Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at a budget-friendly 4/20 product promotion, a snapshot of employment in the cannabis sector, treating fibromyalgia with cannabis and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis Corner: 4/20 Edition
In addition to Easter and Passover, spring is also the season for secular holidays, such as the swallows returning to Capistrano, the opening day of major league baseball season and the annual celebration of all things cannabis known as 4/20.
Legend has it the term 4/20 was first used by a group of Northern California high school students who would gather each afternoon at 4:20 pm to “light up.”
Whether or not the story is true—and we never like to let the truth get in the way of a good story—4/20 is now observed—unofficially, of course—all around the U.S. and elsewhere. Some folks have even been known to plan their vacation days to take advantage of all the holiday has to offer.
The good news is that if you are looking for a last-minute 4/20-inspired gift for your favorite mature consumer and you are on a budget, the fast food chain Jimmy John’s has launched a promotion they think will appeal to cannabis consumers.
Dubbed the “Deliciously Dope Dime Bag,” this special $10 meal deal features a curated combo that includes a sandwich, chips, and a brownie that they claim is designed to satisfy the munchies that often accompany cannabis consumption.
We’re guessing that at that price you could afford to gift several consumers and yourself as well.
The offer is available exclusively through online orders at participating locations from April 16 to April 21. It can be accessed by using the promo code DIMEBAG at checkout.
The company—known for its gangster-themed advertising—is also selling an actual bag named the “Dime Bag” via their merch website, featuring the words “Deliciously Dope Dime Bag,” for the princely sum of $16.
As part of its 4/20 marketing ploy, Jimmy John’s has also been giving a nod and a wink to cannabis consumers in social media campaigns by using the term “za,” a Gen-Z euphemism for marijuana. Other content posted to the company’s account has referenced “Penjamin,” a nickname for cannabis vape pens, and being “next in rotation,” a reference to passing a joint or blunt.
You can learn more by reading the article that appeared in the April 16, 2024 issue of Ganjapreur.com. And while we are at it, have a safe and happy 4/20, should you choose to observe.
www.ganjapreneur.com/jimmy-johns-launches-4-20-dime-bag-promotion/?
New Product Spotlight
It appears that folks who graduate from France’s prestigious Le Cordon Bleu cooking school can do more than whip up a tasty coq au vin. One such graduate has just created New Jersey’s first legal cannabis brownie and is bringing it to market.
Matha Figaro is the co-founder of CannPowerment, the state’s first Black women-owned cannabis manufacturing company. The company specializes in providing solutions for cannabis brands seeking shelf space in dispensaries in the Garden State.
According to Jacob Anthony Amaro, reporting for the online publication Mosaic, Figaro has already garnered a people’s choice award for Excellence in Innovation at the NJ Cannabis Insider 2023 Awards for creating an oral dissolvable cannabis strip.
Demonstrating that bringing a new cannabis product to dispensary shelves takes more than “we can put the show on right here” enthusiasm, Figaro, through her edibles company Butacake, has partnered with Azuca, a company that developed the brownie’s “fast-acting” cannabis ingredient, and licensed multi-state operator Columbia Care.
Her cannabis confection is described by Amaro as “a PB&J swirled brownie infused with 10 mg of fast-acting THC “— the mind-altering chemical that causes the cannabis “high. ” Mature consumers and others will be able to find the brownies at dispensaries across New Jersey starting April 16.
Said Figaro, when asked to describe her creation, “It’s chocolatey and fudgy and sweet. It’s salty and decadent. And it doesn’t taste like pot.”
To learn more about Matha Figaro and her work, we urge you to read Jacob Anthony Amaro’s reporting in the April 15, 2024 issue of Mosaic.nj.com.
mosaic.nj.com/business/2024/04/njs-has-its-1st-legal-pot-brownie-heres-how-to-get-one.html
Stats of the Week
This week’s magic number is 444,000. That’s the number of full-time equivalent jobs supported by the cannabis sector in the U.S.
So says Ben Adlin, reporting for Marijuana Moment on a report from Colorado-based marijuana staffing company Vangst and the analytics firm Whitney Economics.
According to Adlin, that figure represents an increase of nearly 5 percent in the past year and follows a roughly 2 percent decline in the number of jobs between 2022 and 2023.
In his article, Adin makes it clear that despite the overall rise in cannabis-related jobs, the report notes that the year’s job growth “wasn’t spread evenly” across the country and the cannabis job market needs to be viewed through a “market by market” lens.
For example, he makes the point that in Michigan, where marijuana sales have surged in the past few years, the industry saw growth of more than 11,000 jobs. Other states that saw job growth included New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut, New York, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Utah.
At the same time, he notes that more established markets, such as Colorado and Washington—the first two U.S. states to legalize marijuana and open retail stores to adults—saw 16 percent and 15 percent job losses, respectively.
According to Adlin, the authors of the Vangst report attribute the shrinkage to a variety of factors, including an oversupply of cannabis and a dip in marijuana-related tourism.
The report notes, for example, “The expansion of adult-use sales to 20 states has reduced Colorado’s “cana tourism” to a fraction of its former self.” Plus, the authors of the report noted that the experience of buying cannabis in a retail store, “may have lost some of its novelty.”
Adlin acknowledges that while the report does not project jobs numbers into the future, it includes a forecast of nationwide cannabis revenue looking ahead to 2035—at which point it expects the U.S. marijuana market to be reach $87 billion. That’s more than triple the $28.8 billion in revenue the industry made in 2023, according to Vangst.
However, the multinational investment firm TD Cowen projected late last year that legal cannabis sales will hit $37 billion in 2027, up from what it said was about $29 billion in 2023. It expects at least some of that growth will come from increased substitution of cannabis for alcohol, particularly among younger adults.
The Vangst report also touches on what various positions within the cannabis industry are paid. For example, trimming marijuana pays between $14 and $27 an hour, while a director of cultivation makes between $90,000 and $140,000 annually. On the retail side, typical budtenders make between $14 and $22 an hour, while retail directors make between $80,000 and $120,000 per year.
If you want to learn more about the cannabis job market, we urge you to read Ben Adlin’s clear and concise reporting in the April 10, 2024 issue of Marijuana Moment.net.
Regulation News and Notes
There’s bad news and good news for boxer Mike Tyson’s cannabis operation and, ultimately, for consumers.
First the bad news. Staff writers at MJBizDaily report that California has issued a mandatory recall for cannabis flower branded by celebrity boxer Mike Tyson, citing contamination by aspergillus mold.
The April 9 recall by California’s Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) applies to two lots of Tyson Undisputed Cannabis Flower products grown by Humboldt-based Northern Emeralds for the Tyson brand.
The story points out that this is the 13th recall issued by the agency so far in 2024 and the ninth recall this year related to aspergillus contamination. Aspergillus mold is a common cannabis contaminant and a constant threat for growers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, inhaling this type of mold might pose a health risk to people with compromised immune systems.
Now for the good news. A recall such as this can protect the integrity of the Tyson brand in general and helps to protect consumers. This is what regulation looks like in a system where cannabis is legal and would not have happened if the product was sold on the black market.
No legalization, no regulation.
To learn more, we suggest reading the article that appeared in the April 11, 2024 issue of MJBizDaily.com.
mjbizdaily.com/california-recalls-mike-tyson-brand-cannabis-flower-containing-mold/
Treating Fibromyalgia with Cannabis
Fibromyalgia is a disorder that affects muscle and soft tissue. It is characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic believe that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way your brain and spinal cord process painful and non painful signals.
Recently, researchers at the Mayo Clinic conducted an online study—believed to be the largest survey study of its kind—to assess the use of cannabis as a symptom management strategy for patients with fibromyalgia.
According to an article that appeared in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, of the 1336 patients who responded to the survey, approximately half reported cannabis use since their fibromyalgia diagnosis. The most common symptoms for which respondents reported using cannabis were pain, fatigue, stress, anxiety or depression and insomnia.
Of these self-reported cannabis users, more than 80 percent (n=536) expressed improvement in pain symptoms. Most cannabis-using respondents reported that cannabis also improved symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression and of insomnia.
To read an abstract of the study that appeared in the April 2024 issue of the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, simply click on the link that follows.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025619624000259
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.
