.

As experts and advocates have pointed out, liquor is strongly associated with negative long-term health issues, such as deadly alcohol poisoning.

Despite marijuana still being a Schedule I drug, while alcohol is legal for adults over 21, nearly one-third of over 10 000 Americans said they think it would be ideal if people used more marijuana and less liquor, a new poll suggests.

The results of the YouGov survey also showed that 20% of those questioned think that would be a bad idea, Marijuana Moment reported.

Most respondents (38 %) agreed that it would be neither good nor bad, while 15% were undecided.

The poll also found Democrats were more likely to say that switching to marijuana from alcohol would be good (34%), compared to 18% of Republicans and 27% Independents.

Moreover, 34% of those aged 30-44 said that substitution would be good, whereas only 17% of those over 65 held the same opinion.

Wondering whether a clone or a seed produces the best harvest is likely not a thought that occurs to the layperson, but it’s one that cannabis producers spend significant time considering. (Click for Benzinga article)

Picking between seed and clone affects almost everything about the final cannabis product. The source of the cannabis plant affects the potency of the flower, the quantity and size of the buds, and the growth-to-maturity process, all components crucial to creating a quality cannabis product. 

Despite decades of cannabis cultivation, debate on which of the two is “the best” source remains heated. Many seed growers, for example, argue that their plants are more pest resistant and have larger buds than their clone-grown counterparts, and some clone-growers argue the exact opposite. 

On a commercial scale, the divide is smaller. The majority of cannabis producers employ clone-based cannabis production and use seeds to pick strong “mothers.”

Marijuana Company of America Inc. 

Clinton, who famously said he tried marijuana “once or twice” but did not inhale, recently talked about how CBD can help with pain management.

Former President Bill Clinton, speaking at the Impact Forum in Orlando Florida, told the audience that he’s heard from people about how low-THC cannabis products can help in pain management. And while he’s not in the habit of paying much mind to what he called “hype calls,” he sure receives a lot of them: “more messages about CBD than any man alive.”

An article covering Clinton’s on-stage conversation with CNN medical expert Sanjay Gupta appeared last week in Cannabis & Tech Today wherein Clinton was quoted as saying there is some evidence that CBD can help combat pain.

“Go figure. There is some evidence that you can get CBD with a low-THC count that will combat pain. Some of these products have been tested more or less to FDA standards and some [haven’t been tested] not at all,” the former president said, according to the article that has since been deleted after alleged pressure from Clinton’s public relations team, reported Marijuana Moment.

“It was all quoted accurately and live—it was pressure from the Clinton camp PR team that the comments were supposed to be closed to the press—so we respected the writer’s request,” a Cannabis & Tech Today editor told Marijuana Moment in a Twitter direct message.

The President Who Didn’t Inhale

Clinton, who said he tried marijuana “once or twice” but did not inhale, will no doubt be remembered for that silly remark as well as his Viol­ent Crime Control and Law Enforce­ment Act of 1994, which is still among the most far-reach­ing crime bills Congress ever passed.

Santa Cruz County is seeing a decline in its cannabis industry, with tax revenues falling far short of projections for the 2021-22 fiscal year.

County officials say that current revenues of $1.68 million are lagging behind projections by more than $1 million, and by $1.6 million for the previous year.

The County currently has 12 licensed retail locations in its unincorporated area, along with 76 non-retail businesses.

A total of six cannabis businesses have closed over the past fiscal year, a trend industry professionals say could continue.

Colin Disheroon, who owns Santa Cruz Naturals in Aptos and its sister location in Pajaro, says that the reason for the problem starts with a public wary to spend in an economy shaken by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“People can’t afford to spend money on expensive cannabis,” he says.

Earlier this year, Emerson College polling confirmed that Americans' views on marijuana legalization are more diverse than has previously been reported. The poll found that when presented with the real-world scenario of different policy choices, 62% of Americans favored policies other than the full legalization of the drug. In the wake of this poll, and defeats of legalization bills in South Dakota and Virginia in February, it is clear there are widespread concerns about Big Pot.

The Emerson poll included four policy options: illegality, decriminalization of low-level use, legalization for medicinal purposes only and the full legalization of the sale, cultivation and personal use of marijuana.

Remarkably, most polls on marijuana do not take this nuanced approach, opting instead to provide only two options—illegality or full legalization. Such polls deeply distort the actual views of the public. For instance, when only presented with a binary choice, Gallup found that 77% of 18-to-34-year-olds indicated their support for the legalization of marijuana. However, when given additional options, Emerson's poll found that this demographic's support for legalization dropped from a nearly four-fifths majority to a mere 43% plurality––with a 57% majority rejecting full legalization. Given that this demographic maintains the most favorable view of marijuana overall, these results demonstrate that a much greater percentage of Americans reject the full legalization of the drug.

Not surprisingly, Big Pot and those who lobby for the legalization of marijuana continue to gloss over findings that reveal their movement lacks widespread support, and that a majority of Americans oppose their efforts. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), a pro-legalization operation, maintains a database of national and state-level polls regarding marijuana. This self-proclaimed "clearinghouse for marijuana-related information," however, omitted the findings from Emerson College. There's little wonder why.

Keep an eye out for a scripted feature adaptation and a non-scripted series spinoff of the documentary, ‘Lady Buds.’

Lady Buds is a 2021 film that looks deep into the lives of six diverse women in the cannabis industry, and the victories and challenges they have endured as entrepreneurs and members of the community. On February 23, it was announced on Deadline that Lady Buds’ success has inspired two more film projects.

The first project is being produced by Hellcat as a cannabis-related comedy feature, which has been compared to the 2011 film Bridesmaids. Hellcat was founded in 2020 by Pippa Lambert, whose resume also includes roles at Endeavor Content, WME, ICM Partners, and more.

“Women may not be the face of cannabis, but they’ve always been the backbone of the culture. Before legalization, 36 percent of leadership roles in the industry were held by women, and that number is now 22 percent,” Lambert said of the project.

“These growers are as dynamic as they are diverse, and they’re truly inspiring. I’m thrilled to be bringing their story, a true and still unfolding David and Goliath tale for our times, to life on the big screen.”

The second project is a non-scripted cannabis series helmed by Wally Eltawashy for Yoruba Media Labs. This particular project focuses on one of Lady Buds’ featured women, Sue Taylor aka “Mama Sue,” in her daily life as a cannabis business owner, providing cannabis access to seniors and promoting her wellness groups.

Voters in South Dakota may have another crack at legalizing cannabis this year—unless lawmakers there do it first.

A bill to legalize recreational pot for adults narrowly advanced in the South Dakota legislature last week, winning approval in the senate by just a single vote. The legislation would bring some redemption to advocates who have been in a tug-of-war battle with the state for the last two years to end prohibition and finally get legal sales in the state. 

In 2020, 54 percent of South Dakota voters approved Amendment A, which would have legalized recreational marijuana, in addition to hemp and medicinal cannabis, within the state. (That same year, an even larger majority of voters passed a separate ballot measure that legalized only medical marijuana.)

But it was doomed from that moment forward, with Republican Governor Kristi Noem mounting a legal challenge against the amendment.

In February of last year, a circuit court judge in South Dakota ruled in Noem’s favor, saying that Amendment A violated the state’s constitution and could not become law.  

Months later, on the day before Thanksgiving, the state’s Supreme Court upheld that lower court ruling on the grounds that the amendment ran afoul of the constitution’s “one subject” requirement.

While few countries in NATO have cannabis laws as strict as Russia, some NATO countries are still slow to warm up to legalizing weed.

As tensions rise in Europe, there is noticeably more focus on NATO and the countries that belong to this organization. With NATO in the spotlight, there is a lot to digest in regards to where each of the 30 participating countries stand in regards to policy, especially compared to Russia.

Cannabis policy is an example of how tremendously different countries in NATO can approach a political issue. While few countries in NATO have cannabis laws as strict as Russia, which can involve detention for very small amounts of weed, some NATO countries are still slow to warm up to legalizing marijuana.

There are, however, five countries in NATO that are leading the way to legalizing marijuana on a country-wide level.

Canada

Our neighbor to the North legalized marijuana in October of 2018. The goal in legalizing marijuana in Canada was not simply to earn taxable income for the country. According to the government website, the legalization act was aimed to keep cannabis away from underage youth, take profits away from criminals and also to protect the health sector by providing legal cannabis for medicinal purposes. Canada now has a successful and multi-billion dollar legal cannabis industry.

Luxembourg

Luxembourg has made its first steps towards marijuana legalization. While COVID-19 has slowed some talks in the last two years, the government now allows its citizens to grow up to four cannabis plants for personal use. The goal here is to eliminate as much illegal drug activity as possible in this small NATO country. 

The iconic E.T. & H.K. Ide grain mill buildings in St. Johnsbury have been sold to a company that plans to use them for processing industrial hemp.

The two cousins behind Zion Growers, Travis Samuels and Brandon McFarlane, said they also have their sights set on a 200,000-square-foot industrial building 100 miles to the southwest, in Proctor, that was once home to the Vermont Marble Company. By the fall harvest, the two say they'll be ready to process hemp into fiber that will be used to create building materials, animal bedding and cardboard.

Hemp — a version of the cannabis plant that won't get you high — is a sustainable replacement for materials such as plastic and composites, said McFarlane, a real estate attorney in Florida who graduated from Norwich University. McFarlane said processing hemp into paper, textiles, and "hempcrete" — a construction material — is more environmentally friendly than using traditional materials. He expects the market to grow.

“We see those as the three main players in the future where hemp is going to either be heavily involved or completely take over in the next couple of decades,” he said.

Zion Growers got its start in the hemp gold rush of 2019, after 2018 changes to federal law prompted people around the U.S. to start growing cannabis for cannabinoids such as CBD. The plant components became a popular supplement — thought to have health benefits — that was added to food, drinks and beauty products.

The world is waking up to the blooming cannabis market and it’s time to elevate this industry, says Eric Benz, a contributor to CannaDAO, which is creating a blockchain-based platform for the cannabis industry.