The big question is which pharmaceuticals it could replace.
Here’s your daily round-up of pot news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek.
A CDC study confirms that older Americans are the fastest growing group of users in the country. Use by Americans over 65 climbed 333% between 2002 and 2014. For those 55 to 64, it climbed 455%. See the study here.
The activists put up a long fight.
Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek.
Michigan almost certainly won’t vote on REC this year. The state’s Senate advanced regulation for MED dispensaries.
Both MED initiatives that will appear on the Arkansas ballot “ are simply recreational marijuana masquerading as medicine,” according to Jerry Cox, executive director of the conservative Christian group Family Council. If both initiatives pass, the one with more votes prevails.
It used to be tolerated in one part of town.
Here’s your daily round up of pot news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek.
Residents of Copenhagen’s Christiania area tore down the area’s open air cannabis booths after two police were shot and a suspect was killed. Police are concerned about organized crime’s involvement in the industry.
Alaska AG nominee Jahna Lindemuth said the state won’t allow standalone consumption lounges. Dispensaries may be able to have consumption areas. Denverites will vote on a limited social usemeasure in November. If approved it would allow businesses, such as bars, to create consumption areas.
In Europe, they drink much more than they smoke cannabis.
The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
U.S. teens are more likely to smoke pot than to binge drink according to a new study. A government study says Miamians are more anti-weed than residents of any other U.S. city, a finding at odds with a visit to Miami.
Vice says legalizing can mitigate problems associated with synthetic cannabis.
LAWeekly talks to Dr. Francis D’Ambrosio, an orthopedic surgeon turned pot activist. “Is the medicine working?” he asked a patient. “Well, then it’d be criminal of me not to renew your prescription.”
The long awaited PTSD study for veterans is recruiting volunteers.
A New York doctor is accused of trading a prescription for the powerful opioid Suboxone for a few grams of pot.
Police in Baton Rouge, La., have reduced their enforcement of narcotics offenses since Alton Sterling was fatally shot on July 5.
Marco Vasquez, police chief of Erie, Colo., spoke in favor of legalization at a national law enforcement conference.
Forbes explains how a Congressional career offender provision got Tennessee grower Paul Fields sentenced to 15 years. It was Fields’ third offense. For the second one, he was sentenced to 100 days.
Hundreds of doctors in Georgia have registered to recommend low-THC, high-CBD cannabis oil but there’s no official directory. Word of mouth is the only way to find one of the doctors.
Bruce Schulte, former chair of Alaska’s Marijuana Control Board, was fired by Gov. Bill Walker (Ind.). Schulte said the state is trying to “subvert” the industry.
Portland City Council appears ready to undo some of the restrictions governing dispensary operations. Humboldt County, Calif. growers are divided on a proposed excise tax.
Way more than doctors anticipated.
The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
In Colorado, the number of young children exposed to marijuana, mostly through edibles, is up 150 % since 2014, a study found. Reason and The Washington Post argue that the risk remains very small.
A study in rats found that exposure to pot smoke can damage blood vessels.
One in 13 Americans older than 12 have used marijuana in the past month, a new government studyfound. That figure has held steady for about 25-years. It’s least popular between Texas and Alabama. (Here’s a map.) States where it’s less common are more likely to be concerned about marijuana.
A Globe and Mail investigation found that mold and other contaminants are widespread in the Toronto MED supply. Colorado released numerous seized batches after they tested negative for pesticides.
Following a scare, Colorado determined that THC was not in the drinking water in the tiny town of Hugo, Colo.
A bill in Congress that would expand MED research does not include products containing THC or the parents of children with autism in its “Safe Harbor” clause.
In Arizona, a long-anticipated study to test MED on veterans with PTSD will begin seeking patients soon.
Michael J. Stevens writes on the promise of cannabis tissue culture.
The Guardian can’t find any evidence for the myth that babies are awash with endocannabinoids, cannabinoids produced by the human body at birth.
Carfentanil, a powerful opioid used to sedate elephants is causing overdoses in heroin users. Time asks if MED can mitigate the opiate epidemic. (See The Hill for more.)
A Colorado judge blocked the suspensions of four doctors, the first in the state to be punished foroverprescribing the number of plants MED patients can grow or trust to caregivers. Heavy prescribing doctors could see business decline with legalization, the Guardian reports.
Dr. Michael Soler is the first physician in Puerto Rico allowed to recommend MED.
The Washington Post learned that Maryland state lawmaker Del. Dr. Dan K. Morhaim, a vocal supporter of legalizing MED, is affiliated with a company applying for a state MED license. Morhaim, who’s also a physician, said he has no equity in the company, and had cleared his involvement with the legislature’s ethics advisor.
Maryland has promised to begin awarding the coveted licenses next month. The evaluation process cost about $2 million , almost five times the original estimate.
More rigorous product testing is coming to Oregon this fall, but so far no testing lab licenses have been issued. MED dispensaries can open in Hawaii but none are ready.
Tech billionaire Sean Parker doubled his contribution to California’s REC initiative to $2.25 million.
Long Beach, Calif. won a lawsuit that will allow it to maintain its dispensary ban. Voters will have a chance to overturn the city’s ban in November. It’s complicated.
High Times says Brexit could set back legalization in the U.K.
Italian lawmakers will consider full legalization. Greece may legalize MED. A new bill in Ireland would legalize MED.
Legal pot probably isn’t as big a draw for Colorado tourists as had once been thought. Seattle alt-weekly The Stranger makes a technical argument that Washington State should have licensed more dispensaries.
Edibles company Bhang Chocolate lost a $1.875 million breach of contract suit to investor Mentor Capital.
HelloMD, a site that allows patients to obtain doctors’ recommendations online, has a questions and answers site that TechCrunch compares to “ Quora for cannabis.”
Canadian company Canopy Growth, plans to start selling MED in German pharmacies.
Weed is among the highest grossing products on the “ dark web,” online marketplaces that are difficult for law enforcement to track.
Investment in cannabis start-ups is on the rise. Instagram “ purged” a few big brands’ accounts.
The Atlantic talks to a few female cannabis entrepreneurs.
Canna Law Blog has a post on the eight pitfalls awaiting the industry in California.
Dispensary chain Terrapin Care Station acquired Denver Relief’s central Denver store.
The question of use by women who are expecting heats up.
Excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
A study suggests that cannabis use during pregnancy affects brain development. More Colorado newborns are testing positive for THC.
Thirty-three were hospitalized in Brooklyn, for suspected synthetic cannabis (“K2”) overdoses in the area around a subway stop.
The National Institutes of Health sent out a request for information about varieties of marijuana and their possible research value.
Check out this chart which illustrates last week’s remarkable finding that drug prescriptions are falling in MED states.
Project CBD published a CBD Users Manual. It’s one of the better ones I’ve seen.
Cannabis allergies are climbing.
The big move by Scotts Miracle-Grow into cannabis is dividing the industry.
Buzzfeed makes the case that Facebook and Google’s cannabis policy enforcement is a mess.
The U.K.’s GW Pharmaceuticals which has seen its stock soar on data from its cannabis-based drug Epidiolex, plans to raise $252 million on the Nasdaq exchange with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch shepherding the deal.
Business attorney Hilary Bricken lays out six weed scams for investors and others to watch out for.
Compliance at Millennium Bank, a community bank in Des Plaines, Ill. is reportedly under scrutiny from state and federal authorities for working with marijuana companies.
Whitney Hobbs, a founder of Oregon distributor Highly Distributed, has sued CEO Christopher Mallott for sexual harassment that led to her departure from the company. She says he groped and smelled her. The company declined to comment but an employee refuted Hobbs’ claims.
Cannabis sales continue to climb in Colorado and support the state’s economy. See here for more.
A glimpse of the future? A group of Colorado’s largest craft breweries, led a break-up of the Colorado Brewers Guild to form a new group called Craft Beer Colorado. The split follows an overhaul of state alcohol laws.
Analyst Alan Brochstein writes that Canada’s pot policies make more sense than America’s.
Former NORML head Allen St. Pierre joined a publicly-traded consultancy called Freedom Leaf.
Just your average, .32-gram joint here.
The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
A ProPublica investigation finds that field drug tests widely-used by police are unreliable and can turn up false positives.
A study in JAMA Psychiatry found that cannabis use disrupts the reward processing mechanism in the brain. The journal editorializes that more research into the plant’s effects on the brain is urgently needed.
Smoking cannabis and tobacco together, a practice more common in Europe than the U.S., may contribute to dependency on both, a study found. See the study here.
In Canada, border authorities have cracked down on shipments of CBD oil. In Australia, some children with epilepsy will have access to the CBD-based drug Epidiolex before trials are complete.
The average joint contains .32 grams of marijuana, researchers have learned. This is an important figure for tax assessments and public health studies, the Washington Post says.
The .32 number was obtained by a statistical analysis of arrest data. In the past, researchers have tried to learn it by asking subjects to compare joint-size to common objects or having subjects roll joints with oregano.
Uruguay’s law allows pharmacists to sell weed, but most don’t want to. A small political party in Japan wants to lift the national ban on MED research.
Synthetic cannabis is still very dangerous.
President Obama’s clemency initiative has commuted the sentences of more than 300 offenders with a focus on non-violent drug offenders. The New Yorker asks why nearly 12,000 prisoner petitions remain undecided.
A case in South Dakota highlights the practice of urine tests obtained by force, with a catheter. State Attorney General Marty Jackley (R) defended the practice on legal grounds, but said “I don’t think anyone wants to go through that methodology.”
The Texas Tribune tells the story of a U.S. Border Patrol agent who got romantically involved with a marijuana smuggler.
The Kind profiles Jeff Mizanskey, who until his release last year was the only man in Missouri serving life for a non-violent marijuana offense. He spent 21 years in prison.
People who smoke marijuana regularly may have lower IQs than those who don’t, or maybe they don’t. A recent study by the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas is rather inconclusive on the whole thing, despite the study making headlines as pure fact.
Iowa lawmakers seem rather slow to respond to outside stimulus. In 2010, the state Board of Pharmacy said lawmakers should consider allowing Iowans to access legal medical marijuana. The suggestion was completely ignored at the time, but the Board says they need to consider it now.
So once again, the Board of Pharmacy is going to take up the issue and will hold a hearing November 17 to get public input.