WeedLife News Network

New analysis from Global Market Insights, Inc., shows the US cannabis testing market will be worth $1.2bn by 2026.

The Global Market Insights report shows that growing demand for medical cannabis for the treatment of various ailments has led to the growth of the US cannabis testing market. This rise in demand has further resulted in the implementation of strict government policies for the testing of cannabis to be used in medical cannabis products, thereby propelling the industry outlook.

An increasing number of applications for medical cannabis in the medical cannabis industry to treat ailments such as chronic pain and epilepsy will likely bring forth a stimulating period of growth for the medical cannabis testing market during the projected timespan.

Furthermore, various research institutes are actively focusing on exploring novel applications of cannabis. To that end, increasing investment in R&D activities is likely to further grow the cannabis testing market over the forthcoming years.

The increasing discovery of the medicinal benefits offered by cannabis have driven the demand for legalisation, and several states across the US have subsequently legalised the usage of the product for treating specific medical conditions. The legalisation is further anticipated to increase the need for laboratories to test safety and potency, thereby driving industry growth.

While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promotes hemp-based protective masks, businesses that sell CBD are being denied PPEs. What gives?

A federal program that provides personal protective equipment (PPE) to small businesses is being denied to businesses that sell CBD products.

Denver currently holds 4,500 PPE kits that include important protection for frontline workers, like face shields, disinfectants, surgical masks, thermometers, and hand sanitizer. But Denver-based headshop Meadowlark 64 can’t receive any of those kits because a federal grant doesn’t allow federal funds to help cannabis-related businesses.

Vaping has become a leading topic of conversation among smokers in recent years. While there are still many unknowns about vaping, initial studies show that it’s better than smoking in a variety of ways.

If you’ve been considering the switch from smoking to vaping, you may have a few questions. Here are four things you need to know about vaping before making the switch.

Vaping is Less Harmful than Smoking

While inhaling anything other than oxygen into your lungs isn’t optimal for health, vaping is better for you than smoking. The primary reason for this difference is that vaping has a lower combustion point than smoking. In many vaping apparatuses, you can alter the combustion point to your preference.

The lower combustion means less heat entering your lung tissue. There’s also reason to believe that the lower combustion point limits the release of tar and ash, which are toxic to the lungs.

Additionally, the lack of second-hand smoke and residue makes vaping safer for the people around you as well. For these reasons, vaping is a safer alternative to smoking.

Late last week, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) released their Interim Final Ruling on hemp extract that, if passed in October, will have devastating consequences for the CBD industry.

In typical government fashion, the DEA misinterpreted what was stated in the Farm Bill and ran with it, creating a new roadblock for the cannabis industry that makes no sense whatsoever. In short, the DEA ruling prohibits any hemp extract that reach 0.3% or more tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) at any point during the manufacturing process, by categorizing these products as Schedule 1 Narcotics. Did all hemp extract just become illegal?

At first glance, the law makes sense based on the 0.3% cutoff that, arbitrary as it may be, has been around for quite some time. However, this law doesn’t apply to just finished products. If we have a CBD oil for example, that has no THC in the final product and was extracted from legally compliant industrial hemp, it could still be illegal if at some point during the manufacturing process, the THC (temporarily) exceeded 0.3 percent.

Now it makes even less sense, doesn’t it? Well, it doesn’t get much better.

WIPHE and Temporarily Elevated Levels of THC

When creating CBD products, even isolate, they go through a stage referred to as Work-in-Progress Hemp Extract (WIPHE), during which the concentrations of THC temporarily exceed 0.3 percent. Products in the WIPHE stage are only partially processed, and not intended for sale or consumption. Fluctuating levels of cannabinoids is just a normal part of the process and is impossible to avoid. Even during at the most basic levels of production, there will always be a point where the product has more than 0.3% THC.

It is these WIPHE products that are now banned. So, in the process of creating legal products from a legal plant, they briefly enter a stage where they are considered a Schedule 1 controlled substances, and thus are overall illegal. It was always the elephant in the room, but it’s honestly illogical to think that any of that matters, the focus should obviously be on the finished product that ends up in the consumer’s hands.

Dry hemp vs wet hemp

There is quite a bit of confusion whether this applies to products in the WIPHE stage or only completely finished, consumer products. According to the National Hemp Association, “this IFR only refers to consumer products to ensure that they are D9 compliant. It does not address mid-process crude or distillate which often exceeds legal THC levels. So moving/selling those materials across state lines remains ambiguous and problematic. However, while this IFR does not alleviate that concerns it also does not make it worse.”

Crop Declines

CBD is a popular skincare additive, with many brands creating expensive products that highlight the compound. Here’s what dermatologist think about that.

CBD’s good reputation and pervasiveness is a good sign because it represents the progress that cannabis has gone through in recent years, but it also raises some red flags, particularly for skeptics. How can a compound that treats pain and provides stress relief also be used to treat skin when applied topically?

To make matters worse, CBD products in the beauty industry tend to be expensive, with some small bottles of cream and serums starting at $100. Ouch.

Celebrity endorsed brands that feature CBD in their products make broad claims, highlighting the fact that the compound is a calming agent and that it can reduce stress and irritation on the skin. While anti-inflammatory results have appeared in different tests conducted on CBD (mostly when its ingested), there’s no sufficient research available on CBD’s effect in skincare.

The Huffington Post spoke with several dermatologists and asked for their opinion regarding CBD skincare products. Most of them agreed that while CBD does sound promising, there’s no way of knowing right now if the compound does what the brands are saying.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf called for the legalization of recreational marijuana on Tuesday, telling state lawmakers that taxes levied on cannabis sales could be used to fund COVID-19 pandemic relief efforts. As the Democratic governor announced his legislative agenda, Wolf asked the Republican-led legislature to focus on pandemic recovery, government reform, and support for businesses, workers, and families.

“House and Senate Democrats have been fighting for these things for years, and certainly since the beginning of the pandemic,” Wolf said. “They’ve been stopped at every turn by the Republicans who’ve been focused on ignoring the public health crisis and actually trashing me. That has to stop. We’ve got to get back to doing things that actually matter to people.”

“The legislature must come back and take immediate steps to provide funding to frontline workers and businesses, put in place protections for families and our workforce, and make these commonsense reforms that can provide confidence in our government,” he added. “Pennsylvanians need relief, they need reform, and they need it now.”

Wolf specifically called for the legalization of cannabis for adults 21 and older, with the tax revenues raised going to restorative justice programs and funding for existing small business grant programs. Wolf estimated cannabis taxes could raise $90 million for pandemic relief.

“Fifty percent of the funding would be earmarked for historically disadvantaged businesses. Along with the call to the General Assembly to pass legislation legalizing the sale and use of recreational marijuana, the governor proposes that a portion of the revenue be used to further restorative justice programs that give priority to repairing the harm done to crime victims and communities as a result of marijuana criminalization,” Wolf said in a press release.

A Canadian truck driver faces charges in Detroit after border officials at the Fort Street Cargo Facility seized over 1,000 lbs of marijuana on Sunday.

The driver presented a manifest for steel wire destined for a distribution centre in Chicago, but Customs and Border Protection officers got suspicious and sent the truck to secondary inspection.

That’s when they found 1,031 lbs of marijuana hidden in five wooden crates.

“The Port of Detroit is proud to have prevented the exploitation of our borders and the introduction of illicit drugs into our communities,” said Port Director, Devin Chamberlain. “I am equally proud of our CBP Officers and Agriculture Specialists who remain vigilant in their efforts to protect the American people every day.”

While marijuana is legal for personal use in Canada, taking it across the border is illegal. There is also a limit on how much a person can possess. That limit is just 30 grams.

A field testing kit that will enable law enforcement officers to quickly and cheaply determine if cannabis or a cannabis product is hemp or marijuana is ready for prime time.

To this point it has been impossible for law enforcement officers in the USA to distinguish between hemp and marijuana without sending samples to a laboratory for testing. Hemp and marijuana are basically the same plant – it’s the THC level that distinguishes between the two. At a federal level in the USA, hemp is legal while marijuana isn’t and while field testing can determine if a cannabis sample has THC, hemp is permitted to have very low levels.

Hemp Synergistics LLC, through a partnership with forensic scientists at Purdue University Northwest, says a THC Rapid Field Test Kit it has developed provides law enforcement an easy-to-use tool to distinguish hemp from marijuana in less than five minutes. Each test costs USD $14; far cheaper than laboratory testing that costs thousands and similar in pricing to non-discriminatory field test kits used regularly by law enforcement. What isn’t mentioned is the cost of the testing unit.

Aside from the expense of laboratory testing, crops and products suspected of being marijuana are seized; depriving owners of legal hemp and associated products of their use or sale. There have been a number of high-profile cases where large quantities of cannabis have been seized and then subsequently proven to be hemp. By the time that happens, the material may have degraded and unable to be sold for its original purpose.

“The goal was to develop a test that was easily deployed in the field and was reliable and scientifically defensible – as opposed to sending a sample back to a lab with expensive high-powered instrumentation,” said Ron Fazio, COO at Hemp Synergistics.

Since the beginning of the year, the poor performance of the Canadian marijuana sector has foiled many investors' expectations. In the face of constant oversupply, inventory writedowns, and shrinking margins, cannabis companies have had no choice but to convert stock to cash in order to make up for their operating losses. 

With some in Seychelles being known for indulging in recreational cannabis use, its continued prohibition is government’s way of saying: do as I say, not do as I do.

With New Zealand’s referendum on the legalization of marijuana fast looming, former Prime Minister Helen Clark has become quite vocal on the topic saying she wants the referendum to pass because it would end the prohibition on the popular drug so that citizens do not have to get their supply from “tinny houses.” This while also paves the way for promoting marijuana tourism.

She has stated forcefully that older politicians who are calling for prohibition are typically Boomers who hypocritically used the drug themselves in their university days.

Agriculture officials in New York say federal rules for producing hemp are “unrealistic.” The state also said they won’t try to regulate the crop. Hemp farmers say they will have to be very careful without support from the state.

Legal hemp is a tricky crop to harvest. It’s cannabis — like marijuana, without the mind altering properties.

But hemp still contains some of the psychoactive chemical, THC. That’s where the bad news starts for hemp growers like David Falkowski.

“There could be criminal implications on the farmers," Falkowski said. "They could actually be brought up on charges. And some of the lesser degrees, they would have to burn or disk in their crop under the oversight of a DEA registered agency.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a very hard line between what is considered legal hemp and marijuana, an illicit drug. Without the New York government being the middleman with its own regulatory process, Falkowski said he has little protection when dealing with the feds.

Marijuana legalization is headed to the ballot in Arizona this November. If successful, the state would become the 12th US state to legalize marijuana. The initiative is already subject of a lawsuit from anti-legalization groups and scorn from politicians, including Governor Doug Ducey (R). If passed, the legalization effort could significantly reduce arrests in a state with some of the harshest marijuana penalties in the nation and a heavily burdened prison system.

Despite its draconian laws for non-medical use, Arizona passed medical marijuana back in 2010. It now has has over 250,000 registered medical patients or caregivers and 131 dispensaries. The last time Arizona voted on full legalization, in November 2016, it narrowly lost, with about 49 percent support. 

How Arizona Legalization Would Work

The legalization initiative, called Prop 207 or the Smart and Safe Arizona Act, officially qualified for the general election ballot on August 10. If approved by a majority of voters, it would legalize up to one ounce of cannabis for over-21s. Adults could also cultivate six marijuana plants at home.

Prop 207 would also allow people with prior convictions for marijuana possession to petition the courts for expungement. Presumably, this process would not be automatic, as it is meant to be in states like California.

In Arizona’s legal market, a 16 percent excise tax on cannabis sales would cover the costs of implementing regulations. Excess tax revenue would then go to community colleges, public roads and infrastructure, police and firefighters, and certain social justice initiatives. The latter would include a social equity program to help people with past criminal records for marijuana get business licenses in the new industry.

In December 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a list of pesticides approved for use in hemp cultivation. This was the first federal guidance on what products could be used to treat hemp after it was legalized in 2018.

“Under the Trump Administration, the EPA is committed to providing much-needed certainty to farmers and ranchers across the country who rely on crop protection tools to ensure a global supply of products, while driving economic growth in agricultural communities across America,” said EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler in the release announcing the list.

Vegan cooking competition show High Cuisine recently debuted on Amazon Prime Video. The 12-episode series taps into cannabis culture by challenging Los Angeles-based vegan chefs to create the most innovative dishes after getting high, while discussing the creative culinary inspiration they get from their use of cannabis. Challenges include creating the world’s largest burrito, turning Thanksgiving dinner into a sandwich, and making sushi for dessert. The chefs make use of everyday vegan ingredients as well as products from national brands such as Beyond Meat, Dandies, The Herbivorous Butcher, and Follow Your Heart. 

“We wanted to do a fresh take on the traditional cooking show. High Cuisine has all of the trappings of a competition show you might find on network television, but with the added fun that stoned chefs bring to the kitchen,” High Cuisine executive producer Asher Brown said. “Plus, we’re aiming our show at a wide audience. You don’t have to be vegan to appreciate how creative great chefs can be when they’re cooking with plants. And you don’t have to smoke [marijuana] to appreciate High Cuisine either. The weed is in the chefs, not in the food, so we’d love everyone watching at home to wonder what a fruit roll-up enchilada tastes like and be able to follow along when a chef tries to make beet cupcakes—and then get inspired to cook some awesome weird plant-based food themselves.”

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, many people are dealing with stress, anxiety and boredom, and some San Diegans' coping mechanism has shown in sales.

"I personally use it a lot to manage my anxiety and my stress,” said San Diegan Jackie Bryant, referring to marijuana, “and it’s been a really huge help for my mental health during the pandemic.”

Blake Marchand is the owner of marijuana dispensary, March and Ash in Mission Valley. He compared the initial rush of marijuana sales during the beginning of the pandemic to that of some other popular items.

“It was similar to how people ran to Costco to grab you know, all the toilet paper that they could. I think in the first couple weeks, you know, a lot of customers are coming in and just grabbing, grabbing enough just in case we were to be shut down," he said.

While the cannabis-infused beverage category is expanding rapidly, product awareness and brand awareness lag behind, according to a survey of 1,000 U.S. cannabis consumers fielded July 2nd through July 16th, 2020 by consumer insights firm SoapBoxSample. Results revealed that the top reason cited for not having tried cannabis beverage products is that 45% of consumers simply did not know they existed. Meanwhile, those who have tried it are likely to try it again. The most popular types of beverages consumers have tried and say they will have again are juice or fruit punch (68%), hot chocolate (61%) and non-alcoholic wine (60%). Certain categories of cannabis-infused beverages have even become a part of some consumers’ weekly routines including coffee (42%), tea (42%) and juice or fruit punch (41%).

“This study illustrates the enormous potential of the cannabis beverage market,” said Jacqueline Rosales, COO of SoapBoxSample. “Cannabis consumers are eager to try new products and they are expecting brands to bring products to market that speak to their specific tastes and preferences. By connecting with their target audience, brands can make strategic decisions supported by market insights.”

Beer without cannabis is the most popular alcoholic beverage in the United States. However, that popularity doesn’t seem to translate to the cannabis category. SoapBoxSample asked consumers who hadn’t tried a cannabis beverage about their interest level in 13 different types of beverages. The only beverage that ranked lower than beer were aperitifs. Only 33% expressed an interest in trying cannabis-infused non-alcoholic beer. By comparison, 79% said they would like to try a cannabis lemonade or limeade. Other popular choices for would-be consumers include iced and herbal teas (79%), juice/fruit punch (77%), and soda/sparkling seltzer (72%).

Cannabis beer brands may be hoping to win over consumers once they sample the product. However, consumers who have tried cannabis beer have less interest in trying it again, compared to other beverage categories. While 39% of those who have tried cannabis beer said they would drink it again, 68% of those who have had cannabis juice or fruit punch said they would drink it again and 61% of those who tried cannabis hot chocolate would have it again. Adoption rates of cannabis sparkling water (59%), infused coffee/cold brew (58%) and infused iced or herbal tea (56%) were also relatively high, while cannabis beer (39%) and aperitifs (28%) ranked lowest.

The emerging popularity of cannabis beverages is reflected in the data. Among those who have tried cannabis beverages, 29% tried it for the first time in the last month. To understand rapidly evolving consumer preferences, SoapBoxSample looked at consumer interest in beverage types and awareness of cannabis beverage brands. Overall, brand awareness is low. Around 60% of consumers said they were unfamiliar with all 23 of the brands tested in this study, indicating there is room for cannabis brands to earn market share by increasing brand awareness.

Thousands of people are arrested every year for illicit consumption of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances (NDPS). In 2018, 81,778 persons were arrested under the NDPS Act. Fifty-nine per cent of the those were found in possession of substances for personal use. Our forthcoming findings on Mumbai give an insight into how many people are arrested for illicit cannabis consumption, in comparison to other prohibited substances.

During the course of our research, we analysed 10,669 cases from Magistrate Courts in Mumbai, 99.9 per cent of these cases involved consumption of a narcotic substance. Wherever information on the kind of substance involved was available, 87 per cent of the cases involved cannabis. We find, therefore, that Mumbai’s NDPS arrests, which are the highest in the country, are primarily arrests of cannabis consumers. This suggests that criminalisation of cannabis consumption is pushing a substantial number of people into the criminal justice system.

Strain on the criminal justice system

Criminalisation of illicit cannabis use exacerbates the strain on the criminal justice system. The impact is particularly felt by an already overburdened and understaffed police force, where the police per lakh population ratio and vacancies have constantly remained a critical governance issue and the judicial system, already crumbling under high pendency.

In order to arrest, prosecute and sentence a cannabis consumer, the state machinery exhausts substantial human and economic resources. The police, judiciary and correctional institutions are systematically made party to a futile exercise, the cost of which is enormous. With over 3 crore cannabis users in the country, if the NDPS Act were to be implemented effectively, with every cannabis user arrested and prosecuted, the crumbling system would cave in entirely.

Although there is no current research on the cost of enforcing cannabis prohibition in India, studies conducted abroad find that on an average, incarceration costs are 2-6 times higher than money spent on health and social services. A study of budgetary implications of cannabis prohibition in the US indicated that legalisation of cannabis would save $7.7 billion per year in government expenditure.

It’s been nearly two years since Canada became the first G20 country to legalize cannabis for recreational purposes. However, the majority of customers are still getting their pot from the illicit market -- with a lot of ground left to cover.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, legal marijuana represented only 21 per cent of total consumption in Canada, despite weed becoming lawful on Oct. 17 of that year. Fast-forward to the first quarter of 2020 and cannabis is now a $2.2 billion retail industry, yet legal consumption is still just 46 per cent of the total, according to data from Statistics Canada.

“Consumer conversion from the illicit market is clearly occurring, but it is still early days,” Cormark Securities analyst Jesse Pytlak said in an email. “Retail infrastructure is still being developed, and useful insight on consumer preferences and behaviors is just now beginning to emerge.”

The relatively slow growth can be attributed to both steep prices in the legal market, as well as the fact that physical stores remain few and far between in large provinces like Ontario. The accessibility of brick-and-mortar storefronts is critical for converting consumers from illegal consumption, Pytlak added.

“The pricing is still way too high relative to what we’re seeing in the illicit market,” Canaccord Genuity analyst Matt Bottomley said in an interview. “If you are someone that consumes cannabis on a regular interval, there’s not a lot of incentive for you to transition over.”