Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at cannabis and exercise, a Zoom call that brought Charles Koch and Snoop Dogg together, devices designed to help you make edibles at home, a special offer to help travelers observe 4/20 and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis and Exercise
A new study suggests another stereotype used to describe cannabis users—the sedentary couch potato—may have to be put to rest.
The goal of the study, which appeared in the journal Preventive Medicine, was to assess the relationships between marijuana use and exercise among young and middle-aged adults.
Specifically, as additional states legalize the medicinal and recreational use of marijuana, the researchers from the Department of Health Management and Policy, Miami Herbert Business School, University of Miami and The Brookings Institution, wanted to examine the impact of cannabis use on exercise, one of the leading social determinants of health.
What they found was that marijuana use does not significantly impinge on the practice of regular exercise. This runs counter to conventional wisdom that marijuana users are less likely to be active. Indeed, their findings actually suggest a positive relationship may exist between cannabis use and exercise—findings that run counter to much of the existing literature, which generally shows a negative relationship between marijuana use and exercise.
You can learn more by reading the article, “The Relationships Between Marijuana Use and Exercise Among Young and Middle-Aged Adults.” It appears in the June 2021 edition of Preventive Medicine. A link to an abstract of the article follows.
Policy Perspectives
It’s been said that politics makes strange bedfellows. This is becoming increasingly true when it comes to cannabis, public policy and criminal justice reform.
The latest example, according to Mona Zhang, writing for Politico, is that Charles Koch—yes, that Charles Koch, chief executive officer of Koch Industries—has joined with Snoop Dogg—yes, that Snoop Dogg—and criminal justice reform advocate Weldon Angelos to form The Cannabis Freedom Alliance, a new coalition that some say could change the dynamics of the marijuana legalization debate.
Zhang reports the organization includes Americans for Prosperity, the political advocacy group founded by the Koch brothers; the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank; marijuana trade organization the Global Alliance for Cannabis Commerce; and The Weldon Project, a nonprofit that advocates for the release of individuals incarcerated for marijuana offenses.
She also writes that the idea for the Cannabis Freedom Alliance sprouted from a Zoom call between Angelos, Snoop Dogg and Koch last summer during which Koch expressed support for legalizing all drugs.
Americans for Prosperity, founded by the Koch brothers in 2004—one of the most influential organizations in conservative politics—hopes to persuade Republican legislators to support the reform of current federal restrictions on cannabis.
Brent W. Gardner, chief government affairs officer for Americans for Prosperity, said in a statement, “Americans for Prosperity is excited to work alongside our partners to bring cannabis businesses into the light, replacing black and gray markets with a free and fair legal framework. Cannabis commerce will become a way for Americans to lift themselves up, rather than a barrier holding them back.”
To learn more we urge you to read Mona Zhang’s insightful reporting. It appears in the April 6, 2021 issue of Politico.
www.politico.com/news/2021/04/06/charles-koch-snoop-dogg-marijuana-legalization-479148?
Tech Talk
Many mature consumers are surprised to find that making quality edibles at home can be more complicated than they expected.
Simply put, the process involves more than just adding some cannabis to cookie dough, popping those edibles in the oven and hoping for the best. Raw cannabis has to go through a process called decarboxylation to turn the compounds THCA and CBDA, which are found in raw flower, into THC and CBD for edibles to work their magic when consumed.
Decarboxylation requires precise temperature controls to avoid burning off the THC and CBD in the cooking or baking process. Otherwise, the success of your efforts may end up being more a matter of guesswork than craft.
To help, attorney turned cannabis entrepreneur Shanel Lindsay founded Ardent Cannabis, a Boston-based biotech and medical cannabis device company. According to Morgan Olsen, writing for Timeout, in 2016 the company introduced Ardent Nova, a decarboxylator for the home that allows users to activate THC and CBD in their flower and infuse butters and oils for home baking. This was followed by the release of Ardent FX. Described as an “Easy Bake” device, it decarboxylates, extracts, infuses, melts and bakes—all in a single appliance.
Both the Nova and the FX are described as “sleek purple devices.” Lindsay told Olsen she thinks it’s critical that her brand blends beauty and discretion, offering something that fits in next to your rice cooker, crockpot and other kitchen appliances.
Said Lindsay, “In the early days, there was always this stoner stereotype of what people in cannabis looked like and did. Part of what I always wanted to bring to the table was just, hey, this is what cannabis looks like to me. It can be sleek and modern and beautiful.”
The company’s website, ardentcannabis.com, also offers recipes, additional products and cooking and baking tips. You can learn more by reading Morgan Olsen’s entertaining and informative article. It appears in the April 6, 2021 issue of Timeout.com.
www.timeout.com/usa/news/this-cannabis-ceo-invented-an-easy-bake-device-for-homemade-edibles-040621?
Travel Tips
This week we have two travel tips. The first may be filed under the advice of “know before you go.” It involves the story of a 51 year-old American who was jailed and is being held in Dubai after doctors found traces of cannabis in his system during an emergency medical procedure.
Graig Graziosi, writing for Yahoo!News, reports that the man, Peter Clark, is being held even though he consumed the cannabis before entering the United Arab Emirates.
Radha Stirling, the founder of the legal blog Detained in Dubai, is representing Mr. Clark, and said he could face years in prison. Said Ms Stirling, “Arresting someone for smoking marijuana in their own country, weeks before they even entered the UAE, is unfairly persecuting tourists who have behaved well within Dubai itself. The US State department needs to revise travel warnings to Americans who could end up arbitrarily detained.”
Clearly, when planning a trip mature consumers need to investigate the cannabis laws in effect in their destination and prepare accordingly.
You can learn more by reading Graig Graziosi’s detailed article. It appears in the April 12, 2021 issue of Yahoo!News.com—and please, if you are thinking of making a joke about no doobies in Dubai, don’t.
news.yahoo.com/american-faces-jail-dubai-smoking-174225431.html?
Our second travel tip involves a special offer from the Expedia Group’s hotel booking site, Hotels.com, that’s intended to help 20 lucky travelers observe the cannabis holiday 4/20 in style.
According to Nina Zdinjak, reporting for Benzinga, the company will pay the room service tabs on April 20, for 20 fortunate individuals. To compete for the $200 gift card, travelers should share their hotel reservation confirmation for April 20, 2021 with munchiehotels@hotels.com.
While the 20 winners can indulge any food craving they may have, the package does not contain or cover the cost of any cannabis products. The company also told Zdinjak that travelers should follow local laws and hotel requirements regarding the purchase and use of cannabis.
To learn more we suggest you read Nina Zdinjak’s article. It appears in the April 12, 2021 issue of Benzinga.com.
Cannabis Quote of the Week
“Even most of the states in which recreational use is legal make a point of providing more flexibility and benefits to obtaining marijuana when managed through medical channels: approvals to grow your own for personal medicinal use, growing larger quantities for recreational use than other consumers, higher possession and purchase limits, and even lower tax rates! Add that to extra legal protections, higher potency products and other opportunities for priority service, and getting that medical card becomes very attractive. Once again, this is a way for states to make clear that they are “in control” of this still-developing industry, with more robust documentation and tracking for medical, behavioral or criminal consequences and adverse outcomes.”—Alex Milligan. Milligan is Co-founder and CMO of NuggMD, the nation’s leading medical marijuana technology platform, facilitating access to medical marijuana for patients in New York, California, Nevada, Oklahoma and Missouri. Patients receive their evaluations entirely online via face-to-face video chats from the comfort and privacy of their own home.
His comments on the future viability of medical marijuana in the face of the growing legalization of recreational cannabis come from an op-ed he penned for the April 7, 2021 issue of Benzinga.com.
www.benzinga.com/markets/cannabis/21/04/20507686/why-medical-cannabis-markets-still-matter?
Stats of the Week
If you have been wondering just how much states that have legalized medical and/or recreational cannabis take in in taxes, the answer is a lot.
According to an article prepared by Dispensaries.com for the online publication Green Entrepreneur, the non-profit Tax Foundation compiled a list of what various states made in fiscal year 2020 through marijuana-related excise taxes alone
The following numbers come from that study.
- California – $474.1 million
- Washington – $469.2 million
- Colorado – $307.2 million
- Oregon – $133.1 million
- Nevada – $105.1 million
- Massachusetts – $51.6 million
Their study also reported that Illinois, which just started sales in 2020, took in about $200 million from all marijuana-related taxes and fees in 2020. The state is using 10 percent of that money to pay off its backlog of unpaid bills. It is also making about $31 million available as social equity grants.
To learn more we urge you to read the article “How Much Are States Making In Marijuana Tax Revenue?” It appears in the April 8, 2021 issue of GreenEntrepreneur.com.
www.greenentrepreneur.com/article/368626
Senior CannabisDigest is compiled and edited by Joe Kohut and John Kohut. You can reach them at joe.kohut@gmail.com and at 347-528-8753.
