WeedLife News Network

The Long Beach City Council this week voted to allow more cannabis dispensaries and delivery-only marijuana businesses, but asked staff to figure out how to pay for the expanded program without raising taxes.

“It could potentially cripple the businesses we’re trying to lift up,” Councilman Al Austin said about the rejected tax increase. “That’s my real concern.”

The city’s social equity program was created in 2018 to allow those who were targeted for cannabis-related crimes to benefit from legalization.

The ordinance will allow eight more dispensaries to operate in Long Beach, exclusive to those who qualify for the equity program.

To qualify, equity applicants must meet one of the following requirements:

Through the first nine months of this year Illinois has already far exceeded the more than $669 million it did in adult-use recreational cannabis sales in 2020.

September sales totaled $121,717,709.51, compared to the $67,648,362.14 in statewide sales in September 2020.

The monthly report the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation released this week shows $997,067,100.34 in recreational cannabis sales through the first nine months of this year.

Illinois driver's licenses: 5 things to know about Illinois driver’s licenses, Real ID cards and the digital future

In addition to the significant increase in recreational cannabis sales over the last year, the number of Illinoisans registered for medical marijuana has also continued to grow by a large margin each year.

An eight-year-old Woodstock child ate a large quantity of cannabis gummies over the weekend. The child was rushed to hospital and was in stable condition. Woodstock police wanted to remind people who consume cannabis, particularly edibles such as gummies or other sweets, to be mindful of safe storage away from children. Police encourage adults to safely store any alcohol and cannabis products out of reach or behind locked doors to ensure children do not consume them by mistake.

In the summer of 2020, Health Canada issued an advisory that children are being harmed after consuming illegal cannabis edibles that are not subject to safety and quality controls, do not have childproof packaging and have been stored by parents in places too easily accessible to kids. The caution was issued following several cases of children having been hospitalized after ingesting illegal weed edibles that looked like regular candies or treats.

Cannabis, also known as weed or marijuana, is used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Although restricted in most countries, the increasing legalization of cannabis for recreational and medicinal consumption means that cannabis use is rising. Cannabis is also the most common illicit drug used by pregnant women, but the effects of cannabis on embryonic development are not well understood. It is also important to understand the effects of cannabis on individuals with a genetic predisposition, which means they carry genetic mutations that increase the risk of environmental conditions triggering a defect or disease.

A new study from scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA, has now revealed that THC, the chemical in cannabis that causes the sensation of feeling ‘high’, can cause birth defects in genetically predisposed mice. In this case, the researchers investigated whether THC could exacerbate a mutation that affects a mechanism that cells use to communicate with each other, called Hedgehog signaling. “Several years ago, it was reported that THC could inhibit Hedgehog signaling in cells grown in a dish,” said the study’s lead author Robert Krauss, PhD, Professor of Cell, Developmental and Regenerative Biology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “We reasoned that THC might be an environmental risk factor for birth defects, but that it would require additional risk factors, such as specific mutations in the genes required for Hedgehog signaling, to induce these defects in mice.”

To address this hypothesis, Dr. Krauss and colleagues administered a single dose of THC, equivalent to exposures achieved when humans smoke cannabis, to pregnant mice about a week after conception. They then studied the embryonic development of their pups, some of which carried a mutation that meant Hedgehog signaling was not functioning at full efficiency. The scientists found that pups without the mutation developed normally, even when exposed to THC, as did pups that carried the mutation but were not exposed to the drug. However, pups that were exposed to THC and carried the mutation developed a brain and face defect called holoprosencephaly, a common birth defect seen in 1 in 250 human conceptions that includes the failure of the forebrain to divide into two distinct segments.

These first studies in mice have important implications for human health, highlighting the need for more research into the effects of cannabis use during pregnancy in humans. “The THC concentration in cannabis is now very high, so it is important to perform epidemiology studies looking at whether cannabis consumption is associated with developmental defects. Women are already advised not to consume cannabis while pregnant, but our results show that embryos are sensitive at a very early period, before many women know they are pregnant. Cannabis consumption may therefore be inadvisable even when women are trying to get pregnant,” Dr. Krauss warned.

Although this study focussed on one chemical in cannabis and one genetic mutation, further research could reveal other combinations that cause similar effects. “Many of the mutations found in human holoprosencephaly patients could conceivably synergize with THC,” said Dr. Krauss. “We would also like to test the related chemical CBD in genetically predisposed mice. Like THC, CBD inhibits Hedgehog signaling in cells grown in a dish, but CBD appears to work differently. As CBD is widely available and often viewed as beneficial – or at least innocuous – it would be worth investigating this as well,” he added.

CBD Oracle (Tustin, CA), a cannabis review and news site, has published an analysis of 520 CBD companies, representing over 20,000 products. The study sought to uncover issues with transparency in the unregulated CBD marketplace, which can threaten consumer trust. According to a survey from Consumer Brands Association, 92% of American consumers either incorrectly assume or have no idea if CBD is federally regulated. Upon being informed that there are no federal agencies that regulate CBD products, 84% of respondents expressed concern about the safety of CBD products. 

CBD Oracle’s study offers an optimistic view of the industry. According to its findings, 89.4% of companies test their CBD products through accredited third-party labs, demonstrating a transparent industry. “Despite consumer apprehension being a huge problem, our analysis suggests an industry so conscious of its regulatory shortcomings it’s taking appropriate steps to fix them,” said Alisdair Mans Cornwell, senior editor at CBD Oracle, in a statement.

Additional findings showed that 89% of companies fully disclose their hemp source and cultivation practices. Most of U.S. hemp sourced for CBD products came from Colorado (30.1%), followed by Oregon (13.4%), then Kentucky and California (tied for 5.1%). Eight percent of hemp was source from Europe, according to the study. The most popular European sources of hemp were Holland, Lithuania, Switzerland, and Spain.

When it came to the most common type of CBD products offered, the majority of companies (72%) sell some type of CBD tincture. The second most popular option sold was topical CBD, offered by 65% of the companies in the analysis. The third and fourth most popular options were capsules and gummies, sold by 42% and 40% of companies, respectively. Unfortunately, 43% of CBD companies in the study did not disclose extraction methods used for their products. Of those that did disclose extraction methods, CO2 extraction was used by 42% of CBD companies, with ethanol extraction being the second most popular method (11%).

CBD Oracle also collected data about minor cannabinoids. According to its analysis, the most popular minor cannabinoid present in the marketplace is cannabigerol (CBG), sold by 20% of the 520 companies. This was followed by cannabinol (CBN), sold by 12% of the companies, and delta-8 THC, sold by 10% of the companies. CBD Oracle expected more companies to sell delta-8 THC. It cites data from New Fronteir Data that states sales of delta-8 THC has reached $10 million across the U.S. in 2020. Despite the exponential market growth of delta-8, CBD Oracle believes that restrictions on the sale of the minor cannabinoid across 19 states is likely contributing to relatively low adoption of delta-8 by manufacturers.

While most people can use marijuana without experiencing any issues whatsoever, fainting is a side effect that has been known to happen. Some medical experts say these blackout moments can occur since THC decreases blood pressure in the body.(As Originally Seen On Benzinga)

One second you’re at a party, laughing it up with friends like you’ve done a thousand times before when a joint makes its way into your hands. Nothing out of the ordinary here, except for the fact that by smoking with others, you are about to contract the germs of everyone else in the room, but that’s another story for another time. In this particular scenario, however, you take a hit off the joint, pass it to the left and continue to bask in the conversation going on around you.  

But then all of a sudden, things start to get weird.

You might feel at first as if you are going to vomit, and your senses might start going a bit haywire. You might even have some trouble catching your breath, saying something to the person next to you, like “Dang, what was in that weed.” You even consider excusing yourself for a minute to regain your faculties, but before you have any chance to make it to the bathroom, everything goes black. You are told later that you just dropped out completely after taking that hit of weed. 

Illinois Women in Cannabis to Host a Breast Cancer and Cannabis Conversation; Virtual Forum Contributes to October’s Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month  Free Oct. 6 Webinar Features Midwest Cancer & Cannabis Clinicians and Patients, and is sponsored by NuEra Cannabis, in honor of its “Pre-Rolls for a Cause” Campaign

Illinois Women in Cannabis (IWC), the state’s leading cannabis industry networking organization, will host a virtual breast cancer and cannabis conversation in honor of October’s annual breast cancer awareness month. 

“Breast Cancer and Cannabis: Considerations. Cautions. And Case Studies” will be a live webinar held Wednesday, October 6, from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.. The free forum will feature a panel of multi-state Midwest women experienced with both breast cancer and cannabis, including leading Missouri cannabis patient advocates and product formulation experts. Breast cancer patients who are registered medical marijuana patients in their respective states, and receive guidance from one of the panel presenters will also join the conversation, sharing their valued perspectives and experiences. 

nuEra Cannabis, the Illinois owned and operated vertically integrated cannabis company, is sponsoring the educational event to complement nuEra’s “Pre-Rolls for a Cause” product and retail promotion. nuEra’s campaign commemorates breast cancer awareness month; it will donate proceeds from the promotion to Illinois cancer charities. Learn how you can support its initiative: nuEra Breast Cancer Awareness Fundraiser. 

“Illinois Women in Cannabis values being able to organize and host important conversations like this upcoming breast cancer awareness forum,” said the Executive Director of Illinois Women in Cannabis, Amor Montes de Oca. “IWC was founded the year Illinois approved medical use, so we’ve grown and evolved in tandem with the state’s cannabis program. Over these past seven years we’ve been able to expand our educational offerings, advocacy initiatives and community partnerships thanks to having active members and loyal support from cannabis businesses, like nuEra. This upcoming webinar reflects the important work IWC is able to do, thanks to its members and corporate sponsors,” Amor said. 

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Tuesday requiring hospitals and other health care facilities to allow terminally ill patients to use medical marijuana, Marijuana Moment reported.

The governor approved the legislation, also known as “Ryan’s Law,” sponsored by State Sen. Ben Hueso (D), who had been pushing for this measure for years.

The issue arose over whether medical facilities in legal marijuana states can legally allow certain patients to use medical cannabis without jeopardizing the facility’s federal funding.

Hueso recently asked the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to clarify the subject.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) responded in a letter to Hueso that there are no federal regulations that specifically address the issue and that the agency was not aware of any cases where funding had been pulled due to a hospital or long-term facility allowing patients to use medical marijuana.

According to a research study published by the University Of New Mexico and Releaf App in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, cannabis flower may be effective in providing immediate relief for the symptoms of depression — a condition affecting roughly 1 in 5 adults in the U.S., and often leading to other ailments like cancer, substance use disorders, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, dementia, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and chronic pain. “The findings suggest that, at least in the short term, the vast majority of patients that use cannabis experience antidepressant effects, although the magnitude of the effect and extent of side effect experiences vary with chemotypic properties of the plant,” the paper reads.

The Research

The study, titled “The Effectiveness of Cannabis Flower for Immediate Relief from Symptoms of Depression,” was led by the founders of University of New Mexico’s Marijuana Research Fund, Jacob Vigil, Psychology Associate Professor at UNM, and Sarah See Stith, Economics Assistant Professor at UNM.

After reviewing 5,876 outcomes reported anonymously by 1,819 individuals tracking their cannabis use for treating depression through the Releaf App, the researchers concluded that, on average, patients reported an improvement in symptoms of nearly 4 points on a scale of 0 to 10, just moments after consuming whole, dried, natural cannabis flower – widely known as cannabis buds.

“One of the more interesting findings from this study is that cannabis flower with relatively high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC is particularly associated with immediate reductions in the intensity of depressive feelings,” said Jacob Miguel Vigil. “The differences in time-to-effect and relative side effect prevalence across products and users could arise from other antidepressant and synergistic compounds in the plant beyond THC or cannabidiol (CBD), including minor cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids.”

Further Detail

Per the study, most of the patients using natural cannabis flower products to treat their depression symptoms reported antidepressant effects. However, the magnitude of these effects and extent of experienced side effects varied alongside the properties of each plant.

Problems with sleep are common. In recent research, 48 per cent of UK adults said sleeping badly had a negative effect on their mental health. For teenagers, this proportion was significantly higher — 66 per cent.The large number of people experiencing sleep problems makes for an attractive market. Some companies have seized the opportunity to provide remedies, including several manufacturers of cannabis products.

Changes to the way cannabis is regulated in many countries, including the UK, have helped the boom in cannabis products, with more people able to access these types of offerings — even if the cannabis compounds that can be used in sleep products in some countries are more limited than in others. In the U.S., where cannabis is fully legal in many states, California-based Ganja Goddess reported more than a sevenfold increase in revenue for its cannabis sleep products during the first year of the COVID pandemic.

Cannabis and sleep

Sleep disturbance is a common feature of withdrawal from cannabis use, indicating there may well be a relationship between cannabis use and sleep. But we still don’t have a clear understanding of the mechanisms in the brain involved in this relationship.

The effects of cannabis are due to a group of chemicals in the drug called cannabinoids. These include cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol (CBN) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC is the psychoactive substance in cannabis. CBN and CBD don’t cause you to get high in the same way.

In the UK, CBD products are available legally, providing they don’t contain more than 0.2 per cent THC. Retailers and suppliers make all kinds of assertions about the benefits of CBD products, including how CBD can improve sleep. There is some evidence to support these claims, but this is mainly based on animal and human observational studies rather than randomised control trials, where comparisons can be made between CBD and a placebo.

A federal grant will help fund a study on the medical cannabis program in Arkansas. 

Thanks to $1.3 million courtesy of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, researchers affiliated with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Arkansas Center for Health Improvement will conduct what is being described as “a first-of-its-kind population health analysis of the medical marijuana program, combining eligible consumers’ cannabis purchase information with insurance claims records and other data sources to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of cannabis on consumers’ medical care.”

The study, titled “Population-Based Analyses of Healthcare Utilization and Outcomes in Users of Medical Marijuana,” will “also examine the impact of COVID-19 on the Arkansas medical marijuana program, including changes in cardholder requests, product purchases, healthcare utilization and adverse events,” according to a press release from the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, which is “a nonpartisan, independent health policy center that serves as a catalyst for improving the health of all Arkansans through evidence-based research, public issue advocacy and collaborative program development.”

Additionally, the study will also “incorporate six Arkansas-based data sources, including the Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative’s Arkansas All-Payer Claims Database (APCD), Arkansas Department of Health medical marijuana patient registry data, medical marijuana dispensary purchase data, vital records, emergency department records and Arkansas State Police motor vehicle crash data,” with all the data being “de-identified with linkages utilizing the unique capabilities of the Transparency Initiative.”

The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement said that by “examining data for Arkansans who have qualified for medicinal use, this research will help inform the potential role of cannabis in medical therapy.”

The first results of a trial into using medical cannabis for pain relief that began in a hospital in central France in March are looking promising. 

Psychiatrist Dr Nicolas Authier, Chair of the Scientific Committee on Medical Cannabis, is in charge of the experiment being conducted at the University Hospital of Clermont-Ferrand. He had identified 20 patients as being suitable for participation.

One patient Mounir, 47, who suffered a stroke aged 21 and consequently struggled with painkiller addiction in trying to manage his neuropathic pain, told France 3: “I'm not yet completely relieved of the pain. There is some still, but it is nothing like what I felt before.”

The trial is part of a two-year nationwide experiment primarily designed to evaluate the best conditions of access to medical cannabis.

Dr Authier hopes that medical cannabis will then be legalised for patients whose suffering is poorly relieved by conventional treatments. 

It may not come as a surprise to hear there is a global opioid crisis happening right now. Outside the UK and US, countries like Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Estonia are also experiencing opioid overuse and addiction. Carl Esprey look’s at why the humble marijuana plant used to create medicinal cannabis could signal the end of the opioid crisis.

In clinical trials, over 85% of UK patients reported that they found medicinal cannabis to be more effective in treating pain than opioids and other pain medicine, suggesting that prescribing cannabis for medical use could help resolve the global opioid crisis.

The Fight Against Chronic Pain

Millions of people across the world suffer from chronic pain in one form or another every day. Chronic pain lasts three months or longer and has a significant negative impact on a person quality of life. The Covid-19 pandemic has left many more people suffering from musculoskeletal pain after coming down with the virus and has reportedly caused those already experiencing chronic pain to suffer from more significant pain with what is now known as long-Covid.

According to the British Medical Journal (BMJ), “chronic pain affects between one-third and one-half of the population of the UK, corresponding to just under 28 million adults, based on data from the best available published studies. This figure is likely to increase further in line with an ageing population.” Science Daily says, “Researchers report that 50.2 million (20.5 per cent) U.S. adults experience chronic pain based on analysis of the new NHIS data. They estimated the total value of lost productivity due to chronic pain to be nearly $300 billion annually.”

Traditionally, certainly since the 90s, opioids have been the go-to for physicians to prescribe for pain symptoms. The unfortunate reality is that opioids are highly addictive, which has led to people taking more than the recommended dose, taking them too frequently and in some cases overdose, leading to death! For this reason, even the UN is looking into the global opioid crisis and considering how it is best managed.

The Blossoming Hemp Trend

Effects of CBD on Pets: Unravelling Facts from Fiction

Moving Forward

Last week, a couple of developments took place at both the state and global levels regarding the regulation of cannabis in regards to it being something that humans put into their bodies.

LABELING GETS SPECIFIC

The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board issued a policy statement last week clarifying the rules surrounding structure or function claims made about cannabis-infused products. Those are essentially claims about what a product does. For example, a bottle of daily multivitamins may say something about maintaining heart health, or a vitamin C supplement could mention that it supports the immune system. What could not be said, however, is that either product is meant to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

As a matter of fact, when it comes to cannabis, products making structure or function claims — like a CBD tincture formulated for pain relief — must explicitly state on the product's packaging that it is not meant to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Any packaging that includes a structure or function claim must include this exact phrase, "this statement has not been evaluated by the State of Washington. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease."

Cannabis and empathy? You might be wondering, “what does empathy have to do with cannabis? I thought stoners were supposed to be apathetic.” Well, the answer might surprise you.

Studies suggest cannabis actually positively impacts our ability to process emotions. Cannabis opens up the potential to understand others better and be more aware of their feelings, according to experts.

However, we are not saying that you are a joint away from sainthood. As experts point out, such cannabis-induced empathy depends significantly on the cultivar type, user intention, and the amount of cannabis consumed. Take too much, and you may in turn suppress your emotions.

Note that I have used the words “empathy” and “compassion” synonymously for this article. Accordingly, it is essential to note what empathy means and what is its physiological nature.

Our neural networks let us be more receptive to the needs, experiences, and desires of other people. It enables us to appreciate other people’s emotions and feel at one with them, understand their point of view, and understand how and why it differs from ours’.