Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we take a look at a lawsuit involving CBD and the Magic Kingdom, shine a light on another sports celebrity who has become a CBD brand ambassador and unpack a complicated statement on cannabis by the American Heart Association. Enjoy.
CBD and the Law
If a 70-year old grandmother who suffers from arthritis has her way, attorneys from Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Florida may soon be tapping into Scrooge McDucks millions to settle a lawsuit.
According to Kyle Jaeger, reporting for Marijuana Moment, the woman, Hester Burkhalter, was advised by a physician in Tennessee to take CBD for her arthritis pain. She was arrested after an off-duty sheriff’s deputy discovered the oil in her purse at a security checkpoint when she was entering the Magic Kingdom in Florida.
Her detention created headlines across the world. While the charges were subsequently dropped following a 12-hour stint in jail, she’s now seeking compensation from the entertainment conglomerate.
To that end, Jaeger writes, she has hired what has been described as a legal power house, including a team of attorneys led by Ben Crump, the same lawyer who’s worked on multiple high-profile cases, including the killings of unarmed black Americans such as Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown and is representing the families of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, whose deaths at the hands of police ignited mass protests across the country this year.
Said Crump, “It’s one thing for Disney to say because she had CBD, she was not allowed to come onto their property. It is another thing entirely to have law enforcement arrest her and put her in jail for 12 hours after she told them the oil was recommended by her doctor for medical reasons.”
Crump added, “It is disgraceful that the Orange County Sheriff’s Department would treat this cherished grandmother like a common criminal in front of her family and her children who were with them—to have her children ask, ‘why would Mickey Mouse arrest grandma?’”
The lawsuit, which was filed in the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, names both the Walt Disney Company and the sheriff’s department as defendants. It alleges illegal detention, false arrest and a violation of Burkhalter’s civil rights.
Neither Mickey or Minnie was available for comment.
To learn more, you can read Kyle Jaeger’s detailed reporting in the August 5, 2020 issue of Marijuana Moment.
CBD Celebrity Spotlight
Another name familiar to football fans is now associated with a line of CBD products. NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre has signed on to be a brand ambassador for Green Eagle, a new CBD brand that makes creams, roll-ons, sprays, liquid capsules and salve sticks.
According to Javier Hasse, writing for Benzinga, Favre admits he had been apprehensive about trying CBD. However, what he describes as the “quick and effective relief” of THC-free Green Eagle products changed his mind about including it in his wellness routine.
Said Favre, “In the past, if I had a grueling workout or put too much strain on my body, it would slow me down and take some time to recover. Now that I’ve started incorporating CBD into my sports regime and using it as an added means of muscle support, I’m able to be active at the level I want without having to compromise how I’ll feel later on.”
The company claims it uses a technology that transforms nutrients into nanoparticles during the production process. This is said to help the body’s cells absorb ingredients faster and more efficiently.
To learn more, visit Javier Hasse’s article in the August 5, 2020 issue of Benzinga.
Stats of the Week
While medical cannabis is legal in 33 states in the U.S. and part of a million dollar industry, believed by some to soon be a billion dollar industry, only 13 percent of medical schools offer any instructional material on the human endocannabinoid system (ECS), a biological system only discovered in the mid-1990s that regulates many aspects of human health and well-being and is involved with the body’s interaction with cannabinoids such as THC and CBD, both of which are found in cannabis.
To learn more about the growth of medical cannabis we urge you to click on the link below to read the detailed analysis found in the report produced by Pharmalive.com.
www.pharmalive.com/special-feature-medical-cannabis-continues-to-grow/?
Cannabis in the News
A recent story on the CNN website demonstrated once again that when it comes to stories about cannabis there can be a significant difference between the headline and the facts behind the story, particularly as it relates to mature consumers.
It also demonstrated the need for mature consumers of cannabis to be mature and discerning consumers of the news as well.
In this case a story by Sandee LaMotte, which carried the headline “Weed is not good for your heart, studies say,” referenced the American Heart Association’s new scientific statement on marijuana.
That statement from Dr. Rose Marie Robertson, the deputy chief science and medical officer for the American Heart Association, read in part,”The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that people not smoke or vape any substance, including cannabis products, because of the potential harm to the heart, lungs and blood vessels.”
The reporting in the CNN story made it sound as if Robertson’s statement was completely anti-cannabis when in fact, if you read the entire AHA release, the statement was against smoking anything and was more even-handed in its treatment of cannabis use in general.
According to Robert L. Page II, Pharm.D., M.S.P.H., FAHA, chair of the writing group for the statement and professor in the department of clinical pharmacy and the department of physical medicine/rehabilitation at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Aurora, Colorado, “Attitudes towards recreational and medicinal use of cannabis have changed rapidly, and many states have legalized it for medical and/or recreational use. Health care professionals need a greater understanding of the health implications of cannabis, which has the potential to interfere with prescribed medications and/or trigger cardiovascular conditions or events, such as heart attacks and strokes.”
While most of the concerns raised by the AHA statement focused on the potential health consequences when cannabis is used by younger people, the statement did acknowledge some studies have suggested that cannabis use – both CBD and THC – may be safe and effective for older populations and that older adults often use it to reduce neuropathic pain (common among people with type 2 diabetes), improve quality of life and decrease prescription drug use (including opioids).
The statement went on to say that more research on the effects of cannabis is needed and criticized the fact that the Federal government considers cannabis a Schedule I drug which severely limits access to the drug for even the most legitimate research efforts.
The statement from the AHA also raised the legitimate issue that mature cannabis users need to tell their physician that they use cannabis since it has the potential to interfere with the effectiveness of other medications. This may require the prescribing physician to adjust the dosage of the other medications.
To read the story by Sandee LaMotte you can read the August 5, 2020 issue of CNN.com. To access the American Heart Association statement you can click on the link below.
www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/health/weed-marijuana-heart-wellness/index.html
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.
