Two more Senate Democrats expressed support for the U.S. Senate bill that would decriminalize and deschedule cannabis on the federal level.
The new cosponsors of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA), which was unveiled on Thursday, are Assistant Democratic Leader Patty Murray (D-WA) and Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), according to Marijuana Moment. The two join the bill’s three prime sponsors: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) (C), joined by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) (L) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) / Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
“It is long past time the federal government catches up to Washington state when it comes to cannabis laws,” Murray said in a press release. “This legislation is about justice, strengthening our economy, and bringing the federal government into the 21st century.”
The senator also emphasized that the measure would “undo deeply unfair and racially unjust laws that have disproportionately harmed people of color.”
Interestingly, the senator’s statement also addressed the bipartisan Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, a piece of legislation that was approved by the House members seven times so far but failed to advance in the Senate.
“While the reforms we are pushing for are critical and long overdue—I remain fully committed to passing SAFE Banking however possible—including as a standalone bill,” Murray said. “It makes absolutely no sense that legal cannabis businesses are forced to operate entirely in cash and my bill would bring them into the formal banking system where they belong.”
The bipartisan marijuana banking reform measure aims to protect financial institutions that wish to provide their services to state-legal marijuana businesses.
Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), the bill’s House sponsor, recently filed an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which would include the marijuana banking reform bill.
Support for the enactment of the policy reform is broad, with the latest push coming from the American Bankers Association (ABA) and other financial organizations.
Kentucky governor Andy Beshear is considering taking executive action to allow patients dealing with chronic pain as well as veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder to access medical marijuana. That is if the general assembly doesn’t advance the legislation.
Beshear reminded his Twitter followers that 90% of adult residents in Kentucky support medical marijuana and that the Team KY Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee will make sure every voice is heard.
Ninety percent of Kentucky adults support medical cannabis and the Team KY Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee will help ensure every voice is heard as I weigh executive action that could provide access for those suffering from chronic pain or our veterans suffering from PTSD.1/2
— Governor Andy Beshear (@GovAndyBeshear) July 24, 2022
The governor’s note comes ahead of a town hall meeting scheduled to be held by KY Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee this week in Hopkinsville. The committee was established in June via Beshear’s executive order to have a panel of experts field public opinion statewide on the issue of medical cannabis legislation.
“Townhall meetings will be open to the public for discussion and feedback from residents, local leaders, health care providers, and advocacy groups,” said the notice.
The committee is directed to advise the governor on providing access to medical cannabis for Kentuckians who deal with a myriad of medical conditions.
“This is not about partisan politics,” Kerry Harvey, secretary of the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, said at the time. “This again, quite simply put, is about finding information that will assist our governor in making decisions that might lead to the alleviation of a lot of pain and suffering on the part of our fellow citizens.”
Commenting on Beshear’s note that 90% of Kentucky adults back medical cannabis legalization, state representative Al Gentry (D-Jefferson County) confirmed his surveys reflect that, reported WKYT.
“This question about medical cannabis is almost always on my survey and over the last five years has drawn between 85 and 91 percent approval,” said Gentry, who is one of the co-sponsors of these pieces of legislation.
A Republican-led bill passed the house in the latest session, but it was never presented in committee in the senate.
“It is my belief that the intent of the constitution was to put the power in the hands of the people and there’s no way you can exercise that if you don’t engage in the process,” Gentry said.
One veteran attending a recent town hall meeting said he hopes to be able to say one day that he hasn’t broken the law for the last 50 years.
The committee noted it will hear from both political parties on the matter, as there are some groups and lawmakers still opposing the reform. During the past legislative session, for example, Senator Damon Thayer (R-Georgetown) expressed his opposition, and Senate president Robert Stivers, (R-Manchester) noted that he would like to see more Kentucky-based research on this issue.
The altered state of perception you experience when high on marijuana can change the way you perceive your senses, including the way you hear your favorite songs.
Quality weed and a great record could be considered the perfect pairing by many cannabis and music enthusiasts. After all, marijuana has had a long history and close relationship with music.
From clouds of intoxicating smoke rising from crowds at music festivals this summer, to the lyrics in many classic songs, marijuana is present. And while there is no denying this close relationship, you are apt to wonder exactly why music sounds so much better when you’re high.
As we previouslyreported, scientists have long been interested in how marijuana affects the way we perceive sound. Unfortunately, studies on marijuana and music, and how it affects sound perception in general, remain scarce due to marijuana’s illegal status. Still, there is some information and insight to draw from in order to help understand why marijuana can make a song sound so much better with it than without it.
Onestudy from 1970 showed the ability of marijuana to perceivably span time, “The smoked marijuana altered pulse rate, time estimation, and EEG.” In fact, the perception of 15 seconds of time, according to the study, was “expanded” to 16.7 seconds. This could possibly explain why those under the influence of marijuana have an ability to notice minute details, and pay particular attention to a piece of music. After all, they have more time to do so — theoretically speaking anyway.
In fact, marijuana taps into our minds in all sorts of ways, many of which seem to positively influence how we perceive things, including music. “Marijuana also accesses a special neurotransmitter system, the endocannabinoid system, which regulates appetite, pain, mood and memory. The way the plant activates this system explains a lot of the unique effects it has on music listening,” according toMIC. Some of these influences, like changes in the endocannaboid system, may be imperceptible at the time, but can change the way we feel when we experience sounds.
Some of marijuana’s mind altering properties, however, can be consciously apparent while listening to music. The altered state of perception you experience when high on marijuana can change the way you perceive your senses, including the way you hear your favorite songs. In particular, individuals often report “heightened senses” while high. The reason for this, is that THC is interacting with receptors in your brain responsible for many of these senses. As Marijuana Doctorssaid, “Areas of the brain that are involved with your senses, such as the olfactory bulb, which manages your sense of smell, bind with THC receptors and create heightened perceptions of your surroundings.”
Cannabis and music also have a strong influence on your dopamine levels, which lead to emotion and gratification in humans. Cannabis with high levels of CBD and THC is reported to have an increased release of dopamine. These strains, paired with the enjoyment from music, may result in a heightened experience.
According toCBC News, “With music and cannabis simultaneously triggering the mesolimbic dopamine system, the brain is chemically reinforcing two extremely gratifying behaviours — and coupling them over time.” This simultaneous heightened experience might explain why some of your favorite songs can feel extra special, almost euphoric, after you smoke weed.
There is still much to learn and understand about marijuana and how it affects the way we hear and perceive music and sounds in general. Still, maybe evidence is secondary to what it feels like hearing a record with some weed after a long day.
Trusting the ability of the olfactory lobes in identifying cannabis — and discerning the quality of — strains is a very important factor before making a purchase.
When it comes to purchasing weed that is fit for the special need of the user, be it for recreational purposes, relaxation or medical purposes, there are a number of things to consider. Buying the right weed is much more than just knowing the name of the strain to purchase and getting it from a trusted dealer. You should smell your weed before buying.
Although these two factors play a huge role in your weed purchase, there are still some basic factors that go a long way in ensuring you get exactly what you bargained for. One such basic factor is the ability to smell your weed before purchasing it.
Photo by Cavan Images/Getty Images
Terpenes and Their Importance in Weed
First off, before we go into why smelling your weed is important, we must first touch on one class of phytochemical molecules found in cannabis plants known as terpenes. Terpenes, simply put, are aromatic molecules found in cannabis plants that give different strains of cannabis buds their characteristic scent. Examples of terpenes found in cannabis plants include limonene, myrcene, linalool, caryophyllene, terpineol. These are just some of the numerous types of terpenes found in cannabis plants. The concentration of some of these terpenes in cannabis buds helps in identification as well as in the assessment of quality.
Terpenes also do more than just give aroma to cannabis buds. Medical marijuana is based on the medicinal properties of cannabis of which terpenes are one of the major contributing factors. Cannabis contains cannabinoids such as THC, CBD, and CBG which have medicinal and recreational effects.
Terpenes work in synergy with these cannabinoids in what is known as the entourage effect to improve the different medicinal effects of the cannabinoids. Myrcene has antipsychotic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and sedative properties while caryophyllene has analgesic, anticarcinogenic, and antidepressant effects. This gives the understanding that the more the terpenes, the better the medicinal properties of the weed.
This relationship helps to establish the importance of these aromatic compounds in the quality of weed. Now let’s go back to see how this can help in purchasing weed.
Advantages Of Smelling Your Weed Before Purchasing It
Now that we have looked at what terpenes are and the role they play in the medicinal properties and characteristic scents of different cannabis strains, how does this help in purchasing weed?
Identity
It is common knowledge that there are different strains of cannabis and while many know that it is possible to differentiate between cannabis strains, they still don’t know how to do it. This is where terpenes and smelling cannabis strains before purchasing it comes to play. It is easy to know the name of the strain one wishes to purchase but if you are dealing with a dealer that is untrustworthy, you are at a loss if you cannot identify the strain you wish to purchase. This is where smelling your weed comes to play.
Terpenes give cannabis strains a specific smell and the aroma of a strain can help in identifying if it is the desired strain or not. This is where smelling your weed before purchasing it becomes an advantage so as to avoid being given the wrong weed. Some cannabis strains can only be differentiated from others based on their taste and smell because of similarities in physical appearance. This is the major reason why some cannabis dispensaries allow buyers to smell reference samples of weed they have in bottles before they go ahead to purchase it.
The downside of not smelling your weed and identifying it is a therapeutic failure for those using it for medicinal reasons and unwanted effects for those using it for recreational effects.
Quality
For those that are new to cannabis, they might not know that cannabis comes in different grades in terms of quality. Cannabis can be classified into three basic spectrums namely low, medium, and premium-quality bud. The quality of the bud is largely dependent on the producers and how much care and experience is used by the grower to arrive at the final product. Low-quality buds are predominantly grown by novice growers or growers that are majorly profit-driven. They are usually dry with a harsh or bitter taste and tend to have lower levels of THC.
Medium-quality buds have a better appearance and better taste as more are is put in by the growers to ensure a good product. Mostly produced by domestic growers, medium-quality buds are very common. Premium-quality cannabis is what you know as top-shelf products with high grades in terms of content and physical characteristics. It is produced by skilled farmers and special breeders.
These obvious differences in the quality of cannabis buds can be exposed by simply smelling your weed before purchasing it. Due to the lack of a high concentration of terpenes, low-quality terpenes usually lack a distinct smell. This lack of smell can also be due to degradation of the terpenes causing such strains to have harsh taste and less than ideal effects.
Medium-quality cannabis strains have pleasant and characteristic scents. Smelling such strains before purchasing them gives a pleasant feeling and it is easily reproducible in different samples of the strain. Premium-quality buds have a skunky and pungent smell due to a complex network of terpenes.
Bottom line
It is very possible for cannabis plants to be labeled incorrectly with the intent of promoting sales. Low-quality cannabis can be marketed as top-shelf products and in such situations, you might have nothing else to count on except smelling your weed. Trusting the ability of the olfactory lobes in identifying cannabis strains and discerning the quality of strains is a very important character that every cannabis purchaser must possess. This is because the cannabis market is one that required proper intuition and knowledge in all respects.
With the right knowledge, you can get what you bargained for and more and with the wrong knowledge, you could be left wishing you never purchased the weed. So before you fire up that bong or get out those rolling papers, let your nose do the talking.
Plant Growth Regulators seem nonthreatening, but this cannabis should instill fear in you as a user. Here’s why.
Of course, you have heard about the negative impact of fungicides and pesticides on your bud, but that is not the only risk of contamination you will experience. There is another chemical scare brewing in the cannabis industry, and you’ve got to know how to identify it. What are the dangers of smoking PGR marijuana?
Plant Growth Regulators (PGR) weed is a novel substance in the cannabis sector, and it came to bear because of the desire for larger buds and yields. When consumer’s demand for cannabis goes higher, farmers start cutting corners by squirting the cannabis crop with damaging PGRs. So now metal contamination should be your sole concern as a cannabis consumer; you also need to be worried about the possibility of PGR in your weed.
Photo by msk.nina/Getty Images
What is PGR?
In the 1930s, American agricultural enthusiasts were faced with a chemical revolution. At this time, the farm industry in America had accepted the use of synthetic chemicals, which includes things like:
Fungicides
Pesticides
Fertilizers
This was also a time when new chemical applications referred to as “Plant Hormones” and regulators were applied to pineapples to boost their flower production. Farmers in this American agricultural era started to adopt these methods with other crops, hence gaining popularity.
The plant growth regulators used on crops were aimed at controlling their growth in a particular way. For example, with cannabis, it meat that cannabis growers will have denser buds, larger yields, and bushier crops, which were a sign of abundant growth.
Aside from cannabis, the plant growth regulator can be sprayed on trees to keep them short and preserve them; there are also other ways of application on crops. PGRs are chemicals utilized to change the rate at which a plant grows or alters a part of the plant.
The plants naturally produce hormones that aid with their growth, fruits, and other developmental phases. Now cultivators continued to use PGRs from the 19th to the 20th century, with some of the chemicals regulated and others banned.
Top 3 most common PGRs
The rising rate of PGRs in the cannabis sector is still uncovered because more significant parts of the marijuana industry still function in the illegal (black) market. Therefore there is no way to tell when PGR is sprayed on cannabis and when growers can utilize them.
Most worrisome is the fact that frequently cannabis cultivation chemicals do not include a list of ingredients. More so, you can buy PGRs online or at hydroponic shops. If you take the time to read the label, you will know if there is PGR in the product or not.
Another crucial rule to remember is this: if the nutrients offer the assurance of great returns with no ingredients listing, then it may have PGR. Here are three types of PGRs:
Paclobutrazol
This can be applied on different plants from trees to turfgrass and even cannabis. It is mainly used to manipulate the plants into growing uniformly with thick vegetative sizes.
Unfortunately, Paclobutrazol doesn’t allow the plants to produce their natural terpenes despite the buds looking like regular cannabis plants. The final product will be less effective and not very tasty. This chemical has a damaging toxic effect: it affects brain activity and can impact the reproductive cycle.
Chlormequat chloride
Chlormequat chloride was initially solely used for flowers, but it is now used for weed. When used on plants such as cannabis and other cereal grains, it impacts its vegetative growth.
But accidental human exposure through inhalation or immersion through the skin can cause throat and nose irritation. It is still being used in major agricultural sectors like the cannabis market, posing a threat to safe cannabis consumption.
Damiozide
Initially, this chemical was crafted for ornamental plants, but when applied to cannabis, it inhibits growth. In 1989, it was banned by the EPA with the strict instruction that it shouldn’t be used for food. It was also forbidden because it contributed to cancer growth, with the EPA warning that consumption can lead to public health risks.
How to identify a PGR weed
Other damaging pesticides used on cannabis do not display worrisome signs, but PGR weeds show clear signs. PGR cannabis doesn’t look like a natural organic weed, and they are known for having orange hairs all over the buds.
You will also see tiny trichomes developing on the buds (they will be like crystals with o clear yellow and purple colors. The plant’s flowers will also feel spongey; they will have smaller buds and wouldn’t even smell like weeds.
If you see these signs on the cannabis plant or a bud you buy, PGR has been used. The more PGR is used on the plant, the more signs will be on the plant. Inspect all new cannabis batches you get, and if you are still unsure after the inspection, insist on speaking with the supplier.
There are many health-related concerns with PGRs in consumables. With these substances still in use in the agricultural sector, it is a cause of the problem for cannabis enthusiasts. Even when these PGRs are banned in food crops, it is still used on cannabis, exposing the consumer to all kinds of health risks. Immediate exposure can lead to respiratory disease, vomiting and nausea.
Bottom line
Some cannabis growers enjoy using PGR because of its capacity to transform the plant to produce larger yields. But this is a way of cheating nature ad making inferior cannabis products.
Even if you end with aesthetically pleasing and large buds, the plants will be more minor cannabinoids, and they wouldn’t be rich in terpene. Yes, you will have a bountiful harvest but inferior quality, which is dangerous to users.
So the fears for PGRs are legitimate as smokers and cultivators are calling for a total ban. Until the ban happens, look out for dull-orange buds with a flexible center. You don’t want to face a health risk because of PGR in your cannabis.
“Plaintiffs independently tested products purchased from licensed dispensaries and found that THC levels were inflated by an average of 25%,” states the lawsuit.
Three Arkansas residents have filed a federal lawsuit against four licensed medical marijuana companies operating in the state, accusing them of altering the THC levels on the labels of cannabis products they sell to medical cannabis users.
“Each Plaintiff files this suit to vindicate the federal laws prohibiting the cultivation and sale of marijuana and their rights under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). Each Plaintiff is in “chronic pain and has been prescribed medical marijuana by a physician,” reads the Plumlee et al. v. Steep Hill Inc. et al. lawsuit.
Photo by PhotoAlto/Katarina Sundelin/Getty Images
Among the companies sued are Bold, Osage Cultivation, Natural State Medicinal, and primarily Steep Hill Arkansas by Steep Hill Inc. “Plaintiffs independently tested products purchased from licensed dispensaries and found that THC levels were inflated by an average of 25%,” states the lawsuit.
“We noted over time that some marijuana was more potent than others, despite being labeled with similar amounts of THC,” expressed Don Plumlee, Jakie Hanan, and Pete Edwards, which are the plaintiffs. “RICO works with Steep Hill Arkansas, to generate labels with higher THC results (…) Defendants used a telephone, email, or other communication facilities to take action in support of their efforts to illegally sell marijuana that had been mislabeled hundreds of times,” the plaintiffs alleged.
“The RICO Defendants together formed an open-ended partnership business for the purpose of growing marijuana in Arkansas and selling it to dispensaries in Arkansas for purchase by Plaintiff,” the lawsuit continued. “To that end, they pooled their resources, knowledge, skills, and work to achieve through the company efficiencies in the cultivation and distribution of marijuana that none of them could have achieved individually.”
In addition, the plaintiffs’ argument added that “if higher THC levels equate to higher sales, then a concerted effort to mark those THC levels on Certificates of Analysis will lead to consistently higher sales.”
The plaintiffs even argued that this type of activity in the state’s medical cannabis market would violate the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) when CSA stated that, ”the large-scale manufacture and distribution of marijuana is a serious felony.”
Photo by Yarygin/Getty Images
What Do The Scientists Say About THC Effects?
According to a new study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, CBD can minimize some of the negative effects THC has on the brain. “THC is the major psychoactive, addiction-promoting, and psychotomimetic compound, while CBD may have opposite effects,” reads the study.
“Cannabis is a very popular recreational drug and is also starting to be used medically for some purposes, but we still don’t know a great deal about how different cannabinoids affect the brain,” said Matt Wall, the study author, and a senior imaging scientist at Invicro.
A study conducted on a global sample of people found that alcohol consumption is not good for anyone under this age.
Alcohol isn’t the healthiest of vices, but many claim that there are certain benefits of consuming with moderation. But a new study has shut down all of our hopes, at least for those under the age of 40, finding that alcohol provided no health benefits for this rather large age group.
The study, published on the Lancet Medical Journal, is a global one and the first of its kind, accounting for factors like geographic locations, sex, ages, and more. It found that males between the ages of 15 and 39 are at highest risk of alcohol’s damage.
“Using estimates of alcohol use in 204 countries, researchers calculated that 1.34 billion people consumed harmful amounts in 2020,” reads the study’s press release. “In every region, the largest segment of the population drinking unsafe amounts of alcohol were males aged 15–39 and for this age group, drinking alcohol does not provide any health benefits and presents many health risks, with 60% of alcohol-related injuries occurring among people in this age group, including motor vehicle accidents, suicides, and homicides.”
In the case of people over the age of 40, drinking small amounts of alcohol was linked with some benefits, like less risk of heart disease, particularly if these people lived in places where there was a lot of heart disease. There was one caveat: for these people to experience benefits, they had to not have any underlying health conditions.
“Our message is simple: young people should not drink, but older people may benefit from drinking small amounts. While it may not be realistic to think young adults will abstain from drinking, we do think it’s important to communicate the latest evidence so that everyone can make informed decisions about their health,” said senior author Dr. Emmanuela Gakidou, who is also a professor at the University of Washington.
So, drinking is bad for you, but also, the world is on fire. Researchers should cut us all some slack.
Only 89 of the 105 tested products listed the total amount of CBD in milligrams on the label. Of the 89 products, 16 contained less CBD than advertised, 52 contained more CBD than advertised, and 21 were accurately labeled.
In a new study, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers tested more than a hundred topical cannabidiol (CBD) products, that are available online and at retail stores and found “significant evidence of inaccurate and misleading labeling of CBD content.”
In addition, some of these products claimed to be free of THC, the main active ingredient in cannabis that can cause a “high.” However, the study showed that some of these nonprescription products actually contained amounts of THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol).
Moreover, researchers found that some CBD products made therapeutic claims not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“To date, the FDA has only approved one prescription CBD product to treat seizures associated with rare epilepsy disorders, and two prescription THC products for nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy and for loss of appetite and weight loss associated with HIV/AIDS,” reads the study published July 20 in JAMA Network Open, and supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Tory Spindle, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and lead author of the study expressed that “misleading labels can result in people using poorly regulated and expensive CBD products instead of FDA-approved products that are established as safe and effective for a given health condition.”
“Recent research has shown that people who use CBD products containing even small amounts of THC could potentially test positive for cannabis using a conventional drug test,” Spindle added. However, that has not been determined yet for topical CBD products.
Study Results
Researchers purchased 105 CBD topical products, including lotions, creams, and patches, to begin the study. Those products were tested using a technology called “gas chromatography-mass spectrometry” to identify the actual amount of CBD and THC they contained.
“Only 89 (85%) of the 105 tested products listed the total amount of CBD in milligrams on the label. Of the 89 products, 16 (18%) contained less CBD than advertised, 52 (58%) contained more CBD than advertised, and 21 (24%) were accurately labeled,” stated the study.
“On average, the in-store products contained 21% more CBD than advertised and the online products contained 10% more CBD than advertised, though CBD label accuracy varied widely across products.”
THC was detected in 37 (35%) of the 105 products, though all were within the legal limit of 0.3%. Four (11%) of those 37 were labeled as “THC free,” 14 (38%) stated they contained less than 0.3% THC and 19 (51%) did not reference THC on the label.
“Of the 105 products, 29 (28%) made a therapeutic claim, mostly about pain/inflammation, 15 (14%) made a cosmetic/beauty claim (e.g., that they alleviate wrinkles or nourish/improve skin) and 49 (47%) noted they were not FDA approved. The other 56 (53%) products made no reference to the FDA,” expressed the researchers.
“It’s important to note that the FDA has not approved CBD products to treat any of the conditions advertised on the products we tested,” added Spindle, who also is a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Cannabis Science Laboratory.
Ryan Vandrey, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the study’s senior author said that “the variability in the chemical content and labeling found in our study highlights the need for better regulatory oversight of CBD products to ensure consumer safety.”
The study’s authors understood that “such regulation would ensure CBD products meet established standards for quality assurance so consumers can make informed decisions about product selection and are not misled by unproven therapeutic or cosmetic claims.”
The researchers concluded the study by saying that people should consult with their doctor before starting any CBD regimen.
Photo by CRYSTALWEED cannabis via Unsplash
Is The Labeling Of Cannabis Products Assertive?
According to another study that examined almost 90,000 samples across six states, labels on cannabis products are not very useful since researchers found that “commercial labels do not consistently align with the observed chemical diversity,” of cannabis products.
Researchers asked for a labeling system similar to the FDA’s “nutrition fact panel” for food. “Our findings suggest that the prevailing labeling system is not an effective or safe way to provide information about these products,” said co-author Brian Keegan, an assistant professor of Information Science at CU Boulder. “This is a real challenge for an industry that is trying to professionalize itself.”
The incorporation of the marijuana language in the federal handbook is another sign of the normalization of the cannabis industry in states across the country.
As a result of a vote that state and local officials took at a conference last week, a federal government handbook on weights and measures which mentions marijuana standards in a new section has been made available. The exemplary contains a “cannabis potency measurement, packaging, labeling,” section, among other issues related to cannabis products.
At the annual meeting of the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM), which took place early in January, members of the conference have already considered a series of cannabis proposals, three to be exact.
Photo by Kindel Media via Pexels
NCWM’s Laws and Regulations Committee was who put forward all three of the measures, which then received votes from the bicameral conference’s House of Representatives and House of Delegates, reported Marijuana Moment.
Finally, last week, two of these three measures that had advanced to voting status were rejected but one will now be incorporated into federal guidance from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Standards For Measuring The Potency Of Cannabis Products, Packaging, And Labeling
The measure approved says that “state regulators are empowered to start rulemaking to create standards for measuring the potency of cannabis products, packaging, and labeling requirements, and reasonable variations in levels of cannabinoid content.” In addition, it includes “authorities on setting allowable variations in marijuana or hemp quantity due to the loss or gain of moisture.”
The two failed measures concerned “establishing a uniform, federal definition for cannabis and cannabis-containing products and developing a policy for the water activity range for marijuana.” However, a separate approved measure recommends that “state officials overseeing commercial weighing and measuring apparatuses have the authority to establish individual cannabis standards for their respective jurisdictions.”
Those measures received enough votes in the House of Delegates, which is also integrated by NCWM-affiliated regulators, however, it was not enough to be incorporated in the handbook, “measures came up just shy of passage in the separate House of Representatives, which consists of 52 voting members representing all 50 states and two U.S. territories,” reads a statement.
However, the measures have now been returned to the committee, which means they could be taken up again at the 2023 January meeting. If members decide to reconsider them, likely they could be enacted next July and adopted into NIST’s 2024 handbook.
With respect to the above, the section on giving officials cannabis-related authority will be adopted into the next edition. of the NIST handbook, which will be released in January 2023.
Photo by Kirill Vasikev / EyeEm/Getty Images
This Is Just The Beginning
The state departments overseeing weights and measures are not obligated to incorporate the cannabis standardization policies. Besides, some states have already vested that responsibility in statute to other agencies.
“There was a pattern with respect to states that chose to abstain from voting on the failed cannabis standardization proposals,” stated Charlie Rutherford, a co-chair of the NCWM cannabis task force. “The CBD-only states, or the states that don’t allow flower, were the primary ones to abstain.”
However, the incorporation of the marijuana language in the federal handbook is another sign of the normalization of the cannabis industry in states across the country.
A new study conducted on weed vapes suggests they’re inherently harmful to our bodies.
A new study shows further evidence of the harms of vaping.
Conducted by researchers from Portland State University and published in the journal of Chemical Research in Toxicology, the study claims that the process of heating up cannabinoid acetates creates a toxic gas called ketene that’s harmful to the lungs.
Researchers tested different cannabinoid acetates and tried to measure how much ketene was produced in a single vape puff. They measured acetates like delta-8 THC, a compound that’s currently unregulated by the FDA and that’s potent, crossing the blood-brain barrier more easily.
Researchers found that ketene is formed at lower settings of heat than anticipated and that each puff releases an amount of toxin that’s dangerous to people’s health. Ketene is supposedly so toxic to humans that it’s dangerous to even test it, thus, becoming difficult to measure its impact on the human body.
“The thing we’re most concerned about is prolonged exposure, we don’t know what that is,” said Kaelas Munger, a doctoral student and one of the authors of the study. “That’s why papers like ours are needed. Otherwise people would be exposed to this really toxic substance and it’s really impossible to look for the evidence.”
Ketene was previously linked to EVALI disease, a condition that led to nearly 3,000 hospitalizations and deaths in 2019. The condition was ultimately linked to Vitamin E acetate, which caused an uproar in the industry and led to the banning of several vape products and ongoing conversations regarding the risks of these items, especially since they’re used by a young demographic.
More and more evidence and controversies continue to show vapes in a bad light. While some will continue to use these products for their convenience and comfortability, many will think twice before purchasing a vape, considering flower or edibles instead.
