Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at how reports about cannabis use disorder can be misleading, how cancer patients respond to medical cannabis and the tax revenue generated by cannabis sales. Enjoy.
Cannabis Quote of the Week
Top takeaway: Reports that today’s cannabis is too potent and that cannabis use disorder is rampant are misleading.
“Today, a wide range of cannabis products are available in the marketplace – some of which, like concentrates – are far stronger than others. But uniquely high potent products like hashish have always existed. Typically, when consumers encounter higher strength marijuana, they ingest lesser quantities of it. This self-regulatory process is known as titration.
And higher strength marijuana products don’t dominate state-legal markets. Retail sales records from legal states show that most consumers tend to prefer and gravitate toward lesser strength products, like flower.
Third, unlike alcohol (which is readily available in many states in a variety of potencies, including highly-potent formulations like grain alcohol and absinthe), THC is incapable of causing lethal overdose, regardless of its potency or the quantity consumed.
Finally, nearly all state-legal markets impose limits on certain products’ potency or on the total amount of THC permissible per single serving. This trend speaks to one of the primary advantages of legalization. It provides governments with the ability to oversee the market, establish regulations and best practices for those who participate in it, and sanction those who don’t play by the rules” – Paul Armentano
Mr. Armentano is the Deputy Director of the cannabis advocacy organization NORML. His comments are taken from an op-ed he penned for the organization’s website.
In his article, Mr. Armentano takes issue with what he characterized as recent sensationalist claims by the New York Times that marijuana was becoming too potent and that too many people were now falling victim to the condition known as cannabis use disorder, or CUD.
In the first case, Armentano states that not all cannabis products have an extremely high THC content and, in fact, he contends that retail sales records demonstrate that most consumers prefer lesser strength products.
When it comes to a supposed uptick in the percentage of people suffering from so-called ‘cannabis use disorder’ (CUD) that has been reported by The New York Times and other media outlets, he argues that the reporting often lacks context and can also be misleading.
For example, he cites the fact that individuals can be diagnosed as “suffering” from CUD if they meet as few as two out of 11 possible criteria and that these diagnostic criteria have been revised on multiple occasions during the past four decades. He believes this makes concrete comparisons with previous years’ data, in his words, “murky at best” and makes meaningful statements about trends questionable and less than useful.
He also notes that fear mongering about a dramatic increase in the number of cases of CUD recorded by medical authorities is undercut by the federal government’s own substance abuse treatment data. In his editorial, Armentano points to a 2026 report published by the US Department of Health that states the percentage of Americans seeking drug treatment for cannabis has actually declined steadily for the last half-decade.
You can learn much more by reading Paul Armentano’s op-ed in the September 16, 2026 issue of the NORML website. Just click on the following link.
norml.org/blog/2026/09/16/norml-op-ed-calling-out-the-new-york-times-alarmist-cannabis-coverage/
Cannabis News and Notes
Top takeaway: Cancer patients can benefit from making medical cannabis part of their treatment plan.
There may be hopeful news for those with cancer and their caregivers. A new study conducted by government officials in Minnesota found medical marijuana can help cancer patients by decreasing pain, nausea, vomiting, anxiety and depression while also improving sleep.
So says Tom Angell in an article he wrote for Marijuana Moment. According to Angell, the study, published by the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), involved an analysis of marijuana purchases, self-evaluation surveys and symptom and side-effect ratings for 6,621 patients enrolled in the state’s medical cannabis program.
Patients participating in the study rated the severity of their various symptoms when they first enrolled in the program and then again at specific points during their treatment.
Angell noted in his article that of the 82 percent of cancer patients who reported moderate to severe pain when they entered the study, nearly a third (30 percent) saw a reduction in their pain score of at least 30 percent within four months of their first medical marijuana purchase. Researchers also found that more than half of those individuals were able to maintain that level of reduced pain after an additional four months.
In addition, over half of participants said they experienced nausea and more than a quarter reported vomiting when they entered the program. Of those groups, after four months, forty percent reported a reduction in nausea scores of 30 percent or more, and 47 percent reported reduced vomiting scores of 30 percent or more.
Those improvements, wrote Angell, lasted for at least another four months for 65 percent of those with nausea and 74 percent of those with vomiting.
Patients who experienced a lack of appetite also benefited from using medical marijuana. Of that group, 38 percent reported a 30 percent or greater improvement in scores within four months of their first medical cannabis purchase. Plus, nearly two-thirds of those (63 percent) maintained that improvement for at least another four months.
Dr. Grace Christensen, a senior research analyst with OCM, said in a press release, “These results show great promise in using cannabis for treating the symptoms that occur with cancer and cancer-related treatments. Even minor relief can improve patients’ quality of life and help them better manage battling the disease.”
Added Dr. Dylan Zylla, oncologist and medical director of the HealthPartners Cancer Research Center, “Cannabis treatment appears relatively safe, and we now have strong observational evidence that many patients report better control of several cancer-related symptoms.I recommend starting with a low dose of THC and adjusting up gradually every few days to reduce the risk of side effects.”
Angell also reported that the study found that adding medical cannabis to a treatment program can benefit patients with anxiety, depression, sleep and fatigue issues.
As always, Tom Angell’s reporting is concise and on point. To learn more, we urge you to read his article in the September 14, 2026 issue of Marijuana Moment.net.
Notable Numbers
Top takeaway: Cannabis sales in the U.S. generated over $3.5 billion in state taxes during the last fiscal year.
This week’s notable number is 3.55 billion, as in $3.55 billion in tax revenue. That’s what cannabis sales generated in states where cannabis is legal during the last fiscal year.
According to Graham Abbott, reporting for Ganjapreneur, the U.S. Census Bureau started tracking excise tax revenue from state-level medical and adult-use cannabis sales through the Quarterly Summary of State and Local Government Tax Revenue (QTAX) survey in 2021. The sale of adult-use and or medical cannabis is now legal in thirty states and the District of Columbia.
Abbott noted that the report states that total cannabis tax revenue has increased 15.7 percent since the bureau began tracking the data and has increased for three consecutive years. Washington state and Montana have the highest per capita cannabis revenues, earning $53.25 and $52.05 per person in cannabis excise taxes, respectively, followed by Colorado at $36.75.
Bob Simon, who authored the report for the Bureau, observed that when implementing cannabis taxes, states are faced with the challenge of generating revenue without driving prices so high that consumers turn to illegal markets. That’s why they experiment with various tax structures, including excise taxes on cannabis wholesale, cultivation and retail.
In his report, Simon made the point that states with recreational markets typically collect more revenue per resident than medical-only states, which are more common in the South.
He also noted retail excise taxes often differ by product weight, THC content or form (such as “flower” or “vapor” products).
Graham Abbott’s reporting is clear and insightful. To learn more, we urge you to read his article in the September 14, 2026 issue of Ganjapreneur.com.
To read the original article Bob Simon penned for the Census Bureau, click on the link that follows.
census.gov/library/stories/2026/09/cannabis-excise-tax.html
Senior Cannabis Digest is compiled and edited by Joe Kohut and John Kohut. You can reach them at joe.kohut@gmail.com and at 347-529-8753.