WeedLife News Network

GRAND RAPIDS — Terrapin Care Station and JARS Cannabis are partnering with Higher Learning Institutions to launch a year-long professional development program for minority entrepreneurs looking to get into the cannabis industry.

The Cannabis Community Social Equity Scholarship will be available to 20 people. Anyone can apply, but applicants will be prioritized if they are from a community that has been disproportionately affected by cannabis prohibition, they have marijuana-related convictions, or have been registered as a primary caregiver in Michigan.

“The war on drugs disproportionately affected many groups and communities in Michigan,” Terrapin CEO Chris Woods said in a statement. “We feel a responsibility to help right those wrongs, and create pathways into the legal cannabis industry for those who were targeted the most.”

Terrapin has been working with Pontiac-based Higher Learning Institutions by providing tours and learning opportunities for students at its Grand Rapids growing and processing facility. Higher Learning Institutions is a licensed vocational and technical school for cannabis and has graduated 100 students since it opened in February 2020.

The 20 recipients of the Cannabis Community Social Equity Scholarship will go through an accelerated program that includes education on cultivation, extraction, cannabis consultation and business affairs related to licensing. The program will include facility tours, guest lectures and one-on-one mentorship with industry professionals. 

In his SONA on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that government would be looking to ease policies to help the hemp and cannabis sectors grow in South Africa.

"We will review the policy and regulatory framework for industrial hemp and cannabis to realise the huge potential for investment and job creation."

Ramaphosa claimed 130 000 jobs could be created if the industry were supported and regulatory processes streamlined.

Co-founder of Hemporium Tony Budden, says we should be focusing on developing the market that exists here in South Africa.

CEM Corporation is pleased to announce AOAC INTERNATIONAL’s approval of the analytical method, “Heavy Metals in a Variety of Cannabis and Cannabis-Derived Products,” used for the analysis of toxic metals in cannabis and cannabis-containing products.

This First Action AOAC Official Method status represents a large step forward in cannabis testing. The method, OMA 2021.03, uses high throughput microwave digestion and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to solubilize and analyze arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), and other elements in cannabis products, including edibles, health and beauty products, and cannabis or hemp supplements.

The new method was rigorously reviewed by a panel of analytical science experts and is the first method approved by AOAC for heavy metals in cannabis. The accuracy and precision of the ICP-MS-based method met the AOAC Standard Method Performance Requirements for Determination of Heavy Metals in a Variety of Cannabis and Cannabis-Derived Products (SMPR 2020.001) for all elements of interest. OMA 2021.03 was developed to help cannabis labs determine total heavy metal content in their cannabis samples with simple and high throughput sample digestion and analysis instrumentation.

“The cannabis industry is still in its infancy and looks to experts in the fields of sample preparation and analysis to accurately determine contaminants in their products. CEM is proud to have combined efforts with our colleagues at Agilent to further the development of official methodology that will guide legislation and help cannabis labs."

About CEM

CEM Corporation, a private company based in Matthews, North Carolina, is a leading provider of laboratory instrumentation. The Company has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Germany, Italy, France, and Japan, as well as a global network of distributors. CEM designs and manufactures systems for life sciences, analytical laboratories and processing plants worldwide. The Company’s products are used in many industries including pharmaceutical, biotech, chemical and food processing, as well as academic research.

As the law stands in Denton now, you can still get cited for misdemeanor amounts of cannabis.

Cannabis reform has moved at a snail's pace in Texas. But activists are trying to speed things up by fighting for reform at the city and county levels. A group called Decriminalize Denton has twice tried to get an ordinance through City Council that would end citations and arrests for misdemeanor amounts of marijuana. Both times, the ordinance didn’t get the votes it needed from council members.

Now, Decriminalize Denton is trying to get the ordinance passed by a ballot initiative during the November 2022 city election. But first, they’ve got to get it on the ballot. To do that, they need at least 1,745 signatures. They’re aiming for 3,000.

They’ll start collecting those signatures during a kick-off event at noon on Feb. 19 outside the historic courthouse on Denton's downtown square.

“Help us give Denton voters a chance to decide our city's future on this key criminal justice issue that has plagued our community for far too long,” the group said in a post on Facebook.

What is it like to smoke THC-O joints and pre-rolls?

THC acetate ester, popularly called THC-O or THC-O-acetate, is one of the common synthetic forms of cannabinoids.

Over the years, chemists all around the globe have tried to create a perfect synthetic product with the precise effects offered by cannabis plants. To do this, cannabis compounds have been modified into various chemical structures, some of which are not naturally produced in the plant. There are currently dozens of cannabis variants, each with its own unique qualities and side effects. Some of these cannabinoids have been extensively modified for specific uses, while the rest can be extracted from hemp and cannabis plants.

What is THC-O?

THC-O is a synthetic cannabinoid with higher potency than most synthetic products. The compound was developed to give users a more intense high, although, like natural cannabis, the level of reception in users varies. But most of the time, the product offers users a magical and enchanting experience.

Bay Smokes, a well-known cannabis brand that produces pre-rolled joints, revealed that some of its products are filled with premium THC-O flowers and concentrates. The company cultivates hybrid THC-O buds indoors and works hand-in-hand with licensed labs to test the potency and general features of the cannabinoid before they are infused into regular cannabis products and dispensed to the public. The company has most of these test results on its website for consumers to confirm that the products are fit for consumption.

Cannabis lovers who have tried THC-O and other THC forms claim that the first is more potent than the latter. They pointed out that THC acetate ester induces more relaxing effects, accompanied by a trippy high. The Feds are yet to acknowledge the existence of this form of THC because it was prepared in a laboratory. Some scientists have also clarified that the drug has yet to undergo standard drug-identifying procedures.

Charlotte's Web Holdings, Inc. ("Charlotte's Web" or the "Company"), the market leader in cannabidiol (CBD) hemp extract wellness products, shares the positive results from a randomized, controlled, clinical trial study which evaluated the effectiveness of hemp-derived CBD extracts. Charlotte's Web participated in the Radicle ACES (Advancing CBD Education and Science) study, conducted by Radicle Science, an independent health tech company validating health and wellness products. As part of a larger study, hundreds of participants from across the US used Charlotte's Web Original Formula for four weeks and were assessed for key health outcomes across five domains including general well-being, quality of life, sleep quality, feelings of daily stress or discomfort. Researchers conducted the study using standardized scientific methods and validated indices for measuring each outcome and tracked their progress repeatedly throughout the study.

"As a hemp company driven by sound science, we were encouraged by the Radicle Science study," Charlotte's Web President of CW Labs' Tim Orr said.

"Independent third-party research and reporting on the efficacy of hemp wellness products help build long term consumer trust and is an ongoing commitment of Charlotte's Web."

"We're applying modern science to prove or predict the effectiveness of CBD products used by tens of millions of Americans every day," said Jeff Chen, MD/MBA, Co-founder and CEO of Radicle Science.

"Our objective is to deliver accurate, transparent, and actionable insights to help create trust and transparency for the CBD industry."

The medical cannabis bill poised to pass the South Carolina Senate would prioritize existing hemp farmers in the state for certifications to grow marijuana.

Janel Ralph is the CEO of ReBotanicals, one of the first hemp farms in South Carolina. She got involved in the cannabis business because of her daughter, who has a rare, debilitating condition.

“Modern medicine had failed her,” Ralph said.

“There were no more pharmaceuticals we could give her. They ran out of options, so we did a Hail Mary.”

Judy Ghanem’s 16-year-old daughter Kira has autism and is non-verbal. 

Jim Buchanan is more than ready for change.

A second-generation Seattleite, cannabis retailer and entrepreneur, he is also president of the Washington State African American Cannabis Association and has spent months fighting for House Bill 2022, a bill that would make sweeping changes to Washington state’s cannabis industry.

The bill is the latest in a series of legislation intended to increase social equity and racial diversity in the cannabis trade.

In 2020, House Bill 2870 established the Marijuana Social Equity Program, an application-based process intended to provide people of color, harmed by the war on drugs, opportunities to become more involved in the burgeoning marijuana economy. The 2020 measure also created the Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force, comprising lawmakers, government representatives and industry experts charged with making recommendations about the issuance and reissuance of retail cannabis licenses in ways that would promote business ownership among people of color.

The bill currently before the Legislature incorporates many of the policies recommended by the task force, and would create 38 new retail and 25 new producer and processor licenses each year through 2029. The bill also stipulates that these and any other new cannabis licenses may only be awarded to so-called social equity applicants until 2030, after which 50% of licenses must be awarded to such applicants.

Detroit is proposing a new approach to handing out recreational marijuana business licenses. The city was in the midst of doing that when a federal court halted the process last year. It ruled that provisions in Detroit’s recreational marijuana ordinance gave longtime city residents, dubbed “Legacy Detroiters,” too much of an advantage to get those licenses.

Detroit City Council member James Tate now says that instead of fighting that ruling, he’s putting a new ordinance on the table. Instead of setting aside a certain number of licenses for city residents, it will reserve half of them for “social equity applicants.” The criteria for that designation is devised by the state, and includes factors such as living in a community highly-impacted by punitive drug policies, and having a drug-related conviction.

“We want to make sure that those individuals who’ve been from disproportionately impacted communities as it relates to cannabis arrests and convictions, [that] they have a true opportunity to compete for these licenses in the city of Detroit,” Tate said during a community meeting about the new ordinance Thursday.

Equity and non-equity applicants would be scored on separate tracks. Licenses would be handed out in three phases, with each phase needing City Council approval.

Tate thinks this ordinance will stand up to legal scrutiny, though he has no doubt there will still be legal challenges. “But more importantly, it provides an opportunity for Detroiters and equity applicants to have an opportunity to compete for these licenses in an industry that has shown no ceiling at this point,” he said.

Rarely are we able to combine the Grateful Dead and Mississippi in the same sentence, but the band once said, what a long strange trip it’s been. In November 2020, Mississippi voters overwhelmingly approved Initiative Measure No. 65, a citizen-driven ballot initiative. Initiative Measure No. 65 would have amended the Mississippi Constitution to create a state medical marijuana program. However, on May 14, 2021, the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned Initiative Measure No. 65, ruling that the state election law governing voter ballot initiatives was out-of-date and unworkable.

The Mississippi legislature thereafter began working to pass a medical marijuana bill. On January 26, 2022, the Mississippi legislature approved Senate Bill 2095, the “Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act.” Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed the bill into law on February 2, 2022. The act goes into effect immediately.

The act lists twenty medical conditions and categories of conditions for which an individual would be eligible for a medical marijuana card in Mississippi, including cancer, Crohn’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, any “chronic, terminal, or debilitating” condition producing chronic pain, and “any other condition” that may be added by the Mississippi Department of Health in the future. The act makes clear that it prohibits “smoking medical [marijuana] in a public place or in a motor vehicle.”

Importantly, unlike many other state medical marijuana legalization laws, the Mississippi act does not contain any express employment protections for medical marijuana cardholders. With respect to employment, the act specifically states that it does not:

Key Takeaways

The absence of express employment protection language in the act suggests that Mississippi employers could take adverse employment action against employees with medical marijuana cards with minimal risk of violating the act. However, Mississippi employers may want to remain mindful that even if taking action against employee-cardholders for their medical use of marijuana is lawful under the act, cardholders may pursue disability discrimination and accommodation claims related to their medical use of marijuana. Individuals must have a qualifying medical condition to receive a medical marijuana card, and any of the twenty medical conditions that would make an individual eligible for a card in Mississippi likely would be considered a disability under laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Courts and administrative agencies around the country have regularly determined that medical marijuana cardholders may assert disability discrimination and accommodation claims under state law and, in some instances, the ADA. Therefore, Mississippi employers should closely monitor this issue going forward.

Scottish CBD health and wellness business Voyager has launched a bespoke skincare division as it looks to tap into a fast-growing market.

Perth-headquartered Voyager has a growing range of CBD and hemp seed oil products.

This summer, Sault Ste. Marie will be getting its first marijuana grow and cultivation facility called Gro-UP.

The city currently has four provisionary centers which began opening after the city passed a law in August 2020 allowing marijuana businesses to operate within city limits.

Gro-UP’s leadership chose Sault Ste. Marie as its base of operations where their product will be grown, tested and packaged. Eventually the start-up plans to have stores all over Michigan but for now, will be opening a retail store near the grow facility.

How the industry's challenges and regulations are really opportunities

Lauren Carpenter has over a decade of experience building prolific teams and leading successful strategy for some of the most diverse business coalitions and campaigns in California, including dozens of Fortune 50 companies.

Before Carpenter co-founded cannabis retailer Embarc, she served as chief strategy officer for Sweet Flower, and director of government affairs for Western states at MedMen. Carpenter brought her extensive cannabis experience in government, regulatory, public and community affairs to Embarc and into her role as CEO. Carpenter has become a trusted advisor to elected officials and continues to work with government agencies throughout the state and across the country to implement thoughtful cannabis regulations within communities to create mutually beneficial operations.

We spoke with Lauren for our Higher Calling series, where we chat with leaders in the cannabis space.

Lauren, tell us...

Where you grew up, and where you live now.

I was born in San Francisco and my earliest memories are in the city, but I spent my childhood beginning at about 5 years old in Sacramento. Like many 18-year-olds, I left for college swearing I'd never return to my hometown. Fast forward and I'm back in Sacramento, as my pre-cannabis career was in public affairs on legislative issues, and living here now allows me to travel to any of our stores and be home in time to sleep in my own bed that night.

With Black History Month in mind, we present Roz McCarthy, founder of Minorities for Medical Marijuana (M4MM) and now Black Buddha Cannabis (BBC), her entry into the legal industry. PrePacks™ glass chillums and gummies are the first products to roll out in four states, from California to Ohio "via brand partnerships with equitable manufacturers, cultivators, and operators," according to the press release. 

“I’m a proud Black woman raised by a mother who encouraged me to think big and dream bigger,” McCarthy declares. “The creation of M4MM and BBC is a testament to hard work, tenacity, and perseverance.”

At first glance, Yellow Acre Farms might look like a peaceful, serene, and chilled-out hemp farm deep in the heart of East Texas — and it is. But big advances in nanoemulsion technology are happening at this sustainably run operation, and while growing CBD-rich hemp flower with sustainable farming practices is a major focus, they've got their sights set on disrupting the Cannabis industry with their patent pending technology that's poised to redefine what's achievable in the marriage between Cannabis and consumer products.

Today, Yellow Acre Farms CEO, Adan Arriaga, announced the submission of an industry first, "METHOD FOR ADMINISTERING CANNABIS-DERIVED COMPOUNDS," to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The technology, developed by YAF's R&D team, is capable of delivering various cannabis-derived compounds to the body with high bioavailability and extended duration of action via a variable molecule size nanoemulsion.

It's a mouthful, but for consumer product brands, it all translates to new possibilities in infusing cannabinoids and other cannabis compounds into longer-lasting liquid, solid, or other consumable forms. This means that consumers can expect new and better inclusion of Cannabis compounds into beverages, syrups, sprays, gummies, sublingual strips, candy, and gel capsules.

"To say that we're super excited here doesn't even begin to cover it," says Arriaga.

"We're ready to shake up the industry in ways we haven't seen before. We already know that variable molecule sizes will be the industry standard as more products seek to incorporate CBDa and CBGa with other cannabinoids into their beverages and edibles. We're poised to play a vital role in giving consumers more options to support their health and well-being."

The rush to put down dispensary roots three years ago has led to about 2,000 dispensaries doing business in Oklahoma.

It was a modern-day land run as many sought to stake a claim in the booming industry with just one small storefront, staffed by the owner and a couple of employees. But now, as the industry matures and entrepreneurs find their niche in the market, and the state ramps up enforcement efforts on ownership laws, a fight is emerging over market share as companies attempt to expand their footprint into multiple stores across multiple markets.

One business, Apothecary Farms had two grand openings last week alone.

Public Health Minister Anutin Charnivakul said the move marked the beginning of “a new history for cannabis” in the country.

Two years after becoming the first nation to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes, Thailand has taken another step toward becoming the first Southeast Asian nation to decriminalize the drug. Yesterday, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul signed a ministerial announcement officially removing cannabis and hemp from Category 5 of the country’s list of narcotics.

At a signing ceremony, Anutin, who has spearheaded Thailand’s push for decriminalization since his Bhumjaithai Party made legalization of cannabis a key campaign promise at the 2019 election, expressed hopes that the move marked the beginning of a “new history for cannabis” in Thailand. “Cannabis actually has plenty of medical benefits, not different from other herbs, and we are trying our best to make the Thai people enjoy both medical and economic benefits from it,” the minister said.

While Thailand legalized marijuana for medical purposes in 2020, the law only permitted the use of cannabis oil for treatments. But according to the Associated Press, yesterday’s delisting, which will enter into effect 120 days after its publication in the Royal Gazette, means that all parts of the marijuana plant, including its flowers and seeds, can legally be consumed in Thailand. However, the extracted content will remain illegal if it contains THC levels above 0.2 percent. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the psychoactive ingredient of cannabis.

Of course, Anutin is no pro-legalization radical. His agenda is less to legalize recreational use of marijuana than to promote the plant’s medicinal use and to generate a commercial industry around serving this medical demand.

As a result, under the new rules, the production and sale of the herb will remain regulated and it will still be against the law to grow and consume marijuana. Anutin said that a bill on cannabis and hemp will be submitted to parliament in order to clarify the exact regulatory framework around its production and sale.