WeedLife News Network

Topical CBD (cannabidiol) products are becoming increasingly popular – but recent testing indicates some who use them may not be getting what they paid for.

CBD topicals are being used for a number of applications including general cosmetics, moisturising, treating skin irritations and to relieve muscle and joint pain. Research indicates cannabidiol may be effective in treating or managing a number of skin problems.

As an active ingredient it’s important that what’s in the product is reflected by what’s on the label.

Leafreport engaged Canalysis Laboratories to test dozens of CBD topicals including creams, balms, serums and toners, and found 31 of the 40 products contained 12% to 99% cannabidiol versus what was on the label either way (less or more). Just 9 of the products had CBD levels within 10% of the label and 11 were off 30% or more from what the label noted. The majority of the products (31 or 77.5%) contained more CBD than advertised.

While more CBD may sound like a good thing, it raises the question – if a company can’t get CBD levels pretty right, what else is happening with the product? Additionally, more CBD than indicated can make it difficult for a user to determine what they actually need.

The U.S. Hemp Authority announced it has released Guidance Procedures 3.0, a revised version of the 2.0 standards. 

The organization creates regulatory standards and certifies hemp and CBD businesses through third-party auditing.

“The revised version is a reflection of the strong intention of the organization to continue measures of improvement to apply lessons learned about the new industry, and reflect broad and deep public input,” the organization states in a news release.

The changes from version 2.0, which was implemented in 2019, include new regulations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and revisions that are designed to help clarify expectations for farmers, with additional insights from another year of experience gained by the industry, the release states.

According to the summary of changes, some revisions from version 2.0 include a new introduction section to describe the program’s intentions and objectives. The glossary has also been updated to revise definitions and remove unnecessary terms. 

A study by researchers at the University of Minnesota show the genetic makeup of high-CBD hemp plants is largely marijuana.

There are two types of cannabis plants. One that creates marijuana, which has psychoactive properties and the other creates hemp, which can be used to make industrial products. The difference between the two plants is the level of the tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, which creates the "high" sensation. Under federal regulations, CBD can only be 0.3% THC.

In the study, recently published in New Phytologist, researchers that breeding high-THC plants with hemp-type plants would create a new plant with high levels of CBD instead. 

According to the study, when the high-CBD plants mature, hemp farmers could be at risk of having their crops above the legal THC limit.

It can be argued that the high taxes are well-intentioned, signaling support for an inclusive cannabis market.

Due to ongoing federal prohibition, America’s cannabis regulations remain fragmented by state. Until reform occurs, states will continue to set their program frameworks, including how it taxes the supply chain, with consumers feeling the brunt directly by taxes or indirectly by retailers up-charging to offset costs.

The cannabis plant is extremely complex and nuanced.

With a dizzying amount of active ingredients — including over 200 cannabinoids — it’s hard to imagine the majority of the legal market is comprised of products containing THC, CBD, or a combination of those two alone.

But so-called “lesser-known cannabinoids” are beginning to emerge as research and development on the plant itself grows along with the industry. 

Cannabinoids such as CBN, CBG, and THC-A have been making their way into retail in a variety of forms, and interest in the potential of cannabis beyond the current status quo is rising fast.

Could these lesser-known cannabinoids be the future of the marijuana marketplace?

A new research paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests a connection between marijuana legalization and a decline in workers’ compensation claims.

The study, conducted by a team of researchers from  William Paterson University, Temple University, University of Cincinnati-Blue Ash and the RAND Corporation, examined “the effect of state recreational marijuana laws (RMLs) on workers’ compensation (WC) benefit receipt among adults 40-62 years.”

“Marijuana has increasingly become legalized in the United States. We study the effects of recent state laws that legalize the recreational use of marijuana on work capacity—the ability to productively engage in paid employment—among older working-age adults,” the researchers wrote in the study’s introduction. “We rely primarily on Workers’ Compensation (WC) benefit receipt as a signal of diminished work capacity; WC benefits are received when individuals become injured or ill while working and require time away from work to recover. In addition to providing a useful measure of labor productivity and work capacity, injuries incurred while working represent substantial costs to the national economy.”

They found that workers’ compensation receipt “declines in response to [recreational marijuana laws’] adoption both in terms of the propensity to receive benefits and benefit amount.

“We estimate complementary declines in non-traumatic workplace injury rates and the incidence of work-limiting disabilities,” they wrote. “We offer evidence that the primary driver of these reductions is an improvement in work capacity, likely due to access to an additional form of pain management therapy.”

North Dakota Representatives gave the green light to recreational marijuana.

The House voted Tuesday morning to legalize marijuana for recreational use for adults 21 years or older.

This bill would also allow people to be able to grow or possess marijuana.

“There’s a lot of things I don’t agree with, but if it’s good policy and I think it’s going to be for the betterment of the State of North Dakota, I vote for it. And so I ask for a green vote,” said Rep. Jason Dockter, from Bismarck.

“Let’s vote green,” said Rep. Pat Heinert, from Bismarck.

Marijuana and hemp-related businesses are one step closer to gaining access to South Dakota banks.

House Bill 1203 proactively lays groundwork for banks and their subsidiaries to work with any person that acquires an industrial hemp or marijuana license, pending legalization of the substances at the state level. The legislation passed in the state House of Representatives on Monday afternoon with a vote of 64 in favor, four opposed and two excused.

Without a bill of this kind, those involved in cannabis industries would only be able to carry out business transactions in cash, as marijuana is considered an illegal business at the federal level.

The legislation’s prime sponsor Rep. Hugh Bartels, R-Watertown, noted during Monday’s session that banking in industrial hemp and marijuana is “heavy in compliance” issues, and that not all banks will choose to opt into working with these industries.

No state representatives besides Bartels spoke on the bill.

The medical marijuana market in Florida created nearly 15,000 new jobs in 2020 and employs an estimated 31,444 state residents, according to a new analysis.

Florida recorded nearly $1.23 billion in marijuana sales in 2020, according to the report posted by Leafly and Whitney Economics. Florida’s sales were more than every state except California and Colorado, where marijuana is legal for adults.

Over the last 11 months, the cannabis industry has begun marketing directly towards a new demographic: moms. Plagued with the stress of parenting during a pandemic, working from home, and a shared sense of community upheaval, many mothers have turned to cannabis for the first time — or so the story goes. 

Researchers at the University of Sydney are conducting a wide-ranging study concerning quality of life issues for medicinal cannabis patients.

Funded by Australian medicinal cannabis firm Little Green Pharma (LGP), the QUality of life Evaluation STudy (The QUEST Initiative) will delve into related patient outcomes and aims to recruit 2,100 patients by June this year.

The Australian Government is backing the study.

“The QUEST Initiative represents a significant Australian contribution to the global need for reliable, objective and clinically-relevant quality of life data for patients accessing medicinal cannabis treatments for a broad range of chronic conditions,” said Federal Minister for Health, Greg Hunt.

The research, being led by Associate Professor Claudia Rutherford, also has the endorsement of various national bodies including MS Research Australia, Chronic Pain Australia, Arthritis Australia and Epilepsy Action Australia.

Cannabis legitimization has demonstrated several advantages for some reasons – pot’s remedial worth improves lives and decreases compulsion and the business development and potential is useful for the economy. However, there are as yet the individuals who demand that ongoing cannabis utilization, such as using phoenix tears Canada, simply makes individuals more dumb.

To exacerbate the situation, a recent report has as far as anyone knows discovered confirmation that pot use diminishes an individual’s IQ after some time. This deception has fanned out quickly among against pot distributions throughout the previous five years, prompting expanded disarray on the issue. 

There are a ton of elements that go into play when considering these patterns – and making these cases – and considerably more that specialists deliberately forget about. In this way, before you experience another enemy of pot crusaders wanting to act wonderful about the hazards of cannabis and knowledge, we should investigate what these examinations truly propose. 

The Science Behind Cannabis and IQ 

There is next to no exploration contemplating the drawn out impacts of cannabis and the data that is out there is very restricted. You can also choose the CBD version of cannabis, where there will be THC effects of weed. These can be bought at places like CBD Oil Canada. This makes it hard to think of exact ends and considerably more hard to induce with conviction that patterns in some random examination address precise relationships among cannabis and (fill in the clear). 

For instance, since cannabis stays illicit, it very well may be hard to track down guinea pigs in any case not to mention ones who will stay for the long stretch. Utilization patterns are additionally difficult to screen due partially in view of its illicit status and to a limited extent due to the numerous factors that go into item power or individual resilience levels. Yet, maybe the most factor of all, the one that will decide if an examination produces positive outcomes or negative ones, are analyst inclinations. 

Industrial hemp has a less than 0.3% THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive agent in Marijuana) level.
Furthermore, hemp was removed from its classification as a controlled substance.

The Farm Bill contains a change of how industrial hemp is now classified.

Under the Farm Bill, hemp is no longer considered a controlled substance non-hallucinogenic cousin of marijuana; hemp has been considered a controlled substance because it has that tiny amount of THC. However, hemp has about as much chance of getting someone high as honeybuns have got someone drunk (honeybuns contain a correspondingly small amount of alcohol.)

So, other than a wholly undeserved stigma created by an industrial juggernaut engaging its political allies to remove its biggest competitor through a campaign of utter falsehoods and racially-charged exaggerated fabrications: there is absolutely no reason not to farm hemp and reap all the socio-economical benefits from farming hemp in 2021. None.

The pathway to a uniquely versatile product that produces millions of dollars within 100 days has been approved, cleared, and green-lighted by the Biden Administration and the US government. On a planet whose atmospheric composition has become a bit too heavy with carbon dioxide lately, the carbon-sequestering ability of hemp offers yet another win-win scenario. The more hemp planted, the more CO2 neutralized.

For years, the pattern has held: The New Hampshire House recommends fully legalizing the recreational use of marijuana in the Granite State, and the Senate shoots the measure down.

Perhaps not this year.

In a notable move late last month, the House Criminal Justice Committee recommended that the 400-member body scrap two bills that would greatly loosen marijuana laws in the state. After one hearing, the committee recommended putting off until next year House Bill 237, which would legalize the use marijuana, and House Bill 629, which would legalize it and allow growing at home.

The 14-7 vote was opposed by seven Democrats on the committee.

With nearly 21,000 people working in marijuana dispensaries or affiliated businesses, Arizona ranks No. 4 nationally for jobs in the cannabis industry, according to a report released Tuesday by Leafly.

The report was based on employment in 2020, before Arizona launched adult-use marijuana sales in January, so those figures are sure to rise as dispensaries around the state ramp up to meet the new demand from sales to any adult over age 21, not just medical-marijuana patients.

Arizona had more than $1 billion in medical-marijuana sales last year, with about 5,600 new jobs created just last year, according to estimates in the report.

Cannabinoids (CBD, CBG, CBN, THC) are known to provide all sorts of benefits for seniors, from relieving arthritis pain and inflammation to strengthening and improving brain function. But there is another critical benefit that cannabinoids offer seniors, and it has a lot to do with the aging process. Let's explore.

The human body has an Endocannabinoid System (ECS), which means that we naturally produce cannabinoids (this is why they are called Endocannabinoids as in "within" ). Cannabinoids are also found in hemp and marijuana plants (called Phytocannabinoids).  Most importantly, both types of cannabinoids function the same way and provide similar health benefits in the body.

The ECS is responsible for keeping our body in balance (called "homeostasis") with the help of the cannabinoids. Think of it as the body's command center that keeps us humming along like a well-oiled machine. It controls all of our physiological systems - the nervous system, digestive tract, brain, hormones, immune system, bones & skin, liver, and heart. 

As the body ages, the ability to produce cannabinoids declines and causes an unbalanced endocannabinoid system (ECS). It becomes unhealthy and susceptible to illness and disease. The more severe the condition, the higher the level of ECS dysfunction.

Stress, environmental toxins, prescription drugs, and unhealthy foods also disrupt homeostasis. Foods high in Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids are also necessary for our body to produce cannabinoids.

Former TV news anchor Dan Rather has referred to certain political races in the past as hotter than "a Times Square Rolex," "the devil's anvil," and "a Laredo parking lot." His folksy descriptions could just as readily apply to the U.S. cannabis market. No matter how you look at it, pot is hot.

“Because I would like to see my people liberated,” entrepreneur Al Harrington recently replied pointedly when asked why he chose the cannabis industry after retiring from professional basketball.

Harrington – CEO of Los Angeles-based canabis company Viola Brands – was also clear about his entrepreneurial focus. “Black people who suffered a lot,” he said.

“When you think about the cannabis plant and what it has done to my community, 85 percent of all drug arrests are cannabis-related,” Harrington explained. “Our [white] counterparts are bragging on panels that they paid their way through college by selling weed on campuses, and that they never had any interruptions or issues.

“I’m fighting for the people that are still locked up.”

During this current Black History Month – indeed, year round – black leaders of legal cannabis/CBD organizations are expressing frustration over the numbers of minority men arrested and imprisoned for even minor cannabis offenses. The American Civil Liberties Union in 2020 reported that African Americans were 3.73 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana.

After nearly 59 years, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), the UN’s central drug policy-making body, recently voted to remove Cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs - where the strictest control measures apply, and its use was generally discouraged for medicinal purposes. 

27 of the CND’s 53 Member States, including India, the United States and most European nations, voted “Yes” on the motion.

If the idea is to genuinely tackle and provide a solution for medical ailments using Cannabis, the regulations in India already provide for it under Ayurveda. 

In India, the earliest mention of this plant has been found in The Vedas (the Atharva Veda) - where it is listed as one of the five sacred plants. In fact, due to the legality of being able to provide this medication across all states, India is actually one of the few “federally legal” medical Cannabis countries.

Cannabis, (genus Cannabis) is a group of medicinal, recreational, and fibre plants belonging to the family Cannabaceae