Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at using cannabis to manage pain, products that blend CBD and honey, cannabis use and the workplace and much more. Enjoy.
Cannabis, Pain and Opioid Use
A new study published in a peer-reviewed journal found that providing patients with legal access to medical marijuana can help them reduce or cease altogether their use of opioid painkillers without compromising quality of life.
The study, which appeared in Substance Use and Misuse, surveyed 2,183 patients who are registered medical cannabis patients in Florida and asked about their consumption habits and how marijuana has affected their use of traditional pharmaceuticals.
The survey respondents had a wide range of conditions that qualified them for medical marijuana under Florida’s law, including anxiety, pain, depression, sleep disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most patients said that they’ve used cannabis daily to treat their symptoms.
According to Kyle Jaeger, who reported on the study for Marijuana Moment, nine in ten patients (90.6 percent) told the researchers from the firm Emerald Coast Research and Florida State University College of Medicine that they have found marijuana to be “very or extremely helpful in treating their medical condition,” and nearly 89 percent said that cannabis was “very or extremely important to their quality of life.”
What some may consider one of the more significant findings of the study is that 85.9 percent of the respondents told researchers that cannabis effectively reduced their pain. And that, said Jaeger, seems connected to another finding—that 79 percent of people who said they were taking opioids for their pain reported that they reduced or stopped using the prescription drugs after they started to consume cannabis.
In a statement, the research team observed that, “The use of opiate based pain medication may be reduced, or even ceased, especially in patients with chronic pain, soon after access to legalized medical cannabis. Initiation of medical cannabis laws could lead to public health changes through the potential opioid-sparing effects of medical cannabis without worsening health functioning.”
Jaeger notes that one side effect of legalizing cannabis is experienced by the pharmaceutical industry. He cites a recent study that found that, “the pharmaceutical industry takes a serious economic hit after states legalize marijuana—with an average market loss of nearly $10 billion for drugmakers per each legalization event.”
As always, we can’t say enough good things about Kyle Jaeger’s detailed and insightful reporting. We urge you to read his article in the September 28, 2022 issue of Marijuana Moment.net.
CBD Spotlight
If you use CBD products and really like honey, boy oh boy does Jessica Reilly have good news for you. Reilly, reporting for The Cannigma, has identified what she describes as seven of the best CBD and honey products around.
In her article Reilly enumerates the many health benefits attributed to honey, including its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. It is also said to contribute to heart health and assist in the healing of wounds.
Reilly also notes the health benefits attributed to CBD, including its anti-inflammatory effects and immune system support, its ability to promote joint and cartilage health, as well as being associated with stress relief and cardiovascular support.
While Reilly mentions seven products that feature a combination of CBD and honey, we’re going to describe three.
The first is Luce Farm Wellness CBD Honey. This hemp Infused honey is formulated with only three ingredients and no artificial colors or flavors. It features a full spectrum formula of CBD that contains less than 0.3 percent THC and includes minor cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids, and other beneficial compounds that are believed to enhance CBD’s efficacy.
According to the company’s website, one teaspoon of the honey contains 10 mg of CBD.
Next up is Cheef Botanicals CBD Honey Sticks. These THC-free CBD Honey Sticks are said to combine pure Colorado hemp-derived Cannabidiol (CBD) with organic Brazilian rainforest Honey. The company claims these sticks make for a novel CBD delivery system with antioxidant, digestive, immunity-boosting and antibacterial health benefits.
One stick is said to contain 10 mg of CBD.
Lastly, there’s Potli Infused Dream Honey. Each jar of honey from Potli is infused with 60mg of CBD, 120mg of CBN—a minor cannabinoid said to promote sleep, and 6g of melatonin, all of which is said to help you get “your best night’s sleep.” This product won 1st place in the CBD edibles category in the 2022 Emerald Cup awards—think of the cannabis industry’s version of the Oscars.
To learn much more about these products and others, we suggest reading Jessica Reilly’s informative and entertaining article in the September 14, 2022 issue of The Cannigma.com.
cannigma.com/picks/best-cbd-honey-and-honey-sticks/?
Cannabis Quote of the Week
“While factors including age, gender, and desired outcomes all play their roles in determining preferences among cannabis products, today’s cannabis consumer seeks very specific effects. Whether those include relaxation, pain management, or enhancing a social experience, it’s vitally important for anyone competing in the market to recognize the value in addressing them: For producers and marketers, tailoring their brands to those specifically sought effects and experiences is fundamental to creating and maintaining meaningful connections to their customers.”—Amanda Reiman, Chief Knowledge Officer, and J.J. McCoy, Senior Managing Editor, New Frontier Data
The comment by Reiman and McCoy is taken from a new publication they authored for New Frontier Data titled Cannabis Consumers in America: (Part II) The Purposeful Consumer. It’s the second report in a three-part series about U.S. cannabis consumers and their intentions, preferences, and behaviors and was developed in partnership with a cannabis discovery company called Jointly.
The report offers many insights about how mature individuals consume cannabis. For example, the study found consumers aged 42-57—what we might consider the younger end of the mature consumer group—were most likely to purposefully consume cannabis alone, while those ages 58-76 were found to be most likely to use cannabis with their significant others.
The study also found that while for many, an individual’s home was the most common location for consuming cannabis, the authors also noted that many enjoy consuming cannabis in “a natural setting.”
This use of cannabis outdoors, said the authors, “presents interesting opportunities in the world of cannabis travel and tourism.” They then went on to describe how travel sectors have been embracing cannabis use —”whether with bar-style lounges, cannabis-friendly hotels, bud-and-breakfasts for weekend getaways or vacation stays, ganja-centric hiking, running, and bicycling tours, or even spiritual/meditational programs to reset one’s soul.”
They even pointed to a modular bus in Oregon—where recreational cannabis is legal—that can be rented out for cannabis events, such as weddings, and smoke-outs.
The study also revealed that edibles and tinctures are more often used by older consumers than by younger consumers. For example, the report shows that those in the 58-76 age demographic constitute about 12 percent of the edible market and 3 percent of the tincture market—more than all survey participants aged 41-and-under combined.
As always, we are extremely impressed with the work done by the folks at New Frontier Data. They are playing a key role in exploring the intentional use of cannabis and the specific effects consumers are seeking.
You can learn much more by reading the article “Back to Nature: Cannabis Consumers Gain Satisfaction in Outdoor Settings” in the October 4, 2022 issue of Cannabis Insights, a publication of New Frontier Data. You’ll also find a link to the publication Cannabis Consumers in America: (Part II) The Purposeful Consumer.
newfrontierdata.com/cannabis-insights/back-to-nature/?
Cannabis and the Workplace
The growing use of legal cannabis and a tight labor market are causing employers to rethink a number of their employment policies. That’s the word from Gene Marks, writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Marks notes that employers are starting to wrestle with a range of cannabis-related issues that they never had to address before, such as how to handle legal cannabis use by an employee while that person is not on the job or should current cannabis use disqualify an otherwise qualified candidate for a job?
Damian Jordan, the CEO and founder of Phynally, a Philadelphia-based job-search platform that specifically accommodates employers who do not screen out candidates for marijuana usage, told Marks “Many people are using marijuana to treat their conditions. If I’m an employer and I want the best for company and culture, to maintain the best employees and also attract the best employees, I need to figure out and understand not only who my job seekers are, [but] what they’re going through and how can I get in front of them to let them know that this is the best company to work for.”
Marks found that a growing number of employers are giving up screening for cannabis. For example, Louis Lessig, a partner at the Brown & Connery law firm in Westmont, PA said, “A lot of my clients have just said it isn’t worth it. There’s a lot of good reasons for not screening for cannabis, not the least of which is that so many employers are searching for workers and it’s hard enough to keep folks—let alone somebody that may recreationally be using, or was at a sporting event or a concert and inadvertently inhaled, and then it’s going to test positive in their blood for 30 days.”
Still, legality aside, the ability to screen for impairment from cannabis is still a concern for some employers. Said Jim Devine, a senior vice president and human resources practice leader at Univest Insurance in Lansdale, PA, “If you think that an employee is going to come to work under the influence of cannabis, even if it’s for medical purposes, it’s not somebody that you can really hire to do a job.”
Devine added, “You can’t come to work if you’re impaired, and an employer doesn’t have an obligation to accommodate you if that’s the case.”
Marks points out that “As cannabis usage becomes more commonplace, it’s clear that many employers will treat its consumption in a similar fashion to alcohol. Smart employers are recognizing that just because an employee consumes marijuana on personal time, it shouldn’t preclude the person from employment.”
To learn more about this issue, we suggest you read the column by Gene Marks that appeared in the September 25, 2022 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer. He does an excellent job of unpacking a complicated issue.
Senior Cannabis Digest is compiled and edited by Joe Kohut ad John Kohut. You can contact them at joe.kohut@gmail.com and at 347-528-8753.
