A new study shows that middle-aged people who get less than six hours of sleep per night are more likely to develop dementia.
A new study found new reasons why you should always be well-rested. It found some links between lack of sleep and dementia, specifically when people are in their 50’s and 60’s.
Published in the journal Nature Communications, the study tracked over 8,000 subjects from Britain, starting when they were 50-years-old. Those who consistently clocked less than six hours of sleep a night were 30% more likely to develop dementia three decades later than subjects who consistently slept over seven hours a night.
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The research team was able to adapt for behaviors and characteristics that could influence people’s sleep patterns and increase their risk for dementia, like smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and body mass index.
“It would be really unlikely that almost three decades earlier, this sleep was a symptom of dementia, so it’s a great study in providing strong evidence that sleep is really a risk factor,” Dr. Kristine Yaffe, professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of California, told the New York Times.
Limitations of the study include that the majority of the data was self-reported, which doesn’t allow for the most accurate results; the study didn’t differentiate between different types of dementia, and the majority of participants were white and better educated than the overall British population.
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Disordered sleep is correlated with several health conditions. While experts don’t know the connection that it could have with dementia, there are several theories in circulation. The more people are awake, the more they produce amyloid, a protein associated with Alzheimer’s. It’s also believed that during sleep, fluid flowing in the brain clears out excess proteins, which means that when this process is disrupted, harmful proteins can build up and cause brain damage.
While the study doesn’t answer all questions, experts believe that while they don’t have a completely clear picture, results show a strong connection between lack of sleep and dementia. Developing better sleep habits, a factor that’s under our control and that we can work on, could result in a preventative measure against dementia, a condition that’s long been associated with genetics and mystery.
Face mask guidelines are changing on a daily basis. Here’s a breakdown of what that means when you’re indoors.
Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) are confusing. With new updates released every couple of days, it’s difficult to keep track of the rules you should follow, which vary depending on whether or not you are vaccinated, the state and the business you’re entering.
According to the latest CDC guidelines, if you’re vaccinated, you no longer have to wear face masks. Well, almost.
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Infectious disease experts emphasize on the importance of every person’s individual level of risk and comfort, and the state of infections in their community. If a person is young, vaccinated, with no underlying health conditions and living in an area with a low level of transmission, they’re better off than someone who is high risk and living in a place where there’s a lot of COVID-19 infections.
Here are some guidelines for mask wearing indoors. If you’re unvaccinated, it’s best to stick to your mask for a little while longer:
Gyms
Photo by Humphrey Muleba
Once you’ve been vaccinated, it’s very unlikely for you to spread COVID-19. Despite that, whether you wear a mask depends on the gym itself. In order to keep employees and customers safe, and to avoid problems when verifying vaccination records, some gyms might ask people to wear their masks while indoors.
While you should still be polite when entering and leaving a restaurant (perhaps even when going to the bathroom), you should be good without your mask. When it comes to unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people, they should still be careful since they’re exposed to larger risks and there’s no way of knowing if their servers, neighbors, etc., are vaccinated.
Work
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As is the case with most situations indoors, what matters is your coworkers. If they’re all vaccinated, there is no problem. Still, managing this is difficult and requires a lot of planning and sincerity from employers and employees. Some experts suggest separating employees depending on their vaccination status, allowing those who’ve been vaccinated to return to work at the office and those who haven’t been vaccinated to stay working from home.
Whether the gathering is large or small, if you’re vaccinated, you should be fine. Unvaccinated people who present a risk to others should wear their masks in case the gathering is large. If the majority of people are vaccinated, there should be much lower risk for the party to dissolve into a super spreader event.
Despite the fact that event venues, such as theaters, result in people standing in the same place for long periods of time, vaccinated people should be fine to stay without masks. Still, you should follow your state’s guidelines. The bigger issue here is concerts, since people tend to sing and stand or sit packed together. Wearing no mask is okay, especially if you’re exposed to low risks and you’re young and vaccinated. Even if vaccinated people get COVID-19, the odds of developing a serious infection are very low.
While they may be federally more likely to stand in opposition of legalization, the recent surge in legalization efforts in Red states indicate that there is a dissonance between representation and the represented.
For years, activists have fought for your right to smoke cannabis. As we are entering into mid-2021, some might argue that cannabis rights activists won that war.
But did they really?
Is the current day landscape of legal cannabis what the freedom-fighters of old envisioned? Or are we seeing prohibition shape the way that cannabis is regulated — far stricter than other more dangerous substances?
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In this article we’ll take a closer look at what’s happening in the international cannabis marketplace, and how legalization could very well be a “less restrictive version of prohibition”.
Are Republicans the last Drug Warriors?
It’s true: Cannabis prohibition has been in steady decline over the past few decades. We can safely consider 2012 as the pivotal shift in public opinion post-legalizing in Colorado and Washington, which set the precedent.
However, even despite the dramatic shift of opinion, there still have been several “old school drug warriors” standing in between the will of the people.
This recent Rolling Stone article titled “Cannabis is the latest Battlefield in the Republican War on Democracy” suggests that the “opposition to legalization” is a Republican effort.
While it is true that a large portion of Republicans are more likely to be opposed to the idea of legalizing cannabis, it isn’t true to assume that only Republicans have a vested interest in keeping the status quo.
Hell, President Biden himself is staunchly opposed to allowing Americans choose their own vices. “We need more research” is the official bulls*** answer, but the truth of it all is that when you build a career dumping on drug users and become president, you’re still going to be somebody’s bitch.
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Therefore the best stance that the president can make, without angering his corporate sponsors would be to suggest decriminalization or a de-scheduling of the official classification of cannabis under the Controlled Substance Act.
Of course, we know that a Schedule II ruling — something that Biden is very fond of — would only really benefit Big Pharma and effectively make it impossible for mom-and-pop shops to keep up with the regulatory requirements of such a classification.
A Schedule II listing would essentially be a shadow ban on cannabis, making it technically “legal,” but still with hefty fines, police powers, and a monopoly of all supply.
And this is not a “Republican plot” — this is as Blue as it gets, which is what people should be understanding by now; the left-right dynamic is a smokescreen for the abhorrent corporatism that has democracy by the balls!
…But the Republicans!
While Republicans tout their moral philosophy and public outrage at the thought of a drug being legalized, they obey but one God. And that is the God of Money.
We can see many conservatives jump ship the moment they begin to see the dollar bills run in. Furthermore, the Republican ethos is “leave it up to the states,” and while they may be federally more likely to stand in opposition of legalization, the recent surge in legalization efforts in Red states indicate that there is a dissonance between representation and the represented.
Prohibition has always been a bipartisan monster and to shift the blame suddenly is disingenuous. In Colorado, the latest attempt at draconian restrictions for cannabis came at the hands of a democrat.
Rep. Yadira Caraveo (D-Colorado) attempted to put an arbitrary 15% cap on THC products citing “mental health issues” and “youth consumption” are motivations behind this move.
But then again, why are you trying to legislate an adult activity and force it to abide by the rules of minors?
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And even within the medical aspects, lawmakers are attempting to place blanket restrictions on issues such as youth access, when all that needs to be done is a heavier emphasis on these particular pain points.
Yet, both Republican and Democratic representatives have been attempting to rein in the expansion of the cannabis industry, whether through outright attempting to make it “unconstitutional to ever vote on any illegal drugs” as they tried to pull in Idaho.
The other form of prohibition is limiting access, such as creating high costs of entry, excluding minorities, overregulation, and so forth.
The Most Oppressed Minority…
It was Ayn Rand who said, “The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”
Of course, Ayn Rand had numerous faults within her reasoning and was an extremist in the truest sense of the word. However, the fact that someone who said something once doesn’t mean that what they said wasn’t true.
In today’s society we need to understand that there is a delicate balance between the “tribe” and the individual. It’s a very fine line because when the tribe becomes too powerful, oppression reigns. And when the individual is above the law, civil society begins to deteriorate.
These norms are constantly shifting, but with the War on Drugs, the balance of power between “individual” and “tribe” unilaterally shifted towards the tribe. The police became the anti-body to the “virus” which in this case was freedom of choice, expression and bodily ownership”.
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Under current policies, The Tribe has integrated the idea of consuming cannabis, but wishes to place its restrictions on the individual due to further “perceived threats” to the tribe. To put it in simpler terms, the government’s position of outright prohibiting cannabis no longer gels with the will of the people. But this doesn’t mean that the paradigm of prohibition ceases to exist. It merely suggests that prohibition will have to adapt and become restrictive in nature as opposed to obstructive.
Legislation now becomes the tools of oppression. Overregulation becomes the means of keeping the individual from participating in a marketplace that the “representatives of the tribe” deem unfit. Yet the Tribe (society) has long abandoned those ideals.
There is a dissonance between current leadership and the will of the people. These lawful chokeholds on the cannabis industry is a means of shaping legalization according to their will when it was the freedom-loving counter culture who hacked through the dense forest to create a pathway to legalization.
Placing caps on THC, limiting adult choice due to the recycled fears of prohibitionists (a la save the children!) is simply prohibitionists’ attempts to mold legality according to their wills.
It is important that the individual be placed at the center of cannabis policy and not the State, nor the undefinable “children”, nor the police, nor the treasury. But the will of the individual and his or her right to choose what they can and cannot put into their bodies.
This doesn’t mean that the market as a whole doesn’t need to be regulated. However, what we’re seeing in the case of cannabis is that the “regulation” doesn’t seem to be equal to that of more harmful drugs such as alcohol or tobacco.
This city, known as a mecca for weed tourism, is thinking about cracking down on visitors due to COVID-19 restrictions and rising crime rates.
Now that vaccines are widely available, travel is becoming a priority for people in the United States. When it comes to cannabis consumers, there’s one particular European destination that tops the list.
The EU will be allowing visitors who have received EU approved vaccines (Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson) allowing them to travel without having to undergo testing or quarantine. This is great for Americans who’ve been vaccinated and who might be itching to travel and try different things after spending a year living under pandemic conditions.
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When it comes to marijuana, enthusiasts might have to reconsider a trip to Amsterdam, a city that for decades has been one of the most pro-weed destinations in the world. In January, the city’s mayor, Femke Halsema, said she might consider banning marijuana tourism in the country, allowing only the city’s residents to partake in cannabis-related activities.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, Amsterdam, the capital city of the Netherlands, was receiving over a million tourists every month — the majority of whom were hoping to make a stop in one of the city’s infamous coffee shops.
Photo by Flickr user Dominic Milton Trott
“Coffee shops, especially in the center, largely run on tourists,” Halsema said. “The increase in tourism has only increased demand and attracted hard-drug criminality in the process. We can be an open, hospitable and tolerant city, but also a city that makes life difficult for criminals and slows down mass tourism.”
Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Netherlands is currently a level 4 risk destination when it comes to COVID-19. “Because of the current situation in the Netherlands even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants and should avoid all travel to the Netherlands,” explains the CDC.
While the cannabis industry has been beneficial for Amsterdam, producing revenue, keeping dispensaries running and promulgating a culture of fun and freedom, COVID-19 concerns could result in the mayor taking a more conservative stance. It might be the push the city needs to protect further spread from COVID-19 infections and control drug criminality.
Reports of cannabis poisoning are on the rise. And health experts believe this number will only increase because of marijuana legalization.
A new report indicates that people of all ages are calling poison control centers more often in relation to cannabis. Researchers involved in the study believe this can increase due to marijuana’s legalization.
The report, published in the JAMA Network Open, found that over 28,000 people called poison control between January 2017 and December 2019. 38.5% of the phone calls made were in regards to cannabis poisoning via products like edibles and vapes. Adults 21 and older were more likely to make the call for help.
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Cannabis products, such as vapes, tinctures, and edibles are more likely to prompt strong responses from users, like nausea, paranoia, dizziness, vomiting, and more. These products are usually more concentrated, at times having additives that are harmful and that aren’t yet fully understood, like the vitamin E additive in certain vape pens. This was linked to the EVALL disease, which rose to prominence in 2019.
Still, researchers warn about the strength of today’s cannabis strains and how people involved in the cannabis industry should take the necessary precautions to avoid exposing people to risks.
“Applying regulatory controls to market-driven innovations in potency and additives is key,” wrote researchers. “Novice cannabis users are often advised to ‘start low, go slow’; this guidance may be equally applicable to regulating new retail cannabis markets and products.”
With an evolving cannabis landscape and new users joining in, it’s important for responsible parties to provide guidance and regulation for the industry. While cannabis has many medicinal effects and relatively mild side effects, users need to be informed of its proper consumption and should know that cannabis products are stronger than ever.
People who’ve been vaccinated are exempt from many of the rules determined by the pandemic. What about COVID-19 tests?
More and more activities are becoming available for those who’ve had their COVID-19 shot. From more freedom to travel to everyday things, like shopping indoors without wearing face masks, things appear to be returning to normal. But what about COVID-19 tests?
While people who’ve been vaccinated don’t have to get tested or quarantine when coming in contact with someone who has the virus, it’s important to get tested if symptoms like cough, fever and fatigue appear.
Data collected over the past couple of months suggests that vaccinated people rarely get strong symptoms of COVID-19, so there’s little chance of visiting hospitals. Still, getting tested would prevent the spread of the virus, which is why it’s important to know whether you have it or not.
Per the CDC, U.S. citizens re-entering the United States need to show a negative COVID-19 test result, no matter their vaccination status. If the test result is positive, then the person must isolate for a period of 10 days.
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Cases like COVID-19 tests in the workplace are subject to the company’s individual policies. Doctors, nurses, and people who work in hospitals, prisons, and homeless shelters are still subject to more regular screenings since there is a higher degree of exposure.
Seniors or people with an underlying health condition might want to get tested more often, especially if they were exposed to someone with the disease and have developed symptoms of the virus. While vaccines are highly effective, they still don’t guarantee 100% protection.
In the coming months, as more and more people continue to get their shots and authorities get a clearer picture of the remaining quarter of the year, we can expect some of these guidelines to relax further.
June is the month when retail brands let their customers know they support LGBTQ+ rights and inclusivity, although many of them go quiet once Gay Pride is over.
When retailers put away their rainbow flags and Pride marketing materials, some consumers are left feeling that the effort is more for a summer sales boost than a true expression of inclusivity.
Though from a business perspective, the targeting makes sense. In 2019, the community had an estimated annual buying power of $917 billion, according to the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. But does it make sense as an ally?
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A 2018 Grindr survey showed that a little over 15% of community members felt “very positively” towards brands using Pride month marketing. Favorability upticked to 40% for brands using LGBTQ marketing year-round.
The demand for more substance is here, and a growing number of companies are taking part as inclusivity trends upward to a certain degree.
Where Does LGBTQ+ Inclusion Stand Today?
The cannabis industry struggles with inclusivity. Like other minorities, the lack of LGBTQ+ inclusion has been a concern for years, with momentum gaining traction in recent years.
The lack of representation can be glaring when considering history.
The gay rights movement, as it was known in the 1970s, served as a central community in the advancement of medical marijuana. San Francisco’s Mary Jane Rathbun, better known as Brownie Mary, helped scores of local citizens with her famous pot brownies and that included people suffering with HIV/AIDS.
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Operators tell Benzinga that LGBTQ+ representation falls short in cannabis representation in various ways.
Kyle Porter, CEO of cannabis PR and marketing firm CMW Media says he can think of just a few LGBT-focused cannabis brands. Porter, who is gay, said that is the outcome of a predominantly straight, white male-dominated industry.
In previous years, Porter has had trouble finding attendees for LGBTQ+ cannabis events. “We tried to hold a LGBT event at MJ Biz two years ago and, like, 30 people showed up,” he recalled.
Porter and others have seen progress in recent years. He said LGBTQ acceptance is growing in cannabis and beyond, “but being LGBT in a board room, either pitching for money or representing a company, historically was not beneficial.”
Napa Valley Fumé‘s CMO Ian Hackett also reports seeing more diversity as companies expand beyond one plant function.
Hackett, a member of the LGBTQ community, reported seeing “some representation in companies that have expanded beyond cultivation but diversity as a whole is lacking across the industry.”
Hackett emphasized the importance of diversity hiring, seeking talent outside their networks. “As with all emerging industries, there is a small degree of separation when hiring, as many companies hire folks they know, which usually limits diversity,” he said.
Using Pride For Branding Purposes
The commercialization of queer culture is often a point of debate when discussing Pride.
Laganja Estranja, a prominent pro-cannabis advocate and LGBTQ+ entertainer, said the industry is doing more each day to support the queer community through visibility and financial efforts.
“While the steps may be small and mostly taken during Pride month, we are absolutely headed in the right direction,” Estranja said.
Still, she’d like to see more. “I would like to see more queer people in leadership roles and for our pride to be celebrated 24/7–not just during the month of June.”
Photo by Brian Kyed via Unsplash
Year-round small steps can include using Pride imagery or scenes of queer couples in marketing materials.
Estranja has worked with various cannabis companies, including mouthpiece creator Moose Labs to promote its products and charitable causes.
The company runs a year-round Colors for a Cause initiative that donates 10% of sales of designated mouthpieces to specific organizations. Its recently rolled-out rainbow mouthpiece is now available all year, with the proceeds going to suicide prevention organization The Trevor Project.
While profiting off Pride is a concern, so too is being seen.
Porter admitted that Pride-branding is a critical issue and ultimately is happy to have representation in any form.
“Bottom line, I think most gay people, at least those 30 years old and up, would agree,” with the branding, Porter said. “We spent so long in the shadows, under-represented, or even discriminated against, seeing a brand embrace pride, is a win.”
Year-Round Support Grows
A growing number of cannabis brands are taking up varied year-round efforts.
Jennifer Dooley, chief strategy officer for Green Thumb Industries Inc. (OTC: GTBIF),
highlighted several company efforts, which include the Frank’s Friends initiative that offers 50% discounts on medical cannabis products for patients with HIV/AIDS.
The company also seeks to preserve the historical bonds between cannabis and the LGBTQ community by highlighting advocates like Dennis Peron and Gilbert Baker.
Portable dab rig Dip Devices donates a portion of sales from its rainbow branded device to The Trevor Project. Jeffrey Zucker, co-founder and president of parent company Green Lion Partners, said the company also undertakes year-round efforts by working with LGBTQ models, photographers and influencers.
Photo by Tristan Billet via Unsplash
Zucker said some consumers are not fans of the company’s endeavors. “We have received a small bit of negative feedback because of that support, but we see that as an opportunity to reinforce the importance of inclusivity.” .
MSO Holistic Industries‘ year-round efforts include partnering with data firm Headset to register Gen-Z LGBTQ+ voters through the non-partisan organization Vote With Pride. The group notes that at least two million LGBTQ+ eligible voters currently are not registered to vote.
Other efforts launched by the MSO include a limited edition release of its low-dose edible DO Drops, with all proceeds benefiting three groups. In addition to funding Vote With Pride, sales will benefit the Transgender Law Center and Summer of Drag SADBrunch series.
In the workplace, the rules prohibiting cannabis are far murkier than that of alcohol.
Since 2018, cannabis has become a legal psychoactive substance in Canada. Since then, we’ve seen reforms so progressive, some workplaces now permit the use of cannabis during office hours.
Seeing cannabis and the workplace in the same sentence might seem weird. However, it’s the truth. Not all cannabis strains make the consumer couch-locked; some actually induce a productive streak. It is commendable that some workplaces have decided to take advantage of this fact.
Photo by Matthew Henry via Burst
Some corporations may soon allow the consumption of a strain of pot during office hours, but this can only be done if the strain has been proven to have very little effect on reducing productivity levels.
It might be a challenge to small and big corporations at an international level. But, there is still a long way to go before all this can happen.
Other businesses would still have a right to have a zero-tolerance to drugs space, but they would not have a right to state that a worker shouldn’t get stone in their free time.
There will come a point in time when cannabis consumption will be equated to alcohol in social settings. By then, Canada will have an extremely balanced system where all workplaces can have policies to ensure workplace safety and other liability issues.
Some of these policies might read “no smoking on duty,” “don’t be stoned at work,” “smoke all you want when you’re not in the workplace,” etc.
In the workplace, the rules prohibiting cannabis are far murkier than that of alcohol. Whereas the excessive consumption of both can limit a worker’s performance.
Some organizations have begun to get actively involved in the cannabis charge in Canada. These organizations are on this because they think cannabis is capable of improving the mental health and productivity of workers in the various businesses in Canada.
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This article will be limited to the top three organizations actively involved:
Canadian Mental Health Commission (CMHC)
CanaQuest Medical Corp
Canadian Cannabis Dispute Resolution Centre
Canadian Mental Health Commission
CMHC is a body that is vested with the task of making research on the relationship between Canadian mental health and the use of cannabis. They also examine existing works and explore the connections between cannabis use and mental health.
From their research, they have been able to establish partly that cannabis improves the mental health of Canadians in their workplace. They’re leading the charge to explore specific modes of consumption of cannabinoids to determine how they can affect productivity in the workplace. Intense research is still ongoing, and the existing cannabis reforms in the country make the process really smooth.
CMHC believes that the decriminalization of cannabis in Canada puts the country in a position to become a leading force in cannabis and mental health research.
From their findings, the Canadian Mental Health Commission (CMHC) has valued the economic burden of workplace mental health issues at a staggering $52 billion annually. 40% of this amount is linked to loss of productivity. It is not unusual that chronic pain is one of the likely effects due to mental health problems.
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That is, there is a link between mental and physical health. Poor mental health can present itself as mood disorders or some other forms of physical pain.
In 2017, CHMC carried out a survey on Canadian Tobacco, Drugs, and Alcohol use. They were able to report that over 37% of marijuana consumers are using drugs for medical purposes.
Several businesses maintain their stance that all forms of cannabis consumption influence a worker’s ability to function efficiently in the workplace. They believe marijuana reduces the person’s level of productivity in the workplace. Some have persisting biases that make them doubt if their workers are truly using for medical reasons.
CanaQuest Medical Corp and Canadian Cannabis Dispute Resolution Centre
These organizations are partners in raising awareness of the benefits of cannabis. They are education communities, companies, employees, and employers on cannabis-related programs that can help Canadian businesses increase their productivity levels, in turn, boost revenues.
CCDRC is a national body that develops cannabis-related educational materials for both domestic and internal use. These materials were developed to improve the various sectors of the economy, as well as industry-specific associations.
Photo by Brooke Cagle via Unsplash
CannaQuest is a pharmaceutical company that infuses cannabinoid compounds and other botanical molecules. The company is focused on developing cannabis medicines that can be used to treat mental health disorders like depression, addiction, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorders, and anxiety.
The CannaQuest and CCDRC partnership will work with scientifically backed evidence and published data of the acclaimed Dr. Steven Laviolette and his team in Canada. Dr. Laviolette is the man for this job because he and his team have studied the effects of CBD on mental health and overall wellness.
Thanks to the abundant research by CannaQuest Medical Corp, many wellness-focused drugs and nutraceuticals have been provided for the Canadian population. These products have little to very minimal inebriating effects. They have been tested within the diverse Canadian population.
This is why they are poised to lead the charge for cannabis for mental health in Canadian workplaces.
Change is Inevitable
Change can’t be evaded, who would have thought the whole world would have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic already. Canadian businesses have to embrace change and adopt measures that will create a safe work environment for their workers.
With the involvement of these three organizations, companies can be better equipped with cannabis resolution policies that consider workers that need the drug for improved mental health.
“Charlotte’s Web is in a position to be the bridge between CBD and cannabis wellness, and that category expands our total available market by three to four times,” said the CEO.
Charlotte’s Web Holdings Inc. (OTCQX:CWBHF) CEO Deanie Elsner discussed the hemp CBD extract company’s development, future plans and mission on Thursday at the virtual Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference.
In order to build its infrastructure, the company made many important moves last year, said Elsner.
Those include the acquisition of Abacus Health Products Inc. and obtaining organic certification, product patents and B Corp certification, Elsner told panel moderator, JJ McKay, founder and publisher at The Fresh Toast.
Photo by BATCH by Wisconsin Hemp Scientific via Unsplash
“A lot of our focus in 2021 and 2022 will be evolving our footprint and expanding our presence across the country or across the globe. We’re entering a number of new countries,” she said.
Charlotte’s Web recently announced cultivation in Canada, and the CBD company has a partnership in Israel and plans to expand into Europe, Elsner said.
Charlotte’s Web CEO On The US CBB, THC Markets
Cannabis legalization efforts in the U.S. are further along than Elsner expected, she told the Benzinga conference, with around half of states providing legal access to either medical or adult-use cannabis.
She said she anticipates seeing federal legalization in the next three to five years. “There’s a segment opening up in cannabis. It’s not just medical marijuana.”
That segment is personal wellness, with a focus on higher levels of THC than what is seen in CBD products, and with products targeting anxiety, depression insomnia, pain and inflammation, she explained.
Charlotte’s Web CEO Says Focus On Transparency, Traceability
What makes Charlotte’s Web stand out is the complete transparency and traceability of their products, according to Elsner.
Photo by Anshu A via Unsplash
The company is vertically integrated, which means it is producing its own seeds, extracting its own biomass and has no ingredients purchased from other sources. Said Elsner, “What that has enabled us [to do] is become the world’s most trusted hemp extract company.”
Those dynamics give Charlotte’s Web a strong foundation to enter the cannabis space, as 50% of consumers want to move into cannabis, she said.
The first thing that should be done is to get CBD regulated, with medical and recreational cannabis regulated next, in Elsner’s view, because that’s the framework to regulate cannabis.
Elsner On Cannabis As Consumer Packaged Goods Product
With consumers dictating the development of the industry, Elsner said that the cannabis sector is going to move into the consumer packaged goods category.
Consumers are coming to industry via CBD, but quickly transitioning to cannabis — for personal wellness reasons.
“And so, Charlotte’s Web is in a position to be the bridge between CBD and cannabis wellness, and that category expands our total available market by three to four times.”
Using dating apps can be rough, but it becomes a much more complicated process if you’re queer. Here are some apps to check out if you’re LGBTQ+.
If you think trying to meet someone through a dating app is challenging, it’s even more challenging for queer people. These apps have significantly smaller dating pools, providing users with fewer opportunities to meet someone they’re interested in.
Dating apps that aren’t queer-friendly result in lots of frustration, whether that’s from corny bios or truly alienating interactions. To commemorate pride and all of the good apps that are available to people of all sexual orientations, here are the 5 best LGBTQ+ dating apps:
Unlike the majority of dating profiles, Lex is a community-based app, allowing you to make friends, get to know people in your area, or go on dates. It doesn’t allow you to post photos, but it allows you to connect your Instagram and shows you what’s going on in your area which results in a solid option for people who want to get to know the queer community that exists in their area.
This app, geared towards women of all types, is a dating app with a social media experience. It allows you to get to know queer events in your community and swipe right on people you’re attracted to. The catch here, and it’s a big one, is the fact that it costs $25 a month. If you have the extra cash laying around, go for it, since it’s an app that’s primarily designed for queer women that also provides a social media experience that can connect you with other people like you.
Grindr is the ultimate gay dating app, but it’s become almost synonymous with hookups. While that’s great for a lot of people, it does alienate a lot of men who are looking for something more serious. Scruff is designed with that in mind, connecting you with people who live close to you, to queer events in your area, and people in different locations when traveling.
Bisexual and pansexual people face a lot of misunderstandings from straight and queer people. BiCupid is designed with them in mind, providing people who are attracted to multiple genders the ability to get to know like-minded people.
From the group of “straight” dating apps, OkCupid is the one that’s friendliest towards queer people. OkCupid has been around for ages yet it remains inventive and informed, having ads and an interface that’s inclusive and that many queer people gravitate towards. The site has plenty of orientation and gender choices, pronoun selection, and plenty of opportunities to get political.
