Okay Boomer, as the meme says, raise your hand if you can remember your younger self thinking, “How cool would it be if I could get a job smoking weed for a living? Would that be great or what?”
Well, we don’t know if it’s “great” or if it should be filed under “or what,” but if you play your cards right there is a chance you could finally live that dream.
According to a story in the business section of ABC7Ny.com, the American Medical Marijuana Association, an organization formed “to promote and protect the legal access to medical marijuana,” is willing to pay someone $3,000 a month to consume and review marijuana products.
In a post on the company’s website, American Marijuana.org, Editor in Chief Dwight K. Blake says to qualify for the position you have to live somewhere in the U.S. or Canada where medical marijuana is legal. If you are hired, each month you will receive a box containing a variety of cannabis products—such as marijuana flower, vapes, edibles, and CBD oils. After consuming the products, the person must also critique the cannabis on camera and post blogs about the products.
Blake said the company is seeking applicants who are physically fit, healthy in general, have extensive knowledge of marijuana and are capable of educating readers and viewers. Those applying for the position must also be comfortable appearing on camera since the job includes explaining how each cannabis product performs and differs from other, more notable products in the same category.
If you are hired you will be paid up to $3,000 a month and receive the free cannabis products for testing. We know it sounds a bit like a prank or a scam, but if it is, it’s a rather elaborate one, complete with website and wikipedia entry.
To learn more about the American Medical Marijuana Association or to apply for the job, just click on the link below. Humming “The Impossible Dream” while you apply is optional.
americanmarijuana.org/cannabis-dream-job/
You can also learn more by visiting the November 19, 2019 edition of ABC7NY.com and reading the story or watching the video.
abc7ny.com/business/ny-based-company-will-pay-you-$3000-a-month-to-smoke-pot/5707373/
CBD Spotlight
Before too long a new form of CBD may be competing with a well-known drug in the over-the-counter market. So says Samantha J.Gross reporting in the Miami Herald. She writes that a leading hemp research company is working on an FDA-approved capsule that could be an alternative to taking ibuprofen to treat acute pain.
According to Gross, Fort Lauderdale-based Green Point Research has announced a new partnership with Florida State University to conduct a study analyzing Green Point’s Satividol CBD softgel capsule and its benefits. The company already produces high quality hemp-derived extracts and a hemp oil CBD product called Satividol, which is 750mg of pure CBD isolate mixed with MCT (medium-chain triglycerides) oil in a softgel capsule. The product being tested will contain a higher dose of CBD than the product the company already sells and would be aimed at patients who have conditions such as arthritis or sleep issues.
Company CEO David Hasenauer said that he hopes CBD products like the one under development will provide a safer alternative to drugs like ibuprofen, which are known to have long-term effects on liver function. He added that FDA certification would allow drugs like Green Point’s to show up in medical school curricula or critical care plans in hospitals. The actual clinical research on the CBD-based ibuprofen alternative will be done in Australia through an FDA “fast track” program.
To learn more, read Samantha J. Gross’ article in the November 13, 2019 issue of the Miami Herald.
www.miamiherald.com/news/health-care/article237330479.html
Travel Advisory
Mature consumers who have friends visiting from other countries should take note. Citizens of the U.K. and other foreign nationals who consume cannabis legally while visiting the U.S. may risk being banned from this country for life.
So says Henry McDonald in an article for The Guardian. He cites the opinion of Charlotte Slocombe, a senior partner at Fragomen in London, which is described as a law firm that specializes in international immigration.
According to McDonald, Slocombe’s firm and others that deal with U.S. immigration laws have seen an increase in the number of cases where British citizens visiting the U.S. on holiday and green card holders working legally in the U.S. are being expelled or denied re-entry because of cannabis consumption, even though they were consuming it in states where it is legal.
Slocombe described a scenario where police were called to a party in a state where smoking cannabis is legal. While the Americans at the party could not be arrested for cannabis consumption, British citizens and other foreign tourists at the same party could be arrested, deported and branded unfit to re-enter the U.S.
“What is confusing to people is that while states in the USA have legalized cannabis it remains illegal federally,” Slocombe said. “Canada legalized cannabis in 2018 but as the U.S. Customs and Border Protection keep saying, U.S. federal law has not changed.”
She added that even if you are a foreigner in a state where it’s legal, it’s still illegal for you—as a foreign national in the U.S.— to use it under federal law. She went on to explain that if, for example, a foreign national buys cannabis from a legal dispensary and that dispensary asks for the person’s ID or passport, that information might be discoverable in an immigration case. It could then, as an admission of drug taking, conceivably become an immigration issue, since immigration is covered by federal and not state law.
She went on to note that investors, shareholders or firms that supply equipment for legal cannabis producers in the U.S. also run the same risk.
Slocombe told McDonald she was aware of two known investors in the U.S. cannabis industry who are foreigners and are in the U.S. on visas, who had their investment deemed illegal under federal law. She offered another case of a farmer who was on a visa and sold a portion of his land to a cannabis producer and filed U.S. tax returns. That came up as an issue when he tried to apply to renew his visa. She said her firm has advised non-U.S. technology companies to be careful over supplying IT services to American cannabis companies.
Said Slocombe, “Customs and Border Protection state that they have the right to question you about your travel to the U.S. and the industry you are in. So if you are going to do something related to the cannabis industry then yes, you could find yourself inadmissible to enter the U.S.”
To learn more, you can read Henry McDonald’s article in the November 15, 2019 issue of The Guardian.
Legislative Matters
In what’s been described by some as a historic vote, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would legalize marijuana on the federal level and remove it from Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act.
According to Berkeley Lovelace Jr., writing for CNBC, the legislation as currently written would allow states to enact their own policies and give them incentives to clear criminal records of people with low-level marijuana offenses.
In its current form the bill also includes a 5-percent tax on cannabis products that would be used to provide job training and legal assistance to those deemed to have been hit hardest by the war on drugs.
While the legislation is a significant and necessary step on the road to legalization at the federal level, such status is far from a done deal. The bill, which was passed by a vote of 24 to 10 by the committee, must now be approved by the full House, where Democrats control the chamber with 234 seats.
However, Lovelace acknowledged it’s likely to face a tougher battle in the Republican-controlled Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is actually a proponent of growing hemp to manufacture CBD, has gone on record as opposing marijuana legalization at the federal level.
According to Justin Strekal writing for The Hill, two important aspects of the bill that are receiving less media coverage are provisions that would assist America’s military veterans by, for the first time, permitting physicians associated with the Veterans Administration to recommend medical cannabis therapy to patients who reside in legal marijuana states.
The bill would also make it possible for businesses in the existing state-legal marijuana industry to legally access banking and other necessary financial services.
If the legislative experience of legalization at the state level is any guide, it would be reasonable to assume federal legalization of marijuana might require several bites at the apple before a deal is struck and the bill or bills, even if passed by the Senate, might look much different in their final form than the bill passed by the committee.
To learn more, visit the article by Berkeley Lovelace Jr. in the November 20, 2019 issue of CNBC.com and the op-ed piece contributed by Justin Strekal in the November 21, 2019 edition of The Hill.
www.cnbc.com/2019/11/20/house-committee-approves-bill-decriminalizing-mar
thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/471521-wednesdays-marijuana-legalization-vote-was-truly-historic-heres-whyijuana-on-the-federal-level.html
A Different Kind of CBD Edible
As if the public needed more evidence that businesses of all sorts are getting in on the CBD trend, there’s word that a company long-associated with corporate gift baskets and birthday treats has added a CBD twist to its list of products.
Zachary Kussin, writing for the New York Post, reports that Edible Arrangements has added a different kind of edible to its famous baskets. The company long known for selling chocolate-covered fruit bouquets is debuting a line it calls “Incredible Edibles” that will feature products that are infused with the non-psychoactive cannabis ingredient CBD.
Marketing the new line with the catch phrase “Health, Not High,” the company has already made products such as chocolate-dipped strawberries and chocolate-dipped apple bites, as well as smoothies and baked goods, that include a dose of CBD available in Dallas, Texas. The company expects to expand the offering of CBD-infused products in some 200 stores around the country by the end of 2019.
They are also selling a full-spectrum hemp CBD powder that consumers can purchase and incorporate in their own recipes at home.
According to Kussin, the company says it’s using CBD that is “sourced strictly from trusted, federally compliant and experienced farms practicing advanced and organic agricultural techniques.” It also claims its CBD products go through “rigorous testing and verification” to ensure there isn’t a “trace of contaminants, pesticides or additives.”
To learn more, you can read Zachary Kussin’s article in the November 21, 2019 issue of the New York Post or you can visit the company’s website.
nypost.com/2019/11/21/edible-arrangements-now-has-cbd-treats/
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.
