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Report: The Future Of Cannabis Flowers Is A Total Boom

Mary Schumacher
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Report: The Future Of Cannabis Flowers Is A Total Boom

It’s estimated that worldwide flower production will go from 2.1 million pounds in 2017 to 6.9 million pounds in 2022.

According to the new report, “Flower: The Foundation of the Cannabis Industry,” set forth by ArcView and BDS Analytics, cannabis flower production isn’t going down due to new products. In fact, demand has never been higher, thanks to edibles, concentrates, tinctures and salves. It’s estimated that worldwide flower production will go from 2.1 million pounds in 2017 to 6.9 million pounds in 2022. Now that’s a lot of weed.

While the price per pound of marijuana is steadily dropping, its demand has been increasing and will continue to do so. As an example, the report points to Oregon, where the price per pound is around $844 as of July of this year.

Editor in Chief of ArcView, Tom Adams, said, “This is a key opportunity for those cultivators who can adapt. Meanwhile, falling raw material prices will support profitability in every other sector of the business.” It sounds like a hard sell to growers, who are the ones responsible for the abundance of flowers to use in infusions and oils, but it is the fast spreading reality, not likely to be checked.

Branded cultivars are a big part of the report that focuses on profitability and salability, using data collected by BDS’ GreenEdge point-of-sale tracking system. It makes predictions into 2022 on supply and demand for flowers, state and federal legislation’s effects on the industry and has juicy tidbits like the U.S. demands 85 percent of the global share of cannabis, with 61 percent of that demand coming from the adult use market.

But the beginning and really the heart of the report is about branding, branding, branding — the hottest word in the cannabis industry these days. It’s a crucial component for sure, but something that wasn’t worried about too much in the community in decades past, unless you were a super breeder or were seeking out regional recognition for your green thumb as a grower.

It seems what was once about sick patients and prison reform has become more about profit and production, but then again, what was expected to happen when the rest of the U.S. woke up to the whiff of a safe, effective plant that nearly everybody wants?

For instance, the report points out, “With wholesale prices dropping and consumers’ preferences evolving, cultivators are being pushed to optimize growing methods and broaden their operations beyond cultivation to fully capitalize on the booming industry.”

It’s the weathervane spinning and then pointing due North and it’s a report that savvy cannabis investors will eat up as it becomes more and more tricky to stay relevant and excel in this burgeoning industry.

Canadian Marijuana Shortages Could Go On For Years

Mary Schumacher
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Canadian Marijuana Shortages Could Go On For Years

When Canadian provinces across the country came up against shortages of marijuana in the first month of legalization, it was frustrating. But even more frustrating is that this current lack could last for years.

According to Khurram Malik, CEO of Biome Grow Inc., the shortage is not only due to delays in licensing, but is also partly caused by the strict regulations on the country’s 132 licensed producers and enforced by Health Canada. The time needed by cannabis businesses to come up with a product that’s not only up to par, but is also compliant is standing in the way as well. These are problems projected to persist into the foreseeable future.

Malik told Global News, “The rules here are so difficult to grow cannabis — quite frankly more difficult than anywhere else in the world — that if you’re a new licence holder and you’ve never done this before, it’s going to take you a year, year-and-a-half, or two years to get any decent, consistent quality product out the door in any predictable volumes.” He added that it’s easier and less expensive to grow in places like California.

“The good thing with that is,” continued Malik, “yes, it makes things difficult domestically, but the rest of the world looks at us as outright experts in this. They say if you can grow in Canada, you can grow anywhere.”

While Health Canada opted not to respond, they did issue a statement that read, “As with any new industry where there is considerable consumer demand, we expect there may be periods where inventories of some products run low or, in some cases, run out.”

With country-wide legalization being a brand new concept for the country, the department went on to say that it was impossible to have known demand and demand for which products would follow broad legalization. One thing is clear, they grossly underestimated people’s desire for legal weed and its concoctions.

The breadth of those concoctions will be the driving force behind Canada’s realization of fulfillment of demand. As niches expand into known quantities, they will rise up even higher in the ranks and pot producers will all have much better ideas as to how to keep up.

The Growth Of Cannabis Legalization In Europe: Which Country Is Next?

Nicole Skrobin
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The Growth Of Cannabis Legalization In Europe: Which Country Is Next?

Currently, medical cannabis is legal in most European countries, and the demand for it has significantly grown in recent years. Due to the plant’s variety of medicinal and therapeutic benefits, more countries have taken an interest in legalizing it to help individuals who suffer from different diseases and painful illnesses. The United Kingdom and Lithuania are two European countries that have recently taken the scientific evidence about cannabis seriously, which led to the approval of national medical cannabis programs. Although cannabis used to be federally illegal in both the U.K. and Lithuania, both countries changed their stance after policy makers started paying attention to the strong medicinal value of cannabis.

Moving forward, it’s likely that additional European countries will legalize medical cannabis and/or transition into legalizing recreational cannabis. For now, though, the cannabis legalization changes in the U.K. and Lithuania are significant. Keep reading to learn about each country’s medical cannabis program, the progress that has been made thus far, and the impact these programs will have on other European countries.

Brief Background of Cannabis in the UK

For many years, cannabis was illegal in the UK. Specifically, in 1971, the UK banned cannabis based on fears that it’d be a gateway drug and that it’d lead people to consume other harmful drugs. However, this classification didn’t stop Brits from consuming the illegal substance. Out of all illegal drugs, in the UK, cannabis is the most widely consumed one. Up until very recently, cannabis oils that contained more than 0.05 percent THC were prohibited. However, times started to change when various research findings revealed cannabis’s medicinal value.

Out of all cannabis cannabinoids, CBD has gained significant attention, interest, and usage worldwide, especially because of its array of medicinal properties and non-psychoactive make-up.

Not long ago, a few cannabis-based medicines were approved by UK’s government. As a result, doctors were presented with the opportunity to prescribe these medicines to qualifying patients with epilepsy and seizure diagnoses. Around this time, variations of cannabis oils that contained mostly CBD were sold at different pharmacies throughout the UK. Whereas, individuals who had epilepsy or seizures diagnoses were eligible to purchase various cannabis-based products. Although this limited program helped those with epilepsy and seizures, it didn’t help individuals who suffered from other diseases.

For this reason and several others, in July of 2018, UK’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs expressed their interest in adjusting the rules about different cannabis-based products. The intention of this was to mostly give doctors the option to prescribe cannabis products to patients with debilitating health issues. The same conversation held by the advisory council debated about the need to conduct more clinical trials to understand the efficacy and safety of cannabis-based medicines. Also, this past July, it was considered mandatory for UK home office licenses to examine cannabis further. From here, numerous changes started occurring.

Current State of Cannabis in the UK

This year, UK’s Home Secretary and member of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, Sajid David was informed that medical cannabis contains medicinal and therapeutic benefits. Following this information, Sajid David expressed the following message about his decision regarding the country’s cannabis legalization change:

“Following advice from two sets of independent advisers, I have taken the decision to reschedule cannabis-derived medicinal products – meaning they will be available on prescription. This will help patients with an exceptional clinical need but is in no way a first step to the legalization of cannabis for recreational use.”

This month, medical cannabis prescriptions will be legally available, and doctors will be able to prescribe medical cannabis products to qualifying patients. Also, these legalization changes won’t just apply to the UK. They’ll apply to England, Wales, and Scotland as well. To begin, a limited number of medical cannabis-based products will be available for prescriptions. Then, with time, the number of products will increase.

Additionally, for cannabis products to be deemed medicinal, according to Sajid David, they must meet and pass these requirements:

  • It must be a preparation or product that possesses cannabis, cannabis resin, cannabinol (CBN), or a CBN derivative
  • It’s created for medicinal usage to be consumed by humans
  • It’s a medical product, substance, or preparation for the consumption as either an ingredient of, or in the creation of an ingredient of a medicinal product

Currently, there aren’t any plans for recreational cannabis legalization in the UK. However, the medical cannabis legalization changes that have taken place recently will put UK on a similar track to the policies of countries like the Netherlands, Portugal, Canada, and numerous U.S. states.

Background of Cannabis in Lithuania and Its Current State

Moreover, in the past, Lithuania—a Baltic and European Union country grouped cannabis under the same category as that of heroin, opium, MDMA, cocaine, and morphine. However, as more medical evidence came out regarding cannabis’s efficacy in treating various diseases and illnesses, Lithuania made a progressive move regarding the legalization of cannabis. In 2017 though, Lithuania’s MP, Mykolas Majauskas (Lithuanian conservative party member) expressed the strong need to adjust the country’s drug laws to give qualifying patients the opportunity to consume cannabis-based medicines besides only opioid-based drugs.

Then, Lithuanian Parliament members started listening, which led to numerous discussions regarding potential medical cannabis legalization changes. Once October hit, the majority of Lithuanian Parliament members voted in favor of medical cannabis legalization. The next step is for Lithuania’s President, Dalia Grybauskaite to sign the approved medical cannabis proposal into law. Out of all European Union countries, Lithuania is the last one to approve of a medical cannabis program. Fortunately, Lithuania has taken a large step in a progressive direction, and there are sources claiming that medical cannabis will be legal come May 1st of 2019.

Requirements Regarding Lithuania’s Medical Cannabis Program

For Lithuanian companies to sell medical cannabis products though, they must receive a license from state regulators. Also, all cannabis products that’ll be sold must be registered with Lithuania’s National Medicine Control Agency beforehand. Additionally, before these medicines are sold, their medicinal and therapeutic effectiveness must be supported by scientific evidence and data. Numerous clinical trials will be conducted to further understand the plant’s medicinal efficacy.

For now, Lithuanian residents who have been diagnosed with any of these conditions will be eligible to receive medical cannabis treatments: HIV/AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), autoimmune diseases, cancer, and rare yet serious types of seizure and epilepsy disorders. It’s possible that Lithuania will add other ailments onto their list of qualifying conditions from now until May. However, it has been made clear that recreational cannabis will remain illegal.

Although several European countries enacted medical cannabis programs years ago, the legalization changes that the UK and Lithuania approved of speaks volumes. As more medical evidence comes out regarding cannabis and various cannabinoids, it’s likely that other countries will follow suit regarding medical cannabis programs.

Once medical cannabis products are readily available in the UK and Lithuania, the national programs will be on the same page as that of Germany, Italy, Denmark, and several other European countries.

Which European country is next to legalize medical and/or recreational cannabis? Let us know in the comments below!

How Stan Lee Revolutionized Pop Culture Through Comic Books

Joe Mortimer
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How Stan Lee Revolutionized Pop Culture Through Comic Books

A living legend left us on Nov. 12, 2018. A man whose creative genius and eccentric enthusiasm laid the groundwork for one of the most successful multimedia entertainment companies of all time. I’m talking, of course, about the unforgettable Stan Lee.

Born Stanley Lieber in 1922, he used the pseudonym Stan Lee for his debut comic writing credit in Captain America Comics #3 in 1941. He used a pen name because he was a little embarrassed of being a writer of comics and intended on using his real name for when he wrote the Great American Novel. He later got over it, but the name stuck and the larger than life character of Stan Lee was born.

Stan the Man would go on to co-create some of the most iconic characters of all time. He and Jack “The King” Kirby created The Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and the X-Men. He created Spider-Man and Doctor Strange with Steve Ditko, and Daredevil with Bill Everett. Not only did he have a hand in the creation of these incredible heroes, but their villains and supporting characters as well.

To meet deadlines Stan used a fairly common comic creation system, but because of his success with it, it’s now known as “The Marvel Method.” He would outline the plot he had in mind and turn it in to the artist. The penciller would then plot out the pages and panels, and afterwards Stan would write the dialog. He scripted, art-directed and edited most of Marvel’s comics throughout the 1960’s but stopped in 1972 when he took on the role of publisher.

He became the face of Marvel Comics. Almost its mascot. I remember seeing him on TV before the Marvel Action Hour cartoon block in the ‘90s. I would wonder who that old man was and why was he so jazzed about cartoons? Little did I knew he was the guy who created them in the first place. Calling fans “true believers” and closing with his (and New York’s) motto “Excelsior!” always got me pumped.

Last year, Stan had lost his wife Joan. They had been married for 70 years, and afterwards Stan had been through the ringer with bouts of pneumonia, but also with shady business associates taking advantage of him. He’s finally at peace now, but it’s a shame he had to spend his last year in such turmoil. A guy that preached tolerance and had such a keen sense of morality truly deserved better.

Rest in peace Stan, you made a True Believer out of me.

Excelsior!

Thousands Petition For Maroon 5 To Step Down From Super Bowl Halftime Show; Demi Lovato Fans Slam Body-Shaming Trolls

Naughty Gossip
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Thousands Petition For Maroon 5 To Step Down From Super Bowl Halftime Show; Demi Lovato Fans Slam Body-Shaming Trolls

Thousands Petition to Have Maroon 5 Step Down From Super Bowl Halftime Show

Rihanna had turned down the highly coveted gig in support of Colin Kaepernick, the former 49ers QB who’s in an ongoing legal dispute with the NFL.

Since then, many fans, celebrities, and activists have taken action against the NFL for their treatment of Kaepernick.

One of these individuals is Vic Oyedeji, the man behind the Change.org petition that is calling on Maroon 5 to drop out of the Super Bowl Halftime Show.

“Maroon 5 has made music over the years featuring artists from all genres, including Rihanna, Cardi B and Kendrick Lamar—all of whom have publicly supported Kaepernick in his decision to protest the violent racism sweeping the United States. Maroon 5 must do the same,” the petition reads. “The band has a chance to stand on the right side of history […] Rihanna, JAY-Z, Amy Schumer, and others have refused to work with the NFL. Maroon 5: Americans look to artists and celebrities as leaders, and you have huge opportunity to use your influence to take a stand.”

As of Wednesday night, the petition has garnered more than 37,000 signatures—about 13,000 shy of Oyedeji’s goal. The Super Bowl LIII 2019 will go down Feb. 3 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Demi Lovato fans slam body-shaming trolls

Loyal Demi Lovato fans defended the recovering singer after social media trolls flooded Instagram with hateful and nasty comments targeting her appearance.

Celebrity gossip site Just Jared posted paparazzi photos of the 26-year-old reportedly on a “coffee run” after hitting the gym in Los Angeles last Wednesday.

So far, the post has garnered more than 26,000 likes and thousands of comments. While many fans were happy to see Lovato out and about after her release from rehab, others criticized the star – a body-positive role model – for her weight.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp5ZGkVAUPs

Justin Bieber will NOT be returning to music any time soon

“It actually bugs him when people ask when he’s going back to the studio or on tour,” an insider told PEOPLE. “He has worked for years, and the first time he takes a significant break, everyone’s all, ‘When’s he coming back?’ To Justin, those aren’t just questions — those are demands. For years, everyone has tried to take a piece of him. Just let him be.

Is It Safe To Share Your Netflix Password?

Maria Loreto
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Is It Safe To Share Your Netflix Password?

Sharing logins and passwords is something that most of us do, at least when it comes to the “harmless” stuff. Seventy-four percent of Americans share on-demand accounts like Hulu and Uber, while 34 percent of millennials share streaming content accounts, like Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Motherboard reports that despite online scandals and hacking paranoia, we still keep sharing these types of accounts. This makes sense, because sharing stuff with someone you’re close to is a sign of intimacy and friendship. There’s also peer pressure, which makes it hard to say no, especially with something as simple as Netflix.

While the risks are minimized when you know who you’re giving your password to, things tend to get more complicated with today’s sharing culture. How do you make sure that the password you’re giving out won’t be shared among other people? “I was pretty broke and didn’t have my own Netflix subscription — an ex gave me her login, which in turn came from a friend’s boyfriend. I used that guy’s Netflix for years before he got wise, or just cancelled his subscription,” an anonymous source tells Motherboard.

In terms of cybersecurity, reusing usernames and passwords is very common and problematic. The compromise of one silly account, like the Hotmail login you used when you were 15, could lead to problems with more important accounts, especially if they contain sensitive content such as your banking information.

To prevent this from happening, always use a password manager and be a little creative. Also, keep track of who has access to your accounts and check on your Netflix viewing history from time to time. If you see some random stuff there, then maybe you were hacked. Or maybe your friend gave your password to their friend.

The Current Damage Of Lingering Reefer Madness Propaganda

Brendan Bures
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The Current Damage Of Lingering Reefer Madness Propaganda

Cannabis inches closer to mainstream acceptance every day. Through legalization efforts, rebranding, and medical patients of various walks of life, old and negative attitudes toward cannabis have faded. According to a Gallup Poll last month, two out of three American support legalizing marijuana.

But old habits die hard and reefer madness lingers. Though seniors account for the fastest-growing base of cannabis users, they’re also more likely to cling to old stoner stigmas. To be fair, the propaganda from the War on Drugs in the 1930s was pervasive and persuasive. As Alexandra Chasin, author of Assassin of Youth: A Kaleidoscopic History of Harry J. Anslinger’s War on Drugs, recently told Ozy, the government took many liberties in characterizing this plant that many in the population didn’t know.

“The Reefer Madness campaign was an attempt to create a narcotics scare and, in particular, to paint marijuana as a narcotic that was as dangerous as heroin and cocaine,” she said.

“The image of marijuana was that it caused violent insanity,” Chasin added.

It helps explain why some seniors, who would otherwise be suitable patients for using cannabis as a medicine, feel embarrassed about taking the drug or refuse it all together. News Channel 5 Network shone a spotlight on this dilemma through Greg Saweikis, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer back in 2017. He takes CBD and THC pills, in addition to using a topical for his hands.

“I think there is a large stigma, still,” Saweikis said. “And it’s just a holdover from the 60s and the whole, you know, from demonstrations and all of that kind of thing.”

Leland Rucker, an editor at Sensi magazine, explained that Saweikis isn’t alone in this attitude. Seniors can feel trapped in exploring cannabis because of propaganda from more than 80 years ago.

“I talked to one woman who it really helped her start to sleep. She’s all of a sudden sleeping much better, but she was embarrassed about,” Rucker told Channel 5. “She was embarrassed to talk to people about it, because she had been so cannabis negative all of her life.”

As more states legalize cannabis and the plant becomes more mainstream, hopefully that embarrassment will fall away.

Can Artisanal Weed Compete With ‘Big Marijuana’?

Ryan Stoa
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Can Artisanal Weed Compete With ‘Big Marijuana’?

You’ve heard of Big Pharma and Big Tobacco. How about Big Marijuana?

The drug’s growing legalization is raising concerns among small-scale marijuana farmers and retailers that the corporatization of weed may be right around the corner.

For example, earlier this year NASDAQ became the first major U.S. stock exchange to list shares of a marijuana production company. And in August, Corona-maker Constellation Brands shocked Wall Street by making a US$3.8 billion investment in a Canadian marijuana producer, sparking a bull market in marijuana stocks industry-wide. Even Coca-Cola is exploring opportunities to get involved.

Corporate and Wall Street interest in weed is only going to increase now that three more states have legalized recreational or medicinal marijuana use – bringing the total to 33 – while Canada recently became the second country to allow recreational uses of the drug.

I have studied the marijuana agriculture industry for the past several years, tracing its evolution from black market drug to legal intoxicant. It’s a story I tell in my book, “Craft Weed: Family Farming and the Future of the Marijuana Industry.”

With all this money pouring in, it’s fair to wonder how legalization will change the marijuana industry itself – and whether it can stay true to its hippie roots.

Small origins

One of the unintended consequences of the federal prohibition on marijuana in the United States is that legal pot-related businesses have remained rather small.

The American marijuana farming scene, for example, has been dominated by small outdoor farmers and modest indoor warehouse growers. The alternative – large, market-share-dominating companies – would attract the attention of federal authorities.

State governments have recognized a public benefit to keeping farms small and local as well. In California, for example, most marijuana farming licenses are granted to farms limited to no more than one acre of marijuana.

The federal prohibition also prevents farmers, distributors and retailers from engaging in interstate commerce, meaning that states that legalize marijuana use must create their own local markets for homegrown small businesses to operate in.

California cannabis farms like Steve Fagan’s can not be larger than an acre. AP Photo/Richard Vogel

Moneyed interests

But as the legal marijuana industry booms, well-heeled companies and investors are trying to corner the market.

According to one estimate, consumer spending on legal marijuana products in the U.S. reached $8.5 billion in 2017, up 31 percent from the previous year. Spending is projected to reach $23.4 billion by 2022.

For comparison, beer sales are actually declining. Although total sales were a robust $111 billion in 2017, that was down 1 percent from the previous year.

Such rapid growth in the marijuana market may not be surprising, given that two-thirds of the U.S. population can now use marijuana medicinally or recreationally up from none just over two decades ago, based on my own analysis.

  • Related: 5 Rolling Papers To Fit Every Type Of Marijuana Consumption

As a result, retail stores are becoming bigger and bolder, with chains competing to establish themselves as the Starbucks of the marijuana industry.

One of these is Seattle-based Diego Pellicer, one of the first marijuana companies to market itself as a premium brand retail chain. For now, the company’s model rests on acquiring real estate and securing deals with marijuana retailers willing to operate their business under the Diego Pellicer name. That way, if the federal prohibition is ever lifted, Diego Pellicer will be in prime position to dominate the retail market.

The immense growth potential is also attracting private equity and other investors, some of whom are partnering with celebrities whose names are linked to pot smoking. In 2016, for example, a private equity firm partnered with the Bob Marley estate to launch the Marley Natural line of marijuana products.

Patents are seen as another way a few giant companies may come to capture the pot industry. Increasingly well-funded laboratories are developing new strains of marijuana at a rapid pace, with varying degrees of strength and hardiness as well as unique psychoactive and flavor profiles.

As the U.S. Patent and Trade Office begins to issue patents, there are reports of companies attempting to gobble them up.

Finally, many in the agricultural sector of the marijuana industry are predicting and bracing for an agribusiness takeover – though this has yet to happen.

How craft weed can thrive

Are marijuana veterans right to be concerned that their industry is moving too rapidly from the black market to the stock market?

Yes and no. My own research suggests that a local, sustainable and artisanal model of marijuana production can co-exist with Big Marijuana – much as craft beer has thrived in recent years alongside the traditional macro breweries.

One reason is that whereas the illicit drug trade forced consumers to buy ambiguously sourced marijuana from street dealers, the legal market allows consumers to buy a wide variety of marijuana products from legitimate retail businesses. And more and more consumers are turning to edibles and extracts produced by highly specialized manufacturers.

The staggering number of marijuana strains being developed is creating a connoisseur culture that favors small-scale, artisanal farms that can nimbly adapt to shifts in market demand. Because such farms can market themselves as small, sustainable and local, they can better reflect 21st-century food movement ideals.

Besides efforts at the state level to limit the size of farms, another regulatory approach is the use of appellations to encourage an artisanal pot culture. I have argued that the marijuana industry is well-suited to adopt an appellation system, like you find with wine and cheeses.

Just like a Bordeaux wine comes exclusively from that region of France or Parmigiano-Reggiano is named after the areas of Italy where it originates, Humboldt marijuana may become a prestigious and legally protected designation of origin for marijuana products grown or produced in Humboldt County, California.

It is probably inevitable that Big Marijuana will take hold in some form, but that doesn’t mean the market can’t support the small businesses that have enabled marijuana to become a uniquely local and artisanal industry.The Conversation

Ryan Stoa, Associate Professor of Law, Concordia University School of Law

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Magic Mushrooms Could Be Legal Medicine By 2021

Brendan Bures
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Magic Mushrooms Could Be Legal Medicine By 2021

Earlier this year, the FDA approved Epidiolex, a medicine that treated two rare forms of epilepsy. It was the first medicine directly derived from the cannabis plant to gain approval from the federal agency. Now the FDA has made another first. As Rolling Stone reported, a U.K.-based company had their research on a psychedelic drug fast tracked by the federal government for the first time in U.S. history.

Compass Pathways has been granted “breakthrough therapy designation” for their research on psilocybin, which is the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms. The company is studying the effects psilocybin on depression. In granting Compass Pathways this designation, the FDA is stating its belief that “the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapy.”

Previous research has demonstrated the unique ability magic mushrooms have on treatment-resistant depression while Johns Hopkins researchers have endorsed the psychedelic’s ability to treat anxiety, depression, and addiction. Compass Pathways’ research is being fast tracked because of the grand need for depression treatments across the country. Rolling Stone reported that “sixteen million Americans suffer from depression and approximately one-third of them are treatment-resistant.”

Compass Pathways’ research is also significant because of its scale. Their study will recruit 216 participants, which is 10 times more than the other major study focusing on psilocybin’s effectiveness alleviating treatment-resistant depression. Should all go well, psilocybin could be available for clinical trials by 2021, according to Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) founder Rick Doblin.

That doesn’t mean psychiatrists will hand out mushrooms to patients, though. Instead a psychologist and/or therapy team will situate patients in the right mindset beforehand, then monitor their trip and help them process it afterwards.

Compass’ research could open the doors for other psychedelic researchers, particularly those focused on mental health treatments. Who knows. Maybe Denver will finally get their chance to decriminalize magic mushrooms, too.

WATCH: Museum Guard Spends Most Of His Time Denying 2 Cats Entry

Amy Hansen
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WATCH: Museum Guard Spends Most Of His Time Denying 2 Cats Entry

Imagine that for the past two years, you worked your ass off just to try and get past security at an art museum. The struggle is real for two cats in Japan who are not here to be denied their chance to get inside the Onomichi Museum of Art. They’re so determined and persistent, Twitter has caught wind of their dilemma and are rooting for the cats to be let inside for the love of god already!

For two years, a black cat named Ken-Chan and his orange buy Gosaku have been straight-up denied entry by an equally determined security guard. This is some serious Bugs Bunny shenanigans. The irony, according to SoraNews24, is that the cats have been trying to gain entry ever since a cat photography exhibition swung through the museum in 2016. This is not a joke.

The collection of photos shows happy felines captured in a number of sunny street-side poses by [Mitsuaki] Iwago, a 66-year-old Tokyo-born photographer. News of the exhibition now appears to have spread to the feline world, with one cute cat seen trying to gain entry to the museum several days after the opening of the exhibit.

So, two cats are not allowed to view cat photos? This is unacceptable. Just ask the cats.

Twitter has captured some of the more hilarious moments between the security guard, Ken-Chan and Gosaku.

https://twitter.com/mukusuke/status/747621817859219456

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