WeedWorthy News Network

The cannabis industry will come out of the coronavirus pandemic stronger than when the pandemic started. That will include new opportunities for cannabis entrepreneurs in states that have already legalized and those that might soon follow suit.

Those are some of the findings in a recent report called State of the Cannabis Industry conducted by LeafLink, Flowhub, and Vangst. Each company approaches the cannabis industry from a different vantage point - wholesale (LeafLink), dispensaries (Flowhub) and employment (Vangst). 

No matter how you look at the industry, it’s been a great year for cannabis. After an initial explosion in cannabis sales when the pandemic began, record sales have continued in some states. The report found that cannabis sales nationwide have stabilized at a rate 40 percent higher than in 2019.

That stabilization indicates that post-pandemic sales numbers should stay strong. Officials in Michigan, for example, expect the market in their state to surpass $3 billion in the near future. Nationwide, some projections call for a $34 billion U.S. cannabis market by 2025.

Medical marijuana also is growing. The number of people in the United States who have enrolled in the medical marijuana program in their home state surpassed 3 million for the first time in August 2020.

It can reduce anxiety, promote healing, and relax the body and mind. Here are some other ways athletes use cannabis to enhance performance.

Anna Symonds, Education and Partnership Manager for East Fork Cultivars, has been a  rugby player for 18 years and attributes a lot of her longevity as a professional athlete to cannabis. 

While she experimented with cannabis as a teenager, she discontinued this practice when she got more serious about sports. After she smoked with some teammates after a game, she experienced immediate healing and muscle relaxation. “I started to have this mental shift of seeing cannabis as medicine.” About five years ago after she got a back injury, cannabis proved to be the only thing that would provide her with pain relief and muscle relaxation, while increasing her functionality without the side effects from other medications.

Some time ago, Symonds observed how she would play better if she smoked the night before. “In addition, it  helped with the anxiety that comes before a competition, as well as relaxing the mind and body.” Also, the munchies enabled her to take in enough good calories so she could power up for the next day.

By microdosing before practice with a 1:1 full spectrum chocolate edible containing 1 mg THC, Symonds found the sweet spot where her pain would reduce and her mind would get into flow state where she was fully present and performing fully optimally. 

A symposium looking into the veterinary use of cannabis shows that there’s a lot of questions regarding CBD and pets.

A lot has been said about CBD pet products and their capacity to tame anxiety and other stressors that pets experience. Anecdotal evidence indicates that many pet owners are happy with the cannabis products they’ve used on their pets, stating they put their pets  at ease when they’re exposed to stressors like fireworks and separation anxiety. Pet owners feel a sense of comfort when using these products, since there are little to no side effects associated with them.

A cannabis symposium hosted by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) last month delved into the topic of veterinary cannabis, with different experts discussing its pros and cons.

“We certainly recognize the potential opportunities that cannabis-derived compounds may offer and acknowledge the significant interest in these possibilities,” said Randall Gnatt, a senior regulatory counsel in the Office of Surveillance and Compliance in the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine.

“We’re also aware that some companies are marketing products in ways that violate the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and then may put the health and safety of people and animals at risk.”

Weed-related subscriptions have jumped by an eye-popping 550% on the subscription box service Cratejoy during the pandemic, and box companies like Hemp Crate Co., Cure Crate, and The Stoney Babe Box are at the forefront of this surging popularity. Cratejoy offers subscription boxes for any enthusiasm, need, or DIY endeavor (current picks include lesson planning boxes to make in-home schooling less onerous and multiple iterations of the “date night” theme). Covid-19 has been a major driver of the subscription box boom, allowing Cratejoy and the weed companies it features to cash in on cannabis in a big way.

Hemp Crate, Cure Crate, and The Stoney Babe Box profit from their great reviews, built-out listings, and artsy photos showcasing what to expect in each delivery. These companies are actively engaged with the Cratejoy platform when it comes to customer reviews and questions, but it takes more than photos and customer care to hit 550% growth, pandemic or no.

Hemp Crate Co., which bills itself as “the #1 CBD subscription service” and recently launched a low income, long-term disability and veteran assistance program, offers boxes on Cratejoy starting at $44.99 per month and has an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars. With high marks from shipping to price to curation, cannabis consumers seem to love their monthly, quarterly, or biannual deliveries from Hemp Crate. Founded in 2018 in response to a lack of transparency and education in the CBD industry, Hemp Crate Co. dedicated itself to providing quality organic products from reputable manufacturers, incorporating transparency and consumer education every step of the way.

Cure Crate, which offers a quiz for subscribers that helps them find the right CBD products for their needs, gets glowing reviews on Cratejoy for attention to customer education and a fine-tuned focus on customization. Cure Crate’s process takes aim at the erroneous assumption that one-size-fits all in terms of formulations, offering a personalized service to help those with a range of allergies, dosage tolerances, and a wide variety of conditions find the right combination of products for each delivery. Cure Crate also offers a discount program for those facing financial hardship and donates a portion of its proceeds to The Last Prisoner Project, an innovative approach to clemency and re-entry programs for cannabis offenders.

The Stoney Babe Box is also no slouch when it comes to sales or civic responsibility. The company maintains a focus on “feminine souls who admire hemp and love smoking”. Every box contains artisanal products selected to be “unique and feminine” from small, women-owned businesses. With plans starting as low as $30 per month and reviews that give Hemp Crate and Cure Crate a run for their money, The Stoney Babe Box offers hand-crafted smoking accessories as well as daily necessities like grinders and rolling papers.

Mixing CBD and coffee is a fast-growing trend among CBD oil users — and for a good reason.

It’s more than just a commercial trend; there are real benefits to mixing CBD with coffee. The calming effects of CBD help reduce the unwanted side-effects of caffeine, such as anxiety and jitteriness. At the same time, CBD is able to enhance the mental alertness provided by your cup of morning coffee.

Would you try this win-win combo yourself?

Then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we explain everything you need to know about mixing CBD and caffeine. We’ll cover the potential benefits, go over proper dosing, and share a few tips and tricks for using this combination to the fullest.

A Primer on Coffee, the Most Popular Stimulant on Earth

Coffee is by far the most popular stimulant brewed in the world. According to various estimates, people consume over 2.2 billion cups of coffee every day.

Consumers are relying on marijuana to ease their pain during the coronavirus. Here’s exactly what they’re using it for.

It’s no secret that the pandemic has made a lot of people turn to weed for escape, whether they’re looking for therapeutic results or fun. A new report says that as the pandemic evolves, large percentage of users have been seeking for the plant’s therapeutic relief. Rising levels of anxiety and sleep issues have resulted in an uptick in cannabis use as well as a stable rise in the use of cannabis delivery services.

These results appeared in a recent poll conducted by cannabis delivery service Ganja Goddess, which surveyed over 850 people. Their numbers suggest that the majority of users are consuming flower and that the rise in use of delivery services is mostly due to convenience and safety.

Zachary Pitts, CEO of Ganja Goddess, explained in a statement (via Forbes) that the poll’s results reflect a shift in consumer behavior due to the pandemic. He says that the majority of poll respondents increased their cannabis use by 9% since April of 2020, when Ganja Goddess completed its last poll.

When discussing the reasons behind their cannabis use, 78% of respondents said they used cannabis as a way of managing a condition; 69% of them were treating sleep issues, 68% anxiety and 32% are seeking relief from a chronic condition.

A new report from analytics company Headset found millennials to be the biggest category for cannabis consumption in California and their overwhelming choice for form factor is smoking. The latest report on August sales read, “Millennial Males contributed to the most sales with 37.5% of the market share.” Millennials in general spent 43% of their money on flower, 9% on pre-rolls, and another 23% on vape pens. Making almost two-thirds of all purchases in the inhalant category.

Female cannabis consumers in this category weren’t as big of fans of the smokable categories. Millennial females spent 17% of their money on vape pens in California, which was far less than the men. However, this was the biggest category for female vape pen buyers. Other female age groups spent much less on vape pens.

Top Five Vape Pens

Among all demographics, these were the top five vape pens sold in California for August:

“The most notable difference between these brands is that the Gen Z and Millennial age groups contribute an enormous proportion of sales to the top two brands, STIIIZY and Raw Garden. Because Millennials drive the majority of Vapor Pen sales and Gen Z has the strongest over-index of any age groups to vapes, Vapor Pen brands targeting these groups could potentially see strong sales. While Heavy Hitters and ABX, ranking 3 and 4 respectively, under-index to Gen Z and Millennials, they are still successful brands in the California vape market and have strong over-indexes to both Gen X and Baby Boomers. This shows that even within a category, there are brands that resonate best with different types of customers.”

Washington

The August sales report also took a deep dive into the state of Washington as a comparison. Men also dominated the smokable categories in this state as well. Over 60% of the sales in the flower and vape categories were by men. 59% of pre-roll sales were also men. Women in this market prefer edibles. They make up 35% of the total cannabis market in the state, but when it comes to edibles, they account for 43% of the sales. Here are the top ten edible products in Washington according to Headset:

Top Ten Edibles

In the first week of September, in a sensational twist to the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested the late actor’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik and 10 others for the alleged possession, transportation and purchase of ganja (weed) and charas (hash), all derivatives of the cannabis plant. In its charge-sheet, the NCB says it has recovered 59 grams of weed and five grams of a dark brown substance suspected to be hash from three suspects so far. The quantity recovered is far less than the 1 kilo specified as ‘small quantity’ under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances or NDPS Act, 1985. As Suhas Gokhale, former chief of the Azad Maidan unit of Mumbai’s anti-narcotics cell, declared two days after Rhea’s arrest, “A sadhu’s chillum holds more marijuana than what she is being convicted of.”

Indeed, cannabis consumption is common across the country and does not attract the kind of stigma attached to other narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances being consumed illegally in India. In a 2019 study commissioned by the social justice and empowerment ministry, 31 million people in India were reported to have consumed a cannabis product in the past year, of which 13 million had used weed and hash. Cannabis consumption was higher in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh and Delhi than the national average. Based on the annual figures held by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNoDC), a 2018 study by German data firm ABCD placed Delhi third on the list of 120 cities with the highest consumption of cannabis, ahead of Los Angeles, Chicago and London. Mumbai was sixth.

In fact, in the past few years, there has been a growing clamour by non-governmental organisations to legalise the recreational use of cannabis, as other countries have done. On November 7, 2019, the Delhi High Court sought the government’s stand on one such petition filed by the Bengaluru-based advocacy non-profit, the Great Legalisation Movement India Trust. The organisation, founded in 2014, wants cannabis removed from the NDPS Act. The legalisation of marijuana, the organisation believes, can help create jobs, battle stress, improve human concentration, resolve medical problems and provide sustainable agricultural incomes, among other things. Cannabis, the petition argued, is integral to the country’s cultural fabric; its criminalisation leads to needless harassment and stigma.

Given this widespread prevalence of cannabis consumption and calls for its decriminalisation, the NCB arrests in the Rajput case have triggered a furious debate across the country on whether the agency’s enthusiasm was misplaced or even hypocritical. Going by the logic of Rhea’s prosecution, cannabis legalisation advocates say, thousands who smoke weed and hash openly during the Kumbh Mela or on Shivratri should be arrested. Defending their action, a top NCB source said that while cannabis use has been widespread in India, its consumption of late has gone up, as have the dangers associated with it. “It has become serious in the sense that every strata of the population is into it, poor, middle-class or rich,” he says. “Illegal imports of the weed from US or Canada have become popular among the upper echelons of society.” Denying that the agency was being vindictive against Chakraborty, the source said, “We are looking at the problem from a professional point of view. Parties where drugs are being misused have become common in Bollywood and other places. By investigating such complaints of drug abuse, we can detect the network of peddlers and the big illegal commercial suppliers. We want to send the message that this is a wrong thing to do and we need to create awareness across agencies and governments to have it eradicated.”

However, barring the recent spurt in the Rajput case, arrests for the possession of cannabis by the NCB and state police have been fitful, experts say. The NCB has been extra vigilant only in the first fortnight of September, seizing 5,477 kilos of cannabis from various medicine and vegetable trucks across the country and arresting 13 individuals for the same. National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for 2018 shows a 25 per cent rise in drug seizures, with weed topping the list at 391,275 kilos; hash fourth on the list after acid and opium at 3,911 kilos. However, while the quantity of drugs seized has risen, the number of cases against those found in possession of drugs for personal use has fallen, from 41,056 in 2017 to 38,715 in 2018. And these are numbers for all drugs; the arrests for cannabis possession and consumption may be even lower. A study by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy last year noted that most people arrested for cannabis possession are the poor and marginalised, while bigger sellers escape unscathed. “Usually, more seizures are made where cannabis is cultivated and not sold,” says Romesh Bhattacharjee, a former Narcotics Commissioner of India. “It is the small and medium farmers who get harassed, not the larger sellers and buyers in big towns and cities.”

Despite Government’s declared intention to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana for personal use, the state’s main mental health institution is insisting on abstention except for medically prescribed purposes.

Director of the Psychiatric Hospital David Leacock said today his institution is firm in its position that no one should be using any type of narcotic drug whatsoever the amount.

“The hospital’s policy has been for the most part that we only believe marijuana should be used for medicinal reasons and prescribed by a medical practitioner. That still remains the case,” Leacock told Barbados TODAY this afternoon.

In fact, he warned Barbadians that marijuana poses a risk to the health of those who use it.

“We are not going to get into that discussion whether we think it is fair or unfair for those persons…whether it is within their rights to do or not to do. We deal from the medical side of things as far as how we see it, it does present a risk to persons if they are using marijuana,” the Psychiatric Hospital director stated.

It is recommended that people receive 8 hours of sleep every night.

Proper sleep plays a huge role in people’s overall health and wellness.

If someone gets the proper amount of sleep it means that they spend literally one-third of their life sleeping, which further highlights how important sleep is to humans.

Unfortunately, not everyone gets the proper amount of sleep each night. 

Poor sleep can significantly lower a person’s life expectancy via an increased risk of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.

Cannabis strains aren’t as important as people think they are. Still, some key effects have been associated with sativas separate from others.

As two primary cannabis forms, sativas and indicas become associated with certain behaviors and effects. However, the value of these definitions has lost weight over time. Their effects are not as clear cut as the names sativas and indicas make it out to be, with experts now understanding the multiple variations inherent in cannabis plants, as well as how these variations impact people differently.

Even though sativa strains can change depending on the user, there’s a few effects that are associated with them. To have more certainty over these effects, your safest bet is to visit a dispensary and have an open talk with your budtender. That way you can discuss the effects you’re looking for and your level of experience with the plant.

Here are 5 of the most popular benefits associated with cannabis sativa strains:

Creativity

While indicas are associated with body highs, sativas are associated with head highs, which at times can translate to bursts of creativity and thinking outside the box. These strains tend to avoid any sleepy feelings, meaning that if you feel creative and high, you also won’t feel like falling asleep when trying to get something creative done. These strains are a good idea for when you want to do something expressive, whether that’s writing, painting or making a sculpture.

Connecticut could collect nearly $1 billion in taxes over five years if the state were to legalize recreational marijuana, according to a new University of Connecticut report.

A study by UConn’s Center for Economic Analysis estimated that in five years of recreational sales Connecticut could collect anywhere from $784 million to $952 million in new taxes, according to the Hartford Courant.

Since the COVID-19-fueled recession has hit the U.S., many states are looking at new ways to raise tax revenue.

Lead study author Fred Carstensen said that in addition to raising taxes, welcoming the recreational marijuana industry to Connecticut would also add 16,000 jobs to the local economy in five years.

If you haven’t heard, this weekend was big for football. Not only did it mark the first football season since the pandemic, but also the first season since the National Football League amended its labor agreement to cease the suspension of players who test positive for marijuana.

For a historically conservative league, the decision (made this spring) was a surprise, but one that made a lot of sense. Former players Nate Newton, Shaun Smith, and Mark Stenoski of the Dallas Cowboys, along Martavis Bryant of the Pittsburgh Stealers, Josh Gordon of the Cleveland Browns, and many others associated with the league admit to using cannabis before and after games, and former Denver Broncos star Nate Jackson has taken an outspoken stance against the NFL’s dismissal of the drug, writing an op-ed on the subject in the New York Times and working with the Gridiron Cannabis Coalition. In a 2018 interview with the Bleacher Report podcast, “The Lefkoe Show,” former tight end Martellus Bennett estimated as many as 89 percent of current NFL players use cannabis to decrease pre-game anxiety, ease the effects of concussion, and alleviate pain as an alternative to opioids.

“There are times of the year where your body just hurts so bad,” Bennett told Bleacher Report. “You don’t want to be popping pills all the time. There are anti-inflammatory drugs you take so long that they start to eat at your liver, kidneys and things like that. A human made that. God made weed.”

And it’s not just NFL athletes who have gone green. In 2014, snowboarding company executive Jim Alpine founded the 420 Games, an annual series of athletic events for those who use cannabis to reach their fitness goals, and at San Francisco’s Power Plant Fitness, gym trainers are working cannabis into their recommended fitness regimens. In his early career as a bodybuilder, Arnold Schwarzenegger had a habit of smoking before pumping iron, a part of his past that likely influenced his progressive marijuana policy as Governor of California.

The benefits of weed on athletic performance are little researched, but would make a lot of sense to anyone who’s tried cannabis before. Dr. Leigh Vinocur, Board-Certified Emergency Room Physician and Member of the Society of Cannabis Clinicians, says there are several well-known effects of cannabis that some believe benefit a workout: 1) inflammation reduction, 2) anxiety reduction, and 3) protection of the brain (though, until further research is conducted on the subject, she does not recommend exercising or participating in sports high.)

(WWJ) A new University of Michigan study shows more young adults are vaping marijuana now than any time in the past four decades.

The annual Monitoring The Future (MTF) Panel Study shows the percentage of young adults (19 to 22 years old) who vaped marijuana at least once in a month’s time has jumped from 5% in 2017 to 14% in 2019 among full-time college students.

It has more than doubled from 8% in 2017 to 17% in 2019 among young adults not in college, according to the study.

The study revealed marijuana use among both groups is currently at 43%, the highest it has been since the early eighties.

Principal investigator of the study, John Schulenberg, said this is an extremely “worrisome” trend, considering the health risks that come with vaping and smoking, such as severe complications from COVID-19 and the addictive properties of the substances.

Kale. Goji berries. Salmon. Cannabis juice?

Superfoods are all the rage among health-conscious foodies who want as many benefits as they can get from the products they put in their bodies. These unprocessed foods are known for their high nutritional value as well as their potential to reduce the risk of heart disease and possibly lower cholesterol levels. But, what if there was a more potent superfood that could not only offer preventative qualities but had curing, restorative properties as well?

Although there is plenty of information available to the public about the medical side of cannabis, there are still many people who are misinformed when it comes to the basics. In fact, there are some people who are still under the impression that smoking is the only way to experience the healing components of marijuana even though there are a number of other ways to effectively get cannabidiol (CBD) into the system.

Alternatives to smoking cannabis are becoming common knowledge due in part to the rise of ubiquity of the plant around the country. Multiple states and the District of Columbia currently allow card-carrying residents to use medical marijuana for qualified illnesses including cancer, epilepsy and glaucoma. Unfortunately, each state differs in what ailments are considered acceptable in order to be a legal patient.

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and CBD both improve functioning throughout the body particularly in areas that deal with pain, nausea, convulsions and inflammation. There are also a number of emotional and psychological benefits associated with cannabis that assist in alleviating depression, anxiety and symptoms associated with schizophrenia.

High-end cannabis has made its way to Jamaica's west coast, although that's not new news to anyone familiar with the destination.

Hedonism II, the iconic adults-only playground -- a clothing-optional, lifestyle-friendly, party-hardy resort in Negril -- opened its newest guest amenity earlier this summer.

HedoWeedo is its medicinal marijuana dispensary located within the resort although is independently owned and operated and not part of Hedonism's all-inclusive experience.

Hedonism II joins several other ganja-friendly resorts in Jamaica offering access to weed, including six properties near Negril and one near Port Antonio, under the GanjaVacations umbrella.

In the case of GanjaVacations, the marketing positions it thusly: "Looking for a cool holiday destination to chill, soak in some sun, get a little sand between your toes and score some righteous legal weed?"

One subject on which the generations definitely agree, however, is their mutual appreciation for and enthusiastic use of cannabis, according to a new study by U.K.-based Verilife, which hosts dispensaries n six U.S. states.

Even that appreciation, however, dissolves into generational differences, Mehul Patel, COO of Verilife’s parent company PharmCann, told LeafReport. “Cannabis bridges the generational divide,” Patel said. “Our recently commissioned Verilife study shows baby boomers are twice as likely as millennials to look to cannabis for medical purposes; and relaxation is the top reason for consuming recreationally for both generations.”

The study surveyed 1,000 millennials ages 24 to 39 and 1,000 boomers ages 56 to 74, from late May through early June. Among its more findings:

In terms of the differences in uses cited, medical use broke down to 22 percent for millennials, versus 50 percent for boomers.

Percentages of use by the two groups included: millennials and chronic pain, 27 percent, as well as migraines, 13 percent; and boomers and arthritis, 15 percent, and chronic pain, 13 percent. Boomers (60 percent) were much more likely than millennials (46 percent) to talk to a doctor before embarking on usage.

Numerous studies have revealed the many health benefits of incorporating CBD into your life.

In fact, even healthcare professionals are finally starting to acknowledge the healing properties that come with the drug.

Due to recent popularity, CBD is easily accessible and comes in a variety of forms.

There are coffees, teas, capsules, candies, creams, shampoos, and a stunning variety of products to suit every taste.

Whether you’re a newbie or an enthusiast, if you’re looking to incorporate some healthy CBD into your diet through innovative and creative products, you’ve come to the right place.

Twitter has partnered with the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to raise awareness about substance abuse when people search for marijuana on the platform.

According to a report from Marijuana Moment released this week, no such policy exists for alcohol-related searches. 

When Twitter users search for marijuana or related keywords on the social media platform, a notification that reads: “Help is available. If you or someone you know is struggling with substance use, you are not alone” pops up above search results. The notification is accompanied by a link that leads to the website of SAMHSA, which is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). 

However, while targeting people who search for cannabis, Twitter hasn’t introduced a similar health warning for the search of alcohol-related terms, leading advocates to question the arbitrary nature of the decision.

Aside from promoting negative stereotypes about marijuana use, it is clear that there may be various reasons for a person to search for marijuana-related topics on Twitter, advocates point out.