Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at an interactive questionnaire designed to help you select the cannabis strain that’s right for you, CBD and pain management, an international cannabis Ponzi scheme and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis Corner
There’s a new process that’s designed to provide mature consumers and others with a more satisfying cannabis experience.
The website The Cannigma has developed a five-step interactive questionnaire to help cannabis users identify the type of cannabis that is most likely to deliver the effects and benefits they are seeking.
The questionnaire—in a series of online prompts—asks the following:
• What is your age?
• Are you taking any medications that are on a list provided by the site?
• Have you consulted with a cannabis expert about the potential interaction between cannabis and your medication?
• Are you new to the cannabis experience?
• What specific medical condition or conditions, on a list provided by the website, would you like to address by using cannabis?
Based on his or her responses, a consumer is then told if he or she is most likely to benefit from a strain that is THC dominant, CBD dominant or a blend of the two and which terpenes are most likely to help them manage their condition. Hopefully, based on this information, consumers can go on to make a more informed selection when purchasing cannabis at a dispensary.
While the website acknowledges that the system is not foolproof and that some trial and error may still be involved, as well as further conversations with knowledgeable professionals, it does offer a place to begin the exploration of which type of cannabis strain is most appropriate for you.
To learn more, we suggest you visit the article that describes the tool. Simply click on the link that follows.
csannigma.com/cannabis-strain-tool/?
CBD and Pain Management
There may be hopeful news for those who are thinking of using cannabis to manage pain but want to avoid the intoxication associated with THC.
According to Dana Smith, writing for Cannabis.net, a growing number of studies suggest that cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis, may be just as effective as THC when it comes to treating pain. It’s thought that CBD’s relaxing and anti-inflammatory properties can help to address pain at its source.
Smith points to a recent study conducted by researchers from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Department of Orthopedic Surgery. They tested the effectiveness of ORAVEXX, a tablet containing CBD, on patients after they underwent minimally invasive rotator cuff surgery.
She noted that the researchers said in their findings, “On the first day after surgery, patients receiving CBD experienced on average 23 percent less pain as measured by the visual analog scale (VAS) pain score compared to patients receiving the placebo, highlighting that in patients with moderate pain, CBD may render a significant benefit.”
They went on to add, “On both the first and second days after surgery, patients receiving CBD reported 22 to 25 percent greater satisfaction with pain control compared to those receiving placebo. Further analysis also showed that patients receiving 50mg of CBD reported lower pain and higher satisfaction with pain control compared to patients receiving placebo. No major side effects were reported.”
Said Michael J. Alaia, MD, study lead investigator and an associate professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery on the use of CBD, “It could be a new, inexpensive approach for delivering pain relief, and without the side effects of anti-inflammatory drugs like NSAIDS and addiction risks linked to opiates. Additionally, CBD has the benefit of pain relief without the psychotropic effects associated with THC or marijuana.”
To learn more, including news of other studies with similar findings, we suggest reading Dana Smith’s article in the July 27, 2022 issue of Cannabis.net.
Cannabis Stats of the Week
This week’s magic number is 6 percent. According to New Frontier Data’s latest report: The U.S. Cannabis Homegrow Market: Motivations, Processes, and Outcomes, that’s the percentage of cannabis consumers in the U.S. who report that they grow their own flower.
While the percentage may seem small, it does translate to more than 3 million Americans who say they cultivate their own cannabis supply. Plus, it’s projected that the number will reach nearly 4.1 million homegrowers in the country by 2030.
When it comes to the why, Noah Tomares, Senior Research Analyst, New Frontier Data says that almost three-quarters (73 percent) of homegrowers said they did it as a hobby, with a majority (53 percent) also noting its lower relative cost to purchasing at retail.
Nearly half of those queried (45 percent ) also reported being their own primary source of cannabis, with six in 10 (60 percent) saying that they grow all or most of what they consume.
Tomares also estimated that homegrowers will produce 11 million pounds of dried flower in 2022. He contends that assuming an average prevailing market value of $1,250 per pound, cannabis output from U.S. homegrowers in 2022 would be valued at $14 billion. New Frontier Data projects that production will increase beyond 15 million pounds of dried flower by 2030.
Some hobby.
Mr. Tomares and the other folks at New Frontier Data do excellent work and this report is no exception. If you want to learn more about who grows their own cannabis and why, we strongly recommend reading this latest report from New Frontier Data: The U.S. Cannabis Homegrow Market: Motivations, Processes, and Outcomes.
Investor News and Notes: True Crime Edition
While picking a cannabis stock that will post gains over time can be difficult, it becomes down-right impossible when the process is rigged and the stock is fictitious. Case in point: There is news of a major scam in Europe that targeted hundreds of thousands of cannabis investors.
According to Tim Geyer, reporting for Vice.com, a company called JuicyFields, which promoted itself as a business that would make investors rich by putting their money into legal medical cannabis plantations, is starting to look like the biggest cannabis industry scam of all time, which some say may have ties to the Russian Mafia.
Geyer reports that up to 500,000 investors could be affected and their potential losses could be somewhere between tens of millions and several billion euros, in a debacle that is starting to look more and more like a Ponzi scheme.
Largely promoted online, the company, which started in Berlin and then later moved to Amsterdam, is said to have had a large presence in the Spanish-speaking world. Geyer writes that investors had to create a user account through which all transactions would take place. They were told they could watch their plants and fortunes grow on line and once the medical cannabis was harvested they could expect returns of up 66 percent on their investment.
Some early investors did report they received a return on their investment, usually in the form of a bank transfer or cryptocurrency. However, this stopped on July 11 when investors said they could no longer access their accounts. JuicyFields’s organizers have since become unreachable. The company’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram channels are now no longer accessible, and all YouTube content gradually disappeared.
Geyer also noted that according to the German financial magazine Finanztest, the trail of those behind JuicyFields led to a Swiss holding company and members of a German aristocratic family. The Spanish publication, El País Financiero, claims a group of three men with Russian passports was behind JuicyFields.
According to Ben Stevens, who covered the story for the website Businesscann, one common theme among Russian mafia scams is the sudden disappearance of the company, including websites, telephone lines, email addresses and social media accounts when things go bad, all of which has been the case in JuicyField’s demise.
In his article, Stevens also points to the company’s connection to a Cyprus-based bank account. He notes that Cyprus is a ‘favorite offshore country in Europe’ for the Russian mafia and Russian oligarchs looking for a safe haven where they can park their money with few questions asked.
All of this is thought to be just the tip of the well-known Ponzi iceberg.
You can learn much more by reading Tim Geyer’s detailed and insightful reporting on this complicated and ominous story. His article appeared in the July 29, 2022 issue of Vice.com.
www.vice.com/en/article/7k88by/juicyfields-cannabis-scam
We also suggest reading Ben Stevens’s excellent reporting on the scam. You can find it in the August 2, 2022 issue of Businesscann.com.
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.
