Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at Georgia pharmacies selling cannabis oil, why individuals are turning to medical cannabis, how Kansas City is using cannabis tax dollars to help the homeless and more. Enjoy.
The Future is Now
To update to a story we first ran several weeks ago, pharmacies in Georgia have begun selling low-THC medical cannabis oils to patients. This makes them the first pharmacies in the U.S. to participate in medical cannabis sales.
That’s the word from TG Branfalt, who reported on CNN’s coverage of the story for Ganjapreneur. He writes that Robins Pharmacy, Omega Pharmacy, and the Allen Pharmacy Group are the first three pharmacies in the state to get licenses to sell the products.
In his article, Branfalt pointed out that Georgia lawmakers approved the law allowing pharmacies to sell the products in 2019, but it took years for the regulations to get final approval.
To get state approval to participate in the program, pharmacies submit an application and are inspected by the state drugs and narcotics agency. Inspectors investigate the store’s security, question the staff about how much they know about the products, and about how to handle the products, before the state will grant them the license.
Branfalt noted that Bill Posey, the owner of Allen Pharmacy Group, told CNN he already has patients calling about when they could start buying the products. “It’s going to be great,” he said. Dr. Ankit Patel, of Robins Pharmacy, told CNN he’s been “excited” about the possibility of selling the products for years and that he had applied for the program “immediately.”
According to Branfalt, under the state’s medical cannabis law, there are 16 medical conditions that allow patients to access the low-THC oils.
To learn more, we suggest reading the article by TG Branfalt that appeared in the October 30, 2023 issue of Ganjapreneur.com.
www.ganjapreneur.com/georgia-pharmacies-begin-selling-low-thc-medical-cannabis-oil/?
Spotlight on Medical Cannabis
A new study indicates nearly 20 percent of those surveyed said they use cannabis to address health issues—and using it helped to reduce their use of prescription drugs, alcohol, or both.
In addition, well over half of survey respondents said they would feel more comfortable using cannabis if it were screened and dosed by a clinician.
The survey of just over 1,000 participants was funded by EO Care, Inc., a company described as the first clinically guided cannabis health and wellness solution for employers. All respondents were employed at least part-time and were from states where cannabis is legal for medical and/or recreational use.
Key findings from the survey include the following :
- 18 percent of respondents have used cannabis for health reasons in the past year, 19 percent have used cannabis for recreational reasons, and 14 percent have used it for both.
- The top three reasons for their cannabis use are anxiety, pain and sleep.
- 88 percent of medical cannabis users say it reduced their use of prescription drugs, alcohol, or both.
- 51 percent said they would be likely/very likely to use cannabis if it were offered by their health plan.
- 65 percent of respondents said they would feel more comfortable using cannabis if it were screened and dosed by a clinician.
Said Sean Collins, co-founder and CEO of EO Care, “Finding clinical guidance for medicinal cannabis is difficult because most doctors lack the knowledge and retail dispensaries are not equipped to provide medical advice. As a result we have tens of millions of Americans using cannabis for health reasons without guidance on specific product recommendations, dosage amounts, possible drug interactions, or consideration of their health history and other potential health risks. Given that sales of cannabis for health reasons is far higher than most prescription drugs, this is a highly concerning situation for healthcare generally.”
The services of EO Care are offered by participating companies as an employee benefit. Most employees who enroll in the plan are seeking relief from chronic conditions such as neuropathic pain; cancer treatment symptoms including nausea, appetite, sleeplessness, pain and anxiety; as well as other health issues like seizure disorders and Parkinson’s disease.
Through the plan, members gain access to clinicians who, based on a person’s needs and medical history, develop a personal cannabis care plan including specific products and dosages and then connect the member to local dispensaries who can fill the order. Clinical recommendations are based on data models developed with leading clinicians and researchers, and are further approved by a physician, with feedback further tuning the care of each individual.
An Executive Summary of the survey results is available here.
To learn more about the survey and the company, we suggest reading the article that appeared in the October 24, 2023 issue of Globe News Wire.com.
Investor News and Notes
Higher trading volume and increased liquidity, fewer barriers to attracting institutional investment and the opportunity to meet stricter listing requirements with an eye to ultimately listing on the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange.
These are just three of the reasons why large cannabis companies—often referred to in the industry as multistate operators (MSOs)—are moving their Canadian stock listings from the more junior Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) to the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) or the Cboe Canada.
So says Solomon Israel in an article he penned for MJBizDaily. He points to New York-based Curaleaf Holdings, which is in the process of moving from the CSE to the TSX, and The Cannabist Co. – previously known as Columbia Care – which has delisted from the CSE while maintaining its listing on the Cboe Canada as examples of this trend.
Matt Karnes, founder of New York-based cannabis investment research firm GreenWave Advisors, said the more rigorous listing requirements of the larger Canadian exchanges, “should provide added investor confidence.”
He added that these “uplistings” are also part of a broader goal of eventually listing on major U.S. exchanges when federal policy reform – such as legalization – permits such a move by plant-touching companies.
Said Karnes,“This is the first step so (that) when the floodgates open, if they’re better positioned, it will make that transition easier.”
Jason Wild, Executive Chair of the MSO TerrAscend told MJBizDaily that listing on a larger exchange with more participants meant “we’d be reaching a larger audience of potential investors, and we wouldn’t be like the tree that fell in the woods that nobody knew about, because they weren’t listening.”
Israel noted that Wild also said that the volume of trading in TerrAscend shares has increased significantly since the company started trading on the TSX in July, even before potential rescheduling news in late August heralded a frenzy of marijuana investment.
In addition, by moving to a larger Canadian exchange, institutional investors such as hedge funds are now able to invest in the company whereas, before, those investors’ prime brokers wouldn’t take custody of plant-touching U.S. cannabis stocks.
Said Wild, “We’ve heard specific names of multiple brokerage firms that have removed us from their block list because we moved to the Toronto Stock Exchange, and we have not heard of any firms that are blocking it anymore. ”
In his article, Israel points out that U.S. plant-touching marijuana companies typically can’t list on major U.S. exchanges such as the NYSE or the Nasdaq because of the federal illegality of marijuana.
However, should the U.S. change its regulatory prohibition on listing on U.S. exchanges, the expectation is that cannabis companies listed on the larger Canadian exchanges will be prepared to list on a U.S. stock exchange in “weeks, not months,” if such a listing becomes possible.
To learn more, we urge you to read the detailed and insightful reporting by Solomon Israel in the October 31, 2023 issue of MJBizDaily.com.
mjbizdaily.com/marijuana-msos-uplist-shares-in-canada-with-eye-on-us-exchanges/?
Cannabis Corner
Officials in Kansas City, Mo. are using cannabis tax dollars to turn up the heat this winter—in a good way.
According to Heidi Schmidt, reporting for KCTV, the local CBS affiliate, members of the city council have approved a plan to appropriate $500,000 raised by the city’s tax on cannabis products to help fund the city’s Extreme Weather Program. Affordable housing and fighting homelessness is one of three pillars leaders said the money would be used for when voters passed the tax last year. The other two pillars are violence prevention and trash cleanup.
Schmidt notes that starting Nov. 1, the city’s plan calls for shelters to extend the hours guests are allowed to stay when the temperatures drop below 32 degrees. The shelters expect to begin seeing a larger number of people seeking shelter as it gets colder outside.
In addition, Schmidt reports that a street outreach effort will also make the rounds to known encampments to help provide coats, gloves, blankets, and other supplies to people who stay outside instead of spending nights at a shelter.
Kansas City’s Extreme Weather Plan to address homelessness also includes providing mental health support, medical care, and transitional living support to help as many people move into stable housing.
To learn more, we suggest reading the article by Heidi Schmidt that appeared in the October 26 issue of the website KCTV5.com.
www.kctv5.com/2023/10/26/money-kansas-citys-marijuana-tax-helps-expand-winter-weather-response/
Legalization and Traffic Safety
Those who oppose legalizing cannabis for adult use often try to stoke the fears that legalization will lead to mayhem on the highway, painting lurid pictures of stoned drivers causing countless accidents.
The problem with this approach is that the data doesn’t support the position. According to Ben Adlin, reporting for Marijuana Moment, a new study by Quartz Advisor found that states that legalized marijuana in 2016 saw meaningful declines in traffic fatalities during the years immediately following the policy change.
Ultimately, writes Adlin, the paper concludes that motor vehicle safety “should not be a significant concern for marijuana legalization initiatives,” especially when measured against alcohol.
The research team wrote, “As of yet, studies have failed to show that legalization of cannabis has resulted in any significant increase in traffic fatalities in the places where it has been legalized. However, the same cannot be said for alcohol, an intoxicant that remains legal, widely-available, and deeply ingrained in our culture.”
Adlin makes the point that the findings, which are not peer-reviewed, were based on traffic fatality data from four states that legalized adult-use cannabis in 2016: California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada.
Quartz Advisor then compared those states’ vehicle death rates to the national average as well as to rates in five states where marijuana remained illegal during that period: Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming.
The researchers found that in the three years following the policy change none of the four legalized states saw an increase in traffic deaths. Most, in fact, saw declines.
“Three of the four states saw a significant decrease in vehicle deaths over that span,” the study notes, “while the rate in Maine showed no change. Massachusetts saw the biggest drop, as rates fell 28.6 percent in the three years following legalization.”
However, when the researchers expanded the analysis to include data from 2020 and 2021, the most recent years for which National Safety Council (NSC) numbers were available, the results are not so clear. Over that period of time, the vehicle death rate in fact rose in states that legalized marijuana, although less than in the U.S. as a whole.
Said the research team, “While there is no evidence to suggest that legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana makes roads more dangerous, that is not to say that it is safe to drive while under the influence of cannabis.”
In his article, Adlin also points to The 2022 Casualty Actuarial Study that found that while marijuana use does affect driving, “the behavior is not always riskier; for example, slower speeds and longer following distances of impaired drivers have been reported.”
Adlin also cites a study published in 2019 that concluded that those who drive at the legal THC limit—which is typically between two to five nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood—were not statistically more likely to be involved in an accident compared to people who haven’t used marijuana.
So, to sum up the debate, legalization doesn’t tend to lead to carnage on the highways, but if individual drivers are going to err, it’s probably best for them to err on the side of caution and avoid driving when intoxicated, whether that intoxication is caused by cannabis, alcohol or anything else.
To learn more, we suggest reading Ben Adlin’s article in the October 26, 2023 issue of Marijuana Moment.net.
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.
