Lifestyle

First U.S. Cannabis Restaurant Opens in Los Angeles

America’s first cannabis restaurant, Lowell Cafe, opened at the beginning of October in Los Angeles. “Yes, we are real AND legal,” the establishment’s website proudly announces. At Lowell Cafe, the food itself will not be infused with cannabis, but a range of pot pre-rolls, vapes, pre-packaged edibles, concentrates and extracts are available for sale—and immediate consumption—alongside high-quality cuisine. The restaurant also provides pipes and bongs, which can be used in the dedicated smoking areas.

Arthritis sufferers lead the way for advancing cannabis as pain medicine

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By conservative estimates, at least 54 million American adults have doctor-diagnosed arthritis, according to the Arthritis Foundation, and many of them are turning to cannabis to treat their painful symptoms, inflammation, and mood swings. And it's working.

CreakyJoints, an online arthritis support community, conducted a survey and presented a summary of the results at the 2019 Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR) meeting in Madrid, Spain, to ascertain how arthritis sufferers perceive and use medical cannabis and cannabidiol (CBD). The survey utilized the Arthritis Power research registry, which includes 19,000 participants. 

The results are positive. More than half of the 1,059 surveyed had tried cannabis to manage their arthritis symptoms; fully 97% of them said it improved their symptoms. Pain and sleep disturbance were the main symptoms participants sought to relieve.  

Arthritis Foundation is Listening

On Sept. 24, 2019, the Arthritis Foundation released a series of CBD guidelines for the first time along with suggestions for adults with arthritis. The move came about as a result of its own national survey, conducted in July 2019.

"While CBD is controversial and its effectiveness inconclusive, people with arthritis aren't waiting to try it to treat their pain," Cindy McDaniel, Arthritis Foundation Senior Vice President of Consumer Health and Impact, said in a press release

The vast majority of patients surveyed by CreakyJoints said they used cannabis or CBD to treat a host of symptoms related to arthritis but not limited to pain or inflammation.

These uses included improving sleep, physical function, and alleviating depression and anxiety that come from dealing with constant pain.

Dr. Benjamin Caplan, a primary care family physician in Boston, noted that cannabis as a medicine works across different systems in the human body and that when someone has pain every day it becomes a disabling condition.

“It's not like one's joints hurt just today. When it's the 50th day in a row of being in agony and not sleeping well, people very soon can start feeling depressed,” said Caplan, founder of the CED Foundation and Clinic in Boston.

Image removed.(Gina Coleman/Weedmaps)

Arthritis sufferers who medicated with cannabis reported experiencing better sleep, improved physical function, and reduced depression and anxiety.

Patient Perspective

Jean Howell is a New York City tango and tai chi instructor who has suffered from arthritis for the past seven years and recently started to use medical cannabis.

“An aspect of arthritis, in fact, all pain, that does not get enough attention is how depressing it can be,” Howell said. “The knee pain just getting on and off the bus was enough to put me in a rotten mood for the rest of the day. I'm now using a THC/CBD balm and I can't tell you how relieved I am.”

While arthritis is generally treated with over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs, large numbers of sufferers are turning to cannabis, with or without their doctors' blessing.

“I refuse to ruin my kidney, liver, etc., with NSAIDS [non-steroidal anti-inflammatories] or worse, opioids,” Howell said. “I stopped seeing the physicians who prescribe them.”

CreakyJoints, part of the Global Healthy Living Foundation, noted that nearly half of those surveyed started using cannabis without their doctors' knowledge.

“Our study found that there's a disconnect between what patients want to know and what their providers are able to discuss.”

It stands to reason, Caplan said.

“We know cannabis is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent that functions differently from other drugs like Tylenol, Ibuprofen, steroids, or the biological options that work on the immune system and can present severe side-effects,” Caplan told Weedmaps News. “We don't see that with cannabis.”

Image removed.(Gina Coleman/Weedmaps)

At least 54 million American adults have doctor-diagnosed arthritis, according to the Arthritis Foundation, and many of them are turning to cannabis to successfully treat their painful symptoms, inflammation, and mood swings.

Caplan said that up to 27% of the general population suffers from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) – an autoimmune disease which, if untreated, can damage cartilage, the elastic tissue that covers the ends of bones in a joint, as well as the bones themselves.  

Difficult to Treat

A recent cross-sectional survey, published in the September 2019 issue of Rheumatology and Therapy journal, revealed that nearly three-fourths of RA sufferers who responded were dissatisfied with their treatments, do not achieve their treatment goals and experience symptoms that affect their daily activities.

Another study may have some answers.

A report called “Joint for joints – cannabinoids and the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis” published in the journal, Current Opinion in Rheumatology in May 2019, concluded that CBD demonstrated “anti-arthritic effects independent of cannabinoid receptors” and helped control pain and reduce inflammation.

Undertaken by a team of German researchers at the University Hospital in Duesseldorf, Germany, the study noted that the body's endocannabinoid system (ECS) is capable of combating joint pain related to RA.

“An increasing number of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are using cannabis to treat their symptoms, although systematic studies regarding efficacy in RA are lacking,” the German team noted.

Studies vs. Anecdote

In a post-survey analysis of the study done in Spain, Director of Patient-Centered Research at CreakyJoints, W. Benjamin Nowell, cautioned not to rely too much on anecdotal responses. 

“Anecdotally, and via this survey data, we know that there are many people with arthritis who benefit from marijuana and CBD products,” Nowell said in the analysis. “However, we have to temper our potential excitement about adding these products to an arthritis management strategy because there is so much yet to learn … .”

Caplan agreed that further research is needed but does not discount anecdotal accounts. In fact, he finds them important.

“There is still not enough of what modern medicine calls the gold standard — randomized trials or review trials that collect multiple studies — but anecdote is not meaningless,” Caplan said.

“Stories we hear from individuals are very meaningful and worthwhile,” Caplan said. “We live in a scientific culture that thinks we should discount anecdotes and only pay attention to the highest quality data, which I think is misleading and not fair.”

New York tango dancer Howell could not agree more.

“Cannabis has been around for thousands of years. Scientific research is only starting to catch up. Those of us who use it for pain know it works.”

Meet Pot’s Most Prestigious Brands That Made The Luxury Meets Cannabis Conference Cut

As the stigma surrounding marijuana continues to shed, more national fashion and beauty retailers are welcoming cannabis brands into their stores. It was the addition of luxury cannabis company Lord Jones to the Sephora skincare portfolio in 2018 — the first-ever CBD brand for the chain to accept — that market trend expert Jed Wexler identified as the signal of a business opportunity bigger than the dot-com boom.

Luxury Meets Cannabis Conference founder Jed Wexler at the debut LMCC in 2018.

Courtesy LMCC

Cannabis edibles expected to take small bite out of illegal sales

Licensed cannabis producers are optimistic that the introduction of legal edibles will help displace the black market, but analysts say it will take time to displace illegal sales. 

Edmonton-based cannabis producer Aurora is launching a line of edibles that include chocolates, gummies and vaping products. 

The company has submitted its products to Health Canada for approval and could begin selling them as of mid-December. 

Recreational Marijuana Would Create More Than 100,000 Jobs in Florida, Study Says

The number of jobs related to hemp, cannabis, and marijuana could increase more than sevenfold in Florida by 2025 — that is, if recreational marijuana gains approval in the November 2020 election.

The prediction comes from a new study on the cannabis industry conducted by New Frontier Data.

Ontario gardeners bring in their 1st harvest of legal backyard cannabis

Along with planting bulbs and clearing out dying annuals, some Ontario gardeners now have a new fall tradition: harvesting their cannabis plants. 

"Now is the most exciting time of growing at home," said Katy Perry, who owns a hydroponic supply store in Toronto. 

"Your plant is finally ready to be chopped down, dried, cured and consumed." 

Last week, Canada marked one year since legalization, making this the first time that Ontarians have been able to legally cultivate cannabis over the summer growing season. 

Cannabis drinkables are the new edibles: Where, when and how to get them

Why do consumers love drinkable cannabis? Let us count the ways. It's discreet, it requires no special equipment, it tastes good, and it's a familiar and safe delivery system. 

Weed-infused drinks make up one of the fastest-growing segments of the cannabis market. It's a sprawling category that includes tinctures to mix with cocktails; non-alcoholic alternatives to wine, beer, or champagne; wellness beverages that can lull you to sleep or take the place of aspirin or ibuprofen after a strenuous game of hoops or tennis; and sparkling sodas that are as appealing to millennials as they are to baby boomers who aren't comfortable lighting up.

Here are answers to some common questions about cannabis tonics.

Why Are There so Many Drinkables?

Bottoms up! Straddling the lines among intoxicating drinks, wellness shots, and liquid medicine, drinkable cannabis is taking off. According to BDS Analytics, which tracks cannabis trends, there were 88 beverage brands on the market in mid-2019; that's 19 more than during the same time period in 2018. In 2018, beverages made up 6% of the total edibles market in the United States. That percentage is rising steadily and BDS predicts that by 2022 canna-beverages, including THC and cannabidiol (CBD) products sold in dispensaries and non-THC drinks sold in supermarkets, drugstores, convenience stores, and the like could be a $1 billion market. 

A lot of familiar names are behind this boom. Mike Tyson has launched Dwiink, a line of CBD-enhanced water and fruit-flavored beverages whose name is a playful wink to his trademark lisp. Big booze distributors are investing heavily in weedy drinks: Heineken-owned Lagunitas offers Hi-Fi Hops, a pair of nonalcoholic, zero-calorie beverages that come in two dosages, 10 milligrams THC, or 5 milligrams each of THC and CBD per bottle. 

Constellation Brands, which owns Corona beer, Robert Mondavi wine, and Svedka vodka, is investing billions in Canopy Growth, a mega Canadian cannabis producer that's creating nonalcoholic cannabis-infused drinks. Molson Coors is partnering with Canada's Hydropothecary Corp. on a similar venture.

Meanwhile, the maker of Arizona Iced Tea has signed a licensing agreement with Dixie Brands to manufacture and distribute canna-drinks under the Arizona label.

Other companies are expanding into the drinks space, such as Weller, a manufacturer of functional snacks. The Boulder, Colorado, company in 2019 launched a line of CBD-infused sparkling water flavors it calls W+ and a CBD drink mix.  

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W+ is a line of fruit-flavored, BD-enriched sparkling water from Colorado-based Weller, a maker of functional snacks.

Why Did Cannabis Drinks Take so Long to Hit the Market?

Developing a beverage infused with CBD or THC is a lot more complicated than mixing gin with tonic. For one thing, cannabinoids are hydrophobic — meaning they repel water. Drop cannabinoids into water and they'll float to the surface rather than dispersing evenly.

It's taken cannabis chemists a lot of hit-or-miss experiments to overcome this hurdle. SōRSE, a Seattle-based beverage-tech company, is one of the innovators in the field, developing a method to convert cannabis oils into a water-soluble emulsion that has no cannabis taste or smell and that disperses uniformly throughout liquid. The technology is proprietary and Michael Flemmens, SōRSE's vice president of science, will say only that the company uses food-grade components that have already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as GRAS, or generally recognized as safe.

The company uses the ingredients to produce THC and CBD-infused products that include Happy Apple, a sparkling, cannabis-infused apple beverage; Utopia, fruit-flavored sparkling water with 10 to 100 milligrams of THC per 12-ounce bottle; and Vertus, an alcohol-free sparkling bubbly that's meant to be an alternative to sparkling wine or Champagne, and which comes in dosages of 50 or 100 milligrams of THC.

Will Drinkable Weed Trigger Paranoia?

Predictability is one of the advantages well-formulated THC-infused beverages have over edibles, said Niccolo Aieta, Ph.D., founder and Chief Technology Officer for Spherex, a Denver-based company that develops cannabis concentrates and whose products include Phyx, a sparkling water brand with microdoses of THC and CBD.

“Cannabis drinks are fast-acting, taking effect within minutes as opposed to several hours with edibles," he said. "That allows users to better control their experience and gives them an overall better experience.”  The Phyx website advises users that, on average, they'll feel the drink's effects in 10 minutes, with the buzz hanging around for about an hour. 

With 2.5 milligrams of CBD and 2.5 milligrams of THC, “Phyx is the equivalent of a nice glass of white wine,” Aieta said. “It's a slight elevation of your daily mood, good for unwinding, relaxing and socializing with friends. For people who are canna-curious, it's a great way to explore and experiment.” 

Flemmens strikes a similar note. “Our biggest seller is Happy Apple with 10 milligrams THC,” he said. “We suggest that inexperienced cannabis users try it on a Saturday night at home, not a Friday night at a party. Drink half the bottle, put it in the fridge and wait half an hour. If you like the experience, you have two choices. You can stay where you are or go for the rest of the bottle.”

The woman-owned and -operated Humboldt Apothecary takes an herbalist's approach to cannabis by formulating tinctures with medicinal herbs to work in concert with the full-spectrum cannabis. The blends of botanical ingredients with cannabinoids not only aid a more rapid onset, according to the company, but also help to achieve certain effects: a peppermint formula for relief of congestion, passionflower and lavender for sleeping, or gingko and rosemary for a brain boost. Humboldt Apothecary suggests using a couple of drops in a mocktail, much the way you might add bitters to a traditional cocktail. 

As for CBD drinks, Scott Van Rixel, CEO of Bhang, which makes a line that includes Wellness Beet Shots with 25 milligrams of hemp-derived CBD, thinks of these as wellness, not recreational, products.

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Humboldt Apothecary makes botanically infused tinctures using full-spectrum cannabis. Its Deep Sleep formula contains passionflower and lavender.

“They're making accessible the benefits of a plant that used to be a part of people's lives on a daily basis,” said Van Rixel, who noted those benefits include relaxation, better sleep, relief from irritability, or inflammation. Van Rixel suggested that consumers might want to think of CBD beverages the way they do energy drinks: Find the dose — a single shot in the morning or several throughout the day — that works best for them.

Where Can You Buy These Products?

That's complicated. Very complicated. Regulations are an ever-changing mess, with state and federal rules sometimes contradicting each other. The FDA published a statement that noted the agency is aware that products on the market are adding CBD to foods or labeling CBD as a dietary supplement. However, the agency advised that, “Under federal law, it is currently illegal to market CBD this way.”

Consumers can start with a product's website for “where to buy” info. Some drinks are being tested in one or two cannabis-friendly markets, such as Colorado or Washington, or in Canada, where cannabis is legal nationwide.  Dispensaries in states where marijuana is legal also are carrying an ever-expanding selection of beverages with THC and CBD. 

Many CBD drinks can be shipped to all 50 states. Thanks to the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, some states allow beverages with hemp-derived CBD to be sold in groceries. For example,  Queen City Hemp CBD Seltzer, which was launched in 2017 and was the first CBD seltzer in the U.S., is sold at retailers in 26 states, including several conservative states such as Alabama, Texas, and Georgia. However, the sparkling beverage cannot be sold in cannabis-friendly California because of complex state regulations.

Queen City's founder, Nic Balzer, who's part of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, echoed the views of others in the canna-beverage biz when he said, “There are a lot of regulatory challenges and we're hopeful that the FDA will make a ruling soon that will clarify these laws.”

8 tips every home marijuana chef needs to know

Baking, cooking and mixing food and drink with cannabis extracts and concentrates is a fine art that can take a really long time to perfect. It’s science, after all.

With the right techniques, you can skate by even as a beginner. Use this list to make sure your knowledge is up to speed as a marijuana chef so you can avoid any crucial and potentially money-wasting mistakes.

Clean your cannabis

Some plants, especially outdoor plants, can be contaminated with dirt, bacteria and even bird poop. Avoid this first off by purchasing clean nuggets from a reliable source. Fix a bad situation by gently boiling the nuggets, since boiling water is not hot enough to mess with the cannabinoids that you’re targeting with any infusion.

Decarboxylate

The decarboxylation step converts the active ingredients into tissue-penetrating THC from THC-A in the raw plant. Skip this step and your edibles may hit you hours later in your liver, rather than in your mouth, stomach, esophagus, etc where they will work faster.

Strain with gloves

Do not press or strain with your bare hands. Not only is it unsanitary, you will get stoned. The sheer amount will definitely make you feel something. People say that’s not true, but it has happened to me a few times when breaking this essential rule. Plus, you can use a spatula to salvage the last drops of your brew from gloved fingers; you can’t do that with your bare hands, ew.

Use devices where possible

Devices can be helpful in that they do a lot of the tricky work for you. Temperature regulation, stirring and timing are all things you can screw up no matter how great of a chef you are. When I tried the Magical Butter, I realized that technology is about to run wild in the cannabis world.

Use a good saturation ratio

Try not to overpack any infusion with nugs; you need to have enough liquid to actually strain out. The less liquid you use, the harder it will be to recoup liquid filled with goodies. A good starter ratio is one g material per one oz. of medium, be it alcohol or glycerin.

Invest in a Sodastream

If you like mixing mocktails and cocktails with your creations, buying seltzer in cans and bottles is not only bad for the environment, it’s bad for your wallet. A Sodastream pays for itself in months and you will always have bubbles on hand.

Freezer is your friend

Save anything you don’t eat right away in the freezer, where its shelf life will be greatly increased. Even a bottle with a few drops of olive oil left can dress a salad when the time comes. Same goes for the brownie you smartly cut in half. Stash it in the freezer where it won’t start to go bad. Top it with ice cream another day!

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Save anything you don’t eat right away in the freezer, where its shelf life will be greatly increased / Photo: Roschetzky IstockPhoto / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Don’t go overboard with the heat

One reason you don’t see a lot of sautéed or deep-fried cannabis items is for the simple reason that direct heat like that in a pan or grill could burn off those party vibes and leave you with sleepy CBN. You can grill and fry things, but try to leave it to things that cook quickly, or add the cannabis after the fact.

Ovens are such a common application because of the steady and controlled heat. Staying under 350 F is the smart plan.

With these tips, you can now avoid most major ganja goofs. Now you can do your best while waiting to be able to purchase cannabis cooking aids in the store like we should have been able to get all along.

Being a marijuana sommelier is now a thing

CAMBRIDGE — At a candlelight dinner party on a Harvard Square patio one recent evening, each table setting included a plate, knife, fork — and a clear glass pipe and jars of marijuana.

After the two dozen well-dressed guests, who ranged from their early 20s to late 50s, seated themselves, John Maden stood and introduced himself as a cannabis “sommelier.” Over the next three hours, he directed the guests to smoke certain types of marijuana — with piney, citrusy, or earthy undertones — that he had picked to complement the five gourmet-chef-prepared courses.