Category: Marijuana

Online Cannabis, Alcohol and Tobacco Product Sales Surging

Photo: Kaylen Settles
Online sales for cannabis, alcohol, and vapor and tobacco products are surging. All three markets have been flourishing amid the quarantines especially marijuana.
Post Covid-19, consumers are ordering online deliveries at a higher rate than ever before. Yet, both are still mired in the slow processing of IDs, according to a story on Valuewalk.com. According to VentureBeat, “Cann, an Oakland, California-based startup that sells low-dose cannabis drinks, told VentureBeat it has seen a 300% month-on-month sales increase in March, more than doubling the total units sold for January and February combined.”
One of the most critical aspects of ordering cannabis, alcohol, or tobacco products online, verifying IDs, is left to drivers scanning IDs upon arrival. Not only does such a model leave delivery services, like a local restaurant serving to-go margaritas during lockdowns, vulnerable to the legal liabilities of drivers not properly ID’ing customers, but the system is not compatible with the ongoing transition to more seamless e-commerce interfaces.Cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco products
Physical ID verification brings a litany of problems, such as the customer needing to be present for delivery. It creates more friction throughout the entire process. For the delivery services, like Postmates and Grubhub, verifying ID’s layers costs on top of a business model already running thin margins.
“As retail stores are forced to go online, everything from alcohol to vape and CBD businesses are seeing a huge surge in online sales,” details Matt Fields, Vice President of AgeChecker “Adults need to help mitigate the risk of selling to minors while remaining compliant with state and federal laws.”
June 14, 2020
Report: CBD Drink Sales to Reach $2.8 Billion by 2025

A recent report states that the global cannabis beverages market size is expected to reach $2.8 Billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 17.8 percent. The report by Grand View Research looked at alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages using either Cannabidiol (CBD) and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
“By component, the market is segmented into Cannabidiol (CBD) and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The demand of THC infused cannabis beverages is majorly driven by rising product demand from adult consumers for recreational purposes,” the report states. “Rising demand for the therapeutic effects of the component along with the euphoria it provides is expected to bode well for the growth of the segment in the forthcoming years.”
I contrast, the CBD infused cannabis drinks are registered the fastest growth in (prior years). Also, the demand is expected to witness a surge over the forecasted period owing to the non-psychoactive properties of CBD, according to the report. Lack of psychoactive effect in the CBD drinks is widening its scope for usage of the drinks in medical purposes.
Many consumers are considering CBD drinks as a wellness and anti-inflammatory products, such as kombucha-a probiotic drink. This drink can potentially be used for treating chronic pain, anxiety, substance use disorders and central nervous system diseases. These factors are expected to boost the adoption of the product, resulting in the growth of the segment.”
May 27, 2020
Explosion at Los Angeles THC Oil Refinery

Credit: SkyNews
An explosion in downtown Los Angeles has injured 11 firefighters, with scores more sent to put out the blaze in a factory that produces cannabis oil.
Captain Erik Scott of the Los Angeles fire department said “one significant explosion” shook the neighborhood around 6.30pm on Saturday and as first responders arrived they saw firefighters emerge from the building with burns and other injuries. Some of their uniforms were on fire, according to an article posted on theguardian.com.
Four firefighters were taken to a burns intensive care unit, two were put on ventilators due to signs of swelling airways and the other five who were hospitalized suffering a range of burns. The two firefighters on ventilators appeared to have inhaled superheated gases but as of around 10pm local time it seemed none of the injuries were life-threatening, said the fire department’s medical director, Marc Eckstein.
Firefighters were initially called to 327 East Boyd Street in the city’s Toy District for a report of a fire at a one-storey commercial building, the article states.
The LA fire department issued a “mayday” call, which means a firefighter is missing, down or trapped, and characterised the blaze as a “major emergency” with more than 230 firefighters responding. The fire spread to several nearby buildings but by 7.15pm appeared largely under control.
When the firefighters first entered the building before the explosion they saw “light to moderate smoke”, but also noticed that the pressure and heat was increasing inside, said fire chief Ralph M Terrazas: “Things didn’t seem right.” The firefighters moved to evacuate at this point and as they were starting to exit, the “explosion or flash” occurred, prompting the mayday call, he said. Some of their coats caught fire, the article states.
Scott described the business as a maker of “butane honey oil.” Butane is a flammable gas. Making the oil involves extracting the high-inducing chemical THC from cannabis plants to create a highly potent concentrate also known as hash oil. The oil is used in vape pens, edibles, waxes and other products.
May 18, 2020
Cannabis Offers Potential Resistance to Coronavirus

Credit: Christina Winter
An Alberta, Canada researcher says a new study shows that cannabis extracts are showing potential in making people more resistant to the novel coronavirus.
After sifting through 400 cannabis strains, researchers at the University of Lethbridge are concentrating on about a dozen that show promising results in ensuring less fertile ground for the potentially lethal virus to take root, said biological scientist Dr. Igor Kovalchuk, according to an article in the Calgary Herald.
“A number of them have reduced the number of these (virus) receptors by 73 per cent, the chance of it getting in is much lower,” said Kovalchuk. “If they can reduce the number of receptors, there’s much less chance of getting infected.”
Employing cannabis sativa strains over the past three months, the researcher said the effective balance between cannabis components THC and CBD — the latter more typically associated with medical use — is still unclear in blocking the novel coronavirus.
“It will take a long time to find what the active ingredient is — there may be many,” said Kovalchuk, whose Pathway RX is owned partly by Olds-based licensed cannabis producer Sundial Growers and partnered with Alberta cannabis researcher Swysh.
But it’s generally the anti-inflammatory properties of high-CBD content that have shown most promise, he added.
“We focus more on the higher CBD because people can take higher doses and not be impaired,” said Kovalchuk.
May 13, 2020
US City Gives Marijuana, Tobacco to Homeless

Credit: Jared Erondu
In order to increase the number of guests who stay in isolation and quarantine, the U.S. city of San Francisco’s city leaders and health officials say they are meeting homeless people where they are, according to abc7news.com. In some cases, that includes the distribution of some alcohol, tobacco and marijuana to those in quarantine.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health tells ABC7 News the alcohol and tobacco is funded by private donations. Also that DPH staff store and administer the substances under the guidance of licensed physicians.
“Our behavioral health experts are offering services every day, medication assisted treatment including nicotine and opiate replacement, behavioral health counseling and in cases where people decide that they are going to continue to use, our focus is using the best evidence to help people manage their addictions,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco’s Public Health Director.
DPH tells ABC7 News that in a few cases, DPH staff have helped patients buy their own medical cannabis but that they do not facilitate purchases of recreational cannabis. Also that any staff member who does not wish to distribute these substances to guests may opt out of doing so.
No “safe injection” or “supervised consumption” is part of the isolation and quarantine sites according to DPH.
San Francisco Police Chief William Scott says police are enforcing drug laws in the Tenderloin, where some have been taking advantage of those who are vulnerable.
“We’ve made arrests in encampments we’ve seen people go in with bags of drugs and distribute them to others to sell in these encampments and we’ve arrested those people. We’ve confiscated their money, we’ve confiscated their drugs and we will continue to do that.”
DPH says the distribution of alcohol and tobacco to those in quarantine is not unique to San Francisco.
May 9, 2020
Lebanon Legalizes Medical Marijuana

Photo by Rashid Khreiss
The Lebanese parliament on Tuesday voted to legalize medicinal and industrial cannabis cultivation. The legislation was recommended by economic advisers previously. However, after the coronavirus pandemic dealt a devastating blow to the Mediterranean nation’s struggling economy, lawmakers pushed the law through.
The new law would not legalize marijuana for recreational use. Instead, it would allow for the plant to be grown for export for medicinal and industrial purposes. The cultivation of cannabis by farmers would be regulated within the country, according to The Daily Star, a Lebanese English-language newspaper.
Although the plant has long been widely and openly cultivated in Lebanon, particularly in the country’s eastern Bekaa Valley, growing cannabis was strictly illegal, according to an article in Newsweek.
Under the new legislation, Lebanon would also aim to foster a new legal industry producing cannabis pharmaceutical items, including wellness products and CBD oil. Industrial products, such as fibers for textiles, could also be produced from the plant.
Kareem Chehayeb, an independent Lebanese journalist and researcher, noted on Twitter that Lebanese political party Hezbollah opposed the new law. “Though their key allies supported the draft law, #Hezbollah were not the only party to oppose this,” Chehayeb tweeted.
Hilal Khashan, a professor of political studies and public administration at the American University of Beirut, told Newsweek that legalizing cannabis would not be nearly enough to address Lebanon’s economic concerns. He also voiced skepticism that the government would be able to successfully implement the law, given Hezbollah’s opposition.
“Hezbollah is a primary beneficiary of cannabis trafficking,” Khashan said. “The only way for Hezbollah to accept the ratification of the law is to be directly involved in its implementation—i.e., get its share from it.”
Lebanon has been publicly discussing the possibility of legalizing cannabis for medicinal and industrial purposes for nearly two years. Back in July 2018, Raed Khoury, Lebanon’s former caretaker minister for economy and trade, bragged that the quality of Lebanese marijuana “is one of the best in the world” during an interview with Bloomberg News.
April 22, 2020
Colorado Temporarily Legalizes Online Marijuana Sales

Colorado has made the online sale of recreational marijuana legal during the coronavirus outbreak.
Marijuana can be purchased online and picked up at the dispensary under the executive order that went into effect on March 20. Delivery is not allowed under the order, however.
Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois and Oregon also allow for the online purchase of recreational marijuana, but the practice is limited because while marijuana is still federally illegal, many credit card companies will not process the purchases.
In some states, marijuana dispensaries are listed as essential businesses and are allowed to stay open during stay-at-home orders.
Some believe that deliveries should also be allowed during the coronavirus crisis. “We need to be able to have as little contact as possible to people,” said Ben Prater, manager of Cannabis Station by Rocky Mountain High in Denver. “If people are sick or if they’re immunocompromised, they don’t need to be leaving their house during this time. So, I think that delivery is just kind of a necessity at this point.”
The online sale of marijuana will be prohibited again once the executive order expires. Colorado emergency rules can only stay in effect for 120 days.
April 14, 2020
Figr Introduced in British Columbia
Pyxus International’s wholly owned indirect subsidiary Figr Brands has introduced its legal recreational cannabis products into British Columbia, Canada, marking Figr’s first western provincial entry in its planned expansion across the country.
Figr’s cannabis products, including the brand’s two newest strains, are now available for purchase through BC Cannabis.
“Figr’s entrance into British Columbia is an exciting step for Figr as the company continues to expand across Canada,” said Pieter Sikkel, Pyxus president and CEO. “We are proud of Figr’s dedication and commitment to providing Canadians new and continued access to high-quality, fully traceable cannabis products, particularly as Canada navigates the unprecedented challenges of the Covid-19 crisis. Cannabis is considered an essential business in British Columbia, and Figr is committed to meeting the demand of consumers while protecting the health and well-being of its employees.”
Within the last nine months, Figr has expanded into three new markets across Canada as well as introduced its initial suite of Figr 2.0 products. Figr’s products are now available in five Canadian provinces through retail locations and online stores, including Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and British Columbia.
All of Figr’s cannabis products are tracked from seed-to-sale by SENTRI, Pyxus’ proprietary track-and-trace platform.
April 8, 2020
Study: States With Legal THC had Fewer EVALI Cases

photo: Jeremynathan | Dreamstime
States with laws legalizing recreational marijuana had fewer cases of e-cigarette/vaping-related lung injury (EVALI) than states without such policies in 2019, researchers reported.
In states that had legalized recreational marijuana, the EVALI case rate averaged 1.7 per million population (95% CI 0.3-3.1), far lower than states where it’s legal only for medical purposes (8.8 per million, 95% CI 5.1-12.5) or completely illegal (8.1 per million, 95% CI 4.1-12.0), reported Alex Hollingsworth, PhD, of Indiana University in Bloomington, and colleagues, according to an article on medpagetoday.com.
Moreover, the number of cases was significantly lower in states with legal recreational marijuana compared to those where it was not after adjusting for vaping rates (difference 7.2 cases per million, 95% CI -11.8 to -2.6, P=0.003), they wrote in a JAMA Network Open research letter, according to the story.
“It appears states that have legal access to marijuana have lower rates of EVALI cases, which is consistent with the hypothesis that people have demand for marijuana products, and in states where they don’t have access to them in this regulatory fashion, they end up purchasing them elsewhere,” Hollingsworth told MedPage Today.
April 7, 2020
Cannabis Prices Surge in France
In France, where recreational drug use is illegal, the street price of cannabis has drastically risen due to the lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Newly imposed tight border controls to stop the spread of the virus have disrupted the illegal flow of drugs. Illegal cannabis resin in France typically comes from Morocco through Spain, and marijuana comes from the Netherlands.
“The price of a 100-gram bar of resin went from €280 ($309) to €500 in a week in Marseille,” said Yann Bastiere, a senior police union official who works with counter-narcotics investigators. He noted that similar trends were seen in other parts of the country as well.
Experts are concerned that the lack of drug availability could lead to serious trouble—rivalries between drug gangs and public disorder in the “deprived zones.”
March 30, 2020