Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we examine cannabis use and high blood pressure, how aging may affect the way individuals use cannabis, the increasing number of women who are cannabis consumers and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis and High Blood Pressure
Since using cannabis can often produce a deep feeling of relaxation and calmness, it’s been suggested by some that using it may help to lower blood pressure, or help to manage it. It turns out that like many things involving cannabis, it depends.
It’s estimated one in three adults in the U.S deal with hypertension, another term for high blood pressure. The condition also contributes to cardiovascular disease if it is left unmanaged. A person could face the risk of stroke, heart failure, and heart attack. All of these risks explain why people are actively seeking solutions.
Writing for Cannabis.net, Lemon Knowles cites four factors to consider when looking at the relationship between high blood pressure and cannabis use: the kind of cannabis strain used, the person’s underlying health condition, the person’s experience with THC and the way cannabis is administered.
According to Knowles, a recent study was conducted by Dr. Melanie Bone, a board-certified OB-GYN and cannabis specialist who practices in West Palm Beach, Florida, that may shed light on this subject. He reports that in Bone’s study two different strains were used. One strain was high in psychoactive cannabinoid THC while the other strain had higher levels of the non-intoxicating cannabinoid CBD.
Knowles writes that when participants in Bone’s study took the cannabis strains, “the THC made them experience an increase in heart rate and a decrease in blood pressure. Some others used THC while lying down and had slightly elevated blood pressure, but when they stood up, their blood pressure dropped.”
He contends the study by Dr. Bone suggests that the positive impact of cannabis on blood pressure happens when the person lies down while taking it and lies for a while before standing up.
CBD also relaxes the blood vessels and decreases anxiety which ends up lowering blood pressure. This experience with CBD for lowered blood pressure, the study suggests, is more favorable because it is connected with reduced levels of anxiety.
Knowles also emphasizes that smoking cannabis while dealing with heart issues is not advised. That’s why other methods of taking cannabis such as sublingual tinctures and edibles may be healthier alternatives to smoking, especially for individuals with high blood pressure and heart problems.
To learn more, we suggest you read Lemon Knowles’s article on cannabis and high blood pressure. It appears in the April 2, 2021 issue of Cannabis.net.
cannabis.net/blog/medical/can-marijuana-help-with-high-blood-pressure
Stats of the Week
The magic number this week is 33.6 percent. According to Marijuana Business Daily that’s the percentage of the cannabis purchases in February that were made by women. The study, once again by Headset, looked at purchases in California, Colorado, Nevada and Washington.
Andrew Long, writing for Marijuana Business Daily, thinks that while this marks an increase of just over a percentage point compared to last year, the growing number of women who are cannabis customers could have a lasting effect because men and women shop differently for cannabis products.
Long notes that while female buyers still spend most of their money on flower, they are more likely to purchase products other than flower, such as edibles and tinctures, when compared to their male counterparts. They also spend more than men on beverages, capsules, tinctures, topicals and, in some states, vape pens.
He also contends that companies, especially female-led businesses, are changing the way the industry thinks about product design and marketing by factoring in women shoppers.
You can learn more by reading Andrew Long’s insightful analysis. It appears in the March 30, 2021 issue of Marijuana Business Daily.
mjbizdaily.com/more-women-are-buying-marijuana-that-may-change-product-demand/?
Cannabis Quote of the Week
“Whereas I used to smoke and vape almost exclusively, often several times a day, these days I prefer taking 15 to 30 milligrams of high-quality CBD two or three times a day. I feel like my current routine works beautifully to ease anxiety and promote sleep. And I love that there’s little risk for impairment or paranoia with CBD.”—Elizabeth Enochs. A writer and journalist, her work has appeared in Leafly, Bustle, USA Today, POPSUGAR and other publications.
Her comment is taken from a revealing article she penned for Leafly. In it she describes how aging has altered her cannabis routine.
She also acknowledged that as she ages, she prefers sticking with edibles and tinctures, partially due to health issues that weren’t present in her life until recently, but also because she has become more health-conscious in general now and that she wants to protect her lungs.
To learn more about her experience and aging and cannabis consumption in general, we encourage you to read her informative article, “How aging changed my cannabis routine – and might change yours, too.” It appeared in the April 5, 2021 issue of Leafly.com.
www.leafly.com/news/health/cannabis-routine-and-aging
Legalization Issues
It’s finally happened. You have consumed cannabis, illegally, for many years and now you have lived long enough to finally see it declared legal in the state where you live. Now what?
Writing for the New York Post, Bruce Barcott, a senior editor at Leafly and the author of “Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America,” wrote about eight things that are likely to happen after legalization. Here are a few.
For starters, Barcott writes that stoned driving may, or may not, increase. He cites two early studies that found no significant change in roadway deaths after legalization in Colorado and Washington and a third that reported a small increase in overall accident rates. He also mentions two separate studies that found California’s legalization of medical marijuana was linked to a decrease in motor vehicle fatalities.
The bottom line: Cannabis can clearly affect driving ability, but so far it hasn’t become a major issue in the states where legalization—either recreational or medicinal—has occurred. That may be, he contends, because most consumption still happens at home.
It’s also likely, says Barcott, that some communities will practise a form of NIMBY (not in my back yard) and while cannabis may now be legal in the state, they will take steps to prohibit cannabis-related businesses from operating locally.
The bottom line: Keeping the legal operators out can have the unintended consequence of keeping the black market dealers in business.
While an increase in cannabis use by teenagers has long been a staple of anti-legalization rhetoric, according to Barcott, that probably won’t be the case. He points to a December 2020 study in the Journal of Adolescent Health which found no evidence that recreational marijuana legalization was associated with increased use among adolescents. Instead, frequency of use declined 16 percent among those who reported consuming in the past month.
The bottom line: While cannabis use by teens is a serious issue, it’s not likely that legalizing recreational use by adults will cause teen use to spike.
You can learn much more by reading Bruce Barcott’s illuminating and entertaining article. It appears in the April 3, 2021 issue of the New York Post.
nypost.com/2021/04/03/now-that-weed-is-legal-ny-can-expect-these-8-things-to-happen/
Travel Tips
One day, tourist travel to other countries will be less problematic and when that happens, many mature cannabis consumers will consider Mexico, where cannabis is now legal, as a destination.
Emily Paxhia, co-founder and managing partner of Poseidon, a fund that specializes in cannabis investment, noted that some of those travelers will see Mexico as a place where they can combine cannabis and “wellness.”
According to Pazhia, Mexico has long been seen as a destination where travelers can experience plant-based therapies to restore their bodies and minds.
Said Pazhia, “The possibilities are endless. Will there be cannabis-focused tours of Mexico City’s gorgeous Xochimilco Canals? High-end boutiques in the city’s Colonia Roma neighborhood selling handcrafted pipes? Hotel spas offering CBD lotions and THC tinctures in the minibars?”
She also contends, legalization offers the possibility of creating cannabis experiences that dovetail with Mexico’s deep historical traditions, such as Temazcal Rituals or cacao ceremonies. She suggests this would be a wise move from a tourism perspective, “especially since increasingly discerning wellness travelers crave hyperlocal and authentic experiences they won’t find anywhere else.”
To learn more, including her opinions about investing in cannabis in Mexico, we suggest you read her article “Mexico’s Cannabis Legalization And The Potential Boom Of Wellness Travel: What It Means For Investors.” It appears in the April 5, 2021 issue of Yahoo!Finance.com.
finance.yahoo.com/news/mexicos-cannabis-legalization-potential-boom-145120855.html
Senior Cannabis Digest is compiled and edited by Joe Kohut and John Kohut. You can reach them at joe.kohut@gmail.com and at 347-528-8753.
