Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at a ballot measure in Massachusetts, why taking more THC doesn’t always produce the desired result, treating insomnia with cannabis and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis and Politics
Top takeaway: Massachusetts voters rejected an attempt to shut down the state’s cannabis industry.
Cannabis was center stage when Massachusetts voters went to the polls this past Tuesday. The spotlight was on a ballot measure designed to repeal the state’s adult-use cannabis reforms, which voters originally approved in 2016.
According to Graham Abbott, reporting for Ganjapreneur, Bay State voters soundly rejected the proposal which called for banning the possession, consumption, and sale of cannabis for recreational purposes. It also would have set new policies to decriminalize low-level possession of cannabis.
Abbott noted that if it had passed, the proposal would have shuttered the state’s multi-billion-dollar cannabis industry, cost the state thousands of jobs, millions in tax revenue, and the safety of citizens, who would have gone back to the unregulated marketplace.
Said NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano, “There’s no ‘buyer’s remorse’ among voters when it comes to legalizing and regulating marijuana. In fact, more Massachusetts voters support legalization today than did a decade ago, and these election results prove it.”
Added Armentano, “Proponents of this failed effort spent millions of dollars to, in their own words, reset the conversation around cannabis policy. They found out the hard way that the public hasn’t changed their minds.”
As always, Graham Abbott’s reporting is clear and concise. To learn more, we urge you to read his article in the November 4, 2026 issue of Ganjapreneur.com.
ganjapreneur.com/massachusetts-voters-reject-adult-use-cannabis-repeal-proposal/?
Cannabis Corner
Top takeaway: Many consumers trust dispensary staff over medical professionals as a source of information.
When seeking cannabis information, consumers tend to go with who they know. However, the reason an individual uses cannabis can also be a factor when deciding who or what to trust when asking about a particular product.
Those are two key findings of a study conducted by a team of researchers affiliated with the University of California, Johns Hopkins University and other institutions.
According to Tom Angell, who covered the story for Marijuana Moment, the team conducted an online survey of 1,023 U.S. residents over the age of 18 who used a THC-containing cannabis product in the past month. Participants were asked to rate the level of trust they place in several different sources of information about marijuana.
In their study, which was published in the journal Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, the researchers wrote, “We found that dispensary staff were the most trusted, followed by friends and healthcare providers, while other sources were less trusted.”
More specifically, the researchers found, in general, when it came to trusting the source of information about cannabis, dispensary staff scored an average of 3.7 (on a scale of 1-5), while friends received a score of 3.5, healthcare providers got 3.4, state and federal government officials both got 2.9, social media posts scored 2.6 and other sellers of cannabis also got 2.6.
However, Angell noted in his article that one factor that did influence a consumer’s trust was their motivation for using cannabis. Wrote the researchers, “When asked who they would trust the most for using cannabis medicinally, healthcare providers were selected most often (55 percent), followed by dispensary staff (20 percent), friends (8 percent), and people on social media (5 percent). When asked who they trust the most for using cannabis for fun or relaxation, dispensary staff were selected most often (47 percent), followed by friends (37 percent), people on social media (7 percent), and healthcare providers (4 percent).”
The researchers concluded that since scientific and medical information about cannabis can lag behind the introduction of products found in “emerging markets,” many individuals who use cannabis turn to the marketplace first when looking for information they deem trustworthy.
As always, Tom Angell’s reporting is first rate. To learn more, we suggest reading his article in the October 27, 2026 issue of Marijuana Moment.net.
To read an abstract of the study, click on the following link.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687637.2026.2748012
Spotlight on THC
Top takeaway: Doubling the size of a dose of THC doesn’t double the state of intoxication.
When it comes to THC, using more doesn’t always get you where you want to go. That’s because doubling the dose of THC does not double the feeling of intoxication.
So say researchers Isabella Goodwin, of Australian Catholic University and Amir Englund, of King’s College London, in an article they penned for the online publication The Conversation. When researching the relationship between a dose of THC and the state it produces, they found that while larger doses of THC can generally make people feel more intoxicated, that increase does not take place in what they describe as a “straight line.”
The study, which was published in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, reviewed evidence from 41 studies that looked at the immediate effects THC has on people.
Their analysis included reports from 1,020 participants who used cannabis less than once a week. In these experiments, some people were given doses of THC while others were given a placebo. Overall, Goodwin and Englund found that people who rarely used cannabis felt more high, anxious and tired, and less alert and content, than they did on the placebo.
They then looked at one study in particular that tracked the effects of inhaling a “Standard THC Unit,” which is 5mg of THC. Using a 100-point scale, they found a Standard THC Unit raised a subject’s “high” by 34 points, “anxiety” by 14 points, feeling “tired” by 26 points and a feeling of being“calm” by five points. It lowered the feelings of being “content” by 71 points and “alert” by 40 points.
However, they also found that doubling the dose of THC from 5mg to 10mg raised the intensity of the high from only 34 to 39 points—an increase of just 15 percent. They noted that this is common in pharmacology—the study of how drugs work—where bigger doses often bring smaller and smaller “added” effects once a certain level of intoxication is reached. There was no change in anxiety, tiredness or alertness compared with the 5mg dose.
They contend this demonstrates that when inexperienced users take additional doses of THC to strengthen the effects, the benefits may level off fairly quickly. Each extra dose adds less than the last.
That’s why they believe their results support the classic advice of “start low, go slow.” When using cannabis consumers should begin with a low dose and wait to feel the effects before taking more. That’s because larger doses taken too soon in order to “chase a high” may cause an unpleasant experience.
In addition, they attribute the need for larger doses to replicate a particular state of intoxication to the fact that the brain adapts to the presence of THC and when THC repeatedly activates the cannabinoid receptors, the brain temporarily reduces how many are available. This means a person needs more THC to achieve the previous degree of intoxication. This is what is often referred to as developing a level of “tolerance” for a drug.
Goodwin and Englund acknowledged that their study does have limits. For example, while combining data from several studies is a strength of the meta-analysis approach, which pools the results of many studies, the studies they included differed in many ways. They involved different participants, types of THC (some synthetic, some herbal), ways of taking it (vaping or joints), ways of measuring consumption and settings.
However, they do believe their findings offer a simple message for people with little experience of cannabis: the high rises quickly at low doses, but extra THC soon adds less and less, which backs the advice to “start low and go slow.”
The publication where their article first appeared, The Conversation, is a nonprofit, independent news organization that describes itself as being dedicated to unlocking the knowledge of researchers and scientists for the public good.
The article by Goodwin and Englund was reprinted in the October 25, 2026 issue of Marijuana Moment.net.
To read an abstract of their study, click on the following link.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0149763426002526?via%3Dihub
Cannabis and Insomnia
Top takeaway: A new study suggests cannabis-based medicinal products are useful in the treatment of insomnia.
There may be hopeful news for those who suffer from insomnia. A two-year observational study conducted by researchers affiliated with the Imperial College London, London, UK found that the use of cannabis-based medical products in the treatment of insomnia was associated with self-reported improvements in sleep quality.
Two hundred and eleven individuals participated in the study, over half of whom were cannabis users at the beginning of the program. The primary tool used to measure outcomes after cannabis treatment was the Single-Item Sleep Quality Scale (SQS). This was administered at baseline and at 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months from baseline. Secondary outcomes measured included change in anxiety and general health-related quality of life.
At the end of the study the research team reported that the use of dried flower cannabis-based medicinal products was associated with clinically significant self-reported improvements in sleep quality. The most significant improvements were observed in those with the most severe insomnia-related impairment.
The study was described in an article that was published in the October 26, 2026 issue of the journal Neuropsychopharmacology Reports. To read an abstract of the study, click on the following link.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/npr2.70180
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.