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On June 8th, a commission formed between the NFL and the league’s players’ union, announced that it would award up to $1 million in grants for researchers to investigate the therapeutic potential of marijuana, CBD, and other alternatives to opioids for treating pain.

The cannabis industry has long looked to major league sports as a hallmark for revenue comparison. At the end of the day, major league sports are mainstream businesses. On average, the NFL generates $15-$18 billion annually. The cannabis industry in the United States alone has far surpassed that benchmark.

What the NFL says about cannabis matters. The NFL’s awarding of $1 million in research grants to investigate the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids echoes Amazon’s recent announcement nudging the federal government to get its act together.

The cannabis industry has long looked to major league sports as a hallmark for hitting a revenue ... [+]

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Alright, we’ve got vapes and edibles, suppositories and gum, cigars and honey. And while some of these seem like new inventions, they don’t even come close to the weird and wacky products now being offered on the market. Yup, if you’re looking for way-out-there weird, these are the strangest cannabis products you’re likely to come by.

If you like new and weird, you might like the strangest cannabis products out there. If you just want a good, dependable, regular product, there are plenty of possibilities, including delta-8 THC. Why delta-8? Well, this alternate form of THC provides users with a clear-headed high and more energy, with less couch-locking and anxiety, like delta-9 is known for. We’ve got a great selection of Delta-8 THC deals, so go ahead, and find your perfect product.

Different cannabis products

It used to be that if you wanted any cannabis effect, you lit a joint, smoked a bong, or ate a brownie. As things have progressed in life, the options have opened. Now you can vape, instead of lighting up. Now you can choose from a massive range of edibles, rather than accepting a simple pot brownie. And now if you want localized relief, you can apply a cream to a specific area, or use an insert to get it inside. You can put oil or tincture under your tongue, chew it as gum, or inhale it from an inhaler.

The world of cannabis products has expanded out greatly in the last few years, going to places that not many of us saw coming. I mean, did you really think a few years ago there’d be cannabis-infused soda water? I didn’t. But it exists, and in about a million different varieties, from about a million different companies.

The idea that cannabis can be used in ways unfamiliar to past generations has become a norm of current life, but even so, some of the newer offerings are still enough to make a person turn their head and say, ‘what?’ So in honor of these new product paths for marijuana, and because some of you will surely be interested in trying these new inventions, here are some of the strangest cannabis products currently on the market.

For many people, the task seems daunting and I’m not going to sugar coat it. The first time you attempt it by yourself you’ll be questioning your actions every step of the way.

When you decarboxylate cannabis, you’re essentially applying heat to activate the cannabinoids and convert them from their acid form into their psychoactive state. For example, turning THCa into THC.

If you were to skip the step of decarboxylating your cannabis, your infusion would lack in potency and would in most cases not live up to your expectations. But what’s the right time, method, and heat settings to get the perfect decarbed weed?

That’s what we’re about to find out in this article right now. Not only are we going to be talking about the right temperature and time, but also providing you with different methods of decarbing your weed. This should provide you with everything you need to know to start experimenting with cannabis infusions. Let’s get ready to bake!

Photo by Margo Amala via Unsplash

Degenerative disc disease is a general term used to describe a range of spinal conditions. It comes with both physical and psychological factors.

There are several spinal conditions, and thanks to the evolving medical systems around the world, medical marijuana has been incorporated into the recommended drugs for these conditions in some countries.

Research shows that cannabinoids might play a vital role in treating the mental stress and physical injuries that come along with degenerative disc conditions.

What Is Degenerative Disc Disease?

DDD refers to a group of spinal illnesses that results in the degeneration/degradation of the spinal discs. These intervertebral discs are found in all major areas of the human spine. From the cervical to the thoracic, and the lumbar region.

Photo by Ake via rawpixel.com

As of April 2021, seventeen states, two territories and the District of Columbia have enacted legislation to regulate cannabis for adult use. In addition, Connecticut and Rhode Island seem poised to legalize adult use cannabis, Louisiana has decriminalized marijuana possession and Montana is establishing its own marketplace. Those are big gains, and they just keep coming.

According to a recent analysis conducted by cannabis marketing company Digital Third Coast, consumers want even more access, more convenience, and also more restrictions, at least when it comes to advertising cannabis.

States looking for legalization

Digital Third Coast analyzed Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) searches in all fifty states and 34 of the largest U.S. cities where cannabis is not yet fully legal. The analysis was rounded out by a survey of over 1,000 Americans who were asked to offer their views on cannabis legalization, use, and marketing. The drive for legality as expressed by respondents appeared centralized in the West, with Wyoming at number one and North Dakota coming in second. West Virginia took a surprising third ranking, making it an outlier among its western counterparts, including Iowa and Nebraska, which rounded out the top five. States with mixed legality that includes medicinal programs, different laws governing CBD usage and, in some cases, decriminalized cannabis, ranked lowest in “cannabis curiosity”. The Google search data revealed a high volume of interest in legalization from those living in states where cannabis is already legal.

The top five cities Google searching terms like “state cannabis legalization” (Birmingham, AL, Charleston, SC, Cheyenne, WY, Nashville, TN and Omaha, NE) are all places where cannabis is completely illegal, but that isn’t stopping Digital Third Coast’s cross-section of America from enjoying cannabis. According to their results, 60 percent of respondents reported as cannabis users. 92 percent of respondents supported legalization, with 45 percent claiming that leaving whether to consume cannabis as a “matter of freedom or personal choice” was their primary reason for that support. This was almost double those who listed “medical reasons and palliative care” as a primary motivation (25%).

Lawmakers should take note

Not only did the majority of Google search results and U.S. citizens surveyed point to overwhelming support for legalization, but one in three Americans wants to see cannabis sold in supermarkets, gas stations, and grocery stores. Seven in ten want to see cannabis legalized at the federal level, which suggests a significant acceptance around the normalization of cannabis use and its integration into day-to-day life, as does the fact that fully 26 percent of respondents feel that cannabis dispensaries should not be banned from opening near schools, houses of worship or residential areas.

A small Canadian survey has found the majority of participants experienced benefits from medical cannabis for certain conditions after 6 weeks of use.

Carried out by University of British Columbia researchers, the survey involved 214 mainly male patients; with the majority over 50 years of age. Among these patients, the most frequently reported conditions were:

Overall, 60% of the medical cannabis cohort reported improvements in their conditions.

Significant improvements were found in relation to recurrent pain, PTSD, and sleep disorders after 6 weeks of medical cannabis use. However, the findings in related to arthritis and other rheumatic disorders were described as “complex”.

They also pointed out while “real-world evidence” hasn’t been utilised by regulatory bodies, changes in public policy surrounding cannabis should occur to reflect patient reported efficacy from such studies, due to the unique way medical cannabis has made its way to legalisation.

This Monday, June 28, around noon, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) approved the Declaration of Unconstitutionality on the prohibition of adult use of marijuana in Mexico , after which Congress did not reach a consensus regarding the approval of the Federal Law for the Regulation of Cannabis .

With eight votes in favor of the eleven ministers that make up the plenary session of the Supreme Court, the proposal of Minister Norma Lucía Piña Hernández was endorsed. It pointed out that the   Congress of the Union had failed to comply with the Court's mandate by failing to regulate the recreational use of marijuana. This Declaration of Unconstitutionality is expected to be published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) this week.

​What does the declaration of the SCJN really mean?

In an interview with Entrepreneur en Español , Luis Armendáriz , corporate lawyer for the Cannabis industry at Caam Legal and representative of Hoban Law Group, pointed out that this resolution raises more problems than solutions.

“It is a scenario where the Judiciary is legislating, because it is annulling, modifying, a law. The problem is that, although it is a step forward, the legal vacuum is expanding because you can already consume, but they are not regulating the industry. Where do I buy it? Who can sell it? Can I grow it to sell or not? What are the limits? In other words, a lot of legal uncertainty was created, how are you going to know what you can do and what not? " explains the specialist.

Armendariz pointed out that this Declaration of Unconstitutionality "decriminalizes but does not regulate" the cannabis industry and all the processes involved. Therefore, there will be situations that are legal and illegal at the same time "because it is going to lend a lot to the interpretation and perception of the people ."

The use of CBD has increased rapidly in the last decade where even medical experts have endorsed it as a useful health product. This boom has triggered professionals to do more research to determine the specific benefits of CBD. As a result, the number of companies making CBD products has also increased, with some of them making better quality products than others. 

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill on Thursday that tightens limits on cannabis concentrates and puts restrictions on medical marijuana patients and their physicians. The measure, House Bill 1317 (HB21-1317), also funds research into the effect that high-potency marijuana products can have on developing minds.

The South Dakota Department of Health’s proposed rules for medical marijuana include a $100 annual fee for card holders and a $5,000 yearly fee for businesses that sell the cannabis.

The state health agency released 105 pages of draft rules this week that include license fees, the renewal process, packaging guidelines and security plans, among other things.

“The proposed administrative rules are one of many steps our department has taken to develop a safe and responsible medical cannabis program in South Dakota, as the voters intended,” South Dakota Health Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon said.

The businesses that sell medical marijuana would have to renew their commercial licenses every year.

Each employee of a commercial cannabis business would also have to be certified by the state health department and could not have violent offenses on their background report within the last 10 years, the Argus Leader reported.

Cannabis oil is majorly preferred for recreational reasons. People use it to get high because of its considerable levels of THC.

Smoking might be the trend right now, but trust me, infused oils may very well be the future.

Cannabis plants have various derivatives, a host of psychoactive compounds, 100s of cannabinoids, and various forms of terpenes. This gives users a wide basket to choose their infused oil from, it also makes selecting one a very hard task.

The commonly used oils are hemp oil, cannabis oil, CBD oil, weed stem oil, CBD tinctures, hemp seed oil, etc.

Photo by Iryna Veklich/Getty Images

Scientists and industry insiders are increasingly optimistic about hemp’s potential as a tool in the fight against climate change. They say it’s the world’s most versatile natural product and that it can supercharge efforts to avoid environmental catastrophe.

Hemp’s natural properties and ability to save land and water can benefit farmers when farmed on a large scale. Furthermore, many of the products made from it can help decarbonize industries. There is also potential that hemp can absorb significant amounts of carbon and improve soil fertility, something the world desperately needs right now.

Dr. Michael Obersteiner, the director of Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, told Metro that there’s good reason to be excited about the cannabis plant. He said:

It might turn out to be a land-saving crop in the sense that you would need more land to produce the same amount of protein, oil, biomass if produced by different specialized crops. The land saving would spare the expansion of cropland into forests. This will create substantial emission savings.

The British Hemp Alliance (BHA) says the plant can also host other environmental benefits. Rebekah Shaman, BHA managing director, and co-founder said:

Cannabis opponents have a long history of trying to convince members of the public that cannabis is bad for human brains.

According to many cannabis prohibitionists cannabis is bad for human brains no matter what age they start consuming cannabis or what type of cannabis they consume.

The “dangers” of cannabis for human brains are not isolated to certain consumption methods or any other factor according to these types of cannabis opponents.

Their message seems to be that all cannabis is bad for the brain at all times in all situations. Unfortunately for those prohibitionists, science does not appear to back up their claims.

Decision Making Skills and Cannabis

A team of researchers in Europe recently conducted what they describe to be “one of the largest longitudinal European multicenter studies on the topic” of residual effects of cannabis use on neurocognition (decision making skills).

Amazon certainly isn’t the first major corporation to arrive at the cannabis reform party, but it sure made one of the biggest entrances to-date when it publicly pledged to relax its drug testing policies and also to back federal legalization efforts.

And now it’s a question of how many others will follow — especially during a time when some firms are desperate for workers.

Amazon kicked off June with an announcement that it would stop testing for cannabis metabolites as part of its drug screening program for positions not regulated by the US Department of Transportation. The company also said it would back the federal Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, a recently reintroduced bill aimed at descheduling marijuana and reassessing some past cannabis-related convictions.

It’s not yet clear to what extent Amazon will fund cannabis reform efforts on the federal level as well as to what any future business endeavors in the space may be. Amazon spokespeople did not comment beyond the company’s June 1 statement and declined to respond to questions posed by CNN Business.

Cannabis-laced snacks that mimic popular brand names — including “Trips Ahoy!” and “Double Stuf STONEO” — are being hawked to kids and should be banned by the state Health Department, Nassau County elected officials said at a press conference Wednesday.

The products, which are currently legal under the state’s medicinal marijuana program, contain delta-8 THC and were being sold as of Wednesday at a store in Long Beach, said State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, D-Long Island.

“It is also being marketed aggressively to kids,” Kaminsky tweeted.

Some Connecticut towns and cities are already beginning to formulate studies about how and where recreational marijuana will be sold in their communities, if at all, in 2022.

The town of Prospect, Connecticut, a 10-minute drive east of Waterbury, has already made up their mind. Prospect Mayor Robert Chatfield told News Times that the Planning & Zoning Commission voted unanimously to rule out the sale of recreational cannabis in Prospect.

I would venture to guess that we will see at least one dispensary in Connecticut's largest cities, which go from one to five in this order; Bridgeport, New Haven, Stamford, Hartford, and Waterbury.

The new legislation recently passed allows towns and cities to regulate where it can be sold. City officials in West Hartford, New Britain, and Bristol have already decided where recreational marijuana dispensaries should be allowed.

According to the Hartford Courant, because this new legal pot law is unchartered territory for all of Connecticut's towns and cities, officials will be conducting extensive discussions about zoning regulations to limit where these dispensaries can be. The following video from WFSB 3 digs deeper into the story of recreational cannabis in Connecticut