Several weeks ago we reported on a plan to open what’s been called the first cannabis cafe in California. That plan has become a reality. Lowell Farms’ Lowell Cafe, located in West Hollywood, California, opened its doors to the public this past Tuesday, October 1, 2019.
Reporting for CBSnews.com, Caitlin O’Kane describes the Lowell Cafe as a hybrid weed lounge and restaurant where customers can order up some cannabis along with their meal. In addition to the restaurant area, the cafe has what it calls a “Dab Bar,” where customers can consume cannabis that has been turned into more concentrated forms, such as wax, butter, shatter or hash. The cannabis is heated to a specific temperature and inhaled when it turns to a vapor.
There is also an area the cafe calls a “Flower House.” There, customers will find hosts who, much like a sommelier, can help them find the “perfect” marijuana flower to go with their meal.
Due to current laws, there are no dishes on the Lowell Cafe menu that are infused with any cannabis. However, there will be limited, pre-packaged “edibles” available for purchase. According to the restaurant’s website, one of the top cannabis chefs in Los Angeles, Andrea Drummer, has created “a unique menu of healthy, flavorful, non-infused dishes” that are designed to heighten the cannabis experience.
There are a number of state regulations the cafe must observe. For example, no one under the age of 21 is allowed inside, even if they have a medical marijuana card. New regulations for cannabis businesses were passed in 2019 that restricted selling and advertising cannabis to anyone under 21. In addition, the cafe encourages patrons to act as if they are going to a bar that served alcohol. This is to discourage customers from driving home under the influence.
The 220 seat operation, which has has indoor and outdoor seating, is funded by cannabis farmers Lowell Herb Co, whose backers include several celebrities, such as pop star Miley Cyrus, actor Chris Rock and comedian Sarah Silverman.
The passage of California’s Adult Use of Marijuana Act in 2016 made it legal for anyone 21 years of age or older to grow, possess, and use cannabis for non-medicinal purposes, with certain restrictions. In 2018 it became legal to sell and distribute cannabis in the state through a regulated business.
You can learn more by reading Caitlin O’Kane’s article in the October 1, 2019 edition of CBSnews.com. Additional reporting by Corazon Miller can be found in the October 2, 2019 edition of The Daily Mail.com.
CBD and its Effects
There’s helpful news for mature consumers and others who are still wondering what all the buzz concerning CBD is about. A recent article attempts to break down what experts know for sure—including the role CBD plays in your body—how much CBD you need in order to feel its effects and what consumers should know before buying it.
Colleen Travers, writing for HuffPost, makes the point that if consumers are not careful about the source of their CBD, they may actually be buying a product that contains little or no CBD at all. Said Dr. Jordan Tishler, member of the medical advisory board at cannabisMD and president of the Association of Cannabis Specialists, “Many over-the-counter CBD products contain no CBD, or worse, may have dangerous ingredients in them like heavy metals or opiates,”
However, despite the confusion surrounding many products claiming to contain CBD, Travers is quick to assert that there are several reasons to believe taking real CBD can offer tangible benefits. She sites the position of Ethan Russo, director of research and development at the International Cannabis and Cannabinoids Institute. Said Russo, “It’s easy to say because of the profusion of [CBD on the market] that it’s all witchcraft or snake oil, but that’s not the case.” He contends CBD is a very versatile medicine that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves.
For starters, CBD may help reduce chronic pain for some people. “CBD won’t completely take the pain away like morphine would,” said Dr. Rahul Khare, founder of Innovative Express Care in Chicago, “but it may decrease it to a point where it makes the pain more tolerable.”
Travers also pointed to a review published in the journal Molecules that found that medications containing CBD from a cannabis plant may be able to enhance a patient’s drug treatment for chronic pain and inflammation conditions. However, the review acknowledged that CBD may work as a complement to, but not a replacement for, prescribed medication in the cases reviewed in the article and its effectiveness is dependent on the preparation, dosage and formulation.
Another potential benefit of taking CBD is that it may help a person feel less anxious. According to Travers, research published in the journal Neurotherapeutics found that CBD may help short-term in cases of generalized anxiety, panic disorder, social anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder.
There are also indications CBD may be able to help gastrointestinal issues caused by gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
On the downside, Travers reports that at high doses CBD—more than any other of the cannabinoids—can interact with conventional medications—such as Warfarin—in a way that can potentially be dangerous. Other possible negative effects at very high doses—600 to 1,200 milligrams of CBD per day—can include nausea and jitteriness.
In closing, Travers underscored that it’s important for consumers to understand the potential legal restrictions on cannabis where they reside. This is important since there is evidence CBD products are most effective when they contain some THC. State and local laws may prohibit such products.
Travers believes the safest way to purchase CBD is from a state-regulated medical or recreational cannabis program.
Colleen Travers’ excellent article appears in the September 30, 2019 edition of HuffPost.com.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/body-on-cbd_l_5d8cd9d5e4b0e9e76049143c
Legalization Update
One day in the not so distant future Pennsylvania may join the list of states where mature consumers and others can legally use recreational marijuana.
At present, eleven states and Washington, DC, have legalized marijuana for recreational use for adults over 21. In addition, 33 states have legalized medical marijuana.
Just days after Pennsylvania’s Governor Tom Wolfe signaled he would support legalizing recreational use, a state legislator proposed a bill that would legalize the sale of marijuana in the state’s liquor stores. Supporters of such legislation estimate legalizing recreational, or adult use of marijuana, would create a $1.66 billion industry, add more than 18,000 jobs and generate over $580 million in tax revenue.
According to Hunter Moyler, reporting for Newsweek, the bill proposed by State Representative David Delloso, a Democrat from Delaware County, a suburb of Philadelphia, amends a 1951 law regulating the sale of alcohol to include provisions for the sale of cannabis. It proposes imposing rules on the drug’s sale which are in many ways identical to how most states oversee alcohol. People who wish to purchase cannabis would have to be 21 years old and show legal proof of their age. “Driving under the influence of cannabis” would also be illegal.
In its current form, the bill would not decriminalize personal marijuana cultivation by residents and would forbid what it refers to as “criminal actors” —those who do not work in “legitimate, State-operated stores”— from selling it.
Reporting for Pittsburgh.cbslocal.com, Paul Martini wrote that Governor Wolf made his position known while releasing a report from Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s statewide tour of all of the State’s 67 counties. Fetterman’s tour, where he solicited opinions on the legalization of marijuana, found 68 percent of residents who participated were in favor of recreational legalization and there was near unanimous support for decriminalization.
Wolf, a Democrat, signed legislation in 2016 creating Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program. In addition to supporting the legalization of recreational use Wolf urged the state legislature to decriminalize possession of small amounts of cannabis and pass legislation to expunge prior cannabis convictions.
Subsequent to Governor Wolf’s announcement, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said he also supports the efforts to legalize recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania, stating that “continuing to criminalize adult personal marijuana use is a waste of limited law enforcement resources, it disproportionately impacts our minority communities and it does not make us safer.”
While a first step toward legalization, those supporting passage of the initial bill will face an uphill fight. At present, all of the bill’s supporters in the legislature are members of the Democratic Party, while the majority of Pennsylvania’s legislators were elected as Republicans.
Given the amount of political horse trading it took to pass the State’s medical marijuana legislation one can expect a bill legalizing recreational use to go through a similar “sausage making” process in order to satisfy numerous stakeholders.
More information can be found in Hunter Moyler’s article in the October 2, 2019 edition of Newsweek.com and Paul Martino’s reporting for the September 25, 2019 issue of Pittsburgh.cbslocal.com.
pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/09/25/tom-wolf-marijuana-legalization/
Celebrity Spotlight
Another entertainer has “seen the light” when it comes to cannabis. Actor, author, musician, certified Soul Man and Blues Brother Jim Belushi has announced plans to expand his Oregon-based cannabis operation to include Illinois, with hopes to eventually take its products across the country under the Blues Brothers brand.
For the last few years Belushi has been growing marijuana in Oregon where he has a 93-acre cannabis farm in the southern part of the state, near the town of Eagle Point. He has been selling the cannabis he grows there under the Belushi’s Private Vault and Captain Jack brands. He now plans to bring a new strain, named The Blues Brothers, to Illinois. The strain is named after the film and band that his brother, comedian John Belushi, made famous along with comedian Dan Ackroyd.
Said Belushi in an interview with Advertising Age, “Illinois is going to be a huge market. I want to be on the shelves come Jan. 1.” He also told the magazine that he plans to launch the brand by driving a replica of the famous Bluesmobile down Chicago’s Lake Street under the El Train with a joint instead of a public address speaker on top.
Belushi acknowledged he wants to bring his cannabis products to the California and Nevada markets as well, which will involve the licensing of the Blues Brothers name to other growers, and that he has been meeting with growers to take the brand national and even international.
According to Emma Spears reporting for The Province, Belushi is developing a new reality show about his cannabis farming experience. No stranger to reality TV, his show “Building Belushi,” appears on the DIY Network. It has detailed his experience expanding, renovating and restoring an old house by the Rogue River.
In an earlier interview with the NBC affiliate in Portland, Oregon, Belushi asserted that the cannabis business is more than a hobby for him and that he believes marijuana has the potential to help people in many ways including those suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He also believes marijuana has helped him, “emotionally and spiritually.”
You can learn more by reading Emma Spears’ article in the September 30, 2019 edition of The Province.com and an article contributed by Dispensaries.com to the July 18, 2019 edition of Green Entrepreneur. You can also watch an interview he did with television station KGW in Portland, Oregon in 2018.
https://www.greenentrepreneur.com/article/336959
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfKXS2pjhuM
Investor News And Notes
After spending the last few months getting beaten in the market like that well-known drum there may be some good news for Canadian cannabis giant Canopy Growth—and that may mean good news for investors who have tried to weather the storm.
The company has acquired a majority stake in BioSteel Sports Nutrition, a leading producer of sports nutrition products. According to an article by TipRanks that appeared in Yahoo Finance, Canopy has acquired 72 percent of BioSteel in an all cash deal that includes the potential to take full ownership in the company. TipRanks is a service that evaluates the recommendations of stock analysts and bloggers.
It’s been suggested the deal in some ways resembles the agreement Canadian cannabis company Aurora Cannabis reached with mixed-martial-arts (MMA) league Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC. Aurora and UFC have agreed to collaborate on a research program to see whether cannabidiol (CBD) products have any benefit to MMA fighters.
Andrew Button, writing for The Motley Fool, says that down the road, the initial agreement could lead to a number of branding benefits, such as Aurora having its name mentioned on air during UFC broadcasts or branded Aurora products having UFC fighter endorsements.
In the case of Canopy Growth, while the new acquisition may enhance its profile in the sports universe, there are other benefits that may be more tangible and immediate. As the article in Yahoo Finance points out, BioSteel has over 10,000 distribution points in Canada and the U.S., and has partnerships with a number of professional sports leagues. It’s also continuing to expand in the European market.
Plus, its CBD-based products are developed in alignment with different laws spread across different nations and domestic jurisdictions, and are made up of natural ingredients.
In addition, the company’s products have already garnered endorsements from an impressive list of sports celebrities, including former Edmonton Oilers great Wayne Gretsky, Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott, Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and golf pro Brooke Henderson. It also has partnerships in place with Athletics Canada, Canada Basketball, the Professional Hockey Players’ Association, and USA Hockey.
The TipRanks/Yahoo Finance article takes the position that selling CBD-based products into the existing professional sports market will help Canopy in the short term. In the long term, having the ability to reach millions of amateur and weekend athletes looking for CBD products to relieve aches and pains may be the aspect of the deal that really benefits Canopy.
To learn more, read the TipRanks article that appears in the October 4. 2019 edition of Yahoo Finance, the article by Erik Volkman that appears in the October 4, 2019 edition of The Motley Fool and the reporting by Andrew Button in the May 29, 2019 edition of The Motley Fool.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finally-silver-lining-canopy-growth-180311966.html
https://www.fool.com/news/2019/10/04/canopy-growth-makes-a-surprising-acquisition.aspx
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.
