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North Dakota could soon be surrounded by legalized marijuana

With Montana and South Dakota approving recreational marijuana ballot measures earlier this month and Minnesota's governor and most Democrats in favor, North Dakota could in a year or so be surrounded by marijuana retail stores.

To the north is Canada, which legalized marijuana nationally.

"I think it shows that it's not a left-wing or right-wing issue, it's a commonsense issue," said David Owen, who led the unsuccessful attempt in 2018 to legalize recreational marijuana in North Dakota as chairman of Legalize ND.

"People support legalization when they become fully informed," he said.

Owen said there could possibly be moves in the North Dakota Legislature's next session that starts in January to at least fully decriminalize possession of a small amount of marijuana.

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Cannabis Beverages Offer A Trendy Alternative To Alcohol

With the holiday season already upon us, savvy hosts are busy preparing to celebrate with friends and family, whether the event is a planned family gathering or an impromptu party with friends. And while the challenges 2020 has thrown at us will mean things aren’t the way they usually are, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Consider beverages, for example. For millennia, the go-to thirst quencher for festivities in many cultures has been alcohol. And while a good cocktail can be an effective social lubricant and leave you feeling no pain, it can also fuel bitter arguments and tons of bullshit that nobody wants to deal with.

A Trendy Alternative To Alcohol

For many people who’d rather not drink or serve alcohol for these and myriad other reasons, cannabis-infused beverages are filling the void, whether for entertaining or regular day-to-day imbibing. Although they’re not exactly new, cannabis drinks are seeing growing popularity thanks to progress with infusion processes. While early iterations of many commercially produced infused beverages had unappetizing globs of cannabis oil that left a film on the container, most of today’s drinkable cannabis options are made with nanoemulsions that give them a light and refreshing mouth feel. 

Jamie Evans, founder of The Herb Somm and author of The Ultimate Guide to CBD and the upcoming Cannabis Drinks: Secrets to Crafting CBD and THC Beverages at Home, explained in a virtual interview that beverages are a familiar way for people to consume that can easily be incorporated into a social setting or one’s daily routine.

“Cannabis drinks are a fantastic alternative to alcohol. With the new low-dose options that are now available, these exciting beverages can offer a similar experience to drinking one glass of wine or a beer, but without the hangover,” Evans said. “Thanks to cutting edge technology and scientific advances within the category, cannabis beverages have faster onset times and are sessionable, making them a suitable option if you’re looking for something spirit-free.”

Cannabis Beverages Offer A Trendy Alternative To Alcohol

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Lil Wayne’s GKUA Cannabis Line Continues To Grow Amid Controversy

(image: credit GKUA Ultra Premium)

 

If you’ve listened to the music of groundbreaking rapper and entrepreneur Lil Wayne, his love of cannabis shouldn’t be much of a surprise.

Now, Wayne is making a lasting impact in the cannabis space with his cannabis brand GKUA Ultra Premium. 

“I used to just want to get high, now I smoke to get inspired…with GKUA, I’m sharing a feeling that I love,” explained Lil Wayne in an interview with NME Magazine. 

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Novel cannabis plant extracts could protect against COVID-19

(image: Study: In search of preventive strategies: novel high-CBD Cannabis sativa extracts modulate ACE2 expression in COVID-19 gateway tissues. Image Credit: Dmytro Tyshchenko / Shutterstock)

Researchers in Canada have conducted a study suggesting that novel Cannabis sativa extracts may decrease levels of the host cell receptor that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) uses to gain viral entry to target tissues.

SARS-CoV-2 is the agent responsible for the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that continues to sweep the globe threatening public health and the worldwide economy.

The team – from the University of Lethbridge and Pathway Rx Inc., Lethbridge – developed hundreds of new C. sativa cultivars and tested 23 extracts in artificial 3D human models of the oral, airway and intestinal tissues.

As recently reported in the journal Aging, 13 of the extracts downregulated expression of the SARS-CoV-2 host cell receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).

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Unique Cannabis Equipment Repurposed into Game Changing Tech to Fight COVID?

(image: Delta 9 Cannabis Inc.)

A Canadian cannabis Company is rolling out a new take on its growing technology that may help the fight to contain the spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 350,000 Canadians and killed more than 11,000. Worldwide, those numbers have surged to 60.6 million cases and more than 1.4 million deaths.

Winnipeg-based Delta 9 Cannabis Inc.(TSX: DN, OTCQX: VRNDF, Forum) has developed and validated new proprietary decontamination equipment, called the “Decontamination Pod”, which can be used to decontaminate medical supplies, personal protective equipment (PPE), and other equipment.

In a media release detailing this news for investors, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, John Arbuthnot called this technology, also branded as a D-Pod, a likely game changer for governments, hospitals, and care-facilities in the fight against COVID-19, allowing them to decontaminate large amounts of PPE and other equipment, increasing the availability of existing PPE inventories and preventing potential exposures to the virus.

“We are extremely proud of our employees and partners for bringing this technology to this point and look forward to continuing to do our part in providing solutions to this health crisis.”


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Here's The Cannabis Packaging We All Deserve

(image: Cresco Labs)

As the industry standards continue to be defined, this is the packaging every weed company should focus on.

It may come as a shock to you, but most people don't know much about cannabis. A Science Daily study about THC levels in edibles found that most consumers aged 16—30 could not identify if an edible had low or high THC levels based on the label. Add to that the fact that roughly 30% of Americans consume cannabis, which leaves a sizable audience who can benefit from cannabis if they knew more about it. 

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Cannabidiol And Roundworms – Huh?

(image: Image: Wikimedia - CC BY-SA 3.0)

A new study on the long-term effects of cannabidiol (CBD) on roundworms has been published. Here’s why it has some significance.

Canada’s Canopy Growth announced recently announced its medical division, Spectrum Therapeutics, carried out a study focusing on toxicity and lifespan effects of CBD in Caenorhabditis elegans – roundworms. However, unlike some roundworms, C. elegans is a non-hazardous, non-infectious, non-pathogenic, non-parasitic organism according to the University of Minnesota College of Biological Science.

Caenorhabditis elegans is often used in preclinical lifelong drug toxicity studies given an estimated 60–80% of its genes have a human ortholog (evolved from a common ancestral gene).

While cannabidiol is already in wide use around the world, there had been no life-long toxicity studies conducted to date to determine the impact either way or potential for same of long-term exposure to CBD. Given C. elegans short lifespan of 2-3 weeks, this made it a good candidate for such a study.

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Man claims more than a kilogram of cannabis was meant for a (very big) batch of homemade soup

(image: Police grew suspicious when they noticed a marijuana smell emanating from his car. / PHOTO BY VMARGINEANU / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS)

50-year-old Irish resident caught with €20k worth of weed.

An Irish resident is definitely in the soup after claiming that the €20,000 ($31,000) worth of weed he had in his vehicle was merely meant as an ingredient for the soup he planned to make.

In fact, after being caught with the substantial stash, Eddy Osagie, 50, initially claimed the weed wasn’t really weed at all, according to EchoLive. Osagie said the paste-like substance found inside a couple of cereal boxes was a completely different material than cannabis.

The explanation failed to convince Irish gardai, who had stopped the man and grew suspicious when they noticed a marijuana smell emanating from his car.

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GrowGeneration Emerges as Best Cannabis Stock of 2020

(image: Inside a GrowGeneration hydroponic garden center. Source: GrowGeneration)

GrowGeneration Corp., the largest hydroponic garden-center chain in North America, is on a tear worthy of its name.

The gardening supply company has gained over 700% so far this year, making it the best-performing cannabis stock of 2020 amid a sector-wide rally on hopes the U.S. is poised for federal legalization after the election.

Investors are drawn to the $1.6 billion retailer, which sells equipment used to grow pot, as it’s one of the few U.S.-based cannabis plays listed on the Nasdaq. It’s also free of the legal risks that growers pose as it doesn’t actually sell the plant itself.

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Aurora Cannabis (TSX:ACB) Signs Largest Marijuana Supply Deal in Israel

Marijuana firm Aurora Cannabis (TSX:ACB)(NYSE:ACB) has entered into one of the biggest medical cannabis supply deals by a Canadian pot grower with an Israeli firm to-date. This comes after the Canadian marijuana firm announced its two-year supply agreement with Cantek, a leading cannabis market player in Israel.

Aurora Cannabis said it “intends” to supply a “minimum of 4,000 kilograms of bulk dried cannabis flower” per annum to Cantek in a two-year deal that could be extended. The volume involved could make the ACB deal one of the largest export deals to Israel by a Canadian firm to-date.

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Thailand to Allow Cannabis and Hemp in Food and Cosmetics

The health permanent secretary said the government plans to allow use of most parts of cannabis and hemp plants in food and cosmetics on Wednesday.

Kiattiphum Wongrajit said the Narcotics Control Committee resolved on Tuesday to exclude the leaves, branches, stems, trunks, bark, fibre and roots of cannabis and hemp from the government’s narcotics list.

This would not include shoots, including flowers, which have high drug content.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would draft a new public health regulation to this  effect. The public health minister would then approve it and the new regulation would take effect when the Royal Gazette publishes it, he said.

Dr Kiattiphum said use of hemp seeds and seed extract, as well as cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), at a maximum 0.2% content, will also be included .

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More women switch out pharmaceuticals for medical cannabis

When it comes to how Americans treat their various health conditions, more of them are now looking to medical marijuana in states where it is legal. The fear of opioid addiction, deadly overdose and other downfalls of prescription drugs has, in ways, inspired a quest for safer remedies.

However, it is women who are leading the charge, according to a recent study in the Journal of Women’s Health.

 
 
 

While users once kept cannabis super-secret, times have changed. More than half of the U.S. now has laws on the books allowing weed for medicinal purposes. And with all of the research in recent years reporting how medical marijuana may be a viable alternative for opioids and benzodiazepines, it appears that more of the population is taking an interest in weed.

The latest study, which polled several physicians and patients, shows that more of the population has jumped on the medical cannabis bandwagon, and not just because it has become more fashionable, either.

It appears they are taking into account the pharmaceutical fallout that has become so prevalent today. Americans are fully aware that tens of thousands of people die every year from prescription drugs, and they have no interest in becoming a statistic.

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So, How Did Sativa Really Become The 'Energy Queen' Of Cannabis?

The common wisdom about cannabis enthusiasts is that they don’t have any common wisdom. The stereotype of the drooling guy “on” cannabis sitting in his parent’s basement playing video games for hours or Instagrammig nonstop is what many of the “straights” still imagine to be true.

Hardly.

In fact, smoking or vaping or eating cannabis—especially certain sativa strains—has quickly become the best way to energize getting chores done. Every busy chore hustler knows that choosing the right CBD/THC sativa combination, with the right terpene profile, can do the trick.

The cannabis connoisseur knows to go for certain strains that fire up their chores jets, such as Strawberry Diesel, Lemon Meringue, AK47, Panama Punch, Mountain Thunder, and Silver Haze, just to name a few.

These strains are generally carefully cultivated for their energizing effects.

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Texas' medical marijuana laws are strict. This is what advocates want to see changed

After one failed treatment after another, Sharlene Hernandez was at a dead end.

Her 10-year-old autistic son wasn't speaking, barley eating and would play with and spread his feces around the house. Nothing was helping her child.

One day, a friend in a similar situation recommended THC via a doctor's prescription. Willing to try anything, Hernandez went for it.

ON EXPRESSNEWS.COM: Taylor: Pot legalization makes way too much sense to ignore

“We were just at a loss and I don’t know what it was about the THC, but it has helped so much,” said a tearful Hernandez.In eight months, her son has started speaking cognitively on his own, eating again and rarely plays in his diaper.

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Marijuana Retailers Ready To Sue Over Delivery Rules

Commissioners seem ready to close out a bumpy policy-setting process next week with a vote to adopt new regulations that would reshape the legal marijuana industry to include a home delivery aspect, but that decision could give way to a legal challenge in short order.

Through an attorney, some existing marijuana retailers recently threatened to sue the Cannabis Control Commission if it votes to adopt its latest set of industry rules on Monday, as is expected. Though the new regulations affect the entire marijuana industry, the provisions that would allow a new class of licensees to deliver marijuana to customers at home have drawn the most controversy.

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Tasmanian Medical Cannabis Controlled Access Scheme “Shameful”

Tasmanian Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff has strongly criticised the State Government’s medical cannabis Controlled Access Scheme.

Introduced in 2017, the Scheme only enables medical specialists the ability to prescribe products to patients in circumstances where conventional treatments have failed. It’s a seven-step process:

Patient first needs to consult a GP who assesses the circumstances. If the GP thinks the patient could benefit from an unregistered medical cannabis product, a referral to a specialist is made.Patient then needs to see the specialist who assesses.Specialist considers a product.Specialist makes an application to the Secretary of the Tasmanian Department of Health.The application to prescribe is then reviewed by a delegate of the Secretary of DoH.Delegate issues prescription authority to specialist.

.. but added to that, all usual Commonwealth exemptions, authorisations or approvals are also required.

It’s a very clunky program and its negative impact is evidenced by the number of authorisations. Under recent questioning from the Greens in Budget Estimates, it was revealed of 39 applications made by specialists on behalf of their patients, only 17 were accepted by the Health Department. The failure rate aside, the number of applications wouldn’t reflect demand – patients would be put off even embarking on the process.

“The exasperatingly low figure divulged today is yet more evidence of the Liberals’ ideological opposition to medicinal cannabis,” said Ms. Woodruff. “It follows a Senate Committee singling out Tasmania as the only state that has refused to join the national scheme for access.”

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Mexico’s Cannabis Legalization Bill Will Boost Business, But There Are Concerns

If passed, the measure will improve Mexico’s living conditions while reducing drug trafficking crime. However, cannabis advocates and legal experts have several concerns.

Mexican Senators approved a historic adult use cannabis legalization bill on Nov. 19, with an 82 to 18 vote.

This doesn’t legalize adult use just yet, but Mexico appears well on its way to becoming the third nation to do so and potentially the largest legal marijuana market in the world.

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Arkansas anticipates medical marijuana sales to reach 30K pounds by late December

Since the first medical marijuana dispensary opened in Arkansas in May 2019, overall sales have surpassed 28,000 pounds. 

In total, Arkansans have spent $187 million to obtain 28,674 pounds of medical marijuana.

Scott Hardin with the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission anticipates sales will reach 30,000 pounds by late December.

There are currently 31 dispensaries in operation with six remaining that are working toward opening. 

The six include a new dispensary in Little Rock, Fayetteville, Osceola and Hardy along with two dispensaries in Pine Bluff.

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So, How Did Sativa Really Become The 'Energy Queen' Of Cannabis?

The common wisdom about cannabis enthusiasts is that they don’t have any common wisdom. The stereotype of the drooling guy “on” cannabis sitting in his parent’s basement playing video games for hours or Instagrammig nonstop is what many of the “straights” still imagine to be true.

Hardly.

In fact, smoking or vaping or eating cannabis—especially certain sativa strains—has quickly become the best way to energize getting chores done. Every busy chore hustler knows that choosing the right CBD/THC sativa combination, with the right terpene profile, can do the trick.

The cannabis connoisseur knows to go for certain strains that fire up their chores jets, such as Strawberry Diesel, Lemon Meringue, AK47, Panama Punch, Mountain Thunder, and Silver Haze, just to name a few.

These strains are generally carefully cultivated for their energizing effects.

e-mail icon

Copyright

© 420 Intel

Marijuana Retailers Ready To Sue Over Delivery Rules

Commissioners seem ready to close out a bumpy policy-setting process next week with a vote to adopt new regulations that would reshape the legal marijuana industry to include a home delivery aspect, but that decision could give way to a legal challenge in short order.

Through an attorney, some existing marijuana retailers recently threatened to sue the Cannabis Control Commission if it votes to adopt its latest set of industry rules on Monday, as is expected. Though the new regulations affect the entire marijuana industry, the provisions that would allow a new class of licensees to deliver marijuana to customers at home have drawn the most controversy.

"Put simply, the Commission's adoption and implementation of the Proposed Regulation would be in direct contravention of its own governing and enabling statute which clearly and unambiguously states that only Marijuana Retailers, as defined in the statute, are permitted to deliver cannabis products to consumers," Howard Cooper, an attorney with Todd & Weld LLP, wrote in the letter earlier this month.

Cooper added, "Given the clarity of the law here, please understand that our clients will have no choice but to challenge the Commission's Proposed Regulations in court if adopted. We write in hope of avoiding a legal dispute."

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