Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at using cannabis to treat PTSD, Japan’s decision to join the party, Using Uber Eats to order a cannabis delivery and much more. Enjoy.
Treating PTSD With Cannabis
There’s hopeful news for the estimated four percent of the world’s population who suffer from some form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), particularly when it comes to the nightmares and trouble sleeping that often accompany the condition.
According to an article that appeared in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders, a team of Israeli researchers recently found that using medical cannabis can help to improve the quality of sleep experienced by adults with PTSD.
That’s the word from Frank Schuler who covered the study for the online publication Cannabis & Tech Today. Schuler notes that the researchers studied the effect of cannabis on a group of 77 patients with PTSD who used a form of medical cannabis prior to going to bed. Those who participated in the study kept a daily journal where they recorded various aspects of their previous night’s sleep.
The investigators found that those who used cannabis reported they found it easier to fall asleep and had fewer nightmares. The researchers also noted that subjects who consumed products higher in CBD were less likely to report early awakenings.
Said the research team in its report, “Our data suggest that MC [medical cannabis] may help reduce nightmares and [that] CBD in particular may be important for preventing early awakenings.”
They added that they believe their study and its results provide a strong basis for further hypothesis testing, potentially through clinical trials, of the sleep-inducing effects of medical cannabis and for testing the effects of CBD on those who suffer from PTSD.
To learn more, we suggest you read Frank Schuler’s article in the October 18, 2022 issue of Cannabis and Tech Today.com.
cannatechtoday.com/study-links-cannabis-to-improved-sleep-in-adults-with-ptsd/?
If you care to read an abstract of the study, simply click on the link that follows.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36182689/
Cannabis News and Notes
Forget how much wood a woodchuck would chuck or whether or not the light in the refrigerator really goes out when you close the door. Someone has finally tackled a question that has stumped cannabis users since the days of Cheech and Chong and the Big Bong. Just how long do you have to hold in cannabis smoke for it to make a difference in the quality of your high?
Ben Hartman, writing for The Cannigma, acknowledges that it’s long been accepted as a fact among marijuana smokers that the longer you hold the smoke in your lungs, the stronger the effect.
Well, says Hartman, the reality is research has found that holding in the smoke until your eyes pop out and you are about to have a coughing fit before you exhale, “has no bearing on the actual absorption of THC — the psychotropic component in marijuana.”
He points to a study carried out back in 1989 that observed eight regular marijuana smokers as they held marijuana smoke in for durations of 0, 10, and 20 seconds. The researchers found “there was little evidence that response to marijuana was a function of breath hold duration.”
Hartman notes that this is consistent with the findings of a study performed two years later that examined the effects of marijuana on 10 regular smokers who inhaled for breath hold durations ranging from 0 to 20 seconds. The researchers found that the “effects of marijuana on mood were not consistently affected by breath hold duration,” and that prolonged breath holding “does not substantially enhance the effects of inhaled marijuana smoke.”
Harman contends the belief that holding in smoke gets one higher is flawed by the fact that the cannabinoids in the smoke, such as THC, are generally delivered to the target tissues—in this case, the lungs—in the first handful of seconds after inhaling, and holding in the smoke does not correlate with increased absorption of THC.
Hartman’s advice for achieving your desired state of mind when consuming cannabis is as follows: “Take your preferred strain of cannabis, find a comfortable spot, take your time, and breathe easy. There’s no need to hold your breath.”
You can learn much more by reading Ben Hartman’s informative and entertaining article. It appears in the September 29, 2022 issue of The Cannigma.com.
cannigma.com/cannabis-news/does-holding-cannabis-smoke-in-longer-make-a-difference/?
The Shape of Things to Come
What a world the folks in Toronto live in. They can now use an app to order cannabis—which often gives those who consume it the munchies—and have it delivered to their residence. They can then use the same app to order food—to satisfy their stoned cravings—and have that delivered to their door as well. Talk about service with a smile.
According to Solomon Israel, writing for MJBizDaily, the online marijuana platform Leafly has struck a deal with the delivery service Uber Eats to offer cannabis delivery orders through the Uber Eats smartphone app. Now before you start dialing, the agreement is only in effect in Toronto, Canada.
According to Israel, the agreement allows consumers to use the app to place their cannabis delivery orders which are then placed with participating cannabis retailers. However, according to the regulations in the Province of Ontario, the orders can’t be delivered by Uber Eats couriers. The actual delivery has to be made by the cannabis store’s own staff.
Think of it this way. Cannabis retailers can advertise their menu on the Leafly online platform, which functions as a kind of online mall, containing different cannabis stores.
In Toronto, consumers use the Leafly platform to window shop the menus of the three cannabis retailers who are participating in the Uber Eats agreement. Once a consumer spots a product they wish to purchase, they place their order through the Uber Eats app, which then transmits it to a retailer, who delivers the order.
Those drivers will be required to verify customers’ “age and sobriety” upon arrival, according to a Uber Canada news release.
Said a spokesperson for Leafly, which already works with more than 200 licensed cannabis retailers in Toronto, “Because we already have relationships with these retailers, have vetted them to be on our platform, and many of them use our technology solutions for menu integration, we have an existing network of trusted retailers to potentially work with as part of this partnership with Uber Eats.”
Paul Macchiusi, president of the cannabis retailer Mierva, which is participating in the program, told Israel that his store competes with 14 other cannabis retailers within a 2-kilometer radius. Said Macchiusi, listing deliveries with Uber Eats is “significant because of the size of the digital marketplace that Uber Eats provides us. We haven’t been able to speak to this many people in the city, at this fast of a rate, ever before, given the regulations on advertising and marketing.”
Macchiusi added that, “Now that there’s a demand for it, we believe that we should be able to offer full-time (deliveries) seven days a week.”
In fact, his company recently hired a full-time delivery driver.
To learn more, we suggest you read Solomon Israel’s article in the October 17, 2022 issue of MJBizDaily.com.
mjbizdaily.com/uber-eats-leafly-partner-on-cannabis-store-delivery-orders-in-toronto/?
Cannabis Quote of the Week
“While the current law enacted in 1948 prohibits the possession and cultivation of cannabis, there is no criminal punishment for its use, such as smoking it. The introduction of a provision banning using the drug had previously been put off as farmers who cultivate the plant, which is used to make hemp ‘shimenawa’ ropes for Shinto shrines and other uses, can inhale it as they work.”—from the Japanese newspaper, The Mainichi.
The comment is taken from an editorial that discussed the recommendation of a panel of Japan’s health ministry that the country should permit medical cannabis treatment.
According to Ed Knight, who covered the story for the cannabis publication Hi There, Reuters reported that the committee’s “recommendation was based on meeting medical needs and to harmonize Japan with international standards,” and that the “revision would apply to marijuana products whose safety and efficacy were confirmed under laws governing pharmaceuticals and medical devices.”
Perhaps Japan just wants to make sure they are not the last one in the neighborhood to join the party. As Knight notes, the New York Times reported in 2021, “Taiwan and South Korea have both legalized medical marijuana amid mounting evidence of its efficacy. And China is the world’s largest producer of industrial hemp and related products. (CBD can be made, but not used, there.)”
To learn more, you can read Ed Knight’s clear and detailed reporting in the September 30, 2022 issue of Hi There.com.
highthere.com/news/legalization/japan-recommends-medical-cannabis-treatment
Stats Of The Week
Talk about doing good after you’ve done well, this week’s magic number is $20 million. That’s how much California’s Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) has earmarked in funding for research into a variety of cannabis-related topics including studies on potency, health impacts, medicinal use, legacy cannabis genetics, and the health of California’s cannabis industry.
That’s the word from TG Branfalt, writing for Ganjapreneur. According to Branfalt, the DCC is currently accepting research proposals for projects that will, “advance public understanding of cannabis and legalization.” The agency, he says, is particularly interested in funding researchers at the state’s public universities so they can engage in studies that address “gaps in scientific knowledge” and will help guide future policy decisions.
DCC Director Nicole Elliot said officials hope the, “research resulting from these grants proves beneficial not only to California policymakers but also to those across the nation and world.”
She added, “California continues to direct millions of dollars to accelerate scientific understanding of cannabis and evaluate the impacts of legalization.”
Elliot contends that decades of federal cannabis prohibition, “has hindered our collective knowledge related to these issues, to the detriment of consumers, communities, our environment and more.”
Part of what makes this initiative interesting is that it is taking place at a time when many have been bemoaning the terrible state of California’s cannabis sector. We guess that even in bad times California is willing to put its money where its needs are.
While some may take the position that $20 million isn’t that much when it comes to research, we believe that every little bit helps. Or, as the late Sen. Everett McKinley Dirksen (R-Ill.) once said, “A million here and a million there and pretty soon we are talking about real money.”
You can learn much more by reading TG Branfalt’s article in the October 11, 2022 issue of Ganjapreneur.com.
www.ganjapreneur.com/california-department-of-cannabis-control-to-fund-20m-in-cannabis-research/
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.
