February 25, 2018

Koch Brothers Support Marijuana State Rights

In a rebuke of United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions's rescission of the Cole Memorandum, the Koch brothers released a sharply worded statement supporting states' rights with regard to legal marijuana and also labels the war on drugs "misguided" and advocates a "new, smarter approach to drug policy."

In a rebuke of United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions's rescission of the Cole Memorandum, the Koch brothers released a sharply worded statement supporting states' rights with regard to legal marijuana. The statement, first released in late January, argues that "citizens have spoken on marijuana" and that the United State Justice Department can "choose to be on the side of individual liberty and states rights" by not interfering.

The Koch statement goes beyond just defending states' rights in reference to their dispute with Sessions over legal marijuana. The statement also labels the war on drugs "misguided" and advocates a "new, smarter approach to drug policy."

"The administration would be better suited working with members of Congress to reform outdated sentencing laws," the statement reads. "However well-intentioned these laws were upon implementation, they have ruined lives, torn apart families and communities, and have burdened taxpayers, doing little to keep people safe."

Scientific Evidence for Cannabis Effectiveness on Elderly

A new published clinical study out of Israel offers scientific evidence that the therapeutic use of cannabis can be a safe and effective treatment for elderly people, and is often a factor leading to the decreased use of other drugs, including opioids.

The groundbreaking article, "Epidemiological characteristics, safety and efficacy of medical cannabis in the elderly" published on February 7, 2018 in the European Journal of Internal Medicine, is the first of its kind. The study surveyed patients above 65 years of age who received medical cannabis at Tikun Olam clinics in Israel from January 2015 to October 2017. All 2,736 patients, with a median age of 74.5 years, were prescribed one or more of Tikun Olam's proprietary cannabis strains, each developed over a number of years to address specific symptoms. The main strains used in the study were Erez, (53.2%), Avidekel (33.4%), Alaska (25.7%), and Midnight (20.4%).

The most common indications for cannabis treatment were pain (66.6%) and cancer 60.8%). After six months of treatment, 93.7% of the respondents reported improvement in their condition and the reported pain level was reduced by half -- from a median of 8 on a scale of 0–10 to a median of 4. Adverse side effects were minor and rare and included dizziness (9.7%) and dry mouth (7.1%).

Importantly, after six months, 18.1% of the patients reduced their dose of opioid analgesics -- or stopped using them entirely.

Canada’s new hemp rules to boost CBD production

New rules on hemp to help significantly increase CBD production. This is a direct result of strong worldwide demand for CBD.

Canada’s hemp market is about to skyrocket under new regulations that allow the nation’s farmers to use the plant’s flower for cannabidiol extraction.

Canadian hemp currently can be used only for seed and fiber, with the leaves and flower unusable for CBD extraction without a special license from the national health agency.

The proposed hemp regulations in Canada’s larger marijuana plan – expected to become law next summer – would also allow hemp farmers to sell the flower and leaves to licensed processors in the marijuana market.

Because only trace amounts of cannabidiol are found in hemp stalks and seeds, much of the value of Canada’s hemp crop currently goes in the trash.

Market estimates for the value of hemp-derived CBD in Canada are limited, but researcher Jan Slaski of InnoTech Alberta has predicted the overall Canadian hemp industry could be worth $1 billion a year by 2023.

Canada grew about 120,000 acres of hemp this year, 10 times the acreage of hemp in the United States.

The hemp expansion not only gives farmers another product to sell, it gives CBD producers a huge new source of raw plant material.

Canada’s hemp market is about to skyrocket under new regulations that allow the nation’s farmers to use the plant’s flower for cannabidiol extraction.

The proposal has farmers and cannabis companies scrambling to capitalize on the change.

Canadian hemp currently can be used only for seed and fiber, with the leaves and flower unusable for CBD extraction without a special license from the national health agency.

The proposed hemp regulations in Canada’s larger marijuana plan – expected to become law next summer – would also allow hemp farmers to sell the flower and leaves to licensed processors in the marijuana market.

Because only trace amounts of cannabidiol are found in hemp stalks and seeds, much of the value of Canada’s hemp crop currently goes in the trash.

Market estimates for the value of hemp-derived CBD in Canada are limited, but researcher Jan Slaski of InnoTech Alberta has predicted the overall Canadian hemp industry could be worth $1 billion a year by 2023.