Author: Ben Adlin

[ad_1] A new study of 1,886 cancer survivors found that nearly half either currently or previously used cannabis, with most of those who used marijuana after their diagnoses reporting that it was to manage symptoms like sleep disturbances and pain. About a fifth of cancer survivors, it found, “currently use cannabis for symptomatic relief while undergoing active cancer treatment.” Published late last month in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship, the study says that the prevalence of cannabis use among cancer survivors “was notable, with most reporting a great degree of symptomatic improvement for the specified reason for use.” Of all…

[ad_1] A year after New York became the country’s second most populous state to commence adult-use marijuana sales, the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) has released its latest annual report, along with a pair of separate documents focusing on equity in the industry and an enforcement against unlicensed operators. The full annual report, which spans 91 pages, comes a few days after OCM offered a brief snapshot of the state’s first year of legal sales, highlighting that consumers purchased more than 3.5 million cannabis products during the year, with total sales expected to exceed $150 million once December’s numbers are…

[ad_1] As Kentucky works to implement a recently passed medical cannabis policy, a lawmaker filed legislation this week that would end all penalties, including arrest, for simple possession and use of recreational marijuana by adults 21 and older. It would also allow adults to grow a small number of cannabis plants at home for personal use. Commercial sales, however, would remain prohibited. The limited legalization measure, HB 72, was introduced Tuesday by Rep. Nima Kulkarni (D), who this time last year introduced a measure that would have let voters decide whether to legalize use, possession and home cultivation. The lawmaker…

[ad_1] Legal marijuana sales in New Mexico set a new monthly record as 2023 came to a close, with adult-use purchases in December climbing to more than $37 million and sales of medical marijuana reaching their highest point since August. All told during 2023—the state’s first full year of legal sales—retailers sold more than half a billion dollars in cannabis products. According to sales figures released on Tuesday through the state Regulation and Licensing Department’s (RLD) Cannabis Reporting Online Portal, or CROP, adult-use retailers in December sold about $37.5 million, while medical dispensaries sold just barely under $13 million—for a…

[ad_1] Backers of a proposed Colorado ballot initiative to allow marijuana users to obtain concealed carry permits for guns will appear at a hearing before the secretary of state’s office on Wednesday to finalize the measure, a last step before they can start gathering voter signatures to put the reform on November’s ballot. The proposal is backed by Guns for Everyone, a Second Amendment advocacy group that offers free concealed carry classes to people in the state. It opposes gun control measures, including both barriers to firearm ownership and concealed carry. Under federal law, being an “unlawful user” of a controlled…

[ad_1] Cannabis consumption prior to exercise can lead to greater enjoyment and an enhanced “runner’s high,” a new study has found—though it is also tied to an increase in feelings of exertion from working out. Published last week in the journal Sports Medicine, the paper from researchers at the University of Colorado found that using marijuana before exercising “may lead to increases in both positive and negative aspects” of the experience. The findings held regardless of whether participants used THC- or CBD-dominant products, although people who used CBD reported a greater sense of enjoyment and less of an increase in…

[ad_1] As a new law in Washington State took effect this week to shield most job applicants who legally use cannabis from facing employment discrimination during the hiring process, two lawmakers have filed legislation to roll back those protections for workers in the drug treatment industry. HB 2047, sponsored by Reps. Tom Dent (R) and Lauren Davis (D), would add to the new law’s list of exemptions, which already include law enforcement, jobs requiring a federal background investigation or security clearance, fire departments, first responders, safety-sensitive positions, corrections officers and those in the airline or aerospace industries. Specifically, the bill…

[ad_1] New York marijuana regulators published a year-end review of the state’s legal cannabis system on Friday, highlighting major milestones and offering a snapshot of the market almost exactly a year after the state’s first adult-use sales began. Consumers purchased more than 3.5 million cannabis products during the year, New York State’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) said in the report. Once December figures are tallied, total sales for the year are expected to exceed $150 million. That activity brought in more than $32 million in state revenue, including nearly $16.3 million during fiscal year 2023 and upward of $16.6…

[ad_1] Active duty military personnel, veterans and their family members support allowing U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors to recommend medical marijuana and psychedelics to patients if they believe it would provide a benefit, according to results of a survey from Ohio State University (OSU). Researchers polled service members, veterans, their family members and non-military respondents over a few weeks in late August and early September, the report says. All told, 1,168 individuals participated, including 315 active and veteran military members, 426 members of military families and 427 non-military individuals. The goal was to assess the differing likelihoods across…

[ad_1] A new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University will track 10,000 medical marijuana patients over a year or more in an effort to better understand the efficacy and impacts of cannabis therapy. Funded with a five-year $10 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the research team will work with federal researchers and the nonprofit Realm of Caring, among others, to collect data around dosing, delivery methods, the chemical composition of products, possible medication interactions and other treatment details. “Our mission with this research is to understand the health impacts of therapeutic cannabis use,” one…

[ad_1] A bipartisan group of Wisconsin lawmakers have formally introduced a measure to decriminalize marijuana possession after previewing the proposal earlier this month. Sponsors hope the limited, noncommercial reform will win enough support to clear the state’s GOP-controlled legislature and become law in parallel with a separate limited medical cannabis bill that Republican leaders say will be filed in January. Assembly Bill 861, introduced by Reps. Shae Sortwell (R), Sylvia Ortiz-Velez (D) and Dave Considine (D), along with Sen. Lena Taylor (D), would remove the threat of jail time for simple possession of up to 14 grams of cannabis, replacing…

[ad_1] Beyond major marijuana developments in the U.S. at the federal and state levels this year, momentum for drug policy reform continued to build across many parts of the globe in 2023. From the issuance of the first licenses in the European Union for nonprofit cannabis associations to the EU’s largest economy taking steps toward legalizing marijuana for adults, a number of countries, especially in Europe and South America, marked drug reform milestones in the past year. Yet 2023 also saw a rash of setbacks. Delays to cannabis legalization efforts in countries like Colombia and Germany, to name a few,…