Dec 14 2022

Legislation to Encourage Businesses to Use Hemp Products Signed into Law by New York Governor

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed into law legislation that’s designed to promote hemp use among the state’s businesses.

Introduced by Senator Michelle Hinchey, Senate Bill S8496 was signed by Governor Hochul yesterday. The measure mandates that the agriculture commissioner work with business partners to determine how they can incorporate hemp products into their operations.

The legislation mandates the state’s Commissioner of Agriculture & Markets Urban Development Corporation to collaborate with the NYS Hemp Workgroup, and industry representatives, to develop a plan to expand market opportunities for industrial hemp that would increase its use in manufacturing and construction materials, including packaging, textiles, and hempcrete.
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Dec 14 2022

Almost 2 Million Marijuana Pardons and Expungements Have Been Issued Since 2018

Government officials have provided nearly 2 million marijuana-related pardons and expungements in recent years, according to an analysis released today by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

According to publicly available data, state and local officials have issued over 100,000 pardons and more than 1.7 million marijuana-related expungements since 2018. States that have been most active in providing relief to those with past convictions include Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and California.

“Hundreds of thousands of Americans unduly carry the burden and stigma of a past conviction for behavior that most Americans, and a growing number of states, no longer consider to be a crime,” says NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano. “Our sense of justice and our principles of fairness demand that public officials and the courts move swiftly to right the past wrongs of cannabis prohibition and criminalization.”
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Dec 14 2022

Report: Alaska Has Highest Marijuana Tax Rate in the Country, New Jersey Has the Lowest

According to a new report by the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution’s Tax Policy Center, Alaska has the highest marijuana tax rate of all states that have legalized the plant.

The report found that for every $100 ounce of marijuana purchased, Alaskans pay $57.50 in marijuana taxes, making it the highest tax rate in the country. The next closest state is Washington, with $47.25 in marijuana taxes paid on every $100 ounce.

On the other end of the spectrum, New Jersey was found to have the lowest tax rate, with $14.32 in taxes paid on every $100 ounce, which is drastically lower than the $57.50 paid by Alaskans. The second lowest is Michigan at $16.
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Dec 13 2022

Canada Increases Possession Limit for Marijuana Beverages from 2.1 liters to 17.1 liters

The regulatory body Health Canada has announced a drastic increase in the possession limit for marijuana beverages.

Since Canada legalized marijuana in 2018, the possession limit for marijuana-infused beverages has been 2.1 liters, or around 70 ounces. Health Canada has announced that effective immediately this limit has been increased to 17.1 liters, or 578 ounces. To put it into comparative terms, this is an increase from five standard-sized cans of soda, to 48.

According to Health Canada the change “would correct an unintended consequence of the current equivalency, which restricts the possession and sale of beverages to a greater extent than other forms of cannabis.”
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Dec 13 2022

Report: 42% of Pre-Rolls Sold in the U.S. Are Infused

According to a new report pre-rolls now make up a much larger market share than they did just four years ago, and 42% of pre-rolls sold are infused.

In 2018 just 7.9% of the marijuana and marijuana products sold in legal marijuana states were pre-rolls with $406 million in sales. Four years later this has grown to 12.7%, a roughly 60% increase with $1.5 billion in sales.

Data for the report, conducted by Seattle-based data firm Headset, was based on legal marijuana sales in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Oregon and Washington State.
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Dec 13 2022

Activists in Texas City Submit Signatures to Override Council’s Repeal of Marijuana Initiative

Activists in Harker Heights, Texas have submitted enough signatures to put to a vote a referendum that would repeal the city council’s decision to override a recently approved marijuana decriminalization initiative.

Last months voters in Harker Heights, a city with a population of around 26,000, overwhelmingly passed an initiative (Proposition A) to decriminalize marijuana on the city level by a vote of 64% to 36%. In the same election, four other Texas cities passed similar measures.

Despite the voters making their voice clear on the issue, the Harker Heights City Council took a vote following the initiative’s passage to repeal the new law, effectively preventing it from taking effect.
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Dec 13 2022

Report: 37% of Australians Over 14 Have Tried Marijuana, 77.9% Support Decriminalizing it

37% of Australians over the age of 14 have used cannabis at least once, 7.6 million people in total, and a large majority want it to be decriminalized, according to a new report from the Penington Institute.

Photo credit: GETTY

The Penington Institute developed the Cannabis in Australia 2022 report using published data and interviews with around 100 experts.

“A fixture of the Australian drug landscape for over half a century, cannabis is our most widely consumed illicit drug”, states the report “Despite its prevalence, a lack of reliable data paired with conflicting messages from our government and media mean that community understandings of cannabis remain poor.”
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Dec 12 2022

Study: CBD Has an “Antioxidant and Cardioprotective Effect in Several Pathophysiologies”

According to a new analysis “CBD can prevent cardiac oxidative damage in many conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes, or even through the cardiotoxic effects induced by chemotherapy”.

This makes CBD “a potential target for future clinical use to minimize the deleterious effects of many pathophysiologies”, states the study which was published in the journal Current Hypertension Reviews and was epublished on the website for the National Institute of Health. The study was conducted by researchers at Centro Universitário de Volta Redonda and niversidade do Estado de Minas Gerais, both in Brazil.

For this review researchers conducted an analysis of dozens of peer-reviewed studies and discussed “the beneficial effects of CBD treatment on different and common conditions of cardiac oxidative stress such as hypertension, diabetes, or even the cardiotoxic effects induced by chemotherapy.” For the selection of studies “a MEDLINE-based search was performed using the following keywords: “Cannabidiol”, “Oxidative stress”, “Heart”, “Antioxidant”, and “Anti-inflammatory”.
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Dec 12 2022

Report: Global CBD Market to Grow from $5.18 Billion to $22.05 Billion by 2030

The global cannabidiol market was valued at $5.18 billion as of the end of 2021, and it’s expected to grow rapidly over the next 7 to 8 years.

This is according to a new report conducted and released by Million Insights. The report found that the global CBD market is expected to grow at an annual compound growth rate of 16.8% between 2022 to 2030, growing the market to just over $22 billion

As noted by the report, cannabidiol is a chemical compound extracted from the cannabis plant. “The cannabidiol-extracted medications have properties that overcome anxiety, reduce pain, and minimize seizures, benefitting the healing treatments”, thus, “the acceptance and demand for these products are increasing for health and wellness purposes.”
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Dec 11 2022

Study: Both THC and CBD Improve Wound Healing, May be Valuable As Skin Rejuvenators

A new study published this week by the journal Cells has found that phytocannabinoids such as THC and CBD may be useful in skin rejuvenation and can significantly improve wound healing.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Lethbridg in Canada, the Universität zu Lübeck in Germany, the Vellore Institute of Technology in India and the University of Aberdeen in the UK, and its full text can be found by clicking here.

“In light of the increased popularity of phytocannabinoids (pCBs) and their appearance in beauty products without rigorous research on their rejuvenation efficacy, we decided to investigate the potential role of pCBs in skin rejuvenation”, states the study’s abstract.
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