Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we take a look at an Australian insurance company that covers cannabis prescriptions, more problems with CBD labeling, a new study on therapies that use cannabis, and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis Trends
If news out of Australia is any indication, U.S. insurance companies may one day cover at least some costs associated with prescriptions for medical marijuana.
Marijuana Business Daily reports that an Australian cannabis company called Little Green Pharma and national private health insurer Health Insurance Fund of Australia have entered into a strategic partnership that will expand access to medical cannabis. The partnership also encompasses research into medical cannabis.
According to the agreement the Health Insurance Fund (HIF) will offer rebates for Little Green Pharma’s medical cannabis products up to 105 Australian dollars ($76 U.S.) per prescription for medical cannabis.
The insurance company noted in a news release that the deal “represents the first time a major Australian health fund has publicly declared its support for access to medicinal cannabis treatments.”
The CEO of HIF said the company is the first Australian health fund to publicly declare its support for medical cannabis treatments and provide members with rebates.
Australia added nearly 6,000 medical cannabis approvals in October, bringing the total number of approvals this year to over 45,000.
Some experts believe expanded insurance coverage is a key to improving affordability and growing the number of accessible patients for businesses in Australia’s regulated market.
More information is available in the article “Australian private health insurer inks deal to expand cannabis coverage.” It appeared in the November 10, 2020 issue of Marijuana Business Daily.
mjbizdaily.com/australian-private-health-insurer-inks-deal-to-expand-cannabis-coverage/?
CBD Spotlight
Unfortunately the issue of inaccurate labeling of CBD products just won’t go away. The latest example comes from a study conducted by Leafreport and its partner lab, Canalysis. Their analysis showed that only 25 percent of CBD edibles contain the labeled amount of CBD. In addition, potency tests revealed that 63 percent of products had more CBD than labeled.
According to Jelena Martinovic, writing for Benzinga, Lital Shafir, Leafreport’s head of products, said that some discrepancies were expected, given that “edibles are harder to measure compared to tinctures, capsules, and other products.”
Martinovic points out that industry experts contend cannabinoid levels in cannabis products shouldn’t deviate more than 10 percent compared to the amount that’s advertised and that CBD products should have between 90 percent to 110 percent of the claimed CBD amount.
Leafreports’s Shafir emphasized that the degree of discrepancy found in their study shows yet again that it’s important for consumers to research the brand before buying and checking the third-party lab results for the products they are most interested in buying.
To learn more, you can read Jelena Martinovic‘s article in the November 12, 2020 issue of Benzinga.
Stat of the Week
A new study out of Colorado provides us with this week’s stat of the week which shows that sometimes less can still be more. It also shows that even in these stressful times, consumers are keeping cannabis on their shopping list.
Hayley Sanchez, writing to CPR News, reports that according to the Colorado Department of Revenue, sales of marijuana accounted for more than $206 million in September of 2020.
While that is less than consumers spent in July and August, it is about $50 million more than September 2019 and generated $36.8 million in taxes and fees from cannabis sales.
Sanchez noted that the Department of Revenue said most of the money came from the sale of adult use or “retail” marijuana, with medical marijuana contributing around $40 million of that total.
If the figures from Colorado are any indication, it appears the pandemic is not putting a significant crimp in the public’s spending when it comes to purchasing legal cannabis.
More information is available in Hayley Sanchez’s article in the November 11, 2020 issue of CPR News.
Quotes of the Week
We actually have two notable quotes this week.
The first comes from Pennsylvania’s Lt. Governor John Fetterman.
“If you can grow it next to your f***ing tomatoes, why are you going to prison and being labeled a criminal for the rest of your life? That would have blown up this election, and it would have made it a lot less close for whichever campaign picked up that bazooka.”
The “that” he refers to is advocating for decriminalizing cannabis. His comments are part of a video interview he gave to Rolling Stone. The interview is available online at www.dailymotion.com/video/x7xg91.
The second quote comes from Sam Riches.
“Here is another thing I learned: it’s easy to grow bad weed. Good weed, though, takes a lot more patience. Growth takes time and persistence.”
Riches’s observation on what he learned while growing marijuana appears in an article he wrote about trying his hand at it. More on his experiences as a grower can be found in the November 13, 2020 issue of The Growth Op.
www.thegrowthop.com/life/what-i-learned-trying-to-grow-cannabis-for-the-first-time
Medical Matters
A new study will attempt to track how the medicinal use of cannabis products benefits individuals’ health and well being.
That’s the word from Javier Hasse, writing for Benzinga. Hasse reports that Johns Hopkins University has agreed to collaborate with Realm of Caring and Bloom Medical on a research initiative focused on cannabinoid therapies.
Realm of Caring is a Colorado-based nonprofit that supports cannabinoid research and education. Bloom Medical is a multi-state operator of cannabis dispensaries.
According to Heather Jackson, the co-founder and President of the Realm of Caring Foundation, the study will enable Bloom Medical to examine, “how their customers are doing—are they sleeping better, reducing their pain, reducing their anxiety or depression, or finding other benefits—and what products at what dosages are helping them. In turn, they will know what products they should carry and how they are helping their community.”
You can learn more about the study by reading Javier Hasse’s article in the November 13, 2020 issue of Benzinga.
Senior Cannabis Digest is compiled and edited by Joe Kohut and John Kohut. You can reach them joe.kohut@gmail.com and at 347-528-8753.
