WeedLife News Network

Gov. Andy Beshear is expected to make an announcement regarding medical marijuana on Tuesday. 

Medical cannabis is not currently legal in Kentucky, but Beshear has said he supports its legalization. The governor Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee earlier this year, after a medical marijuana legalization bill stalled out in the state Senate. In September, the governor's office announced that the advisory committee reported that many adults in the commonwealth favor medical marijuana legalization. 

Beshear's office says the governor will provide an update on medical marijuana in Kentucky at 1 p.m. CT on Tuesday in the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort. 

The governor will be joined by Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary Kerry Harvey, Public Protection Cabinet Secretary Ray Perry, addiction specialist Dr. Linda McClain and veteran and advocate Jared Bonvell. 

Delhi-based cannabis wellness startup Awshad has announced the launch of their new prescription product - a cannabis medicinal capsule line branded as ‘Calmasule’.

The objective behind this roll-out of the new product line of Awshad is to help people experience the healing qualities of cannabis in the form of a capsule in order to enable them to alleviate pain, insomnia, stress and various other lifestyle ailments through an all-natural solution and thus aid their overall well-being. Interestingly, the naming of Calmasule is inspired by the first and foremost effect of this capsule, which is to calm down one’s nerves to further help an individual with managing anxiety, pain and sleep issues.

With this new line of products, Awshad intends to expand its target audience and customer base and thereby increase sales and revenue in order to consolidate market leadership. Thisin turn will help Awshad infuse more resources in educating and spreading awareness to destigmatize cannabis and spread awareness on its myriad wellness benefits, which till date remains the biggest hurdle in this industry.

Awshad has been working with leading cannabis manufacturing and formulation teams in India in a bid to come out with these superlative, pure cannabis extract capsules that have been proven to have very high efficacy and showed extremely promising results amongst the focus groups. Only if and when they have a prescription, the customers would be able to buy Awshad’s newly-launched capsule products directly from the Awshad website or via aggregator marketplaces like CBD Store, It’s Hemp and others.

Awshad’s new range of capsules have been made available under two variants: Calmasule and Calmasule Plus; the main difference between these two variants lies in the concentration/ratio of CBD and THC (both of them being compounds present in cannabis) present in the product. Calmasule is the milder product variant which is more versatile and can be used by a wide range of users. With 10mg CBD and 5mg THC (2:1 CBD: THC ratio), Calmasule helps patients combat anxiety, stress, insomnia and mild pain issues. On the other hand, Calmsule+ is a much stronger product variant with 15mg CBD and 15mg THC (1:1 CBD: THC ratio), thus especially recommended for those facing chronic and more serious ailments like chronic pains, chronic insomnia, Cancer, Parkinson’s, Epilepsy, Arthritis, etc.

Speaking on the launch of the new product, Shivam Singhee, Co-Founder & CEO, Awshad said, “We at Awshad are extremely pleased and excited to introduce our and India’s first cannabis extract-based capsules to the market, called Calmasule and Calmasule Plus. These newly-launched Awshad capsules are meant to derive the best efficacy and results for our discerning Indian customers. Also, these capsules will be the strongest products among our current offerings, and is geared towards people who are looking for highly effective products to deal with their more serious ailments. In the long run, we understand the importance of a variety of products under a trusted brand can lead to bigger market acceptance, and knowing that our customers come from diverse backgrounds and situations, we shall continue to strive to serve them all with appropriate products that will help them achieve their health and wellness goals.”

Veterans are essentially subject to the laws within the U.S. states in which they live, but no federal Veterans Affairs doctor is going to be recommending THC gummies.

It is well-known and generally accepted that active duty military service members in the U.S. cannot partake in even the slightest bit of THC. But what about once they retire?

The subject of U.S. military veterans and their access to medical marijuana continues to be a topic of debate and several proposed bills in congress.

As it stands, veterans are essentially subject to the laws within the U.S. states in which they live, but no federal Veterans Affairs (V.A.) doctor is going to be recommending THC gummies.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website, “As long as the Food and Drug Administration classifies marijuana as Schedule I, V.A. health care providers may not recommend it or assist Veterans to obtain it.”

The classification as a Schedule I substance poses all sorts of legal issues, from research to a veteran’s right to use cannabis as therapy. One might argue it is common medical sense that military veterans should receive any and all possible treatments available to them. Additionally, it is particularly taxing since cannabis has shown great promise when it comes to alleviating symptoms related to several issues that many veterans face.

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the School of Pharmacy decided that informing students on the history of marijuana, a drug that is currently illegal in the state of Wisconsin, is valuable knowledge to educate students on before they enter the workforce

Lucas Richert, an associate professor at UW-Madison, as well as a historian of medicine and pharmacy, focuses on both legal and illegal drugs, and has been a proponent of educating UW Pharmacy students, specifically on the history of marijuana. 

Although educating future pharmacists and medical professionals on cannabis may be new to the Division of Pharmacy Professional Development (DPPD), according to Richert the study of cannabis for medicinal purposes is not. 

“It's important to remember that cannabis has been used within medical circles for centuries, to varying degrees of course,” Richert said. “Scholars in the School of Pharmacy and in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, for example, studied cannabis over a hundred years ago — just as they are now.”

Similarly, the debates around medical cannabis are long standing, according to Richert. 

“The debates we are having about medical cannabis now aren’t new,” Richert said in a DPPD article. “These debates have been waged all over the world, and some of the different therapeutic modalities we have now, and generally, the way cannabis is being used today, also has echoes in the past.”

Just days after Missouri approved recreational marijuana, some Kansas City area weed businesses say they are ramping up their facilities and preparing to cash in from increased sales.

Others, however, are more relieved than elated. They view legalized marijuana, which voters statewide approved Tuesday, as a lifeline in a medical industry that is oversupplied with too few customers to go around.

Businesses in the established medical marijuana industry were counting on Tuesday’s vote, which legalized recreational marijuana for adults over the age of 21. They hope recreational sales, expected to start in early February, will help their businesses stay afloat.

“I don’t know that too many people would have been able to survive had that ballot initiative not pass,” said Chris McHugh, CEO of Vertical, an indoor cultivation, manufacturing facility and dispensary in St. Joseph.

While nearly two-thirds of Missouri voters approved legalizing medical marijuana in 2018, the state currently reports only about 200,000 active medical marijuana patients. Just more than 53% of voters approved recreational marijuana on Tuesday. Business owners like McHugh are cautiously optimistic that legalized recreational marijuana will increase the number of people willing to buy into the industry.

“There’s just not enough demand to keep the industry going and it’s slowly starving to death,” McHugh said.

AUSTIN - A topic seen as controversial to some is becoming a booming industry in the Lone Star State.

More Texans are turning to medical marijuana, and this is only the beginning.

“We’ve sold medicine to more than 25,000 Texans,” said Morris Denton, CEO of Texas Original.

Texas Original first opened its doors on Feb. 8, 2018, and has continued to grow. They are one of three licensed medical cannabis operators in the state. The company is based in Austin but saw an opportunity in the Piney Woods.

“In East Texas and Nacogdoches in particular, basically started to grow pretty quickly for us,” Denton said.

The owners say they are impressed with their dispensary’s performance in Nacogdoches, and now they are looking to expand.

OXFORD - Oxford City Council approved an ordinance Tuesday night allowing for medical cannabis dispensaries to operate within the city.

However, council members added two provisions to the ordinance, one of which tightens up the requirements for setting up operations and the other earmarking any tax revenue from the dispensaries received by the city for public health services.

The move comes in the wake of the Legislature's approval in May of medical cannabis for patients with qualifying conditions and who possess a valid medical cannabis card.

Council President Chris Spurlin said he could not support the measure.

"If it was just for aiding the critically ill I wouldn't have a problem with it," Spurlin said. "I don't see how it can be illegal in the state but make it OK to do one thing with it as long as we're getting a nine percent tax off of it."

Mayor Alton Craft asked for the ordinance to include the tax the city is allowed to receive be earmarked exclusively to the Oxford Health Systems which includes EMS services.

New research presented this week suggests that cannabis could have certain benefits for people living with bipolar disorder.

There’s a lot more to cannabis and getting high than just joints and bongs. We asked HighHerb Club about it, and they gave us the answer—a couple, even.

HighHerb Club is a freshly opened cannabis dispensary located in Sukhumvit 4 alley (just a short walk away from BTS Nana station), run by a group of friends who discovered the same passion and vision when it comes to cannabis. It really seemed like they got high one day, then one of them said “let’s open a dispensary together,” and they really did. That’s because the result is an establishment that exudes love—both for each other and for the products they offer.

The venue looks professional, modern, yet down to Earth. An array of equipment and strains are carefully laid out on the countertop, as well as adorning the wall behind. “You can fully smoke in here,” exclaims one of the staff, without even being asked if I can. That’s how you know you’re in for a good time.

There’s a lot of ways you can use cannabis, maybe more than you’d think especially if you’re just getting acquainted with it. You don’t have to keep smoking that voodoo swamp weed from a random alley in Khaosan anymore. Here are five levels of cannabis use according to the folks at HighHerb Club.

The five levels of using cannabis, according to HighHerb Club

Level 0: CBD Oil

CBD oil is considered level zero because it is still cannabis—created by extracting the sativa plant in oil form and mixed with an inert carrier oil (e.g. hemp seed oil). However, you’re not going to experience any high like you would expect from it due to the amount of CBD rather than THC contained within.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t a worthwhile item. CBD oil has a lot of benefits, and it is very useful for people dealing with symptoms from anxiety, depression, and to relieve pain deriving from health complications.

AUSTIN - A topic seen as controversial to some is becoming a booming industry in the Lone Star State.

More Texans are turning to medical marijuana, and this is only the beginning. “We’ve sold medicine to more than 25,000 Texans,” said Morris Denton, CEO of Texas Original. Texas Original first opened their doors on Feb. 8, 2018 and has continued to grow. They are one of three licensed medical cannabis operators in the state. The company is based in Austin, but saw an opportunity in the Piney Woods.

“In East Texas and Nacogdoches in particular, basically started to grow pretty quickly for us,” Denton said. The owners say they are impressed with their dispensary’s performance in Nacogdoches, and now they are looking to expand.

“We anticipate that over the next few years we will end up having a full-time retail location in East Texas,” Denton said. But how is the growing process different from recreational marijuana, which is still illegal here in Texas? Jason Sanders, the Director of Cultivation, takes us through the process from source to dispensaries in your community.

“It all starts with our mother plants. We produce these originally from seed, and then we identify these plants as being the same ratio as what our medicine is,” said Jason Sanders, Director of Cultivation, Texas Original.

They take clippings from the mother plant to create clones. These branches will be planted, left to grow for two weeks, and transferred to a flowering room.

NORTH SIOUX CITY - Voters will decide whether or not to remove a current ordinance on the number of licensed medical cannabis facilities that can operate in city limits.

As it stands right now, the limits are four dispensaries, two growing, two processing, and two testing facilities.

Licenses for those facilities were given out using a lottery system.

If the voters say yes, those restrictions will choose to remove all restrictions on medical marijuana facilities.

The initiative began with a party who failed to secure one of the lottery licenses for the current facilities that are allowed.

“Yeah, one of the parties that was unsuccessful in the original application process, and didn’t win one of the licenses through the lottery decided to take it to a vote of the public, to see whether the public would be willing to take the limits off, which would allow them and others the opportunity to also open cannabis facilities in the city,” said Eric Christensen, North Sioux City city administrator.

NEW YORK - Hip-hop superstar and businessman Sean "Diddy" Combs is investing in the marijuana business. 

A deal estimated at $185 million is in the works in which Combs would buy cannabis production facilities and retail shops from Cresco Labs and Columbia Care in several states, including New York.

"This industry-changing transaction is rooted in Cresco's vision to develop the most responsible, respectable and robust industry possible, and advances Combs' mission to open new doors in emerging industries for Black entrepreneurs and other diverse founders who are underrepresented and underserved," a press release about the deal states. "Throughout his legendary career, Combs has solidified himself as one of the most successful business leaders and cultural icons."

New York City Cannabis Industry Association President David Holland explained why buying Cresco Labs could be huge for Combs.

"They are vertically integrated in New York — meaning they own the cultivation, the processing, the delivery and the sale of their own merchandise," Holland said. "Those are only 10 such licenses given in New York state and now he's the owner of at least one of those."

My mission has always been to create opportunities for Black entrepreneurs in industries where we've traditionally been denied access.

As we look back on a decade since Colorado’s landmark vote on legalized cannabis, we assess how arguments from both sides of the debate have borne out.

Maine clarifies new limits on medical marijuana providers.

PORTLAND - Maine delivered an October surprise to medical marijuana providers with guidance limiting the sale of pre-rolled marijuana and liquid concentrates by treating them like tobacco.

The Maine Office of Cannabis Policy released guidance on Oct. 7 that effectively bans medical marijuana caregivers without a storefront from providing those products altogether while medical marijuana dispensaries and stores must treat them like tobacco products with an age limit of 21. Previously, those could be provided to people 18 and older with a medical marijuana card.

The guidance caused an outcry because pre-rolled products and liquid concentrates for vaping are among the most popular — and profitable — cannabis products sold in medical and adult recreational stores.

Democratic Sen. Craig Hickman, co-chair of the Legislature's Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee, accused the Maine OCP of "executive branch overreach and bad faith."

A spokesperson for the Department of Administrative and Financial Services said the guidance doesn't reflect a change in policy or rules. She said the guidance was simply issued to answer questions that had been raised by some medical cannabis providers and registrants.

SIOUX FALLS - Another group has come forward to weigh in on legalizing recreational marijuana for adults in South Dakota.

Last week a group of Sioux Falls law enforcement, elected officials and community leaders spoke out against IM 27, a ballot measure that would legalize recreational marijuana for anyone 21 and older in South Dakota.

Now, a group of former law enforcement officers and veterans are coming together to voice their support for legalizing marijuana in the state.

“I served as a South Dakota police officer for 12 years,” Sioux Falls resident JoAnn Jorgensen said. 

“I’m an Army veteran and a 27-year retired police officer,” Rapid City resident Roseanna Renaud said. 

“I’m an Army veteran,” Madison resident Becky Letsche said. 

Colorado identified “potentially unsafe levels of total yeast and mold and aspergillus” in a strain of flower.

The news comes on the heels of Gov. Kristi Noem (R) saying cannabis legalization can move forward if voters approve it on the Nov. 8 ballot. (Benzinga)

South Dakota regulators approved an important change in the state’s medical marijuana program. In a 5-1 vote on Tuesday, the panel approved the proposal to allow the state Department of Health to remove a requirement from how the department chooses how or if a medical condition qualifies for treatment with cannabis, reported Keloland.

In other words, the department no longer must determine if “treatments currently available for the proposed condition are either ineffective or produce harmful side effects.”

Furthermore, the state official also allowed the department to change the wording of a related requirement.

The wording was changed from “Medical use of cannabis will provide therapeutic or palliative benefits that outweigh the risks of cannabis use” to “Medical use of cannabis is determined to provide benefits that outweigh the risks of cannabis use.”

Tim Engel, an attorney representing the South Dakota State Medical Association, doesn’t support these changes and Rep. Kevin Jensen agrees, saying that there would no longer be any way to identify the benefits.

A boy who used to endure 500 life-threatening fits a month is set to celebrate his 1,000th seizure-free day, thanks to medical cannabis.

Alfie Dingley, who suffers from severe epilepsy, is one of just three people in the UK to have been handed an NHS prescription for the drug.

Mum Hannah Deacon says the cannabis – which was legalised for medicinal use on November 1, 2018 – has made a huge difference to the 11-year-old’s life.

Yet thousands of people are still unable to access funded prescriptions, with families forced to spend thousands of pounds a month to go private, or buy the drug illegally.

Hannah, 43, who co-founded MedCan Support for families looking to access the drug, said this stance has created what she described as “a block” on NHS prescriptions.

She told how medical cannabis had given Alfie back his “quality of life”, allowing him to attend school full-time and start making friends.

Applications for medical cannabis licenses are scheduled to be sent out today, but it may still be months before the first products hit dispensary shelves in Alabama.

Meanwhile, marijuana remains classified as an illegal narcotic in the eyes of the federal government, whether it's bought illicitly off the streets or recommended by a doctor.

So far, 39 states have legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, and the federal government has mostly looked the other way. Yet there exists a tension between state and federal laws concerning the drug, and it has led to confusion among lawmakers and enforcers over how the new Alabama law will work on a practical, day-to-day basis.

"Right now, there is no such thing as a prescription for marijuana," State Sen. Larry Stutts (R-Tuscumbia) said. "By the FDA guidelines, marijuana is still listed as a [schedule] 1 narcotic… which is in the same category as heroin; no known medical benefits and can be used only in research."

Stutts said doctors would only be able to recommend medical cannabis for patients, not prescribe it like other medicines due to Food and Drug Administration's guidelines.

"Drug stores won't be stocking it, pharmacists can't dispense it, and physicians can't write a prescription for it," he said. "The deal is, on the federal level, they have just chosen not to enforce that rule in other states, so I'm sure Alabama will not be an exception."

Saying that cannabis is a panacea would imply that cannabis cures all types of diseases. Even in real life, it’s difficult to find one solution that fixes every problem.

The cure-all cannabis narrative has left many rational humans with unsettling feelings about cannabis legalization. Just Google “cannabis -panacea” and what you’re likely to come up with are a number of rebuttals. If anything, the world is just moving from the prohibition era when cannabis was demonized for being one of the greatest ills in society.

Just as a reminder, here are some legendary Henry Aslinger quotes on cannabis:

With such a past that we are only beginning to recover from, it’s not surprising that any attempt to sanitize the herb is met with the level of fire and fury that it deserves. It doesn’t help that cannabis is still regarded as a compound with “no medical use and a high potential for abuse” under federal law. How then can the same plant be a panacea?

What Is a Panacea?

Merriam-Webster defines panacea as “a remedy for all ills and difficulties.” Saying that cannabis is a panacea would imply that cannabis cures all types of diseases. Even in real life, it’s difficult to find one solution that fixes every problem.

So this panacea narrative automatically comes across as a desperate attempt at marketing snake oils to an unread audience. If anything, such “exaggerated” claims seem to be doing more harm than good to the legal industry, at least superficially. But is cannabis really a “cure-all” remedy and where does such a narrative even come from? Here is a good argument for considering cannabis as the ultimate panacea.