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Recently I discussed all of the congressional marijuana bills awaiting consideration and votes. The bills ranged from reclassifying marijuana to a Schedule II drug to removing it entirely from the Controlled Substances Act. The Act contains five schedules: I as the most serious to V as the least. Two of the major reasons that drugs are classified as most serious under Schedule I is that the drug has “no currently accepted medical use” and has a “high potential for abuse.”[i] No one can deny that as more and more states adopt medical marijuana laws and more studies seem to indicate some medical benefit,[ii] the notion of scheduling marijuana as one of the most dangerous drugs is starting to crack.

The continued FDA approval of cannabinoid-based medicines is also causing fissures. Four of them are now on the market. They are dronabinal (marinol) for controlling nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy and nabilone (cesamet) to treat anorexia in HIV patients along with the most recently approved drugs Epidiolex[iii] (cannabidiol) [CBD] to treat rare and severe forms of epilepsy and Syndros, a THC dronabinol substance like Marinol (except that it is marketed in liquid form rather than a pill) [iv] which became commercially available in the U.S. as a Schedule II substance. “It seems paradoxical that drugs like these, which contain elements of marijuana and serve the same purported purpose, are designated as Schedule II and III while botanical marijuana remains Schedule I.”[v]

If however the schedule I changes to II, several industries will be impacted. They include, but are not limited to, the synthetic marijuana pharmaceutical companies; the Canadian marijuana industry; the alcohol industry; the pharmaceutical industry in general; the drug testing industry, and, the government.

Some would think these big Pharma companies would be jumping for joy if marijuana were rescheduled to II. But big Pharma synthetic marijuana companies want to protect their monopoly and hold onto the synthetic marijuana industry. Epidiolex is manufactured solely by GW Pharmaceuticals;[vi] it is the first FDA-approved drug that contains a purified drug substance derived from marijuana. It is also the first FDA approved drug for the treatment of patients with Dravet syndrome.[vii] Syndros is marketed by Insys Therapeutics. These companies are the manufacturers and distributors of everything that has been FDA has approved and is currently on the market. “Big Pharma companies want botanical marijuana to remain illegal because it is financially beneficial to them, not because synthetic marijuana is decidedly better for patients.” [viii]

The fact that botanical marijuana is typically cheaper than synthetic marijuana makes the case. Drugs like Marinol are sold for $18 per 5 mg capsule, the equivalent of $3,600 per gram.  In contrast, botanical marijuana can be obtained for $15 a gram, though potency and price of the plant can vary.  For patients without insurance, legal botanical marijuana provides an affordable option to relieve their symptoms.[ix] Insys made huge contributions to the Arizona effort to pass a medical marijuana initiative in 2016 and has been deemed instrumental in stymieing that effort.[x] “Those supporting legalization speculated that Insys was attempting “to kill a non-pharmaceutical market for marijuana in order to line their own pockets.”[xi] “Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) spent $19.7 million on lobbying against the legalization of both recreational and medical marijuana in 2016, according to the Senate Office of Public Records.” [xii]

That is not to say that the pharmaceutical industry in general would not profit if the reclassification does indeed occur. The pharmaceutical industry would likely have significant opportunities to develop new cannabinoid-based drugs for a multitude of medical conditions now being addressed by medical marijuana. For example, there is a growing body of evidence that marijuana is working for chronic pain.[xiii] “The pharmaceutical industry is salivating over trying to find products that will spare opioids or reduce exposure to opioids. Whether or not the pharmaceutical industry can produce a substance they can call a drug that would be approved for a pain indication remains the question,”[xiv]

Declassifying marijuana would also slow the continued growth of the behemoth marijuana Canadian companies. Medical marijuana has been legal in all of Canada since 2001 and recreational marijuana was up and running in October, 2018. This status has afforded the Canadian marijuana companies to trade on the stock exchange and has given them a “leg up” on U.S. marijuana companies. The American companies are only raking in one-tenth of the revenue that Canadian marijuana companies. “Two of the largest Canadian marijuana corporations, Canopy Growth Corp. and Aurora Cannabis, have respective market caps of $5.51 billion and $3.28 billion, whereas the largest among the American corporations, Terra Tech Corp. and Kush Bottles, have only achieved respective market caps of $122.98 million and $342.79 million.[xv]

As the world marijuana companies are growing they are being eyed by the world alcohol industry. “The former chief executive of one of North America’s top beer makers says it’s only a matter of time before all alcohol companies are involved in the cannabis industry.”[xvi] Thus far Constellation Brands has bought an interest in Canopy Growth, the largest Canadian marijuana company to the tune of a 9.9% interest for 245 million Canadian dollars ($190 million), plus options to raise its stake to just under 20%., [xvii] “Molson Coors Brewing selected The Hydropothecary… and Diageo, the maker of Guinness beer and Smirnoff vodka, has been in talks with at least three Canadian marijuana growers.”[xviii]

While the alcohol industry may benefit on one hand with taking a literal interest in Canadian marijuana companies, they may be negatively impacted on the other. Both The Boston Beer Co., maker of Samuel Adams and Jack Daniel’s-maker Brown-Forman have stated in their SEC statements and filings that the marijuana industry may negatively impact their bottom line.[xix] Interestingly however one study found that “individuals who use both cannabis and alcohol tend to use them at the same time and simultaneous use was associated with increased frequency and quantity of alcohol use.[xx]

With respect to the drug testing industry, according to a bcc Research Report, “the global drug of abuse (DOA) testing market reached nearly $3.0 billion in 2016. This market is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) 4.5% to reach nearly $3.9 billion by 2022 from $3.1 billion in 2017.”[xxi] “The industry CAGR of 4.5% through 2022 is expected with urine and blood tests remaining market leaders. Increasing use of saliva tests may see a sharper growth in that emerging segment, the report concluded.”[xxii] “Onsite testing by law enforcement and first responders is a smaller market, compared with laboratory-based complex testing, but growth has been steady as employers or state laws dictate a drug-free workplace.”[xxiii] Federal drug tests are mandatory for millions of federal workers which also adds to the uptick for the drug testing industry.[xxiv] If marijuana is reclassified or the pending Fairness in Federal Drug Testing Under State Laws Act (H.R. 6589) bill which will end mandatory drug testing for federal workers is passed,[xxv] it could negatively impact this industry and over time this policy could bleed over to the entire workplace testing scenarios.

Lastly, although the government would benefit from increased tax revenue, it would lose the tax deductions revenues that are not now permissible for marijuana businesses. One analysis shows that if marijuana were fully legal in all 50 states, it would create at least a combined $131.8 billion in federal tax revenue between 2017 and 2025. [xxvi]That is based on an estimated 15% retail sales tax, payroll tax deductions and business tax revenue.[xxvii] “Allowing marijuana businesses to take normal deductions was expected to cost the federal government $5 billion in tax revenue over the next decade.”[xxviii]

Does this outcome change if marijuana is entirely removed from the Control Substances Act? That is another topic to be explored.

References

[i] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/21/812

[ii] https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/legal-pot/amid-opioid-crisis-researche... http://globaldrugpolicy.org/Images/cannabinoids%20for%20medical%20use.pdf;

Whiting, P., R. Wolff, S. Deshpande, M. Di Nisio, S. Duff, A. Hernandez, C. Keurentjes, S. Lang, K. Misso, S. Ryder, S. Schmidlkofer, M. Westwood, and J. Kleignen, 2015. “Cannabinoids for Medical Use: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” JAMA 313: 2456-2473; Hill, K. 2015. “Medical Marijuana for Treatment of Chronic Pain and Other Medical and Psychiatric Problems: A Clinical Review.” JAMA 313: 2474-2483.

[iii] https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm611046.htm

[iv] Douglas W. House, Insys launches Syndros in U.S., Seeking Alpha (Jul. 31, 2017, 11:30 AM), https://seekingalpha.com/news/3283371-insys-launches-syndros-u-s

[v] http://law.emory.edu/ecgar/perspectives/volume-5/perspectives/big-pharma...

[vi] https://www.gwpharm.com/

[vii] https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm611046.htm

[viii] http://law.emory.edu/ecgar/perspectives/volume-5/perspectives/big-pharma-marijuana-legalization-paradox.html#section-0b79795d3efc95b9976c7c5b933afce2; Andre Bourque, Is Big Pharma for or Against Legalizing Medical Marijuana? Maybe Both., Entrepreneur (Aug. 8, 2017), https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/297984.

[ix] http://law.emory.edu/ecgar/perspectives/volume-5/perspectives/big-pharma...

[x] http://law.emory.edu/ecgar/perspectives/volume-5/perspectives/big-pharma-marijuana-legalization-paradox.html

[xi] http://law.emory.edu/ecgar/perspectives/volume-5/perspectives/big-pharma...

[xii] http://www.theprospectordaily.com/2017/02/28/the-sticky-path-to-legalization-in-texas/

[xiii] http://globaldrugpolicy.org/Images/cannabinoids%20for%20medical%20use.pdf;

Whiting, P., R. Wolff, S. Deshpande, M. Di Nisio, S. Duff, A. Hernandez, C. Keurentjes, S. Lang, K. Misso, S. Ryder, S. Schmidlkofer, M. Westwood, and J. Kleignen, 2015. “Cannabinoids for Medical Use: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” JAMA 313: 2456-2473; Hill, K. 2015. “Medical Marijuana for Treatment of Chronic Pain and Other Medical and Psychiatric Problems: A Clinical Review.” JAMA 313: 2474-2483.

[xiv] http://www.kcchronicle.com/2018/07/11/when-marijuana-is-legal-in-canada-americans-are-expected-to-flock-but-the-border-and-u-s-law-stands-in-the-way/aw9600r

[xv] https://www.law.com/ctlawtribune/2018/08/27/prohibition-and-the-future-o...

[xvi] https://mjbizdaily.com/former-molson-ceo-all-alcohol-companies-involved-...

[xvii] https://mjbizdaily.com/constellations-purchase-canopy-stake-transformati...

[xviii] https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/08/28/which-marijuana-partner-will-d...

[xix] https://mjbizdaily.com/constellations-purchase-canopy-stake-transformati...

[xx] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4399000/

[xxi] https://www.bccresearch.com/market-research/pharmaceuticals/drug-testing...

[xxii]https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/06/15/1024596/0/en/Drug-Test...

[xxiii] https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/06/15/1024596/0/en/Drug-Test...

[xxiv]The Federal Drug-Free Workplace Program was initiated by Executive Order 12564 to establish the goal of a drug-free federal workplace. The Program made it a condition of employment for all federal employees to refrain from using illegal drugs on or off duty. https://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/press-announcements/201709291000

[xxv] https://3ncb884ou5e49t9eb3fpeur1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uplo...

[xxvi] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2018/01/10/study-legal-marijuana-could-generate-more-than-132-billion-in-federal-tax-revenue-and-1-million-jobs/?utm_term=.49636311688b

[xxvii] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2018/01/10/study-legal-marijuana-could-generate-more-than-132-billion-in-federal-tax-revenue-and-1-million-jobs/?utm_term=.49636311688b

[xxviii] https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/08/06/the-sneaky-reason-congress-may...

Some of the people rushing to emergency rooms thought the CBD vape they inhaled would help like a gentle medicine. Others puffed it for fun.

What the vapors delivered instead was a jolt of synthetic marijuana, and with it an intense high of hallucinations and even seizures.

More than 50 people around Salt Lake City had been poisoned by the time the outbreak ended early last year, most by a vape called Yolo! — the acronym for “you only live once.”

In recent months, hundreds of vape users have developed mysterious lung illnesses, and more than 30 have died. Yolo was different. Users knew immediately something was wrong.

Who was responsible for Yolo? Public health officials and criminal investigators couldn’t figure that out. Just as it seemed to appear from nowhere, Yolo faded away with little trace.

As part of an investigation into the illegal spiking of CBD vapes that are not supposed to have any psychoactive effect at all, The Associated Press sought to understand the story behind Yolo.

The trail led to a Southern California beach town and an entrepreneur whose vaping habit prompted a career change that took her from Hollywood parties to federal court in Manhattan.

When Janell Thompson moved from Utah to the San Diego area in 2010, the roommate she found online also vaped. Thompson had a background in financial services and the two decided to turn their shared interest into a business, founding an e-cigarette company called Hookahzz.

There were early successes. Thompson and her partner handed out Hookahzz products at an Emmy Awards pre-party, and their CBD vapes were included in Oscar nominee gift bags in 2014. In a video shot at a trade show, an industry insider described the two women as “the divas of CBD.”

Indeed, Hookahzz was among the first companies to sell vapes that delivered CBD, as the cannabis extract cannabidiol is known. Now a popular ingredient in products from skin creams to gummy bears, cannabidiol was at that time little known and illegal in some states.

The partners started other brands that offered CBD capsules and edibles, as well as products for pets. Part of Thompson’s pitch was that CBD helped treat her dog’s tumors.

By autumn 2017, Thompson and her partner formed another company, Mathco Health Corporation. Within a few months, Yolo spiked with synthetic marijuana — commonly known as K2 or spice — began appearing on store shelves around Salt Lake City.

Yolo and Synthetic Cannabis

Synthetic marijuana is manmade and can be manufactured for a fraction of the price of CBD, which is typically extracted from industrial hemp that must be farmed.

Samples tested at Utah labs showed Yolo contained a synthetic marijuana blamed for at least 11 deaths in Europe — and no CBD at all.

Authorities believed that some people sought out Yolo because they wanted to get high, while others unwittingly ingested a dangerous drug. What authorities didn’t understand was its source.

Investigators with Utah’s State Bureau of Investigation visited vape stores that sold Yolo, but nobody would talk. The packaging provided no contact information.

By May 2018, the case was cold. But it was not dead.

That summer, a former Mathco bookkeeper who was preparing to file a workplace retaliation complaint began collecting evidence of what she viewed as bad business practices.

During her research, Tatianna Gustafson saw online pictures showing that Yolo was the main culprit in the Utah poisonings, according to the complaint she filed against Mathco with California’s Department of Industrial Relations.

Gustafson wrote that while at Mathco she was concerned about how Yolo was produced, that it was excluded from Mathco’s promotional material and that the “labels had no ingredients or contact listing.”

Justin Davis, another former Mathco employee, told AP that “the profit margins were larger” for Yolo than other products.

Gustafson’s complaint asserted that Mathco or JK Wholesale, another of the companies that Thompson and her partner incorporated, mixed and distributed Yolo. Financial records in the complaint show Thompson’s initials as the main salesperson for Yolo transactions, including with a company in Utah. The records also show Yolo was sold in at least six other states, including to an address in South Carolina where a college student said he vaped a cartridge that sent him into a coma.

The former bookkeeper also tipped the Utah Poison Control Center about who she believed was behind Yolo, according to her complaint.

Barbara Crouch, the poison center’s executive director, recalled getting a tip in late 2018 and passing it along to the State Bureau of Investigation. SBI agent Christopher Elsholz talked to the tipster, who told him she believed the company she had worked for distributed Yolo. Elsholz said the company was in California and therefore out of his jurisdiction, so he passed the tip to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

The DEA offered to help but took no law enforcement action, spokeswoman Mary Brandenberger said. Spiked CBD is a low priority for an agency dealing with bigger problems such as the opioid epidemic, which has killed tens of thousands of people.

In the end, it wasn’t the synthetic marijuana compound in Yolo from Utah that caught up with Thompson. It was another kind of synthetic added to different brands.

By the time of the Utah poisonings, vapes labeled as Black Magic and Black Diamond had sickened more than 40 people in North Carolina, including high school students and military service members. Investigators were able to connect Thompson to that outbreak in part based on a guilty plea from the distributor of the spiked vapes, who said a woman that authorities identified as Thompson supplied the liquid that went into them.

Prosecutors also linked her to dealers charged in New York, where she pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy to distribute synthetic marijuana and a money laundering charge. The only brand federal prosecutors cited was Yolo.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman called Thompson a “drug trafficker” who used JK Wholesale to distribute “massive quantities” of synthetic marijuana as far back as 2014. She faces up to 40 years in prison.

Reached by phone the week before she pleaded guilty, Thompson declined to discuss Yolo and then hung up. In a subsequent text message, Thompson said not to call her and referred questions to her lawyer, who did not respond to requests for comment.

While Yolo was Thompson’s project and she was the exclusive salesperson, her business partner and former roommate was involved in its production, according to the workplace retaliation complaint.

Thompson’s business partner and former roommate, Katarina Maloney, distanced herself from Thompson and Yolo during an August interview at Mathco’s headquarters in Carlsbad, California. Maloney has not been charged in the federal investigation.

“To tell you the truth, that was my business partner,” Maloney said of Yolo. She said Thompson was no longer her partner and she didn’t want to discuss it.

In a follow-up email, Maloney asserted the Yolo in Utah “was not purchased from us,” without elaborating.

“Mathco Health Corporation or any of its subsidiary companies do not engage in the manufacture or sale of illegal products,” she wrote. “When products leave our facility, they are 100% compliant with all laws.”

Maloney also said all products are lab tested. She did not respond to requests for Yolo lab results.

Following the relaxation of cannabis laws safety in the workplace and on the roads is of major concern.

Currently, the medical cannabis segment accounts for the majority of the overall industry, largely because of the growing adoption of alternative treatments. Medical researchers have highlighted that cannabis can be effectively used to treat ailments such as cancer, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and chronic pain. However, as the industry continues to advance, cannabis safety on the roads and in the workplace is becoming a major concern.

The recreational segment is expected to eclipse the medical segment and overall, the number of consumers in legal US states and Canada is rapidly growing as the recreational market continues to mature. Notably, many recreational consumers are purchasing a variety of cannabis-based products such as flower, concentrates, extracts, and edibles.

Most recreational consumers are interested in products that are packed with THC, delivering a potent effect. In particular, concentrates and extracts have become increasingly popular because of their immediate delivery and potent THC content. However, producers have faced backlash from political officials and law enforcement agencies over the plant’s potential abuse.

Cannabis safety concerns

Regulators are concerned about the possibility of driving while under the influence. Companies and even parents have expressed their concerns over the potential abuse of cannabis. In efforts to co-operate with regulators, businesses, and parents, many companies have developed innovative technology.

Some companies are developing technologies for law enforcement agencies in efforts to reduce potential criminal activities that spawn as a result of cannabis use.

Innovative technologies such as THC breathalysers have become popular for law enforcement in legal regions. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana can significantly impair judgement, motor co-ordination, and reaction time.

The advancement of THC breathalysers is expected to reduce the number of consumers who drive under the influence, and as a result, regulators are hoping to reduce the number of dangerous incidents.

Avis Bulbulyan, Chief Executive Officer of Siva Enterprises, said: “When looking at how tech would impact the cannabis industry, it’s important to understand the needs of the industry.

“Generally, this industry is no different than many other industries and it has all of the same business needs that most businesses have. The Schedule One nature of cannabis along with the general misunderstanding of cannabis as a plant for so long has led to a greater need for compliance and transparency when setting up these businesses.”

Louisiana officials hope the federal government will approve the state’s industrial hemp program by Jan. 1 so they can begin issuing licenses.

If all goes according to plan, Louisiana farmers will begin planting the new crop this spring.

Though the federal government is not expected to issue its rules until next month, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry has crafted the basic framework based on what they expect the feds will want.

“Almost all states are following a similar pathway,” LDAF Commissioner Mike Strain said Monday to a legislative agriculture committee. “I know there’s a full-court press [by the federal government] to get this done.”

Louisiana lawmakers legalized industrial hemp this year in hopes of establishing a new cash crop for the state’s farmers. Hemp is derived from the same plant species as marijuana but has very low levels of THC, which is what gets marijuana users high, and can be used in a wide variety of products such as rope, clothing, plastics and fuels.

The 2018 federal farm bill excludes hemp from the list of dangerous controlled substances and allows states to set up hemp-farming programs. LDAF will license growers, track acreage, inspect crops and potentially seize and destroy plants with too much THC.

Strain said crops will be limited to having about 0.3 percent THC, though he hopes the federal government will allow up to 0.349 percent to give growers a little “wiggle room.” He said his department would work with farmers whose crop has slightly too much THC, though growers who are found to be deliberately trying to skirt the rules could be referred for criminal prosecution.

Strain said he expected between 100 and 200 growers will be interested and expects them to plant between 60,000 and 80,000 acres or more. Licensees will have to pass a criminal background check.

Seeds will need to be certified by the state or a credible third-party agency. Strain said he wants to protect the farmers from buying faulty seeds and ensure invasive species don’t hitchhike on the hemp program.

State Sen. Francis Thompson, D-Delhi, expressed confidence LDAF will carefully regulate the program.

“If we have bad players, we could all be embarrassed by this,” Thompson said.

The Joint Agriculture Committee lacked a quorum to formally approve the state's program framework, but members urged Strain to keep moving forward with an eye toward legislative approval later this year.

Read entire article here.

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.

(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.”

(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.”

With legalization hitting more states by the month, and with support for marijuana legalization in the United States at an all-time high at 65 percent, the need for political action on behalf of the cannabis industry -- the world’s fastest-growing market -- has never been greater. 

Despite the cannabis industry’s meteoric rise, we are bumping up against a ceiling. Cannabis remains a federally-illegal, all-cash-based industry. It depends on outdated and unpredictable financial practices and systems. As a result, cannabis infrastructure fails to keep up with demand, and the illicit market continues to thrive (a recent audit found there are three times the illicit dispensaries than legal ones in California), which further fragments the market and caps growth.

Unlike other developed industries, cannabis lacks access to the lifeblood that allowed those businesses to even get started: modern banking and financing. Without access to formal financial services and capital, entrepreneurs in the legal cannabis market lack flexibility to reinvest and grow. Without traditional financing, ventures are blocked from accessing lines of credit to hire more talent, take calculated risks like other legal businesses, and are more likely to be delinquent on payments. A lack of access to banking also leaves thousands of workers in the financial shadows -- impeding employees from improving their own credit, preventing them from using common mechanisms like direct deposit, and forcing them to risk their safety by carrying too much cash with nowhere to put it. 

While people and businesses in the cannabis industry suffer from the lack of access, so, too, do local and state tax coffers. Cannabis businesses are barred from paying taxes via check so that states and public institutions are missing out on hundreds of millions in public dollars. Take California, for instance, where marijuana tax collections fell $100 million short of expectations, and marijuana revenue projections by the state through June 2020 were cut by $223 million.

For the cannabis industry to realize its full potential, federal and state authorities need to treat it like any other American industry. That starts with legalizing the cannabis industry’s access to modern banking and financing. 

We can start in Washington. 

The U.S. House of Representatives recently made history by voting 321-103 to pass the SAFE Banking Act (H.R. 1595) -- a bill that would enable financial institutions to serve state-authorized cannabis businesses without fear of federal punishment. 91 Republicans voted for the measure in one of the few examples of bipartisan Congressional action this year. The bill’s next hurdle is the U.S. Senate.

The SAFE Banking Act would enable financial institutions to serve state-authorized marijuana businesses without fear of federal punishment. Passage of the SAFE Banking Act would be one of the most important actions Congress could take to support the cannabis industry, acting as the first major step in funding the rising marijuana economy.

Early in the summer, the California Senate passed SB 51, allowing cannabis businesses to create accounts with certain chartered banks and credit unions for specific cannabis business-related purposes. Unfortunately, the bill stalled, but it’s sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg, is planning to resurface it next year. Nevada is drawing from the gambling industry to pilot a three-year program, which would allow the state’s cannabis industry to deal in tokens for a more secure financial medium. Earlier this month, in Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill prohibiting state financial regulators from penalizing or discouraging banks and credit unions from serving cannabis businesses.

Not only are these federal and state initiatives the right thing to do, they’re also popular. According to polling from the Third Way, 67 percent of Americans across the political spectrum want Congress to enact legislation allowing financial institutions to support legal cannabis operators. 

Access to modern banking and financing will transform the industry. It will incentivize businesses to join the legal market, as the illicit market won’t have access to banking. It will allow entrepreneurs to write checks to pay their taxes, take out a loan to invest in their business, or go paperless to pay their expenses. Financing for cannabis will improve public safety by reducing the literal bags of cash in dispensaries, warehouses and homes. And, with banking, there's a serious opportunity to legitimize the industry to skeptics who still view cannabis as they did in 1995. Stable jobs will be created, and it will allow cannabis to be part of the mainstream economy. 

The cannabis industry will continue to push for federal legalization, but the first step toward empowering the cannabis businesses is pushing state representatives in the Senate to pass the SAFE Banking Act. The cannabis industry, like any industry, deserves access to modern banking and financing solutions. At the same time, the industry can only follow the lead of states developing and passing creative solutions. 

This is the fastest growing industry on the planet. It’s high time for state legislators to treat it that way.

For the first time in more than eight decades, farmers in most parts of the country have the freedom to make hemp part of their plow and pick repertoire.

It has been said for years that the legalization of industrial hemp production in the United States would breathe new life into agriculture, giving the American farmer the benefit of a genuine cash crop. Well, the 2018 Farm Bill, which was signed late last year by President Trump, came out of nowhere to do just that. 

Now, for the first time in more than eight decades, farmers in most parts of the country have the freedom to make hemp part of their plow and pick repertoire. It is a business sector that is predicted to reach well over $2 billion within the next two years. However, there is a learning curve involved that is making it difficult for hemp growers to find profitability right out of the gate. 

In the Midwest, where hemp farmers are harvesting this crop for the first time since World War II, delayed planting efforts and heavy spring rain has created a situation where the harvest is a bit lackluster, to say the least. Indiana farmer Mark Boyer, who planted 50 acres of hemp to be used for high-quality food oil, told the South Bend Tribune that late planting caused a variety of issues, including puny yields. 

“The plants didn’t get as tall,” he said, “they never canopied and that created weed problems.”

Another major difficulty that many hemp farmers are facing is theft. Perhaps thinking that they are stealing its intoxicating cousin marijuana, thieves are sneaking into hemp fields and taking tens of thousands of dollars of product. And while theft might sound like the price of doing business, it is a problem that could cripple those farmers that have entered the hemp game to keep afloat. Because these heists are not just happening on occasion, it is something that goes down regularly. 

“You feel violated that people come here and steal from you when you’re trying to help a new industry get started that can help a lot of people,” New York hemp farmer Dale Weed told The Times of Wayne County. “It’s alarming, the fact with no theft in 17 years, and now I’m being robbed every night.”

Ramping up security and increasing foot patrols is just another expense that hemp farmers must endure. But for Weed and other farmers who cannot afford to drop beaucoup bucks on round the clock watchdogs it is up to family and friends to make up the shifts when there are no hired guns available. 

“We’ve been trying to hire employees and outside people,” Weed said. “My family has spent quite a few nights here watching the property. I’ve spent nights here where I’m sleep deprived. It’s a big problem for us.”

There is hope that these growing pains will subside in time. And if they do, it will surely be worth the initial hassle. A recent study shows that hemp farmers stand to earn in upwards of $50,000 per acre from hemp. In contrast, an acre of corn brings right around $1,000 per acre. But farmers are going to have to work for that money. In addition to poor growing conditions and theft, farmers still do not have the proper tools to handle industrial hemp throughout the entire growing process. For many, this means trying to grow without approved pesticides and harvesting by hand.