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Cannabis Policy Reform History Made In Australia

Written by Hazel Norman on . Posted in Policy.

Australian cannabis reform efforts reached a historic milestone this week with Greens Senator David Shoebridge introducing the Legalising Cannabis Bill 2023. The measure would permit the “adult recreational use of cannabis across the country.”

Senator Shoebridge’s legalization measure marks the first time that a bill has ever been introduced to Australia’s Federal Parliament that would, if approved by both chambers, legalize adult-use home cultivation and commerce across the nation.

“With just a sprinkling of political courage and collaboration mixed with a truckload of common sense we can make this law and end the war on cannabis.” Greens Senator and Justice Spokesperson Senator Shoebridge stated about the measure in a press release.

“It’s time to stop pretending that consumption of this plant, consumed each year by literally millions of Australians, should still be seen as a crime. Everyone knows that it is not a matter of if we legalise cannabis in Australia, it’s a matter of when, and today we’re taking a huge step forward. The Greens are here to get this done, and we’ll be working hard to get the numbers to make this law.” Senator Shoebridge also stated.

“It’s time to seize the many opportunities that legalisation poses. This includes the $28 billion in public revenue that legalisation can bring in in the first 9 years of operation. This is the chance for tens of thousands of quality green jobs, new small businesses, enriched regional economies and the boon for tourism that will come with establishing a totally new legal industry.” Senator Shoebridge added.

“It is the opportunity to regulate the quality, strength and safety of a product that millions of Australians are already using, and it’s the chance to radically reduce harm, by stopping 80,000 Australians a year from being caught up in the criminal justice system for possession of cannabis. Using the collective wisdom of thousands of contributors who shared their knowledge and experience with us, we are introducing a solidly founded bill that maps out the way to legalise cannabis across Australia.” Senator Shoebridge concluded.

The formal introduction of the measure comes on the heels of the Greens announcing “unprecedented engagement” for a public survey the party conducted focused on the legalization measure.

“A total of 8,916 individual responses on our survey were received and we received 38 detailed submissions in response to our consultation paper. This is in addition to thousands of calls, social media messages and real life conversations.” the Greens stated in a press release about the survey.

“The results show an extremely strong level of support for legalising cannabis with a single national cannabis market that allows for home grow and prioritises co-ops and small business involvement. Respondents told us they don’t want an overly corporatised scheme and how it is important to ensure any tax rate doesn’t force up prices and drive people back into the illicit market.” the press release also stated.

Below are “improvements” made to the bill during the public consultation process:

  • Quality and labelling to set out labelling requirements for cannabis and cannabis products including safety and dosage information, strength and chemical composition
  • Penalties – we will amend the bill to provide a clear requirement for serious or repeated breaches of licence conditions to result in serious consequences for the licence holder – not just employees.
  • Home grow and production – we will amend the bill to explicitly allow people to make products like brownies or gummies at home for personal use, we will also explicitly require that grow at home cannabis not be accessible to the public.
  • Young people – we’ll add a new requirement to store cannabis where it’s not readily available to minors and give the regulator the capacity to impose other safe storage if needed like child safe containers for edibles for example.
  • Advertising – we will make clear that the ban on advertising won’t stop cafes and dispensaries from point of sale advertising or having an authorised online presence.

“Using the collective wisdom of almost ten thousand respondents we know the Greens will be tabling the most popular and effective bill possible to legalise cannabis for the whole country. We have made improvements around labelling, storage, manufacture, advertising, penalties and more as a result of this consultation process.” Greens Senator David Shoebridge stated about the consultation.

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Dystonia Patients Benefit From Inhaled Cannabis According To Survey

Written by Frank Schuler on . Posted in Science.

Dystonia is a condition involving involuntary muscle contractions that sometimes cause repetitive or twisting movements by the suffering patient. The condition can affect one or more parts of the suffering patient’s body, and in extreme cases, it can affect the patient’s entire body.

As of 2021, researchers estimated “the global prevalence of dystonia to be 16.43 per 100,000, although work to date suggests that this may vary geographically. Northern European countries, the USA, and Colombia have higher rates of prevalence than those observed in Asia and Southern Europe.”

Current treatments for dystonia include pharmaceutical drugs, injections, and physical therapy. Many dystonia patients are turning to the cannabis plant for relief, and according to a recent survey of patients, inhaling cannabis is effective. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:

Tel Aviv, Israel: Patients diagnosed with dystonia (involuntary muscle contractions) report experiencing therapeutic benefits from smoking cannabis, according to data published in the journal Frontiers in Neurology.

Israeli researchers surveyed 23 dystonia patients authorized to use medical cannabis products. (Cannabis is legal in certain circumstances in Israel under a doctor’s supervision.) Participants in the study had used cannabis for, on average, a period of nearly three years. Patients provided numerical ratings commensurate with their symptoms.

Patients reported that inhaled cannabis was associated with a reduction in dystonia symptoms and with improvements in their overall quality of life.

Those patients diagnosed with generalized dystonia perceived greater benefits than did those with more focal dystonia patterns. Patients reported smoking cannabis to be far more effective than consuming oil extracts. The most commonly reported side effects from cannabis were dry mouth, sedation, and dizziness.

“Our real-life observational single-center study suggests that MC [medical cannabis] may provide benefits for some patients with dystonia, particularly those with more widespread or generalized forms of the condition,” researchers concluded. “THC-containing MC products may be a promising starting point for further research into the therapeutic benefits of CBM [cannabis-based medicines] for dystonia in patients with widespread symptoms.”

Separate data has shown that cannabis inhalation improves pain and movement control in patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Full text of the study, “A single-center real-life study on the use of cannabis in patients with dystonia,” appears in Frontiers in Neurology.

High Tech Panel International Cannabis Business Conference Berlin

The Future Of Cannabis And Digital Innovation

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Business.

As the cannabis industry continues to grow and evolve, digital technology is poised to play an increasingly important role. From seed-to-sale tracking to customer relationship management, cannabis businesses are turning to software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, mobile apps, web 2.0, and big data analytics to improve efficiency, compliance, and customer experience. In the panel discussion in the video embedded below from the recent International Cannabis Business Conference in Berlin, tech specialists explore the latest trends and opportunities in cannabis technology and discuss how digital tools can help businesses stay ahead in a rapidly changing industry. Panelists include:

    • Christopher Budd – Co-Founder & Subject Matter Expert, Isolocity
    • Nohtal Partansky – Co-Founder & CEO, Sorting Robotics
    • Lewis Koski – Chief Strategy Officer, METRC
    • Hans Harders – Regional Director, CCELL
    • Jürgen Bickel – Managing Director, Storz & Bickel

We look forward to seeing you in Berlin in 2024, as well as at our upcoming science and technology event in Slovenia this September!

Israel Flag Israel Flag

Regulatory Changes In Israel Will Expand Patients’ Medical Cannabis Access

Written by Hazel Norman on . Posted in Policy.

Israel is home to arguably the best cannabis research community on earth, serving as the longtime base for legendary cannabis researcher (and International Cannabis Business Conference alumni) Raphael Mechoulam.

Mechoulam first isolated tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) while conducting his research in Israel in the mid-1960s, and the nation’s scientists built on that research ever since. Unfortunately, Israel’s medical cannabis policies have not always kept up with the nation’s research.

Thankfully, new regulatory changes should help improve the level of safe access for suffering patients in Israel. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:

Jerusalem, Israel: Regulators are further easing restrictions on patients’ access to medical cannabis products.

Regulatory reforms approved by the Ministry of Health will allow physicians to prescribe cannabis to patients as a first-line treatment rather than as an option of last resort. (Under current law, doctors must attest that their patients have been unresponsive to other conventional treatments, including opioids, prior to granting them access to medical cannabis products.)

About 100,000 Israelis are currently authorized to use medical cannabis.

Another regulatory change eases legal restrictions on patients’ access to hemp-derived CBD products.

Regulators are also seeking to further facilitate clinical trial research involving cannabis products.

The regulatory changes are anticipated to go into effect this December.

Global Investment Forum Berlin 2023 Jim Belushi

One Global Cannabis Industry: Who Will Be The Winners And Losers?

Written by Hazel Norman on . Posted in Business, Policy.

The global cannabis industry is still emerging. The commodity cannabis is becoming more and more relevant for conventional industries, from food and health care via fashion to luxury niche segments. With adult-use reform coming across several nations, the opportunity for other industries in those countries has been unlocked. The biggest question today is: where are global cannabis sectors going and where will the best investments be? Panelists recently discussed this at the International Cannabis Business Conference’s Global Investment Forum in Berlin, as seen in the embedded video below. Panelists include:

  • David Traylor – Senior Managing Director, Golden Eagle Partners
  • Oliver Lamb – Co-Founder and Investment Manager, Óskare Capital
  • Trenton Birch – Co-Founder and CEO, Cheeba Africa
  • Bret Worley – CEO and President, MC Global Holdings

This panel also includes a guest appearance by legendary entertainer Jim Belushi. We look forward to seeing you in Berlin in 2024, as well as at our upcoming science and technology event in Slovenia this September!

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UK Court Of Appeal: Low-THC Hemp Flower Is Not A ‘Narcotic Drug’

Written by Hazel Norman on . Posted in Policy.

For many years, hemp flower was largely considered to be an undesirable commodity to cannabis consumers. The hemp plant was almost always associated with paper, rope, and various textiles, and not something that cannabis consumers actually combusted and inhaled.

However, that has changed in recent years. Hemp flower that is low in THC, often referred to as ‘floral hemp,’ is a hot item in many markets these days due to various reasons. While it will never completely supplant cannabis products that are high in THC, low-THC floral hemp is legal in far more jurisdictions right now compared to high-THC products, and the increased access is something that many consumers are taking advantage of.

The floral hemp sector of the emerging cannabis industry is still very young, and it is causing legal headaches for entrepreneurs and investors that have to navigate laws, rules, and regulations that are either shifting, incomplete, or entirely nonexistent.

One jurisdiction that has struggled is the United Kingdom where low-THC cannabis products are widely available, yet, not necessarily legal according to some authorities. The UK Court of Appeal recently ruled that some low-THC products are not a ‘narcotic drug’ which is a designation that should help clear up some of the confusion. Per Cannabis Health News:

A ‘landmark’ Court of Appeal ruling in the UK has set a new legal precedent for businesses in the UK importing and selling CBD or low-THC hemp flower.

Crucially, the Court of Appeal has made it clear that it does not consider hemp flower with a THC content below 0.2% as ‘a narcotic drug’.

The case stemmed from the arrest of the owners of UK-based CBD retailer Uncle Herb, with the owners being charged with ‘violating the Misuse of Drugs Act.’ The owners were able to successfully argue that under EU law floral hemp products with less than .2% THC are not a narcotic and that EU law superseded UK law.

It’s ironic that EU law has hindered so many domestic THC policy modernization efforts in recent years, just to simultaneously be used to advance low-THC policy in the UK. It will be interesting to see if the same legal strategy is used in other European countries that have historically dragged their feet on low-THC reform.

This case out of the UK serves as yet another reminder that cannabis policies are harmful, outdated, and often contradictory throughout the European continent and that an EU-wide overhaul of cannabis policies is well overdue.

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Policymaker Points To Schengen Agreement As Major Hurdle For European Cannabis Reform

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Policy.

In the mid-1980s a big effort was waged in Europe to promote ‘free movement’ to help the continent’s working population by increasing the places where people could feasibly carve out a viable living. Free movement involves lowering controls at borders for residents of participating jurisdictions.

The concept of free movement reached a big milestone in 1985 with the initial signing of the Schengen Agreement (named after a small village in Luxembourg). Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands were the original signers, agreeing to gradually remove controls at their internal borders and to ‘introduce freedom of movement for all nationals of the signatory countries.’

The implementation of the Schengen Agreement officially began in 1995 and initially involved just seven EU countries. However, it has since expanded to most EU countries, with the exception of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland, and Romania. By many measures, the free movement effort has yielded several positives for the European continent.

Unfortunately, it may also be a major hurdle for cannabis policy modernization efforts on the continent according to Mikuláš Peksa, Chairperson of the European Pirate Party.

“Any country wishing to legalise cannabis faces obstacles making legislation compliant with international agreements.” Mikuláš Peksa stated according to original reporting by Business of Cannabis.

“However, this is achievable particularly for countries outside the European Union, but the biggest obstacle for countries in the EU is the Schengen Agreement.” Peksa went on to state. He also indicated that an amendment to the Schengen  Agreement may be on the way. “Our aim is to make legalisation possible for all member states.”

Whether an amendment makes it to the finish line or not in the near future is anyone’s guess, but one thing is for sure – the longer lawmakers drag their feet at the continental level, the farther removed from reality continental and international agreements will become.

The legal cannabis industry is on the move at the national level in many parts of Europe, in addition to the long-established unregulated market that is found throughout the continent. To refrain from modernizing continental and international agreements in order to permit countries to modernize their own domestic cannabis policies is to deny reality. Nations like Germany will have their efforts slowed down by the European Union to some degree, but certainly not halted.

Cannabis commerce and use are not going anywhere. The status quo is a complete waste of limited public resources by every measure and it’s beyond time for a new approach. There is no valid reason why countries in Europe, and the rest of the world, shouldn’t be able to set their own policies for domestic cannabis activity. If a country wants to cling to prohibition, as ridiculous as that approach would be, then so be it.

The seemingly never-ending wrangling between national lawmakers in Europe and the European Union is both frustrating and exhausting. Fortunately, the coalition of pro-modernization lawmakers in Europe is increasing in size, and the same is true beyond the continent’s borders where the Schengen Agreement and other European provisions do not apply.

The European Union has to be feeling the squeeze whether they want to admit it or not, and at some point, it will presumably yield movement, both in regards to the Schengen Agreement and to all other provisions that are currently holding cannabis policy modernization efforts back.

 

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New Study Highlights How Everyone Benefits From Modernized Cannabis Policies

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Policy.

Cannabis policy modernization efforts are gaining momentum in many parts of the world. Every continent except Antarctica is now home to a nation that has either legalized cannabis for adult use to some degree or is experiencing ramped-up efforts to do so.

Modernized cannabis policies in nations like Uruguay, Canada, Malta, and Luxembourg have yielded new freedoms for consumers. Additionally, modernized cannabis policies also create new opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors.

Casual observers often make the mistake of assuming that modernized cannabis policies only affect consumers and people with business pursuits in the emerging legal cannabis industry. However, that is not the case, as highlighted by a recent comprehensive study conducted in Canada.

A team of researchers associated with the University of Northern British Columbia, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the University of Victoria, the University of Guelph, and
Dalhousie University recently evaluated the relationship between legalization, adult cannabis-related, property, and violent crimes.

As part of the evaluation, the researchers examined criminal incident data from the Canadian Uniform Crime Reporting Survey for the period of January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2021. A main goal of the Cannabis Act in Canada, implemented in 2018, was to lower the burden on the nation’s criminal justice system. Researchers sought to determine if the legislation was successful in that regard, in addition to seeing if there were any changes to property and/or violent crime rates post-legalization.

“Implementation of the Cannabis Act was associated with decreases in adult police-reported cannabis-related offenses: females, −13.2 daily incidents (95% CI, −16.4; −10.1; p < 0.001) – a reduction of 73.9% [standard error (se), 30.6%]; males, −69.4 daily offenses (95% CI, −81.5; −57.2; p < 0.001) – a drop of 83.2% (se, 21.2%).” the researchers stated.

“Legalization was not associated with significant changes in the adult property-crime or violent-crime series.” researchers went on to state.

“Our findings suggest that Canada’s cannabis legalization was successful in reducing cannabis-related criminalization among adults. There was also a lack of evidence for spillover effects of cannabis legalization on adult property or violent crimes.” the researchers concluded.

Not everyone consumes cannabis, obviously. However, all members of society rely on their nation’s criminal justice system to keep society safe and to properly and equitably hold people accountable when they harm other people.

Criminal justice policy and enforcement is a zero-sum situation, in that there are not unlimited resources to fund such activity. Law enforcement agencies and courts have to decide what matters to prioritize, and what is not worth the resources.

Under prohibition, law enforcement wastes enormous amounts of resources enforcing failed public policy, and at an opportunity cost. Every hour that a member of law enforcement spends enforcing failed cannabis prohibition is an hour that they could have spent fighting actual crime, such as property and violent crime.

The same is true for the court system. Every cannabis case that has to go through the court system wastes docket hours and court resources that should be used instead for prosecuting actual criminal activity. Cannabis prohibition harms every member of society to some degree by wasting limited public criminal justice resources, whether people realize it or not.

Compare that to a country in which cannabis modernization is not only helping save limited tax dollars from being wasted on cannabis prohibition enforcement, but it also generates tax dollars for local and national governments to use to help improve society, such as helping fund schools, parks, and other civic projects. Canada is now a prime example of that on display for the world to see.

All members of society should support cannabis policy modernization, even if they do not consume cannabis and/or never have plans to. Cannabis prohibition is a failed public policy wherever it still exists, and it’s time for governments in those jurisdictions to take a more sensible approach.

blood sugar diabetes

Cannabis Consumers Possess Reduced Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes Per Iranian Study

Written by Frank Schuler on . Posted in Science.

Type 2 diabetes is one of the biggest health issues facing the planet today. Researchers estimated that as of 2017, over 460 million patients were affected by type 2 diabetes, which corresponds to about 6.28% of the world’s population.

According to the same researchers, “Over 1 million deaths per year can be attributed to diabetes alone, making it the ninth leading cause of mortality.” The problem is increasing year over year, particularly in Western Europe, and gender distribution of the condition is equal.

It goes without saying that lowering a person’s risk of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is very important. Researchers in Iran recently conducted a meta-analysis and concluded that cannabis consumers possess a lowered risk of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:

Tabriz, Iran: Adults with a history of cannabis use are less likely than non-consumers to develop type 2 diabetes, according to data published in the journal Phytotherapy Research. A team of Iranian investigators performed a meta-analysis of the relevant literature, including 11 surveys and four cohorts consisting of more than 478,000 subjects. They reported, “[T]he odds of developing T2DM [type 2 diabetes] in individuals exposed to cannabis was 0.48 times lower than in those without cannabis exposure.”

Authors speculated that cannabis may possess “protective effects” against the development of diabetes, but they cautioned against drawing any definitive conclusions absent additional studies.

“To our knowledge, our meta-analysis presents the … most up-to-date evidence on the association between cannabis consumption and T2DM,” they concluded. “Given the rising trend of cannabis consumption, and legalization of cannabis consumption there is an increasing need to design prospective longitudinal randomized studies investigating the honest effects of cannabis consumption and providing practical guidelines to manage cannabis usage.”

Several prior observational studies have identified a correlation between cannabis use and lower odds of obesity and adult-onset diabetes, while clinical trial data has shown that the administration of THCV is associated with improved glycemic control in type 2 diabetics. Placebo-controlled trial data published earlier this year reported that the use of plant-derived cannabinoid extracts significantly improves blood sugar and cholesterol levels in diabetic subjects.

Full text of the study, “Association between cannabis use and risk of diabetes mellitus type 2: A systematic review and meta-analysis,” appears in Phytotherapy Research. Additional information on cannabinoids and diabetes is available from NORML’s publication, Clinical Applications for Cannabis and Cannabinoids.