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French trade group Syndicat Professionnel du Chanvre (SPC) and three other industry organizations have called on authorities in France to defend their interests amid fears the European Commission is about to designate hemp extracts as narcotics.

The groups warned warned that a position on hemp extracts announced recently by the Commission “would have dramatic repercussions on the hemp sector as a whole.”

Signatories

In addition to SPC, the open letter was signed by representatives of Synadiet, the French national union of food supplements makers; ITEIPMAII, the French research institute for perfume, medicinal and aromatic plants; and Phytolia, which represents stakeholders in France’s health & beauty and well-being sectors.

The EC last month issued the “preliminary conclusion” that non-medical natural hemp extracts should be considered narcotics in the EU, and appear to be preparing a similar recommendation to the 12 EU member states that will vote on cannabis and medical CBD issues at a meeting of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) this December. If the EC makes its “preliminary conclusion” final, it would throw the European CBD market into chaos, affecting hemp food, food supplements and cosmetics that are formulated with CBD.

Hit to entire sector

The French groups said classification of hemp extracts as narcotics would not only hit manufacturers and distributors in the wellness and health & beauty sectors, but would have a knock-on effect of jeopardizing investments in the sectors that process hemp straw for sustainable building materials, textiles, paper, plastics and biocomposites.

If you grow marijuana for a dispensary or personal use, you should know these tips. This guide lists 7 marijuana growing tips every grower needs to know.

In case you didn’t know, CBD is now legal in 33 states, and medical marijuana in the remaining 17. That means that you can grow your own marijuana and make a living out of it. However, making a killing off the trade isn’t as easy as throwing marijuana seeds on the ground and harvesting liters of CBD oil.

Any serious marijuana grower knows that growing marijuana is incredibly difficult. Growing quality marijuana takes lots of diligence, commitment, and resources.  With the right marijuana growing tips; however, growing your own marijuana will be a piece of cake.

Even the most seasoned marijuana growers sometimes have a hard time getting a good yield. However, here is a couple of invaluable marijuana growing tips for both newbies and experienced growers.

You don’t have to be a master marijuana grower to know that your marijuana is only as good as its genetics. The first step to growing some good marijuana is finding an excellent cannabis strain, and there are plenty to choose from. So the million-dollar question is, where do I find quality marijuana strains?

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) approved the use of BotaniGard Maxx (pyrethrin + a fungicide, Beauveria bassiana) to control insect pests in hemp. Pyrethrins are broad-spectrum insecticides that are toxic to honey bees and other pollinators. Best Management Practices (BMPs) should be followed to reduce the risk of bee exposure to BotaniGard Maxx when producing hemp.

While most cultivated hemp are non-pollen producing female plants, seed feminization is never 100% true and males (picture at right) will be present in the field. Males shed a lot of pollen, making them attractive to native bees and honeybees.

How to Protect Bees when using BotaniGard Maxx in Hemp:

Removing male plants can help reduce the chance of attracting bees into hemp where pyrehtoirds are being used.

Finally, the feds are looking more seriously into product safety and quality for cannabis and CBD products, but it’s not the FTC taking the reins.

Over the years, we’ve pointed out when federal agencies opt to ignore the federal illegality of cannabis. It happens more often than you might think depending on the topic (see, for example, the NLRB). One agency, however, that has surprisingly never lifted a finger against state-legal cannabis – though it is taking a closer look at CBD – is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

It is bad public policy when no federal watchdog is looking out for cannabis consumers (many millions of people) or scrutinizing the quality of cannabis products overall, and/or going after bad actors to deter bad behavior. To date, it’s truly been “buyer beware” outside of states putting together their own protocols on things like recalls, packaging and labeling safety standards, quality assurance reviews, and testing. None of this is approved or sanctioned by the feds, like it oftentimes is for other industries. As such, the states are literally making up cannabis consumer safety as they go along; and products liability suits (and at least one wrongful death suit) have manifested over the years. See here for our various posts on these topics.

Cannabis testing, itself, has also been problematic in a variety of states where no gold standard exists for testing. It’s entirely up to state agencies regarding what, exactly, should be tested and in what amounts, in order to be considered a “passing” product. For example, if you remember, vitamin E acetate was one of the presumable culprits when consumers were experiencing significant health issues from ingesting illegal market cannabis oils through vapes.

At the same time, California’s cannabis regulators didn’t mandate testing for additives/thickeners (like vitamin E acetate) for products manufactured and sold by state-licensed businesses. In addition, there have always been issues with certain standards of lab integrity/general competence: one lab will issue a passing result for a batch of cannabis while a second lab issues a failing result — both using the same testing methods under state laws and regulations.

Earl Blumenauer cautioned Biden from following too closely in Hillary Clinton’s footsteps, as he believes she would be President if she had supported cannabis legalization.

When presidential candidate Joe Biden announced his criminal justice reform plan, it included cannabis policies that appeared to be lacking compared to those proposed by other prominent Democratic party members. Almost none, however, have criticized Biden’s cannabis agenda until this week when one Democratic congressman described it as “essentially meaningless.”

The comment came from Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus. The congressman appeared in a video interview with Canopy Growth executive David Culver, who asked Blumenauer about Biden’s marijuana platform.

“[Legalization] is demanded by the American public. It’s no longer controversial,” Blumenauer said. “For the campaign to talk about decriminalization is essentially meaningless. Your grandmother is for decriminalization.

“Over two-thirds of the American public supports full legalization. A majority of Republicans support full legalization and an overwhelming majority of young people,” he continued. “So I think that’s where we’re going. I’m optimistic that before the election we’ll get a better statement. But ultimately, what’s going to matter is what we do in Congress and we are poised, maybe even this Congress, to fully legalize, but certainly in the next Congress.”

The state of New York will not submit a state hemp plan to the U.S.

For the past century, America has been in a fierce debate regarding the legal status of marijuana. And while individuals on both sides of the issue are passionate about their positions regarding the morality and safety of cannabis, those against legalization have largely had their way— until very recently.

It's been over a year since the 2018 Farm Bill legalized the commerce of hemp and CBD. Yet, CBD is still not regulated as a dietary supplement by the FDA.

This may come as a surprise to many people who’ve already incorporated CBD into their lives. Among the 14 percent of Americans who use CBD, most believe those products are FDA regulated. 

The FDA wants to regulate CBD, too. Over the past five years, the agency has issued reports to Congress on their assessment of the marketplace and CBD's safety. They've also issued dozens of warning letters to companies mislabeling their products. 

Still, the FDA still hasn’t issued formal regulations for the CBD industry. Why?

CBD is the new kid on the block

There are many factors at play here. The biggest reason is that CBD is simply very new. In its current form, CBD is considered a New Dietary Ingredient (NDI), and the review process is slow for NDI notifications. This process may include conducting lab tests and research studies, submitting data to the FDA for evaluation, and potentially many rounds of feedback and revisions. 

Federal trademark registration is viewed as an attractive form of property-rights protection for most industries. The benefits of such a registration are numerous.

A federal trademark registration serves to recast what would normally be localized common-law trademark rights into nationwide trademark rights. It provides the owner with the right to use the ® designation, to enforce the owner’s rights in federal court, and to file the trademark registration with U.S. Customs to block infringing imports. A federal registration also provides a basis for registering the trademark in foreign countries and jurisdictions.

Unfortunately, members of the cannabis industry have faced an uphill battle when trying to protect their brands on the federal level.

This article will focus on strategies for protecting trademarks used on CBD products, which may be grouped into two categories: marijuana-derived CBD products and hemp-derived CBD products.

Sometimes, emotions are like fireworks, suddenly exploding into colourful arrays, spilling down into every facet of life. Talk to any woman who has fluctuating hormone levels and she’ll tell you that feeling unbalanced or “out-of-whack” is something that she wishes never occurred.

Scientists have long been looking into the link between hormone imbalance, early menstruation and quality-of-life. While not solely caused by environmental factors (some of these are genetic or induced by thyroid problems or stress) hormone imbalances can affect mood, weight gain, hair loss and pain levels.

While both men and women are susceptible to hormone fluctuations, according to the Between the Bridges Healing Center, “Women experience hormonal imbalances at key transitions in their lives, for example, puberty, childbirth, perimenopause and menopause.”

Amanda Holmberg-Sasek, a therapist at Radiant Living Therapy in Plymouth, Minn., says she often sees clients who are experiencing the effects of hormone imbalance and its direct connection to a healthy sex life.

“Working with the psychological effects of hormone imbalance can really help make big changes in and out of the bedroom,” Holmberg-Sasek explained. Often a cause of dysfunction in relationships, she believes having a conversation is the first step to feeling and communicating more effectively with your partner.

One of the biggest threats facing CBD companies? Survival. CBD is already projected to hit over $16 billion in sales by 2024, so it's not surprising that there are over 3,000 brands in the market, hoping to ride the wave of success and reap the rewards.  

But there is a big problem. While there is a high level of consumer interest, the market has reached a saturation point. And yet, CBD remains a nascent category, and the continuum of consumer knowledge is breathtakingly wide. Yes, there are many consumers who are self-educated and knowledgeable, but the opportunity for brands to scale is to connect the dots for new consumers and bring them along.

The pace that the industry has scaled has provided oceans of data on millions of potential consumers. Thanks to Big Data, AI, and predictive analytics, we can finally start to make sense of it all, gathering insights that allow us to eliminate guesswork and target the right audiences. 

Clutter and confusion

Consumer interest in CBD has grown over 100 percent year-over-year for the last few years, and while the pandemic has slowed industry growth, CBD is here to stay. Search volumes at the beginning of the pandemic for “best CBD for anxiety” showed an increase of 250 percent according to Google Trends. 

However, all of this interest also creates confusion for consumers. Many brands market based on the potency of CBD or the process of extraction, neither of which most of the general public understands. Too many CBD websites market with images of sunny landscapes and green fields, all of which feel undifferentiated. Some bad actors go as far as to make false claims of health benefits, or they market products that may not even contain quality CBD. For a CBD-curious consumer, it can be a daunting task to cut through it all.

With the legalization of hemp at the federal level with the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, it wasn’t long before a new industry based on the increasing popularity of cannabidiol began to take root across the country. But the growth of that industry is at risk in Indiana and Texas, where bans on hemp flower threaten the livelihoods of farmers and small business owners alike.

Though Texas lawmakers legalized the production and sale of hemp in its last legislative session, the state has now created a framework that essentially bans the sale of “smokable” products.

Edible goods, tinctures and topicals remain okay under the new program. But farmers and cannabis activists alike have voiced concern that lawmakers violated the scope of the original legislation.

Today, the Office of Marijuana Policy, a part of the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services, unveiled plans for the issuance of Maine’s first active licenses for adult use marijuana establishments. The Office intends to issue the first active licenses to recreational cannabis businesses on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. Retail sales of adult use marijuana to consumers 21 years of age or older will be permitted starting on Friday, October 9, 2020.

The issuance of active licenses will continue the Office of Marijuana Policy’s structured rollout of Maine’s nascent adult use industry, which had been indefinitely postponed in April in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The public’s health and safety are at the forefront of every decision we make at the Office of Marijuana Policy,” said OMP Director Erik Gundersen. “While we were poised to launch this new industry earlier this year, we were unwilling to sacrifice the high standards we have set for this program by launching during an emerging public health pandemic and in the absence of a testing facility. With the support of the public health community, municipalities across the state, and the industry we regulate, we have used the last few months to ensure this new industry is introduced to Maine consumers in a manner that is as responsible as possible.”

Active licensure is the culmination of a three-step application process which also includes conditional licensure and local authorization, respectively. An active license is required for adult use establishments to come into possession, process and sell adult use marijuana, including initiating plant transfers from Maine’s existing medical marijuana program.

It is expected adult use licensees will utilize the time between active licensure and Maine’s retail sales launch date to harvest and process marijuana, ensure those products satisfy the mandatory testing requirements, and move product through the supply chain to stock retail store shelves. Additionally, businesses which will conduct retail sales will prepare to implement and support social distancing and other public health guidance at a time when public interest may attract a significant consumer presence to their retail locations.

There’s a lot of misinformation and exaggeration regarding the benefits of CBD. Here are some conditions that the compound can help alleviate.

Despite the incredible popularity that CBD has amassed over the past couple of years, there’s a lot that scientists and experts still don’t know about the compound. While it’d be great if CBD could do all of the things many companies promise it does, it’s a compound like any other, with its fair share of limitations. It’s also one that stands on rocky legal ground, meaning that it needs much more research in order for us to get a clearer picture of what it does and how it functions with our bodies.

While there’s a lot of misleading marketing regarding a large percentage of CBD products, there are a few benefits that have been associated with CBD and that have some scientific support. Here are three conditions that CBD can actually treat and provide relief from:

Epilepsy 

Photo by KATERYNA KON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images

The most significant results that support medicinal CBD oil show that the compound is effective at treating seizures and rare forms of epilepsy. In 2018, Epidiolex, an oral CBD medicine, was approved by the FDA. The drug can be used to treat two kinds of epilepsy: Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gestault syndrome. According to the research, it’s believed that CBD helps suppress seizures by decreasing inflammation in the brain and thus slowing down the messages that it’s receiving.

The designation of the cannabis business as essential caught some states and some state officials off guard. 

It was a classic watershed moment when 20 of the 33 states across the U.S. that allowed some form of sale and consumption of marijuana had those businesses designated as essential businesses in March during the early days of the coronavirus outbreak. 

And while that designation of what is “essential” was just an advisory from the Department of Homeland Security, and not a federal directive or standard, meaning that it’s open to wide interpretation by various jurisdictions, cannabis advocates jumped on the opportunity in March to remind state governors about the importance of the cannabis industry. 

A letter from the Marijuana Policy Project states that governors and legislative leaders played up the significance of access to medical cannabis in times of a pandemic: “As leaders of states with medical cannabis or cannabidiol (CBD) laws, we write to urge you to ensure patients can safely access their treatment option in a way that is consistent with public health. Cannabis is a crucial part of the treatment regimens of hundreds of thousands of individuals, including many who have vulnerable immune systems because of their advanced age or a serious medical condition.” 

The designation of the cannabis business as essential caught some states and some state officials off guard.