Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at an attempt to roll back legal cannabis in Maine, some thoughts on treating migraines with cannabis, personalizing the cannabis retail experience and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis News and Notes
Legalizing cannabis for adult use is not the end of the political struggle. It’s often just the beginning.
Case in point: a group of Maine voters has submitted a petition seeking a ballot initiative to repeal the state’s adult-use cannabis market.
According to Graham Abbott, reporting for Ganjapreneur, under the proposal outlined in the petition, which was signed by Sen. Scott Cyrway (R) and a senior policy advisor for former Republican Gov. Paul LePage, cannabis possession would still be legal.
However, the initiative does contain language that indicates the sponsor’s intent to roll back the state’s regulated adult-use marketplace and revoke the right of Maine residents, under the current law, to grow their own cannabis plants at home.
Abbott also reported that while the proposal would not make changes to the state’s medical cannabis program, it would task state officials with streamlining requests for adult-use businesses to convert their licenses to the medical cannabis program.
Said Maine state Rep. David Boyer (R), who helped the state’s voter-approved 2016 cannabis legalization initiative succeed, the initiative “ignores the will of Maine voters who chose to end the failed era of prohibition nearly a decade ago.”
Added Boyer, “Turning back now would only empower criminal enterprises, waste taxpayer dollars on ineffective enforcement, and infringe on the personal freedoms of responsible adults.”
Abbott noted this is the second such effort underway in the Northeast. A citizen-led ballot initiative has been filed in Massachusetts that seeks to repeal the state’s voter-approved cannabis legalization law.
However, it should be noted that according to a story published recently in Ganjapeneur, paid signature gatherers for the Massachusetts campaign to repeal adult-use cannabis legalization have been accused of fraudulent signature-gathering practices, including bait-and-switch tactics to trick people into signing the petition.
Mature consumers and others who — thanks to recent legislation — enjoy access to safe, regulated cannabis products might want to take John Philipot Curran’s admonition that “eternal vigilance is the price of freedom” to heart. He wasn’t talking about cannabis, but he could have been.
As always, Graham Abbott’s reporting is crisp and on point. To learn more, you can read his article in the October 31, 2025 issue of Ganjapreneur.com.
https://ganjapreneur.com/maine-ballot-initiative-seeks-to-revoke-adult-use-cannabis-legalization/?
Cannabis Quote of the Week
“I’ve lived with chronic migraines my whole life and spent years searching for relief—through surgeries,medications, even Botox treatments—but nothing worked long term.
While working as a pharmacological technician, I saw the opioid epidemic unfold firsthand. Patients were overprescribed, suffering terrible side effects, and losing their quality of life. I realized I didn’t want to follow that same path.
When I discovered cannabis, everything changed. It eased my pain more than anything else and allowed me to function again. My quality of life improved, and I felt inspired to be part of this industry. When I found Be., it felt like the perfect place to grow within a community that shares those same values. My very first cannabis experience years ago was on the beach, and even then, it felt like a healing moment.—Olivia Bopp
Ms. Bopp is a Lead Budtender at Be.Hudson Valley, a medical cannabis dispensary serving the Hudson Valley area of New York. Her comments are taken from an interview she sat for with Alan Greenwald for the cannabis consumer publication The Other.
Peter Shafran, the publisher of The Other, has described the quarterly as a countercultural lifestyle magazine for people in the Hudson Valley, Long Island and New York City area who enjoy cannabis and the cannabis lifestyle. The magazine focuses on stories where cannabis intersects with art, design, cuisine, and wellness.
In addition to the print and digital versions of the magazine, The Other maintains a website that offers fresh daily content and access to a weekly newsletter. The publication also curates live events and is about to bring a podcast online.
It starts with listening
When asked to describe her approach when recommending a particular cannabis product to a consumer, Ms. Bopp said, “I start by asking about a person’s goals and level of experience.Then I consider their tolerance, lifestyle and preferred consumption method…The key is listening carefully and using that information to guide them to the right product.”
She also shared the observation that, “Dispensaries are places of learning, comfort and support, not just stores.”
We can’t say enough good things about The Other. We urge you to visit https://theothermagazines.com/ to learn more. Special thanks to Annette Rose-Shapio for introducing us to the publication.
Cannabis and Cancer Treatment
There may be hopeful news for mature consumers and others battling cancer. Making medical cannabis part of a cancer treatment program may help to improve a patient’s quality of life.
That’s a key takeaway from a literature review focused on the impact medical cannabis can have on the quality of life of cancer patients.
The study was conducted by two Brazilian researchers affiliated with the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil and was described in detail in an article that was published in the Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine.
The researchers used resources such as PubMed, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature, Scopus, Virtual Health Library, and Embase. To be included in the study, the article reviewed had to be written in English, Spanish, or Portuguese; published prior to January 2025 and contain content relating to “Cancer,” “Quality of Life,” and “Medical Cannabis.” Of the 267 articles the pair identified, 16 were selected for the final analysis.
The researchers found that the studies they reviewed suggest that medical cannabis can improve mental health, sleep, appetite, and pain in cancer patients and decrease nausea, vomiting, and the use of other medications, such as opioids. Increased survival time and cognitive function improvements were also observed, with mild or moderate adverse effects. Both tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol (full spectrum) were commonly used, with varied intervention durations.
Based on these findings, they concluded that despite differences and methodological limitations, such as only four randomized clinical trials being included in the articles that they found, they wrote that their findings do suggest that medical cannabis may improve the quality of life for cancer patients by alleviating physical and psychosocial symptoms associated with cancer treatment.
They did acknowledge that there are areas of concern that should be considered targets for future research, such as the way cannabis-based medicine can interact with some chemotherapy treatment. They also suggested that randomized controlled trials are needed to better understand the effects of medical cannabis among oncology patients.
To learn more, we suggest reading the article that was published in the September 25, 2025 issue of Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine. Simply click on the following link.
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1177/27683605251377417
Consumer Corner
Big-box retailers may find that selling hemp-based THC products can be good for business in general. That’s the word from Kyle Jaeger, in an article he penned for Marijuana Moment.
Jaeger reported that a survey by the cannabis telehealth platform NuggMD found that a slim majority of respondents said that Target’s decision to sell THC beverages at select locations in Minnesota makes them more likely to shop at the retail giant’s stores.
According to the researchers at NuggMD, when asked if Target’s decision to sell cannabis drinks would make them more likely to shop at Target in the future, 50.5 percent of respondents said they would be more likely to shop there, although, Jaeger noted, that figure included 34.4 percent of respondents who said they’d only be more inclined to patronize Target if their local store carried the THC beverages.
However, 16.1 percent of respondents did say they responded “yes” because they “want to support the retailer more now regardless of which locations sell the products.”
Jaeger also reported that just under half of respondents, (49.5 percent) said Target’s pilot program wouldn’t affect where they shop.
Said Andrew Graham, head of communications at NuggMD, “What the poll shows should be pretty intuitive to all big-box retailers: Selling products that contain hemp-derived THC, which is currently federally legal, will bring more cannabis consumers into those stores.”
Added Graham, “By responsibly selling hemp-derived THC products, Target is kind of doing what Congress still won’t, which is providing access to THC to adults who want or need it,” he said. “I hope the company expands the pilot program nationally. While I myself am more of a buy-local consumer, it’s still great to see such a ubiquitous national retailer make these products available.”
Granted, the positive numbers are hardly a landslide, but they do suggest that, at a minimum, Target’s decision to stock THC beverages isn’t driving customers away and may attract some shoppers.
More news as more news develops.
Jaeger noted that the survey involved interviews with 285 cannabis consumers from October 16-27, with a +/-5.8 percentage point margin of error.
Once again, Kyle Jaeger’s reporting is first rate. To learn more, we urge you to read his article in the October 31, 2025 issue of Marijuana Moment.net.
Notable Numbers
With apologies to Michael Corleone, a new survey suggests that companies in the cannabis sector thrive when they make business personal. That’s why this week’s notable number is 86 percent.
According to a recent survey commissioned by Sweed, an all-in-one high-tech platform designed to serve the needs of cannabis retail operations, 86 percent of cannabis consumers said they would be loyal to a specific dispensary if it offers personalized recommendations.
Other notable numbers taken from the survey include the following:
• 71 percent of customers said they like to shop using kiosks and in-store screens.
• 75 percent favor simple one-click reordering capabilities.
• 72 percent of consumers want the ability to pre-order online, and
• 67 percent of customers say delivery options are essential.
Sweed commissioned the survey to provide cannabis retailers with actionable data ahead of the industry’s “Green Wednesday” shopping holiday, which historically tends to be one of the industry’s most profitable and competitive events of the year.
In the United States, Green Wednesday always lands on the day before Thanksgiving. In 2025, that means it falls on Wednesday, November 26.
The survey found that about half, 45 percent of cannabis users (an estimated 50 million adults) plan to stock up or make special trips to a dispensary for Green Wednesday.
Said Rocco del Priore, co-founder of Sweed, “Green Wednesday is one of the biggest retail moments of the year for cannabis, and the insights from our survey make it clear: Retailers who use smarter digital tools and know how to run effective promotions stand to gain the most.”
He also noted that the right technology can help a retailer reach consumers, elevate a customer’s experience, speed up sales and drive repeat business.
His comment is taken from an article about the survey that appeared in the November 3, 2025 issue of MMJDaily.com. To learn more, click on the following link.
https://www.mmjdaily.com/article/9781373/us-new-cannabis-consumer-survey-shows-digital-conveniences-driving-purchasing/
Senior Cannabis Digest is compiled and edited by Joe Kohut and John Kohut. You can reach them at joe.kohut@gmail.com or at 347-528-8753.