WeedLife News Network

Oregon’s Marijuana Market Continues To Grow Even During Covid-19

The state of Oregon has sustained a solid market for legal cannabis sales. Especially in the last year while in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. Projections for Oregon’s cannabis market are anticipated to grow even more.

Which could lead to more cannabis revenue that can then be used for the state. For instance things like rebuilding communities impacted by the war on drugs or social equity. Analysts with the state Department of Administrative Services’ Office of Economic Analysis shared their thoughts.

Delta-8 has caused quite a stir in the world of cannabis, with federal and state governments trying to find ways to cope with this new entrant into the products field. As laws are being put in place to keep it out, a new question becomes, is delta-8 THC a recreational or medicinal product?

Are you a delta-8 user for recreational or medicinal reasons? We know delta-8 is great for relaxing, as well as obtaining medical benefits with less psychoactive effect and couch locking. And this makes it great for both worlds. It doesn’t matter why you like it, we just want you to have it! Check out our array of Delta-8 THC deals, and find the products that work best for you, whether you’re just trying to chill, or need a dose of medicine.

What is delta-8 THC?

Before we get into specifics about it, and whether delta-8 should be considered recreational or medicinal, let’s go over what delta-8 THC is, for anyone who hasn’t been following along with the current controversy. Delta-8 THC is both an isomer and analogue of delta-9 THC, the standard THC of marijuana that people associate with getting high. Delta-9 doesn’t actually exist in large amounts in fresh cannabis flowers, rather its precursor THCA does. THCA decarboxylates when it comes into contact with heat, or over time, losing a carboxyl group (COOH) to form delta-9 THC.

The chemical transformation is this: C22H30O4  –> C₂₁H₃₀O₂. However, we already know about delta-9 THC, what we want to know about, is delta-8. Once the delta-9 THC comes into contact with oxygen, it loses electrons, a process called oxidation. This process transforms delta-9 into delta-8. The loss of electrons makes the compound more stable, meaning delta-8 has a longer shelf life than delta-9. The chemical structure is identical for both.

Delta-8 is an isomer of delta-9 because it actually has the same chemical structure, with a different configuration of atoms within. It’s an analogue of delta-9 because it is structurally and functionally (medically) nearly identical. For this reason, delta-8 and delta-9 THCs are often cited as being useful to treat the same ailments.

Tobacco and nicotine products are some of the most dangerous consumer products on earth, and that’s been the case for many years.

The World Health Organization estimates that over 8 million people die annually worldwide due to tobacco.

Roughly 7 million of those annual deaths are due to direct tobacco use by the consumer, and the remaining 1 million+ die from secondhand smoke inhalation.

Nearly half of all tobacco consumers will die as a direct result of their tobacco use, which is extremely unfortunate.

Cannabis is Safer Than Tobacco

Nicotine, one of the main ingredients in tobacco products, is highly addictive. Anyone who has tried to quit consuming tobacco products will be quick to tell you that.

While California led the charge to legalize marijuana, more precisely defined as “cannabis” under state law — I know, it’s confusing — the state has also repeatedly failed to forge a legal path for hemp-derived products, including cannabidiol (CBD).

Following the passage of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the 2018 Farm Bill), the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) released an FAQ entitled, “FAQ – Industrial Hemp and Cannabidiol (CBD) in Food Products” (emphasis added by the CDPH), which provided that hemp, including CBD, could not be added to any kind of ingestible product like foods, beverages, dietary supplements, or animal products. Interestingly enough, there wasn’t, and still isn’t, any state law that actually prohibits adding hemp or CBD to finished products intended for human consumption. Instead, the CDPH adopted the federal FDA position.

Although the FAQ did not expressly say so, it was clear from its reading that the CDPH treated hemp-derived ingestible products adulterated under the state’s Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law (the Sherman Law), the state equivalent of the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act  (FDCA). In fact, local agencies, like the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, later issued their own statements, which expressly categorized these products as adulterated, ostensibly confirming the CDPH’s unexpressed position.

Therefore, without going through the proper rule-making process, the CDPH effectively banned hemp-derived consumables, a policy that local agencies proceeded to enforce.

Indoor cultivation of cannabis is responsible for about 10% of all industrial electricity consumption in Massachusetts, a representative from the Northeast Sustainable Cannabis Project estimated Tuesday as he called on lawmakers to allow marijuana and hemp growers to use organic farming practices that could shift some of the cultivation outside and under the sun.

Could California be on the brink of decriminalizing psychedelics? A proposal aiming to do just that passed a major legislative hurdle on Monday, as it was approved by the state Senate.

The legislation now moves to the California General Assembly. Senate Bill 519 “would make lawful the possession for personal use, as described, and the social sharing, as defined, of psilocybin, psilocyn, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine, mescaline, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ketamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), by and with persons 21 years of age or older,” according to the text of the bill, which was authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener.

In a message posted to Twitter on Monday, Wiener trumpeted the bill’s passage in the state Senate as a “big step for this legislation and the movement,” as well as a step toward “a more health and science-based approach and to move away from criminalization of drugs.”

He also thanked supporters for helping promote the legislation.

In an interview with local television station FOX40 last month, Wiener said that, regardless of what one thinks about drugs, “the question is ‘Should we be arresting and jailing people for possessing and using drugs?’ And I think the answer is absolutely no.”

If you want to earn some extra dough, now may be the ideal time to invest in cannabis. And no, we don’t mean buying edibles in bulk.

2020 was a record year for cannabis. According to Leafly, the legal industry saw over $18 billion in sales – a 71% increase from the year prior.

After years of stops and starts, the Cannabis Control Commission announced Friday that eligible applicants can now seek pre-certification and licensure as marijuana delivery operators, a business type that regulators and advocates said will be an important part of an equitable industry.

The new “marijuana delivery operator” licenses created in the new industry rules the CCC approved late last year will be available exclusively to participants in the CCC’s social equity program and economic empowerment applicants for the first three years.

The new license allows its holder to buy products wholesale from growers and manufacturers and deliver them to their own customers, and requires them to follow customer verification and safety regulations.

“The release of this application serves as an important step in acknowledging the excessive hurdles that many people of color and those disenfranchised face when it comes to starting a cannabis business. This license type is a major piece of the equation in making the Massachusetts cannabis industry more diverse, equitable and inclusive,” Aaron Goines, president of the Massachusetts Cannabis Association for Delivery, said.

The CCC said there are 122 certified economic empowerment applicants and nearly 400 social equity program participants who are eligible for the new delivery license, which the CCC said was “created in direct response to a robust public hearing and public comment process” last year.

Hemp and substances derived from hemp now approved for use in commercial feed for pets, specialty pets, and horses in Montana

As established in House Bill 396 signed during the 2021 legislative session, hemp and substances derived from hemp are now approved for use in commercial feed for pets, specialty pets, and horses in Montana, so long as they do not contain more than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.

Kentucky-based hemp company GenCanna has filed a lawsuit again hemp processor Vertical Wellness, alleging that the company reneged on a contract to dry up to 12 million pounds of hemp, reports Law360.

GenCanna allegedly asked Vertical Wellness to pause the drying operations in November, as the company had filed bankruptcy and was in the process of selling its assets to MGG Investment Group.

GenCanna alleges that Vertical Wellness initially complied but then resumed drying operations at its Cadiz, KY facility in December without the company’s permission.

GenCanna maintains that the contract gave them an option to halt processing, while Vertical Wellness says the agreement was based on GenCanna’s desire to have the hemp processed by the end of 2020.

In a statement to Law360, J. Smoke Wallin, CEO of Vertical Wellness, said GenCanna and MGG breached the contract and called the lawsuit “completely frivolous.”

If nine out of ten Americans believe that marijuana should be legal for adults—and according to a Pew Research poll conducted in April, they do—this begs an obvious question: Why hasn’t Congress passed federal marijuana legalization?

UNITED STATES - APRIL 28: Members of the DC Marijuana Justice community hold a 51 blow-up joint on ... [+]

 CQ-ROLL CALL, INC VIA GETTY IMAGES

The country’s closest brush with national cannabis reform was last December, when the House of Representatives for the first time approved a legalization bill with a floor vote. As expected, the milestone was symbolic: The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act (or MORE Act) did not receive a hearing in then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s Senate. (The fact that its sponsor was then-Senator Kamala Harris (D-California), the vice-president elect, probably didn’t help.)

With Democrats in charge of both houses of Congress and the White House—and with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer an avowed legalization supporter, will things be any different, or better? On Friday, House Democrats on Friday reintroduced the MORE Act, which would remove cannabis from the federal Controlled Substances Act, wipe certain marijuana-related offenses from individuals’ criminal records, and steer money towards individuals and communities hurt by the War on Drugs.

The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission on Friday announced that equity applicants can officially apply for a license type that will allow for cannabis to be warehoused and then sold and delivered.

The marijuana delivery operator license type is only available to economic empowerment and social equity applicants for a minimum of three years. As of Friday, qualified applicants can apply for pre-certification and for the license. The exclusivity period begins the date the first company with the license type receives a notice to commence operations, the cannabis agency said in a statement.

Fiji’s capital Suva has been in and out of Covid lockdowns over recent weeks, and my Netflix got a workout. I watched a TV show called “Cooked with Cannabis”. Admittedly there were a few baked hippies, but the cooking was good. Jokes aside, the show revealed the sophisticated and lucrative global cannabis industry, projected to grow to an extraordinary US$90.4 billion internationally by 2026.

Watching the show also got me thinking about Fiji’s economy as the country fights through a second wave of the pandemic via containment measures and a vaccination drive. Fiji has taken an almighty hit. GDP was slashed to approximately $4.3 billion in 2020, with growth falling by 19%, according to the International Monetary Fund. Foreign tourists have vanished, all non-essential businesses have been forced to close, and the much mooted Pacific travel bubble is likely to be off the cards for the immediate future. With national debt levels soaring, a nasty storm is brewing.

Fiji needs to diversify its economy away from a reliance on tourism. Despite the government’s best efforts to provide relief through food ration deliveries and a $90 emergency payment to families affected by Covid, these well-intentioned initiatives have arguably fallen short. Many people complained that calls to the food-ration hotline went unanswered, or the deliveries never arrived, while the need for Fijians to provide tax details in order to claim the relief payments meant those in the informal sector were all but left behind.

That’s where cannabis presents an opportunity.

UC San Diego Health are conducting what they say is the first known randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial examining cannabis as a treatment for acute migraines.

Around 20 participants are already enrolled in the trial, with the aim to reach 90 participants aged 21-65. The participants are provided four different treatments to be self-administered for four separate migraine attacks – one based on THC, another on CBD, one with a THC/CBD combination and one a placebo. All treatments will be administered using a vaporiser.

Participants will be self-administering the treatments at the onset of a migraine or as early as possible into the attack – one treatment per attack. Among the outcomes to be measured are freedom from pain and pain relief, and the presence or lack thereof of photophobia (sensitivity to light), phonophobia (sensitivity to sound) and nausea. These will be reported at 1 hour, 2 hours, 24 hours, and 48 hours after administration.

Those enrolling will need to agree to a number of conditions, including not using cannabis outside of the study, abstinence from the use of opioids or barbiturates and not driving a motor vehicle within 4 hours of self-administering treatments provided in the course of the study.

However, more solid scientific evidence is needed to establish cannabis’s efficacy.

There are dozens of good reasons for legalizing cannabis, and one of the most compelling is its potential for social justice.

For the most part, cannabis criminalization occurred throughout the 20th century as a result of xenophobia and racism; white Americans of European descent were frightened by increasing numbers of immigrants from Asia and Latin America, many of whom used cannabis products recreationally and for cultural or spiritual expression.

By controlling cannabis, states and the Federal Government gained greater control over these marginalized groups.

Minnesotans who rely on medical marijuana to treat a myriad of conditions will soon be able to smoke the plant. 

Gov. Tim Walz signed the omnibus health and human services bill into law this week, which includes a provision to expand the state's medical cannabis program that was created in 2014, with qualified patients allowed to buy the drug starting in July 2015. 

The state's program, though, is one of the most restrictive in the country because it only allows patients to use the drug in liquid, oil and pill forms — smokable medical marijuana is banned (a provision that was needed to get lawmakers and Gov. Mark Dayton to approve the program). 

Since the start, many patients have criticized the law for being overly restrictive and have said the cost of the non-smokable forms of medical cannabis is a major barrier (it's not covered by insurance).

But now, starting no later than March 1, 2022, patients will be able to buy the smokeable flower form of the plant, which supporters say will make the medical cannabis program more affordable and accessible. 

Sources have confirmed that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is committed to trying to push through a more global legalization bill before pivoting to a smaller bill like the SAFE Banking Act.

The saga of cannabis legalization at the federal level is ongoing, as the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives continues to pass sweeping legalization bills that (to date) have gotten little traction in the divided U.S. Senate. (Link). The result has heightened speculation throughout the cannabis community, as activists, entrepreneurs and those with cannabis convictions wait for the federal government to act.

And while it’s impossible to say precisely what a final cannabis-reform bill will look like, those in the know (like the publishers of an unidentified cannabis-newsletter, for example) have gleaned some interesting things from the smoke signals coming from Capitol Hill.

Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Pool/Getty Images

Chuck Will Have a Lot to Say

As Politico recently wrote, “Chuck Schumer really likes to talk about weed.” (Link). Indeed, cannabis reform has become the cause celebre of the senior Senator from New York, as he continues to advocate for a sweeping legalization bill that could include everything from criminal justice reforms to provisions allowing plant-touching companies to access the U.S. capital markets.

The Danish government has permanently authorized licensed companies to produce and export medical cannabis independent of an existing pilot program.

“This is an important milestone recognizing this young industry, which utilizes the local expertise in greenhouse agriculture mass production,” Aurora Europe said in a statement. “Being able to tap into resources of the established international pharmaceutical industry is also a valuable location advantage.”

Canada-based Aurora has said its Aurora Nordic Cannabis A/S unit, based in Odense, Denmark, is to become the company’s main supply source for the European market. The company’s operations in Odense include more than 9,200 square meters of greenhouse production space and promise a maximum output of approximately 10,000 kg per year. Aurora Nordic produces dried flowers and extracts and will introduce other formulations in the near term, the company has said.

Broad political support

The authorization for production and export of medical cannabis comes as the Danish government, with support of a broad majority of parliamentary parties, decided to continue the medical cannabis pilot program that has been running for four years, but which expires at the end of 2021. The trials were made permanent for growers of cannabis for medical use, and rules allow doctors to continue to prescribe medical cannabis to patients.

Growers finance the pilot program by paying fees but the government said it agreed to discuss grants and possible adjustments to the program in autumn 2021. Continuation of subsidies for patients purchasing cannabis medical supplies is also to be discussed in the future.

When states first began to “experiment” with the legalization of marijuana, lawmakers, state officials, and everyone else, for that matter, were eager to see how selling legal weed would pan out.

On the one hand, naysayers wanted to judge whether the socioeconomic cost of legalization was worth the tax dollars the market would surely drive into state and local coffers. At the same time, advocates stood waiting for a “told ya so” moment, when they could show the nation that a legitimate pot market would not lead to a drug-addled society. Years later, the results have been mixed.

However, a new study in the journal Addiction attempts to shine some light on the legalization of recreational marijuana. More specifically, it shows what can be expected to happen with illicit drug markets in states that pass recreational marijuana laws, and it is interesting, to say the least.

For starters, fully legal marijuana, subject to state regulations and taxes, appears to make black market pot products more affordable. Researchers found a 9.2% drop in the price of street weed in places with recreational marijuana laws on the books. In some cases, lower quality bud experienced a price decrease of 19.5%. The “prediction,” as the study calls it, is that marijuana legalization is creating less demand for black market weed and therefore driving down the prices.

Still, real life tells us that legalization is fueling the black market in a lot of ways. This is especially true in states like California, where illicit pot operations still outnumber the legal ones. The legitimate market has also increased black market dealings across state lines. Law enforcement in prohibition states continue to report more increases in marijuana seizures all the time.

Hemp is a miracle material. When most people think of it, one or two uses might come to mind. But, when you really do your research on everything hemp is used for, you quickly start to see how valuable it is.

Right now, it’s important to shine a light on the fact that hemp can be used for home construction in a variety of ways. Lately, the cost of lumber has skyrocketed due to a shortage. There are also concerns about the sustainability of traditional building materials and how they might be impacting the planet.

Could hemp be the solution for those problems? Yes.

Using hemp as a building material is more than just a “pipe dream” (no pun intended). Instead, it’s a viable option that could cut costs and benefit the environment.

Not sure how it can be used and whether it truly is the right solution? Let’s look at the benefits and a few ways hemp can be implemented into construction materials.