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What Can Other Nations Learn From The Vape Crisis In The U.S.?

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Business, Politics.

Vape hysteria has gripped the United States in recent months, with a growing number of illnesses, and even some deaths being reported across the country. Regulators recently announced that the likely culprit is vitamin E acetate, which is a common ingredient in some vape pen cartridges, especially unregulated vape pen cartridges.

Vitamin E acetate is used by some vape pen creators to change the level of thickness of the cannabis oil inside of the vape pen cartridge. The ingredient is also used as a filler for unregulated vape pen cartridges.

Leading up to the announcement THC was being unfairly blamed for the vape crisis by members of the mainstream media and especially by cannabis opponents. It resulted in a situation where hysteria was driving the conversation and the research instead of science and sound public health policies.

Other countries can learn from the failures of how this played out in the U.S. Read about it in our latest article on Cannabis &Tech Today.

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Cannabis Legalization Effort Delayed In Mexico

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Politics.

Last year the Supreme Court of Mexico ruled that cannabis prohibition is unconstitutional.

In effect, it somewhat made Mexico the third country to legalize cannabis for adult use. The first country to do so was Uruguay, followed by Canada.

Unlike Uruguay and Canada, Mexico has yet to pass legislation that codifies adult-use cannabis legalization into law.

After its ruling in favor of legalization last year, Mexico’s Supreme Court issued a deadline for lawmakers to pass a comprehensive legalization measure.

Unfortunately, Mexican lawmakers were unable to meet the deadline. Fortunately, they were granted an extension, as reported by Marijuana Moment:

“Just days before the one-year anniversary of a Mexican Supreme Court ruling that deemed the country’s prohibition of personal use or cultivation of marijuana unconstitutional, the judicial body granted an extension of a deadline it imposed on lawmakers to change the policy.

The legislature now has until April 30, 2020 to pass reform legislation, whereas the previous mandate required action by Thursday.”

Mexico will be a massive domino in the effort to end cannabis prohibition worldwide. It is not so much due to Mexico’s population size as much as it’s due to Mexico’s history.

It is no secret that cartels have had a major presence in Mexico for many years. Legalization would shift some cannabis revenues away from cartels and towards legal entrepreneurs and public programs.

The unregulated cannabis market will always exist in Mexico, just as it will likely exist everywhere else to some extent. 

However, every dollar that can be shifted away from cartels to a regulated market that benefits Mexico’s citizenry is a big deal and why legalization is so important in Mexico.

A recent estimate by a ruling party Senator in Mexico projected that legal cannabis would generate up to 18 billion pesos ($945 million USD) for public programs in its first year.

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Paraguay Legalizes Industrial Hemp

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Politics.

The global industrial hemp market is currently estimated to be worth nearly five billion dollars (USD). By 2025, it is projected to be worth over $26 billion dollars (USD).

For a number of years, the industrial hemp industry was significantly limited by prohibition policies all over the globe. Fortunately, things have changed in recent years.

A number of countries around the world still prohibit hemp production, however, a growing list of countries are allowing farmers to legally cultivate the versatile plant, with the latest being the nation of Paraguay. Per La Nacion:

On Monday, the Executive Branch announced that President Mario Abdo signed the regulatory decree for the controlled production of industrial hemp or cannabis. It establishes that family farming producers can grow it.

The policy change allows every family in Paraguay to cultivate up to a maximum of two hectares of low-THC industrial hemp. Two hectares equates to slightly under 5 acres.

How Much Money Can A Family In Paraguay Make From Cultivating Hemp?

Each hectare of industrial hemp in Paraguay is valued at roughly 10,000,000 Paraguayan Guarani, which converts to roughly $1,545.00 USD.

If a family in Paraguay can successfully cultivate and harvest 2 industrial hemp crops annually, that’s a significant income boost considering the per capita GDP in Paraguay ($9,826 USD).

Paraguay’s industrial hemp industry model is very interesting in that it is built on a cottage industry model.

Out of a population of roughly 7 million people, it is estimated that as many as 25,000 families will take advantage of the recent policy change.

How Popular Will Hemp Cultivation Be In Paraguay?

How widespread hemp cultivation ultimately proves to be will largely depend on how profitable it is for families.

For families who live in areas with rich soil and a climate that is suitable for proper hemp cultivation, the 2-hectare limit may prove to be too low. For families who live in less ideal areas, reaching the cultivation limit may never be a concern.

The hemp plant will grow just about anywhere, however, to grow in a manner that yields a desirable harvest the hemp plant needs good soil and a mild climate.

Technology can help increase yields and quality, although it may be tough for some families to afford sophisticated cultivation equipment and light deprivation greenhouses in Paraguay.

Demand For Hemp Will Continue To Increase

The hemp plant is one of the most versatile plants on earth, with tens of thousands of products being able to be made from it.

In recent years the popularity of CBD, which the hemp plant is rich in, has exploded all over the planet. 

Demand for CBD products is what is going to drive the hemp industry forward, in Paraguay and beyond. Consumer demand for hemp-derived CBD will definitely increase, including CBD derived from industrial hemp from Paraguay.

However, whether or not families in Paraguay will reap the rewards will have to be seen as time goes along. 

Comparatively, farmers in the United States are making tens of thousands of dollars per hectare from hemp. The estimated value for hemp in Paraguay is considerably less. 

Hopefully Paraguayan families get an equitable share of any profits generated by Paraguay’s hemp industry. If not, Paraguay’s industrial hemp industry will never reach its full potential.

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Trump Administration Approves Proposed USDA Hemp Rules

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Politics.

The United States is undergoing a hemp revolution, largely driven by the explosion in CBD’s popularity. Industrial hemp is still popular, however, floral hemp has experienced exponential growth in popularity across the country in recent years.

According to Vote Hemp, 511,442 acres of hemp were licensed for cultivation in 2019 in the United States, more than quadrupling the amount of licensed acreage compared to 2018. A limited removal of federal hemp prohibition occurred via the 2014 Farm Bill which allowed states to launch hemp research and/or pilot programs.

Some states took advantage of the public policy change, while others did not.

Hemp policy evolved dramatically after the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill which included a provision for hemp legalization nationwide. Since that time it seems as if farmers across the U.S. have scrambled to plant as much hemp as they can in an attempt to cash in on the newly allowed agriculture crop.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has worked towards crafting and adopting rules ever since the 2018 Farm Bill’s passage. The USDA effort passed a major milestone this week, as reported by Marijuana Moment:

The White House approved plans to regulate hemp and its derivatives on Friday, signing off on interim final rules for the crop that were submitted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

USDA has been working to develop hemp regulations since the crop was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill in December. A top official with the department said earlier this month that rules would be released within weeks and, since then, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has finalized its review of the proposal.

The rules are not public yet, however, they are expected to be released for public comment soon. In these truly divisive times, hemp policy is one of the few areas that both major political parties seem to be able to agree on.

The proposed rules are expected to involve THC limit standards, testing protocols, and a range of other regulations that will govern the emerging hemp industry in the United States going forward.

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Germany Is Exploring Cannabis Legalization Reform

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Politics.

Uruguay was the first country to legalize cannabis for adult-use, followed by Canada. A Supreme Court ruling in Mexico declared cannabis prohibition unconstitutional in that country, which makes Mexico essentially the third country to legalize cannabis for adult use.

Many political observers have speculated that the European nation of Luxembourg will be the next to legalize cannabis, however, Luxembourg may not be the first to legalize on the European continent. A report recently surfaced stating that German lawmakers (Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel’s political party) are giving strong consideration to legalization. Per DW:

Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is openly considering a momentous u-turn in the party’s attitude to the legalization of cannabis.

“Cannabis could be freed for personal use, of course with controlled production and distribution,” CDU interior policy spokesman Marian Wendt told the RND network on Friday. “The resources freed in the police and judiciary should be used to fight the illegal trade.”

The implementation process of cannabis legalization in Uruguay and Canada has had its ups and downs, but for the most part, it has been successful. Whether that would prove to be the case in Germany would largely depend on the legalization model it adopts.

The unregulated cannabis market will likely always exist in Germany, just as it will likely exist in other countries that move to legalize cannabis for adult use. However, that’s not to say that legalization won’t be worth it in Germany and that the continued existence of an unregulated cannabis market (or not) should be the only measure of success.

Freeing up law enforcement to investigate and prosecute real crime in Germany is in itself worth it to legalize cannabis for adult use, as is refraining from ruining people’s lives because they were in possession of a plant that is safer than alcohol. A thriving regulated cannabis industry is another huge benefit.

Prohibition Partners recently released a projection for Germany’s cannabis industry putting the size of Germany’s legal cannabis industry at over $16 billion by 2028. That projection was based in part on the assumption that Germany would legalize cannabis for adult use between now and 2028. It’s quite possible that legalization could come sooner rather than later to Germany.

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Finland’s Government To Consider Decriminalizing Cannabis

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Politics.

Cannabis advocates in Finland have gathered enough signatures for a cannabis decriminalization petition to require a review of the proposal by Finland’s Parliament. 50,000 petition signatures were required to require the review.

As described by Marijuana Moment, the proposal ‘stipulates that possession of 25 grams or less of cannabis, and the cultivation of up to four plants, would not carry criminal penalties.’ Only one cannabis plant can be dried at any given time according to the petition.

Kasvua Kannabiksesta, the group behind the petition, stated that many of the signatures were obtained close to the deadline. Per Yle:

“People usually leave things to the last minute. We’ve been promoting this recently and getting our message out on social media. There’s certainly more than 50,000 – or even more than 100,000 – people in Finland who support this issue,” Karvinen told Yle on Wednesday evening as the initiative still only had garnered around 41,000 signatures.

Karvinen said decriminalising cannabis is warranted because prohibition of the drug hasn’t worked.

“Primarily, punishing [the use of cannabis] does more harm than good. It promotes social exclusion and [convictions for cannabis possession] can hinder a person’s access to jobs or study spots,” he explained.

Just because the petition received enough signatures to trigger a review by Finland’s Parliament, it does not mean that what is being proposed will become law in Finland. It would be logical for Finland to get on the right side of history and adopt the sensible proposal, however, only time will tell if that proves to be the case.

As of this blog post, the petition has received over 57,000 signatures. You can read the content of the petition at this link here.

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The SAFE Banking Act Would Be A Game-Changer For Banking Technology

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Business, Politics.

In order for the U.S. cannabis industry to reach its full potential, it needs access to the nation’s banking system at the same level that other legal industries have. Because the international banking system is so closely tied to the U.S. banking system, cannabis industries in other nations need banking reform to occur in the U.S. just as badly as the U.S. cannabis industry.

Right now a bill is being considered by the United States Senate that would provide comprehensive banking reform for the emerging cannabis industry. The Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act of 2019 has already passed in the United States House. It is expected that President Trump would sign the legislation if it made it to his desk.

If the SAFE Banking Act passes and becomes law, it will do more than just allow cannabis companies to make deposits into checking accounts. The reform measure would be a game-changer for technologies that are geared towards supporting the banking industry.

Read more in our article published by Cannabis & Tech Today.

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Two New Polls Find Super-Majority Support For U.S. Cannabis Legalization

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Politics.

Cannabis was first prohibited at the federal level in the United States in 1937. For several decades cannabis was prohibited everywhere in the U.S. That changed in 1996 when California voters approved a medical cannabis legalization initiative, which made California the first state to end cannabis prohibition for some of its citizens.

Since the successful vote in California in 1996 several other states have also legalized cannabis for medical use. In 2012 two states, Colorado and Washington State, voted to legalize cannabis for adult use.

Zoom forward to 2019 and dozens of states have legalized cannabis for medical use and nearly a dozen states have legalized cannabis for adult-use. Washington D.C. has legalized cannabis for both medical and adult use. More states appear to be on their way to being added to one or both lists.

Results for two new polls were released this week which found super-majorities for ending cannabis prohibition at the federal level in the U.S. The first was a poll conducted by PRRI, which determined the following:

Americans are broadly supportive of several issues that are championed by leading Democratic candidates: making college tuition free at public institutions (68%), making recreational use of marijuana legal (67%), and a “Medicare for All” plan that would replace private health insurance with government-backed health insurance coverage for all Americans (63%). About one in three Americans strongly favor each of these proposals.

It is worth noting that cannabis legalization is a bipartisan issue now, and is being championed by lawmakers on both ends of the political spectrum. The second poll results were released by Gallup, which has asked U.S. voters every year if they support cannabis legalization, going all the way back to 1969. Per Gallup’s 2019 poll result release:

Americans’ support for legalizing marijuana has held steady at 66% over the past year, after rising 30 percentage points between 2005 and 2018.

The latest results are based on Gallup’s annual Crime survey, conducted Oct. 1-13. Not only have 66% favored legalizing marijuana in the 2018 and 2019 Crime polls, but the same level of support was found in an intervening Gallup survey, conducted in May.

In Gallup’s first poll conducted on this subject in 1969, only 12% of U.S. voters stated that they supported federal legalization. With more states getting on the right side of history and support for federal legalization remaining strong, these poll results should serve as validation that U.S. voters consider state-level cannabis legalization to be working.

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Will Pennsylvania’s Cannabis Laws Become ‘The Gold Standard’?

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Politics.

An increasing number of states have legalized cannabis for adult use, with even more states exploring the idea of passing an adult-use legalization law either via citizen initiative or through the legislative process.

One of those states is Pennsylvania, which has operated in an exploratory phase for a while now when it comes to cannabis legalization. 

Ten states plus the District of Columbia have already implemented some form of adult-use legalization, and Illinois is set to enact its own adult-use legalization law at the beginning of the new year.

Legalization models vary by jurisdiction, with no two models being exactly alike. It’s debatable as to which jurisdiction currently has the best law.

A bill in Pennsylvania, if passed, would make that state the most progressive in the nation when it comes to cannabis policy. Some of the provisions of the bill include:

  • Home cultivation
  • Automatic expungements for qualifying citizens
  • Social cannabis use
  • Equity-focused cannabis business loans
  • Legal cannabis delivery services

For those that may be skeptical as to if the bill, which was introduced by State Sens. Sharif Street (D., Phila.) and Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery), is as progressive as some cannabis advocates are claiming, look no further than one of the top cannabis minds in the nation. Per The Philadelphia Inquirer:

“Wow, this is impressive,” said Shaleen Title, of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission. “It’s largely in line with the trend that each state’s legalization law improves upon the states before it.”

Shaleen Title wrote the legalization law that was passed by Massachusetts voters in 2016. Massachusetts is considered by many cannabis advocates to have the best all-around cannabis legalization law in the country right now.

Receiving praise from Shaleen for cannabis legislation is something that curious minds can take to the bank. If she is impressed by the legislation, it’s safe to say that it is solid.

However, just because a bill is thought out and well-written does not necessarily mean that its passage is guaranteed.

The legislation will have to work its way through both chambers of Pennsylvania’s legislature and be signed by the Governor before it can be implemented. Pennsylvania’s Governor recently announced support for adult-use cannabis legalization.

Pennsylvania appears to be moving towards legalization. Only time will tell if this particular reform measure is the one that makes it all the way to the political finish line.