Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at Mother’s Day gifts for mature consumers, medical cannabis and mental health, another take on rescheduling cannabis and more. Enjoy.
Mother’s Day Gift Ideas for Mature Consumers
If you are looking for a Mother’s Day gift for a mature consumer in your life, don’t fret. Help is here.
Stephanie Ganz, writing for the online publication Leafly, has put together a guide to cannabis-related gifts for mothers who are also mature consumers. To help, the gifts are organized around three price points: Below $40, $40 and above and $100 and up.
For starters, those shopping for a budget-friendly gift may want to take a look at a fizzy chamomile, sandalwood, and lavender-scented CBD bath bomb from Kush Queen. Said to be designed for maximum relaxation, these bath bombs are made from cannabinoids, essential oils, and pure olive oil, and they’re available in three dosages—some of which include a mixture of CBD/THC—and are priced at a very comfortable $16.
kushqueen.shop/collections/cbd-bath-bombs/products/relax-cbd-bath-bomb
If you are looking for a gift for a mature consumer who has strong opinions about the musical virtues of both American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead, Ganz may have just the “miracle” you’re looking for. It’s a Grateful Dead-emblazoned vaporizer, for cannabis, from G Pen. Described as being lightweight and relatively discrete, the Dash, as it is called, is pocket sized and comes “truckin” in at a sale price of $49.95 —for moms who want to “light up and look around.”
www.gpen.com/collections/g-pen-dash/products/grateful-dead-x-g-pen-dash-vaporizer
If the mature consumer on your gift list enjoys nesting and objects that do the same, you may want to consider a nesting set from a company called Gossamer. The set includes a one-hitter, a pipe, and an ashtray, all in a jadeite colorway collectible look. The lucky recipient of this gift could use it to keep cannabis-related items neat and discreet by packing up everything under the set’s lid, or display it proudly on the coffee table for all to admire. The nesting set from Gossamer is on sale at $110.
gossamer.co/products/nesting-set
For more Mother’s Day gift ideas, we recommend reading Stephanie Ganz’s informative and entertaining article in the May 6.2024 issue of Leafly.com.
www.leafly.com/news/strains-products/mothers-day-weed-gift-guide-2024?
Cannabis, Chronic Illness and Mental Health
There may be hopeful news for those who struggle with mental health issues as a result of battling chronic illness. According to Dana Smith, reporting for Cannabis.net, a recent study conducted by researchers from Switzerland’s University of Basel, found that patients with chronic health problems most especially chronic pain experience significant improvements in their mental health after medical marijuana has been legalized.
The researchers examined feedback from 7.9 million participants of an online survey conducted from 1993 through 2018.
In her article, Smith noted that findings from the study, which were published in the journal Health Economics, Policy, and Law, revealed the following: “Eased access to marijuana through medical marijuana laws reduce the reported number of days with poor mental health for individuals who consume marijuana for medical purposes and for those individuals who likely suffer from frequent pain.”
The study also found that medical marijuana legalization didn’t impact cannabis use by young people and recreational consumers. Said project spokesperson Professor Alois Stutzer, “Overall, our results show that medical cannabis legalization in the USA benefits the people it is intended for without harming other groups.” Stutzer also restated the research team’s contention that there is a clear association between mental wellness and liberalization of laws governing the use of medical cannabis.
In her article, Smith also points to a similar study that was conducted by researchers at the University of Sydney. Released in 2023, the survey polled over 2,300 patients who were prescribed cannabis in the form of CBD and THC in a carrier oil from November 2020 through December 2021. The participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 97, and almost 2/3 of them were female.
Survey participants were asked to measure their quality of life relating to their overall health, pain, sleep, depression and anxiety before they began therapy with marijuana. They were polled again after 2 weeks of therapy, a routine that continued monthly for 3 months.
Said Margaret-Ann Tait, a senior research officer on the project, “Within the first three months of medicinal cannabis therapy, participants reported improvements in their health-related quality of life, fatigue, and health conditions associated with anxiety, depression, and pain.”
Additionally, the researchers reported that the patients experienced significant benefits when it came to their fatigue, pain, and quality of life.
To learn more about these and similar studies, we suggest reading the article by Dana Smith that appeared in the May 6, 2024 issue of Cannabis.net.
Medical Cannabis, Employment and the Law
A Connecticut court has ruled that in certain circumstances, the potential benefits of using medical cannabis can carry restrictions when it comes to employment.
According to TG Branfalt, reporting for Ganjapreneur, a Connecticut Appellate Court has ruled that employers in the state have the right to fire employees who come to work while impaired by medical cannabis.
Citing an article in the Insurance Journal, Branfalt noted that the court upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought against a nonprofit pre-school that had fired a teaching assistant after she showed up to work under the influence of medical cannabis, which violated the school’s drug-free workplace policy.
In full, the court ruled that despite the state’s medical cannabis law, employers “may prohibit qualifying patients from being under its influence in the workplace” and that employees who make claims under the law must prove they were terminated solely because they are a medical cannabis patient.
In his article, Branfalt makes the point that the school said that terminating the employee was unrelated to her medical condition. Rather, it was because she had shown up to work impaired. The employee filed a grievance, but both the school’s grievance committee and board of directors upheld the termination, the report says. The employee filed an employment discrimination complaint with the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and in her accompanying affidavit alleged that the school “terminated her employment because of her disability” and “failed to accommodate her by prohibiting her from working while taking prescription medication for her disability.”
To learn more, we urge you to read TG Branfalt’s excellent reporting in the May 6, 2024 issue of Ganjapreneur.com.
Cannabis Quote of the Week
“There are three major changes that will come with this {Schedule III for Cannabis}new designation. First, the famed 280e tax law which prohibits cannabis companies from claiming business tax exemptions open to other businesses would no longer apply as they only impact businesses selling Schedule 1 and 2 substances. Secondly, THC-based cannabinoid medications, such as Sativex, would have a legal pathway for FDA approval. Once approved, these medications could be prescribed by a doctor and would be covered by insurance. They would also be available in all 50 states, even in states with no medical cannabis program. Finally, rescheduling would address barriers to researching cannabis. Previously, researchers could only access cannabis for research from the federal government’s supply. This meant that the government had strict control over what research was allowed. While there have been moves to end this monopoly on cannabis for research purposes, rescheduling would open new avenues for researchers to obtain cannabis and conduct studies on its medical value, as well as its impact on human health and functioning. “—Dr. Amanda Reiman (Ph.D., MSW)
Dr. Reiman is Chief Knowledge Officer for New Frontier Data. Her comments are taken from her latest article:”Charting New Territory: Perspectives on Cannabis Rescheduling.” The article appeared in the May 1, 2024 issue of Cannabis Insights, a publication of New Frontier Data.
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.
