Citing concerns about a suspected connection between cannabis and psychosis, a group of Washington state lawmakers wants to slash the allowed potency of all non-medical cannabis concentrates, limiting THC levels to no more than 10%.
In just one year, marijuana stocks went from being a cash machine for investors to a vacuum looking to suck their investment capital dry.
CBD is the hemp flavor of the hour, getting the most attention because it’s where many farmers have made money on hemp today. But Marshall Custer, an attorney specializing in cannabis at Husch Blackwell Law Firm, says he sees the marketplace poised for change. Custer addressed the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City on Thursday, Jan. 16, about the expanding hemp marketplace.
High Times, the venerable marijuana-focused magazine that’s undergone major diversification the past two years, is taking a big step beyond its media roots with plans to open stores in Los Angeles and Las Vegas that actually sell the stuff.
The company also named cannabis retail veteran Paul Henderson as president and interim CFO, charged with heading the dispensary initiative. Stormy Simon, a former president of Overstock.com, was recently named High Times CEO, and will focus on digital initiatives.
A Capitol Hill hearing on cannabis legislation Wednesday underscored the regulatory straitjacket that restricts research and scheduling of cannabis in the United States.
Cannabis stocks were beaten down badly last year with most of them losing more than half of their value. A slew of disappointing earnings, and a U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning that cannabidiol can cause liver injury and other damage took the sheen away from the industry.
The green rush in the global cannabis market continued in 2019, with sales doubling in seven U.S. states as well as Canada, and you can expect that trend to continue this year, a report out on Thursday shows.
The report from Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics shows global cannabis sales rose 48% to $15 billion in 2019.
The figures, which are still preliminary and may get revised as more data comes in, were bolstered by states where cannabis has recently become legal for adult or medicinal use.
The one problem that comes with cannabis industry growth—it creates a whole lot of waste.
Washington State alone created almost 2 million pounds of plant waste in the first three years cannabis was legalized. All that waste has to go somewhere, right?
In December 2019, the Trump administration legalized hemp at the federal level. Hemp is a type of cannabis that contains more CBD (cannabidiol) and less of psychoactive THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). THC can be dangerous when consumed in large quantities. Meanwhile, CBD is used to treat various health issues. It’s also used as a raw material in food and other products. Despite hemp legalization, the FDA hasn’t approved any CBD products except Epidiolex, which treats seizures. As a result, selling and distributing CBD products isn’t legal.
