Tag: United States

5/20/20--Charlotte's Web has earned U.S. utility patent U.S. 10,653,085, its second U.S. patent for hemp genetics. This patent is for 'CW1AS1', a new hemp variety created by company co-founder Joel Stanley and Sr. Director of Cultivation R&D Bear Reel. The patent takes Charlotte's Web's premier proprietary genetics to the next generation, and builds a strong wall of protection around it, and the products made from it. Read

5/21/20--A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) letter warning Biota Biosciences about its marketing of injectable CBD products has led to a voluntary recall that the federal agency announced on Wednesday. The agency said the company was violating federal statutes both by engaging in interstate commerce of an unapproved new drug and failing to properly label the products by neglecting to include directions for use. Read

5/20/20--A bipartisan coalition of 34 state and territory attorneys general, including Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, is urging Congress to pass coronavirus relief legislation that includes a provision to protect banks that serve marijuana businesses from being penalized by federal regulators. Read

5/21/20--The Consumer Brands Association today announced the launch of the Coalition for Smart CBD Regulation, a cross-industry group committed to protecting consumer safety and advocating for necessary resources and uniform federal policies around cannabidiol (CBD). Read

5/24/20--In early June, 2018, MedMen looked to become the Apple of pot, the first mainstream, nationwide consumer brand for the product. Then, just a few months after its Abbot Kinney opening, it all began to unravel. The company’s stock now trades for a fraction of what it did just months earlier, and it has lost more than 95 percent of its market value. As stated in a Politico article, "MedMen stands as a cautionary tale of American Wild West capitalism." Read

5/11/20--Wayne Hall Michael Lynskey review US research on the effects of legalization on cannabis use among adults and adolescents and on cannabis‐related harms; the impact of legalizing adult recreational use on cannabis price, availability, potency and use; and regulatory policies that may increase or limit adverse effects of legalization. Read

5/11/20--Hall and Lynskey review the state of knowledge to date regarding cannabis le­galization's impact on public health out­comes. As they correctly observe, the cur­rent (mostly North America‐based) evi­dence base re­garding the impacts of legalization is limit­ed, and mixed, including heterogeneous ef­fects on cannabis use and related harms. Read

5/11/20--Hall and Lynskey highlight that two of the key arguments of the legalization lobby are: a) that it will reduce adolescent access, and b) that the available cannabis will be ­safer and less potent because of state‐con­trolled levels of its active ingredient, tetra­hydrocannabinol (THC). They also give a comprehensive snapshot of the outcomes that have followed the changes in cannabis law since 2012 in the US. Read

5/11/20--According to a published commentary by Keith Humphreys Chelsea L. Shover, Hall and Lynskey's masterful essay provides a comprehensive assessment of the public health consequences of recreational cannabis legalization, which wise policy‐makers will consider as they design regulatory systems. They urge US policy‐makers to recognize that recreational cannabis legalization changes the political environment in a way that creates an important public health opportunity: cleaning up the under‐regulated and frequently harmful US medical cannabis industry. Read

5/11/20--According to a review by Hall and Lynskey, two seemingly easy indicators may be prevalence and patterns of canna­bis use as far as the public health effects of le­galization, as both are potentially linked to health and social problems in the presence or absence of legalization. Read

5/11/20--According to a commentary published by Wiley Online Library by Beau Kilmer and Erin Kilmer Neel, Hall and Lynskey highlight several out­comes featured in cannabis policy debates and correctly note that they will be shaped by the type of legalization that is imple­mented. Kilmer and Neel mention how excellent the review of the e­merging evidence about how the commercial ap­proach influences health outcomes will hopefully inform future debates in the US and elsewhere. Read

5/11/20--Based on a published commentary written by Rosario Queirolo via the Wiley Online Library, the features of each legalization policy model might have a different impact on the expected outcomes. Some regulatory policies might increase certain legalization adverse effects, while decreasing other neg­ative impacts. For example, the Uruguayan cannabis legislation forbids the selling of cannabis edibles, which might reduce intoxications among minors but increases the percentage of users that smoke cannabis. Read

5/11/20--An overview of the public health consequences of legalizing recreational cannabis use is provided by Hall and Lynskey. With this legalization, some US states have become frontrunners in international cannabis policy. Research‐wise and policy‐wise, there are two main issues, i.e. how legalization affects cannabis use and how cannabis use affects health. Apparently, there are quite a few uncertainties regarding both is­sues. Read

5/11/20--Hall and Lynskey reviewed evidence on the effects of legalization of recreational cannabis, and they concluded that it is too early to tell. So, what matters going forwards is whether there will be sufficient investment in generating evidence and conducting research into both the association of cannabis use with health and social harms and the impact of alternative methods of legislating cannabis consumption on the prevention of those harms. Read

6/1/20--In this study, health insurance claims data from 2016 was used to evaluate the prevalence of fungal infection diagnosis codes among persons who use cannabis and persons who do not use cannabis and to compare demographic and clinical features between these 2 groups. Study results indicate that within this large commercially insured population in the United States, cannabis use was associated with a higher prevalence of certain fungal infections. Although these infections were uncommon, they can result in substantial illness and even death, particularly in immunocompromised persons. Read

5/7/20--This is the first placebo-controlled investigation of cannabis in adults with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The data suggest that smoked cannabis, whether containing primarily THC or CBD, has little acute impact on OCD symptoms and yields smaller reductions in anxiety compared to placebo. Read

5/14/20--Millions of dollars pour into cannabis research each year at universities across the world, and that funding is increasingly coming from the cannabis industry itself. Industry giants such as Canopy Growth, Curaleaf, Tilray, Cronos, and Charlotte’s Web have funded, or otherwise partnered on, university research on a wide range of cannabis-related issues. Read

4/28/20--In this issue of JAMA, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) presents updated recommendations on prevention and cessation of tobacco use among children and adolescents seen in primary care settings. The USPSTF recommends education and brief counseling with a clinician to prevent initiation of tobacco use. The USPSTF also concludes that evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of primary care–feasible interventions for the cessation of tobacco use among school-aged children and adolescents. Read

4/28/20--The owner of pioneering cannabis magazine High Times said it is acquiring 13 operating and planned marijuana retail stores in California for $80 million. The purchase, which is being made mostly in stock, reflects an aggressive move into retail under the company’s new management team. Read

5/1/20--Respondents who reported using cannabis daily (i.e., 30 days in the past month) consumed almost twice as much per day of use on average as did those reporting less than daily. The study finds only modest increases in intensity among those using less than daily, but then a substantial increase (p< 0.001) for those who use daily. Read

4/22/20--A new study explains how cocaine modifies functions in the brain revealing a potential target for therapies aimed at treating cocaine addiction. The study indicates that D2R activation in cholinergic interneurons is indeed central to the control of striatal neuronal circuits and significantly affects the motor and cellular responses to cocaine. Read

4/30/20--The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently sued the California-based Whole Leafs Organica over unsanctioned medical claims it was making about a line of CBD products and supplements by marketing products as treatment options for conditions such as cancer and COVID-19 without supporting scientific evidence. Read

4/28/20--The owner of High Times is going to start selling marijuana after championing its use in the pages of its magazine for nearly half a century. Hightimes Holding Corp. said Tuesday is acquiring 13 dispensaries from Harvest Health and Recreation, one of the largest multi-state producers and sellers of cannabis in the U.S. Read

4/30/20--Marijuana can have serious interactions with 21+ different drugs and moderate interactions with 286+, says RxList.com. It can also trigger anxiety and paranoia, according to a study published in the Journal of Cannabis Research. Researchers at the University of Washington discovered that more than half of 1,500 students surveyed had experienced anxiety and/or paranoia while using cannabis. Read

5/1/20--Sue Sisley of the Scottsdale Research Institute (SRI), who is involved in a case that forced the release of a previously “secret” Justice Department document about federally authorized marijuana research this week, is now calling on Congress to urge administrative action to more rapidly expand studies into the therapeutic potential of cannabis. Read

4/30/20--The only states in which any of the four major pro league teams play where there are no broad laws legalizing marijuana are Indiana, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. In short, sports leagues have adapted. For professional athletes, advocacy for a more lenient marijuana policy has typically centered around pain and mental health management. So what's next for marijuana in professional sports? Many expect an eventual change in the NBA, and the NFL is embracing new realities. Read

4/30/20--Nearly half of people who have been or are now dependent on pot have some form of mental illness or dependence on another substance, according to a report this month in the journal Advances in Preventative Medicine. That compares with 8% of people with no history of pot dependence have mental illness or another drug or alcohol addiction. Read

5/2/20--According to an article published in The Motley Fool, although legalizing marijuana could lead to significant opportunities in the industry, it won't be a band-aid solution for all of its problems. The article points out that one of the main reasons why is because marijuana companies are not profitable. and this has much more to do with a company's management than with whether it can sell across the country. Read

5/2/20--The Trump administration has doled out millions in forgivable emergency loans to companies selling CBD gummies, oils and vape cartridges, despite blocking state-legal marijuana dispensaries from accessing those same rescue funds. At least three specialty CBD vendors scored a total of over $4 million in federal loans in April, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings reviewed by VICE News. Read

5/2/20--Researchers haven’t conducted enough large-scale clinical trials that show that the benefits of the marijuana plant (as opposed to its cannabinoid ingredients) outweigh its risks in patients it’s meant to treat. Long-term studies are necessary. Due to the lack of research, Westview emphasizes the importance of an educated community, especially young people and their parents, about the dangers and potentially addictive dynamics of all drugs, including marijuana. Read

5/1/20--Technavio has been monitoring the CBD oil market and it is poised to grow by USD 3.52 bn during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of over 32% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. Read

4/29/20--According to a longitudinal cohort study over 30-years examining the association between cannabis use in adolescence and the occurrence of depression, suicidality and anxiety disorders during adulthood, young age at first use and high frequency of use in adolescence may particularly increase the risk of depression in adulthood. All associations were independent of cannabis use and other substance abuse during adulthood. Read

5/1/20-- Constellation Brands, Inc., a leading beverage alcohol company, and Canopy Growth Corporation, a leading diversified cannabis company, today announced the exercise by Greenstar Canada Investment Limited Partnership, an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Constellation Brands, of an aggregate of 18,876,901 warrants to purchase common shares of Canopy Growth. Read

4/29/20--A California CBD and wellness company has agreed to stop marketing vitamin C and herbal extract supplements as able to treat, prevent or cure COVID-19, according to a Federal Trade Commission court filing. If approved by a California federal court, the deal struck Tuesday between Whole Leaf Organics, its owner Marc Ching and the FTC will also bar the company from marketing three CBD supplements as effective cancer treatments. Read

5/4/20--The prevalence of vaping increased between 2018 and 2019 within all 3 countries, but was substantially more prevalent in Canada and the US compared with England. Vaping was substantially higher among individuals who reported smoking than other respondents in all 3 countries, although increases between 2017 and 2019 were observed across all subgroups for most measures of vaping in the US and Canada including among those who reported never smoking. Read

5/4/20--The use of e-cigarettes among youths has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Juul is the most popular brand of e-cigarettes among youth, and it has been criticized for marketing that targets youths. Concerns of serious short-term and long-term health outcomes from e-cigarette use have led to actions from the US Food and Drug Administration, states, and municipalities to ban or restrict the sale of e-cigarettes. Read

4/23/20--In the current issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, an article by Werner and colleagues from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examines the outbreak of EVALI (e-cigarette, or vaping, product use–associated lung injury) and takes a look backward at this outbreak to see what we have learned. Although the EVALI crisis may now have faded, millions of e-cigarette users still have virtually no protection against the potential harms from the thousands of largely unregulated e-cigarette devices and liquids on the market. Read

4/29/20--Marijuana producer Canopy Growth Corp. said it had laid off 200 people across Canada, the United Kingdom and the U.S. as part of its ongoing restructuring plans first announced in February. U.S.-traded shares of Canopy were up 2.4% in late afternoon trading and down from a gain of just over 4% earlier in the session. Read

4/22/20--A study investigated cannabidiol's potential to prevent premature mortality and improve associated co‐morbidities. Results indicate that cannabidiol treatment reduced premature mortality and improved several behavioral co‐morbidities in Dravet syndrome mice. These crucial findings may be translated into human therapy to address behavioral co‐morbidities associated with Dravet syndrome. Read

4/29/20--Federal lobbying expenses by cannabis and hemp organizations fell slightly during the first quarter of 2020, according to a Cannabis Wire analysis of disclosure reports. But cannabis companies have ratcheted up their efforts  in recent weeks as federal lawmakers  work to address the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read

4/21/20--Activists in Washington State are working to place an initiative to decriminalize drug possession and expand access to treatment services on the November ballot. ACLU of Washington says they remain determined to qualify Initiative 1715, which would make possession of illegal substances for personal use a civil infraction that does not carry the threat of jail time. Read

4/16/20--Studies have shown that although possible, it is unlikely that a person who breathes in secondhand marijuana smoke will get high. However, if there is poor or no ventilation, the likelihood of a person becoming high from the surrounding smoke drastically increases. In short, for a contact high to be possible, a person would need to be in close contact with highly concentrated marijuana smoke for an extended period in a poorly ventilated area. Read

4/23/20--The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued warning letters to two companies for illegally selling unapproved products containing cannabidiol (CBD) in ways that violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). Read

4/19/20--With the rapidly growing pandemic of COVID-19 caused by the new and challenging to treat zoonotic SARS-CoV2 coronavirus, there is an urgent need for new therapies and prevention strategies that can help curtail disease spread and reduce mortality. Read

4/22/20--Based on a review assessing medical cannabis (MC) used in combination with opioids to treat non-cancer chronic pain would reduce opioid dosage, it is likely that opioid dosage is reduced when used in combination with MC. However, more research is needed to elucidate whether MC used in combination with opioids in the treatment of non-cancer chronic pain is associated with health consequences that are yet unknown. Read

4/24/20--The marijuana industry is using the fact that its stores have been labeled as “essential” as a call for legalization nationwide. According to an op-ed featured in Inside Sources, although buying a cappuccino at Starbucks is not allowed, walking into a marijuana store for a high potency weed is perfectly fine. Continuing on, the article states, "It isn’t because marijuana has been “solidified into the mainstream fabric of America”— it’s because its army of lobbyists are flexing their political muscle and threatening politicians to do as they demand. Read

4/19/20--Few models exist that can control for placebo and expectancy effects commonly observed in clinical trials measuring ‘Cannabis’ pharmacodynamics. The Foramen Rotundum Inflammatory Constriction Trigeminal Infraorbital Nerve injury (FRICT-ION) model was used to measure the effect of “full-spectrum” whole plant extracted hemp oil on chronic neuropathic pain sensitivity in mice. Read

3/30/20--The e-cigarette giant Juul Labs counted on international expansion to offset losses in the U.S., but the regulatory response abroad has been even stricter. The company has been met with ferocious anti-vaping sentiment and a barrage of newly enacted e-cigarette restrictions, or outright bans, in country after country. As a result, its ambitious overseas plans have collapsed. Read

4/1/20--According to an article published in The New York Times, wherever marijuana is legal, companies are claiming that they have figured out how to produce a bespoke high. Some of the research these companies cite to support what they are advertising has been published and peer-reviewed, but much of the recent work on the effects of cannabis has been conducted privately, and the companies are guarding their results as trade secrets. Read

4/9/20--Consumers for Safe CBD sent a letter to major retailers of CBD products and media companies to warn them about the unscrupulous claims that are being made about CBD and COVID-19. As America grapples with the COVID-19 crisis, some CBD manufacturers and stores are beginning to prey on consumers, making false claims that CBD can boost immunity against, or even cure, the coronavirus. Read

4/10/20--While millions of Americans are at home, socially distancing to curb the spread of the coronavirus, delivery service workers in the cannabis trade face a new problem: keeping employees safe from the virus. Read

4/2/20--Female eggs exposed to THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, have an impaired ability to produce viable embryos, and are significantly less likely to result in a viable pregnancy, according to an animal study. Read

4/5/20--While the American economic sectors ground to a halt in response to the coronavirus crisis, cannabis dispensaries saw their sales soar by double digits. On March 16th alone, sales doubled in California. Roy Bingham, CEO of cannabis market research firm BDS Analytics, said he expects the industry to not only ride out the coming economic storm but continue to grow. Read

4/5/20--According to a Forbes article by Alan Brochstein, the COVID-19 crisis has created some operational challenges that will likely hurt the growth in the short-term of even relatively healthy companies, but the cannabis industry may experience stronger growth than many other industries as the crisis ensues. Brochstein says investors should choose their cannabis stocks very carefully in this environment. Read

4/5/20--The spread of COVID-19 has brought nonessential economic activity to a near-halt in a number of states and developed countries, and this will probably result in a sharp recession in 2020. Yet, some businesses are actually thriving amid this chaos. Although the coronavirus crash has been largely indiscriminate of sector or industry, there are three stocks whose sales could very well soar because of COVID-19: Costco Wholesale, Trulieve Cannabis, and Teladoc Health. Read

 

4/6/20--While states continue to legalize cannabis, and the federal government continues to consider softening its stance, difficult questions persist at the intersection of cannabis and bankruptcy. As the cannabis industry continues to evolve in 2020 and beyond, those questions only become more acute. Read

4/6/20--Mike Tyson has transitioned from boxing to his latest lucrative endeavor: his multi-million dollar cannabis business. He has been selling cannabis products since 2016 through his Tyson Holistic label and is believed to earn around $1 million-a-month through his business. Tyson also has sights on expanding into a reported 418-acre weed-themed holiday resort and a "Tyson University" for wannabe weed farmers. Read

4/4/20--On Thursday, The Clayton County Sheriff’s Department announced it had arrested rapper PlayBoi Carti after a traffic stop. In a news release, the Sheriff’s Department said members of an “elite” enforcement unit pulled over a Lamborghini with an allegedly expired tag and discovered 12 bags of marijuana, 3 guns, Xanax, codeine, and oxycodone. Read

4/4/20--Female eggs exposed a psychoactive ingredient in marijuana have an impaired ability to produce viable embryos and are significantly less likely to result in a viable pregnancy, claims a study. According to the researchers, preliminary data also showed THC affected the activity of a total of 62 genes in the treatment groups compared with the non-treated groups. "This implies lower quality and lower fertilization capability, therefore lower fertility in the end," according to study researcher Megan Misner. Read