WeedLife News Network

Removing mandatory drug tests for railroad workers would encourage more people to apply for positions and offer employees more security

Currently, only one in 20 Denver dispensaries offer delivery services.

Though the cannabis legalization movement in the U.S. has spawned plenty of "bud and breakfasts" and weed-friendly, budget hotels, a handful of boutique hoteliers are targeting the high-end cannabis traveler - no pun intended.

Expansion at the sector's more premium end comes as the number of Americans interested in cannabis-related travel has swelled, according to Brian Applegarth, founder of the Cannabis Travel Association and Cultivar Brands, a strategic marketing agency specializing in the cannabis industry.

In early 2020, just prior to the pandemic, Cultivar partnered with MMGY Travel Intelligence to analyze the burgeoning cannabis traveler segment. They discovered that 29% of all active leisure travelers in the U.S. could be identified as being part of a growing "cannabis-motivated travel audience."

Findings from a recent pandemic-era survey, released this summer, indicate that the size of that audience has increased to 37% of all active leisure travelers, with Gen Z and millennial travelers, in particular, reporting overwhelming interest in engaging in at least one cannabis-related activity while on vacation.

"There's also this sophisticated kind of connoisseur" that's emerging, said Applegarth. "And the data shows, if you look at the median and mean household incomes, the cannabis-interested audience has a very compelling profile when it comes to disposable income."

California leads the way

The trend is being led by properties in California, both an early adopter of relaxed marijuana laws and the nation's top grower of cannabis.

Here are some of the most popular and noteworthy approaches to weed packaging today to help you get a sense of how far this simple afterthought has evolved into a deciding factor in the industry.

Marijuana used to come in little, difficult to open yet easy to rip baggies. If the supplier happened to be in a festive mood, maybe the bag had some trees or smiley faces on it. Times sure have changed.

With the major shifts in marijuana legalization and production over the last decade, it’s easy to forget the old days when it was illegal and there were no frills involved in the packaging.

It's up to province to regulate how cannabis is consumed, says lawyer for Quebec.

Retail FUEL dispensary will be located at former dance studio site.

ANTIOCH - Antioch has approved its first downtown cannabis dispensary after revisiting a proposal that was denied weeks earlier.

Mayor Lamar Thorpe brought back the item to the council after a check with the city’s legal team revealed that City Councilwoman Monica Wilson did not need to recuse herself at the previous hearing, which failed on a split vote.

BOISE - Starting Nov. 1, all stores will have to stop selling pet CBD and hemp products.

For pet supply store Bark N' Purr, owner Jennifer Willett said this will not only have an impact on her store but also the customers.

"We have had people in the store crying. We have had testimonials on social media. We have had phone calls. Just people saying what do I do now," Willett said.

For five years, the store has been carrying a variety of CBD and hemp products.

"Our products are 0.0% THC, third party tested, so that means there's nothing sliding through here that is going to be dangerous to an animal," Willett said.

According to the ISDA, these products are illegal.

A pregnant woman in Alabama was kept in jail for three months after officials learned that she had smoked cannabis and, reportedly, she’s not the only one.

With medical cannabis programs deeply entrenched in the state of Nevada, cannabis’ designation appears to fly in the face of well-established known medicinal uses of the drug. (Benzinga)

A Nevada judge has ruled on a closely-followed lawsuit that could have precedent setting influence on a federal level. He determined that the Nevada Board of Pharmacy can no longer list cannabis as a schedule one drug. It was a clear victory for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Nevada, which filed the lawsuit back in April 2022.

On Wednesday, District Judge Joe Hardy Jr. sided with the ACLU’s argument that marijuana has an accepted medical use, because voters amended the state constitution in 2000 to legalize medical marijuana. He ordered the Board of Pharmacy to remove cannabis from the list of Schedule 1 drugs, although the timeline for such action is unclear.

The original basis for the lawsuit alleged that despite the passage of the Nevada Medical Marijuana Act and the Initiative to Regulate and Tax Marijuana, the state — specifically Nevada State Board of Pharmacy — failed to comport with the will of Nevada voters, the state Constitution and revised statutes.

Instead of removing cannabis and cannabis derivatives from its list of controlled substances (NAC 453.510), the Board has continued to regulate them as Schedule 1 substances — similar to that of hardcore drugs with no medicinal benefit.

By definition, a Schedule 1 drug is classified as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. With medical cannabis programs deeply entrenched in the state of Nevada, cannabis’ designation appears to fly in the face of well-established known medicinal uses of the drug. This is the exact contradiction that the ACLU sought to force a ruling on:

The following editorial appeared in the Uniontown Herald-Standard. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tribune-Democrat.

The United States reached a milestone at the end of August that may have escaped many people’s attention.

According to a Gallup poll, more Americans admitted to smoking marijuana than puffing on cigarettes. Gallup reported that 16% of Americans say they currently use marijuana, while just 11% say they smoke cigarettes.

This is quite a sea change for anyone who remembers when offices, restaurants and shopping centers would routinely have a fog of cigarette smoke hanging over them, while, at the same time, marijuana was demonized as a drug favored by glassy-eyed stoners and outlaw rock musicians.

Some of this shift can be credited to baby boomers reaching the heights of political and economic power over the past couple of decades, and generations even more tolerant of marijuana following them.

It also undoubtedly is a result of a better understanding of just how addictive and harmful tobacco is, while marijuana has been shown to ease pain and nausea and is less addictive. Marijuana also does not seem to have the same destructive impact on the lungs and heart that cigarettes do.

Despite 19 states and Washington, D.C., legalizing marijuana for recreational use, farms and sellers of the drug operating off the books continue to thrive.

Marijuana remains strictly illegal at the federal level despite increasingly vocal pushes by congressional Democrats (and a smattering of Republicans) to take it off the prohibited list of drugs. That has led to states putting in place their own "legalized" marijuana programs.

What started out in the 1990s as state ballot initiatives limited to marijuana for medicinal use eventually spread to its legality for everyday enjoyment, including in some of the most populous states, such as California, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia.

But that doesn't mean all is going according to plan in states that have legalized marijuana.

Oregon, for example, has decriminalized marijuana use. Still, southern Oregon has become a hub for an illegal marijuana market, reportedly overwhelming law enforcement agencies.

Earlier this month, the Oregon State Police Southwest Region Drug Enforcement Section seized over 3,000 illegal marijuana plants and several hundred more pounds hanging or drying in Jackson County, which straddles Oregon's state line with California.

Cities and counties across the state will give voters the option to legalize commercial marijuana markets this November, potentially creating up to 150 new licenses.

At least 28 jurisdictions have cannabis ballot measures going before voters this fall. According to Marijuana Business Daily, that’s the largest cohort since California began regulating adult use cannabis sales in 2018.

Cities that could usher in new marijuana markets include:

·Avenal

·Baldwin Park

·Claremont

CARY - While marijuana is illegal in North Carolina, cannabis enthusiasts have found a loophole.

Store owners can legally sell products with less than 0.3% THC -- the psychoactive compound in marijuana -- under the 2018 Farm Bill. This legislation cleared the way for products like Delta 8 to hit store shelves and gain popularity, especially in places where recreational marijuana is still illegal like North Carolina.

Delta 8 is a type of THC itself, distilled from Cannabidiol (CBD), another chemical found in marijuana. The type of THC regulated by the Farm Bill and other legislation is known as Delta 9 THC.

But while Delta 8 is technically legal, there is little regulation of the industry that produces it. Dr. Ziva Cooper, Director of the UCLA Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids, said this can allow for bad actors to swoop in and make products that are unclean, unsafe or even just incorrectly labeled.

"A lot of these Delta 8 THC products are made through this type of synthetic pathway where there can be contaminants," Cooper said. "There can be heavy metals, pesticides, solvents, there can be other cannabinoids in there that people aren't aware of."

In fact, in a study published in the December 2021 edition of Chemical Research in Toxicology, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center tested 27 Delta 8 products. They found that none of them contained the correct amount of Delta 8 THC, and many contained additional byproducts including heavy metals and additional cannabinoids including delta 9 THC.

Coalition for Responsible Cannabis Files Legal Papers Accusing 22 Cannabis Operations Wells of Improperly Drawing Water from Santa Ynez River.

The Coalition for Responsible Cannabis filed an administrative action that if successful could wreak havoc on 22 major cannabis cultivation sites that are now drawing water from wells that draw from the Santa Ynez River.

According to legal papers attorney filed Tuesday, attorney Marc Chytilo is demanding the state’s Water Resources Control Board issue a cease-and-desist order to each of cannabis cultivators improperly drawing water from the river.

He also requested the state water board join with Fish and Wildlife to initiate a comprehensive investigation of cannabis cultivation along the Santa Ynez River. 

According to representatives of the cannabis industry, Colorado’s medical marijuana sales sit at their grimmest point, leaving the state’s cannabis industry “on the brink," reported The Modesto Bee. (Benzinga)

What Does The Colorado Department Of Revenue Say?

In July, the state’s recreational and medical cannabis sales hit almost $154 million, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue (CDOR) figures.

So far this year, total sales have reached more than $1 billion. Yet medical marijuana sales for July only reached just over $18 million, "the lowest monthly figure ever recorded since January 2014," when retail sales were legalized in the Centennial State.

Adult-use sales had it better at more than $135 million, which is a jump from April, May, and June figures. Still, that's significantly lower than last July at nearly $168 million. “There is a dangerous perception that Colorado’s cannabis industry is a cash cow,” said Tiffany Goldman, board chair of the Marijuana Industry Group. “This perception is false.”

The state employs more than 41,000 people to work in the industry. However, Goldman expressed that a number of small cannabis businesses had to close. As an example, Buddy Boy Brands' seven metro-area dispensaries closed permanently in June, with owner John Fritzel blaming "a tax balance," a market downturn, and high costs.

RENO - Should the city of Reno allow marijuana consumption lounges? The city council started debating some of the important questions surrounding lounges Wednesday.

It comes after the Nevada legislature voted to legalize lounges last year — four years after recreational marijuana was made legal by a statewide ballot initiative.

Should Reno allow marijuana consumption lounges? City council begins debate

Since the legalization of weed, a tricky problem has existed for tourists, who are often prohibited from consuming in their hotel rooms. The marijuana lounge law was intended to give local jurisdictions the authority to regulate lounges and give tourists a safe, legal place to consume.

The study, by a former University of Colorado graduate student, looked at data on twins to answer a longstanding question.

In the decade since Colorado voters passed Amendment 64 legalizing adult use of marijuana in state law, a slew of studies have tried to estimate the impact.

They’ve looked broadly and more narrowly, and have concluded — depending on how you might read them — that legalization either did or did not lead to an increase in cannabis use.

But a new study, conducted by a former Ph.D. student in Colorado, takes perhaps the most novel approach yet and comes to the conclusion that legalization may, in fact, lead to people using marijuana more frequently.

The student, Stephanie Zellers, was studying neuroscience at the University of Colorado before she followed her adviser to finish up her doctorate at the University of Minnesota. She was interested in studying the effects of substance use on the brain, but a lot of studies on the brain work the same way: you have to crack open the craniums of lab animals. That didn’t sit well with Zellers.

So she went looking for a different method, and she found it in a massive dataset on the lives of twins born in Colorado or Minnesota.

Survey: Half of Dispensary Customers Would Buy Less if Weed Prices Rose Due to Inflation.

Inflation is going to start affecting weed prices at the dispensary very soon, and our survey shows that over half of customers will buy less weed as a result. Here’s what economists say and how the cannabis industry can respond.