Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at how states are spending cannabis tax revenues, treating neurological disorders with cannabis, Hulk Hogan’s endorsement of CBD for pain management and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis and Tax Revenue
For many years cannabis advocates have argued that legalization would create a tax windfall for states that took the plunge. Here are two stories that show how schools in one state and wildlife, such as the pygmy rabbit, in another have benefitted from legal cannabis sales.
In the first story, according to DJ Summers, reporting for Denver station KDVR, an analysis of state tax data from the Colorado General Assembly Legislative Council Staff shows that Colorado collected $282.3 million in tax revenue from marijuana in the 2022-23 fiscal year. That’s nearly $50 million more than it collected from cigarettes and over $226 million more than it collected from alcohol alone.
Put another way, the state made more in tax revenue from cannabis than from either alcohol or cigarettes and nearly as much as the two combined.
Summer also noted that marijuana tax revenue has gone toward school funding more than any other tax obligation. State tax data shows that thanks to cannabis-related taxes, K-12 education in Colorado received about 37 percent of its total spending from marijuana revenue for school funding and school construction during that period.
In the second story, TG Branfalt, writing for Ganjapreneur, reports that the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission is about to receive more than $1 million in cannabis tax-related revenues. $1 million is a particularly nice figure when you consider the commission is typically funded by contributions from residents that usually generate between $30,000 and $40,000.
According to Branfalt, residents who want to contribute to the commission can do so by checking off the fund on their state income tax form.
Montana collects a 20 percent tax on adult-use cannabis sales and a 4 percent tax on medical cannabis sales. The state legalization law requires that 4 percent of cannabis-derived sales taxes will be used for nongame wildlife programs.
Branfalt noted that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife division administrator Ken McDonald told the commission that the six-figure totals are a “really a nice infusion to help with management and conservation of a significant number of species” in the state.
McDonald said the commission will use some of the cannabis tax funds to help provide and improve habitat for species such as the pygmy rabbit and pinyon jays, which are listed on the Endangered Species Act. He added that the work plan also includes a project to monitor bat populations for white-nose syndrome.
To learn more about how Colorado schools are benefiting from cannabis tax revenues, we suggest reading the article by DJ Summers that appeared in the August 18, 2023 issue of KDVR.com.
kdvr.com/news/data/colorado-marijuana-tax-revenue-higher-than-alcohol-cigarettes/
To learn more about how Montanna’s wildlife is benefiting from cannabis taxes collected by the state, we urge you to read the reporting by TG Branfalt in the August 22, 2023 issue of Ganjapreneur.com.
www.ganjapreneur.com/montana-fish-and-wildlife-commission-funding-buoyed-by-cannabis-tax-revenues/
CBD Celebrity Spotlight
Those who grapple with joint pain and want to avoid a dependence on opiates and other pain medication may want to take a tip from professional wrestling legend Hulk Hogan.
In an article by Mike Rosenstein for the New York Post—based on an interview Hogan did for the publication Muscle and Health—Hogan describes the physical toll his wrestling career took on his body, his addiction to prescription painkillers and his struggles with alcohol.
Said Hogan, “I had doctors writing me prescription after prescription, and all of a sudden, it became a vicious cycle. I was hitting the pain pills hard because I’d had to endure 25 procedures, including ten to my back, facial operations from being kicked, knee and hip replacements and abdominal and shoulder surgeries.”
According to Hogan the one thing that made it possible for him to break free of his addiction to pain medication was CBD. He was introduced to CBD by former wrestling colleague Ric Flair, ex-heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and Chad Bronstein, the president of Carma Holdings, which produces cannabis-based products for consumption.
Hogan said that CBD “took me to a place where my joints don’t hurt so much when I wake up. … I can tell as soon as the CBD hits my system, it calms everything down. … I noticed an immediate change as soon as I started it.”
Hogan was so impressed with his physical improvement that he now spends his time pitching “Hogan’s Health,” a line of products said to be designed to help people wean themselves off of prescription medications through the use of CBD. The product line is part of Carma Holdings and will include functional mushrooms, CBD, and THC. Hogan will serve as its Chief Brand Officer.
To be fair, Hogan is a colorful figure who has what some might describe as a checkered past. Since retiring as a wrestler Hogan has experienced a rather rocky homelife and suffered numerous health problems, particularly with his back, followed by numerous failed surgeries and lawsuits.
Whatever you think of professional wrestling and Mr. Hogan in particular, in the end, CBD and its benefits don’t work just for those we like or admire. Some might say that cannabis has made it possible for Hogan, much like it has for Mike Tyson, to manage pain and live a somewhat normal life.
To learn more, we urge you to read the article by Mike Rosenstein in the August 22, 2023 issue of the New York Post.com.
nypost.com/2023/08/22/wwe-star-hulk-hogan-details-addiction-to-prescription-pills/
Cannabis Quote of the Week
“I don’t like the reclassification. I think it (cannabis) should be declassified… We had an incredible Healthy Kids survey in Colorado, and it demonstrates over the last 12 years there has been no increase in experimentation, consumption and frequency….
In many cases, we are probably better off with more marijuana consumption and probably less alcohol consumption. They do seem to be related somewhat … and not anything worse off. People smoking pot as a part of their relaxation and kick back process is not any worse off than people who have been drinking.”—Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Long an advocate of legalizing cannabis, Sen. Hickenlooper was governor of Colorado when it became the first state to legalize recreational cannabis in 2012.
His comments are taken from remarks he made at a press event at the Denver Press Club on Aug. 17, 2023. During the event he made it clear that he intends to seek reelection to his senate seat in 2026.
Noah Festenstein, who covered the event for The Denver Gazette noted that until recently, scientific research around the effects of cannabis has been scarce due to its classification as a Schedule 1 drug. Many in the industry contend that declassification or, failing that, reclassifying cannabis would make it easier for researchers to examine the consequences of cannabis use—both good and bad—and identify new medical uses for cannabis-based drugs.
To learn more, we suggest reading Noah Festenstein‘s article, which appeared in the Denver Gazette and the August 18, 2023 issue of the website Colorado Politics.com.
(Note: There may be some paywall issues with the site. If you can connect the first time, we suggest you don’t leave and try to return.)
Medical Cannabis and Quality of Life
There may be hopeful news for those who suffer from neurological disorders, such as tension headaches and other related conditions. A new study suggests that treatment that includes medical cannabis may help to improve a patient’s quality of life in matters such as job performance, sleep, appetite and energy.
That’s the word from Kyle Jaeger, reporting for Marijuana Moment. According to Jaeger, researchers at the University of West Attica in Greece analyzed survey data submitted by 100 medical cannabis patients with what was described as neurological disorders.
The study found that a majority (58 percent) of respondents said medical cannabis is an effective treatment for their condition. Among that group, 96 percent said that marijuana decreased their symptoms, 88 percent said it improved their “ability to perform their professional duties,” 79 percent said it enhanced their sleep, 71 percent said it improved their appetite and 68 percent said it increased their energy and vitality.
One finding that was particularly noteworthy was that a “strong majority” of the patients (85 percent) said that they’ve disclosed their use to family—and 93 percent said that they “enjoyed their support.” However, 81 percent said that they haven’t been open about their cannabis use in their “social environment” such as their workplace.
The authors of the study concluded, “Appropriate knowledge could significantly help health professionals in the field of planning and implementation of personalized nursing care in order to achieve optimal therapeutic outcomes.”
Jaeger noted that the findings of the study are consistent with other recent research indicating that cannabis can play a role in improving general wellbeing. For example, he wrote, “a study published by the American Medical Association in May found that the use of medical cannabis is associated with “significant improvements” in quality of life for people with conditions like chronic pain and insomnia—and those effects are “largely sustained” over time.”
Unfortunately, what is not clear from the journal article that described the study is exactly what conditions the patients were suffering from. They were only described as patients who had “neurological disorders,” which can cover a rather wide range of illnesses, including dementia and Parkinson’s Disease. More specificity in the description of the diagnosis would have been helpful.
The study, “Quality of Life in Patients Receiving Medical Cannabis,” was published online in the August 16, 2023 issue of the journal GeNeDis Neuroscientific Advances.
To learn more, we urge you to read the article by Kyle Jaeger that appeared in the August 17, 2023 issue of Marijuana Moment.net. As always, Mr. Jaeger’s reporting is insightful and on point.
Watchers Watching Watchers
Making it possible for consumers to purchase a high-quality cannabis product, free of contaminants, has long been a position held by advocates when arguing for legalizing cannabis for adult use.
While laboratories test product samples from different growers to determine purity, they also test for potency, in the form of THC content—and that’s where things get complicated.
As Rebecca Rivas notes in her article for Missouri Independent, in the cannabis industry, potency is still king and often drives sales, with many consumers seeking the most potent cannabis possible. That, in turn,has led to what has become known as “lab shopping.”
This is when marijuana producers try to “encourage” testing labs to give their product the highest THC rating possible. The quid pro quo in a case such as this is when the producer agrees to give a particular lab all of its business in return for favorable ratings—which can lead to lab results that are inaccurate, exaggerated or, at best, compromised.
Rivas notes that “lab shopping” can pose serious safety concerns for consumers. For instance, when a product has less THC than the label actually says, not only do customers not get what they paid for but they also face the possibility of having an adverse reaction the next time they buy the same product with the full, accurate potency.
To address this problem, according to Rivas, Missouri is following the example of several other states that have implemented an extra layer of “round robin” testing or auditing of marijuana products. It means that the state regulating agency — the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services — can now instruct the state’s certified testing labs to double check each other’s work.
Here is how it works. Rivas reports that up to 10 times a year, Missouri will instruct licensed testing labs to pick up marijuana samples from other labs and perform a test. Then the state will review all the results to make sure they have similar results in THC potency — and that one lab isn’t passing a marijuana sample for pesticide residue while another one is failing it.
This form of “round robin” testing does have its industry critics. Recently, wrote Rivas, Missouri’s testing labs owners united in opposition against this rule, saying it is duplicative of the current testing requirements, too vague and “unduly burdensome.”
Said Andrew Mullins, executive director of the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association in a letter to legislators,“We do not claim that it is impossible to design an effective interlab comparison program, only that the approach outlined in this provision will surely fail.”
Part of the problem, Rivas points out, is that in industries such as food, the federal government sets the standard for testing. But for marijuana products, there’s no federal regulation or testing standards for marijuana at all because it’s still considered an illegal substance.
She also contends that discrepancies can be expected when labs are using different testing methods, which, experts say, leaves them open to getting varying testing results on pesticide levels and THC potency.
More news as more news develops.
To learn more, we urge you to read the engaging and informative article by Rebecca Rivas that appeared in the August 21, 2023 issue of Missouri Independent.com.
missouriindependent.com/2023/08/21/missouri-cannabis-regulators-target-lab-shopping-in-new-rules/
TG Branfalt also covered the story for Ganjapreneur. You can read his reporting on the topic in the August 22, 2023 issue of Ganjapreneur.com.
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.
