Dear Stoner: I want to try my hand at making CBD-extracted products. Is it better to use hemp or real marijuana for it? C-Mac Dear Mac: It depends on your experience with marijuana and cannabinoid extraction. Most cannabidiol (CBD) users and product-makers use industrial hemp, because it's easier to grow legally and naturally higher in CBD cannabinoids than most flowering marijuana plants, which generally have more THC. If you want to start creating personal CBD products in Colorado, all you have to do is make sure your hemp plants or oils have less than 0.3 percent THC, and you can make all the CBD-infused balms, lotions and foods you like - as long as your home-extraction methods don't involve butane or any other explosive solvent. [continues 330 words]
Critics Call the Assertion an 'Opinion,' and Author Admits It's A 'Guess' Medical marijuana growers in Oregon are producing far more product than they or their customer-patients can consume, feeding a black market that doesn't appear to be going away soon, according to a controversial new report. An estimated 70 percent of the crop will be distributed illegally next year, according to a draft report from the Portland consulting firm ECONorthwest, which has been hired by Josephine County and the city of Grants Pass to study the local economy, including the marijuana industry. [continues 572 words]
Marijuana Execs Find Welcome Vibe Among the Pols Marijuana has gone mainstream at the Democratic National Convention this week. Democratic officials, including Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer and his state's attorney general, Ellen Rosenblum, mingled with pot industry executives Monday night at a reception at a sleek bar downtown, miles away from the convention hall. A day earlier, the Marijuana Policy Project staged a fundraiser to support its work to push new laws around the country legalizing the use of marijuana. [continues 553 words]
BOULDER, Colo. - The nondescript building in east Boulder is like many other in the city; is, in fact, identical to several surrounding structures. Passing motorists and pedestrians wouldn't know that there's a multi-million dollar manufacturing operation inside. And that's the way the folks at CW Hemp want it. Even if someone did manage to peek inside the 18,000-square-foot lab, warehouse and office space, they wouldn't know that one of the most famous strains of hemp in the world is processed here, reported the Daily Camera. [continues 922 words]
Harrisburg - Three months after Pennsylvania legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes, Gov. Tom Wolf signed a law Wednesday allowing for greater cultivation of hemp, another cannabis plant. Farmers will be able to cultivate hemp in connection with state and academic research program as a result. The state Agriculture Department will oversee these programs. The law brings Pennsylvania in line with a recent federal law that allows hemp pilot programs at universities involved with agricultural research. Lawmakers gave final approval to the hemp bill earlier this month after lawmakers in both chambers pushed for its passage as a first step to reviving a hemp production in Pennsylvania. [continues 257 words]
Potfolio. Get It? POP QUIZ! Remember last week when we talked about how cool it was that banks are full-on supporters and cheerleaders for cannabis businesses? Trick question. Actually, last week I wrote about the exact opposite of that. It turns out that obtaining and keeping even a simple checking account is difficult beyond measure for legal cannabis enterprises. I didn't even touch on how impossible it is for a canna business to get funding from a traditional bank. It was sort of a bummer column, actually. [continues 645 words]
The smoky sunsets of late make for an eerie reminder of the fires burning all around the Springs - to the west, up north and in our past. It's unwelcome deja vu, but it seems all but inevitable each summer. Colorado is hot, dry and windy during the summer, making it fertile ground for ravaging fires. But research suggests this recent uptick may be attributable to insect outbreaks, drought and rising temperatures - all symptoms of manmade climate change. Innovators not resigned to that fate have found an unlikely tool for both surviving wildfires and preventing them at the same time: cannabis. (But not the kind that gets you high.) [continues 546 words]
A cousin of marijuana, the plant is reported to be effective in treating epilepsy and other ailments, Mike Hager writes Each month, Sebastian Cyr uses a specialized extraction device he describes as being "as simple as a toaster," to make a concoction that he says relieves his Lyme disease symptoms. The Montreal resident dumps two cups of coconut oil into a contraption marketed as the Magical Butter Machine, along with 15 grams of cannabis, which he gets delivered through the mail from one of Canada's two dozen licensed commercial growers. [continues 1091 words]
Patients Can Get Anything They Want at Ottawa's Illegal Marijuana Dispensaries Inside Weeds Glass & Gifts on Bank Street, store manager Nick Dumond spots a man outside, smoking a joint. "Hey, man, are you smoking in front of my store?" he yells. "I'm trying to run a clean business here! This looks bad! Children could be walking by!" The toker had just left the store after dropping off pamphlets from the Cannabis Rights Coalition and imparting news of an upcoming rally hosted by the cannabis "community." "Sorry," he says sheepishly. "I medicate everywhere." [continues 4329 words]
On July 7, Gov. David Ige signed into law what might prove to be the most important piece of economic legislation in the past 50 years. Hawaii now enjoys the best hemp law in the nation. We who have been active in bringing back hemp to agriculture believe that generations will still be saying mahalo to those who worked, some for decades, to get this law passed. Now it's time to implement it. The hemp industry is growing 1,000 percent per year in the U.S., despite the "research only" provision for hemp in federal law. No place is more ready to lead hemp's resurgence than the Aloha State. Our year-round cultivation climate, small farmer infrastructure, and bottom line need for a regenerative agriculture economy means we have all the pieces of the puzzle. [continues 500 words]
I recently read with interest an article by Mike McFeely , (a WDAY host and Forum columnist) entitled "Medical marijuana a needed debate in North Dakota." At the end of his article he stated that North Dakota backers of medical marijuana would be wise to do some storytelling. Shortly before marijuana was banned by The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, new technologies were developed that made hemp a potential competitor with the newly-founded synthetic fiber and plastics industries. Hemp's potential for producing paper also posed a threat to the timber industry. Evidence suggests that commercial interests having much to lose from hemp competition helped propagate reefer madness hysteria, and used their influence to lobby for marijuana prohibition. [continues 223 words]
WHILE the latest research on cannabis confirms anecdotes that weed slows and even removes Alzheimer's, the dagga couple of SA still have a long fight to change the illegal status of the drug in South Africa. On their non-profit organisation website, Fields of Green for All, the infamous dagga couple, Julian Stobbs and Myrtle Clarke, said their case will finally come to court on July 31, 2017. And after all their effort to get there, the Pretoria high court will have to escalate the questions raised on the constitutionality of being arrested for possessing dagga to the Constitutional Court. The couple have also sued seven South African government departments on charges of enacting unlawful laws. [continues 831 words]
Councillor says process 'premature' ahead of legalization A Toronto cannabis-wellness firm is making plans to expand into Squamish as the district moves toward regulating dispensaries. On Tuesday, Squamish council adopted bylaws to establish the regulation of marijuana dispensaries. It began accepting marijuana business license applications on Wednesday. Those applicants will include Danielle Blair, president of Calyx Wellness Centre in Toronto. Blair was at the Cannabis Hemp Conference in Vancouver on Saturday, where she said her company's lawyers are prepared to draft applications immediately. [continues 240 words]
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - So far, only the Passamaquoddy Tribe and a Portland resident have received permission to grow what would be the state's first licensed crops of industrial hemp. They are going into unknown territory in Maine at a time when federal law prohibits commercial hemp cultivation. Republican state Representative Deborah Sanderson, of Chelsea, who sponsored last summer's hemp legalization bill, said the state's been "very slow" in getting the crop going. Benedicta potato farmer Glenn Lane said the Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry has prolonged the rule-making process. [continues 103 words]
About 30 Former NFL Players in California Are Expected to Participate Later This Summer A push for cannabidiol research has gained steam in recent months, with current and former NFL players backing two studies on CBD's efficacy in alleviating football-related pain without getting them high. But another study, led by a California-based cannabis extract producer Constance Therapeutics and the Gridiron Cannabis Coalition, aims to examine whether whole-plant cannabis is more effective than isolated compounds in treating players' pain. [continues 581 words]
Dispensaries Unlikely to Set Up in City If Rules Approved Although there is an initiative on the November ballot to legalize marijuana and hemp in the state of California, Santa Clarita residents aren't likely to see dispensaries popping up around town even if it passes. Mike Murphy, Intergovernmental Relations Manager with the city Santa Clarita, said it appears that local laws banning marijuana dispensaries would stand even if the measure passes. While Murphy said he couldn't be sure without reading all 65 pages of text, one section within the initiative does lay out rules on local control. [continues 116 words]
Families Upset After Canadian Border Agents Move to Stop Marijuana Oil Shipments Parents of children suffering from epilepsy say a recent move by Canadian border agents to seize shipments of medical marijuana oil from an American company could have a catastrophic effect on their children's health. The families have sent letters to the federal government pleading for the border to allow shipments of Charlotte's Web, a type of marijuana oil that has been touted by some researchers as an effective therapy for hard-to-treat forms of epilepsy. [continues 631 words]
Seized marijuana oil said to help kids with 'life-threatening' epilepsy Parents of children suffering from epilepsy say a recent move by Canadian border agents to seize shipments of medical marijuana oil from an American company could have a catastrophic effect on their children's health. The families have sent letters to the federal government pleading for the border to allow shipments of Charlotte's Web, a type of marijuana oil that has been touted by some researchers as an effective therapy for hard-to-treat forms of epilepsy. [continues 629 words]
The people lining up to profit from Maryland's legal medical-marijuana market include former sheriffs and state lawmakers, wealthy business executives and well-connected political donors, according to previously undisclosed public records obtained by The Washington Post. Nearly 150 businesses are competing for up to 15 cultivation licenses that will be awarded starting this summer, the first footholds in an emerging industry that is already worth billions nationally. Very few applicants have publicly discussed their plans. But through a public-records request and database searches, The Post identified more than 950 people working for or investing in prospective growing operations in Maryland. Among them: former Drug Enforcement Administration agents; the leader of a Maryland statewide police union; former heads of the Department of Natural Resources police; a former U.S. Capitol Police chief; and Eugene Monroe, the recently released tackle for the Baltimore Ravens who is the foremost advocate of medical marijuana in the National Football League. [continues 2683 words]
Not Everyone in the Cannabis World Is Chill "That's the thing about people who smoke weed," said a friend to me recently. "They are some of the most laid-back, easygoing people I've ever met." We were talking about how people who have just consumed cannabis behave compared to those who have consumed alcohol. And within the context of that particular comparison, I absolutely agreed. But recently, I've found the exact opposite to be true. And after conversations with others in the cannabis industry, I'm beginning to rethink my position. Because there is some truly fucked-up behavior going on, and it's not helping anyone. [continues 643 words]
