Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at new research on cannabis use and cognitive abilities in seniors, a French research program that will give free cannabis to participants, the market for CBD products for pets and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis and Older Adults
There’s good news for mature consumers of cannabis. A new study indicates that older adults exhibit no long-term cognitive problems as a result of their cannabis use.
Brendan Bures, reporting for The Fresh Toast, says that a study conducted by Israeli researchers that appeared in the journal Drug & Alcohol Review found no ill cognitive differences among older cannabis users when compared to non-users and they also found no disparities between older cannabis users and non-users when testing for cannabis use frequency, doses, years of use, and THC/CBD concentration.
Bures wrote that for the observational study, Israeli researchers gathered 63 long-term medical users and 62 non-users who all suffered from chronic pain, using cognitive tests to collect data on performance measures, such as reaction time, memory recall, and more.
The researchers said in their article “Considering the accumulating evidence showing efficacy of cannabis use for multiple health conditions common in older individuals, the lack of adverse effects on the brain in the current sample of individuals with chronic pain who were older than 50 years can contribute to a better risk–benefit assessment of [medical cannabis] treatment in this population.”
In his article Bures makes the point that in the United States, about 20 percent of medical cannabis patients are over 60, often using cannabis products to deal with chronic pain.
Brendan Bures’s informative article for The Fresh Toast also appeared in the October 12, 2020 issue of Green Entrepreneur.
www.greenentrepreneur.com/article/357239 (older)
Stat of the Week
Those who think CBD products designed for pets are just a fad may be barking up the wrong tree. An article in Hemp Industry Daily reports that Nielsen Global Connect forecasts hemp-derived CBD products formulated for pets will generate $175 million to $225 million in annual sales across all channels by 2025, signifying a threefold increase in five years.
That overall increase included dog vitamins and supplements with hemp-derived CBD which they thought are on track to more than double among dog owners and current users of traditional consumer packaged goods and non-CBD products. At the same time they expected cat owners and buyers of traditional cat products to triple their purchases of hemp-CBD vitamins and supplements formulated for cats over that same period of time.
The article on the Nielson research, “Exclusive: Hemp-derived CBD market for pets worth $60 million in 2020, with threefold growth projected,” appeared in the October 12, 2020 issue of Hemp Industry Daily.
To learn more about the pet market for CBD products you can also download the report: hempindustrydaily.com/insights-on-the-growing-market-for-cbd-pet-products/
International Trends
There’s an old limerick that begins “the French they are a funny race” and it seems particularly true when it comes to the government’s policy on drug use.
Consider the following. While there are still significant restrictions on the recreational use of cannabis, the government has announced a large-scale medical marijuana experiment that will start in March of 2021 that will provide participants with free cannabis. Yes, we said free.
Writing for Cannabis.net, Dana Smith reports the experiment will provide 3,000 participants with pharmaceutical cannabis products that will have to meet very specific pharmaceutical standards.
According to Smith, the French Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products will oversee technical specifications of the cannabis medicine, the conditions for which doctors can prescribe it for during the experiment, and the procedures involved for import, storage, distribution and regulation of cannabis.
Nicolas Authier, a university professor and chairman of the scientific committee on cannabis, said there will be “an invitation to tender for the selection of cannabis-based products.” He added the suppliers “will probably be foreign… in collaboration with pharmaceutical laboratories established in France and licensed for narcotics.”
Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle could not be reached for comment.
New Product Showcase
Long considered the mother’s milk of hipsters everywhere, Pabst Blue Ribbon—better known to many as PBR—has announced the formal launch of Pabst Labs, a new licensed marijuana business in California that will produce and sell THC-infused, nonalcoholic seltzer beverages.
According to an article that appeared in Marijuana Business Daily, the new entity will produce a line of drinks called Pabst Blue Ribbon Cannabis Infused Seltzer. The drinks will initially be distributed in a “select” number of retail stores in California. Consumers will also be able to order seltzers directly through the company website, shop.pabstlabs.com.
Said Pabst Labs Brand Manager Mark Faicol, “Though this is a limited initial launch, we’ve had a really enthusiastic and positive response from dispensaries and customers and are looking forward to a wider rollout in the coming months.”
Pabst’s leap into the cannabis business follows moves made by several other beer makers, including Constellation Brands, which owns Corona and Modelo and California-based Lagunitas Brewing Co. which has entered a partnership with AbsoluteXtracts, another California marijuana company, to begin making nonalcoholic THC-infused seltzers.
The article “Pabst Blue Ribbon Entering Cannabis Market with Infused Seltzers” appeared in the October 7, 2020 issue of Marijuana Business Daily.
mjbizdaily.com/pabst-blue-ribbon-entering-marijuana-market-with-infused-seltzers/?
Investor News and Notes
It seems there was at least one tangible outcome from the recent vice presidential debate. Those who invest in cannabis-related stocks liked what they heard from Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).
So said Sarah Polus writing for The Hill. She reported that shares of cannabis producers stocks posted gains on the Thursday following the vice presidential debate. She attributed that to Sen. Harris‘s (D-Calif.) announcement the Biden administration would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level.
According to Polus, various stocks on the Nasdaq related to the marijuana industry moved higher on the day after the debate, including cannabis stock tracker MJ ETF MJ.P, which rose 5.5 percent, and Tilray Inc TLRY.O, which increased 19.2 percent. In addition, U.S.-listed shares of Canopy Growth Corp WEED.TO, Aphria Inc APHA.TO and Aurora Cannabis Inc. ACB.TO closed between 10 percent and 13 percent higher than normal, according to Reuters.
In 2019 Sen. Harris, along with Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) introduced the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act. The legislation would declassify marijuana as a federally controlled substance and authorize a 5 percent sales tax on marijuana and marijuana products, among other things.
You can learn more by reading Sarah Polus’s article in the October 9, 2020 issue of The Hill.
Quote of the Week
“We will decriminalize marijuana and we will expunge the records of those who have been convicted of marijuana.” —Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif)
Senior Cannabis Digest is compiled and edited by Joe Kohut and John Kohut. You can reach them at joe.kohut@gmail.com and 347-528-8753.
