Tag: marajuana

  • DEA Begins Formal Process to Deschedule Cannabis

    DEA Begins Formal Process to Deschedule Cannabis

    Credit: Burdun

    The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has begun to publicly share details about its long-anticipated hearings on cannabis rescheduling.

    The agency announced last week that Dec. 2 will mark the beginning of its “formal hearing proceedings” on the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposal to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.

    A “preliminary hearing” is expected “to address legal and logistical issues and discuss future dates for the evidentiary hearing on the merits. No witness testimony will be offered or received at this time.”

    The hearing began today at 9am and will continue until 5pm at the DEA’s headquarters in Virginia, and a live stream is available.

    Nearly two dozen entities requested to participate in the hearing process, but a DEA administrative law judge determined last week that only a dozen had “established standing” to do so.

  • Potential CBD Treatment for Fentanyl Addiction

    Potential CBD Treatment for Fentanyl Addiction

    Credit: Anankkml

    Researchers at Augusta University have identified a new method to treat fentanyl addiction using a cannabidiol, or CBD, based therapy. The new research, which was published in “Cannabidiol reverses fentanyl-induced addiction and modulates neuroinflammation” by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s bioRxiv, offers a promising alternative approach to combat the opioid epidemic, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of American lives.

    Babak Baban, a neural immunologist and associate dean of research at AU’s Dental College of Georgia, has pioneered medical use of CBD. Baban partnered with Phillip Wang, a neuroscientist in the Medical College of Georgia’s Department of Neurology, to co-lead the collaborative research efforts to shed new light on effective treatments for fentanyl addiction.

    Nearly 250,000 Americans have died from opioid overdose since 2018. At the center of the opioid epidemic is fentanyl.

    “Our method is not only effective but also easily applicable, enabling individuals to navigate their journey to recovery safely and with minimal supervision. This is a vital step in addressing the broader social and health impacts of this pervasive issue.”

    Babak Baban

    When studying a mouse model of fentanyl addiction, the AU team found that fentanyl use dramatically elevated neural inflammation and significantly changed innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), part of the innate immunity in the brain, according to a press release. With mounting evidence implicating neural inflammation and ILCs in maintaining and modulating the functions of the central nervous system (CNS), this led them to hypothesize that altered CNS immune systems may also be crucial in fentanyl-induced maladaptation.

    Baban and Wang have shown previously that CBD can reduce neural inflammation restore changes in ILCs, so they decided to apply a similar approach to fentanyl addiction. They found CBD treatment significantly reversed both the elevated neural inflammation and many addiction-related behaviors.

    “With most labs focusing mainly on the neuronal and synaptic plasticity mechanisms of fentanyl addiction, the association between changes in neural inflammation, especially ILCs and addiction, is somewhat surprising and very interesting,” said Wang. “This study helps to improve our understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms subserving drug addiction.

    “There is clearly a lot to be learned how inflammation and ILCs interact with learning and memory at behavioral level, with neural plasticity at the synaptic and neural network level, and with the reward pathways at the anatomical level.”

  • New York Opens State Cannabis Licensing to Public

    New York Opens State Cannabis Licensing to Public

    The New York State Cannabis Control Board on Tuesday voted to open up the application process starting next month for businesses seeking to sell, grow, process and distribute marijuana for adult use.

    Companies with an existing presence in the state’s medical program include Curaleaf Holdings , RIV Capital Inc. , a unit of Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. (SMG) that owns Etain dispensaries; Acreage Holdings Inc. , Green Thumb Industries and PharmaCann, according to Morningstar.

    Although adult-use cannabis has been legal since 2021 in New York State, only social equity applicants have received licenses thus far.

    The state said that starting Oct. 4, applications will be available through the New York Business Express Platform.

    “Today marks a pivotal step toward expanding and sustaining the state’s medical program and creation of an economically viable and equitable adult-use cannabis industry in New York,” said the New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association.

  • Rhode Island Becomes 19th State to Legalize Cannabis

    Rhode Island Becomes 19th State to Legalize Cannabis

    Credit: Yul

    Rhode Island is now the 19th state to have legalized cannabis. The new law will give courts until July 1, 2024, to automatically expunge past convictions, and those who want their expungement sooner may request it.

    Governor Dan McKee yesterday signed into law the Rhode Island Cannabis Act, legalizing and safely regulating recreational adult-use cannabis in the state, according to McKee’s office. The Act includes automatic expungement of prior civil or criminal marijuana possession charges, a key provision in the Governor’s original cannabis proposal to the General Assembly.

    Under the new law, possession and home-growing of cannabis is now legal for adults age 21 and older, and in-store sales may begin as soon as December 1. The law also establishes a framework for common-sense adult use cannabis regulation with a strong emphasis on public health and public safety.

    “This bill successfully incorporates our priorities of making sure cannabis legalization is equitable, controlled, and safe,” said Governor McKee. “In addition, it creates a process for the automatic expungement of past cannabis convictions. My Administration’s original legalization plan also included such a provision and I am thrilled that the Assembly recognized the importance of this particular issue. The end result is a win for our state both socially and economically.”

    The legislation calls for a 20 percent tax rate, split up into the 7 percent sales tax, a new 10 percent cannabis tax, and a 3 percent tax by the municipality where the marijuana is sold. In addition, the legislation makes numerous investments in the creation of an equitable, accessible cannabis retail market through the set-aside of certain application fee revenues and the reservation of a portion of new licenses for social equity applicants and worker-owned cooperatives.

  • Avail Enters Marijuana Market With Home Grow Kits

    Avail Enters Marijuana Market With Home Grow Kits

    A new line of marijuana growing kits for home use has been launched by Avail Vapor, one of the largest vaping companies in the world. Avail’s cannabis kits started to be sold in 18 of its Virginia-based stores under the Avail Grow brand on July 1, according to Maggie Gowen, Avail’s senior director of marketing and communications. Avail’s marijuana growing supplies will be available only in-store and not online.

    Credit: Avail Grow

    The growing kits feature soil, nutrients, lamps and other equipment needed to grow marijuana in Virginia, where marijuana became legal on July 1. The kits do not offer seeds, however. The sale of marijuana seeds and plants are illegal in Virginia. Residents over the age of 21 in Virginia are allowed to have up to four marijuana plants per household.

    Priced at $130, the Starter Kit is intended to be used from germination through the seedling phase. Two additional kits are being offered by Avail Grow for $600 and $800 that will bring the plants to the harvesting stage. The larger kits also offer tenting and a filtration system.

    Avail Grow is the vapor manufacturers second foray into the cannabis market. Avail launched its Leafana Wellness line of cannabidiol (CBD) products in 2019. Early last year, Avail Vapor split into three separate entities: Avail Vapor LLC (retail), Blackbriar Regulatory Services (contract manufacturing, laboratory services and FDA compliance consulting) and Blackship Technologies LLC (research and development).

  • Alabama Medical Marijuana Bill Faces Filibuster

    Alabama Medical Marijuana Bill Faces Filibuster

    Legislation to authorize medical marijuana in Alabama stalled Tuesday in the state House of Representatives after Republican opponents used a filibuster to at least temporarily delay a vote.

    Credit: Sharon McCutcheon

    Representatives adjourned shortly before midnight without a vote after nearly 10 hours of debate on the Senate-passed bill. The bill is expected to return to the House floor on Thursday, according to the AP.

    The lengthy debate brought impassioned discussion that included lawmakers expressing fervent opposition or how they changed their minds on the issue after the illnesses of family members

    The bill would allow people with a qualifying medical condition to purchase marijuana after getting a recommendation from a doctor. More than a dozen conditions, including cancer, a terminal illness, depression, epilepsy, panic disorder and chronic pain would allow a person to qualify. The bill would allow marijuana in forms such as pills, skin patches and creams but not in smoking or vaping products.

  • 22nd Century to Speed Up Marketing of Cannabis IP

    22nd Century to Speed Up Marketing of Cannabis IP

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive

    22nd Century Group has secured an exclusive agreement with CannaMetrix for the use of that company’s proprietary human cell-based testing CannaMetrix EC50Array technology. The technology will enable 22nd Century to accelerate the commercialization of new disruptive hemp/cannabis plant lines and intellectual property.

    Since reporting third quarter earnings, 22nd Century has refocused its hemp/cannabis strategy to target the upstream segments of the cannabinoid value chain. In particular, the company seeks to accelerate the delivery of valuable commercial-scale plant lines and intellectual property for the life science, consumer product and pharmaceutical end-use markets.

    With the addition of CannaMetrix, 22nd Century has now secured four out of the five key partnerships needed to maximize each component in the upstream segment of the cannabinoid value chain: plant profiling (CannaMetrix), plant biotechnology (KeyGene), plant cultivation (Panacea-Needle Rock Farm) and ingredient extraction/purification (Panacea). The company is also in final discussions with top-tier plant breeders that will be announced soon.

    “22nd Century is extremely excited to add CannaMetrix into our secured network of value chain partners to increase the speed at which we develop and offer disruptive plant lines and intellectual property for the hemp/cannabis industry. For example, a plant line that would typically take 10 years or longer to develop can now be achieved in two years,” said James A. Mish, CEO of 22nd Century Group, in a statement.

    “We are thrilled to collaborate with 22nd Century Group,” stated Harold Smith, founder and CEO of CannaMetrix. “They are the ideal partner, bringing decades-long experience in plant biotechnology with unmatched ability in developing valuable commercial plant lines. We believe that through this exclusive partnership, the development of new hemp/cannabis lines for large-scale cultivation and production will advance at a rapid pace and transform the hemp/cannabis industry.”