WeedLife News Network

Arizona voters approved the sales of adult use cannabis back in November and by January some providers were able to begin sales. It was called the Smart and Safe Arizona Act or Prop. 207, and it favored existing medical marijuana license holders. The companies that staked a flag in the state for the medical program were in a great position to quickly hit the ground running.

"Historically, this is massive. We're already one of the strongest medical markets in the country, and this is just going to make things bigger," said Pankaj Talwar, CEO of four Sol Flower dispensaries in the Metro Phoenix area.

Access to legal cannabis stores was linked with fewer opioid deaths in the U.S., a new analysis suggested.

The number of marijuana dispensaries in a county was negatively related to log-transformed opioid mortality rate, adjusted for age (β -0.17, 95% CI -0.23 to -0.11), reported Balázs Kovács, PhD, of Yale University School of Management in New Haven, Connecticut, and Greta Hsu, PhD, of University of California Davis Graduate School of Management.

This means that increasing the number of storefront dispensaries from one to two was tied to a 17% reduction in death rates of all opioid types, and an increase from two to three stores was associated with a further 8.5% reduction in mortality, Kovács and Hsu noted.

The relationship was stronger -- leading to an estimated 21% drop in mortality -- when only deaths from synthetic non-methadone opioids like fentanyl were considered (β -0.21, 95% CI -0.27 to -0.14), they wrote in The BMJ.

"We find this relationship holds for both medical dispensaries, which serve only patients who have a state-approved medical card or doctor's recommendation, as well as for recreational dispensaries, which sell to adults 21 years and older," Kovács said.

When it comes to nationwide marijuana decriminalization, the president would need the help of the full Congress to get it done. And that’s where things get tricky.

Joe Biden wants America to see him as the hip, new president who is just flat out better than Donald Trump. He’s not interested in building walls, inciting riots, or tweeting a bunch of jibber-jabber from the White House throne. No sir, old Cup of Joe has a more reasonable agenda than the lame-brained administration that just moved out. He’s trying to tame the coronavirus debacle, repair a beaten-down economy, and conduct a significant overhaul on immigration.

If time allotted, Biden would also like to be the Commander in Chief to kick some major tail in the realm of marijuana reform. Not only does he support the legalization of medical marijuana, but he’s also interested in eliminating the criminal penalties associated with minor possession. 

Unfortunately, President Biden cannot crawl out of bed this morning and sign an executive order to end marijuana prohibition. He wouldn’t even if he could. Although Biden’s campaign showed a willingness to get behind modest cannabis reforms, full-blown legalization wasn’t one of them. However, Biden has some executive power he can use to help further the marijuana movement.

He can sign one ordering his health secretary to initiate the rescheduling process for the cannabis plant. And he might just do that. Biden has suggested that he would be willing to downgrade marijuana’s Schedule I listing to a Schedule II. Yet, when it comes to nationwide marijuana decriminalization, the president would need the help of the full Congress to get it done. And that’s where things get tricky.

At one time, cannabis culture was easy to define, found in the pages of High Times or a Cheech and Chong movie.

As the “man” himself, Tommy Chong, reminisces “Back in the day, there was no cannabis industry, there was just weed and we called it…weed. Now you have the technology to have the cleanest, healthiest product. It’s making a healthy industry healthier, it’s really impressive. More and more people are getting involved in cannabis and seeing the medical benefits.”

Innovation and acceptance of the cannabis industry is changing demographics and thus the culture of the cannabis community is changing at a rapid pace.   

A quick story

While killing time on Facebook, because you know, there is so much time now, a friend posted a video from an event called the Canna Culture Cup hosted outside Chicago. 

 The video was exciting and fun, featuring a DJ with crazy hair spinning live under neon lights, people dancing, and of course a big fat bong popping in and out of the frame.

Washington state's cannabis industry has grown at a "staggering rate" since the drug was legalized, adding an estimated $2 billion to the economy and generating total tax revenues of more than $883 million, according to a new report.

The report, by Washington State University, also found that the cannabis industry can grow even more with new innovations and nurturing from state lawmakers.

The report is the first to detail the positive economic impacts associated with the state’s newest agriculture industry. It was compiled by WSU's Impact Center for the Washington State Cannabis Alliance.

“This is a tremendous peek under the hood,” said Caitlein Ryan, interim executive director of the Alliance. “It’s easy to see how much the industry has grown and now contributes to the state’s economic well-being."

She added, “These findings also clearly tell us that the industry has grown at a staggering rate, adding nearly 20,000 jobs to the private sector, and hundreds of millions of dollars to the state’s economy. And there is still substantial growth to come, as the industry matures.”

Marijuana use fluctuates throughout the year. A new study shows why, when and how much.

For most people, marijuana use ebbs and flows. There are weeks were you smoke a lot and others where you’re busy doing other things. New research looking into drug use over the course of a year suggests that there’s some seasonal variation; while every person’s relationship with marijuana is personal and different, there’s an arc that a lot of us follow.

A study recently published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence found that marijuana use drops during the start of the year and increases periodically as the seasons pass by 13%. Researchers theorize that this fluctuation might be influenced by New Year’s resolutions.

“We found that marijuana use is consistently higher among those surveyed later in the year, peaking during late fall or early winter before dropping at the beginning of the following year. We think this may be due, in part, to a ‘Dry January’ in which some people stop drinking alcohol or even stop using marijuana as part of a New Year’s resolution,” said Joseph Palamar, associate professor at NYU’s School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “We’re now in the time of year when people are the least likely to use marijuana.”

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When Jo Anne Zito was initially arrested for at-home cultivation nearly 10 years ago, her kids were taken away from her. Though her charge was later downgraded to low-level possession thanks to a grand jury, she’d already gotten a taste of how severely those who grow cannabis at home are criminalized.

Only after completing a pricey drug rehabilitation program was she legally eligible to receive custody, on top of serving three years of probation. Her husband, now deceased, was also charged and sentenced to drug court.

Three-and-a-half years into his sentence, he died while fulfilling the intense requirements of the program, Zito, board member at the Coalition for Medical Marijuana—New Jersey (MMNJ), told the state Senate in December during her public testimony in favor of at-home cannabis cultivation.

Under the proposed legislation on Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk, at-home cultivation (or home-grow) still remains severely criminalized.

“I don’t want to be in the business, I just want to grow and be left alone. Legalize me,” she said during testimony.

Recreational marijuana sales in Arizona officially began Friday, after the state granted 73 dispensaries a license. However, it will still be some time before you're able to buy pot in Yuma County.

The Arizona Department of Health Services has now approved 90 recreational marijuana dispensaries in Arizona, including Jamestown Yuma, the only dispensary in the county.

But, Jamestown Yuma says its not selling recreationally just yet. Its management wants to make sure they have enough staff and are prepared for the large crowds.

Meanwhile, Robert Smith, director of sales and marketing at Territory Dispensary in Maricopa County had all its labeling done in advance.

"We had to prepare for it could be in a few days, it could be in a few weeks," Smith said. "One way or another we had to start preparing and right away."

Okay, it’s an admittedly vague title, but it’s still true. France’s upcoming medical pilot program involves supplying medical cannabis to patients for free, and though the program was postponed, France just released the companies that won the bid to supply this free marijuana.

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Let’s be honest, France is not the most liberal when it comes to marijuana. Unlike its neighbors Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, and Germany, France does not allow for any decriminalization, personal use, or medical legalization measures. In fact, not only is France still rather conservative when it comes to cannabis, but the country was willing to allow a whole lawsuit with the EU (which it lost) just to keep CBD out. (Of course, this move was likely for the protection of pharmaceutical interests, but we’ll get into that later.) Now, with the recent announcement of a medical pilot program, France is promising to give out cannabis for free, and already lined up the companies that will provide it.

France and cannabis

The idea that France is about to give away cannabis for free is certainly a 180⁰ turn from its current laws. It is illegal to both use and possess cannabis in France. France doesn’t even make a designation between personal possession and trafficking, meaning how a case is treated is determined by the amount of cannabis in question, and what the prosecutor decides. So, if a person happens to get caught with a bunch of marijuana for their own personal medical use, it could actually be determined as trafficking. Punishments range from fines of €3,750 – €75,000, and prison sentences of 1-5 years. Cultivation is also illegal as use and possession are illegal, and no medical program exists…yet.

Selling and supply crimes are always illegal, and in France a person can incur 5-10 years in prison, along with a fine. If an offender has been found to be part of a criminal organization for trafficking, they can face life in prison, and a €7.5 million fine.

The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) has voted to remove cannabis from the list of the most dangerous substance.

According to the UN news portal, in reviewing a series of World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations on cannabis and its derivatives, CND zeroed in on the decision to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

Under the schedule, cannabis was listed alongside specific deadly, addictive opioids, including heroin, recognised as having little to no therapeutic purpose.

“The 53 member states of the CND, the UN’s central drug policy making body, voted to remove cannabis from that schedule where it had been placed for 59 years and to which the strictest control measures apply that generally discouraged its use for medical purposes,” reads the information on the UN news portal.

The decision made in late December has opened the door to recognising the medicinal and therapeutic potential of the drug, although its use for non-medical and non-scientific purposes continues to remain illegal.

One of the most common questions cannabis consumers ask one another is how much cannabis costs in their part of the world.

It’s always fun to compare cost, quality, and quantity.

One thing many cannabis consumers across the globe will be quick to point out is that cannabis is not cheap. 

For the lucky folks who live in a part of the world where cannabis is decent quality and cheap, congratulations.

But for the rest of us, high-quality cannabis is usually fairly expensive.

Three pals out for a late-night, cannabis shopping spree had their fun cut short when police stopped them for breaching COVID-19 lockdown rules and then learned what they had been buying was a bit of weed.

The trio — all in the same vehicle, but all from different households — was busted on the night of Jan. 22, according to the Island Echo. All were fined for breaching health regulations and one man was also cited for possessing a controlled drug.

The wish-list purchase did nothing to convince the Hampshire Constabulary officers that the men needed to be outside during COVID-19. All three were ordered to pay £200 ($348).

The coronavirus “is spreading fast. Do not leave your home unless necessary. One in three people who have the virus have no symptoms, so you could be spreading it without knowing it,” notes information from the U.K. government, which has also issued video messages emphasizing the need to stay home.

“Robust enforcement action should be taken as required, where blatant breaches in public places or private premises are reported to us,” Maggie Blyth, assistant chief constable for the Hampshire Constabulary, said in a statement after the national restrictions were reintroduced.