Author: Thomas Edward

[ad_1] Canada’s THC-infused beverage market is about to get more crowded. Jones Soda, the beloved soft drink company known for its quirky flavors, said on Tuesday that the arm of its cannabis business, Mary Jones, “has been approved to operate in Ontario, Canada, with additional provinces to follow.”  “Starting with their THC-infused beverages, the products are currently slated for Ontario availability in Q1 24,” the company said in a press release. Jones is eyeing an additional expansion into other cannabis categories within the Canadian market in collaboration with Tilray Brands, the Canadian cannabis company. The company said in the press…

[ad_1] The groups that form Germany’s coalition government struck a deal last week on cannabis legalization, setting the stage for the new law to take effect in the spring.  Now, the proposal will be considered by the country’s parliament, with a vote expected later this month. Zeit, a German publication, reported last week that the “government coalition made up of the SPD, Greens and FDP has agreed on the details of the legalization of cannabis,” and that the “law could come into force on April 1st, but must first be approved by the Bundestag and Bundesrat.”  According to the outlet,…

[ad_1] A bill, introduced by GOP state Sen. Ed Charbonneau, would establish “the therapeutic psilocybin research fund,” which would be “administered by the Indiana department of health (state department), to provide financial assistance to research institutions in Indiana to study the use of psilocybin to treat mental health and other medical conditions,” according to the official text of the legislation. Additionally, the measure would require a “research institution that conducts a clinical study to prepare and submit a report to the interim study committee on public health, behavioral health, and human services, the state department, and the division of mental…

[ad_1] Over the last half-decade, millions of Americans have seen their marijuana-related convictions expunged by state courts, according to a new report from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). The findings highlight a byproduct of the legalization of recreational cannabis for adults, as states that have ended prohibition have also included a path toward pardons and expungements for those who have previously been busted for marijuana. Additionally, President Joe Biden issued pardons in 2022 to individuals with low-level federal marijuana convictions. NORML’s report, based on publicly available information, revealed that “state and local courts have taken…

[ad_1] In a news release on Tuesday, the Cannabis Control Division (CCD) of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department said that Bliss Farm and Native American Agricultural Development Company (NAADC), two cannabis farms located within miles of each other in Torrance County, New Mexico, had been ordered to “immediately stop all commercial cannabis activity” and “pay large fines.” The two farms were cited for “exceeding plant count limits, not utilizing the state’s mandatory track and trace system and unsafe conditions, among other violations,” which resulted in the revocation of their licenses. Additionally, Bliss Farm and NAADC must “each pay…

[ad_1] Cannabis use around the world continues to eclipse other drugs––and is increasing. Opioids, meanwhile, continue to cause the most harm. Those are just some of the takeaways from the United Nations’ annual “World Drug Report” for 2023. “Drug use continues to be high worldwide. In 2021, 1 in every 17 people aged 15–64 in the world had used a drug in the past 12 months. The estimated number of users grew from 240 million in 2011 to 296 million in 2021 (5.8 per cent of the global population aged 15–64). This is a 23 per cent increase, partly due…

[ad_1] An advocacy group in Delaware is enlisting volunteers to clean up their community –– and then clear their mind.  Called “Joints for Junk,” the program works exactly like it sounds: in exchange for a round of trash clean-up, the Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network awards the volunteers with a joint of legal cannabis. “People preregistered, showed up, signed a waiver and we gave them a joint,” says Zoë Patchell, president of Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network, told the Delaware News Journal. “And, actually, nobody took the joint and left. It was a really positive, inspiring day.” The group held the first “Joints…

[ad_1] The number of legal cannabis retailers has exploded in North America the last decade, but that hasn’t resulted in easier access for kids.  That is the takeaway from newly published survey data that examined perceptions of cannabis among youth in Canada. “Very little research has examined how perceptions of cannabis access among underage youth in Canada have changed since cannabis was legalized and since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, this paper examines the effect of the early and ongoing stages of the COVID-19 pandemic period on youth perceptions of cannabis access over time since the onset…

[ad_1] The wave of legalization that has swept over the United States in the last decade has coincided with a swell in published research on cannabis. That is the finding unearthed by the marijuana advocacy group NORML this week.  Citing the results of a keyword search of the the National Library of Medicine/PubMed.gov website, NORML said that, for the third year in a row, “researchers worldwide published over 4,000 scientific papers specific to cannabis, its active constituents, and their effects.”  “Over the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase in scientific inquiries about the cannabis plant — with researchers…

[ad_1] Things got a bit spicy for border patrol officers in San Diego last week. It was there, near the United States-Mexico border, that officers discovered more than $10 million worth of hard narcotics that had been hidden in a shipment of jalapeño paste. The bust went down on December 13. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers said that they encountered a 28-year-old male driving a commercial tractor-trailer with a shipment manifested as jalapeño paste” at the Otay Mesa Cargo Facility. “The driver, a valid border crossing card holder, was referred for further examination by CBP officers along with the…

[ad_1] Local news outlet WPRI reported last week that the state’s Office of Cannabis Regulation says that recreational marijuana sales “have steadily increased almost monthly over the past year, and the estimated sales for Fiscal Year 2024 is $76 million.” “That sales estimate, if met, would translate into more than $15 million in state and local revenue: $7.6 million from the state’s 10% cannabis tax, $5.3 million from the 7% sales tax and $2.3 million from the 3% local tax,” the station reported, noting that the Office of Cannabis Regulation “estimates that, in October alone, more than $7 million worth…

[ad_1] After analyzing available survey data, researchers at the University of Michigan said that 12.1% of adults in the United States aged 50-80 reported using cannabis in the past year.  “Among those who reported cannabis use, 34.2% reported using cannabis products 4 or more days per week,” the researchers said. The researchers analyzed data extracted from the National Poll on Healthy Aging, which they described as “a nationally cross-sectional survey that asked U.S. adults ages 50-80 in January 2021 about their cannabis use in the past year.” (The poll is sponsored by the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation at…