WeedLife News Network

Two marijuana trade organizations filed a lawsuit today against the nation’s largest legal pot market over restrictions on stand-alone delivery services that have blocked them from obtaining licenses until 2025.

The lawsuit against Los Angeles and its Department of Cannabis Regulation seeks to overturn rules enacted earlier this year that postponed the availability of those licenses for certain businesses, even though broad legal sales began in the state in January 2018.

Under the changes, those licenses would only be available to so-called social-equity operators — people, many of color, who were arrested or convicted of a marijuana-related offense or lived in neighborhoods marked by high marijuana arrest rates.

Cannabis investors have endured a brutal 2020, and hopes that the November election will serve as a catalyst for federal US legalization are fading fast.

However, according to Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Pablo Zuanic, a potential election “blue wave” victory for Democrats could be more bullish for cannabis stocks than investors realize.

Here’s an almost forgotten fact: Henry Ford spent a lot of time and money during the 1930s building a car entirely of plastics derived from hemp. He refined hemp biofuel to fuel it just to demonstrate it could be done.

The wonderful thing about this industry is that while the cannabis plant is the most important part, it isn’t the only part.

The hemp industry contends the Interim Final Rule is unlawful because it exceeds the DEA’s authority and violates the Agricultural Improvement Act, among other things.

The Canna Law Blog has been writing about the Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) interim final rule (IFR) on hemp since its August publication in the Federal Register:Most recently, Nathalie Bougenies wrote about a petition for review against the DEA filed by the Hemp Industries Association and RE Botanicals in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (the “D.C. Circuit”). Why the fuss? As Nathalie explained, the IFR:

suggests that in-process hemp shall be treated as a schedule I controlled substance during any point at which its THC concentration exceeds 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis. ‘Any point’ includes even fleetingly during the processing phase and includes situations where the THC percentage is brought back into legal compliance for the finished product.

So will the DEA start raiding hemp processors? Who knows, but the implications are not good and led to the hemp industry making a concerted effort against the IFR. One such effort is the petition for review, which contends the IFR is unlawful because it exceeds the DEA’s authority, violates the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, and contends that the DEA violated the regulations governing the promulgation of rules set forth in the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”).

This week, the hemp industry opened a new front against the DEA and the IFR. On October 12, Petitioners in the D.C. Circuit filed a separate lawsuit against the DEA in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. This is the “trial court” for Washington D.C. as opposed to the appellate court, the D.C. Circuit, in which the petition for review was filed. (Email me if you’d like a copy of the Complaint).

Two years ago Canada became the second country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana sales.

Since then, the country has also made way for the legal sales of edibles, cannabis-infused beverages, and vape pens, but the newly legal cannabis market has faced its fair share of difficulties despite initial investor frenzy surrounding marijuana stocks. 

As Canada is the first major country to have fully legalized weed, governments around the world watched on with great interest these past two years as the legal pot market began to develop there, taking notes for when the time might come to allow marijuana to be sold for recreational use in their respective countries. 

A pandemic sales boom 

In line with public opinion, Canadian lawmakers took on legalization in late 2017, while the measure took effect on October 17,  2018, after passing both the House of Commons and the Senate. 

A total of 507 producers have been granted licenses to cultivate cannabis by Health Canada during the last two years, while sales of legal marijuana products have been on the rise monthly by month. Although the newly legal weed market faced immense competition from the illicit market, the coronavirus pandemic finally managed to bridge the gap between legal and illegal weed sales earlier this year.     

More than 40% of patients with multiple sclerosis have used cannabis or cannabinoid products in the last year, according to a study by researchers at the University of Michigan. The study, “Cannabinoid use among Americans with MS: Current trends and gaps in knowledge,” was published recently in Multiple Sclerosis Journal – Experimental, Translational and Clinical.

To conduct the research, investigators with the University of Michigan collected data from a nationwide sampling of more than 1,000 patients with multiple sclerosis. The study revealed that 42% of respondents reported using cannabis or cannabinoid-based therapies such as cannabidiol (CBD) in the prior year, a rate of use that is nearly twice that of the national average, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

“These national survey data highlight the rising prevalence of cannabinoid use in Americans with MS, and, among users, an abiding perception of benefit for multiple chronic symptoms,” the researchers wrote. 

Among the survey respondents who used cannabis or cannabinoid products, 90% said that their cannabis use was medicinal. The researchers noted that many patients with MS experience chronic symptoms that have an insufficient number of quality treatment options. More than half of all patients experience chronic pain, which can also affect sleep. At least 60% experience sleep disturbances, which can lead to fatigue and other chronic symptoms.

The lack of effective treatment options leads many patients with MS to seek out alternative therapies, including cannabis and cannabinoid products such as CBD. However, little information on the proper use and dosage of cannabis needed to effectively treat MS is available, leading the study’s authors to call for more research on the subject.

The tally of cannabis seizures at the Peace Bridge running between Canada and the U.S. increased yet again last week when U.S. border officers in Buffalo discovered a commercial shipment with more than a ton of weed.

An internal inspection of a commercial shipment of 20 pallets revealed 2,145 vacuum-sealed packages of cannabis weighing 2,410 pounds (1,093 kg), according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The haul was estimated to have a street value of north of US $8 million.

The seizure is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HIS).

Staff efforts and an enforcement-focused approach “have produced record-setting results for narcotics seizures within the Buffalo Field Office,” which covers 16 ports of entry throughout New York State, port director Jennifer De La O says of the Oct. 15 seizure.

Over the last couple of months, multi-million-dollar cannabis seizures in Buffalo have included 3,836 pounds (1,740 kg) of weed, 250 kg of dried cannabis flower and 505 kg of weed manifested as office furniture.

Will These Pot Stocks Show Bullish Interest Next Month?

A state district judge cleared the way for hundreds of patients to be re-authorized to participate in New Mexico’s medical marijuana program.

The ruling stemmed from a challenge of a mandate issued in September and a subsequent emergency rule adopted by the state health department just weeks later that placed additional requirements on some patients with medical marijuana cards from other states.

Ultra Health, the state’s largest cannabis company, asked the court to step in. It argued that the agency overstepped the intention of the state Legislature and created more hurdles for patients seeking to gain reciprocal admission into the New Mexico program.

Judge Matthew Wilson said the agency’s justification for adopting the emergency rule in early October was inadequate and therefore unenforceable.

“It’s important to patients who were already part of the program and got it taken away and patients who are in need of access. This was their only hope,” said a patient advocate.

Nextage Therapeutics has developed a system that allows cannabis molecules to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and reach the brain directly. The technology is based on research done at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and means that many side effects can be avoided and doses can be lowered in the medical use of cannabis.

Read entire article at Benzinga

The United States continues to have the largest prison population globally. Some 2.1 million Americans were incarcerated as of November 2018.

On the federal level, marijuana sentencing has dropped sharply in recent years. Just 92 individuals were sentenced for possession in 2017.

Yet according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data, officers on the state level made roughly 663,000 marijuana-based arrests in 2018, totaling 40% of those arrested for drugs that year.

Possession accounted for 92% of those arrested in 2018.

Will marijuana, like a lot of the region’s agricultural exports, get out of the continent as a primary product as investors and controllers of refining technology cream off the big bucks? Will fear triumph over logic as governments stick to old anti-narcotics control laws to lock citizens out of the value chain as foreign investors are licensed to set up weed farms for profit?

These are pertinent questions in light of the enduring inequalities that have kept farmers in perpetual poverty which appears to defy all interventions. Despite their thankless task of keeping nations fed, farmers remain so poor in Africa that in most places, they are derisively called peasants.

A reformed and equitable market for this new product can help distribute wealth and improve the social status of millions. There are other compelling reasons for A-Z production and processing of marijuana. The major application for medical marijuana is the management of chronic pain in patients suffering from terminal conditions such as cancer.

In recent times, Africa, and the developing world in general, have seen a surge in the non-communicable diseases case burden. Yet poverty means that healthcare systems cannot afford these painkillers used in palliative care.

In 2014, for instance, 80 percent of the world’s population — mainly low and middle-income countries — consumed only 9.5 percent of the morphine used in palliative care. That is according to the International Narcotics Control Board which in 2018 found that 79 percent of the global population, still consumed only 1 percent of the 388 tonnes of the morphine manufactured worldwide that year.

On 18 September 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the securities regulatory authority in the United Kingdom, released long-awaited guidance for cannabis companies considering a listing in the United Kingdom on a regulated market, such as the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. Whilst preliminary in nature and subject to further consultation, the guidance is welcome news for UK investors and suggests increasing openness by UK regulators to the medicinal cannabis sector.

Since the reclassification in 2018 of cannabis under the Misuse of Drugs (Amendments) (Cannabis and Licence Fees) (England, Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2018, cannabis can be prescribed by specialised medical professionals based in the United Kingdom in certain circumstances. However, the recreational use of cannabis remains illegal in the United Kingdom.

Notwithstanding that cannabis for medicinal purposes was decriminalised in 2018, companies engaged in medicinal cannabis activities (or which have exposure to proceeds therefrom) which have sought a listing in the UK have encountered many inquiries from the FCA in relation to the UK Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (PoCA) (discussed in more detail below).

The FCA Approach

In the recent guidance, the FCA sets out the circumstances in which it would admit a cannabis-related company for listing on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange in the United Kingdom. The guidance does not apply to companies seeking to list on Alternative Investment Market (AIM) but it is expected that a similar approach will be adopted by AIM.

Recreational cannabis has been legal for adult use in Maine since 2016. However, it took until recently for the “Pine Tree State” to open its first cannabis stores.

One of the biggest issues Maine faced was it narrowly received the popular vote for legalization four years ago. The state needed new administrations and the right cannabis legislation before it could open the door to legal sales. Not to mention, the COVID-19 pandemic has only thwarted these plans.

Finally, on October 9, Maine got the okay to open up recreational cannabis shops for business. However, this didn’t come without a new set of problems.

FARMERS IN Ireland are set to ask the government to legalise medical cannabis so they may become 'major players' in the cultivation of the plant.

The Irish Farmers Association are set to ask the government to consider legalising access to cannabis for medicinal reason, which would allow the plant to be grown by farmers in the Irish countryside.

The trade is growing quickly worldwide,and some countries, such as Canada and the United States, have legalised it for recreational use for those over the age of 18.

The IFA have asked the Department of Health for a meeting on the matter of medical cannabis, with a letter to the department implying Ireland could become a 'major player' in the production of the plant on an industrial scale.

In the letter, seen by The Sunday Times, IFA representative Fintan Conway said there was huge potential in the market for "industrial hemp, CBD oil and medicinal cannabis" thanks to Ireland's temperate climate and soil type.

Missouri's first licensed marijuana dispensaries opened this weekend in the St. Louis area with long lines.

The two dispensaries run by N'Bliss opened Saturday in Ellisville and Manchester. Another dispensary is expected to open Monday in the Kansas City area nearly two years after Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment to allow the sale of medical marijuana.

To buy the drug, people need approval from a doctor and a state medical marijuana card. Prices are expected to be high initially because the supply is limited in the state at this stage. N'Bliss was charging $125 for an eighth of an ounce of marijuana when it opened Saturday.

Kim Haller said she stood in line Saturday because she has long been frustrated with the high cost of medications and injections she uses to treat her multiple sclerosis. Recently, Haller said she had been buying marijuana from a licensed caregiver.

"It helps with my spasticity, which means my muscles don't move like I like them to, and sleep," Haller, 54, of St. Peters, said of the marijuana treatment.

Last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed a handful of cannabis-related bills into law. Among the biggest changes are updates to the state’s banking laws, and while overall positive, the potential of AB 1525 is severely limited.

As anyone in the industry already knows, cannabis professionals have long struggled to gain access to banking and other financial services for their businesses. AB (Assembly Bill) 1525, signed last Tuesday by Gov. Newsom, removes any penalties previously imposed on banks for working with legal cannabis companies.

In his signing statement on the banking bill, Newsom directed state cannabis regulators to establish rules meant to protect the privacy of marijuana businesses that seek financial services, urging that data be kept confidential and is used only “for the provision of financial services to support licensees.”

“This bill has the potential to increase the provisions of financial services to the legal cannabis industry,” Newsom wrote in a signing statement, “and for that reason, I support it.”

Very Little Help

Newsom isn’t not wrong, this bill definitely has that potential, but it remains only that until cannabis becomes legal at the federal level. Regardless of state laws, banks, which are federal entities, have been hesitant to work with cannabis clients because the plant’s Schedule 1 status.

For reference, a Schedule 1 narcotic is categorized that way because there is a “high risk of abuse and no recognized medical value.” Despite the decades of research in other countries or the fact that medical cannabis is accepted in 33 states already. It’s also worth mentioning Cocaine, which has some anesthetic properties but is known for its high propensity for abuse, is categorized as Schedule II. Alcohol and tobacco aren’t scheduled at all. Yes, it’s the ultimate hypocrisy.

Chris Leanzo didn’t have any experience in farming when he put 155 hemp plants into the ground this June.

One of the first 59 farmers to receive a license to grow hemp in New Jersey, Leanzo mentally prepared to only harvest 20 plants this fall from his Frelinghuysen, Warren County farm. But even after facing spider mites and inch worms as well as a dry and cold September, the farm may net some 50 pounds of hemp from its 130 successful plants.

That far surpasses his cautious estimates, and could have him making a profit on their first season.

But as the state eyes marijuana legalization via a ballot question this November, the promise and struggles of hemp farming have become secondary to New Jersey’s race to become the first state in the region to offer legal marijuana. That industry is expected to bring hundreds of millions in tax revenue as well as new jobs.

“As small farmers, we all share this unified struggle of fear of losing the market before we had a fair share of even getting it,” Leanzo said.