Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at a chance to visit the cannabis harvest in Northern California, the influence of family when it comes to CBD use, changes in how high-profile employers view cannabis use and much more. Enjoy.
Travel Tips
If you are a mature consumer who likes to blend travel and cannabis—and you hurry—you may still have an opportunity to experience the famous “Croptober” festival in Humboldt County, California, first hand.
So says Javier Hasse, writing for Forbes. He reports that Cannadips, a company that makes hemp-derived CBD pouches to help people quit tobacco, is inviting 10 lucky people to visit the upcoming cannabis harvest. The tour will have attendees visiting multiple grow operations in a day: from Xotic Flavorz, Ridgeline Farms and Humboldt 36 Farms, to CannaCountry Farms, Arcata Fire and Ammo Brand.
Said Hasse, a total of 4 winners of the Croptober Getaway Sweepstakes contest will be picked every 2 weeks between May 1st and June 30. One last winner will be announced on June 30, and selected through an Instagram competition where the author of the best photo posted using the #Croptober2021 hashtag will win a free trip to Humboldt.
According to Case Mandel, co-founder of Cannadips, “Croptober is so special to us: It is welcoming people into our region to experience something that has been illegal for the last 50+ years, and showing them not another monocropped field in Southern California, but high-quality artisan Humboldt sun grown cannabis.”
Cody King, founder of Xotic Flavorz, one of the farms people will visit during the tour, told Hasse, “I’ve been around cannabis since birth in Southern Humboldt. Our community has been of secrecy and artisan innovation. We didn’t take the risk for the last few generations to let corporate cannabis steal our thunder. We are excited to partner with Cannadips and show people across the country how amazing Humboldt and the cannabis culture really is.”
Hasse added that flights to and from Humboldt, the stay at the historic Hotel Arcata, food, drinks and cannabis are included in the prize.
To learn more, we suggest you visit Javier Hasse’s article in the June 1, 2021 issue of Forbes. To enter, click on the link to the article, scroll down to the end and follow the prompts to the registration form.
Cannabis Quote of the Week
“My 90-year-old father is afflicted these days with myriad ailments. He recently asked me whether cannabidiol (CBD) could help with his muscle pain and if so, whether I could procure a supply for him.
So here was my dad, a card-carrying member of the Scotch-and-soda generation, asking me to score a cannabis-derived product. My 88-year-old mom piped in with a similar question about CBD, regarding her arthritis. I provided them with medical brochures about CBD’s efficacy and counseled them to first speak with their doctor.
This interaction with my parents is strong anecdotal evidence that CBD has gone mainstream and its growth potential is enormous…..CBD has become a hot topic and people of all ages and demographics are talking and sharing opinions about the substance. Everyday conversations forge consumer perceptions and beliefs, regardless of the product. For CBD, the social network is especially important.”— JOHN PERSINOS.
Persinos is managing editor of Personal Finance, Utility Forecaster, and Radical Wealth Alliance and frequently writes about investing in cannabis.
His comments are taken from an article he penned for Investing Daily where he takes an in-depth look at the importance social networks play in both expanding awareness of CBD and motivating first-time consumers to try it.
In the article he cites an analysis by New Frontier Data that found more than half (54 percent) of consumers say that friends have recommended they try CBD, compared to 15 percent of nonconsumers doing so. Similarly, 38 percent of consumers report that a family member has recommended CBD, while only 8 percent of nonconsumers have received a family recommendation. He contends “a thumbs up, or down (on CBD), from a family member or friend carries outsized impact.”
To learn much more, we suggest you read John Persinos’s article. It appeared in the June 3, 2021 issue of Investing Daily.
www.investingdaily.com/63977/cbd-and-the-power-of-family/?
More Travel Tips
Mature cannabis consumers who enjoy an occasional trip to Bugsy Siegel’s great American theme park—Las Vegas—may soon have another reason to go. Kyle Jaeger, writing for Marijuana Moment, reports that the governor of Nevada has signed a bill to legalize marijuana consumption lounges in the state.
The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Steve Yeager (D), would create two new licensing categories for cannabis businesses in the state. One would be for “retail cannabis consumption lounges” and the other would be an “independent cannabis consumption lounge.”
Said Yeager, “I am thrilled that Governor Sisolak has signed AB341 into law! Consumption lounges will finally provide a lawful place for both tourists and locals to safely consume cannabis. In addition, lounges will help grow Nevada’s small business economy and create hundreds of jobs. In addition, consumption lounges will further solidify Las Vegas’ status as the entertainment capital of the world as well as THE destination for cannabis tourism.”
Jaeger added that Nevada’s governor also recently signed bills that would reduce marijuana penalties for minors and rescind per se driving thresholds for THC.
You can learn more by reading Kyle Jaeger’s article in the June 7, 2021 issue of Marijuana Moment.
www.marijuanamoment.net/nevada-governor-signs-bill-legalizing-marijuana-consumption-lounges/
Stats of the Week
The statistics that caught our attention this week were 70 percent and 41 percent. They come from another deep dive into CBD use—specifically who is using it and for what reasons—recently performed by the folks at New Frontier Data
According to Molly McCann, Ed.D., Director of Industry Analytics, New Frontier Data, the majority (70 percent) of medical consumers use CBD to treat a specific medical condition.
McCann added that while those who identify themselves as medical consumers account for just 9 percent of the total market share among CBD consumers overall, those driven by what are described as medical motivations lead the way when it comes to frequency of consumption.
New Frontier’s analysis revealed nearly 2 in 5 (38 percent of medical consumers) use CBD at least daily, and 3 in 5 use it at least weekly. In addition, nearly half of medical consumers (45 percent) name tincture as their preferred form.
The analysis also found the largest group of CBD consumers they studied (41 percent) reported using it to manage pain. According to McCann, consumers who use CBD to address pain issues tend to “skew older than average” with a majority — (51 percent)—reporting they are 55 years or older. In addition, while they consume CBD less frequently than do medical consumers, nearly half (44 percent) of this group use it at least weekly.
You can learn more by reading Molly McCann’s article, “Who Is Driving CBD Consumption? Four Groups Define Sales.” It appeared in the June 7, 2021 edition of New Frontier Data.
newfrontierdata.com/cannabis-insights/who-is-driving-cbd-consumption-four-groups-define-sales/?
Cannabis and Work
Two new reports offer evidence that the opinions about cannabis use held by high-profile employers may be changing.
In the first case, Patrick Finley, writing for the Chicago Sun Times, reports that the National Football League (NFL) and the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) are jointly offering up to $1 million in grants to researchers who can help the league move forward with alternatives to opioid-based pain management.
Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s Chief Medical Officer listed cannabis and CBD as areas the league wants to better understand.
Said Sills, “Players are always looking to find treatments that are going to improve their quality of life. But at the same time, players are significantly concerned about the impact on performance.”
According to Finley, at issue are two questions: is cannabis safe for pain management? And does it work? The league wants to see research, too, about how it interacts with other medications.
The most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement between the players and the league relaxed the league’s marijuana rules. Players can’t be suspended for testing positive for marijuana and can only be tested during a two-week period each year. Plus, the threshold to trigger a positive test increased four-fold.
In other employer/employee news, retail behemoth Amazon announced it will no longer reject some job candidates who test positive for cannabis.
According to Matt Mathers, writing for Yahoo! Financier, the new policy, however, does not apply to positions that are regulated by the US Department of Transport.
Amazon Worldwide Consumer CEO, Dave Clark, said: “We’re adjusting our drug testing policy.” Clark added that in the future, Amazon will treat cannabis the same as alcohol use.
Mathers also reported Mr Clark said that the firm will be actively supporting The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (MORE Act) 2021, which also aims to expunge criminal records and invest in impacted communities affected by the drug.
To learn more about the new program proposed by the NFL and NFLPA, we suggest you read Patrick Finley’s article in the June 8, 2021 issue of the Chicago Sun Times.
To learn more about the change in Amazon’s employment policy, we urge you to read Matt Mather’s reporting in the June 3, 2021 edition of Yahoo!Finance.com.
finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-no-longer-test-job-072333410.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.
