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Promoters of Medical Cannabis in Missouri said the fledgling business continues to see major success.

Medical Cannabis officials said dispensaries seem to be the only business without a hiring problem.

In fact, they are dealing with the opposite, too many people want to work there.

They said Missouri dispensaries are setting records for tax revenue and it's only going to get better.

The spokesperson for Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association, Jack Cardetti, said the revenue has been massive.

Strong support for the legalization of medical cannabis was shown by the candidates from the National Liberation (PLN), Christian Social Unity (PUSC) and Citizen Action (PAC) parties. Of the eleven candidates, eight are in favor, one is against, and no response was received from two other applicants.

In the case of the liberationists, there are two candidates who are deputies and with the power to influence the approval of a bill along these lines. They are Carlos Ricardo Benavides and Roberto Thompson, both green and white legislators. Both are in favor of the initiative promoted by independent legislator Zoila Rosa Volio. File 21,388 was ruled the previous November by the Environment Commission, but since then there has been no progress by the Presidential Office.

“From the beginning I have been in favor of the project of the deputy Zoila Volio on Industrial Hemp and Medicinal Cannabis,” said Benavides. “I consider it a great opportunity for the country to generate wealth and employment in many regions of Costa Rica,” he added.

Other liberationists who agree to legalize medical cannabis are José María Figueres and Rolando Araya. “I would legalize medical cannabis, based on the ample scientific evidence in its favor. In addition, it would authorize the planting of hemp as a profitable alternative for our farmers”, wrote Figueres on his social networks.

For his part, Araya acknowledged being in agreement due to the expert investigations, although he considered the first thing to be to move the country forward. “It’s like the house is on fire and they ask about the color of the curtains, that will be later,” he said.

Having a regulated system of naming cannabis strains takes the pressure off marketing and PR strategists that most consumers feel are coming up with meaningless names.

Cannabis products are named the same way everything else in the world is named. Some names are unusual, some fascinating, some silly, and others logical. Most of these names have a tale behind them.

There are also cannabis strains that are named after the other older strains in the generation. A perfect example of this can be found in the naming system of the Kush varieties. Strains like Sputnik and Pre-98 Bubba Kush were named after unforgettable events in history.

Photo by Zummolo/Getty Images

And finally, we have names that give an idea of the taste or flavor of the product, for example, Sweet Dreams or California Orange, etc.

The Minnesota House of Representatives is planning a Thursday vote on a bill (HF 600) that would legalize adult-use cannabis in the state. The measure is expected to be passed by the House’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) majority in what will be the first cannabis legalization vote by the full legislative body in its history.

Under HF 600, adults 21 and older would be permitted to buy and use up to 1.5 ounces of marijuana for recreational purposes. Adults would also be allowed to cultivate up to four mature and four immature cannabis plants at home. The measure would establish a regulatory framework for the operation and taxation of licensed cannabis businesses. Cannabis taxes raised would be dedicated to youth access prevention and substance abuse treatment programs.

Under current Minnesota law, possession of even small amounts of marijuana is considered a misdemeanor criminal offense, although cases involving less than 42.5 grams of cannabis are punishable by a fine of not more than $200 instead of time in jail.

Additionally, the state has a strictly limited medicinal cannabis program. Patients with one or more of 18 serious medical conditions are eligible for the program with a doctor’s recommendation. Smoking of cannabis flower is not permitted under the state’s medical marijuana program. 

Pending legislation in Nebraska that would have established a medical cannabis industry failed by two votes, a frustratingly tight margin for advocates. The vote needed 33 yes votes to pass, and only received 31, making it unable to break a filibuster. LB 474 is officially off the table. 

Nicole Hochstein, a mother of a child with epilepsy, described herself as: “Devastated. Broken. In pieces because they literally voted my child’s life away” following the missed opportunity.

This isn’t the first time medical cannabis advocates in Nebraska have been let down. Back in September, the ballot measure to legalize medical cannabis through a vote was pulled by the Nebraska Supreme Court, who claimed the measure violated the single-subject rule. This was even after those supporting it had collected 196,000 signatures. 

“It’s beyond frustrating. This is literally our children’s lives here,” Hochstein said.

State Senator Anna Wishart backed LB 474, and now plans to start a petition to add the issue to the 2022 ballot. 

Zimbabwe abolished a rule which requires co-ownership between government and private investors in the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal use, seeking to encourage what the country sees becoming the biggest cash crop.

“Investors can have 100% ownership of their investments and locate their facilities anywhere in the country without prescription,” Douglas Munatsi, chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe Investment & Development Agency, said Wednesday in an emailed statement.

The decision is in line “with government’s investor-friendly stance to attract capital and to be competitive,” Munatsi went on to say by phone.

Zimbabwe sees export earnings from cannabis outstripping those of tobacco this year with sales expected to reach $1.25 billion, according to a Treasury forecast given in November. That may help boost an economy that’s been desperately stretched for some time.

The government also said it will guarantee the protection of property rights and ring fence investments against expropriation. The country in 2000 took over land without compensation from White farmers, displacing almost 4,500 people.

The latest study goes against the grain of previous research that shows how property values increase with the onset of legalization.

Marijuana legalization is happening across the United States. Naysayers have predicted that a veritable apocalyptic moment is coming on the heels of the movement, screaming about how ending marijuana prohibition would increase crime, minor consumption rates and contribute to the overall decline of civil society. Yet, the only thing that most of these people have proved is that they are no Nostradamus.

Marijuana legalization is working for the most part, and it hasn’t led to any drastic uprising in dread and downtrodden. However, if there has been a downfall to this progress, it’s that it seems to be lowering property values in neighborhoods that open dispensaries.

A recent study in the journal Regional Science and Urban Economics found that Washington state, one of the first jurisdictions to legalize for recreational use, has experienced a decline in property values in districts with cannabis dispensaries. Researchers found a 3-4% decrease in property values in homes that were .36 miles from retail pot shops. Although the study focused specifically on Washington state, it provides a glimpse into what might be expected nationwide as legalization spreads.

Photo by Kindel Media from Pexels

With all the talk of the current devastation to the honeybee community, and the possible repercussions to humanity in general, it makes the small, buzzing creatures a rather important feature in our ecosystem. Honey, much like cannabis, provides all kinds of benefits to health and nutrition, and with a growing interest in cannabis honey, the two are coming together to create some of the best products on the market. If you were unaware of how cannabis and honey go together, read on.

The best thing to hit the world of cannabis isn’t shatter, or live resin, or even THC distillate. It’s delta-8 THC. Unlike delta-9 THC, the standard THC of marijuana, delta-8 THC actually produces slightly less psychoactive effect, causes less anxiety and paranoia, and provides a clear-headed, energetic high. It’s all the good stuff about THC, with less of the issues that cause people problems. If you’ve only heard about it, and never tried it, we’ve got great delta-8 THC deals so you can experience it for yourself.

A little bit about bees

The first thing to know about bees, is that they’re not all the same. When whizzing past your face, they may look the same, but a wasp, a yellowjacket, and a honeybee are all very different species of flying bug. We are most interested in honeybees. There are several types of honeybees, with the most common being Apis mellifera. This specific honeybee is also referred to as the European honeybee, or the Western Honeybee.

As social insects, honeybees reside together in hives, and actually have a pretty intricate communication system between them consisting of dancing movements, which can go in depth enough to explain to other bees exact locations of food sources, their size, and even quality. Each honeybee community has a queen bee, worker bees, and drone bees. Worker bees are female bees that never reach sexual maturity, with the queens being females that are bigger in size. Male bees are called drones.

I could go on talking about the particulars of honeybees, but it’s not terribly important. Here are a few things that are. Bees require two kinds of food. The first is honey, which is made from nectar from flowers. The second is pollen, which comes from the anthers of a flower. This nectar and pollen is individual to each species of flower, and each flower within the species. Most bees will only collect one or the other, pollen or nectar. While collecting, nectar gets stored in a stomach specifically for nectar, from which it is transferred to other bees in the hive to use for honey production. This is separate from the bee’s own regular stomach, however, a valve exists between the two so that the bee can use some of the nectar for energy if needed.

Mexico is very close to becoming the third country in the world to legalize all uses of cannabis . The end of the approval process for the Federal Law for the Regulation of Cannabis in Mexico is approaching . Let us remember that the law was approved by the Senate in November 2020 and by the Chamber of Deputies in March 2021.

Due to the multiple modifications and changes that the deputies made to the bill, the bill had to return to the Senate for the changes to be validated and thus finally become a reality.

Back in the Senate, the project seemed to have the necessary consensus to move forward, so much so that it was taken advantage of by two of the three ruling committees; Justice and Legislative Studies.

However, the claim of errors and unconstitutionalities resounded in the leadership of the parliamentary majority, which through Ricardo Monreal completely stopped the advance of the project. In this way, the Senate made changes to the errors claimed, again the bill will go back to the lower house to ratify the modifications.

​What can happen?

There are several scenarios, the first is that the Senate requests, for the fourth time, an extension to the SCJN, hoping that this time will be the last, and that the issue will be discussed again in the next regular period of sessions, that is, of September to December 2021.

Medical marijuana is legal in New Hampshire, but patients have to buy their therapeutic cannabis at one of a handful of Alternative Treatment Centers. Now, legislators are considering allowing patients to grow their own marijuana at home.

The law as it stands

Back in 2013, New Hampshire legalized the use of marijuana as a medical treatment. Under that law — RSA 126-X — patients with certain symptoms can be prescribed the use of cannabis by their healthcare provider. Some of these include:

■suffering from chronic severe pain;

■diagnosed with a qualifying medical condition such as cancer, glaucoma, or HIV;

■a terminal medical condition resulting in at least one of a list of specific symptoms, such as seizures or severe nausea.

After a long legacy of having a medical cannabis program that barely took care of patients, the governor of Georgia has finally signed SB 195—a law that will expand the medical cannabis program to license retailers of low-THC cannabis 

Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 195 into law last week, and now, up to 30 state-licensed businesses can become sellers of high-CBD cannabis, as long as they keep the THC to a minimum. SB 195 will officially go into effect July 1. 

While medical cannabis first got passed in Georgia in 2015, it just exempted patients from criminal prosecution as long as they needed the cannabis for verified medical reasons, and as long as the cannabis possessed was in the form of oil extracts at 5 percent or less THC. Effectively, all it did was decriminalize possession. Without crossing state lines, there was no legal way for medical patients to obtain cannabis oil. 

And there is already a customer base in place. As of now, about 15,000 residents are registered to qualify for the use of high-CBD, low-THC oils, and are just waiting for a legal way to purchase cannabis in their home state. 

The Road Leading To SB 195

In 2019, House Bill 325, also known as the Georgia’s Hope Act, came up with a regulatory commission that would oversee the industry when it did finally get off the ground. However, while putting that framework in place was a big step, it still didn’t take things far enough and create a legal industry.

Destination Germany is the watchword for those in the international cannabis industry—but it is still a rocky path to gaining access for most. Specifically, there is a lot of confusion surrounding API and cannabis classification and issues from a lack of consistent standards.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the process currently is how flower is categorized (especially for imports) once it gets to the country. For a country of rules, this is surprisingly all over the place right now. There is no one single answer—which rules apply depend on both the regulatory requirement at point of cultivation as well as distribution (on a state, not federal, level).

This can also be frustrating even within Germany and the EU—namely because of a lack of homogeneity still, that exists in the treatment of cannabis flower—both within the region and at a sovereign level. This is especially true where pharmaceutical guidelines cross those for irradiating anything bound for consumption by consumers. 

According to the most recent data available, the vast majority of irradiated food within the EU is frozen frogs legs (at 65.1%). The second, at just over a fifth of the market, is poultry. And the third is for dried aromatic herbs, spices, and vegetables (at 14%). According to data from the European Commission, this sterilizing process is also on the decline for food at least, although Belgium is the EU state with the most irradiation regulations.

The Louisiana House of Representatives passed a bill on Tuesday that effectively decriminalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana. Under the measure, House Bill 652 (HB 652), possession of up to 14 grams (about a half an ounce) of cannabis would be punished by only a fine of up to $100 on the first and second offense. Minor marijuana possession offenses would still be classified as misdemeanors but would no longer carry the threat of time in jail.

“We don’t need to be filling up our jails with misdemeanor offenses of marijuana,” Democratic Rep. Denise Marcelle, a supporter of the bill, told local media.

The bill was approved last week by the House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice in advance of this week’s floor vote. The full House approved HB 652 on Tuesday with a vote of 67 to 25. The measure sponsored by Rep. Cedric Glover received significant support from both his Democratic colleagues and members of the GOP majority.

“I think it’s a fairly good compromise,” said Rep. Alan Seabaugh, a Republican and one of the most conservative members of the Louisiana House of Representatives.

Some of Louisiana’s largest cities, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Shreveport, have already taken action to reduce the penalties for low-level marijuana possession. In New Orleans, penalties for a first cannabis possession offense are capped at a fine of only $40, while some city leaders are calling for the fine to be dropped even further to $1. In 2018, Baton Rouge eliminated jail time as a possible penalty for possession of less than 14 grams of marijuana. Instead, a fine of between $40 and $100 will be assessed, depending on the number of prior offenses for a particular defendant. Shreveport’s revised ordinance is similar to HB 652.

Nearly a decade ago, Linda Greene was having dinner with some of her friends when she heard that marijuana had been legalized for medicinal use in Washington, D.C. Having lived through the 1960s counterculture, she saw an opportunity.

Greene opened Anacostia Organics in 2019. The push to open the medicinal marijuana dispensary began after Greene saw that of the 15 original cultivator and dispensary licenses issued by the district’s Department of Health, none had been awarded to residents of the U.S. capital, and only two had been awarded to people of color.

Mississippians could soon see a ballot initiative aimed to fully legalize marijuana during the next general election.

During the past general election, Mississippians voted in droves for initiative 64, which allows regulated medical marijuana.

"I mean it really is time a lot of states are already ahead us there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be doing it," said David Nelms.

Some want to take it a step further. Dr. David Alan, the author of initiative 77, wants to fully legalize the possession, use, and cultivation of marijuana up to 99 plants.

Dr. Alan's reasoning behind it is to both decriminalize and research the plants potential medical benefits.

Oregon businesses growing and selling cannabis want the ability to sell their product to people in other states, but until the federal law changes making marijuana legal, Gov. Kate Brown says her hands are tied, according to the Portland Business Journal.

Sixteen states and Washington, D.C., have legalized the sale and use of marijuana for recreational purposes, and 36 allow medical marijuana use. But under federal law, marijuana remains listed as an illegal drug like heroin, LSD, and ecstasy.

Governor Ralph Northam and his administration celebrated the day he signed the bill legalizing marijuana in Virginia.

"This is yet another example of Democrats, yes Democrats listening to Virginians and taking action on the will of the people," Northam said.

However, David Lewis isn't celebrating the new pot laws. He's been in recovery for more than three years and knows first-hand the dark side of marijuana.

"One night I was at a party," Lewis said. "Someone had just passed me a joint and I hit it. Almost immediately I felt different. It just didn't feel like a normal high from marijuana. I asked the guy what it was and he said it was laced with K -- Special K. Once that happened I really don't remember anything."

Lewis admits he probably should have been hospitalized that night.

Cannabis compliance for licensees is finally emerging from the shadows into the forefront as regulators move from the application phase to the operational phase.

In performing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and reviewing online compliance audit reports and letters to licensees, there are a number of specific issues regulators are required to review, but the majority of warning letters and flagged inspection reports show only a handful of cited issues for the vast majority.

Nebraska Aims To Legalize Medical Marijuana

Beyond just marijuana stocks and cannabis investing more states around the U.S. are working towards legalizing marijuana. Currently, more than have the United States have voted to go legal in some form. Although there is much more work to be done on the state and federal level. Overall cannabis reform has come a long way. However many are waiting for the day politicians can bring an end to cannabis prohibition. By legalizing marijuana on the federal level or even federally decriminalizing cannabis would still be a win. Whether nationwide legalization or federal decriminalization the U.S. cannabis industry would be able to reach other markets and conduct business that was once federally illegal.

Yet marijuana is still illegal under federal law. But hopefully, with more states going legal it will provide a bit of pressure for politicians to advance federal cannabis reform. In recent reports, state lawmakers in Nebraska are working on legislation to legalize medical marijuana as early as this week. Sen. Anna Wishart, who is sponsoring this new cannabis bill spoke on it. The Senator said it will “be debated by the full legislature” on May 12th.

This new cannabis proposal has arrived just 16 weeks after the initial bill was introduced. Back in March, this bill was subject to revisions. During this revision period, it was given the green light by the Judiciary Committee. Some of these specifications would permit patients to buy and hold up to 84 grams of marijuana. As well it must be 2 and a half ounces purchased from licensed dispensaries. However, it does not permit cannabis patients to smoke marijuana which is a situation to be dealt with at a later point in time.

Cannabis Reform In Nebraska Takes A Big Step Forward

At first, this new cannabis bill would have given patients access to cannabis for any condition. This bill was amended in the committee to adhere to a list of certain medical conditions. Conditions patients would need to obtain cannabis. These health issues consist of 17 qualifying conditions, including cancer, Crohn’s disease, glaucoma. As well as HIV/AIDS, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, and epilepsy. The hurdle this bill will need to get over is the GOP-controlled unicameral body.