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Ontario Cannabis Store Data Breach Demonstrates Growing Threat

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

I have worked in the cannabis industry to some degree for many years now. If you count the unregulated industry here in Oregon, I am the third generation of my family to be involved with cannabis.

If there is one thing that I know about the emerging cannabis industry it’s that cannabis and chaos seem to go hand-in-hand. Laws. Rules. Regulations. Juggling all of it while all of the parts are moving and shifting, all the while trying to be innovative and effective at running a business. There is a lot that cannabis entrepreneurs and their employees have to stay on top of and it can be like trying to drink water from a fire hydrant.

One area of the emerging cannabis industry that seems to often get lost in all of the chaos is information security, which is unfortunate. When people think of information security, they often think of computers and networks, and rightfully so. Computer networks often house a significant amount of sensitive information.

However, there is far more to information security than computers and networks. Companies and employees in the cannabis industry often house more sensitive information than people realize in both digital and physical forms, including personally identifiable information and proprietary information. All of that information is a target for someone.

Whereas network security can be easily outsourced to a reputable third party, the biggest threat to a cannabis company’s information security strategy has to be addressed on an ongoing basis in-house because that threat is the company’s own staff, either due to nefarious intent or negligence.

A cannabis company can have the most robust technical safeguards in place, with a small army of network security experts doing everything they can to keep something secure, and it only takes one person with privileged access to give up some or even all of the company’s sensitive information via less-than-sophisticated methods.

The latest example of the growing information security issue facing the emerging cannabis industry can be found in Canada where a suspected data breach is making headlines. Per Infotel:

The Ontario Cannabis Store says a data breach involving some of its sales information is being investigated by the Ontario Provincial Police.

Daffyd Roderick, a spokesperson for the Crown agency responsible for distributing cannabis from producers to pot shops in the province, confirmed what he called a misappropriation of data Tuesday evening.

“There was no failure of IT security or systems,” he added.

An OCS letter obtained by The Canadian Press and sent to retailers on May 10 said that “confidential store sales data” was being “circulated in the industry.”

“This data was not disclosed by the OCS, nor have we provided any permission or consent to distribute or use this data outside of our organization,” reads the letter signed by Janet Ihm, the OCS vice-president of wholesale partnerships and customer care.

“The data was misappropriated, disclosed, and distributed unlawfully. As a result, we trust you will refrain from sharing or using this stolen data in any way.”

As noted by authorities in the excerpt, the data breach did not come as a result of a failure of ‘IT security or systems,’ meaning, it wasn’t a direct hack into the system. Many details are still unknown, however, I would personally bet a decent chunk of change that the breach was due to non-sophisticated methods.

One of the most common ways that data breaches occur is through human error. Sometimes someone from the data source sends an email to an auto-populated wrong email address in error. Sometimes they click the wrong attachment when sending an email and the data is acquired that way, or they click ‘reply all’ when they shouldn’t have. Although, that doesn’t seem to be the case in Ontario where the ‘data was not disclosed by the OCS.’ I take that to include no direct disclosures even due to human error.

Perhaps the data was gained through some type of physical theft. When I read the word ‘misappropriated’ that is where my mind went based on the currently available information. All it would take is someone copying one or more files to a digital storage medium (disc, thumb drive, phone, etc.) containing the data in question, and simply walking off with it. Everyone has a phone in their pocket these days, and taking a picture of sensitive information is very easy to do.

Regardless of how the data was obtained in this latest case, the case itself serves as a reminder that the cannabis industry is a popular target. The industry has so much money flowing through it, it’s so competitive, and many in the industry seem to be unaware of the amount of sensitive information that they have at their fingertips. The problem will only continue to get worse.

Everyone in the cannabis industry needs to be mindful of information security threats, trends, and tactics. Companies need to train their staff, continue to educate members of their organization and create effective information security policies. One silver lining in all of this is that it creates many opportunities for ancillary companies that can help cannabis companies and organizations with their information security strategies.

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Canadian Patients With Insomnia Report Improvements With Medical Cannabis

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Archives, Science.

Insomnia is a condition in which people have a hard time falling asleep and/or staying asleep, and it is one of the most common health conditions found around the globe.

The condition can have a tremendously negative impact on a person’s life, making nearly every aspect of life harder, especially among people with severe cases of insomnia.

Various medications exist to help treat insomnia, including prescription medications. Many of them can yield horrible side effects and the ones that don’t are often ineffective at treating insomnia.

Researchers in Canada recently explored the relationship between the cannabis plant and insomnia, and the results of the study are encouraging. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:

Ottawa, Canada: Patients with insomnia and other sleep disorders report subjective improvements following the use of cannabis and a significant percentage of them report being able to either reduce or discontinue their use of prescription medications, according to data published in the Canadian Pharmacists Journal.

Canadian investigators assessed the impact of marijuana on sleep disorders in a cohort of 38 patients authorized to access medical cannabis products. Patients were assessed at baseline and then three months after initiating cannabis.

Investigators reported that 71 percent of patients experienced subjective improvement in their sleep. Thirty-nine percent of the study’s subjects were able to either “completely discontinue [their use of] insomnia medications or reduce their use from nightly administration to as-needed administration with the use of medical cannabis.”

The study’s results are consistent with other observational studies, such as those here and here, finding that patients with sleep disorders typically experience improvements in their symptoms from cannabis.

Authors concluded, “[O]ngoing clinical trials of cannabinoids in patients living with insomnia are integral to ensuring evidence-based decisions on the role of cannabinoid therapies in the treatment of sleep disorders.”

Full text of the study, “Cannabis use in patients with insomnia and sleep disorders: Retrospective chart review,” appears in theCanadian Pharmacists Journal.

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Canadian Cannabis Consumers Report Improvements In Insomnia

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Archives, Science.

Insomnia is one of the most prevalent health conditions around the world. It is estimated that as many as 60% of the world’s population suffers from insomnia to some degree.

The inability to fall asleep or stay asleep, which is the essential definition of insomnia, can be caused by a number of factors, including but not limited to depression, anxiety, lack of exercise, a different health condition, and/or side effects from various medications.

For most sufferers of insomnia, the main negative impact on their life is that they are constantly tired. However, it can also contribute to major health issues such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

A team of researchers in Canada recently conducted a study involving depression and anxiety patients that suffer from insomnia to see if cannabis helped treat their condition(s). Below is more information about it via a NORML news release:

Ontario, Canada: The use of cannabis products is associated with perceived improvements in insomnia in patients suffering from either anxiety or depression, according to data published in the journal BMC Psychiatry.

A team of Canadian researchers assessed the effectiveness of cannabis in managing insomnia in a cohort of 677 subjects. Study participants suffered from either anxiety, depression, or from both conditions simultaneously. Subjects self-administered cannabis products at home and reported symptom changes in real time on a mobile software application. Investigators analyzed reports from over 8,400 cannabis-use sessions recorded over a three-year period.

Consistent with prior reports, subjects from all three groups reported significant benefits from cannabis. Participants perceived CBD-dominant products to be less effective than others.

“This naturalistic investigation of cannabis use for insomnia suggests that individuals with depression, anxiety, and comorbid depression and anxiety perceive benefits from using cannabis for sleep,” authors concluded. “In addition, compared to other cannabis strains, CBD-dominant products may be less helpful for sleep, specifically in individuals with depression. The current study highlights the need for placebo-controlled trials investigating the efficacy and safety of cannabinoids for sleep in individuals with mood and anxiety disorders.”

Full text of the study, “An investigation of cannabis use for insomnia in depression and anxiety in a naturalistic sample,” appears in BMC Psychiatry.

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New Study Looks At Cannabis, Anxiety, And Depression In Canada

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Archives, Science.

Anxiety and depression are major mental health conditions that affect a significant portion of the world’s population. As many as 275 million people suffer from anxiety globally, and as many as 5% of adults suffer from depression worldwide.

Clinical depression is a mental health disorder involving a ‘persistently depressed mood or loss of interest in activities, causing significant impairment in daily life.’ Changes in sleep patterns, food intake, energy level, focus, daily behavior, and/or self-esteem are all symptoms of depression.

Anxiety is characterized as an ‘intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations.’ An increased heart rate, rapid breathing, persistent sweating, and feeling tired are all symptoms of anxiety.

Many people that suffer from one of the mental health conditions also suffer from the other condition. For some patients, cannabis may help, as demonstrated by a recent study in Canada.

A team of researchers affiliated with Harvest Medicine in Calgary recently conducted a retrospective study involving medical cannabis patients and their use of cannabis to battle their anxiety and/or depression.

“Patients included in the study were at least 18 years of age with completed validated questionnaires for anxiety (GAD-7) and depression (PHQ-9) at their initial evaluation and at least one follow-up visit. There were 7,362 patients included in the sample, of which the average age was 49.8 years, and 53.1% were female.” the researchers stated regarding the study’s methodology.

“There were statistically significant improvements between baseline and follow-up scores for both the GAD-7 and PHQ-9, with larger improvements seen for patients who were actively seeking medical cannabis to treat anxiety or depression.” the researchers stated.

“From 12 months on, those reporting anxiety had an average decrease in GAD-7 scores that was greater than the minimum clinically important difference of 4, and the same was seen for patients reporting depression from 18 months on, with the average decrease in PHQ-9 scores more than the MCID minimum clinically important difference of 5.” the researchers also stated.

“This study provides some evidence to support the effectiveness of medical cannabis as a treatment for anxiety and depression.” the researchers concluded.

It’s always important to note that the cannabis plant is complex and human biology is complicated. What works for one person may not work for the next person, especially when it comes to anxiety and/or depression. Contact your medical care provider to see if cannabis may help treat your condition(s).

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Manitoba’s Home Cultivation Ban Receives Judicial Review

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Archives, Policy.

Canada was the first G-7 nation to legalize cannabis for adult use. Only one other country, Uruguay, legalized cannabis for adult use before Canada made the public policy shift in late 2018.

One of the components of Canada’s legalization model was home cultivation, with adult households permitted to cultivate up to 4 plants according to the new federal law. Unfortunately, two provinces quickly moved to ban home cultivation – Manitoba and Quebec.

Quebec’s home cultivation ban was already challenged in court, with the first judge determining that home cultivation bans were unconstitutional. That judge’s decision was overturned upon appeal, and now the issue is waiting to be reviewed by Canada’s Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, a court challenge was being pursued in Manitoba as well, and that challenge recently received its day in court. The government’s argument essentially involves the position that provinces can be more restrictive, but not less restrictive, than federal law when it comes to home cultivation.

The argument made by home cultivation advocates is that while provinces can put restrictions in place, they cannot outright ban home cultivation. A similar argument was made in the Quebec home cultivation case. Below is more information about the Manitoba case, via excerpts from CBC:

Tousaw argued Manitoba’s position is in direct contravention of the federal Cannabis Act, which permitted grow-your-own-cannabis operations across the country, barring some differences across jurisdictions but no outright prohibitions.

“Other provinces understood these comments as invitations to regulate time, place and manner, and many have done so,” he told the court.

“By imposing the absolute prohibition on residential cultivation, Manitoba exceeded the bounds of the federal government’s invitation to cooperate and improperly undermined the purposes of the Cannabis Act.”

A ruling in the Manitoba case is expected to take weeks or even months to occur. Even then, regardless of the outcome, it’s likely that the case will eventually make its way to Canada’s Supreme Court, just as the case in Quebec has done.

I would personally expect Canada’s top court to side with the arguments being made by home cultivation advocates, including the arguments made by attorney Kirk Tousaw. However, only time will tell how it all shakes out.

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Most Canadian Patients With MS Report Consuming Cannabis

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Archives, Science.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a serious issue around the world. It is estimated that as many as 2.8 million people suffer from MS globally and that someone new is diagnosed with the health condition every 5 minutes.

MS is a progressive disease involving damage to the sheaths of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include, but are not limited to, numbness, impairment of speech and of muscular coordination, blurred vision, and severe fatigue.

Cannabis has been found by a growing number of MS patients to help effectively and safely treat their condition. Those personal experiences are backed up by a growing number of peer-reviewed studies.

A recent study out of Canada reflects cannabis’ popularity as a form of treatment among MS patients. Below is more information about the recent Canadian MS study via a news release from NORML:

Edmonton, Canada: Most Canadians diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) report using cannabis to mitigate their symptoms, according to data published in the journal Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders.

Researchers affiliated with the University of Alberta, Department of Medicine surveyed MS patients’ frequency of cannabis use and their motivations for consuming it. Canadian officials legalized the use of medical cannabis products nearly two decades ago. Adult-use sales were legalized in 2018. An oral spray containing precise ratios of plant-derived THC and CBD (Sativex) has also been available by prescription in Canada for the treatment of MS since 2005.

Authors reported that nearly two-thirds of respondents had consumed cannabis during their lifetimes and that 52 percent identified themselves as current users. Patients most frequently reported consuming cannabis to address symptoms related to sleep (84 percent), pain (80 percent), and spasticity (69 percent). Respondents said that cannabis was “moderately to highly effective” at mitigating their symptoms. The majority of patients acknowledged learning about the therapeutic use of cannabis from “someone other than [their] healthcare provider.”

Human trials indicate that the use of both whole-plant cannabis and cannabis extracts can alleviate various symptoms of the disease as well as potentially modulate its progression.

Full text of the study, “Medical cannabis use in Canadians with multiple sclerosis,” appears in Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders. Additional information about the use of cannabis in multiple sclerosis is available from NORML.

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Which Country Has ‘The Best’ Cannabis Legalization Model?

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Politics.

Cannabis prohibition, thankfully, has not always existed. For thousands of years, humans used the cannabis plant for various purposes, and it was only in the 1900s that cannabis prohibition first became a widespread public policy around the globe.

As I have said many times and will say until the day that I die, cannabis prohibition is one of the most harmful public policies in the history of humans. Countless people have had their lives needlessly ruined because of the cannabis plant, despite the fact that cannabis is safer than many of the products people have in their homes.

Fortunately, the walls of cannabis prohibition are slowly but surely crumbling, and now there are multiple countries within the global community that have legalized cannabis for adult use. Lawmakers in Uruguay, Canada, and Malta have all passed adult-use legalization measures, and all three countries have different legalization models.

Buying And Cultivating

All three countries that have legalized cannabis at the national level currently have the same legal age, 18 years old, and all three countries permit adults of legal age to cultivate cannabis at home, although Canada has seen some local bans that are working their way through various legal challenges.

The real difference between Uruguay, Canada, and Malta’s legalization models can be found in how people legally purchase cannabis for adult use. Uruguay, the first country to ever legalize cannabis for adult use, limits purchases to clubs and pharmacies, and only citizens and permanent residents can make purchases (although that is changing at some point).

Malta is still setting up rules and regulations after becoming the first country in Europe to legalize cannabis for adult use late last year. When sales do begin in Malta, they will only occur via private clubs – no dispensaries. From a purely purchasing standpoint, Canada has the best legalization model in that anyone from anywhere can make a purchase as long as they are of legal age, and those purchases can be made through the mail, via storefronts, and virtually any other way that people can buy cannabis.

More Legalization On The Horizon

Uruguay was the first country to ever legalize cannabis at a national level. Canada was the first G-7 country to legalize cannabis for adult use. Malta was the first country in Europe to pass an adult-use legalization measure. All three of those countries have a claim to being the first to legalize cannabis in some manner, however, none of them will be the last.

Multiple countries (Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands) are launching or expanding adult-use legalization pilot programs that create localized legalization. Multiple other countries (Mexico, Italy, South Africa) have had their top courts render decisions against cannabis prohibition policies and lawmakers there are working to fully implement legalization.

Germany, which is home to one of the largest economies on planet earth, is trending closer to legalization every month. The largest prohibition domino, the United States, is witnessing the continued spread of legalization at the state level with every passing year either via the election process or the legislative process. With that in mind, more legalization models are on the horizon and while all of them are likely to incorporate some policy components that are already implemented in current legalized nations, there will be new policy components introduced as well as more countries get on the right side of history, with some new policies being more nuanced than others.

Trying to determine what is ‘the best’ is a subjective measurement, and largely in the eye of the beholder. That is true of cannabis legalization policies just as it is with virtually anything else. What is considered to be ‘the best’ cannabis policy in one region may not work at all in different regions. With that being said, every legalization model is better than locking humans in prison cells due to them being caught with cannabis.

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What Is Up With The Canna Industry’s Mid Winter Blues?

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Business.

A range of indicators show that the industry, globally, is hitting a rough patch – but don’t expect this to last.

There are a couple of bellwether developments of late that seem to indicate that the “biz” is hitting a bit of a slump. From the lackluster earnings and stock prices of the largest Canadian LPs to reports that the medical market in Germany has seen static growth – not to mention the latest rounds of buyouts and mergers just about everywhere, the industry is hitting a bit of a global growth time out.

What is going on? In an industry supposedly on a one-way track of exponential growth, such numbers can be a little dispiriting. However, there are several clear reasons for this stagnation, none of which are long-term. Here are a few of the biggies.

  1. Covid may have boosted sales in the US and Canada, but overall, the burden of new regulation and lack of regulation reform combined with the Pandemic is taking its toll everywhere. The overarching issues of profitability in the adult-use market in North America have still not been solved. And in Germany, doctors are still reluctant to prescribe, along with an approval body that, like many government agencies, has slowed to an absolute snail’s pace in approving anything new – from permits to patient coverage. With Covid restrictions on the edge of lifting just about everywhere, expect to see this change, perhaps even as early as this spring.
  2. The German market is far from saturation, but sales strategies have largely focussed on convincing still cannabis shy doctors to prescribe a certain brand of cannabis or cannabis products and hoping to convince patients to ask for the same. So far, this has proved highly expensive and inefficient. The only widely known “brand” doctors seem to fall back to is dronabinol, currently about a third to a quarter of the market. With further reform pending, including of the recreational kind, this will also impact medical sales, just in terms of being allowed to discuss much less market cannabis in general.
  3. Recreational reform is now formally on the docket in Germany, with other EU countries plus Switzerland moving forward to launch markets as early as spring 2022. This is going to have a much-needed buzz and pick-me-up effect on legalization conversations in every EU country, as well as globally.

The industry, in other words, may be in the midst of a midwinter slump, but don’t expect that to last. Inefficiencies in the industry are being kinked out, and reform, in many more places, is increasingly if not here, then just around the corner.

Be sure to book your tickets now for the International Cannabis Business Conference as it returns to Barcelona!

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Cannabis Is A Major Economic Contributor In Canada

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

Canada was not the first country to legalize cannabis for adult use. That distinction goes to Uruguay which legalized cannabis for adult use roughly 5 years prior to Canada doing so in 2018.

However, Canada was the first G-7 country to legalize cannabis for adult use, and historically it is the only country on earth where anyone of legal age can purchase cannabis from storefronts, delivery services, and via the web. It has served as the ultimate public policy experiment, and according to the results of a new analysis from Deloitte, the experiment appears to be working.

Deloitte is the world’s largest consulting firm and offers a wide variety of services. One thing that the consulting firm does is economic analysis. Deloitte recently released its analysis regarding Canada’s emerging cannabis industry.

A number of firms and government entities have released Canada cannabis industry data on a rolling basis, however, Deloitte’s analysis is the most comprehensive to date. They looked at a number of economic statistics and indicators since the start of legalization in Canada over three years ago.

Job Creation

One of the major takeaways from the analysis is that the legal cannabis industry in Canada has created roughly 151,000 jobs. Jobs range from budtenders to cultivation staff to regulatory positions in government. To put that figure into perspective, it is estimated that the number of cannabis jobs in the U.S. is roughly 321,000.

A major selling point for a legalized industry is that it creates good jobs, and often in areas where it’s typically hard to create jobs, such as in rural areas. After all, an indoor cultivation center or processing facility can be located virtually anywhere, and people purchase cannabis nationwide regardless of local population size.

GDP And Tax Revenue

In addition to generating new jobs across Canada, the emerging legal cannabis industry is responsible for generating over $15 billion since legal adult-use sales launched in late 2018. It’s not enough money to solve every financial problem that Canada has, however, it’s still a significant sum that would otherwise be zero if the legal cannabis industry wasn’t allowed to operate.

The overall economic boost from Canada’s legalized industry is substantial. Deloitte estimates that the legal cannabis industry in Canada has contributed over $43.5 billion to the nation’s GDP since the start of legalization. Cannabis companies have directly invested roughly $4.4 billion into Canada’s economy, with the remaining boost to GDP coming from “indirect” economic contributions, and “induced” contributions according to Deloitte.