WeedLife News Network

You'd be making much more than if you had invested in an index fund.

When you're evaluating which stocks are worth holding for decades, it pays to look at a company's past performance so that you can judge its merits. In the case of an up-and-coming business like Innovative Industrial Properties, (NYSE:IIPR) sometimes a couple of years is all it takes to build the foundations of a fortune. 

As a real estate investment trust (REIT), a big part of this stock's appeal is its dividend, but its forward annual dividend yield is only 2.31%. Does that mean people who invested a couple of years ago should be disappointed in the company's dividend growth performance? Absolutely not. In fact, they should be very pleased. Here's why.

Cannabis does not need to have a large carbon footprint, but it does, and it’s not going away anytime soon.

Weed really does grow “like a weed” in some parts of the country. As states legalize medical and recreational marijuana, however, most natural growing has been tossed aside and replaced with energy-laden practices.

Some farming techniques use shocking amounts of electricity and natural resources while simultaneously pumping harmful toxins into the environment. If left unchecked, these growing methods may have lasting effects on the environment and global climate.

Rare Cannabinoid Company has launched a new website designed to help hemp and cannabis consumers learn how specific rare cannabinoids and terpenes may improve their mental and physical health. The website - rarecannabinoidco.com - offers a wealth of information and links to scientific research on THCV, CBDV, CBN, CBG, CBC, CBDA, CBD, Delta-8-THC and terpenes. People can explore the website in a variety of ways, including a new "Shop By Need" function which shows the best cannabinoids for "Sleep," "Energy and Focus," "Stress Relief," "Discomfort," "Mood Enhancers," "Appetite Suppression" and "Nausea." For those seeking even more specialized care, they can find a cannabinoid health advisor near them.

"People want to know what each cannabinoid does and how it can help them," said Rare Cannabinoid Company founder and CEO Jared Dalgamouni.

"We designed this site to make it easy and enjoyable to learn about these natural compounds and their unique properties," he said.

"Education is so important and yet so often lacking in the cannabis and hemp space," Dalgamouni said.

Rare or minor cannabinoids are compounds found in hemp, cannabis, and other plants that are believed to offer specific wellness benefits. However, unlike CBD and THC, they naturally occur in extremely small amounts. Thanks to recent advances in breeding, extraction, and technology, they can now be produced in large enough quantities to be sold on their own. Meanwhile, terpenes are oils that also produce certain effects. They are increasingly believed to be responsible for the differences in aroma and feel of different cannabis strains.

Khairy Jamaluddin says cannabis-containing products should be registered with the Drug Control Authority (DCA) as prescribed by the Control of Drugs and Cosmetics Regulation 1984 under the Sale of Drugs Act.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) acknowledges the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes in Malaysia, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said in formal recognition of medical marijuana.

The existing legislations that regulate cannabis and its by-products in Malaysia, including the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, Poisons Act 1952 and the Sale of Drugs Act 1952, do not prohibit the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

A product containing cannabis that is used for human medicinal purposes can be imported and consumed in Malaysia if that product complies with the requirements of the law.

On November 8, Muar MP Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman asked MOH to state Malaysia’s position on the use of hemp or “medical marijuana” as one of the alternative medicines that can be offered to patients.

Syed Saddiq mentioned that cannabis or hemp has been used as alternative medicines in many foreign countries and is recognised by the international medical community.

Last week marked among the most-sweeping spurts of raids aimed at cracking down on illegal cannabis farming in the High Desert in the more than two months since "Operation Hammer Strike" began.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said Saturday that since Nov. 1, its five specialized Marijuana Enforcement Teams had arrested 34 people and seized various lucrative black-market goods as a result of 26 search warrants served across nearly a dozen different areas — from Barstow to unincorporated Lucerne Valley, and to Rancho Cucamonga and the city of San Bernardino.

The total number of arrests last week marked the fourth highest in a single week since Hammer Strike began Aug. 30. Sheriff's spokesperson Mara Rodriguez said Monday that she believes five of these arrestees were booked into jail on suspicion of charges, though she could not confirm their names or the context of each booking at the time.

The black-market goods seized last week add to a voluminous total that the sheriff's department has been piling up. The seizures include:

"Investigators eradicated a total of 211 greenhouses found at these locations, as well as two indoor locations," the department said, adding that they "mitigated one electrical bypass" during the raids.

Various arrestees last week list residences that are far from the High Desert, or even California.

Thousands of immigrants working on southern Oregon's illegal marijuana farms are living in squalid conditions, reported Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), prompting Jackson County and Douglas County to declare a state of emergency. County officials requested state funding and other resources, including deployment of the National Guard, to enforce cannabis laws. (Article originally appeared on Benzinga)

Oregon State Rep. Lily Morgan noted that some of the workers have no identification papers, do not speak English and have no food.

Jackson County Sheriff Nathan Sickler said workers are forced to use holes in the ground for toilets, cook in unsanitary kitchens and sleep in shipping containers.

Oregon's labor bureau is investigating wage complaints from workers at the illegal cannabis farms and advocacy groups are getting involved.

In September, $50 million in illegal marijuana was found at a grow operation in Douglas County.

The DEA needs way more marijuana and mushrooms in 2022 to do research!

The interest in marijuana globally isn't rescinding anytime soon. This has birthed confidence in the hearts of marijuana enthusiasts that it may lead to more research and possibly federal legalization. Well, such hopes for legalization steam from news like this: the DEA wanting more cannabis and psychedelics for research in the coming year 2022. 

The DEA calling for a mass increase in production 

The Drug Enforcement Administration has made an official call for a dramatic increase in research-based psychedelics and cannabis production for 2022. In a report by Marijuana Moment, the Federal agency will declare its interest in a notice scheduled for publication on Monday that has become the topic of interest within the cannabis industry. 

The DEA has already increased its 2021 quota for psilocybin and cannabis in September 2021 but is now calling for an even larger quantity of research-grade cannabis with a broader array of psychedelics for production in 2022. 

A plan to double the number of cannabis extracts, psilocin and psilocybin, quadruple mescaline, and quintuple DMT is in the works, and the most outstanding is MDMA. The DEA has proposed a massive 6,300% increase in drug production from 50 grams in 2021 to 3,200 grams in 2022. There will be more research into the therapeutic potentials of the drug. 

While LSD will have a 1.150% increase which is up to 500 grams of powerful psychedelic, cannabis will get a 60% boost under this new DEA proposal, up to 3.2 million grams in 2022 from its initial 2 million grams in 2020. 

How safe is your vaping device if heavy metals are coming through with each puff?

Vaping is heralded as the answer to the negative effects of smoking. It has proven to be safer in many different instances, however – in 2019 we did see a short-lived crises where 68 people died and 2,807 were sickened with e-cigarettes and some cannabis-related vaping devices.

Dubbed as the EVALI, there have been many attempts to make it safer, more regulated, and so forth. The major issue with the cases back in 2019 was that potentially Vitamin E acetate was added to dilute cannabis oils. These oils were primarily sold like this in the unregulated market.

Some groups tried to put the blame on legal cannabis, however virtually every case of EVALI came from states that did not have legal cannabis on the books. In other words, the unregulated market.

However, while vaping has been “safer” than smoking in general, there is some evidence to suggest that vaping could have some other unforeseen consequences as well. This according to recently published research which was titled, “Metals in Cannabis Vaporizer Aerosols: Sources, Possible Mechanisms, and Exposure Profiles”.

Essentially, researchers were looking to see if the actual devices could be releasing harmful metals into the smoke and what potential health issues this could have on end-users. Basically, with the devices heating up the elements, they could be releasing heavy metals which is then shot directly into the lungs.

Like most cannabis related activities, the preparation of edibles requires a healthy amount of trial and error.

Making edibles is a learning experience. Aside from the fact that you’re handling and cooking with weed, you’re also baking, which is a temperamental art. While dosage may take a few attempts to get right, a bad tasting edible ruins a good amount of weed, which is something we should avoid.

While there’s no way of protecting yourself against all unexpected factors when making infused treats, there are a few simple mistakes that can be avoided with some foresight. These will prevent your edibles from tasting gross and, most importantly, from not wiping you out with a single bite.

Here are six common mistakes to watch out for when preparing edibles.

Use equal amounts of weed and oil

Photo by Tree of Life Seeds via Pexels

“Less is more” might as well be marijuana’s tag line, because it’s preferable to be a little buzzed than to have a full blown freak out because you ate an edible that was too strong. Even if you want to get crazy high, there’s only so much the lipids in oil will bind to your cannabis, so avoid wasting your weed and money.

Thailand’s Public Health Minister says he wants to make cannabis a cash crop… just not the parts of the plant that get you high. Anutin Charnvirakul, who also serves as the deputy prime minister, made a visit to a cannabis learning centre in the northeastern province Bueng Kan, which borders Laos, and posted photos on Facebook of himself walking through a cannabis greenhouse. Image: Bueng Kan cannabis learning centre. | Photo via Public Health Minister

Anutin has been a vocal supporter of cannabis when it comes to the CBD, or cannabidiol, the relaxing and said to be medicinal component of the plant, but has stayed fairly quiet on actions to take regarding the psychoactive component, THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol.

“We are opening a wide field to allow the use of marijuana, but it must be done as per established rules and criteria.”

A dire truck driver shortage that’s wreaking havoc on the US economy is getting worse — and it’s being fueled partly by tough federal drug-testing restrictions that were imposed nationwide last year, industry officials told The Post.

More than 72,000 truck drivers have been taken off US roads since January 2020 because they have failed drug tests that are now required by the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse, a 22-month-old registry established to increase safety on US highways, according to government data.

Project PA Hemp Home, nearing completion on New Castle’s East Side, was presented at the Third U.S. Hemp Building Summit in Austin, Texas last week.

Lori Daytner, vice president of program development at DON, addressed the summit, which was attended by 200 natural building professionals, hemp building materials producers and LEED professionals.

The project has a strong following because of interest in the research and testing Pennsylvania Housing Research Center will conduct on the structure’s thermal energy performance and the air quality testing Parsons Healthy Materials Lab (HML) will perform.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed a bill into law this week that would expand the pool of individuals who are eligible to receive medical marijuana business licenses, lifting the ban that had disqualified individuals with a cannabis-related felony or misdemeanor convictions on their records. Article originally appeared on Benzinga

Though the measure, House Bill 4295, contains an exception for those convicted of distributing marijuana to a minor, according to the bill available on Gov. Whitmer's webpage.

The new law takes immediate effect.

The legislation is meant to resolve a problem that legalization and social equity advocates, not only in Michigan but around the country, have constantly highlighted.

Why? Given that people of color are more likely to have been targets of marijuana criminalization in the past, restrictions on participation in the industry are viewed as discriminatory. Despite roughly equal usage rates, Blacks are 3.73 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana.

Amsterdam is notorious for its excellent food, canals, architecture, and world-class nightlife. But the city is also world-famous for its coffee shops, otherwise known as cannabis cafes.

If you see a ‘coffee shop’ in Amsterdam, you’re probably not going to get your daily fix of caffeine. Amsterdam has 166 coffee shops, and they attract millions of visitors every year. 

However, the Mayor of Amsterdam, Flemke Halsema has introduced a proposal to ban foreign tourists from entering cannabis cafes.  

The Reason For The Ban 

Flemke Halsema is proposing a ban on foreign tourists because of antisocial behavior from tourists. Instead, she wants tourists to visit Amsterdam for the right reasons. 

She said, “We would like them to come for its richness, its beauty, and its cultural institution. The problem is: there are just too many of them. The drug tourists are the reason for an increase in demand for marijuana.”

How Congress stumbled into delivering a buzz

Months after U.S. states scrambled to close a loophole that allowed psychoactive cannabis to be sold in gas stations across the U.S., even where marijuana is illegal, a second loophole is being exploited.

Here it is in a nutshell, according to Jim Higdon, the founder of Cornbread Hemp: The 2018 U.S. farm bill that legalized hemp, introduced by Senator Mitch McConnell, allows hemp-derived CBD to contain up to 0.3% THC by dry weight. Oils and gummies are so dense compared with dry marijuana, however, that you can add enough THC to pack a significant punch without technically violating that rule.

Cornbread Hemp, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is taking advantage of that by shipping gummies with high amounts of THC — the ingredient in marijuana that gets users high — into dozens of U.S. states, including those without medical or recreational programs. It is one of a what seem to be a handful of small companies flouting the gap between federal laws that govern hemp and those that govern marijuana.

Their success shows just how hard it is for U.S. laws to keep up with a little-regulated industry where the science on how to extract and convert psychoactive substances is still evolving.

“Mitch McConnell accidentally legalized weed gummies,” Higdon told me in a phone interview. “It’s not as much a loophole as it is a math issue.”

Since the challenges cannabis retailers are facing don’t appear to be going away anytime soon, the best case scenario is for them to be able to successfully adjust to a new normal.

Just as the cannabis industry was beginning to catch its stride, the world was swept into a panic caused by COVID-19. The ways in which the pandemic has affected the supply chain across industries has made life difficult for consumers of products across the board — and the cannabis industry has been no exception.

Here are just a few ways the industry has struggled through recent supply chain challenges.

The Channel Island of Guernsey appears to be throwing its hat into the cannabis legalization ring as soon as next year.

For those watching the European cannabis discussion develop, one of the most interesting places to be right now is the island of Guernsey. Located between France and the UK, the island has been going gangbusters on the medical reform question for several years now.

Now, there is a call for the island to go whole hog on the recreational reform discussion—and even more interesting, the petition is being championed by a political leader who also, not coincidentally, just resigned from the island’s Home Affairs Committee over its cannabis laws. Apparently, Marc Leadbeater’s role as a director of a local hemp company caused other members of the committee to question his perspective on drug reform.

Leadbeater is now proposing a specific political process—namely a requete—to discuss full legalization. If put forward by seven of the States members, the issue must go before the Guernsey government.

Cannabis cultivation license opportunities have been available since July of this year. The island is also home to extraction companies.

The concept of cannabis as an economic redevelopment tool for the acres of empty greenhouses that dot the island has been hot here for a while. 

Two people from Oregon are in jail after being caught with 259 pounds of marijuana in LaGrange County.

State Police pulled them over on the Toll Road yesterday.

A police K9 smelled the pot and the officer searched the vehicle.

Both are facing charges of dealing marijuana and possession.