Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at a groundbreaking decision in Georgia, an insurance program that covers cannabis, new research on THC and the “entourage effect” and more. Enjoy.
The Shape of Things to Come
While historically, Georgia hasn’t been known for being at the cutting edge when it comes to cannabis policy, all that may be about to change.
According to Maureen Meehan, reporting for Benzinga, in what some might call a “peach” of a decision, the Georgia Board of Pharmacy began accepting applications from nearly 120 pharmacies for the right to provide medical marijuana products, thus making Georgia the first state in the nation to allow the sale of low-dose cannabis products at independent drug stores.
Georgia’s medical marijuana law allows certain qualified persons to legally possess up to 20 fluid ounces of low THC oil. The law also authorizes the Georgia Department of Public Health to issue a “Low THC Oil Registry Card” to qualified persons, which will prove that they are authorized to have the oil and protect them from arrest.
The state’s only two licensed cannabis producers, Botanical Sciences LLC and Trulieve Cannabis Corp. TRUL TCNNF, will provide the pharmacies with products. The two were the first in Georgia to get aproval earlier this year to serve registered medical cannabis patients.
Gary Long, CEO of Botanical Sciences, noted that, “Pharmacists have been fielding questions from patients for years without ever having the ability to do anything about it. Finally, they have the ability not just to give people advice but provide them with the therapies they’ve been seeking.”
Meehan notes that there are over 400 independent pharmacies in Georgia. Most of them are expected to participate in the program, with the exception of chains such as CVS and Walgreens WBA, said Cecil Cordle, a member of the Georgia Board of Pharmacy.
Meehan also makes the point that this new policy will probably put about 90 percent of Georgia’s population within a 30-minute drive of a pharmacy selling medical marijuana.
This change in policy by the State of Georgia is actually consistent with a practice followed in several other countries. For example, both Germany and the United Kingdom allow consumers of medical cannabis to fill their prescription at a pharmacy.
To learn more, we suggest reading the article by Maureen Meehan that appeared in the October 7, 2023 issue of Benzinga.com.
Spotlight on Insurance
In another example of what some describe as the “normalization of cannabis,” a recent agreement between two innovative insurance organizations will give employers a chance to offer medical marijuana coverage as part of their workplace benefits packages. It’s believed this will help reduce out-of-pocket costs for employees who use medical cannabis.
So says Ben Adlin, writing for Marijuana Moment. Adlin reports that Bennabis Health, which describes itself as “dedicated to filling the holes in the health insurance industry for medical cannabis patients,” is partnering with New Jersey-based CannaCoverage, a cannabis consultant and insurance broker that works with the marijuana, CBD and hemp industries.
Bennabis said in a press release that the result of this new arrangement is the “first group health medical cannabis program” to offer this kind of employee benefits.
According to Adlin, Bennabis offers patients discounts on medical marijuana products as an additional benefit that employers can integrate into existing health benefit plans. The integration process is handled by CannaCoverage.
For people who don’t have insurance benefits through an employer, Bennabis has an individual membership that qualifies patients for a 15 percent discount at participating dispensaries.
The release that announced the new relationship notes that Bennabis Health is not what’s described in the industry as a “plant touching entity.” Instead, it contracts a network of participating medical dispensaries that, in its words, “also prioritize the importance of supporting patients in their cannabis journey.”
In his article, Adlin makes the point that according to Bennabis’s website, at present its network includes dispensaries in only three jurisdictions: five in New Jersey, one in Washington, D.C., and one in New Mexico. As a result, its benefits are currently available only in those three states. However, Cynthia Tantum, who heads marketing at Bennabis said, “Our goal is to expand into all states that offer medical cannabis. We are open to talking with any medical cannabis dispensaries interested in joining the network.”
Said CannaCoverage co-founder and CEO Nichelle Santos in a statement, “We are pleased to partner with Bennabis Health at a pivotal moment in history, as cannabis is legalized in the majority of states across the U.S. The opportunity for cannabis to be rescheduled allows a pathway for medical cannabis as a multi-modal option and alternative to opioids and other synthetic prescription drugs.”
CannaCoverage co-founder and COO Jeff Booker also said in a statement that the offering has an economic impact. Said Booker, “Through this alternative medical cannabis benefit, a tremendous cost savings will be realized in reduction of medical claims and prescription benefits, to impact the bottom line.”
If you want to learn more, we encourage you to read Ben Adlin’s informative article in the October 4, 2023 issue of Marijuana Moment.net.
Consumer Corner
A new study indicates that when it comes to selecting a cannabis product consumers shouldn’t live by THC percentages alone.
That’s the word from Rachele Gordon, reporting for the online publication Greenstreet.com. Over the last few years cannabis producers have been engaged in a bit of an arms race, trying to outdo each other when it comes to producing cannabis products that contain more and more THC.
The reason for this is simple—THC sells. Often, consumers equate a higher THC percentage in a product with a more intense or pleasurable experience.
Recently, however, a growing number of individuals in the industry have started to speculate that the state of mind that consumers experience after ingesting a cannabis product may be the result of more than just THC and, in fact, may be the result of what is known as the “entourage effect.”
Professors Raphael Mechoulam, considered by some to be the “Father of Cannabis Science,” and Shimon Ben-Shabat, coined the term “entourage effect” in 1998. They used it to describe the experience produced by the interaction of the multiple compounds in the cannabis plant. They held that it was this interaction that produced the best effects for a consumer.
To assess the validity of the entourage effect theory, a research team consisting of individuals from cannabis mega-brand PAX and the Canadian neurotechnology company Zentrela measured the brainwaves of 28 study participants after they had consumed one of two different PAX-branded oils.
Using a PAX Plus Era, half of the group vaped Blue Dream Live Rosin (a full-spectrum oil containing more of the cannabis plant’s active ingredients), and the other half received Berry Gelato High Purity THC (a distillate-based product mainly comprised of THC).
The research team recorded brainwave data roughly every five minutes for 30 minutes using Zentrela’s non-invasive EEG machines. Additional scans happened at the 45-minute and 90-minute marks. Researchers performed a calibration scan before consumption.
The team then deployed Zentrela’s Cognalyzer® AI-based EEG analysis, which uses machine learning to recognize brainwave changes. The AI then converted data to psychoactive effect levels (PEL) on a standardized scale.
In her article Gordon reports that the research team found that the participants who consumed the full-spectrum live rosin had a quicker onset time and nearly double the psychoactive effects versus the group that consumed the nearly pure THC distillate.
Gordon also makes the point that the research team believes the findings support the theory that consuming the whole plant matters more than just THC levels.
Brian Witlin, vice president of product development at PAX, offered the opinion that the study illuminates the importance of the entourage effect—and dispels the idea that more THC necessarily means “better.”
Said Witlin, “Consumers looking for psychoactive effects typically shop for cannabis products based on THC, which is a bit of a fallacy. We wanted to demonstrate through scientific study how full-spectrum products with the full range of terpenes and cannabinoids have a more profound impact on the onset and ultimate cannabis experience.”
Added Witlin, “We hope this type of insight helps consumers understand that shopping for products based on THC percentage alone is not the leading indicator of expected experience.”
The results also suggest that consumers will have to do their homework and become more sophisticated about what different strains have to offer when it comes to finding the cannabis products that work for them. Gone are the days of just finding the products with the highest THC rating and traipsing out the dispensary door.
To learn more, we urge you to read the detailed and informative reporting by Rachelle Gordon that appeared in the October 4, 2023 issue of Greenstate.com.
www.greenstate.com/news/if-you-think-thc-is-the-only-thing-in-weed-getting-you-high-guess-again/
Cannabis News and Notes
Whether you are a veteran cultivator of cannabis or just starting out, there’s good news for mature consumers who like to grow their own cannabis and reside in a state where doing so is legal.
A well-known online publication dedicated to all things cannabis—The Cannigma— is offering a free guide to growing cannabis titled How to Grow Your Own Cannabis at Home: The Cannigma Cultivation Guide.
Serious gardeners know that the best time to start planning next spring’s garden is in the fall. This gives you plenty of time to learn about the plants you intend to grow, review the conditions in your growing space, prepare the soil and plot out how best to take advantage of factors such as available sunlight and drainage.
To help you get a head start planning for next year’s cannabis crop, The Cannigma Cultivation Guide starts with the real basics — photosynthesis, transpiration and respiration. That’s because the authors of the guide believe that a deeper understanding of flowering plants will add to your satisfaction, once your plants are properly trimmed, harvested and cured.
After covering the preliminary steps , this guide walks a reader through the decisions a gardener needs to make as he or she sets up and manages a cannabis garden. These include:
- Choosing a growing environment, lights, medium, nutrients and seeds
- Germinating the seeds
- The vegetative and flowering stages
- Harvesting the buds
- Drying, trimming and curing
Created by The Cannigma’s editorial team, Chief Science Officer Dr. Codi Peterson, and scientific advisors Steven Philpott, Jr, MS and Gianni Del Rosario-Makridis BSc, the e-book covers both indoor and outdoor growing setups, along with soil and soilless cultivation. The guide also highlights common mistakes to avoid.
To get a free copy of The Cannigma Cultivation Guide simply click on the link below, enter your email address and hit the appropriate button. That’s all.
cannigma.com/cultivation-guide/?_
Cannabis and Substance Abuse
While some fear that cannabis is a “gateway drug” that will encourage a person to consider using harder drugs, such as opiates or stimulants, a new study suggests just the opposite may be the case.
According to Frank Schuler, writing for the website of the International Cannabis Business Conference (ICBC), a new study that was published in the journal Addictive Behaviors indicates that cannabis might be more correctly considered “an exit drug” instead of a “gateway drug,” meaning that instead of leading to harder drugs, consumers of more harmful substances are successfully incorporating cannabis into their harm-reduction strategies.
Schuler notes that Canadian researchers affiliated with the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, Vancouver, BC and the Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC studied a group of 297 polydrug users who engaged in the use of both cannabis and unregulated stimulants. The researchers reported that nearly half (45 percent) of those surveyed reported using cannabis to manage their stimulant cravings. Of those, 78 percent “reported decreasing their stimulant use during periods of cannabis use.”
Schuler also reports that the study’s authors concluded: “These findings indicate that cannabis use to manage stimulant cravings is a common harm reduction strategy and suggest that this may be an effective strategy to reduce stimulant use among some PWUD [people who use unregulated drugs]. … In the absence of established pharmacotherapies for the treatment of stimulant use disorders, further investigation of the harm reduction and therapeutic applications of cannabis use is warranted to address the harms of stimulant use.”
The study appeared in the January, 2024 issue of the journal Addictive Behaviors. To read an abstract of the study, click on the link below.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306460323002629
ICBC is a cannabis industry conference series with previous events being held in the United States, Canada, Spain, Switzerland, Croatia, and Germany. More locations are being identified for future events, including Slovenia.
The conference series’ flagship event is held annually in Berlin, Germany and is Europe’s largest and longest-running cannabis B2B event in the world. ICBC events frequently feature the planet’s top cannabis speakers and presenters, as well as serve as the top international platform for innovators to debut their cannabis inventions and concepts.
To read Frank Schuler’s excellent article on the study, which was posted on the ICBC website on October 2,2023, simply click on the link that follows.
internationalcbc.com/study-demonstrates-that-cannabis-is-an-exit-drug-not-a-gateway-drug/?
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.
