Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at a new study on treating chronic pain with medical cannabis, a college course that prepares students for careers in the cannabis industry, a new way to find the cannabis strain you’re looking for and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis and Pain
There is hopeful news for those who experience chronic pain and the people who care for them. A new study from Israel indicates using medical cannabis may help to improve quality of life and make it possible to reduce the use of pain medication.
The study—which appeared in the journal Frontiers In Pharmacology—interviewed 907 individuals who reported experiencing neuropathic pain , musculoskeletal pain , headaches and nociplastic pain, such as fibromyalgia, and what was described as visceral pain, which is associated with pressure, inflammation, or injury to the inside or outside of internal organs.
Researchers from the Faculty of Biology at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, reported that subjects who used medical cannabis with a high dose of both THC and a terpene called a-pinene, which is said to possess anti-inflammatory characteristics, reported that while they still experienced chronic pain, they also experienced an improved “quality to life” and had reduced their consumption of analgesic medication.
In general, health-related quality of life is a multi-dimensional concept that usually includes domains related to physical, mental, emotional, and social functioning. So, in this case, while not eliminating their chronic pain, participants reported the cannabis treatment enhanced their well being while reducing their reliance on pain medications.
To learn more we suggest you read the article, “Prolonged Medical Cannabis Treatment is Associated With Quality of Life Improvement and Reduction of Analgesic Medication Consumption in Chronic Pain Patients.” It appeared in the May 19, 2021 edition of Frontiers in Pharmacology.
www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2021.613805/full
New Careers
Mature consumers who want to pursue a second career in the cannabis industry can now prepare for that career from home.
According to Andriana Ruscitto, reporting for Cannabis Dispensary Magazine, University College at Syracuse University, the academic college of continuing education and professional studies at the University, has partnered with a cannabis education association called Green Flower, to offer four programs—Healthcare and Medicine, Cannabis Law and Policy, The Business of Cannabis, and Cannabis Agriculture and Horticulture— where individuals can receive non-credit certificates.
Each course is six months long and includes three eight-week online classes. Individuals do not have to be a student at Syracuse University to enroll in the program.
University College Dean Michael Frasciello told Ruscitto that the university expects the primary student population to be individuals already in the industry looking to add to or broaden their skill set and individuals who want to enter the industry.
Said Frasciello, “Our decision to make this a non-credit as opposed to a credit program is that the non-credit program allows us to customize better [the program] to meet workforce demand. When you attach a credit to something, there’s a lot of governance on the backend that has to come into play, and we felt that with the non-credit certificate, we could be more agile and responsive to the demand and interest as it increases.”
Ruscitto also reported that professional instructors from Green Flower who are currently in the industry will be teaching the curriculum. The University saw the industry experience of these individuals as key to the success of the program.
You can learn more by reading the article by Andriana Ruscitto in the May 26, 2021 issue of Cannabis Dispensary Magazine.com.
Stats of the Week
The numbers that caught our eye this week are 38 and 4 million. The first is the number of states that now have legal medical marijuana markets. The second, courtesy of the folks at New Frontier Data and the Marijuana Policy Project, is actually just over 4 million (4,375,822) and that’s the total number of medical cannabis patients nationwide as of this year.
Commenting on a report on legal cannabis sales by type and quarter over the last two years, Kacey Morrissey, the company’s Senior Director of Industry Analytics, made the point that in those states where cannabis has been legalized for medical use—assuming there are no new state markets by 2025—it’s projected that there will be a combined 5.4 million registered medical cannabis patients in the U.S. by 2025. That would mean nearly 2 percent of the entire U.S. population will be using medical cannabis—legally.
You can learn more by reading Kacey Morrissey’s analysis of legal cannabis sales in the United States. It appears in the June 14, 2021 edition of CannaBit, a publication of New Frontier Data.
Cannabis Corner
There is good news for mature consumers who are seeking a more efficient way to find a strain of cannabis that can produce the experience they’re looking for or address a particular medical condition.
One of the largest and most experienced cultivators, manufacturers and providers of cannabis products in the U.S.—Columbia Care—has announced the launch of a first-of-its-kind cannabis discovery tool that’s designed to streamline and customize the individual shopping experience for expert and novice patients and customers alike.
The tool, called Forage, is described as an interactive, web-based platform that suggests curated products depending on the user’s desired mood and experience. It also links with the inventory of the closest Columbia Care dispensary to facilitate online orders.
The platform also helps to fill a data void in the industry, adding another layer of contextual information to the existing point of sale, helping to discover which products consumers in any given market would have chosen or matched with, if available.
Said Nicholas Vita, Columbia Care’s CEO, “Forage is an opportunity for us to convert our point of sale and digital retail experience into a personalized educational journey, giving users immediate access to our experiential insights and cannabis knowledge through a fun and comprehensive digital interface that is developed around their needs and priorities.
Vita added that the company believes it is uniquely positioned to use new applications, such as Forage, to create better customer and patient experiences.
When visiting the Forage platform consumers are asked how they want to feel (e.g. Focused, Uplifted, Energetic, Sleepy, Euphoric, Happy). Based on that answer, the Forage tool will recommend a specific strain of cannabis and provide contact information for a recreational and/or medical dispensary where that strain is available.
It’s clear we’ve come a long way from your cousin introducing you to a guy who knows a guy just to get something in a brown paper bag that might do the trick, if you’re lucky.
To learn more, visit the website at forage.io.
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.
