Tag: cannabis

Soon, DGCA may conduct drug test on aviation personnel

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has for the first time proposed testing of aviation personnel for psychoactive substances such as cannabis, opioids and their variants, officials said.

This is in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) policy and procedures which has already been prescribed by other leading aviation agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the USA and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

According to an official statement, the random test will be carried out under the supervision of the DGCA officers at laboratories authorised by the aviation watchdog and will cover 10 percent of employees of each organisation in a period of one year.

For the testing presence of psychoactive substances, the urine sample will be used, it said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

PIL seeks legalisation of cannabis; Delhi High Court seeks government’s stand

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Narendra Modi government on a plea seeking legalisation of cannabis.

A trust, in its plea, has challenged provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act which prohibit the use of cannabis, contending that the drug has medicinal and industrial benefits and its use has been legalised in various western nations.

A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar issued a notice to the central government seeking its stand on the plea.

The Great Legalisation Movement India Trust has urged the court to declare the provisions in the NDPS Act and Rules which prohibit and criminalise the use of cannabis and prescribe unreasonable restrictions with respect to activities related to it as unconstitutional.

It has contended that treating cannabis at par with other harmful and lethal chemicals or psychotropic substances was “arbitrary, unscientific, unreasonable and unconstitutional”.

ALSO READ: Should India legalise marijuana? Making it legal can do more good than harm

The petition has claimed that there are several scientific research papers, including one by the World Health Organization, that establish the medicinal benefits of the use of cannabis as well as its industrial application — extraction of fibres from the cannabis plant.

Earlier this year, WHO called for whole-plant marijuana, as well as cannabis resin, to be removed from Schedule IV (reserved for those substances that are seen as particularly harmful with limited medical benefits) of a 1961 drug convention signed by countries from around the world.

In the US, medical use of cannabis is legalised (with a doctor’s recommendation) in 33 states while recreational use is legalised in 11 states.The petition argues that while enacting the NDPS Act, the government failed to consider cannabis’ medicinal benefits, including its effect as an analgesic, its role in fighting cancer, reducing nausea and increasing appetite in HIV patients.

The petitioner has also listed several industrial applications of the cannabis plant.”Industrial hemp (Cannabis) is an agricultural commodity that is cultivated for use in the production of a wide range of products, including fiberboards and furniture, foods and beverages, cosmetics and personal care products, nutritional supplements, fabrics and textiles, yarns and spun fibers, paper, construction and insulation materials, bio-plastics, bio-fuels, graphene technology and other manufactured goods.”

Based on the above grounds, the petition has argued that that various sections of the NDPS Act are in violation of Articles 14, 19, 21, 25 and 29 of the Constitution of India.

The trust, registered in Karnataka and at the forefront of the movement to decriminalise the use of cannabis, has claimed there is not a single document that shows that it was lethal to humans. It has sought directions to the government to frame rules permitting and regulating the use of cannabis, especially for medicinal purposes.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Should India legalise marijuana? Making it legal can do more good than harm

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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It seems that many people in Mumbai and Delhi are somewhat buzzed as they go about their everyday lives. According to the Weed Index ,New Delhi consumes 38.26 metric tonnes of cannabis, making it the third largest consumer of the weed in the world (after New York and Karachi); and Mumbai ranks sixth in the world, consuming 32.38 metric tonnes of the stuff on an annual basis. An average joint, according to research, is about 0.32 grams, so a gram will give you 3 joints. That makes it a whopping 114 million joints a year in Delhi, and 97 million joints a year in Mumbai, that is happily consumed, if not legally.

Cannabis has been part of Indian consumption for as far back as when history begins. The Atharva Veda talks of ‘bhang’ as bringing joy. Shiva, in his mendicant form, is depicted as consuming ‘bhang’. sadhus and pirs partake in the communal chillum to try and find the supreme being. Bhang is consumed as part of religious and cultural festivals – on Maha Shiv Ratri and during holi; opium drinks are traditional in parts of Rajasthan, and opium poppy is used in sweets. And as the consumption in Delhi and Mumbai shows, it is not just about cultural mores, people in India seem to enjoy their smoke-ups – and a fair few of them seem to be indulging.

Cannabis and its derivatives have been illegal in India only since 1985, with the passing of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. In part a commitment to the international treaty, the Single Convention in Narcotic Drugs, and in part pressure from the United States for a global agreement on its ‘war on drugs’ policy – saw India follow suit in banning something its people had been consuming for ages. And, at the stroke of a pen, a large number of people became law breakers.

And, that is in part one of the reasons why many countries and provinces across the world are legalising marijuana. The fact that there aren’t enough jails to lock up everyone who smokes up, and that it seems relatively harmless compared to some of the other things people get up to. The second reason is associated with the first. If marijuana is relatively harmless, then does it make sense to build up pockets of criminals who will traffic in the substance, putting up militias, and bribing cops to make sure that their wares are protected and reach the customer. If people are going to consume despite knowing health risks, then should the government not regulate the transaction in terms of quality, price, and consumer rights. And, should it not charge tax for providing this service? After all, our overstretched police departments have a lot more crime to catch, than some middle-aged commuter who decides to work off the day’s pent up road rage with a marijuana joint.

The total worldwide cannabis market – that includes both the illegal and the legal parts of it – is estimated at $344 billion. It is estimated that the legal market is worth $66 billion. Over 250 million people around the world consume it, and go back for more every single day. And, these 250 million people are spending their hard-earned, tax-paid earnings on marijuana. The money goes straight to those who run and manage the production pipeline – from the farm to the smoke.

Legalising marijuana, and regulating it has a four-pronged advantage. The first is that it may help farmers in certain regions to grow a much-in-demand cash crop. The second is much-needed revenue from the tax on marijuana. The third is the ability to curb the illegal trade in cannabis and clipping the wings of the mafias who undertake this work. And lastly, the biggest advantage of all – it has long been believed that terrorist groups make their money from the drug trade. Legalise it, and you will cut off a source of funding for terror. And, curbing terror maybe one of the unintended consequences of legalising marijuana.

Harini Calamur writes on politics, gender and her areas of interest are the intersection of technology, media, and audiences.

Read Harini Calamur’s columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Is pot safe when pregnant? Study seeks answer, draws critics

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The pregnancy started out rough for Leslie Siu. Morning sickness and migraines had her reeling and barely able to function at a demanding New York marketing job, so like rising numbers of US mothers-to-be, she turned to marijuana.

“l was finally able to get out from under my work desk,” said Siu, who later started her own pot company and says her daughter, now 4, is thriving.

There’s no proof that cannabis can relieve morning sickness, and mainstream medicine advises against use in pregnancy because of studies suggesting it might cause premature birth, low birth weight and infant’s brain deficits. But the National Institute on Drug Abuse is pressing for more solid evidence. Many of those studies were in animals or complicated by marijuana users’ other habits and lifestyles.

“I don’t want us to cry wolf,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, the agency’s director. “We have to do these studies in a way that can identify risks.”

With nearly $200,000 from her agency, University of Washington scientists in Seattle are seeking clearer answers in a new study investigating potential effects on infants’ brains. The agency is supporting three similar studies in other states.

In Seattle, they’re enrolling pregnant women during their first trimester who are already using marijuana for morning sickness. Researchers don’t provide the pot, and the use of other drugs, tobacco and alcohol isn’t allowed. Infants will undergo brain scans at 6 months and will be compared with babies whose mothers didn’t use marijuana while pregnant.

For government and university authorities, it’s worthy to research that takes advantage of a booming trend. Recent data show the number of pregnant US pot users has doubled since 2002, with 7 percent reporting recent use and higher rates in some states.

But some opponents of recreational marijuana who think the science is settled have complained to the university and the federal government, calling it bogus research that endorses drug use and needlessly endangers fetuses.

The criticism underscores the challenges of investigating how drugs of any kind affect pregnant women and their offspring.

“There are so many reasons NOT to study drugs — particularly fear of causing birth defects. But the results would be no studies of the drugs’ efficacy during pregnancy or the risks to the fetus,” said Dr John Lantos, director of pediatric bioethics at Children’s Mercy hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. “It’s risky to do studies of potentially risky drugs but it’s risky not to do studies.”

Among the most tragic examples is thalidomide, a drug developed in Germany in the 1950s as a sedative. It was later widely promoted and prescribed to treat morning sickness, mostly in western Europe and Canada, despite a lack of research in pregnant women. It soon became linked with severe birth defects and was removed from most markets by the early 1960s.

The US Food and Drug Administration never approved thalidomide for morning sickness because of safety concerns. The agency has approved a synthetic version of THC, the part of marijuana that causes a high, for AIDS-related appetite loss and a similar drug for nausea caused by cancer drugs, but has not approved it for morning sickness.

Scientist Natalia Kleinhans is leading the University of Washington’s study, aiming to recruit 35 pregnant marijuana users and 35 pregnant women who didn’t use pot.

The pot users are asked to buy from licensed dealers and photograph it so researchers can calculate the THC and CBD, another compound that doesn’t cause a high. Participants are paid $300 but can quit using anytime and remain in the study.

Medical and recreational marijuana is legal in Washington state, and Kleinhans says women who use it for morning sickness are different from pregnant pot users in years past, who often did other drugs, smoked or drank.

“They’re making a choice that people might not agree with. But it’s not out of desperation. It’s an informed choice,” said Kleinhans, a brain imaging specialist who studies the brain and behaviour.

Study opponents contend that researchers are recruiting marijuana addicts, that payment encourages participants to keep using, that women aren’t being adequately informed of risks, and that babies will be harmed by being tested. Researchers say MRI brain scans are safe and that infants will be tested while sleeping so won’t need potentially risky sedatives.

While more than 30 states have legalized marijuana for medical and/or recreational use, opponents also note that the federal government still considers pot an illegal drug — a stance that scientists say has hampered research.

Dr Pat Marmion, an OB-GYN in southern Washington, says he helped coordinate efforts to file complaints with the university and the US Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the National Institutes of Health. An HHS spokesperson declined to comment.

“We should be encouraging women who are pregnant to not use marijuana instead of incentivizing them to continue,” Marmion said.

Under US law, research that involves humans must be approved by review boards to make sure participants’ rights and safety are protected.

Karen Moe, director of the university’s human subjects division, said authorities there investigated the critics’ concerns and concluded that most were unfounded. But she said they agreed to provide a handout on possible risks from marijuana use in pregnancy, not just links to similar information online, and also reworded recruitment materials to clarify that participants could quit using marijuana and still receive full payment.

“From our standpoint, the situation is essentially resolved and the study is good to go,” Moe said.

Dr Mishka Terplan, a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ addiction expert group, said that for years, the thalidomide scare “shut down all research of medications in pregnancy.” Not enough is known even about medications commonly prescribed for morning sickness, he said.

“We shouldn’t assume that because we classify something as illegal that it is shameful,” Terplan said. “And that because something is legal and prescribed, it’s helpful.”

The National Institute on Drug Abuse is providing almost $1.5 million for three similar studies of marijuana use in pregnancy — at Washington University in St. Louis, at the University of Denver and at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California.

“One of the big arguments about why this is unethical is that we already know the answers. That is not true,” said Susan Weiss, who oversees outside research for the institute. “We’re living in this very large social experiment and we need to learn from it.”

Leslie Siu, the businesswoman who used marijuana while pregnant, now lives in Denver, where pot is legal and sells a marijuana-based spray. Siu said marijuana deserves to be studied “so we can get the right answers.”

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Pioneering Uruguay set to begin exporting medical marijuana

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Already the first country in the world to legalize recreational use of marijuana, Uruguay now aims to go further by becoming the first in Latin America to export it for medicinal purposes.

It’s taken a year to get to this point but in Nueva Helvecia — 120 km west of the capital Montevideo — the first harvest is ready to be sent abroad.

Employees of the US company Fotmer — the only one currently licensed to export — are cutting and drying the plant before it is exported to Europe, Canada and Australia.

In taking this step, Uruguay is joining the ranks of medicinal marijuana exporters dominated by the United Kingdom, which according to United Nations data from 2016 had cornered more than two-thirds of the market.

The Netherlands (16.4 per cent) and Austria (8.7) are the other major players although a growing number of countries are investing in producing medical marijuana, which is legal in around 30 countries worldwide.

“Uruguay has been visionary,” said Jordan Lewis, 46, one of Fotmer’s owners.
“The market is growing” and Lewis believes Uruguay — a country in which cannabis can be bought in pharmacies — could lead the way.

This year, Fotmer aims to produce six tons of medicinal marijuana but Lewis’s ultimate goal is to reach 400 tons a year in return for a $ 15 million investment.

It has installed 18 greenhouses in Uruguay covering 30,000 square meters (320,000 square feet).

The plants can grow to two meters (6.5 feet)high after which employees such as 33-year-old Santiago Bardanca prune them and separate stems and flowers into coloured boxes.

“It takes between five and 10 minutes” for each person to process a plant, Bardanca said.

Fotmer employs 150 people in peak season when the plants are harvested.
That’s an intense and stressful time that lasts just a few days as employees work in shifts to ensure a 24-hour operation.

The whole process is tightly regulated as the flowers and extract which the plants produce are mostly destined for the pharmaceutical industry.

“Our aim is to become the main provider of medical marijuana” in the world, taking advantage of Uruguay’s liberal laws surrounding the drug, adds American Lewis, a vet by profession.

Starting with 10 plants, he jumped at the opportunity afforded him by the South American country to run his own business dealing in a plant he’s studied extensively and whose economic potential he considers huge.

Through cloning, he now has 10,000 plants. A 2017 study by US-based Grand View Research has estimated the global market for medical marijuana could reach $55.8 billion by 2025.

The flowers are sent to countries such as Germany — one of 21 European Union nations where medical marijuana is legal — while other chemical components are used in specific remedies, says Lewis. In the production process, each area is strictly separated.

To pass from one room to another, employees must pass through a pressurized area in which connecting doors can only be opened one at a time.

Workers must even change clothes, shoes and masks when moving between the different production areas to reduce the risk of contamination.

“This is hyper-paranoia,” says Fotmer’s scientific director Asim Beg, but necessary given “this is a medicine like any other medicine.”

The production process involves cutting the plants at exactly the right moment, then leaving the flowers for six days to dry and another six to “stabilize,” during which time the chemical components reach their final state.

It then takes two days to pack the final product. “The plant’s entire life is monitored from plantation to sale,” says Beg, adding that it’s a pharmaceutical industry requirement.

Each packet weighs around three kg and will be sold for between $9,000 and $21,000 on the international market, where prices range from $3 to $7 per gram.

The first packages will be heading to Germany.  “It’s very emotional,” admits Lewis.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Bingo and bongs: More seniors seek pot for age-related aches

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The group of white-haired folks — some pushing walkers, others using canes — arrive right on time at the gates of Laguna Woods Village, an upscale retirement community in the picturesque hills that frame this Southern California suburb a few miles from Disneyland.

There they board a bus for a quick trip to a building that, save for the green Red Cross-style sign in the window, resembles a trendy coffee bar. The people, mostly in their 70s and 80s, pass the next several hours enjoying a light lunch, playing a few games of bingo and selecting their next month’s supply of cannabis-infused products.

“It’s like the ultimate senior experience,” laughs 76-year-old retired beauty products distributor Ron Atkin as he sits down to watch the bingo at the back of the Bud and Bloom marijuana dispensary in Santa Ana.

Most states now have legal medical marijuana, and 10 of them, including California, allow anyone 21 or older to use pot recreationally. The federal government still outlaws the drug even as acceptance increases. The 2018 General Social Survey, an annual sampling of Americans’ views, found a record 61 percent back legalization, and those 65 and older are increasingly supportive.

Indeed, many industry officials say the fastest-growing segment of their customer base is people like Atkin — aging baby boomers or even those a little older who are seeking to treat the aches and sleeplessness and other maladies of old age with the same herb that many of them once passed around at parties.

“I would say the average age of our customers is around 60, maybe even a little older,” said Kelty Richardson, a registered nurse with the Halos Health clinic in Boulder, Colorado, which provides medical examinations and sells physician-recommended cannabis through its online store.

Its medical director, Dr. Joseph Cohen, conducts “Cannabis 101” seminars at the nearby Balfour Senior Living community for residents who want to know which strains are best for easing arthritic pain or improving sleep.

Relatively little scientific study has verified the benefits of marijuana for specific problems. There’s evidence pot can relieve chronic pain in adults, according to a 2017 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, but the study also concluded that the lack of scientific information poses a risk to public health.

At Bud and Bloom, winners of the bingo games take home new vape pens, but Atkin isn’t really there for that. He’s been coming regularly for two years to buy cannabis-infused chocolate bars and sublingual drops to treat his painful spinal stenosis since the prescription opiates he had been taking quit working.

It was “desperation” that brought him here, he said, adding that his doctors didn’t suggest he try medical marijuana. But they didn’t discourage him either.

The dispensary is filled with the 50 people from the bus as they peruse counters and coolers containing everything from gel caps to drops to cannabis-infused drinks, not to mention plenty of old-fashioned weed.

Adele Frascella, leaning on her cane, purchases a package of gummy candies she says helps keep her arthritic pain at bay.

“I don’t like to take an opioid,” said Frascella, 70.

Fashionably dressed with sparkling silver earrings, Frascella confirms with a smile that she was a pot smoker in her younger days.

“I used to do it when I was like 18, 19, 20,” she said. “And then I had a baby, got married and stopped.”

She took it up again a few years ago, even investing in a “volcano,” a pricey, high-tech version of the old-fashioned bong that Gizmodo calls “the ultimate stoner gadget.” But these days, like many other seniors, she prefers edibles to smoking.

Renee Lee, another baby boomer who smoked as a youth, got back into it more than a dozen years ago after the clinical psychologist underwent brain surgery and other medical procedures that she said had her taking “10 meds a day, four times a day.”

“And I wasn’t getting any better,” she said, adding that she asked her doctors if she might try medical marijuana as a last resort. They said go ahead and she found it ended her pain.

In 2012 she founded the Rossmoor Medical Marijuana Club in her upscale San Francisco Bay Area retirement community.

“We started with 20 people, and we kept it really quiet for about a year and a half,” she said, noting that although California legalized medical cannabis in 1996, it was still seen in some quarters as an outlaw drug.

Her group has since grown to more than 1,000 members and puts on regular events, including lectures by pro-cannabis doctors and nurses.

People Lee’s age — 65 and over — are the fastest-growing segment of the marijuana-using population, said Dr. Gary Small, professor of psychiatry and aging at the University of California, Los Angeles.

He believes more studies on the drug’s effects on older people are needed. And while it may improve quality of life by relieving pain, anxiety and other problems, he said, careless, unsupervised use can cause trouble.

“We know that cannabis can cause side effects, particularly in older people,” he said. “They can get dizzy. It can even impair memory if the dose is too high or new ingredients are wrong. And dizziness can lead to falls, which can be quite serious.”

Richardson said Colorado saw an uptick in hospital visits by older users soon after the state legalized cannabis in 2012. The problem, he said, was often caused by novices downing too many edibles.

That’s a lesson Dick Watts, 75, learned the hard way. The retired New Jersey roofing contractor who keeps a winter home at Laguna Woods Village began having trouble sleeping through the night as he got into his 70s. He attended a seniors’ seminar where he learned marijuana might help, so he got a cannabis-infused candy bar. He immediately ate the whole thing.

“Man, that was nearly lethal,” recalled Watts, laughing.

Now when he has trouble sleeping he takes just a small sliver of candy before bed. He said he wakes up clear-headed and refreshed.

“And I have it up on a shelf so my grandkids can’t get to it,” Watts said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

16 crore Indians consume alcohol: Survey

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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At the national level, about 14.6 percent (16 crore) people (in the 10-75 age group) consume alcohol with Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa having the highest prevalence of liquor use, a recent government survey has found.

After alcohol, cannabis and opioids are the next commonly-used substances in the country, the survey has found.

Among those dependent on alcohol, one in 38 reported some form of treatment, while one in 180 reported getting in-patient treatment or hospitalisation.

Conducted by the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry in collaboration with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the survey titled “Prevalence and Extent of Substance Use in India” was conducted in all the 36 states and Union territories.

At the national level, 2,00,111 households were visited in 186 districts and a total of 4,73,569 individuals were interviewed, the report stated.

About 2.8 percent of Indians (around 3.1 crore) reported having used some cannabis product in the last 12 months.

At the national level, the most commonly used opioid is heroine?(used by 1.14 percent of the people surveyed), followed by pharmaceutical opioids (used by 0.96 percent of the people surveyed) and opium (used by 0.52 percent of the people surveyed).

About 1.08 percent (around 1.18 crore) of Indians in the 10-75 age group use sedatives (non-medical, non-prescription use).

At the national level, an estimated 4.6 lakh children and 18 lakh adults need help for inhaler use, the survey found.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

2018 was a bumper year for the (legal) marijuana industry

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

2018 was a bumper year for the (legal) marijuana industry

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The last year was a 12-month champagne toast for the legal marijuana industry as the global market exploded and cannabis pushed its way further into the financial and cultural mainstream.

Liberal California became the largest legal US marketplace, while conservative Utah and Oklahoma embraced medical marijuana. Canada ushered in broad legalization , and Mexico’s Supreme Court set the stage for that country to follow.

US drug regulators approved the first marijuana-based pharmaceutical to treat kids with a form of epilepsy, and billions of investment dollars poured into cannabis companies. Even main street brands like Coca-Cola said they are considering joining the party.

“I have been working on this for decades, and this was the year that the movement crested,” said US Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat working to overturn the federal ban on pot. “It’s clear that this is all coming to a head.”

With buzz building across the globe, the momentum will continue into 2019.

Luxembourg is poised to become the first European country to legalize recreational marijuana, and South Africa is moving in that direction. Thailand legalized medicinal use of marijuana on Tuesday, and other Southeastern Asian countries may follow South Korea’s lead in legalizing cannabidiol, or CBD. It’s a non-psychoactive compound found in marijuana and hemp plants and used for treatment of certain medical problems.

“It’s not just the US now. It’s spreading,” said Ben Curren, CEO of Green Bits, a San Jose, California, company that develops software for marijuana retailers and businesses.

Curren’s firm is one of many that blossomed as the industry grew. He started the company in 2014 with two friends. Now, he has 85 employees, and the company’s software processes $2.5 billion in sales transactions a year for more than 1,000 US retail stores and dispensaries.

Green Bits raised $17 million in April, pulling in money from investment firms including Snoop Dogg’s Casa Verde Capital. Curren hopes to expand internationally by 2020.

“A lot of the problem is keeping up with growth,” he said.

Legal marijuana was a $10.4 billion industry in the US in 2018 with a quarter-million jobs devoted just to the handling of marijuana plants, said Beau Whitney, vice president and senior economist at New Frontier Data, a leading cannabis market research and data analysis firm. There are many other jobs that don’t involve direct work with the plants but they are harder to quantify, Whitney said.

Investors poured $10 billion into cannabis in North America in 2018, twice what was invested in the last three years combined, he said, and the combined North American market is expected to reach more than $16 billion in 2019.

“Investors are getting much savvier when it comes to this space because even just a couple of years ago, you’d throw money at it and hope that something would stick,” he said. “But now investors are much more discerning.”

Increasingly, US lawmakers see that success and want it for their states.

Nearly two-thirds of US states now have legalized some form of medical marijuana.

Voters in November made Michigan the 10th state — and first in the Midwest — to legalize recreational marijuana. Governors in New York and New Jersey are pushing for a similar law in their states next year, and momentum for broad legalization is building in Pennsylvania and Illinois.

“Let’s legalize the adult use of recreational marijuana once and for all,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last week.

State lawmakers in Nebraska just formed a campaign committee to put a medical cannabis initiative to voters in 2020. Nebraska shares a border with Colorado, one of the first two states to legalize recreational marijuana, and Iowa, which recently started a limited medical marijuana program.

“Attitudes have been rapidly evolving and changing. I know that my attitude toward it has also changed,” said Nebraska state Sen. Adam Morfeld, a Democrat. “Seeing the medical benefits and seeing other states implement it … has convinced me that it’s not the dangerous drug it’s made out to be.”

With all its success, the US marijuana industry continues to be undercut by a robust black market and federal law that treats marijuana as a controlled substance like heroin. Financial institutions are skittish about cannabis businesses, even in US states where they are legal, and investors until recently have been reluctant to put their money behind pot.

Marijuana businesses can’t deduct their business expenses on their federal taxes and face huge challenges getting insurance and finding real estate for their brick-and-mortar operations.

“Until you have complete federal legalization, you’re going to be living with that structure,” said Marc Press, a New Jersey attorney who advises cannabis businesses.

At the start of the year, the industry was chilled when then-US Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded a policy shielding state-licensed medical marijuana operators from federal drug prosecutions. Ultimately the move had minimal impact because federal prosecutors showed little interest in going after legal operators.

Sessions, a staunch marijuana opponent, later lost his job while President Donald Trump said he was inclined to support an effort by US Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican, to relax the federal prohibition.

In November, Democrats won control of the US House and want to use it next year to pass legislation that eases federal restrictions on the legal marijuana industry without removing it from the controlled substances list.

Gardner and Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren have proposed legislation allowing state-approved commercial cannabis activity under federal law. The bill also would let states and Indian tribes determine how best to regulate marijuana commerce within their boundaries without fear of federal intervention.

If those provisions become law, they could open up banking for the marijuana industry nationwide and make it easier for cannabis companies to secure capital.

Blumenauer’s “blueprint” to legalize marijuana also calls for the federal government to provide medical marijuana for veterans, more equitable taxation for marijuana businesses and rolling back federal prohibitions on marijuana research, among other things.

“We have elected the most pro-cannabis Congress in history and more important, some of the people who were roadblocks to our work … are gone,” Blumenauer said. “If we’re able to jump-start it in the House, I think there will be support in the Senate, particularly if we deal with things that are important, like veterans’ access and banking.”

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow