Pennsylvania Rep. David Delloso has proposed legislation that would legalize adult-use cannabis for adults 21 and older and distribute it through state-run stores.
House Bill 1899 would amend the state’s liquor code to allow for adult-use cannabis and use the current state retail system to sell it, according to a local Fox News report.
The legislation also includes expungement provisions, the news outlet reported, which would clear the records of those previously arrested, charged or convicted under Pennsylvania’s Controlled Substance, Drug, Device, and Cosmetic Act.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman announced their support for adult-use legalization last week during a press conference, and indicated the need for criminal justice components in any future legislation.
“We’re seeking a path to restorative justice through the expungement of past convictions of non-violent and small cannabis-related crimes,” Wolf said.
“It's really just been a mature, civil conversation amongst people,” he said at that time.
romantsubin | Adobe Stock
Hemp Genetics in a Changing Marketplace: Q&A with EcoGen’s Derek Du Chesne
The company’s chief growth officer shares insight into EcoGen’s breeding program, its sale of 20 million hemp seeds this past spring and where the business is headed next planting season.
As the hemp/CBD industry continues its explosive growth, EcoGen’s sale of 20 million feminized hemp seeds this past March at the annual NOCO Hemp Expo in Denver demonstrates just how big the industry could become.
The Colorado-based company is a vertically integrated supplier of hemp-derived ingredients and a manufacturer of white-label products for the industry. It has placed a heavy focus on genetic research and an in-house breeding program, which has helped it earn the trust of hemp farmers, as evidenced by the company’s massive $11-million sale this past spring.
Here, Derek Du Chesne, EcoGen’s chief growth officer, discusses the company’s genetics and its plans for next planting season, as well as his advice for farmers entering the space.
Cannabis Business Times: Why did the company originally decide to launch a breeding program?
DDC: Joseph Nunez, our co-founder, started building out processing, extraction and refinement equipment in 2013, for the medical marijuana community. He outgrew that industry very quickly, and then, once the 2014 Farm Bill passed, he started building out processing and extraction equipment on an industrial scale. In 2015-2016, it was more of an issue getting the right quality biomass. It doesn’t matter how big or great your machines are—if you don’t have the right material to put into them, you’re not going to get the right end product. That forced us to get into creating our own genetics and hunting all over the world for different phenotypes and strains, and crossbreeding and trying to create hemp strains that were made for yield and for cannabinoid profiles and terpene profiles. Originally, hemp was used for textiles and fibers, and not really [for] developing the cannabinoid profiles.
CBT: What are some of the overall goals of EgoGen’s breeding program?
DDC: We’re not trying to be the biggest farmers out there and we probably never will be. There are people who have been doing it for generations and have been doing it a lot better than we are. We have about 413 acres of our own farmable land and about another 1,000 acres of partnership farms, where we supply the genetics and the consulting, and we’ve been helping a lot of these soy farmers and corn farmers convert their fields over to hemp. It’s been really exciting helping to build out this infrastructure network of partnership farms, as well as our own farms.
Photos courtesy of EcoGen
EcoGen's Colorado facility
CBT: What is the company’s overall business strategy as the hemp/CBD industry continues to grow and evolve?
DDC: Our core strength and our core business has really been our raw materials. Last year, the market shifted from just isolate and distillate to finished goods, so we brought on Jolie Chitwood from Soaptopia. She’s been manufacturing for 20 years. We brought her on to steer our white-label/finished goods department, which was great for us because that’s where the market was shifting and it’s much higher margins than just raw materials.
Then we started doing pain creams, topicals, eye creams, serums, gel caps, tinctures—anything you can imagine, other than food and beverage, we do in our facility for finished goods. We haven’t really launched our brand yet, but we’re going to be launching our consumer brand soon.
CBT: What did the sale of the 20 million CBD seeds at NOCO Hemp Expo this past March entail? How has it impacted the company?
DDC: The total value of that sale was a little over $11 million. We did two harvests of genetics so far this year, and in April was our first real, significant harvest, and we did over 50 million seeds. We do a [feminized] high-CBG flower strain, [and] we have a couple other feminized strains that we do.
When you’re buying genetics, it’s really a trust buy. It’s really a reputation buy. A lot of the farmers, especially this year, don’t know if you have a quality product [or if] two weeks later, [you’ll be] bankrupt. That’s really scary for farmers because it’s the most important decision they’re going to make all season. So, last year, we offered our genetics on a smaller scale—one farm for 300 acres and another farm for 500 acres. We took two farmers that we worked with last year on a larger scale, and they wrote recommendation letters on: “These are the strains we grew. These are our results. We found one male in 300 acres or no males in 500 acres, and here’s our yield.” We included that along with [a] 100-percent feminized test with our genetics packet, and right when we hit the market, we did a couple smaller sales, and then one client came along and bought 20 million genetics—20 million seeds.
The market last year was doing anywhere from $1 to $3 per seed, and we wanted to come out and disrupt the market with a higher quality product. With seeds, when you’re charging $1 to $4 a seed, you’re cutting off a lot of these farmers who want to get into it. So, we charge $0.60 per seed. With that, we had tremendous success. We sold out of our first harvest within 10 days. In June, we had our second harvest, and we sold out of that in a weekend. We had a little over 50 million seeds. We kept 10 million seeds for ourselves, for our own farm, and then we sold a little bit more than 40 million. We’re having another genetics harvest here in November, which will probably be bigger than both of those combined—it’ll probably be 70 million. It’s hard to gauge, but we expanded on our genetics operation more for this harvest, so we’re very excited for that, especially because a lot of states opened up [hemp markets] at the end of planting season. A lot of people have been waiting for our genetics to come out so they can get ready for next harvest.
Our goal is to do a seed project. We want to do half a billion seeds. We’ve built out the facilities to do it and in theory, we’ll be able to do it. It’s exponentially larger than what we’re doing, but by this time next year, we want to continue our genetics and offer it at $0.20 a seed. We want to service Paraguay, the Philippines [and] South Africa. We’re just excited to provide the best quality seeds at the lowest possible price. As our genetics improve and our technology improves, we’ll be able to drive those prices down, so it opens up more markets that more people have access to.
EcoGen sold 20 million CBD seeds valued at $11 million at the NOCO Hemp Expo in March.
CBT: What is your overall outlook on the size and growth potential of the hemp/CBD market?
DDC: Two years ago, if there was a client that wanted 10 kilograms of distillate or isolate, that was a big client. That was a big order. Now, Japan opened up, Hong Kong opened up, and we have contracts with clients that are 1,000 units a month, which is more than some companies were producing all of last year. I can’t give out their names just yet, but it’s all these household brands that we grew up with, whether it’s the cereal we’re eating or the drinks in our fridge. All of these companies have been waiting and doing R&D and formulations on products, just waiting for the FDA to give some guidance and approve it in food and beverage.
I think the pharmaceutical industry probably would’ve gotten CBD banned, but the cat’s already out of the bag and now it’s so many different companies with so many different interests, and now you have every vertical [like] tobacco, cosmetics, pets, food and beverage—all these companies lobbying pro-CBD. So, I have no idea how big this industry is going to get, but the fact that the world has embraced it in such a quick way [with] so many different industries and [pieces of] legislation [is promising]. It’s an industry that’s grown so much off consumer demand and consumer results, and I think CBD is going to be like sugar. It’s going to be in everything. A couple years from now, you’re going to [go to] Sephora and you’re going to see undereye cream from Loreal or Revlon or whatever with CBD in it. It’s going to be such a popular raw ingredient.
CBT: What advice do you have for farmers who are trying to enter the hemp space?
DDC: As this industry grows and farmers are looking for a way to get into the industry, [they need to] make sure that they are getting their genetics from a credible, reliable source, and make sure that they’re only purchasing feminized genetics. A lot of people bought unfeminized seeds, and even if five percent of your crop are males, it’ll ruin your entire crop. It’s a very good industry for farmers to get into, but for their neighbor’s sake and due to crosspollination, just make sure if you’re going to get into the industry, you do it the right way. Find the right genetics. Make sure it’s feminized.
Also, another thing I’m seeing for farmers is they made a big investment into farming, but when it comes to drying it and storing it, which is two-thirds of the battle, they made zero investments or infrastructure for it. The last thing you want is to spend months on this crop and [then] you’re trying to dry it or process it and it gets moldy.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for style, length and clarity.
Adobe Stock
Responding to the Recent U.S. Surgeon General Cannabis Advisory
The language—and the evidence—we use to describe cannabis is important to the industry's success.
In August, on the heels of a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announcement that it would finally begin to expand certifications for cannabis cultivation facilities in an effort to increase access to research material, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams released a warning against the dangers of “marijuana” use and the developing brain.
Before the 1930s, “marijuana” was in every medicine cabinet in America. Known by its scientific name, Cannabis, it had been a staple of the United States Pharmacopoeia, most often purchased and prescribed in tincture form, until it was dropped in 1942 after the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 rebranded this common household item, now referred to as “marihuana”—a pejorative stab steeped in anti-Mexican sentiment.
I start here because the language—and the evidence—we use to describe this pharmaceutical powerhouse matters.
While the surgeon general was not wrong to consider concerns in much the same way one would expect any medicinal product to be scrutinized to ensure safety, the decision to use the term “marijuana” throughout, the alarmist rhetoric and the cherry-picked references chosen to highlight the perceived consequences of cannabis without mention of its proven benefits hark back to a foundation of misinformation first laid just a century ago.
Let’s unpack the statement. Adams' original text is in italics.
U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory: Marijuana Use and the Developing Brain
I, Surgeon General VADM Jerome Adams, am emphasizing the importance of protecting our Nation from the health risks of marijuana use in adolescence and during pregnancy. Recent increases in access to marijuana and in its potency, along with misperceptions of safetyof marijuana endanger our most precious resource, our nation’s youth.
With his very first sentence, the surgeon general describes cannabis use as an epidemic. A paternalistic tone is immediately taken to convey a need to protect the consumers in question from their own choices, for themselves and their children.
As to its safety, unlike many of the FDA-approved pharmaceuticals consumers are now regularly choosing to replace as access to the plant grows, thousands of years of plant-based cannabis consumption have proven both its efficacy in treating a wide variety of symptoms and conditions without the risk of fatal overdose. We have millennia of evidence.
Additionally, uncomfortable side-effects associated with over-medication of the intoxicating compound THC are generally short-lived, resolving after cessation and are preventable with careful consumption. This describes a need for education, not prohibition. Even high doses of synthetic THC preparations - the pharmaceutical-made, FDA-approved kind we see in lab and clinical studies that don’t bind to receptors in the body the same as plant-sourced cannabinoids and can increase unpleasant outcomes when not carefully dosed - have an extraordinarily high toxicity threshold.
Background
Marijuana, or cannabis, is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. It acts by binding to cannabinoid receptors in the brain to produce a variety of effects, including euphoria, intoxication, and memory and motor impairments. These same cannabinoid receptors are also critical for brain development. They are part of the endocannabinoid system, which impacts the formation of brain circuits important for decision making, mood and responding to stress.
Dr. Adams doesn't seem to have a keen grasp on how the endocannabinoid system works. Cannabis engages receptors in both the brain and the body to regulate systemic homeostasis and optimal wellness. In addition to producing the fearful effects of euphoria described - thereby capable of increasing mood elevation and decreasing the negative health outcomes associated with stress - it can also optimize sleep, digestion, memory, pain responses, as well as neural and immune activity.
Two other things to keep in mind here: cannabis is only illicit because the US government stubbornly refuses to remove it from the Schedule 1 list – substances and compounds defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential of abuse - despite centuries of studies (including by the US government 1944, 1972) that describe safe and effective administration. Second, if its use is so wide-spread and it were as dangerous as Dr. Adams suggests, we would have seen far more data to back up that claim. Think opioids, which have only been prescribed at current rates since the 1990s but took over 70,000 lives in 2017 alone.
The author's original draft response.
Additionally, a healthy endocannabinoid system is critical to brain development. A deficient system may need to be supplemented to prevent and treat any number of symptoms and diseases caused or affected by those deficiencies. Of course, to be fair, a healthy ECS does not need supplementation and healthy kids not in need of the symptomatic treatment cannabis can provide are wise to avoid consumption until brain development is complete - especially chronic consumption. For those who need it, the concern over a few-point drop in IQ is outweighed by the avoidance of, say, death from seizure.
Marijuana and its related products are widely available in multiple forms. These products can be eaten, drunk, smoked, and vaped. Marijuana contains varying levels of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the component responsible for euphoria and intoxication, and cannabidiol (CBD). While CBD is not intoxicating and does not lead to addiction, its long-term effects are largely unknown, and most CBD products are untested and of uncertain purity.
While chronic cannabis consumption does encourage the development of tolerance to intoxication, therapeutic tolerance remains stable. This is great news for someone who needs to work their way up to large doses of THC to treat certain types of cancers, for instance. And, though mild symptoms of withdrawal upon THC cessation may occur, the claim that THC is addictive - comparable to alcohol or opioids - is more of an inflammatory statement than a proven truth and disregards a host of variables.
In this same sentence, Dr. Adams also claims that the long-term effects of CBD are unknown. This is mostly false. True, the synthetic compounds being developed by the pharmaceutical industry are unknowns, but these synthetics and derivatives are also not reflective of the natural beneficial synergies found in whole-plant cannabis products. Cannabis produces hundreds of phyto-pharmaceutical compounds that work together in what is known as the ensemble effect that help reduce unwanted outcomes and that have been ingested by humans - not lab rats -since the first cannabis cultivation.
To be fair, the point on purity is a concern in an unregulated market without strict testing guidelines and requirements. However, this is a failure of the government’s unwillingness to create safe access, not an issue stemming from the plant itself.
Marijuana has changed over time. The marijuana available today is much stronger than previous versions. The THC concentration in commonly cultivated marijuana plants has increased three-fold between 1995 and 2014 (4% and 12% respectively). Marijuana available in dispensaries in some states has average concentrations of THC between 17.7% and 23.2%. Concentrated products, commonly known as dabs or waxes, are far more widely available to recreational users today and may contain between 23.7% and 75.9% THC.
While it is true that THC potency has increased as research and development in legal markets explore the limits of what the plant is capable of producing, having potent options available to those with debilitating conditions and high tolerances is important. Even if we compare cannabis to alcohol consumption purely for the purpose of intoxication, it’s a matter of choice. Do you prefer beer or hard alcohol? Do you change your consumption levels when the ABV goes up? It’s about common sense consumption – a feat far easier to achieve with cannabis than alcohol and with far fewer detrimental consequences. For instance, the CDC reports that “excessive alcohol use led to approximately 88,000 deaths and 2.5 million years of potential life lost each year in the United States from 2006-2010.” And despite alarmist rhetoric that THC has been associated with recent reports of vaping toxicity – meaning there was THC present in some of the contaminated products, NOT that THC was the cause - regulated, plant-sourced cannabis products have never resulted in death, even at doses well above the threshold of what a human could possibly consume.
The risks of physical dependence, addiction, and other negative consequences increase with exposure to high concentrations of THC and the younger the age of initiation Higher doses of THC are more likely to produce anxiety, agitation, paranoia, and psychosis. Edible marijuana takes time to absorb and to produce its effects, increasing the risk of unintentional overdose, as well as accidental ingestion by children and adolescents. In addition, chronic users of marijuana with a high THC content are at risk for developing a condition known as cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, which is marked by severe cycles of nausea and vomiting.
Anything can be a poison if taken at the right dose. Take hyperhydration, for example. As access to high concentrations of THC increase, of course we should be cognizant of our intake and lay the foundations at the federal level for better education around safe consumption. But the invocations here of poisoning and fatal overdose and gang initiation do more to perpetuate misinformation and prohibition-era propaganda than to convey the reality of temporary side-effects from over-consumption.
And, again, these ‘consequences’ are generally short-lived. Cannabinoid receptor density in the body, which directly correlates to tolerance, is nearly reset after just two days of cessation. For those who seek to take a break after extended over-consumption, cannabis withdrawal is most often described as being similar to that of nicotine, though that same irritability and discomfort described as a symptom of withdrawal could also be a symptom of a deficient system no longer getting the supplements it needs.
Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome is rare and avoidable, even with continued cannabis use after diagnosis. Full-spectrum, mixed-ratio products that contain low to moderate levels of both THC and CBD can help to prevent this condition from developing. This comes back to the need for better education around potency and dosing. On the flip side, it is important to note that THC has shown to be extremely effective in treating nausea and vomiting, especially for chemo patients, and has been FDA approved to treat these symptoms in its synthetic form since the early 1980s. These lab-created and more potent FDA-approved synthetics are also the primary compounds used in U.S. cannabinoid research, which skews data. Because of this, research sources should be carefully considered when laying claim to perceived consequences. These synthetics have also made their way into the unregulated market as ‘K2” or “Spice”, causing all sorts of public health problems and creating unwarranted associations with natural cannabinoids.
This advisory is intended to raise awareness of the known and potential harms to developing brains, posed by the increasing availability of highly potent marijuana in multiple, concentrated forms. These harms are costly to individuals and to our society, impacting mental health and educational achievement and raising the risks of addiction and misuse of other substances. Additionally, marijuana use remains illegal for youth under state law in all states; normalization of its use raises the potential for criminal consequences in this population. In addition to the health risks posed by marijuana use, sale or possession of marijuana remains illegal under federal law notwithstanding some state laws to the contrary.
This is what is known as the Gateway Drug Theory. Not only has the claim that cannabis use among adolescents leads to harder drugs been debunked—correlation vs. causation—but research has shown that cannabis compounds, like CBD, can reduce drug seeking behavior with effects that far outlast treatment. We are learning that cannabis may actually be an “exit drug” through craving and harm-reduction when used responsibly.
Marijuana Use During Pregnancy
Pregnant women use marijuana more than any other illicit drug. In a national survey, marijuana use in the past month among pregnant women doubled (3.4% to 7%) between 2002 and 2017. In a study conducted in a large health system, marijuana use rose by 69% (4.2% to 7.1%) between 2009 and 2016 among pregnant women. Alarmingly, many retail dispensaries recommend marijuana to pregnant women for morning sickness.
To say little of the maternal shaming this conveys, there are two things to consider here: First, expectant mothers have been using cannabis throughout historical record for ease of symptoms without evidence of negative outcome when used responsibly. Second, reports of use increased as access increased and as stigma decreased, allowing patients to feel open about discussing their consumption with their doctors.
While cannabis educators outside of the medical profession should refrain from giving medical advice, it is easy to point to historical record as a point of reference when approached by a consumer for guidance. There is an unfortunate impasse right now between advocacy and prohibition: many physicians feel unable to convey anything more than prohibitory language, whether because prohibition propaganda has done it’s job or because medical schools are only now even beginning to discuss the discovery of this primary regulatory network, the endocannabinoid system (ECS). Even those who are not overtly against learning more, often feel unprepared. So consumers interested in avoiding pharmaceuticals seek out approval from advocates, who often remain ill-equipped to provide the full picture and lean heavily on historic evidence, not current research. This needs to end. Moving forward we need to open the dialogue between medical professionals and the gatekeepers of products, the budtenders.
Marijuana use during pregnancy can affect the developing fetus. THC can enter the fetal brain from the mother’s bloodstream and may disrupt the endocannabinoid system, which is important for a healthy pregnancy and fetal brain development. Moreover, studies have shown that marijuana use in pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes, including lower birth weight.The Colorado Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System reported that maternal marijuana use was associated with a 50% increased risk of low birth weight regardless of maternal age, race, ethnicity, education, and tobacco use.
The presumption here is that cannabis consumption could harm a healthy pregnancy. But what if it isn’t healthy to begin with? What if the mother can’t keep food down? Responsible cannabis consumption is about best practices and harm reduction. An expectant mother keen on keeping the pregnancy should be allowed and encouraged to make the decisions they feel will cause the least amount of harm. If that means CBD instead of antipsychotics or THC instead of opioids for pain reduction, then we should be considering which of these choices is likely to cause the best outcomes for mother and child.
Adobe Stock
The U.S. surgeon general does not distinguish different methods of cannabis consumption in his statement.
Additionally, the studies referenced by the surgeon general appear to only be considering combustion-based consumption and not differentiating between outcomes of other types of consumption methods, like edibles or tinctures. If the only adverse outcome is low-birth weight that is associated with combustion of any kind, for which there is conflicting evidence, then it is simply a matter of changing consumption methods. It is the combustion that should be avoided according to these studies, not the cannabis itself. There appears to be no causation between adverse outcomes and non-combustible consumption. Additionally, low-birth weight is a small price to pay for maintaining a viable pregnancy that could be at jeopardy without maternal symptomatic or condition-based treatment.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists holds that “[w]omen who are pregnant or contemplating pregnancy should be encouraged to discontinue marijuana use. Women reporting marijuana use should be counseled about concerns regarding potential adverse health consequences of continued use during pregnancy”. In 2018, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that “…it is important to advise all adolescents and young women that if they become pregnant, marijuana should not be used during pregnancy.”
While it is important to inform expectant mothers of the potential for adverse outcomes, physicians should always be mindful of biased dialogue that could impede a patient’s desire to share with their caregiver. Certainly, overconsumption of any compound – natural or otherwise – should be cautioned against during pregnancy. But when we’re talking about responsible cannabis intake for symptomatic treatment, the dialogue should revolve around harm reduction and best practices, not incomplete and misleading data. Ramping up stigma will only serve to decrease patient reporting and the subsequent evidence that could come from open and honest patient/caregiver dialogue.
Maternal marijuana use may still be dangerous to the baby after birth. THC has been found in breast milk for up to six days after the last recorded use. It may affect the newborn’s brain development and result in hyperactivity, poor cognitive function, and other long-term consequences. Additionally, marijuana smoke contains many of the same harmful components as tobacco smoke. No one should smoke marijuana or tobacco around a baby.
We’re talking small amounts here, folks. And there is the paucity of reliable data to consider as well; in part, because mothers are hesitant to participate in sharing this information due to hardline stigmas still surrounding cannabis use during and after pregnancy. Additionally, the very same studies used by the surgeon general to demonize the decision to consume cannabis during and after pregnancy also state a “definitive lack of data” in regard to “risk or safety”. That is to say, the references seem to be biased and one-sided with little interest in discovering what the benefits might be in comparison to more harmful pharmaceuticals or lack of treatment altogether.
“No one should smoke (cannabis) or tobacco around a baby.” This statement is unequivocally true. We know a lot about the harmful constituents of combustion. That being said, we’re not talking about tobacco smoke here that has no benefit, but rather a polypharmaceutical plant whose beneficial compounds may supersede its negative degradants. Though, it is still advisable to avoid combustion altogether.
Marijuana Use During Adolescence
Marijuana is also commonly used by adolescents, second only to alcohol. In 2017, approximately 9.2 million youth aged 12 to 25 reported marijuana use in the past month and 29% more young adults aged 18-25 started using marijuana. In addition, high school students’ perception of the harm from regular marijuana use has been steadily declining over the last decade. During this same period, a number of states have legalized adult use of marijuana for medicinal or recreational purposes, while it remains illegal under federal law. The legalization movement may be impacting youth perception of harm from marijuana.
Firstly, a recent JAMA report actually shows that teen use is significantly decreased in all states with medical and recreational access.
Secondly, the decreased perception of harm among adolescents can be linked to the cessation of the kind of drug-war propaganda made commonplace during the 80s and 90s, which heralded the devil’s lettuce approach over examining its myriad beneficial medicinal qualities. Any remaining perception by teens that cannabis is 100-percent safe is a byproduct of a lack of education based in sound scientific, full-picture data.
The human brain continues to develop from before birth into the mid-20s and is vulnerable to the effects of addictive substances. Frequent marijuana use during adolescence is associated with changes in the areas of the brain involved in attention, memory, decision-making, and motivation. Deficits in attention and memory have been detected in marijuana-using teens even after a month of abstinence. Marijuana can also impair learning in adolescents. Chronic use is linked to declines in IQ, school performance that jeopardizes professional and social achievements, and life satisfaction. Regular use of marijuana in adolescence is linked to increased rates of school absence and drop-out, as well as suicide attempts.
Marijuana use is also linked to risk for and early onset of psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia.The risk for psychotic disorders increases with frequency of use, potency of the marijuana product, and as the age at first use decreases. Adolescent marijuana use is often also associated with other substance use. In 2017, teens 12-17 reporting frequent use of marijuana showed a 130% greater likelihood of misusing opioids. Marijuana’s increasingly widespread availability in multiple and highly potent forms, coupled with a false and dangerous perception of safety among youth, merits a nationwide call to action.
More rehashing here of the good old Gateway Drug Theory. The commonplace curiosity of teenagers seeking out prohibited activities is not a new concept and does not mean that cannabis is the cause. And, again, with its ability to treat addictive behaviors, cannabis has actually been shown to be an “exit drug” that can reduce the desire to maintain harmful addictive behaviors and substances.
Heavy, chronic use of any mind-altering substance in an otherwise healthy human could do more harm than good, to be sure. In a still-developing adolescent, this could exacerbate a lifetime of problems that may not have otherwise occurred. The evidence suggests that healthy-teen over-consumption could present problems later on in life, but there are a great many variables researchers still need to sift through to make that determination in regard to cannabis.
You Can Take Action
No amount of marijuana use during pregnancy or adolescence is known to be safe . Until and unless more is known about the long-term impact, the safest choice for pregnant women and adolescents is not to use marijuana. Pregnant women and youth--and those who love them--need the facts and resources to support healthy decisions. It is critical to educate women and youth, as well as family members, school officials, state and local leaders, and health professionals, about the risks of marijuana, particularly as more states contemplate legalization.
Let’s not pretend that pharmaceutical adherence and cannabis avoidance is always the healthiest choice.
Science-based messaging campaigns and targeted prevention programming are urgently needed to ensure that risks are clearly communicated and amplified by local, state, and national organizations. Clinicians can help by asking about marijuana use, informing mothers-to-be, new mothers, young people, and those vulnerable to psychotic disorders, of the risks. Clinicians can also prescribe safe, effective, and FDA-approved treatments for nausea, depression, and pain during pregnancy. Further research is needed to understand all the impacts of THC on the developing brain, but we know enough now to warrant concern and action. Everyone has a role in protecting our young people from the risks of marijuana.
Targeted prevention programming and science-based messaging are not the same thing. Let’s educate from the point of evidence-based research and best practices, not some outdated and unsupported idea that all cannabis is bad all of the time.
Clinicians can help by creating a safe space for open dialogue, educating themselves about the ECS and how cannabinoids work within the body, and leaving prohibitory biases at home. Clinicians can also prescribe from a place of harm reduction, which may very well be outside of the current scope of the FDA who are still enraptured by the single-compound, single-target pharmaceutical model that brought us the opioid crisis.
The discovery of the endocannabinoid system only happened in the 1990s. By taking away the barriers, both physical and perceived, to build a better understanding of how this system works to regulate every aspect of our bodies, from fetal implantation to how comfortably we exit this world, we stand to completely shift the pharmaceutical paradigm towards a preventative, polymodal therapeutic approach that ultimately reduces the risk of negative outcomes and contraindications. To look at the consequences of cannabis through a single-compound model, as the surgeon general has done here, is not only dangerously misguided, but a comment on the credibility and motivation behind his message.
Seed & Smith Partners with Gofire to Provide Concentrate Dosing Through SmartCartridge Technology
The Colorado-based cultivator, concentrate manufacturer and dispensary will partner with Gofire for precision-dosing of its cannabis oils through Gofire's SmartCartridge and patented, IoT-enabled Gofire Inhaler.
DENVER, Oct. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PRESS RELEASE -- Seed & Smith, a Colorado-based cultivator, concentrate manufacturer and dispensary dedicated to producing high-quality cannabis, has partnered with healthcare technology company Gofire, an provider of hardware and software solutions that aid in dose delivery, health tracking and medication management, to enable precision-dosing of Seed & Smith's cannabis oils through Gofire's SmartCartridge and patented, IoT-enabled Gofire Inhaler.
"Precise dosing and consistent flavor in concentrates are one of the most sought-after consumer demands today, and we are excited to begin offering it through Gofire's technology," said Brooks Lustig, co-founder and CEO of Seed & Smith. "Our company prioritizes quality, control and customer experience above all else, and we are delighted that patients all over the state of Colorado can use products made from our premium flowers and oils. Consumers desire a dependable cannabis experience that allows them to maintain control over how they are using our products and what they experience, including managing their intake and regulating the temperature to create their optimum flavor profile. By partnering with Gofire, our customers can enjoy these and other benefits with some of our most popular products."
Developed specifically for use in the Gofire Inhaler, the Gofire SmartCartridge enables the delivery of concentrate in precise, 2.5 mg increments while simultaneously sharing dose information and the concentrate's exact chemical makeup to Gofire's personal dosing phone app. By using the Gofire App, Seed & Smith customers can monitor and track their usage, allowing them to identify the outcomes they experience from the product and ultimately enabling them to ascertain their preferred dosing regimen.
Seed & Smith will fill SmartCartridges with 100 percent cannabis-derived oil, free of any cutting agents or chemical additives, in 250mg and 500mg sizes. Consumers can purchase the cartridges at the Seed & Smith dispensary and utilize with their Gofire Inhaler, which provides convection heating as well as temperature control in single-degree increments. The Gofire Inhaler uses a patented extrusion process that draws product from the cartridge into the convection oven on a dose-by-dose basis. As a result, there's no re-heating of product and no degradation over time, creating a more flavorful, enjoyable experience for recreational users and a more consistent medication delivery for medical patients.
"As a leader in concentrate manufacturing, Seed & Smith has established a reputation for consistency, quality and reliability," said Peter Calfee, CEO of Gofire. "Now, their products will be even more reliably consistent for consumers who are particularly interested in controlling their experience, whether the consumer is a patient seeking doctor-recommended medical relief or an enthusiast seeking the highest-quality product."
Seed & Smith's SmartCartridge products are now available at their flagship location.
Henryk Sadura | Adobe Stock
Illinois Releases ‘Disproportionately Impacted Areas’ Map for Adult-Use Cannabis Business Licensing
State officials have identified 683 areas where license applicants would get preference under the law’s social equity provision.
Illinois officials have released a “disproportionately impacted areas” map of regions in the state where adult-use cannabis business applicants would get preference under the law’s social equity provision.
The map, released Sept. 30, shows 683 Census tracts considered to be “disproportionately impacted” by past cannabis law enforcement, according to an Associated Press report. Adult-use cultivation and dispensary license applicants who have lived in one of these areas for five of the past 10 years or who have been arrested for certain cannabis-related offenses will get additional points on their applications due to social equity provisions written into the state’s cannabis law.
Two million people live in these areas, which have high poverty rates coupled with above average rates of arrests, conviction and incarceration for cannabis-related crimes, the Associated Press reports.
Illinois begins accepting a new round of applications for cannabis cultivation and dispensary licenses Oct. 1, according to the news outlet.
Legislative Map
Cannabis Business Times’ interactive legislative map is another tool to help cultivators quickly navigate state cannabis laws and find news relevant to their markets. View More