Extroverting

Author: Brad Dunn

  • Could Cannabis Help Cure Lung Cancer?

    Cannabis could be a cure for lung cancer, according to a research laboratory in Cardiff.

    MediPen research facility in Cardiff have been experimenting with cannabinoids and its effectiveness in slowing down the growth of cancer cells, something their managing director says is the first of its kind in the world, according to Metro.

    MediPen’s managing director Jordan Owen said: “The process which we’re currently going through now is looking at the cells. We want to slow down the process of metastasis. If we can slow down that process by doing different experiments with cannabinoids, then we can effectively slow down the growth of cancer.”

    Such a breakthrough would no doubt change the lives of millions, but would also support the claims many pro-cannabis individuals have long believed: that this plant carries significant medicinal qualities.

    Read the full story.

  • Serving Cannabis in California Restaurants is Legal, But Not Easy

    Yelp Reservations hosted a lunchtime panel last week for a timely discussion about the recreational use of cannabis in Los Angeles.

    The LA restaurant community attended to learn how State Bill 94 applies to restaurants and bars, according to Eater Los Angeles.

    Out of caution, most local eateries have steered clear of adding any type of cannabis to their menus. Eater previously covered that it is perfectly legal to add CBD to any food or drinks, but only from sources that comply with California and federal law. 

    There are already a number of restaurants and bars that serve CBD foods and drinks in Los Angeles, and they’ve carefully been watching the law to make sure they don’t overstep.

    But the law can be a bit tricky, as federal and state laws can conflict. THC, or psychoactive cannabis is a Schedule 1 drug, and is illegal for anyone in California to sell without a permit.

    Read the full story.

  • High-strength Skunk ‘Now Dominates’ UK Cannabis Market

    "Almost all cannabis seized by police now comprises high-strength varieties, with outdoor-grown herbal strains and hashish barely found," The Guardian reports.

    The news is based on researchers analyzing samples of cannabis seized by 5 police forces in 2015 and 2016.

    They found almost all the cannabis (93.6%) was sinsemilla, also known as skunk. This is a potent form of herbal cannabis often grown in the UK in indoor "cannabis farms" which has been specifically bred to have high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

    Analysis of samples of the drugs showed a wide variation in the levels of THC, with an average level of 14.2% in sinsemilla, compared to 6.3% in resin, according to NHS.

    Read the full story.

  • Study: Cannabis Drug May Help Alcohol, Cocaine Addictions

    A supplement derived from cannabis may help alcohol and cocaine addicts overcome their cravings, new research suggests.

    Recovering rats given cannabidiol (CBD) are less likely to relapse when exposed to drugs, a study, by the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, found, according to the Daily Mail.

    This is thought to be due to the supplement easing anxiety and stress, as well as reducing impulsive behaviour, according to the researchers. 

    After just three days of receiving CBD, recovering rats are still less likely to relapse five months later, the study found.

    The researchers hope the findings will assist in the development of treatments to prevent human drug relapses.  

    Read the full story.

  • Switzerland Considers Making Cannabis Legal

    Cannabis could soon be legal in Switzerland.

    The Swiss Council of States, Switzerland’s smaller chamber of parliament, unanimously approved a bill allowing studies and pilot programs in the landlocked Alpine nation, according to Herb.

    The Council called for an experimental article in the Swiss Federation’s Narcotics Act that would allow for scientific research projects including trials of a “coffee shop” system of cannabis distribution similar to that of Amsterdam.

    Five Swiss cities have already called for such coffeeshop pilot programs.

    Read the full story.

  • Arkansas Court Battle Over Cannabis Grow Licenses Heating Up

    Arkansas’ attorney general is appealing a judge’s order that forbids the state to license five companies to grow medical marijuana.

    Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office on Friday filed a notice that it’s appealing Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen’s ruling that the MMJ licensing process is unconstitutional to the state Supreme Court, according to Marijuana Business Daily.

    Griffen had ruled that the state’s process for licensing the companies violated the 2016 voter-approved amendment legalizing marijuana for patients with certain medical conditions.

    The judge sided with an unsuccessful applicant that had sued the state over the process.

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  • Cannabis for Cancer, Epilepsy?

    Can cannabis cure cancer? That’s a question Prof. David “Dedi” Meiri, head of the Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabanoid Research at the Technion-Israeli Institute of Technology, is trying to figure out. The answer so far is a very guarded “maybe.”

    Meiri was one of some 70 speakers among the 800 participants at the fourth annual CannaTech  conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, according to Israel21c

    CannaTech was founded in 2015 as a platform to enable the identification and incubation of world-class innovative solutions for the cannabis industry. The conference also has taken place in London and is scheduled for Mexico and Australia later this year.

    While there was no product for sale in the vast exhibit hall, there was plenty of buzz from companies developing everything from medical inhalers, which deliver medical cannabis the way similar devices dose asthma powders, to specific treatments (at least two companies are working on cannabis alternatives to sleeping pills).

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  • LSU Plans to Start Cloning Cannabis for Medical Use

    The Louisiana state Agriculture Commissioner said on Monday that the LSU AgCenter expects to start cloning cannabis from larger “mother” plants in June to create medical marijuana.

    Dr. Mike Strain, who heads the agriculture and forestry department, said his agency had received $80,000 from an LSU vendor to begin harvesting tissue for the state’s medical marijuana operation, according to the Daily Advertiser.

    Medical marijuana is not funded in next year’s state budget, which starts on July 1, so the department will ask for a $1.5 million loan to provide software and facilities related to the operation.

    Strain’s agency is responsible for overseeing the medical marijuana industry within the state, “everything from when the clone tissue of the marijuana goes in the front door till the compound leaves the back door for distribution to the pharmacy,” he said.

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  • Why Coffee Could Be the Opposite of Cannabis

    What does coffee have to do with cannabis? According to a new study, your morning joe causes a drop in the levels of certain substances that are linked to the body's system for responding to marijuana.

    The levels of these substances — metabolites found in what's known as the endocannabinoid system — decrease in people who drink between four and eight cups of coffee a day, according to Live Science.

    Endocannabinoids are molecules that bind to cannabinoid receptors, which are found all over the nervous system, as well as in immune and endocrine tissue. The body makes its own endocannabinoids, but it also responds to foreign cannabinoids, like the ones found in the leaves of plants of the Cannabis genus.

    Coffee suppresses the endocannabinoid chemicals that smoking marijuana boosts, said Marilyn Cornelis, an assistant professor of preventative medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, who led the new research.

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  • Will This Be Last Hash Bash Before Marijuana Is Legal in Michigan?

    Organizers of the 47th annual marijuana rally in Ann Arbor, Mich., are hoping this year's Hash Bash on April 7 will be the last one before cannabis is legalized in Michigan.

    They're counting on state voters to approve a ballot proposal in November to legalize recreational marijuana use for people 21 and older, taxing and regulating it much like alcohol, according to MLive.

    "For the first 46 years, really the focus has been on state prohibition," said Hash Bash lead organizer Mark Passerini, co-founder of the Om of Medicine marijuana dispensary in downtown Ann Arbor.

    "This could very well be the last year we focus on state prohibition and next year we could re-focus toward the ills of federal policy. Federal policy still sees cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug in all forms."

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