Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at yet another bill in the House of Representatives to legalize marijuana at the federal level, a CBD salve created by and for musicians, Brooke Shields’s move into the CBD sphere and more. Enjoy.
Legislative News
We know you’ve heard this song before, but there are growing indications that the House of Representatives is poised to pass legislation this week that would legalize marijuana. So says Christina Marcos, writing for The Hill.
Marcos contends that the broader support in Congress for legalization is reflective of public opinion. She notes that polling shows that the American public supports legalizing marijuana by large margins. A Pew Research Center poll last year found that 91 percent of U.S. adults believe that marijuana should be legal to at least some extent, with most stating it should be legal for medical and recreational use.
If you are keeping score at home, 37 states, four territories and the District of Columbia allow cannabis products for medical use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Cannabis is also allowed for nonmedical use (often termed recreational or adult use) in 18 states, two territories and the nation’s capital.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus told The Hill, “This Congress represents a sea change.” Said Blumenauer, “What we have seen is that the majority of people now realize that the war on drugs failed.”
According to Kyle Jaeger, reporting for Marijuana Moment, a full chamber vote on the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act is expected on Friday. Jaeger notes that The MORE Act, sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), would remove marijuana from the list of federally controlled substances, promote equity in the industry and impose a federal tax on marijuana products to fund various initiatives.
A separate bill to tax and regulate marijuana is also in play this session. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) is sponsoring that legislation, and she said in a recent interview that she’s received assurances from Democratic leaders that her States Reform Act will receive a hearing following the MORE Act floor vote.
There is stirring on the Senate side as well. Jaeger says advocates and stakeholders are eagerly awaiting the formal introduction of a separate Senate legalization bill that’s being finalized by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and colleagues. Schumer recently said the plan is to file that bill—the Cannabis Administration & Opportunity Act (CAOA)—in April.
If you want to learn more about how all this “sausage” is being made, we suggest you read the article by Christina Marcos in the March, 28, 2022 issue of The Hill and Kyle Jaeger’s excellent reporting and deep dive into the details of the MORE Act in the March 30, 2022 issue of Marijuana Moment.
thehill.com/homenews/house/599820-house-poised-to-pass-bill-legalizing-marijuana/
CBD Notes
There may be helpful news for older musicians who find arthritis pain has started to interfere with their ability to play an instrument. There is a new CBD product that’s said to make joint and muscle pain more manageable and improve dexterity.
Called “Play All Night CBD & Citrus Calming Salve,” its maker claims the product was developed by a fiddler with musicians in mind. This salve is formulated with 650mg of North Carolina grown non-GMO full spectrum CBD hemp oil, with over 100 Cannabinoids, to reduce pain and inflammation.
The formula also contains rosemary for anti-iInflammatory and memory support, a grape seed oil base for fast absorption, magnesium oil for muscle relaxation and Vitamin E as a preservative.
As you may know by now, we don’t endorse products, but award-winning mandolin player Alan Bibey endorses this one. Bibey said that after playing mandolin for fifty years he started to have some problems with his right hand and wrist. Other than ibuprofen, which he no longer wanted to use because of health concerns, this CBD salve is the only other product that successfully quelled his pain and made it possible for him to continue playing.
And if you are wondering about the difference between a CBD lotion or cream and CBD salve or balm, according to the folks at the SF Chronicle, CBD lotions tend to use water and moisturizing agents in the base, while salves primarily use fatty oils and wax instead of water.
If you care to learn more, there is a ringing endorsement by musician John Zarra on You Tube.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PGF-vvvw6s
You can also visit the website Elderly Instruments.com where you can find a link to order the product. And, just to be clear, it’s the musical instruments for sale on the site that tend to be elderly, not the site’s customers.
www.elderly.com/products/play-all-night-cbd-citrus-calming-salve?
Cannabis Corner
A brewing company that’s been in business since 1844 and is known for making what’s considered the official beer of hipsters everywhere—PBR—is expanding its ability to produce cannabis-infused beverages.
Pabst Brewing Company first introduced its cannabis-infused seltzer in 2020. Now, according to TG Branfalt, reporting for Ganjapreneur, Pabst Labs is opening what’s said to be a “cutting edge manufacturing facility and distribution center” for its Cannabis-Infused Seltzer in Desert Hot Springs, California.
Food & Wine reports the company describes the facility as “one of the few dedicated cannabis beverage facilities in America.” It’s believed it would give the company the opportunity to more than triple its current product production capabilities.
According to Branfalt, the company will produce its 10 milligram THC, non-alcohol High Seltzer, Not Your Father’s Cannabis-Infused Root Beer, and the St. Ides Cannabis product line – which includes their 100mg cannabis-infused four-ounce shots – at the plant.
Pabst says it intends to allow other brands to access the facility through co-packaging relationships, which the company said should “raise beverage quality and opportunity across the industry.”
Pabst also claims that during the production process it uses an advanced emulsion technology that enables its cannabis-infused seltzer to take effect more rapidly than your average edible, so you won’t, in their words, “be left waiting hours to feel a buzz.”
Branfalt notes that according to Headset data, PBR High Seltzer is one of the top-selling THC-infused carbonated beverages in California.
To learn more, we urge you to read TG Branfalt’s article in the March 30, 2022 issue of Ganjapreneur.
www.ganjapreneur.com/pabst-labs-opens-production-facility-for-thc-infused-beverages/?
You can also visit the Pabst website for more information:
Senior Celebrity Spotlight
A well-known actress who initially gained fame as a model for a jeans company is the latest celebrity to become a brand ambassador for a CBD wellness platform.
According to an article on Business Wire, Prospect Farms, a leading seed-to-sale provider of all natural, organically grown, premium CBD wellness products that it claims are designed to help people and pets live well naturally, has announced that Brooke Shields has joined the company as a Chief Brand Officer and has been appointed to the Board of Directors.
From Left to Right: Joakim Carlsson, Chief Creative Officer; Spencer Potts, Chairman of the Board; Brooke Shields, Chief Brand Officer; Trevor Potts, Chief Marketing Officer; Brad Tipper, Chief Executive Officer and Brand Founder (Photo: Business Wire)
The company said that Shields will advise and collaborate on product development, marketing, and community engagement and promote brand awareness for the company’s clinically tested full spectrum CBD sleep & anxiety products.
Prospect Farms says its benefit-focused botanical products are designed to help promote better sleep, mood and anxiety, muscle pain relief, inflammation and treatment-focused skincare. It also makes a line of pet health products designed to support mood and mobility issues.
According to the article, the actress hopes her new role will provide her with an opportunity to “educate the more than 140 million Americans that today suffer from chronic sleep issues, anxiety, pain and depression.”
Said Shields. “The sustainability and single source traceability of botanical ingredients, especially amid the industry’s greenwashing epidemic, is more important than ever, ultimately leading me to Prospect Farms. I look forward to elevating the conversation around brands and products, and in turn helping wellness consumers everywhere find trust, transparency, and most important, relief.”
Greenwashing is a form of marketing spin intended to persuade the public that an organization’s products, aims and policies are environmentally friendly.
And so another celebrity endorses a CBD brand. As the late Jimmy Durante used to say, “Everybody wants to get into the act.”
If you want to learn more you can read the article that appeared in the March 29, 2022 issue of Business Wire.
To learn more about the company, you can visit its website: https://home.prospectfarms.com/
Cannabis Tips
If you are a mature consumer who is budget conscious and looking for ways to make your cannabis stash go further, there’s good news. Ben Hartman, writing for Cannigma, has put together a list of ten common-sense tips that he says will help your “weed last longer.”
Here are a few of them:
— Use a one-hitter. For the uninitiated, a one-hitter is a small pipe that will hold just enough cannabis for one inhalation. Let’s be honest, taking multiple hits of quality cannabis can often be excessive and wasteful, while taking a single hit can often be sufficient to help a consumer achieve the desired effect.
— Set daily boundaries on when and how often you use cannabis. This measured and, dare we say sober, approach can help you save money and might have other positive effects on your productivity and daily routine.
Said Hartman, “For instance, if it’s already 11pm and you haven’t smoked yet, call it a night and save that weed for tomorrow. It’s already late anyway.”
— Hartman says another way to save money is to treat your cannabis more like a daily medication. For example, he suggests the following. If you have an 1/8th of an ounce of marijuana that you’d like to last more than a day or two, consider separating those 3.5 grams of marijuana into seven half gram doses, one for each day of the week.
Don’t say you read it here, but you might want to “borrow” your great aunt’s pill caddy for this.
These and other extremely practical tips, such as rolling smaller joints, can be found in Ben Hartman’s article that first appeared in the October 25, 2021 issue of The Cannigma.
cannigma.com/how-to/tips-for-making-your-weed-last-longer/?
Senior Cannabis Digest is compiled and edited by Joe Kohut and John Kohut. You can reach them at joe.kohut@gmail.com and at 347-528-8753.
