It has been said that Canada’s burgeoning cannabis industry is largely dominated by men, so when the Georgia Straight learned about a cannabis-testing lab run by a team of women, the publication sent a reporter to check it out.
At Northern Vine Labs in Langley, British Columbia, resident scientists Katherine Maloney, Claire Maloney (the two are cousins), and Jaclyn Thomson work in sync to offer quality-control testing of cannabis and cannabis products to licensed producers and registered medical patients.
During an interview with the four women at the lab, McCarthy says that although there wasn’t a directive to hire women exclusively, Northern Vine simply acquired the best people for the job.
The relentless march of legalised pot across the US has spawned a raft of cannabis-linked courses at colleges across the country. Cannabis is already big business, with Wall Street piling into an industry that experts say could be worth $21 billion by 2021, and now it's being given an academic makeover.
Northern Michigan University is the first to offer a dedicated four-year science of cannabis course.
Already there are 50 students in the course, and another 500 looking to enroll. The course encompasses the properties of the drug and how it reacts to pesticides, among other things, according to The Telegraph.
"What we have done is take pieces from various curricula which are out there and packaged them into a four-year undergraduate programme," said Brandon Canfield, associate professor of chemistry.
Since we’re not 100 percent sure of all of its functions and finer details, all we can really decipher is that it’s under-serviced for the time being. In humans, that often means throwing the broad spectrum of cannabinoids at a concern, but this strategy does not work with dogs, according to the Fresh Toast.
THC is never a good idea for a pup, as it makes them nervous and anxious. We do know that non-psychoactive in humans CBD is also not psychoactive in dogs, so many have been seeking it out to help with various canine issues.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' Thursday announcement couldn't have come at a worse time for Texas' nascent medical cannabis industry.
After years of detente during the Obama administration, Sessions rescinded the Cole memo, a Department of Justice directive that federal law enforcement not crack down on marijuana-related activity otherwise protected under state law.
In Texas, where advocates have only recently won the right to grow low-THC cannabis for processing into cannibidiol (CBD) oil, Sessions' gambit could be a big blow against a movement that's just getting started, if the Lone Star state becomes a target, according to the Dallas Observer.
A desperate mother in Preston, England, has begged doctors to give her 2-year-old daughter cannabis.
Jenna Heary hopes that the drug could help cure little Olivia's epileptic seizures, according to The Sun.
She hopes to get her daughter onto a trial in the hope that it might make her "just that little bit more comfortable", she added that if the drug reduced her seizures it "would be a real bonus."
The tot currently suffers with over 100 seizures everyday, is on six different medications and follows a Ketogenic diet to try and control them – but it's not helping.
Thousands of military veterans have pressured federal and state legislators to legalize medicinal cannabis and ease rules on research into the plant’s apparent therapeutic properties, arguing that it could help reduce suicide rates among former soldiers.
Backed by overwhelming public support for broader legalization, their demands are starting to resonate in statehouses across the country, according to Scientific American.
This past November, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo chose Veterans Day to make PTSD a qualifying condition for the state’s tightly controlled medical marijuana program. New York joined seven other states this year—and 27 overall—that include PTSD in their lists of conditions that qualify for medical cannabis.
Australia’s budding medicinal cannabis sector is set for a major windfall after winning approval to begin exports.
The health minister, Greg Hunt, said allowing medicinal cannabis product exports will help the developing domestic market to grow.
“By helping the domestic manufacturers to expand, this, in turn, helps to ensure an ongoing supply of medicinal cannabis products here in Australia,” Hunt said in a statement.
Noun rec·i·proc·i·ty \ re-sə-ˈprä-s(ə-)tē \ Pluralreciprocities 1: the quality or state of being reciprocal: mutual dependence, action, or influence 2: a mutual exchange of privileges; specifically: a recognition by one of two countries or institutions of the validity of licenses or privileges granted by the other
Philosophically it’s a simple concept. Far easier to follow in theory than in practice—whether being applied to international relations or oral sex—one should always extend the same courtesies offered unto them. In the world of medical marijuana the definition is not so cut and dried.
This is to be expected given the lack of preparedness and motivation that most lawmakers contribute to the legislative process when enacting medical marijuana laws in their respective bureaucracies. The framework cobbled together by individual states often runs counter to patient’s interests, instead proposing rules with a narrow focus on extracting as much money from entrepreneurs via application and licensing fees while creating hoop after hoop for patients and caregivers to jump through for access to life saving medicine.
States without pro-marijuana laws on the books are the minority in 2018. Nebraska, Idaho, Kansas, and other similarly regressive states chose to refuse and condemn the progress. It is a stubborn practice that is based in fear, religious bias, political affiliation and ignorance. They’ll even try to halt the headway through lawsuits, aggressive and predatory policing strategies and extreme criminalization of cannabis possession.
Despite the numbskullery that afflicts the majority of elected officials—some who are tasked with the chore of deliberating and deciding the who, what, where, when and why of it all do take the considerations of the medical marijuana community into account when writing the law of the land. But not all laws have been created equally. Just because a state has authorized a medical marijuana program it does not guarantee identical entitlements to a visiting patient.
Michigan, Hawaii, Nevada, and DC offer some protections and privileges for out-of-state patients
The Lowdown
The entire West Coast (plus Nevada) has legalized marijuana for everybody—not just the sick. However, recreational marijuana sales should not be misinterpreted as reciprocity. An out of state patient that is able to obtain cannabis in a recreational setting away from home is often paying exorbitant taxes not included on medical cannabis sales and are routinely exposed to products of a lesser quality standard than is acceptable for sick or hurt individuals.
In the Northeastern corridor we’re seeing medical and recreational cannabis sprouting up in some of the county’s most cherished and historic megalopolises at breakneck pace. The Southwest is in the midst of a green rush and the Midwest is hit or miss as Michigan and Illinois lead the way. The Bible Belt, like most of their views, is about a two centuries behind the rest of the country when it comes to medical marijuana.
In some reciprocal states, regulations merely help to shield visiting patients from prosecution for the possession of medical cannabis. That is marginally helpful but it places a burden on the patient transporting medicine should they happen to be traveling through any non-reciprocal territories on the way to a friendly final destination.
Other states versions of the law allow for a visiting qualifying patients registry card to have the same protections and privileges as a local patient’s card. What, pray tell, does that suggest? It implies that medical marijuana dispensaries will accept out of state patients as long as they have valid paperwork from their home state. Of course, this still requires understanding and cooperation from the proprietors of these establishments.
Where is your card good?
Michigan
Pure Michigan, where vehicle emissions tests are not required and clean water is tough to come by, it is a relatively easy affair for a visiting patient to gain access to medial cannabis throughout the state. Ann Arbor, Detroit and Lansing are areas most dense with dispensaries for intrepid travelers.
Two pieces of legislation spell it out pretty explicitly.
The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act states under section 333.26424Protections for the Use of Medical Marihuana,
“(k) A registry identification card, or its equivalent, that is issued under the laws of another state, district, territory, commonwealth, or insular possession of the United States that allows the medical use of marihuana by a visiting qualifying patient, or to allow a person to assist with a visiting qualifying patient's medical use of marihuana, shall have the same force and effect as a registry identification card issued by the department.”
“(2) A provisioning center may sell or transfer marihuana product to a visiting qualifying patient if all the following are met:
(a) The licensee verifies that the visiting qualifying patient has a valid unexpired medical marihuana registry card or its equivalent issued in another state, district, territory, commonwealth, or insular possession of the United States that allows the medical use of marihuana ”
As far as precedence goes, it’ll be hard for anybody to deny you if you shove that language in their face. It’s suggested that you call ahead and ask if they allow out of state patients to shop before getting all high and mighty on them though.
Hawaii
Long before the island chain was colonized, the indigenous people of Hawaii had cultivated and consumed cannabis as a sacred, medicinal plant. Shortly after being admitted to the United States, landrace strains from Moloka’i, Maui, Kaua’i and elsewhere started to be eradicated by law enforcement agencies descending from helicopters in the sky to snatch crops up.
It would be a number of years until the state’s lawmakers acknowledged that marijuana was in fact a form of medicine. Fast-forward to January 1, 2018 and qualified visiting patients will be allowed to shop in dispensaries on all of the Hawaiian Islands. Per Chapter 329D, HRS,
“[§32d-13] Qualifying patients and primary caregivers; dispensing limits; other states. (a) A qualifying patient or a primary caregiver on behalf of a qualifying patients shall be allowed to purchase no more than four ounces of marijuana within a consecutive period of fifteen days, or no more than eight ounces of marijuana within a consecutive period of thirty days.
(b) A qualifying patient or a primary caregiver on behalf of a qualifying patient may purchase from any dispensary location in the State, subject to the limits set forth in subsection (a).
(c) Beginning on January 1, 2018, this section may apply to qualifying patients from other states, territories of the United States, or the District of Columbia; provided that the patient is a verified patient in their home state and registers with the department through a registration process established by the department.“
Redundant wording notwithstanding, subsection (c) addresses the issue of reciprocity unambiguously. Visiting patients are good to go on their next trip away from the mainland.
Nevada
As if there was ever any question. The state that legalized prostitution and gambling couldn’t stay away from the sweet, sweet cheeba forever and all the glorious tax dollars that accompany it. While the state sorts out their recent legalization of marijuana, the medical program has been hospitable to visiting patients for a number of years, allowing them to utilize delivery services and more recently dispensaries. This all may come to an end soon.
Under the subheading: Recognition of nonresident cards [Effective April 1, 2018.] it states,
“…(d) The state or jurisdiction from which the holder or bearer obtained the nonresident card maintains a database which preserves such information as may be necessary to verify the authenticity or validity of the nonresident card;
(e) The state or jurisdiction from which the holder or bearer obtained the nonresident card allows the Division and medical marijuana dispensaries in this State to access the database described in paragraph (d);
(f) The Division determines that the database described in paragraph (d) is able to provide to medical marijuana dispensaries in this State information that is sufficiently accurate, current and specific as to allow those dispensaries to verify that a person who holds or bears a nonresident card is entitled lawfully to do so; and…”
Together these three addendums to the law create an arbitrary and unnecessary obstacle for visiting patients to navigate. Each subsequent point adds a wrinkle to the process ending with a visiting patient’s home state’s registry database system needing to be accessed in order for any medicine to change hands.
It’s all a bit much. Just presenting valid medical marijuana card and photo ID used to suffice. Unless this is a very clever and slow played April Fool’s joke perpetrated by the Nevada state legislature then it could spell the end of reciprocity in Sin City and what ever else is out in the desert.
Washington, D.C.
The District’s City Council has quietly been passing liberal cannabis laws as the nation’s capital descends into madness. It took close to two years of notices, hearings and readings but eventually B21-0210 – Medical Marijuana Reciprocity Amendment Act of 2015 was signed into law. The legislative summary describes that,
"Law 21-209 provides access to medical marijuana in the District of Columbia to those patients enrolled in a medical marijuana program from other jurisdictions. Patients must be undergoing a qualifying medical treatment or possess a valid medical marijuana card from their home jurisdiction…”
Short, sweet and to the point. The Nation’s Capital is down with for the cause.
The past year was important for proponents of medical cannabis.
Those seeking to remove cannabis’ Schedule I status are now armed with even more evidence for its medicinal and wellness benefits from a combination of human and rodent studies, according to Leafly.
From benefits in epilepsy, autism, and beyond, here are some of 2017’s biggest medical cannabis news stories.
This installment covers insights relating to CBD, but tune in to the second part of this series for more discoveries uncovered in 2017.
Teens today are using fewer drugs than the age group has used over the the past 43 years, with one clear exception: marijuana.
A recent University of Michigan study found that one in 10 high school seniors say they’ve vaped marijuana in the past year. The vape caveat is an important one. Richard Miech, the researcher in charge of the study, said the number of teens that are vaping the drug is much higher than he expected, The Chicago Tribune reports.
Over the past few years, teen marijuana use has been flat. However, in this year’s study, use of the drug is up 1% in teens, with 25% of respondents saying they had vaped, smoked, or eaten marijuana over the past year.
