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A House of Representatives committee voted on Wednesday to approve a bill that would allow researchers to conduct studies using marijuana produced in compliance with regulations in states with legal cannabis. The vote marks the first time a congressional committee has approved a measure to allow scientists to use marijuana produced from sources other than those authorized by the federal government.

With a voice vote, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a substitute version of The Marijuana Research Act of 2019 (H.R. 3797) from Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon. The bill’s new language streamlines the approval process for those applying to cultivate cannabis with the approval of the federal government. The measure also permits researchers to use marijuana and cannabis products manufactured in accordance with programs legal under state law.

Cannabis From The Feds Is Schwag

Under current federal statute, FDA-approved research must be conducted with cannabis produced at a cultivation facility at the University of Mississippi. However, many researchers have said that the marijuana produced by the facility is difficult to obtain and of low-quality, bearing little resemblance to the cannabis products available from state-legal producers.

“As momentum grows in our effort to end the failed prohibition of cannabis, we also need to address failed drug laws like the ones that make it extremely difficult for researchers and doctors to study cannabis. With some form of cannabis legal in nearly every state, it’s inexcusable that the federal government is still blocking qualified researchers from advancing the scientific knowledge of cannabis,” Blumenauer, the co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, said in a press release after Wednesday’s vote. “The bipartisan support of our legislation in today’s committee markup is an important step in removing unnecessary barriers to medical cannabis research and ensuring that patients, clinicians, and consumers can fully understand the benefits and risks of cannabis.”

Activists Applaud Bill

Paul Armentano, the deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), said that the “proposed regulatory change is necessary and long overdue. In fact, NORML submitted comments to the US Federal Register in April explicitly calling for this change.”

A new U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) interim rule about CBD and hemp manufacturing has sown distress and confusion in the federally legal industry.

Operators say the rule makes it effectively impossible to produce CBD products legally. On his blog, North Carolina cannabis lawyer Rod Kight wrote that the new rule “threatens to destroy” the industry.

There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence on marijuana use and studying. Does this practice provide any benefits?

Marijuana is the average co-ed’s drug of choice. While a lot of people encounter cannabis when they’re younger, it’s not until college that their stoner persona solidifies. New college students are entering a stage where they’re able to smoke to their heart’s content without worrying about their parents or teachers. It’s natural for them to want to smoke all the time.

Now that colleges and universities are back in session all over the country, it’s natural for the topic of marijuana and its effects on studying to surface. Like most things marijuana, your collegiate performance under the influence is mostly up to the choices you make and the way in which your body responds to the drug.

While a lot of people use marijuana to enhance TV and food consumption, people have started to enjoy other benefits of cannabis, such as enhancing creativity and minimizing anxiety. Depending on the dosage and strain you’re consuming, marijuana could either help you narrow your focus or provide you with ideas you wouldn’t have had while sober. If you’re studying with others, it might also encourage you to engage in deeper conversations, something that works if you’re the kind of person who learns by listening to others and talking through topics.

Photo by Caio via Pexels

Cannabis has a positive effect in taming inflammation and a myriad of ailments associated with swelling.

While inflammation is the cause of many maladies, it’s also sometimes the remedy. It accounts for back pain, arthritis flare ups, headaches, bowel disorders and even an increase in heart disease. Alzheimer’s is yet another affliction associated with inflammation. And cannabis? It’s a known anti-inflammatory.

As studies show, not only does cannabis have a positive effect in taming inflammation and a myriad of ailments associated with inflammation, the entourage effect created by the combination of cannabinoids, including THC, gives a person an even better result. When this synergy takes place, inflammation is greatly relieved, and thus so are the diseases and pains that go with it.

Quality and longevity of life are sincere goals of most human beings, and accomplishing those goals takes a level of fitness that is somewhat lacking in the average American lifestyle. Many people unable to exercise or stretch for their health aren’t capable because of inflamed joints or other painful inflammations that hinder activity.

Because cannabis works as an anti-inflammatory, it could very easily be the ticket to better health and wellness all around. If the joint pain isn’t in the way and the mindset is elevated to a can-do level, the world opens up a bit and the first steps toward holistic health have been taken.

Indian temples that allow using cannabis during specific celebrations to achieve enlightenment may need to rethink their practices if police in the state of Belagavi make good on their pledge to crack down on such uses.

“We’re now starting to crack down wherever it is available,” Raichur SP Prakash Nityam said of cannabis everywhere in the country. “I’m not aware of temples or mutts particularly, but if we receive information we will raid them,” Nityam said, according to the Times of India.

It seems that some temples are using weed during prasada — wherein a deity receives an offering, partakes of it and then returns it to be distributed and eaten by worshippers — at some temples in north Karnataka.

Devotees gather at the Mouneshwara temple at Tinthini during the annual fair in January, notes the Times of India. They are said to receive a small packet of ganja as prasada, which is smoked after praying, a video posted with the article notes.

A member of the temple committee acknowledged to the Times of India that cannabis is used there and anyone can consume it during the fair, some by ingestion after boiling the plant and others by smoking its powder form.

A Mississippi voter initiative that would legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes is receiving the wrath of Phil Bryant, the state’s former Republican governor who left the statehouse in January after being forced out by term limits. In a self-published op-ed replete with passages in all-caps and paragraphs that rarely exceed two sentences, Bryant urged voters not to approve Initiative 65, which would legalize and create a regulatory system for medical marijuana.

In the op-ed, which was reportedly released on Tuesday but dated November 3, Bryant said that medicinal uses for cannabis do not exist.

“They call it ‘medical marijuana’ and appeal to people’s natural concern for the sick,” he wrote. “Who could be against helping the sick? Well, no one, of course. That’s why it is all BIG MARIJUANA ever talks about, but the U.S. Surgeon General has stated there is no such thing as ‘medical marijuana’ and emphasizes that it’s a ‘dangerous drug.’”

Bryant suggested that the initiative’s prime objective was profit rather than treating people with serious medical conditions.

“If you liked BIG TOBACCO, you are going to love BIG MARIJUANA. It’s the same scheme—just decades later,” Bryant proclaimed. “Sell a product that causes permanent damage to people while claiming it has no ill effects and make as much money as you can for as long as you can. They say it’s about compassion, but follow the money.”

Researchers analyzed data spanning two decades and detected no uptick in pedestrian deaths following new marijuana laws.

When states legalize marijuana for adult-use or medicinal purposes, new research states it is not connected with increases in pedestrian fatality rates. Investigators at the University of Minnesota found that legalization was actually associated with declines in overall motor vehicle-related deaths.

The study, published in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention, analyzed traffic-related and fatal motor vehicle crashes in three legalized states—Oregon, Washington, and Colorado—as well as five control states, or where cannabis remained illegal. Records spanned between 1991 to 2018 and used crash data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).

“While attention has been given to how legalization of recreational cannabis affects traffic crash rates, there has been limited research on how cannabis affects pedestrians involved in traffic crashes,” researchers wrote. “This study examined the association between cannabis legalization (medical, recreational use, and recreational sales) and fatal motor vehicle crash rates (both pedestrian-involved and total fatal crashes).”

Photo by JasonDoiy/Getty Images

Fish aren’t just useful for growing cannabis, but can also speed up the process of sorting medical cannabis strains, according to Israeli researchers.

As reported by ISRAEL21c, companies using a zebrafish model can identify strains and organize them based on therapeutic potential much faster than relying on mice or human models.

Zebrafish have reportedly already been used to determine which strains may help combat sleep problems, seizures, Parkinson’s disease and pain, with additional indications being studied for autism and anxiety.

The zebrafish cannabis testing model was developed by Camanex, the applied science arm for cannabis of MIGAL Galilee Research Institute, and Canonic, a subsidiary of computational biotech company Evogene.

The companies also worked together to cultivate the cannabis varieties before moving into the laboratory.

ARTICLE BY: HILARY BRICKEN

I’ve been practicing corporate, transactional, and regulatory law in the marijuana industry for going on 10 years now. I’ve never understood exactly why folks get excited about, or even remotely interested, when various lifetime politicians in Congress push bills on the federal legalization/rescheduling of marijuana. Why? Because these bills notoriously go nowhere (for a number of what seem to be purely political reasons) and will continue to go nowhere, in my opinion, where marijuana (while extremely popular with most Americans and obviously with certain entire states) is still too politically hot to trust out-of-touch members of Congress to do anything meaningful about it, and especially now given that the nation’s priorities seem to revolve around dealing with COVID-19 (and rightly so).

The House’s planned floor vote in early September around the most recent federal marijuana legalization measure (the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (“MORE Act” (see the House version here, which was introduced last year)) is no different. While I’m glad to see members of Congress continue to try to chip away at the continued (failed) War on Drugs regarding cannabis, I’m honestly tired of seeing the fanfare attendant with these legalization bills. At the same time, my interest in these things is usually peaked when looking at what members of Congress are willing to push when it comes to nationwide legalization.

Yes, this upcoming vote is still significant and historic because neither chamber of Congress has ever voted on completely removing marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act (and the MORE Act is a bipartisan bill, too), but we all know where this is going–the Democratic-controlled House will likely pass the bill and the GOP-controlled Senate will very likely ignore it or shut it down. I also can’t ignore the fact that the bill’s Senate sponsor is Senator (and democratic vice president nominee) Kamala Harris who admittedly has a terrible record on prosecuting marijuana crimes from when she was the Attorney General of the State of California and is now in the past two and a half years miraculously behind supporting marijuana legalization culminating in a presidential election year. Pretty convenient.

What exactly would the MORE Act do? It completely removes marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act, decriminalizing/descheduling it altogether and eliminating criminal penalties for everyone in the commercial chain of production, distribution, and sales (which would also mean that the banking access woes and draconian impact of IRC 280E would be over). Right now, marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance and illegal under federal law, making its home on schedule I next to LSD and heroin. The Act would also expunge marijuana criminal records dating back to May 1, 1971 because it’s retroactive. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is also charged under the Act with collecting and compiling a variety of data on marijuana businesses and their owners. The Act creates the Opportunity Trust Fund with various earmarks to the Attorney General and the Small Business Administration (SBA) (with the SBA allocations meant to support the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019). A federal tax would also be imposed on marijuana products “manufactured in or imported into the United States . . . equal to 5 percent of the price for which sold.” Importantly, while the Act empowers the Feds to engage in rulemaking for a federal regulatory framework, states would still be in control of licensing, oversight, and enforcement within their borders (very similar to alcohol).

For autistic people and their families, the therapeutic potential of cannabis is promising, but the research remains limited.

Spectrum, a publication dedicated to autism research, has published a guide detailing what is currently known about cannabis and autism.

Fourteen U.S. states have approved medical cannabis as a treatment option for autism and GW Pharmaceuticals, the company behind Epidiolex, the first cannabis-derived drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is currently conducting trials to measures its effectiveness in treating Rett syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder.

According to Spectrum, the company is also recruiting autistic children for a phase 2 trial of cannabidivarin, another component of cannabis.

The success of Epidiolex has led many to wonder if the drug could be similarly successful in treating seizures and other autism-related traits. The quick answer? It’s still too early to know.

Missouri medical cannabis is being delayed yet again and is still not available for purchase, still because of a lack of testing sites for cannabis as well as delays caused by COVID-19. 

Many cannabis patients in Missouri who have been eagerly awaiting legalization are frustrated at the lack of progress in the state. A few dispensaries are open, and a few growers are geared up and ready to go, but there are still no resting facilities at all, so none of the cannabis can be legally sold. 

“Everyone thought this would be progressed along a little bit faster. We’ve got a little over 60,000 patients that are waiting for guys like me to get up and growing,” John Mueller, CEO of Missouri dispensary Greenlight, said.

The Status of MMJ in MO

Part of the setback has been COVID-19, as shutdowns, cutbacks, and timeline changes have not helped to get testing facilities up and running, but the fact remains that the state is running out of time to get things going for 2021. 

“It slowed the industry down. Your planning and zoning, your city council, everyone across the state kind of took a pause,” Mueller said.

Both business and culture surrounding legal cannabis have certainly seen a lot of attention over the last few years.

With cannabis rapidly becoming legalized in more U.S. states, we are seeing that culture reach a much broader audience.

But, is that culture representative of Black and racially diverse industry professionals?

THCA is the acid form of THC that’s found in the raw cannabis plant. What does all this mean though, and how can THCA have a positive impact on one’s life?

The cannabis plant contains over 400 chemical entities and more than 60 of them are cannabinoid compounds. One of these cannabinoid compounds is THCA (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid), which contains its own variety of medicinal properties and therapeutic effects.

THCA is a unique compound because it’s not only non-psychoactive and medically beneficial, but it’s the acid form of THC that’s found in the raw cannabis plant. What does all this mean though, and how can THCA have a positive impact on one’s life?

About THCA & Its Link To THC

As mentioned, THCA is the acid form of THC that’s found in the raw cannabis plant. In general, cannabis produces all cannabinoids in acid form. One of the most abundant of all cannabinoid acids is THCA, which is a precursor to THC. On its own, cannabinoid acids don’t make users high. Instead, these acids deliver a variety of health benefits minus changes in consciousness.

When one consumes THC, a decarboxylation process normally takes place first. Decarboxylation is the term that’s used to describe the heating of a compound via smoking or vaping. To convert THCA into THC, raw cannabis first needs to be dried, aged, and heated via smoking or vaping. Overall, THC is a breakdown of THCA, and it doesn’t deliver psychoactive effects until it’s heated through decarboxylation.

Seniors’ use of cannabis and their support for its legalization is on the upswing.

According to nationwide polling data compiled by the Pew Research Center, nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of “Boomers” (those born in the United States between the years 1946 and 1964) now say that marijuana ought to be legal for adults. That percentage is up significantly from a decade ago, when fewer than one-in-three seniors endorsed its legalization.

Some of this change in attitude is arguably the result of more seniors having firsthand experience with cannabis. According to data published this month in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, “From 2016 to 2018, cannabis use increased for men in all age groups and in most women. … Among those aged 65 to 69 years, cannabis use increased from 4.3 percent to 8.2 percent in men and from 2.1 percent to 3.8 percent in women.”

Why are increasing numbers of seniors turning to — or in some cases, returning to — cannabis? For starters, in many jurisdictions, marijuana’s legal status has changed. Medical cannabis is now legally available in 33 states and throughout Canada — providing many older adults for the first time with safe, above-ground, uninterrupted access to an array of marijuana products. This access is pivotal to older consumers, as the majority of seniors prefer non-herbal, non-smoked cannabis preparations, such as marijuana-infused capsules or edibles — preparations that are rarely available in the illicit marketplace.

Furthermore, seniors are becoming more familiar with and accepting of cannabis’ therapeutic properties. Not only are increasing numbers of seniors becoming aware that cannabis can mitigate many of the health-related symptoms that come with older age, such as chronic pain, but they also understand that it can do so with fewer side-effects than many prescription drugs, like opioids.

Seniors’ use of cannabis and their support for its legalization is on the upswing.

According to nationwide polling data compiled by the Pew Research Center, nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of “Boomers” (those born in the United States between the years 1946 and 1964) now say that marijuana ought to be legal for adults. That percentage is up significantly from a decade ago, when fewer than one-in-three seniors endorsed its legalization.

Some of this change in attitude is arguably the result of more seniors having firsthand experience with cannabis. According to data published this month in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, “From 2016 to 2018, cannabis use increased for men in all age groups and in most women. … Among those aged 65 to 69 years, cannabis use increased from 4.3 percent to 8.2 percent in men and from 2.1 percent to 3.8 percent in women.”

Why are increasing numbers of seniors turning to — or in some cases, returning to — cannabis? For starters, in many jurisdictions, marijuana’s legal status has changed. Medical cannabis is now legally available in 33 states and throughout Canada — providing many older adults for the first time with safe, above-ground, uninterrupted access to an array of marijuana products. This access is pivotal to older consumers, as the majority of seniors prefer non-herbal, non-smoked cannabis preparations, such as marijuana-infused capsules or edibles — preparations that are rarely available in the illicit marketplace.

Furthermore, seniors are becoming more familiar with and accepting of cannabis’ therapeutic properties. Not only are increasing numbers of seniors becoming aware that cannabis can mitigate many of the health-related symptoms that come with older age, such as chronic pain, but they also understand that it can do so with fewer side-effects than many prescription drugs, like opioids.

This coming October, I’ll be completing my third half marathon — fingers crossed. Considering that I could barely run one kilometer when I first started jogging six years ago, I am pretty proud of myself. However, I am also self-aware enough to know that this journey has solely been to push my body and boundaries, not break any long distance records or compete in the Olympics.

One thing that has always been a concern for me, pre- and post-race, is pain management. I am laden with a myriad of ailments — think: lower back issues, torn ligaments in my left foot and a broken big toe on the right, both of which never quite healed properly. And ever since I was a child, I have been wary of taking pain meds.

So when I started looking into cannabis, for curiosity and journalism sake, I quickly came upon stories of people consuming cannabis for training purposes when it came to sports.

“Cannabis can be helpful for sports both during activity and afterward,” Dr. Jordan Tishler told me recently over email. “Its primary role is that of a pain reliever, which can be helpful in both situations.” Dr. Tishler, a Harvard-trained physician and cannabis therapeutics specialist with over 23 years experience in the field, notes that one stoner-ism does ring true regarding marijuana — it’s not a performance enhancer, and it can affect reaction time, so choose wisely when consuming for sports. “However,” he adds, “for real-world exercise, the decrease in pain, and perhaps increase in focus, can be of greater benefit than any specific detriment.”

One fascinating aspect for me were the women who were using cannabis as a pain salve while pushing their bodies to the limit.

While CBD and THC certainly can’t take over the entirety of a pain management regimen, studies on cortisone treatments are bringing the conversations of cannabis to greater light.

From joint pain to the often debilitating effects of arthritis, corticosteroid injections have been a staple in managing pain and inflammation for the almost 30 million Americans that suffer from osteoarthritis (OA). With new research showcasing the long-term effects of one of the most used treatments for OA, doctors and researchers are concerned about the risks of injections and the potential risks involved with cortisone. 

A Boston University study published this month found that patients who had been given the medicine by injection found a risk for “accelerated OA progression or adverse joint events after treatment.” Meaning, when a patient was treated for osteoarthritis via a shot of cortisone, it may have accelerated the progression of the disease, including complications, joint destruction, and bone loss. 

Interestingly, the study found that certain preexisting conditions, such as older age and Caucasian race seemed to increase the risk for the outcome even more. Researchers recommended MRI pre-screening before injections were given to identify the area better and find if the danger could be accurately assessed before the dose was given. 

Understanding the Effect of Cannabis on OA

Long cited and used for inflammation and joint pain, cannabis and CBD oil have helped with not only chronic pain conditions, but managing symptoms of OA. In a 2018 study published in the Current Opinion in Pharmacology, researchers stated, “There is a growing body of scientific evidence which supports the analgesic potential of cannabinoids to treat OA pain.” To dive deeper, Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia found that since OA pain is multi-faceted, cannabis can help trigger the body’s own endocannabinoid system (ECS) to block pain receptors and potentially offer relief. 

Two congressmen have introduced a bill that would allow cannabidiol (CBD) and other hemp-derived products to be sold as dietary supplements in the U.S. as manufacturers still await federal regulation regarding the use of CBD in food. 

The Hemp and Hemp-Derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization Act of 2020 was announced by Representatives Kurt Schrader of Oregon and Morgan Griffith of Virginia last week. 

This bipartisan piece of legislation, only the most recent effort to help consumers access CBD in the aftermath of the 2018 Farm Bill, would mandate that “cannabidiol derived from hemp, and any other ingredient derived from hemp shall be lawful under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) as a dietary ingredient in a dietary supplement.”

Manufacturers would need to comply with the new dietary ingredient requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

“Hemp was historically an important crop for Virginia farmers, and dietary supplements made from it do not possess dangerous addictive qualities. Nevertheless, the current state of regulation creates confusion about its legal uses. I joined this bipartisan bill to provide certainty for hemp farmers that their crop may find legal uses,” Representative Griffith said in a statement.