WeedLife News Network

The best way to determine whether or not marijuana can play a role in helping patients overcoming opioid addiction is by continuing to closely study the relationship between the two.

The devastation the opioid crisis has wrought upon communities throughout the country, especially throughout the pandemic, is immense. Deaths from opioid overdoses amassed the threshold of 93,000 in 2020, and relief is nowhere in sight.

That’s why now, more than ever, governing bodies and the medical community benefit from pulling out all the stops to get a handle on the situation.

Part of leaving no stone unturned in the fight against opioid addiction is studying the effects marijuana can have on people currently dealing with an addiction to opioids. Fortunately, recent moves made from the Biden Administration have made researching marijuana easier than it ever has since current research on the impact of marijuana on opioid addiction recovery is limited. 

Here are a few things research has already concluded about marijuana and opioid addiction.

Marijuana Helps Ease The Symptoms of Withdrawal

The journey of opioid recovery is intimidating to lots of people currently in the throes of opioid addiction because of how daunting withdrawal can be. The long process of overcoming an addiction to opioids can consist of a variety of undesirable side effects, including anxiety, nausea, chronic pain, insomnia and chronic pain. Fortunately for people undergoing the process of opioid withdrawal, marijuana has shown evidence of being an adequate resource in helping patients to overcome withdrawal symptoms.

The city violated state law when it put the firefighter on unpaid leave for refusing to relinquish his medical cannabis card, according to a lawsuit. Several lawmakers agree.

Levi Coleman has been a firefighter for the Ogden City Fire Department for more than a decade.

But since September, Coleman has been on unpaid leave from the department, burning sick leave and vacation time, while trying to get reinstated. His offense: being prescribed medical cannabis.

He is now suing the city, trying to get his job back and recoup lost wages.

In June, Coleman was prescribed medical marijuana by a doctor. Two months later, Ogden City adopted a new drug and alcohol policy that required city employees to report if they are taking any prescription medication that might cause impairment if, by chance, they are called in from off-duty status.

Coleman, who is also a paramedic, complied, notifying Deputy Chief Michael Slater on Aug. 31 of the cannabis prescription. According to the lawsuit, he followed up two days later with a text message confirming the chief had seen the original e-mail.

The ordinance excludes retail sale of recreational marijuana.

City Council accepted the first reading of a recreational marijuana ordinance that excludes retail sales at its Dec. 7 meeting. Last summer Origins Cannabis approached the city about opening a cultivation facility at the old Moss Tent building.

The Planning Board drafted the ordinance in five separate meetings from September to November, including an October public hearing prompted by a request from the council in August. The state’s Marijuana Legalization Act requires towns to opt into the legislation. Towns can choose to opt in without an ordinance of their own or can create their own ordinance building on the legislation.

The city has identified zoning districts where cultivation, testing and manufacturing are allowed. Tier 1, Tier 2 and nursery operations, which the city refers to as small-scale, will be allowed in almost all districts outside the bypass. Tier 3 and 4 operations, which the city refers to as large-scale, will only be allowed in two zones — Route 1 South and Searsport Avenue Commercial.

Testing and manufacturing are allowed in all areas that allow cultivation, but there will be no adult use marijuana activity allowed for districts inside the bypass. Cultivation will also be barred in certain smaller districts on the south side of the city near Route 1 outside the bypass.

Large-scale operations are limited to just two districts because the board had concerns about odors associated with marijuana, City Planner Jon Boynton said in an interview after the meeting. The board wants the city to be able to address any issues that might come up regarding odor before possibly expanding those operations into other districts.

San Francisco is trying to fight back against the illicit cannabis market with a bold, new move—suspension of cannabis taxes.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors last week unanimously approved a measure to temporarily suspend the city’s Cannabis Business Tax, citing strong competition from the illicit cannabis market and a crime wave that has plagued the regulated industry.

The tax was approved by San Francisco voters in 2018 and was scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2022. Under terms of the ballot measure, a tax of from one percent to five percent would be levied on the gross receipts of the city’s licensed cannabis businesses.

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said in a statement that suspending the tax would allow businesses in the city to better compete with unlicensed operators, who pay no taxes and are not subject to other costs mandated by regulations such as licensing fees and lab testing expenses.

“Cannabis businesses create good jobs for San Franciscans and provide safe, regulated products to their customers,” Mandelman said in a statement.

“Sadly, the illegal market is flourishing by undercutting the prices of legal businesses, which is bad for our economy as illegal businesses pay no taxes while subjecting workers to dangerous conditions and consumers to dangerous products. Now is not the time to impose a new tax on small businesses that are just getting established and trying to compete with illicit operators.”

“I think people love my vibe over marijuana.”

Singer, performer and budding sensation Amalina reports that far from receiving backlash about some of her cannabis-related lyrics, she believes people actually dig her weed vibe. Recently interviewed by Andy Dosty on Daybreak Hitz, the Ghanaian musician was asked if she smoked. Amalina first laughed and then responded: “What a question,” adding what sounds like, “I prefer to plead the fifth on that.”

Amalina responds that she hasn’t received that criticism either now or in the past. “In fact, none at all. I think people love my vibe over marijuana, so I don’t get that,” says the artist, whose music combines several styles, including Afrobeats, Reggae and Hiphop.

Pressed further by Dosty about the marijuana mood and weed words of the song, Amalina responded simply: “It’s a song.”

Signed with J.R. Music, MyJoyOnline reports that she says her lyrics are just a reflection of what is happening in society and are not necessarily representative of her own life.

Wells Fargo just shouted "sell!" -- but investors bought cannabis stocks instead.

What happened

A funny thing happened in the cannabis market today. Analysts at investment bank Wells Fargo initiated coverage across the sector, warning of overvaluation among marijuana companies and suggesting investors turn their attention to hydroponics suppliers instead -- but marijuana stocks leapt higher anyway.  

As of 12:35 p.m. ET, shares of Tilray ( TLRY -6.97% ) are gaining 4.6%, and both Aurora Cannabis ( ACB -4.41% ) and Canopy Growth ( CGC -6.76% ) are up 7.1% each.

City attorney asked to analyze current guidelines

Upon returning to its cannabis business ordinance Tuesday, the Chico City Council made the decision to ask City Attorney Vince Ewing to analyze what is currently in place and return with some new ideas.

The item was brought forward by Mayor Andrew Coolidge as a way to look beyond dispensaries toward manufacturing and production.

There are currently 24 proposed cannabis dispensaries going forward in the application process in Chico.

Ewing suggested to the council that it directs staff to look at all the options for potentially expanding the ordinance if desired.

“Dispensaries will capture the revenue of funds that are being spent by local people that are buying these retail products in and around the city,” Petersen said.

Oklahoma County authorities found two moonshine stills and a marijuana grow in the home of a Harrah man after a four-hour standoff Wednesday afternoon.

The negotiator KFOR spoke with, Michael Davenport, said the call started out as a suicidal person. After some time on the phone with the man, it came to a peaceful end.

“I don’t know if he’s a good guy, bad guy or any other guy, he’s a person in crisis and he needs some help and we’re all human beings,” said Davenport, a 10-year veteran negotiator with the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office.

There was a massive police presence in Harrah Wednesday afternoon during a standoff with 42-year-old Bryant Hodges. Hodges was barricaded inside his home where authorities would later find the moonshine stills and marijuana grow. Davenport said the original call came in from a family member who reported a suicidal man armed with a pistol.

At one point, Hodges allegedly opened fire at officers and nearly hit them. He struck two Luther police vehicles. Davenport worked to calm the situation down over the phone.

Brookfield Township Police confirmed a driver was arrested after a traffic stop lead to officers finding various suspected drugs on Dec. 9.

BTPD stated officers pulled over a vehicle driving from Farrell to Warren for a marked lanes violation.

Officers detected criminal indicators and a probable search cause was conducted on the vehicle, according to BTPD.

BTPD said the following were found inside the vehicle:

The driver was arrested for drug paraphernalia, BTPD confirmed.

State Sen. Mike McGuire said Wednesday he plans to introduce legislation early next year to eliminate the state cultivation tax paid by cannabis growers, a favored target of the industry.

“We need to take a close look at the overall tax rate and whether it is impeding the overall growth of the cannabis market,” he said.

“The bottom line is this: Cultivation taxes are crushing small farmers throughout the North Coast,” McGuire said, adding:

“Basing it off the weight doesn’t account for when the market collapses. It’s simply not sustainable.”

To reduce the financial burden on growers, the Healdsburg Democrat, who serves as assistant majority leader in the Senate, said he plans to seek abolition of the cultivation tax in exchange for a higher excise tax, which is imposed on point-of-sale-transactions.

Marijuana works best when done as a communal activity. Here are some basic guidelines to follow if you’re interested in getting invited to these kinds of things.

While natural and organic, there are still some guidelines to follow. Once you know them, it’s pretty easy to become a good smoking buddy, and the type of person people want around once joints get passed around. You don’t want to be that person in the group who hogs all of the weed or worse, burns it.

If you bring edibles, explain what’s in them

If you’re hosting a party and have prepared some edibles, it’s part of your hosting duties to explain to everyone what’s in them in terms of dosage. You don’t have to get too specific, just mention if they’re strong, or they’re light, or, if you haven’t tried them, to explain just that. It’s also important to make it clear that there’s weed in them by labeling them, preventing others from getting high unexpectedly.

Cornering the bowl is the practice of lighting the edge of it in order to avoid burning the middle of it and thus ruining everyone’s experience. By cornering the bowl you’ll ensure the person who smokes after you also gets a patch of green marijuana, which has better taste and will result in a better time.

Getting weed delivered? Or maybe even your food? No matter how cool your delivery guy or girl looks like, they’re doing their job, and you’re putting them in an awkward place by asking them to stick around and join you and your friends. Don’t ask someone on the clock to stay for a session because you want companionship.

Luxembourg has been widely anticipated to lead the recreational discussion in Europe, but now it seems they may be giving up the lead.

There is a very funny thing about the European cannabis discussion right now, particularly as the news of the German decision to proceed with recreational reform has emerged with the formal creation of the next coalition government. Namely that promising reform while entering power is fairly popular, if not an inevitable development at this point, nobody really wants to go first.

That honor, so far, within Europe (beyond Holland) will almost certainly go to the Swiss, who are powering forward with the nitty gritty details required to create a new market as of next year. However, Switzerland is famously not in the European Union. And within such countries, no politician, at least until the German decision to proceed with recreational, has quite known how to frame such forward progress in formal statutes.

That reality has been made even more clear during the last week as Luxembourg’s government, which promised as part of its platform in 2018 that it would legalize recreational use by 2023, has just taken a rather large sidestep. Namely, the country’s first foray into this discussion will be in fact just to allow adults the right to self-cultivate four plants.

For all the hullabaloo, in other words, this is a dramatic twist if not anti-climatic development in a situation now fraught with the inevitability of reform (even if not in Luxembourg first).

Luxembourg: The First Baby Steps

What is so ironic about all of this is the fact that for the past three years, officials in Luxembourg have made it very public that they were “studying” the Canadian model. What has developed is actually far more like the Dutch (at least so far) if not the evolving situation in other European countries (see Malta, which allowed home-grow this year and appears to be actually on the verge of greater reform by the end of the year, not to mention Italy, which appears to be backing into the same thing).

ASUI passed resolutions on medical marijuana and Boise State Professor Scott Yenor

ASUI passed a slew of legislation Wednesday and held its first meeting for spring semester senators, including supporting Boise State University countering sexism and legalizing medical marijuana. 

ASUI introduced and passed a resolution supporting Boise State University students and their petition to investigate Professor Scott Yenor for sexist comments. 

The petition comes after a video from the National Conservatism Conference in Florida surfaced in which Yenor commented that women should not be recruited into the fields of engineering, medicine and law as well as trade occupations. 

Following the video’s surfacing, Yenor has since taken to Twitter. saying that there should be no “special efforts to recruit women into fields where they don’t seem to want to be.” 

“BSU students are currently petitioning and protesting actively to have (Yenor) investigated for sexist grading and sexist evaluations of fellow faculty and staff,” Director of Safety, Health and Wellness Abbey Rode said.  

Kentucky is ending 2021 on a high note. At least when it comes to the economy, according to Governor Andy Beshear.

The Bluegrass Governor told 44News, by the end of the year, new capital investments in the state will near $11 Billion. That is roughly double the annual investment Kentucky sees in a normal year.

“When you look at two of our biggest jobs and/or investments across the Commonwealth, this year, there is Pratt Paper in Henderson,” Gov. Beshear told 44News Anchor Jessica Hartman. “I am so proud of this investment.”

Announced in July, Pratt Paper plans to build two large facilities on a piece of land that was annexed into the City of Henderson for the $400 million project. The first of the two mills will produce 100% recycled paper product and create 320 jobs.

“That is their biggest investment in their history and it will be the most sophisticated recycled paper mill in the world when it is built,” continued Gov. Beshear.

Cannabinoids (CBD) can reduce tumor growth, reduce tumor invasion and can also increase the potency of certain drugs used to treat Cancer.

The town of Hartford will be holding an informational meeting on cannabis legislation next week.

The Hartford Selectboard and Hartford Community Coalition want to hear from you in a town hall scheduled for Monday.

They say the state legislature and Vermont Cannabis Control Board are in the process of developing ordinances and policies for a regulated market for cannabis.

The meeting will be held at the Hartford High School auditorium starting at 6 p.m.

Not every part of the industry sees business heat up during the holiday season. For some, like those in cultivation and packaging, it marks a wind-down on work and profits.

The holiday season is underway and so too are sales. The cannabis industry is no exception, with December sales expected to be strong once again.

Data firm LeafLink reports that sales jumped 33% the week leading up to Christmas 2020 (December 21-December 24) compared to the previous four weeks. Christmas Eve saw a 61% increase compared to the previous four Thursdays.

Grasshopper co-founders on the tool you need to streamline bulk cannabis packing processes.

Often the best inventions and innovations are born out of necessity—which is exactly what sparked the creation and development of the Grasshopper. Grasshopper Co-founders Luke Daly and Jesse Bloomfield shared why they had to build the tool they needed—because it didn’t exist yet.

A proposed $10,000 fee for licenses to grow, store or sell cannabis was flagged as possibly problematic by Red Bank’s borough attorney last week.

At the council’s workshop meeting last week, community planning Director Shawna Ebanks suggested an amendment to a recently enacted cannabis ordinance to create a licensing procedure and fee.