Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at pumpkin spice cannabis products, stoner sheep in Greece, the benefits of using medical cannabis after spine surgery and more. Enjoy.
Breaking News
Marijuana Moment reports that the Senate Banking Committee has approved a bipartisan marijuana banking bill with amendments, sending it to the floor. According to Tom Angel, the publication’s editor, committee members voted 14-9 to pass the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act, sponsored by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Steve Daines (R-MT).
The bill seeks to normalize banking access for cannabis companies operating in states with legal markets.
Said Committee Chair Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH), “Regardless about how you feel about states’ efforts to legalize marijuana, this bipartisan bill is necessary. It will make it safer for legal cannabis businesses and service providers to operate, to protect their workers first and foremost and to operate in their communities.”
The legislative process on this matter is far from over. More news as more news develops.
To learn more about the way this particular piece of political sausage was made, we suggest reading Kyle Jaeger’s article on the behind the scenes negotiations on various amendments. It appeared in the September 26, 2023 issue of Marijuana Moment.net.
A Taste of the Season
We guess it was inevitable. A Colorado-based cannabis company has announced that it is now selling pumpkin spice marijuana vape pen cartridges.
According to John Frank, reporting for Axios Denver, the dispensary, Native Roots, expects the cartridges to “sell as fast as drive-through lattes.” The dispensary first sold the pumpkin-spice flavored product two years ago.
The company told Axios that the flavors consumers associate with pumpkin pie — cinnamon, ginger, anise and clove — are actually natural chemical compounds—terpenes—found in cannabis.
In this case, the company extracts the terpenes from the plant and combines them in a “proprietary blend” to create the seasonal vape pens.
Said Native Roots spokesperson Buck Dutton, “This is just something to add freshness, newness for our customers. Everybody else is playing in the pumpkin spice world — why not let cannabis, too?”
However, not everyone thinks this is a harmless, seasonal trend. Frank notes in his article that advocates for tougher regulations on marijuana worry that “flavored THC or tobacco products will appeal to children.”
Some want to see the products banned. Said Alton Dillard, a spokesperson for One Chance, an advocacy group that wants to see more limits on marijuana and to keep products away from children, “We must ask why the marijuana industry insists on selling flavored THC products that are proven to appeal to kids.”
That being said, Frank reports that Native Roots is busy deciding on its holiday flavors and is considering “eggnog or peppermint bark options.”
“Yo Dunkin’, we got your pumpkin spice right here….”
To learn more, we urge you to read the excellent reporting by John Frank in the September 26, 2023 issue of Axios Denver.
www.axios.com/local/denver/2023/09/26/pumpkin-spice-weed-vape-native-roots?
Cannabis News and Notes
Cannabis-based compounds can make a useful contribution when included as part of a therapy plan following spine surgery. That’s a key finding of a comprehensive literature review by two researchers affiliated with the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
The researchers acknowledged in their article, which appeared in the journal Operative Techniques in Orthopaedics, that with the rise of the opioid crisis, there is a growing focus on finding safe alternatives for pain management, which, they believe, has brought cannabis into the spotlight.
They also acknowledged that key areas of interest and concern during their study included the impact of cannabis on bone fusion, wound healing, nerve regeneration, and pain control.
They contend that the literature in each of these areas demonstrates that both THC and CBD have the potential to enhance overall clinical outcomes in spine surgery.
More specifically, they found the following:
• Achieving successful spinal fusion is crucial for long-term positive outcomes in spine surgery. They write that cannabinoids have shown potential in promoting bone growth and fusion. They point to animal studies that indicate that cannabinoids, particularly CBD, may enhance osteoblastic activity and inhibit bone resorption, leading to improved fusion rates.
• Neuroprotection is vital in spine surgery in order to prevent neurological complications and preserve spinal cord function. Cannabinoids have demonstrated neuroprotective effects by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation as well as other conditions.
• Inflammation and delayed wound healing are common postoperative challenges in spine surgery. Cannabinoids have exhibited anti-inflammatory effects through modulation of the immune response and inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines.
In general, after their extensive literature review the research team came to the conclusion that cannabis-based medicines do show promise when included as adjunctive therapy in spine surgery, offering potential benefits in pain control, augmenting fusion, neuroprotection, wound healing, inflammation and mental health.
If you care to learn more, we suggest reading the abstract of the article, which appeared in the September 23, 2023 issue of Operative Techniques in Orthopaedics. Simply click on the link that follows.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1048666623000459
Medical Cannabis in Europe
We should probably feel a bit sheepish about this next story, but we don’t. According to Alexandra Klausner, reporting for the New York Post on a story that originally appeared in Newsweek, a flock of sheep near the town of Almyros in Thessaly, Greece broke into a greenhouse and devoured 600 pounds of medical cannabis.
Now before you say “ewe,” the owner of the greenhouse, Yannis Bourounis, told a local radio producer that the sheep “found green stuff to eat” and were soon “jumping higher than goats, which never happens.”
It seems the sheep were seeking shelter and food after the aftermath of Storm Daniel. The storm hit parts of the central and eastern Mediterranean, leading to extreme flooding in Libya as well as Turney, Bulgaria, and Greece, according to the World Meteorological Organization
The stoner sheep are actually trendsetters of sorts, in that medical cannabis is a relatively new thing in Greece. In fact, according to Tasos Kokkinidis, writing for the publication The Greek Reporter, Greece’s first-ever medicinal cannabis production plant didn’t open until January of 2023.
The facility, which represents an investment by Tikun Europe, a subsidiary of Israel-based Tikun Olam, was welcomed by Greek Development & Investments Minister Adonis Georgiadis, who said that cannabis is “a product which we will be able to export throughout Europe because this factory can carry out huge exports to all major European countries.”
Georgiadis later told the Greek Reporter, “The goal is for Greece to become the top European country in the production of medical cannabis. Greece’s environment is friendly for this particular plant and we think we will have a natural advantage.”
Nikos Beis, CEO of Tikun Europe said, “A new era is beginning for our country with the operation of our Tikun Europe facility, paving the way for Greece to become one of the main players in the field of production and export of medical cannabis products”.
Foreigners will be able to use medical cannabis while in Greece and will be allowed to purchase it through pharmacies with “the only condition [being] that they have a prescription from their doctor.”
There’s no word on the whereabouts of the sheep. One assumes they are in some pasture, chillin’ and working up a serious case of the munchies, all while wondering why humans have such a thing for mint jelly.
To learn more about the stoner sheep, we suggest reading Alexandra Klausner‘s article in the September 25, 2023 issue of the New York Post.
nypost.com/2023/09/25/sheep-binge-on-600-pounds-of-pot-they-found-green-stuff-to-eat/
To learn more about medicinal cannabis in Greece and the country’s plans for the industry, you can read the article by Tasos Kokkinidis that appeared in the January 27, 2023 issue of the Greek Reporter. The link to the story follows below.
greekreporter.com/2023/01/27/first-medicinal-cannabis-production-plant-opens-greece/
Tips on Trips
Mature consumers who are thinking of making a trip to the Netherlands may want to file this under things you thought to be true but aren’t. The Netherlands is about to begin a pilot program aimed at legalizing the sale of cannabis for adult use.
Yes, that’s right. It seems that despite all the stories about the legendary hash cafes in that swinging city Amsterdam—mostly true stories, we might add—the Netherlands has always had a very complicated policy when it comes to drug possession and use and that includes cannabis.
According to the online publication CANNABIZEU, which covers the cannabis business in Europe, while many people believe cannabis is already legal in the Netherlands, it’s not the case, nor has it been.
It seems the country has historically worked under a type of “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy of tolerance—known as “gedoogbeleid”—toward what it considers “soft drugs” such as cannabis, This strategy made it possible for cannabis vendors to operate without worrying about being arrested, which helped to give rise to that renowned coffee shop culture of Amsterdam.
So, if you are planning a trip to the Netherlands to explore its “coffee shop cannabis culture,” here’s what you need to know. Under the pilot program specific coffee shops will have the option to sell cannabis products. These cannabis products will come from legal cultivation and will fall under restrictions set by the trial program.
It’s important for tourists to note that the pilot cannabis program will begin operation in the municipalities of Breda and Tilburg only—not Amsterdam—at least initially. In fact, this pilot program comes at a time when community leaders in Amsterdam are trying to discourage tourism based solely on having a “good time,” if your idea of a good time is based on consuming cannabis in public.
According to Daria B, who reported on the pilot program, the four-year “wietexperiment” initiative, which she says is named after the Dutch word for cannabis, would over time operate in ten cities, and may eventually include the Amsterdam-Oost neighborhood.
Daria B notes that proponents of the pilot program hope the legalization of cannabis will lead to higher tax receipts, better product quality and prospective investments in the cannabis business—all while cutting out the criminal element that has infiltrated the cannabis sector.
She also makes the point in her article that while it’s hoped that, if successful, the pilot program might eventually become a “template” other nations could follow, it’s important to remember that any significant change in cannabis policy will eventually have to receive the approval of the EU.
So class, let’s review. Cannabis was never really legal in the Netherlands but was consumed without much of a problem until tourists started acting like tourists in public, which made the government acknowledge that cannabis was not legal. Now, under a new program cannabis will be legal in some cafes in two cities that are not Amsterdam, but one neighborhood in Amsterdam might eventually participate in the program. Got all that.
If you are thinking of visiting the Netherlands we encourage you to plan ahead and remember that the country has much to offer besides its cannabis culture. However, if you are thinking of going primarily to enjoy its cannabis cafes, we hear West Hollywood has a number of venues that would also meet your needs.
Either way, enjoy.
To learn more, we suggest reading the article by Daria B that appeared in the September 25, 2023 issue of the online publication CANNABIZEU.COM.
cannabizeu.com/the-netherlands-launches-cannabis-legalisation-pilot-program/
The Shape of Things to Come
You know opinions about cannabis are changing when the National Collegiate Athletic Association—better known as the NCAA—is recommending the removal of cannabis from its list of banned substances for all three collegiate divisions.
According to TG Branfalt, reporting for Ganjapreneur, the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports (CMAS) has recommended removing cannabis from its list of banned substances, calling instead for a “robust educational strategy.”
Branfalt notes that the committee concluded that removing cannabis from its testing protocols acknowledges the ineffectiveness of existing policy, which includes banning, testing, and penalizing student athletes for using cannabis. It also wants to “affirm the role of the NCAA drug-testing program” by addressing only performance-enhancing substances; and emphasizing the importance of moving toward a harm-reduction strategy that prioritizes education and support at the school level over penalties.
Said James Houle, committee chair and lead sport psychologist at Ohio State, “We are recommending a big shift in the paradigm when it comes to cannabinoids. We want to modernize the strategy with the most up-to-date research to give schools the best opportunity to support the health of student-athletes.”
Branfalt also makes the point that he NCAA said the recommendation “aims to recenter student-athlete health while recognizing membership opinions and the shifting cultural and legal landscapes surrounding cannabinoids”
The NCAA is a nonprofit organization that attempts to regulate student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Canada. However, over the past few years its ability to influence policy at the collegiate level has waned significantly so some might see this as an attempt to remain relevant.
Granted, collegiate athletes who choose to use cannabis products, including CBD, can hardly be considered “mature consumers.” Still, such a policy decision by an institution known for changing at a glacial pace is yet another indicator of how much public opinion on cannabis has changed.
One more thing—Beat Ohio State, anytime, anywhere.
To learn more, we suggest reading TG Branfalt’s reporting in the September 25, 2023 issue of Ganjapreneur.com. As always, his work is first rate.
www.ganjapreneur.com/ncaa-committee-recommends-removing-cannabis-from-banned-substances-list/
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.
