Edibles and Other Cannabis Derivatives Become Legal in Canada This WeekOctober 16, 2019 New regulations for edibles and extracts take effect October 17, but products won’t hit shelves until mid-December at the earliest.  For Canada’s recreational cannabis consumers, a long-awaited day is just on the horizon. On October 17, 2019 one full year after Canada’s world-historic legalization of cannabis went into effect, licensed companies will finally be able to produce and sell edibles and other cannabis derivatives, such as extracts and topicals. So far, consumers on the non-medical retail market have only had access to flower. As a result, many consumers have continued to turn to unregulated, illicit retailers for edibles, vape cartridges, and other non-flower products. Read more Taxes From Legal Pot Could Subsidize Cannabis For Low-Income Patients In New Mexico Published October 17, 2019 A new proposal would use taxes from medical cannabis sales to help people buy cannabis and fund the police.  A proposal unveiled Wednesday for legal marijuana sales throughout New Mexico would use taxes to subsidize medical pot purchases for low-income patients and set aside money for police and loans to cannabis startup companies. A panel appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, published recommendations for legalization that take cues from other states that regulate recreational marijuana markets. The proposal would prohibit local governments from banning marijuana sales, though they could apply restrictions on business hours and locations, said Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis, who led the governor’s task force on legalization. “We’re going to use some of the revenue from recreational marijuana to reinvest … so we don’t lose those patients,” he said. Read More Black market continues after first full year of legal cannabis in Canada Posted: Oct 17, 2019 Most Canadians have been able to smoke legal marijuana since Oct. 17, 2018. A year after Canada introduced the legal, recreational cannabis market, the "vibrant" black market for marijuana remains a problem, says the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. "We haven't disrupted the black market significantly at this point, but that was to be expected," said Abbotsford Police Chief Mike Serr, who chairs the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police drug advisory committee. "If there is a strong, vibrant dark market out there selling illegal drugs, people will go to that and we need to direct them to the legal market." When the Liberal government legalized recreational marijuana use exactly one year ago, it promised to siphon away the black market's customer base and keep their money out of the hands of organized crime. But a year later, the government's own figures show that illegal market isn't dead yet. Given its illegal nature, it's hard to get a handle on the size and value of the black market — but according to Statistics Canada, just 29 per cent of cannabis users say they get all of their product from a legal source. Read More Australian demand for medicinal cannabis is skyrocketing. Calls for medicinal cannabis funding after life-changing treatment Queensland medicinal cannabis farm to supply patients within weeks Proud mum says she became 'criminal' to treat son.  Last month alone, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved 2919 medicinal cannabis scripts, more than two-and-a half times the number processed six months ago. It also comes a month after the ACT government controversially passed legislation legalising the possessing, smoking and growing of small amounts of cannabis - a move the Federal Government has objected to. From early next year, adults in Canberra will be able to possess up to 50 grams of dry cannabis and grow two plants. Read More U.S. hemp farmers are leaving Canada in the dust October 9, 2019 Struggling American family farms are praising a cash crop worth more than US$45,000 per acre. According to projections by market research firm Brightfield Group, the hemp-derived CBD boom isn’t cropping up nearly as much attention in Canada.  “Hemp is going to be a saving grace for these small U.S. farmers. It really has been a game-changer for hundreds of American farms,” Brightfield managing director Bethany Gomez told Yahoo Finance Canada. “The growth on the Canadian side is much more linear in nature. There is not that dramatic shift that we have seen in the United States over the past year.” In December 2018, the U.S. federal farm bill removed hemp from a controlled substance classification that lumped it in with heroin. At the same time, CBD, a non-intoxicating cannabis compound that can be extracted from hemp, exploded in popularity as a remedy for everything from sleep disorders in humans to anxiety in dogs. An estimated 285,000 acres of industrial hemp were planted in the U.S. in 2019, up from 78,000 acres in 2018. Brightfield expects about 87 per cent will be used for CBD processing this year. Canada had 78,000 acres designated for hemp cultivation in 2018, according to the market research firm. “This is down from nearly 140,000 acres in 2017,” researchers wrote in a recent study. “This decline is likely driven by increased competition from the U.S., China and Eastern Europe.” They found on a per-acre level, hemp for CBD could yield sales of $45,203, compared to $235 per acre of wheat. Read More | Regular Marijuana Use Changes Anesthesia Needs OCTOBER 15, 2019 The recreational use of marijuana is currently legal in 11 states—Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington—and also in Washington, D.C. Several other states allow marijuana use for medicinal reasons. State legislative changes that have legalized marijuana have brought both medical opportunities and challenges. Read More Global cannabis stocks shifting from upstream to downstream markets October 18, 2019 Many cannabis stocks in the Canadian market have lost at least half their value over the past year as investors move away from companies exposed to cultivation of the plant. In the few short years since cannabis companies first floated on stock exchanges around the world, they have developed a reputation for being volatile and high risk. At the start, stocks exploded in value, peaking around the start of 2018. Then the hype started to fizzle, but industry experts said 2019 was the year cannabis was supposed to take off again. However, it seems most cannabis stocks in the mature market of Canada – where the drug was legalised for medical purposes in 2001 and for recreational use a year ago – have lost at least half their value over the past year. Read More Buying cannabis licenses on secondary market more of a sure bet than applying for state business permits Published October 17, 2019 As the marijuana industry matures and companies expand, many smaller, original growers and retailers are putting their licenses up for sale through the secondary market – much like selling a house. The growing trend is giving cannabis entrepreneurs a new avenue to secure a valuable business permit versus going through the state application process, which can prove costly and time-consuming. Moreover, there’s no guarantee an applicant will secure a license. “The average group will spend $300,000 to $1.5 million pursuing the license and not get it,” said Avis Bulbulyan, CEO of Siva Enterprises, a Glendale, California-based cannabis business development and solutions firm. Read More Chicago marijuana firm inks $29 million real estate deal Revolution Global, a Chicago-based cannabis company, will more than double the capacity at its flagship cultivation facility in Illinois after securing $28.75 million in funding from Freehold Properties, a Las Vegas-based real estate investment company. The doubling of size is in anticipation of a huge increase in demand when recreational marijuana sales begin in Illinois on Jan. 1, officials said. The cannabis sector in Illinois is “poised for exponential growth” when adult-use marijuana sales begin next year, Don Brain, the co-founder, chair and CEO of Freehold, said in a statement. Revolution “sees enormous potential to grow” as the “Illinois cannabis sector feverishly prepares for adult use,” CEO Mark de Souza said in a statement. Read More Chronic pain most common reason U.S. patients get medical marijuana FEBRUARY 6, 2019 (Reuters Health) - Almost two-thirds of patients in the U.S. who get medical marijuana are using it as a treatment for chronic pain, a new study suggests. That’s in line with the large number of Americans who suffer chronic pain and the strong scientific evidence that marijuana is an effective pain treatment, the authors report in Health Affairs. Thirty-three U.S. states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis for medical use since 1996, and 10 states have legalized it for recreational use since 2012, the study team notes. Patients receiving cannabis for medical purposes need a license issued in states where this is legal, and licenses require a doctor to certify that patients have a condition that qualifies for treatment with marijuana. Overall, 65 percent of medical marijuana patients used it for chronic pain. After that, the most common reasons patients used cannabis were for multiple sclerosis, nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Read More Cannabis advertising firm Weedmaps cuts 100-plus jobs in response to slow adult-use market rollouts Published October 16, 2019 California marijuana advertising giant Weedmaps announced Wednesday it laid off 25% of its workforce, blaming the slow rollout of recreational MJ markets in California and Massachusetts and a dwindling pool of outside funding. The job cuts – disclosed by Weedmaps CEO Chris Beals via Twitter – amount to more than 100 people. They affect the company’s news division and other departments. A source familiar with Weedmaps’ internal decision making said more than 50% of the company’s remaining workforce will be focused on engineering, product development and design to support its software and compliance portfolios. The job cuts come at a key time for Weedmaps, which has pledged to remove ads from its online platform for unlicensed marijuana shops and delivery services, particularly those in California. The move is expected to result in the loss of revenue for Weedmaps. Read More Colorado’s largest cannabis grower loses millions of dollars in early freeze; supply disruption expected Published October 16, 2019 | By Bart Schaneman The largest marijuana grower in Colorado – Pueblo-based Los Sueños Farms – disclosed it lost millions of dollars during an early winter storm after half the company’s plants froze before harvest could be completed.  The crop loss in Southern Colorado is expected to send ripples throughout the state’s cannabis supply chain, reducing the supply of marijuana available to retailers and processors. Those businesses could face higher wholesale cannabis prices. By contrast, extractors could benefit by getting access to additional plant material to manufacture goods such as infused products, edibles and concentrates. With 36 acres in outdoor production, plus an indoor cultivation operation, Los Sueños touts itself as the largest cannabis farm in North America. The company has been harvesting hundreds of thousands of pounds of biomass for five years. Read More France appears ready to OK funding for a medical cannabis experiment with 3,000 patients Published October 14, 2019 French lawmakers appear ready to approve legislation to bankroll a two-year medical cannabis trial program for 3,000 patients, a move that would give overseas companies the opportunity to export product to what could become one of Europe’s largest markets. Olivier Véran, deputy of the French National Assembly, submitted an amendment to the Social Security Financing Bill (Projet de loi de financement de la Sécurité sociale, or PLFSS) that is critical to secure funding for the proposed national medical cannabis experiment. The bill is currently being discussed in the lower house. Read More |
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