WeedLife News Network

An international study exploring possible genetic influences on cannabis use disorder (CUD) has identified an association between the disorder and a region of DNA near the FOXP2 gene, previously linked to risk-taking behaviour.

Headed by Washington University School of Medicine, researchers analyzed DNA and other data from almost 21,000 people diagnosed with CUD and 360,000 who did not have that diagnosis, notes a press release on findings.

The team identified two regions in human DNA, the FOXP2 gene being one of them, that appear to contribute to the risk of becoming dependent on cannabis. Previously linked to CUD and nicotine addiction, the scientists also implicated the CHRNA2 gene.

“When we think about why some people who use cannabis develop problems with it, about 50 per cent of that risk is due to genetics,” Arpana Agrawal, Ph.D., a senior investigator and professor of psychiatry, says in the statement.

“While the variants that we found are not currently useful in letting someone know about their personal risk, the genetic pathways might lead to better treatments for cannabis addiction in the future,” Agrawal points out.

Compliance is a beast with many tentacles — it’s way more than just inventory tracking.

For cannabis cultivators, it can be easy to get tangled and tripped up in the bureaucracy. 

And things can quickly go sideways if a business isn’t responsive and professional when a regulatory agency flags an issue.

Officials in charge will likely wonder what other problems are brewing and take a closer look. 

It’s all too easy for minor infractions to become major (and expensive) headaches that pull you away from what you need to be doing to keep your business on an upward trajectory.   

Germany has the largest legal medicinal cannabis flower market in the EU, and it’s about to expand out even further. With imports coming from Canada and even Uruguay, the German cannabis flower market is, indeed, ready to fully explode.​

Germany has been growing its medical cannabis market in the last few years. According to worldstopexports for 2019, Germany imported $240 million worth of cannabis oil – or 7.8% of all cannabis imports for the year, making it the second largest importer behind the US. In that same time period, it also exported $230 million worth of cannabis oil – or 8% of the market for the year.

Now, the emphasis is more on cannabis flowers, and Germany sure isn’t slowing down. In July, Germany released data on medical cannabis imports for Q1 and Q2 of 2020. Q1 showed an increase of 16%, while Q2 showed an increase of 32%. It should be remembered that Q2 of 2020 was when the coronavirus was at its worst, and lockdown measures were strictest.

Prior to this year, Germany imported approximately 3.1 tons of cannabis flower in 2018, and 6.7 tons in 2019. During this time, Germany requested additional imported cannabis from the Netherlands to help with supply shortages it was experiencing. The increase this year in imports is related to the rise in new patients in Germany, as well as the addition of new cannabis exporting countries. Approximately 60,000 Germans are registered to use medical cannabis as of June 2019. That number has likely risen substantially since that time.

A little about Germany and cannabis

Possession of cannabis is still illegal in Germany, despite the growth of its medicinal market.  German law does allow for residents to have a ‘small amount’ of cannabis, but this amount is not consistent and can vary between 6-15 grams depending on location. Sale and supply crimes are predicably illegal, with prison sentences of five years or below for more standard cases, or up to 15 for more severe cases. Personal growing of cannabis is also illegal.

Oct. 17 marked the first day of medical cannabis sales in Missouri, and the state’s two operational cannabis retailers, N’Bliss and Fresh Green, have had quite the journey to serving patients in the nascent market.

N’Bliss, a subsidiary of Nirvana Investments, opened its first two stores in Manchester and Ellisville on Oct. 17, while Fresh Green opened for business in Lee’s Summit on Oct. 19.

“It was exciting—the energy is real,” N’Bliss Managing Partner and CEO Bradford Goette tells Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary of opening weekend.

Goette says the dispensary could have opened earlier, but the N’Bliss team took their time to ensure a great experience for its first customers.

“Your first sale and transaction should be memorable, but it should be right,” he says. “You should be doing this for the patient, and we want that to go smooth. We know with all the software systems, moving parts [and] compliance, there’s a lot of room for error. We wanted to test things and make sure things were working prior to opening.”

Preparing edibles can be easy if you have the right ingredients. Here’s what you can use if you don’t feel like baking.

Baking and preparing edibles is a fun activity if you have the right disposition and tools, even if it takes longer than other methods of consuming cannabis. The baking process is one that’s normally ruled by lots of trial and error; adding weed into the mix only makes things more complicated. Still, you shouldn’t be intimidated at the thought of preparing your own edibles, especially now that there’s more time and willingness to bake and get creative.

Baking usually requires people to prepare their own cannabutter, a process that’s time consuming and that’s only a first step in the whole baking process. If you want to make some edibles but don’t feel like spending a lot of time on them, here are some things you can try:

THC infused honey sticks

Photo by Arwin Neil Baichoo via Unsplash

THC infused honey sticks are incredibly convenient. They can be drizzled on top of cookies, cakes, tea or coffee, transforming anything you have into a sweet treat that can get you high. There are also CBD infused honey sticks, which can be used to create edibles with no psychoactive effects.

An economic impact study on the legalization of recreational cannabis in Guam — obtained by the Guam Visitors Bureau and adopted by the Cannabis Control Board — says the industry could generate more than $100 million in economic activity and hundreds of jobs.

Guam residents could spend about $10 million on cannabis during the industry's first year, and tourists could spend more than $1 million, the study states.

The cannabis board transmitted the study to the Legislature on Oct. 19. The economic impact study is required under the April 2019 law that legalized recreational marijuana on island.

The cannabis board also is working on a separate required report on how the cannabis industry will impact government operations, including staffing and resources at the agencies that are involved in regulating it.

Adults currently can possess recreational cannabis and grow and consume it at home, but selling it or trading it for anything of value is illegal until the rules and regulations are adopted and the government-regulated industry starts.

A new study reveals that almost half of those who currently use cannabis in North America are over 40, a surprising number given the narrative that most cannabis users are in younger demographics. This insight came alongside many other interesting data points about the industry. 

This information comes from Akerna, a group in the industry that works with software, compliance technology, seed-to-sale research planning, and enterprise software for the cannabis companies across North America. It dug into North American cannabis consumer habits to reveal deep insights about the industry and how it operates, in order to shed light on what businesses can expect in the coming months. 

“Akerna is an enterprise software company focused on compliantly serving the cannabis, hemp, and CBD industry,” their biography states. “First launched in 2010, Akerna has tracked more than $20 billion in cannabis sales to date and is the first cannabis software company listed on Nasdaq. The company’s cornerstone technology, MJ Platform, the world’s leading infrastructure as a service platform powers retailers, manufacturers, brands, distributors, and cultivators.”

According to the breakdown from the Akerna study, which looked at type of cannabis consumption method, as well as age and gender of cannabis users, flower is the most popular way to consume cannabis in the U.S., with edibles the least popular besides the “other category. Results also showed that more men than women consume cannabis, as men logged in at 62.5 percent and women claimed 37.5 percent. 

Self-Reported Use

In addition to looking at the numbers for sales and the type of cannabis consumed, the study also examined the numbers for reported use. In most cases, the numbers mirrored each other, showing people reported accurately about what they consume. “Some of this confirms what we already know, that flower is the most popular consumption method,” says James Ahrendt, Business Intelligence Architect, Akerna. “However, we also found some surprising data points. For example, medical consumers on average spend more and purchase more items than their adult use counterparts.”

Wednesday afternoon, the Pennsylvania state House passed a bill amending the state’s existing DUI law to decriminalize driving while traces of marijuana are still in the system of legal medical-marijuana users.

In Pennsylvania, the current laws and provisions related to driving while under the influence of alcohol or substances, aka DUI, criminalize driving while tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a component of marijuana, is still in a driver’s system, even if it has been weeks after ingestion. This currently also applies to those with medical-marijuana cards.

“I think you can ask any veteran or anybody that’s using medical cannabis that if they took a prescription on Monday, [by] Wednesday they’re not high and if they got pulled over, they darn sure shouldn’t be charged for being intoxicated or under the influence of medical marijuana and the last time they took it was Monday,” said state Rep. Ed Gainey (D-East Liberty) on the state House floor on Oct. 21.

The act amended this provision on grounds to decriminalize residual traces of THC left in the system of legal marijuana users. The amendment was introduced by state Rep. Mike Carroll (D-Luzerne). It passed 109-93 with unanimous support from Democrats, and 16 Republicans crossing the aisle, including local state Rep. Mike Puskaric (R-Elizabeth)

Moreover, the amended bill states that an individual may not drive under a controlled substance with the exception of “marijuana used lawfully in accordance with the act of April 17, 2016, known as the Medical Marijuana Act.”

Medical marijuana dispensaries are starting to open in Missouri. It may take a little longer in Columbia. 

N'Bliss dispensaries in the St. Louis area saw long lines when they opened over the weekend. A Kansas City area dispensary was to open Monday. 

Six different companies plan to open dispensaries throughout Columbia. As of Wednesday afternoon, they were not yet approved to operate.

Calls and emails were sent to all six, with GRD Columbia LLC, Shangri-La, COMO Health LLC and QPS Missouri Holdings LLC responding. 

GRD will be located at 204 E. Broadway near Walgreens, operating as Green Releaf Dispensary. The facility still is under construction, CEO Jay Patel said. 

Marijuana is back on the ballot for the third time in the last five election cycles. But this year, Montanans will decide for the first time whether to follow states like Colorado and Washington in legalizing use for all adults.

The issue comes in the form of complementary ballot initiatives I-190 and CI-118. I-190 creates the rules for a recreational marijuana system in Montana, including a 20% tax. It also allows each county the option to prohibit dispensaries in their county.

CI-118 would amend the Montana Constitution to allow the state to set the minimum buying age to 21. If both pass, Montana would join 10 other states and the District of Columbia in legalizing recreational marijuana.

New Approach Montana, a group founded in January 2019 by Montana political veterans Ted Dick and Pepper Petersen, is running the pro-legalization effort. After seeing a decline of tax revenue from previous economic drivers like energy production and mining, the two men asked Montana’s Office of Budget and Program Planning to study the economic benefits of legalized marijuana. The office estimated that retail taxes on recreational marijuana could generate upward of $38.5 million a year by 2025.

“This is a substantial amount of funding,” Petersen said, adding that the next steps were clear. “We wrote our own law — we have a uniquely Montana approach.”

Two small Maine-based marijuana businesses are suing the agency that oversees recreational marijuana operations, arguing state licenses were illegally awarded to out-of-state owners.

State law requires owners of marijuana operations to live in Maine and to have filed state income taxes for four years. But the Maine Office of Marijuana Policy ignored the requirement, based on the state attorney general’s conclusion that it’s unlikely to hold up to legal scrutiny.

The federal lawsuit contends out-of-state companies take away a competitive advantage for Maine business operators.

Wisconsin hemp groups say the state’s decision to delay new regulations will keep CBD growers from suffering under more restrictive regulations.

Because it’s listed top of the schedule of abused drugs, there is an expectation that marijuana must be as highly addictive as heroin, and therefore horribly destructive.

Every time you light up a joint or inhale the vapor from a THC-infused vape or crunch down on an edible or put a couple drops of a THC-infused tincture into your coffee, you are effectively becoming part of a statistic: the marijuana addict.

There are so many ways to get THC into your system now, and researchers say that’s the problem. Having so many options, often packaged in such a way that it just seems like ingesting this psychoactive drug is harmless fun with a sort of backhanded illusion of safety, is just the sort of thing that makes anti-marijuana believers think that there is more to see here. They smell coverup. They sense capitalism overreach threatening citizen health. They see a brand new industry jostling with the rules to make a buck.

They even believe that the fun and the party jolliness and the fuck-em-all camaraderie that is part of the experience of consuming marijuana is lulling all of us cannabis enthusiasts into getting addicted—and we don’t even know it.

But wait. Let’s take a closer look at what makes an addict.

Global Hemp Recyclable Packaging Market 2020 by Manufacturers, Type and Application, Forecast to 2025 describes market introduction, product scope, market overview, and meticulous analysis of the Hemp Recyclable Packaging market in the forecasted period from 2020 to 2025. The report keenly analyzes significant features in major developing markets.

Growers, tenders, trimmers, producers and distributors all take different risks, skillsets and roles. Working with cannabis insiders operating on both sides of the law gives insight into the process of cultivating these plants and turning them into profit. Utilizing trim is one such way.

MediPharm Labs Inc has initiated a clinical trial to research and evaluate the effectiveness of the company’s cannabis-derived medicines for the treatment of end-stage renal disease or Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD).

Chronic kidney disease involves kidney damage over a long period of time that impacts on the organ’s ability to filter blood, meaning toxic wastes build up in the body. The progressive condition can result in major complications including eventual kidney failure and death.

It’s prevalence is quite shocking – according to Kidney.org, 37 million American adults have CKD and heart disease is the major cause of death for all people with the condition. The main causes of chronic kidney disease are diabetes and high blood pressure. Combined, these are responsible for up to two-thirds of  cases.

MediPharm Labs has partnered with Canadian firm OTT Healthcare Inc. for the trial, which will initially investigate dosing and safety profile of cannabinoid formulations, as well as assess pain and Quality of Life scores of patients receiving the medicines – the details of which weren’t revealed in the announcement.

Data gathered from this investigation will then support randomized double-blind clinical trials to establish the safety and efficacy of these products.

Cannabis has been used for its antimicrobial properties for thousands of years, but only recently have these benefits surfaced in Western medicine. A recent study highlights previously unknown antimicrobial properties of cannabis.

While the study focuses on several cannabinoids, it brings out CBG as a cannabinoid to pay attention to in terms of its antibiotic abilities.

What is CBG?

CBG – cannabigerol – is a cannabinoid of the cannabis plant. Unlike it’s counterparts THC and CBD, it is found in only very small quantities, making up approximately 1% of a harvest-ready plant. Like CBD, and unlike THC, it doesn’t produce a psychoactive effect. CBG comes from its acidic precursor, CBGA. CBGA in turn is converted into cannabinoids like THCA – tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, CBDA – cannabidiolic acid, and CBCA – cannabichromenic acid. What is left of the CBGA converts to CBG through decarboxylation. This is why so little of the plant is made of CBG.

CBG has been cited already as an anti-cancer agent, and now adds antibiotic to its repertoire of uses.

At a time when it seems like no one can see eye-to-eye on anything, there is one undeniable fact that most can agree on: something needs to change. Industry leaders are hoping that 2021 will be the turnaround after a monumentally tragic year where the lingering effects of COVID-19 changed how business was done and how we communicate with one another in the online and offline worlds. Not only did this impact high-volume in-person trade show events, but also supporting industries such as hospitality, travel, arts, and leisure. 

Toronto-based cannabis events and marketing firm, Lift & Co, (OTC: LFCOF) which produces Canada’s largest cannabis expo, recently stunned industry insiders when it declared bankruptcy after laying off employees in March and postponing their annual November event. 

With no clear idea of what the future holds, the cannabis event industry is adapting in different ways as the pandemic rolls into its second wave. The Cannabis World Congress and Business Exhibition (CWCB) canceled all in-person events until 2021, hosting a two-day digital conference on November 17 and 18. Even non-cannabis behemoths like SXSW buckled under pressure to create a virtual experience that could live up to the real deal.

MJBizCon, who transformed their trade show into a month-long digital experience leading up to a three-day online conference event December 2-4, featuring keynote speaker John Mackey, CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods, now run with the tagline: “The show must go online.” 

But can it, really?