Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at cannabis use and employment, a study that claims CBD may be found in a plant other than cannabis, a member of the Grateful Dead who has entered the CBD arena and much more. Enjoy.
Cannabis and Employment
I spy with my little eye a person who once used cannabis and still wants to be a spy or analyst for an intelligence agency. Fortunately for that person, if the Senate Intelligence Committee has its way, prior cannabis use may no longer be an impediment to employment at intelligence agencies such as the CIA or NSA.
According to Kyle Jaeger, reporting for Marijuana Moment, the Senate Intelligence Committee has voted to amend an intelligence oversight bill to include a provision that would prevent agencies from denying security clearances to applicants solely due to their past marijuana use.
Said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), who proposed the amendment, “This bill includes historic bipartisan legislation reforming the country’s broken classification and declassification system. The bill also includes my provision to ensure that cannabis use will not disqualify intelligence community applicants from serving their country. It’s a commonsense change to ensure the IC {Intelligence Community} can recruit the most capable people possible. ”
Jaeger noted that Sen. Wyden also raised the issue with Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines at a committee hearing in March. Said Haines at that time, “We recognize, frankly, that many states have legalized or decriminalized marijuana use and wanted to be sure that we’re not disqualifying people solely for that purpose in that context. We obviously believe that we want to have the talent that exists in America—and when somebody is using [cannabis] experimentally in a legal state that’s something that shouldn’t on its own essentially disqualify. We continue to approach this from a whole-person perspective. And we expect if anybody takes the job to comply with our policies and our laws in a trusted position.”
This step by congress and the intelligence community mirrors a growing trend among employers in the private sector who no longer see prior cannabis use as a barrier to employment. This can be good news for mature consumers who are interested in returning to the workforce or are seeking part-time employment.
You can learn more by reading the article by Kyle Jaeger that appeared in the June 15, 2023 issue of Marijuana Moment.net. As always, his reporting is clear and on point.
Celebrity CBD Spotlight
A new line of CBD products is likely to cause a “ripple” of excitement among Grateful Dead fans and other mature consumers.
According to Nate Todd, reporting for the music publication Jam Base, Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann has entered the cannabis sector. Kreutzman, also the drummer for the Grateful Dead spinoff Dead and Company, has announced the introduction of a line of CBD products developed in collaboration with the Kauai Hemp Company.
The CBD line, called “Bill the Drummer,” is said to include an array of premium CBD oils and topicals that are reported to allow individuals to “unwind, find relief, and experience a renewed sense of calm.”
Todd points out that the line is sourced from organically grown hemp cultivated on the pristine island of Kauai— the Hawaiian island Kreutzmann calls home—and is produced “with a commitment to sustainability, environmental responsibility and ethical farming practices.”
Said Kreutzman on the product’s website, “Good health and self care are everything. I started searching for CBD products that made sense to me, from a company in harmony with my hippie heart. I found the answer just down the road from my hale here in Hawaii: Kauai Hemp Company.”
He added that Kauai Hemp Company’s responsible agricultural practices are helping to preserve the island while bringing “the island mindset to your mind and body.”
Said Kreutzman, “I only present what I take and what I take has treated me kind.”
Products in the line include Bill the Drummer Mystic CBD Oil, Bill the Drummer Recovery Salve and a CBD oil designed for pets.
A portion of the proceeds generated by the product line go to support the Last Prisoner Project, a national, nonpartisan nonprofit organization dedicated to cannabis criminal justice reform.
A long, strange trip, indeed. Mahalo.
To learn more, we suggest reading Nate Todd’s article in the June 7, 2023 issue of JamBase.com.
www.jambase.com/article/grateful-dead-bill-kreutzmann-bil
You can also visit the product’s website. Just click on the link that follows.
CBD Research
A recent study by market analysis firm Vantage Market Research estimated the global market for products made with cannabidiol—better known as CBD—to be nearly US$5 billion. It also projected that that same market would grow to more than US$47 billion by 2028, driven mainly by health and wellness use.
Now, if the claims made by a Brazilian research team are accurate, there may be a new way to meet that demand—one that doesn’t involve cannabis.
Molecular biologist Rodrigo Moura Neto of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro claims his team of researchers has found CBD in the fruits and flowers of the common Brazilian plant called Trema micrantha blumet—Trema for short. A shrub, considered by many to be a weed, it grows wild across a large part of Brazil.
Nina Zdinjak, writing for the online publication Benzinga, notes that CBD, one of at least 100 non-psychoactive chemical compounds in the cannabis plant, has gained attention in the medical sector of late for what has been said to be a wide range of benefits, including reducing pain and inflammation, helping with certain cancer-related symptoms, possible neuroprotective qualities and as a sleep aid. It is also used to treat epilepsy.
It also has numerous fans as a substance that can “enhance wellness” in a variety of ways, from reducing stress to alleviating aches and pains.
Neto claims that based on chemical analyses, the Trema plant contains CBD and no THC, the compound that produces psychoactive effects. He contends this indicates the possibility of another widely available source of CBD, without the same legal and regulatory issues as cannabis.
Said Neto, “It’s a legal alternative to using cannabis. This is a plant that grows all over Brazil. It would be a simpler and cheaper source of cannabidiol.”
Citing a report by Agence France-Presse, Zdinjak says Neto intends to further examine the best way to extract CBD from the Trema plant and test its effects among patients with disorders who are currently being treated with hemp or cannabis-derived CBD.
The Brazilian government recently granted $104,000 to Neto’s team for research, which should take approximately five years.
Zdinjak makes the point that only time and research will tell if the CBD found in cannabis and the CBD in the Trema plant are the same compound with the ability to produce the same benefits for humans.
To learn more, we urge you to read Nina Zdinjak‘s article in the June 16, 2023 issue of Benzinga.com.
Treating Anxiety with Cannabis
There may be reassuring news for some of the estimated 300 million individuals worldwide who suffer from anxiety disorders.
While it is not uncommon for individuals to feel anxious from time to time, especially during times of stress, there are those who worry so excessively that it interferes with their day-to-day activities. This condition is often referred to as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or GAD.
More specifically, experts say Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is characterized by persistent worry for at least 6 months accompanied by physical and mental symptoms of anxiety such as sleep disturbances, restlessness and muscle tension.
While there is no lack of anecdotal reports suggesting that Cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) can assist in treating generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), some contend there is a lack of high-quality evidence on their effectiveness and safety.
In an effort to remedy that, a research team comprised of individuals from the Imperial College Medical Cannabis Research Group, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London and Sapphire Medical Clinics, London, UK conducted a study that aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of patients with GAD who were treated with dried cannabis flower, oil-based preparations, or a combination of both CBMPs.
To that end, the study cohort consisted of 302 patients with GAD who were enrolled in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry. The individuals were prescribed oil or flower-based CBMPs.
The research team monitored changes to the patients responses to generalized anxiety disorder-7 (GAD-7) questionnaires at 1, 3, and 6 months, comparing the responses to a “baseline” established before the study began.
The research team also monitored the patients responses to sleep quality scale (SQS) and health-related quality of life index questionnaires at the same time points.
At the end of the study the researchers reported that improvements in anxiety, sleep quality and quality of life were observed at each time point in the process. As a result they concluded that prescribing cannabis-based medicinal products for those with GAD can be a safe and effective treatment in a “real world setting.”
To be clear, we are not advocating that individuals who believe they have GAD try to self medicate with cannabis to address the condition. However, they may want to raise the option of treating the condition with cannabis to their physician.
The study was published in the June 14, 2023 issue of Psychopharmacology. To read an abstract of the study, simply click on the link that follows.
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00213-023-06399-3
Travel Tips Reconsidered
Mature consumers and others who were making plans to travel to Las Vegas to experience one of the city’s much- touted cannabis lounges may have to put their plans on hold.
According to Chris Casacchia, reporting for MJBizDaily, those who have been anticipating that consumption lounges would be opening in Las Vegas this summer will probably have to wait.
Citing industry sources, Casacchia writes that administrative setbacks, tight funding and changing regulations governing smoke ventilation have, in all probability, delayed the launch of dozens of lounges for months, “with the real possibility that only a few might open by year-end.”
More specifically, he makes the point that industry executives have raised concerns about the state’s consumption-lounge regulations, particularly those covering indoor air quality and the costs associated with installing and maintaining air-ventilation systems.
Notes Casacchia, cannabis insiders say those expenditures – likely to run to hundreds of thousands of dollars – would render consumption areas economically unfeasible for most operators and a near impossibility for social equity licensees.
According to Casacchia, the only legal consumption lounge currently operating in Nevada is the NuWu Cannabis Marketplace located on tribal land about two blocks from downtown Las Vegas.
The space, which has an outdoor dab and cannabis-infused beverage bar, is regulated by the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, not state government.
To be fair, he does report that Nevada regulators appear to want to find an amicable solution with operators and other stakeholders regarding air-ventilation concerns.
Said Cannabis Compliance Board Executive Director Tyler Klimas, “We know that we’re going to have to make tweaks to truly launch a successful license program like lounges.”
We can’t say enough good things about Chris Casacchia’s insightful and revealing reporting on what has become a complex issue nationally. We strongly recommend reading his article in the June 15, 2023 issue of MJBizDaily.com.
mjbizdaily.com/las-vegas-marijuana-consumption-lounges-encounter-delays/
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.
