WeedLife News Network

Cannabis containing THC may not yet be legal in Hong Kong, or in most of Asia, but there is already a CBD cafe up and running in the Sheung Wan district. Currently in the soft-opening phase, the cafe will be fully open next month with a complete menu of CBD offerings.

Chic and stylish, Found, the region’s first CBD cafe, sells a full range of CBD-based cannabis products, including vials of CBD oil for personal use, powders to be added to foods such as oil and butters, and other products, including products for pets who need pain relief. They even sell CBD-infused beer and coffee for those who want to stay awhile in the cafe. 

The staff are said to be caring and compassionate, happy to help everyone from the seasoned CBD user looking for a specific product to tourists and folks who have no idea what CBD is or what it can be used for. 

“Most people are seeking help with sleep; we also have parents with children with epilepsy or cerebral palsy here who are using our products,” says Fiachra Mullen, co-owner of Altum International, the cannabinoids supplier in the Asia Pacific area that owns and operates Found.

Wellness Trends

Like many parts of the world, CBD has become trendy in Hong Kong with groups who practice yoga, mindfulness, and other self-care. Mullen also feels that CBD has become helpful for dealing with all the issues that come along with 2020. 

South Phoenix medical marijuana dispensary The Mint has opened a drive-thru window as a safety protocol because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This is the second dispensary drive-thru to open in the state.

The Mint operates the largest medical marijuana dispensary in Arizona and the third-largest in the nation.

“The CDC is encouraging people to use drive-thru services whenever possible, so this new offering could not come at a better time,” said Eivan Shahara, Co-Founder and CEO of The Mint Dispensary. “As an essential service in Arizona, adding a drive-thru option allows us to better serve patients as we continue to keep safety top-of-mind for everyone.”

Cannabis rained down on Rabin Square in Tel Aviv earlier this week.

Hundreds of bags of cannabis were dropped by the “green drone” telegram group, reports The Jerusalem Post. The group advocates for the legalization of cannabis.

The group, which uses the slogan ‘free love,’ hinted at the operation in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

“It’s time my dear brothers. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the green drone, handing out free cannabis from the sky … Enjoy my beloved brothers, this is your pilot brother, making sure we all get some free love,” they noted.

With the threat of another COVID-19 lockdown looming, the group reported that the situation “requires thinking outside the box and coming up with new ways of getting cannabis to consumers.”

New Zealand’s first ever ‘Hemp Ideation Challenge’ will kick off on September 5, an event designed to help drive the country’s hemp industry forward.

The initiative, which runs to the 18th of September, will use a “challenge-driven innovation process” to accelerate development of new hemp products, discover new uses for the plant and identify innovative ways to produce, process and manufacture it.

Despite being a nascent and still federally illegal operation, most states deemed cannabis companies and ancillary services as essential businesses when COVID-19 hit the U.S. Since that time, consumer demand has sustained – if not grown – and patients have been able to continue getting their medicine. Now, the legal cannabis industry is looking towards the future and “new normal” with expanding, legitimized workforces that have kept the industry alive during a national economic downturn.

 Before you roll your next joint, listen up. An analysis conducted on rolling papers showed that there was at least one heavy metal in 90% of the papers that were tested. And according to data, 8% of them contained at least one heavy metal in concentration levels above the allowable state limits for cannabis products.

Researchers from one of California’s leading cannabis labs, SC Labs, analyzed samples of 70 rolling papers — 25 pre-rolled cones, 20 wraps and three cellulose based papers, all purchased from Amazon and different smoke shops located throughout Santa Cruz.

“It is not surprising to find a prevalence of heavy metals detected in the rolling paper products and should not be considered alarming on its own,” researchers noted. “There is a wide range of concentrations of metals contamination in these products from a relatively low level to grossly contaminated.”

While it may be surprising to learn that there’s metals in your rolling papers, it makes sense. Paper is made out of plants, which naturally absorb contaminants from the soil that they were planted in. Although rolling paper manufacturers have to adhere to some regulations, including listing their ingredients, these are generally less monitored than other products within the tobacco and cannabis industry.

There will always be some level of harm associated with smoking any kind of paper, which makes switching to other cannabis consuming methods a valid option. If you enjoy your joints, you can still try to keep yourself as healthy as possible by sticking to popular and certified rolling paper brands, such as RAW.  

Harvest is the most exciting and also the most stressful time of the entire outdoor grow cycle. Six or more months of hard work and a whole year’s income ride on this small window of time, and it can make or break your operation. Here are some of the most important things to do before harvest to ensure success and avoid common mistakes.

1. Make sure your drying space is ready.

Clean and sanitize your drying area. Post-harvest contamination is a huge issue in regulated markets, so you want to have a good, clean start. Pull out your fans and dehumidifiers, clean them and test them to make sure they work. Acquire more if you do not have enough. Make sure you have a lot of ventilation and airflow to prevent post-harvest fungal issues. Buy a humidity monitor for your drying area and try to keep it as close to 50% relative humidity (RH)  as possible. Especially after the first day.

2. Decide how you are going to harvest, dry and separate buds from plants, and calculate how much space you will need to do this.

Not having enough drying space is one of the most common mistakes new farmers make. This choice can also affect drying time and ultimately the quality of finished flower. Options include:

Post-harvest contamination is a huge issue in regulated markets, so you want to have a good, clean start. Puffin Farm's drying area is cleaned and sanitized before harvest begins. Photo by David Goodman. 

3. Scout plants for botrytis and fungal issues frequently.

As harvest approaches, depending on your location, the weather may be getting cooler and wetter. Any infected buds need to be removed daily, or the fungus can spread rapidly. After harvest, continue to check drying material, as mold can take hold in the drying area and destroy your harvest.

A senior’s body isn’t as strong as it once was, which can make exercise painful. CBD topicals can help them get past some of these barriers.

The magnificent mountains of the Pacific Northwest attracted Sylvia Cate to Portland, Oregon. She spent years scaling mountains and hiking for miles through the wilderness. Although the retired urban planner has hung up her mountaineering gear, she credits CBD topicals with keeping her on the hiking trails.

“Tendonitis. Arthritis. Metatarsal problems.” She ticks off the pain issues that were slowing her down before she discovered CBD topicals. “Now I just slather my feet in CBD lotion and into the hiking boots. My last hike was eight miles!” 

Cate’s experience with using CBD to keep in shape is not unique. As Ellyn Ford, president of CBD Revolution, observes, “We started making cannabis topicals for our own pain.” In her estimation, “The Baby Boom is a generation of aging weekend warriors, and we’re all looking for relief so that we can stay in the game.” 

Exercise is a key to longevity. However, a senior’s body isn’t as strong as it once was, which can make exercise painful. But Steven Phan, co-founder of Come Back Daily CBD, notes that using cannabidiol (CBD) as a topical can help them get past some of these barriers. “By interacting with our endocannabinoid system, CBD can be effective as an option to relieve pain.” 

In June 2014, skydiver and pilot Joe Johnson was pulled over as he drove his minivan down a Kansas highway. What began as a routine traffic stop became much more, however, when the state trooper who pulled Johnson over discovered a gun, $374,000 in cash, and 66 pounds of pot in a rear luggage compartment.

Johnson’s arrest led to Operation Golden Go-fer, a DEA investigation that culminated with the October 2014 arrests of 32 illicit cannabis growers and distributors in the Denver area. The bust took down a smuggling ring that was responsible for sending tens of thousands of pounds of weed to Minnesota via skydiving jump planes and autos, bringing in millions of dollars in the process.

A new podcast, The Syndicate, chronicles the smuggling operation brought down by Operation Golden Go-fer, featuring a cast of federal agents, drug mules, DEA moles, and “a cannabis kingpin who took advantage of loopholes in Colorado’s medical marijuana laws, all the while keeping his organization afloat in the face of rivalries, robberies, explosions, and spies,” according to the first episode of the podcast.

The Culture Of Smuggling Weed

But The Syndicate is more than a riveting true-crime series that documents the demise of a criminal organization. It’s also a look into the world of smuggling cannabis in America and the culture that developed and evolved to support it. The host and creator of the podcast, investigative journalist Chris Walker, talked to not only the personalities directly involved in Operation Golden Go-fer, but other pot smuggling veterans as well, including former High Times editor-in-chief Richard Stratton.

“It was really interesting to hear from Stratton about how just the public’s perception of smugglers has changed,” Walker said in a phone interview. “Back in the day, these guys were counter-cultural heroes because you couldn’t get legal weed anywhere. And so anyone who was you know smoking the good stuff had to get it from these smugglers.”

Legal marijuana entrepreneurs are finally starting to win the battle against a long-time enemy—the illicit market. For years, black market operators have undercut cannabis prices and taken away part of the cannabis market share.

But a new study has found that the coronavirus epidemic has accelerated the long hoped for reduction in the illegal market. The legal market has especially taken away business from Mexican drug cartels, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.

That means the legal cannabis industry is not just supplying U.S. consumers a safer, regulated weed market. It’s also keeping people away from the black market and products from Mexican drug trafficking organizations “that pose the greatest crime threat to the United States,” according to the report.

Positive impact 

The findings of the report might seem somewhat ironic to those in the cannabis business. After all, cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, where it’s listed as a Schedule I  drug on par with cocaine and heroin. But this federal report shows how much legal cannabis has helped curtail the purchase of illegal weed from south of the border.

The report states that authorities on both sides of the 2,000-mile-long border project a “continued decline” in U.S. demand for Mexican marijuana. They write that this is partially “due to legalized cannabis or medical cannabis in several U.S. states and Canada, reducing its value as part of Mexican trafficking organizations’ portfolio.”

August was a fantastic month for the broad market indexes. That wasn't the case for the cannabis sector, though. Two of the biggest cannabis-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were down last month.

But there were some notable outliers. The three best-performing marijuana stocks in August delivered sizzling returns of 40% or more during the month. Here are those high-flying stocks -- and whether or not they're smart picks to buy now.

It wasn’t that long ago that there was a spike in health issues reported in multiple countries, with the culprit causing the issues reportedly being cannabis vape pen cartridges.

Cannabis vape pen cartridges grew in popularity at an exponential rate in recent years, and for good reason.

Much of the increased popularity is due to vape pen cartridges being convenient, discreet, and for many consumers and patients they are effective at providing the desired effect.

Another major factor contributing to the exponential growth in popularity is the increased availability of vape pen cartridges in legal markets. 

Unfortunately, that increased availability in legal markets has been paralleled by an increase in the availability of unregulated cartridges in illegal jurisdictions.

CannaCon the seminal cannabis convention is coming back to Oklahoma City Monday, September 28 to Tuesday, September 29 at the Cox Convention Center.

With over 100 exhibitors showcasing some of the best products in the industry including world class genetics, the latest in packaging, and the latest in extraction equipment, you will find everything you need to grow your cannabis business. CannaCon is dedicated to supporting emerging markets, and Oklahoma is home to a quickly growing medical cannabis industry.

Pesticides can be found on pretty much anything that’s grown these days. There’s an ongoing battle brewing regarding the dangers of these sprays to human health, with a growing collection of evidence in the negative category. Where does cannabis fit into all this? And what can you expect to have sprayed on your buds?

As with many topics in life, there is no official consensus on the safety/dangers of pesticides, especially when it comes to cannabis consumption, but the growing bank of literature expressing dangerous outcomes is hard to ignore. Nor is there a consensus on how much should be used, though the idea of needing to establish this is a strong indicator for the understanding of their collective dangers.

There aren’t consistently used ways to test for them, or even consistent regulation on what exactly is being tested for in order to establish the pesticide content. There isn’t a consensus on which pesticides are okay and which are not. One of the only things to be sure of, in fact, is that there’s probably something sprayed on your flowers, it might not be good stuff to have sprayed on your buds, and there could be a lot of it there.

Pesticides in the USA

In the US, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates pesticide use in agriculture with local governments overseeing the process. This accounts for any legally grown form of agriculture. Cannabis presents an issue in that it’s still federally illegal, apart from industrial hemp which technically is not intended for consumption.

This means there are no pesticides officially approved for use on cannabis for human consumption, and no official conversation about it at all. This also means there’s no official information being put out about safe levels of pesticide resins in products (if such a level exists). All states in the US that have legalized, have had to come up with their own regulatory systems, and without all the testing generally available on a federal level.

As of yet, all the legalized states have different policies, which means smoking cannabis, or using cannabis products, in/from these states would dictate different levels of regulatory safety.

As the West Coast matures from the early Green Rush and Midwest markets like Michigan and Illinois hit their stride with recent legalization, all eyes are on the Northeast as the sleeping giant that will radically change the national cannabis landscape for 2021 and beyond. Among the 40 million-plus residing in the tri-state area between New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, the East Coast offers a monumental competitive advantage with substantial opportunities for new players to make their mark as soon as the industry is given the green light to move forward—which is only a matter of time.

 “There is no question that a lot of states that were sitting on the fence on adult-use legalization will now turn to it as they look for tax revenues,” says Joe Bayern, President of CuraLeaf (OTC:CURLF). 

Bayern points to New Frontier Data that estimates that if marijuana were legalized today, roughly 782,000 new jobs would be created, estimated to grow to 1.1 million by 2025. Federal legalization, it is estimated, would generate $131.8 billion in federal tax revenue between 2017-2025.”

While most are hedging their bets on Pennsylvania’s impending recreational legalization, industry insiders know that the real story is happening in New Jersey. According to a recent Clarus report, Pennsylvania is expected to continue building on its rapid growth that has contributed to TerrAscend’s (OTC:TRSSF) foothold as one of the fastest organic revenue growth rates in the U.S. cannabis sector thanks to the strength of its Ilera unit in Pennsylvania (PA). However, New Jersey is the market with a promising outlook as the key revenue driver over the next two years.

 “Due to population density, overall population size and a prospective turn toward adult use, I think New Jersey and Pennsylvania present some of the strongest prospects in the East for sustained levels of growth,” says Greg Rochlin, CEO of Ilera Healthcare. “Given TerrAscend’s high capacity, professional operations and team in the East Coast, we are well positioned to serve our patients and communities with research-based education and high quality, consistently produced products, in compliance with the state-based regulatory guidelines.”

The investor landscape in cannabis keeps evolving. Big-name investors with deep pockets fairly recently caught on to the potential of fast-growing cannabis companies, opening up the possibilities for funding expansions or making changes to the business.

At the same time, high valuations dropped toward the end of 2019 and several companies reported layoffs and course corrections to finish out the year.

With valuations being less speculative in nature and larger and perhaps savvier investors becoming more active in this space, how can your company grab and hold their attention?

Some cannabis marketers look down on digital advertising, preferring the idea of building their brands without having to pay for clicks. Others believe that digital cannabis advertising isn’t even allowed.

Both notions are incorrect. First, brands that use digital advertising will be seen by many more eyeballs than purely organic marketing. Second, many forms of digital cannabis advertising are legally compliant in any state, and in some ways, these ads are actually less restrictive than the traditional advertising methods brands have frequently pursued instead. 

While advertisers and Hollywood-types have consistently focused on millennials and Gen-Z over the past few years, it turns out that the cannabis industry may want to turn its attention to another group of potential consumers — senior citizens. According to a report from NBC news, baby boomers in the United States, especially men, have seen their cannabis use rise in the past few years. 

According to NBC News, the numbers come from a new report out in the Annals of Internal Medicine, reflecting changing attitudes towards the drug throughout the United States. The study’s co-author Bill Jesdale, an assistant professor of population and quantitative health science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worchester, told NBC News that more people are accepting of and open to using cannabis now more than ever.

According to Jesdale, cannabis use among older adults is not only increasing in states where the drug is legal, but it is also on the rise in states where prohibition is still in effect.

“It seems that something has happened to the country as a whole,” Jesdale told NBC News.

Jesdale’s study collected survey data from a three year period from 2016 to 2018. According to the report, researchers reviewed cannabis use in over 170,000 adults over the age of 55; two lived in 19 different states and two territories throughout the country. The results found that men between the ages of 60 and 64 were more likely than most to use marijuana. In fact, according to the study, over 12 percent of men in that age bracket used cannabis in the past 30 days when asked in 2018, which was up from around 8 percent who did so in the same period when asked in 2016.

What Will These Pot Stocks to Watch Look Like in the Long Term?