Israeli Parliament Passes Bill Allowing Export Of Medical Marijuana

Sara Brittany Somerset 

srael is poised to be a top-earning, global hub in the marijuana market. 

Knesset amends the State of Israel's Dangerous Drugs Ordinance to allow for export of cannabis. Getty

The Israeli Parliament (the "Knesset"), passed the 16th amendment to Dangerous Drugs Ordinance on December 25, that concerns the governance and regulatory aspects of exporting medical cannabis from Israel. Subsequently, Israel is poised to be a top-earning, global hub in the marijuana market.

The Knesset's measure was approved unanimously by 21 votes. Following the vote, the Minister of Internal Security, Gilad Erdan, approved.  (Minister Gilad previously disapproved such actions; however, his party is currently up for re-election.)

The bill passed the Knesset's internal affairs committee and two additional votes in the Knesset's grand hall. The legislation authorizes the Israeli Police to conduct supervision of cannabis farms, and grant approvals for cultivating, growing and exporting of cannabis and cannabis-related products.

Police involvement clears a legal obstacle necessary for the final approval of export of medical marijuana from the country, during 2019, expectedly.

While the amended bill allows provisions for future cannabis export, pending government authorization, recreational marijuana use is still illegal in Israel. A government resolution is required to authorize export. Minister Erdan hopes to get approval by Sunday or shortly thereafter.

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According to the Knesset's website, the bill states that "any license to engage in medical cannabis will be subject to a license from the Ministry of Health." Provisions were made stipulating that each applicant for a license to engage in medical cannabis will receive a positive or negative recommendation from the police department. An exemption from police review may occur for foreign investors. The police will be required to provide its guidance for domestic applicants within four months, and foreign investors within six months.

According to the wording formulated in the committee, "anyone who violates the terms of the license to engage in medical cannabis is liable to 24 months imprisonment or a fine of NIS 75,000," or $19,887 at today's market rate.

Additionally, the purpose of the bill is, "to regulate and maintain a clear separation between the ban on all trade in cannabis as a 'dangerous drug' as defined in this Ordinance, and the export of medical cannabis currently permitted in medical use in accordance with the reform passed by the Minister of Health in June, 2016. The goal is to regulate the export of medical cannabis and to allow the creation of a medical cannabis market for Israeli exports, which will provide the state coffers with an estimated NIS 1 billion."

There are currently eight companies operating in Israel, and there are dozens of additional requests from business owners to work in the field, which are awaiting the approval of the relevant parties.

Entrepreneurs and researchers, as well as the business owners themselves, cite many requests from all over the world. All are encountering roadblocks because medical cannabis is lumped in with the other types of cannabis in the sweeping prohibition on trade.

“Israel is a medical cannabis power,” said Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel. “The Israeli research conditions for growth in the field precede most countries in the world by five to seven years due to progressive regulation."

"Furthermore," says Minister Ariel, "the products in Israel are manufactured according to strict production standards, on a medical level, like in the pharmaceutical industry - including strict security rules for the entire value chain, developed following inter-ministerial work which took place over a prolonged period."

Meanwhile, marijuana stocks were sent soaring on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, after the Knesset's announcement, according to Israeli outlet Ynet. 

Quite a few Israeli companies stand to benefit from this bill.

Seedo, for example, developed a fully-automated plant growing device managed and controlled by an artificial intelligence algorithm, monitored by a user's smartphone application. The equipment is much more advanced than the typical "space bucket."

Seedo is well positioned to take advantage and leverage the opportunity to export medical grade cannabis, cultivated and grown by its commercial auto-growing facility, which the company manufactures for the industrial sector. The automated growth cycle ensures a yield of pesticide-free, high-quality medical grade cannabis which can be processed and exported from Israel.

"This new legislation removes the last legal obstacle which remained in the path towards approving export and signing it into Israeli law," Said Zohar Levy, CEO of Seedo. "By the end of the year 2019, Israeli companies will be able to take advantage of our edge technology and leverage the possibility to export high quality, pesticide-free medical cannabis to the world. We are proud to be able to offer this solution to the local Israeli and international growers." The grow box has become so popular that it is currently on back-order.

Additional Israeli cannabis companies, such as Tikun Olam, PhytoPharma and Cannabics will also flourish under the new legislation.

Israel has a well-earned reputation for being the Silicon Valley of the Middle East, due to game-changing Israeli inventions such as video calling and messaging app Viber, the world's first metered-dosage cannabis inhaler called Syqe, and Water Gen which makes drinkable water out of natural condensation in the air.

With a predilection for inventing advanced technology, combined with restrictions on cannabis export lifted by the Knesset, it is only a matter of time before Israel dominates the competitive global marijuana market.

Mexico to become third country to legalise marijuana

Government eyes tax revenues and cutting illegal supply chain, but will cartels suffer?

Jude Webber

 

A man smokes a joint during a rally in support of the legalisation of marijuana in Guadalajara, Mexico. Photograph: Ulises Ruiz/AFP/Getty Images

Nicolás Calderón has a passion and a plan. Now all he needs is for Mexico to legalise pot.

The 17-year-old entrepreneur, who wants to set up a Mexico City marijuana shop, should not have long to wait. Olga Sánchez Cordero, interior minister in Mexico’s new leftist nationalist government, has submitted a Bill to Congress to end prohibition and start regulation.

Since the ruling party controls Congress, the Bill is unlikely to run into trouble; indeed, it is expected to be passed within weeks. Mexico will be the third country in the world to make marijuana cultivation and consumption legal.

Latin America’s second-largest economy, which briefly legalised all drugs in 1940, will follow in the footsteps of Uruguay and Canada, as well as more than 30 US states where cannabis has been legalised for medicinal or recreational use or both.

The big difference is that, unlike Mexico, none of the other places is a major producer of illegal drugs.

“How much blood has been spilled, how many crimes have there been before a joint reaches someone’s hands? It’s terrible,” Sánchez Cordero said after presenting the Bill last month.

She then took a leave of absence from her Senate seat to take up her cabinet post when President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was sworn into office on December 1st. “This is an important step towards pacification,” she said.

López Obrador inherited a country with murders at an all-time high – nearly 28,000 by October alone – and has begun daily security co-ordination meetings to try to drive the numbers down.

State dispensaries sold small fixes at prices that vastly undercut those of street dealers

But the jury is out on whether legal pot will have much impact on Mexico’s drug cartels, on which former president Felipe Calderón unsuccessfully declared war a dozen years ago.

“I think the cartels will lose 40 per cent of their income with [marijuana] legal here and in the US,” said Vicente Fox, Mexico’s president from 2000 to 2006, who now sits on the board of Canadian cannabis company Khiron Life Sciences, which is entering the Mexican market.

Illegal supply

In Seattle, Vancouver and Colorado, he said, he had seen dealers embrace coming out of the shadows. “Previously they were criminals, now they’re in suits and are businessmen or farmers,” he said. “It’s a marvellous transformation.”

Sánchez Cordero, a former supreme court judge who marched with student activists in 1968 and identified with hippies, sees legalising marijuana not only as an important public health issue and revenue generator for the state, but a way to “cut the chain” of illegal supply, which she said often leads to dealers pushing tougher drugs to customers.

But Alejandro Hope, a security expert, said marijuana legalisation would probably not cut violence: few homicides in Mexico are directly linked to the marijuana trade, and in Colorado, Washington and Uruguay, where pot is legal, homicides have actually gone up, he said.

“This is not a security issue. This is an issue about public freedoms. If you frame this as a magic wand to reduce violence, we are in for a major disappointment,” he said. “Go for it ... but it will not bring peace.”

People hold a banner reading “Cultivating the freedom Uruguay grows”, during the so-called “Last demonstration with illegal marijuana” outside the Congress building in Montevideo. Uruguay moved to legalise marijuana in 2013, and became the first state to do so. File photograph: Andres Stapff/Reuters

He noted that marijuana eradication was at a historic low: just 1,160 hectares by June this year and 4,220 in 2017, compared with more than 30,000 in 2016.

“Seizures in Mexico have collapsed and seizures on the US border have declined by two-thirds,” he said.

Mexico’s domestic marijuana market is very small, but Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive, is already thinking of scale. “When it’s no longer illegal, you can put in a lot of research and development – it becomes an industry,” he said.

He wants to set up Mexico’s first laboratory of cannabis with a greenhouse to produce plants and to conduct research and training at his NGO, Centro Fox.

Like Khiron, which intends to set up cannabis clinics, Aurora Cannabis, another Canadian company, is eyeing the Mexican market with a tie-up with a pharmacy that has a medical cannabis licence.

Tax revenues

Sánchez Cordero said she wanted permit holders, right down to the corner convenience store, to be able to sell cannabis products, but declined to put a figure on how high tax revenues from marijuana could be for the state. “We’re projecting a good quantity but it hasn’t been regulated so we don’t know how much will sell,” she said.

Lázaro Cárdenas, the Mexican president who nationalised Mexico’s oil industry in 1938, briefly legalised all drugs in 1940, including heroin, morphine and cocaine, and allowed for addicts to be treated as patients, not criminals. State dispensaries sold small fixes at prices that vastly undercut those of street dealers. But he backtracked after six months, following US pressure.

Sánchez Cordero said she would also like to extend legalisation to opiates – Mexico is also a major illicit heroin producer – strictly for medical use. “But we have to move forward first in marijuana,” she said.

Calderón is looking into cultivation sites, researching suppliers and crunching the numbers for his plan with his 24-year-old business partner, to open a shop by the end of the first quarter. They want to offer customers not only weed but also advice on the best strains, a place to hang out or work and an art venue all under one roof.

“I don’t just see an opportunity to make money but also to help Mexico,” he said. Using the Mexican term for the illegal drugs trade, he added: “I think this is going to help reduce el narco a lot.”

France to Launch Medicinal Cannabis Experiment in 2019

Martin Green


The French government has approved an official study into the benefits of medicinal cannabis and it will be completed before the end of 2019.

It follows a study published earlier this month by a government-appointed committee of scientific experts, which recommended the government legalize medicinal marijuana. The committee concluded that it is “relevant to authorize the use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes for patients in certain clinical situations”.

Now the National Agency for Medicines has given the green light for an experiment into the therapeutic properties of cannabis, seen as another step towards it eventually being legalized.

The Temporary Specialized Scientific Committee was set up in October, comprising 13 independent healthcare experts, and the purpose of the experiment is to test its proposals “in concrete terms”.

First, it needs to work out where the cannabis for French patients will be produced and decide whether to rely on imports or to roll out a domestic cultivation industry. Then the group will assess distribution channels and delivery modes.

Next up, the committee, backed by the National Agency for Medicines, will conduct a “life-sized test”. That will involve looking at sprays, inhalation, capsules, drops, suppositories, oils, sublingual route, and patches to determine which method of ingestion is the healthiest. The Temporary Specialized Scientific Committee has already said that smoking cannabis is harmful and alternative methods would be preferable.

France has the world’s sixth largest economy, behind only the U.S., China, Japan, Germany, and the UK, so it represents a significant potential market for the global cannabis industry. Its neighbours have all totally relaxed their laws around cannabis consumption in recent years:

• Luxembourg has now permitted marijuana for recreational use
• Spain has cannabis clubs where people can smoke without fear of prosecution
• Germany is rolling out a medicinal cannabis industry and so are Switzerland and Italy
• Belgium has decriminalized cannabis for personal use

France remains the most conservative country in western Europe when it comes to cannabis, but that could all change in 2019 if the government is satisfied by the results of this official study. If it does not act, it risks seeing its citizens crossing the border into neighbouring countries to source cannabis or relying on the black market.

Medical marijuana use in Florida continues to grow

In the first nine months of 2018, more than 136,000 patients across the state received certifications from 1,070 physicians to receive medical marijuana.

Different varieties of marijuana flowers are displayed at medical marijuana dispensary in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka, File)

By News Service of Florida 

 

Despite a bumpy rollout that has drawn lawsuits and criticism from legislators, a new report shows the number of Floridians using medical marijuana continues to grow.

 

In the first nine months of 2018, more than 136,000 patients across the state received certifications from 1,070 physicians to receive medical marijuana.

In all, those patients received 174,254 certifications — some could have received multiple certifications — for a host of medical conditions that qualify them to use marijuana. That included 41,143 certifications, or nearly 24 percent of the overall total, for post-traumatic stress disorder.

The report, issued by the Physician Certification Pattern Review Panel, also shows that physicians in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties accounted for more than 30 percent of the certifications between January and Sept. 30.

The average medical-marijuana dose ordered was 372 milligrams per day, according to the data. But in Highlands County, where 470 patients were certified to receive the drugs, the average dose was 3,956 milligrams.

And in Nassau County, where two patients were reported as being certified, the average dose ordered was 17 milligrams.

While the report provides insight into how Florida physicians are responding to Florida's burgeoning medical-marijuana market, panel co-chair Sandra Schwemmer, an osteopathic physician in Tavernier, said the information needs to be further analyzed before drawing conclusions.

Moreover, members of the panel agreed that the report doesn't provide a full picture of Florida's market because it doesn't capture information from dispensaries. They have asked the Legislature to authorize the collection of the data.

Thirty-one states allow patients to use medical marijuana, including nine states that also have approved marijuana for recreational purposes.

Florida lawmakers first authorized the limited use of non-euphoric, low-THC marijuana in 2014, but Gov. Rick Scott's administration drew criticism and legal challenges for the way it implemented the law. Voters in 2016 overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana.

The following year, lawmakers passed legislation to implement the 2016 constitutional amendment, though that law also faces legal challenges.

The law required Florida's two medical boards to form a joint committee that examines and analyzes the ordering patterns for physicians who certify patients. The panel is required to annually submit a report to the governor and legislative leaders. The new report is the first time such a document has been produced and submitted to the Legislature.

The report must include data by individual physician and information in the aggregate by county and statewide.

Data is taken from two sources: the state's physician licensure database program and the statewide medical-marijuana use registry, which houses a variety of information about issues such as physician certifications, qualifying medical conditions and average maximum daily doses ordered.

Florida patients who suffer from a variety of ailments can receive medical marijuana. 

Specific diseases such as cancer, Parkinson's disease, Crohn's disease and glaucoma qualify patients. Also, patients who require pain management or suffer from similar conditions to the specific ones listed in the law can qualify if certified by physicians.

While medical-marijuana advocates have long touted the benefits of the substance for cancer patients, the data indicate that less than 10 percent of all medical-marijuana certifications, or 17,133, were for cancer patients.

Broward County led the state in the number of certifications for post-traumatic stress disorder, with 4,597. PTSD accounted for 35 percent of all certifications for medical marijuana in the county, according to the data.

Steven Rosenberg, a West Palm Beach physician who chairs the certifications review panel, said the PTSD certifications caught his attention and that he wanted to make sure nothing was afoul.

"If there are people who are taking advantage of the law by using a broad condition, I have some concern about that," he said.

Scientists face limited access to marijuana for medical research purposes

By Sean McCaughan

Americans can buy high quality medical or recreational marijuana in most states, but scientists are quixotically faced with extremely limited access when performing the necessary research to advance our knowledge of its uses and benefits. It’s a conundrum without an easy answer, as POLITICO explains. Only one lab in the United States, a research facility at the University of Mississippi, is the only place in the country authorized to grow and experiment with marijuana for medical purposes.

However, compared to marijuana available on the private market, their stuff is ‘swag.’

“It’s brown, muddy garbage,” said physician and board member of Doctors for Cannabis Regulation Peter Grinspoon.

Although the DEA insists they support medical marijuana research, the fact that the Mississippi facility is the only Federally permitted research facility in the country, and the quality of their supply--which is a product that doesn’t match real-world uses--shows how much the DEA and FDA are dragging their feet on the subject. Additionally, the legal hoops that have to be jumped through even to be permitted access to the Mississippi stock for research purposes are cumbersome to the point of alienation.

Currently, researchers have to get FDA approval of the proposed study, undergo a battery of check by the DEA, and have stringent safeguards in place to prevent the marijuana from being used in a way that they did not authorize, like a having a limited-access room for lab research, and an advanced safe to store the samples. Plus, it takes up to a year for approvals to be granted. Only 20 researchers passed the bar and were allowed access to the marijuana for research in 2017, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which oversees the Mississippi lab.

“It’s almost a catch-22. These products are widely available to the public. But as clinical researchers, we can’t administer one drop in a clinical trial,” Staci Gruber, a Harvard neurologist studying cannabis as a treatment for anxiety said.

“The most important next step is to allow the FDA to properly measure and study the efficacy of marijuana,” Senator Brian Schatz told POLITICO. “There is an abundance of anecdotal evidence and even some clinical evidence that this is worth pursuing.” He is a cosponsor of a bipartisan bill released in 2017 meant to lower the barriers to medical marijuana research.

Meanwhile, the passage of the latest farm bill, fully legalizing hemp-based CBD, may turn up the heat on the FDA to finally allow more hard research into the medical benefits of marijuana. Since the cannabis industry makes such extensive claims about the revolutionary medical effects of CBD, the FDA cannot wait much longer to test the veracity of such claims.

5 Years Into Recreational Weed, The Lessons Learned From Denver's Great Green Experiment

Carl Bilek

Sean Azzariti, a former Marine who served in the Iraq war and has post-traumatic stress disorder, shakes hands and thanks store owner Toni Savage-Fox, after Azzariti was the first to buy retail marijuana at 3D Cannabis Center, which opened as a legal recreational retail outlet in Denver, on Wednesday Jan. 1, 2014. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Five years ago in Denver, Jan. 1 didn't just herald the start of 2014.

That year, New Year's Day also ushered in the world's first fully legal, licensed recreational marijuana stores in Colorado.

More than $1 billion in sales later in Denver alone, dozens of other cities, states and even countries have joined Colorado. One of the leaders of the Centennial State's charge since day one is Ashley Kilroy, Denver's Director of Excise and Licenses.

Kilroy was able to actually get some sleep the night of Dec. 31, 2013, despite the cloud of concern surrounding the day ahead. Would people camp out all night and smoke their newly purchased weed in public? Would the stores run out of supply?

Those fears did not prove to be true, due to the city's strategic awareness campaign, and the fact that citizens took responsibility for their purchases, Kilroy said.

"What we still see is marijuana's an issue that people feel passionately about on either end of the spectrum. Whether it's the reefer madness spectrum or maybe the other spectrum, that this is the best thing since sliced bread," Kilroy said.

One trend Kilroy and her team didn't expect was the popularity of marijuana edibles, with a large number of people wanting to eat, rather than smoke, marijuana. The appeal of edibles to novice marijuana users combined with a lack of consistent labeling and THC dosage became a problem.

"There were no real regulations around it. As soon as we realized that was an issue, we all began working really quickly on this. We determined that a serving size should be 10 milligrams of THC, and if you're going to eat something like a cookie ... the entire cookie should just be that one serving size of 10 milligrams, versus 100 milligrams and someone's required to break it into 10 pieces," Kilroy said.

Her office's phone still rings virtually every day with calls from newly legalized cities and states looking for input on regulation and standards. As the marijuana industry matures, and increasing amount of questions turn toward criminal justice and social equity. Denver itself is looking to expunge old marijuana convictions.

"When we look at marijuana convictions we understand that some of our low-income and minority communities have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, and what can we as a city do to correct that," Kilroy said.

Another lane of trial and error? How to keep legal marijuana out of the hands of teens. As underage marijuana use drops, Kilroy points to the city pivoting away from D.A.R.E.-style programs.

"We know that the 'Just Say No' campaign did not work. Kids do not want to be lectured to. So we're giving them the facts and letting them make their own conclusions," Kilroy said.

Reduced Body Mass Index and Obesity Rates in Cannabis Users

Dysregulation of the eCB System Plays a Major Role in Development of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders

By Thomas M. Clark, Jessica M. Jones, Alexis G. Hall, Sara A. Tabne, Rebecca L. Kmiec

 

The current review and meta-analysis establishes the impact of Cannabis use on body mass index (BMI) and obesity rates, and provides a well-supported physiological, causative explanation for this impact. Cannabis use appears to reverse the impact of the modern American diet on health by reducing the effects of an elevated ratio of omega-6/omega-3 fatty acids on endocannabinoid (eCB) tone. It is therefore necessary to understand how diet impacts health to understand the health impact of Cannabis use.

Diet is the main cause of premature death and disability in the United States. The modern western diet is proinflammatory and obesogenic. Diseases associated with inflammation and obesity include cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus (DM), Alzheimer’s disease, mood disorders, autoimmune disorders, liver and kidney disease, and musculoskeletal disabilities. A significant dietary factor contributing to these health problems is an increased ratio of omega-6 (linoleic acid, LA) to omega-3 (α-linolenic acid, ALA) fatty acids, especially in the context of a high glycemic load and reduced physical activity.

Recent reviews show that dysregulation of the eCB system plays a major role in development of obesity and metabolic disorders, and strongly implicate the elevated omega-6/omega-3 ratio as a primary cause of this dysregulation. Omega-6 fatty acids are precursors of the eCBs N-arachidonoylethanolamide (AEA, or anandamide) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG).

These eCB signals act via receptors, including CB₁R and CB₂R, and CB₁R plays a primary role in energy homeostasis. An elevated dietary omega-6/omega-3 ratio therefore leads to elevated levels of AEA and 2-AG, overstimulation of CB₁R, and dysregulation of energy homeostasis leading to weight gain.

Metabolic Consequences of the Modern Western Diet

Among the defining features of the modern western diet are a superabundance of calories from sugars and refined starches leading to increased glycemic load, and a strongly elevated ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. The dietary omega-6/omega-3 ratio in hunter-gatherers is estimated to be around 1:1 to 3:1, whereas the ratio in the modern western diet is as high as 20:1 or more. This shift in dietary fatty acids increased sharply as more vegetable oils (especially soybean oil) and grains were incorporated into the diet. Corresponding with these changes in diet, rates of obesity and metabolic syndrome are increasing rapidly.

Obesity is a major health concern, strongly associated with systemic inflammation and metabolic syndrome, with increased risk of DM, a variety of cancer types, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, anxiety, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and other serious medical conditions. Dietary dysregulation of the eCB system is emerging as a primary cause of these conditions, suggesting that therapeutic interventions targeting this system should be investigated as a primary way to reduce or eliminate many of the most serious chronic diseases characteristic of modern western societies.

Overview of the eCB System

The eCB system is a signaling system with a prominent role in homeostasis, and is reviewed extensively elsewhere. This signaling system occurs within the central nervous system (CNS) and in multiple peripheral organs.

The eCB system involves signals and receptors. The main signals are AEA and 2-AG. A major biosynthetic pathway for each begins with the omega-6 fatty acid (FA), LA, and proceeds through arachidonic acid. From arachidonic acid, multiple pathways and enzymes lead to AEA and 2-AG. AEA and 2-AG act through multiple receptors. Best-known are CB₁R and CB₂R, G protein-coupled receptors that are located in the CNS, as well as peripherally on a variety of organs and tissues, including the gut, liver, bones, skeletal muscle, and adipose tissues. The eCB signals AEA and 2-AG are degraded by enzymes, primarily fatty acid amine hydrolase for AEA and other fatty acid ethanolamides, and monoacylglycerol lipase for 2-AG and other monoacylglycerols.

Impact of the Dietary Omega-6/Omega-3 Ratio on the eCB System

Recent reviews suggest that disruption of the eCB system by an elevated omega-6/omega-3 ratio contributes strongly to the metabolic dysregulation associated with the modern western diet. Elevated production of the eCBs AEA and 2-AG is central to the health problems associated with the elevated omega-6/omega-3 ratio. Omega-6 FAs are converted to the eCB signals AEA and 2-AG. Therefore, the elevated omega-6/omega-3 ratio results in increased synthesis of AEA and 2-AG, resulting in overstimulation of CB₁R (Figure 1). Elevated CB₁R activity in turn directly causes excess intake, storage, and conservation of energy leading to disruption of body mass and adipose tissue homeostasis.

Figure 1. The impact of the modern western diet on the endocannabinoid system. (A) In the presence of a natural omega-6/omega-3 ratio, production of the endocannabinoid signals AEA and 2-AG and resulting stimulation of CB1R are compatible with a healthy BMI. (B) The modern western diet, with its elevated omega-6/omega-3 ratio, leads to excess production of AEA and 2-AG. This overstimulates CB1R, leading to weight gain and metabolic dysregulation. Modified from Freitas et al. (22). AEA, anandamide; N-arachidonoylethanolamide; 2-AG, 2-arachidonoylglycerol; BMI, body mass index.

Omega-3 fatty acids are receiving considerable attention as dietary supplements due to their apparent ability to reduce obesity, inflammation, and associated chronic diseases. Their actions, at least in part, stem from their competition with omega-6 fatty acids for shared enzymes (elongases and Δ desaturases, which are limiting), leading to reduced AEA and 2-AG levels and CB₁R activity.

Because of this competition, it is the ratio between the two groups of fatty acids rather than the absolute amount that is key for energy homeostasis.

Role of eCB and CB₁R R in Obesity and Metabolic Disorders

CB₁R is a primary mediator of energy uptake, storage, and conservation. It acts to maximize energy uptake and conservation through multiple mechanisms. Stimulation of CB₁R modulates taste and smell pathways to increase the palatability of food. It stimulates the appetite centers of the brain, leading to hyperphagia and favoring fat accumulation in adipose tissue. At the same time, peripheral eCBs play a major role in regulating appetite, are influenced by the western diet, and AEA reduces energy expenditures, including energy expenditures during sleep.

These actions contribute to homeostasis in the context of a hunter-gatherer diet of plants, plant-feeding animals, and fish. However, the modern industrial western diet, characterized by an elevated omega-6/omega-3 ratio, leads to chronic overstimulation of CB₁R. When combined with the elevated glycemic load of the modern western diet, this contributes strongly to increased rates of obesity, unfavorable lipid profiles, insulin resistance, exacerbation of inflammation in the liver and kidneys, and increased cardiometabolic risk.

The critical role of CB₁R in accumulation of energy reserves and BMI homeostasis is revealed in studies using CB₁R antagonists, including rimonabant, as well as the peripherally restricted CB₁R antagonists URB447 and AM6545. In laboratory and clinical trials, rimonabant was successful at reducing weight, but severe psychiatric side effects, including dizziness, anxiety, depression, and nausea, caused discontinuation of clinical trials.

A therapeutic approach that acts both peripherally and centrally on the eCB system but does not cause severe psychiatric side effects is of great interest. Peripherally restricted CB₁R antagonists such as URB447 and AM6545 are showing promise, as peripheral eCB signaling via CB₁R plays a key role in stimulation of hyperphagia and dietary fat intake in the context of the western diet.

These trials highlight the importance of the eCB system as a target of interest in weight control strategies.

The present study summarizes the data on Cannabis use, caloric intake, and BMI, establishing conclusively that Cannabisuse is associated with reduced BMI and obesity rates, despite increased caloric intake. It then provides a theoretical, causative explanation for this paradox. This theory encompasses the causative role in obesity of dietary disruption of the eCB system by an elevated omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio. Cannabis (or THC) results in downregulation of CB₁R, leading to reduced sensitivity to AEA and 2-AG, leading to significant health benefits in the context of this diet.

Methods

Data on the BMI of Cannabis users and nonusers, or studies reporting adjusted odds ratios (AORs) for Cannabis users being obese or overweight, were obtained from the literature. Studies addressing the health impact of Cannabis use were identified using database searches and citation lists.

Studies addressing the impact of therapeutic Cannabis use by cancer or AIDS patients or other patients, as a means to increase appetite and caloric intake, were eliminated. Studies in which Cannabiswas provided to nonusers over a several day period were rejected because short-term weight gain can be caused by water retention from increased sodium intake rather than accumulation of tissue mass. One study focused on imaging of CB₁R was rejected due to low sample size (N=10 users and N=10 nonusers).

The remaining data were compiled into a spreadsheet. Paired t-tests were used to compare BMI of users and nonusers and were followed by determination of effect size (Hedges g with bias correction).⁵⁸ For rates of obesity, the mean and 95% confidence intervals of AOR data, χ² test for heterogeneity, and effect size determination using Hedges g were used to compare nonusers with users. When different usage rates were reported, data from the highest dosage group were used in the analysis. The mean across all usage groups, relative to nonusers, is also reported. Caloric intake data from short-term experimental studies were eliminated to ensure that subjects had reached a steady state.

Results

BMI data
Nine studies were included that reported BMI of users and nonusers and met selection criteria (Table 1), and an additional two studies were identified that reported lower BMI in Cannabis users, but did not provide numerical data. Of these studies, all reported lower values of BMI in Cannabis users, and only one of these did not reach statistical significance. A second study did not report statistical analysis of the BMI data. Of those studies reporting significant negative correlations, two reported that longer duration of Cannabis use was associated with reduced BMI.^59,60

Across all studies reporting BMI, the overall mean BMI of nonusers was 27.5 kg/m², while that of users (including data for all usage groups) was 26.0 kg/m² (Table 1). Limiting the analysis to the data from the highest dosage or duration of use reported in each study resulted in a mean BMI of users of 25.5 kg/m², a difference of 2 kg/m² that is significantly lower than the BMI of nonusers (p<0 .001="" em="" nbsp="" paired="">t

-test, T=6.00, Figure 2 and Table 2). The effect size of Cannabis use on BMI is large (Hedges g with bias correction=−1.16)⁵⁸ and the magnitude of the difference in BMI of users and nonusers is of clinical significance. Thus, on average, nonusers in these studies are overweight, whereas Cannabis users are significantly leaner and are near the healthy BMI range (18.5–25 kg/m²).

Figure 2. A comparison of BMI (kg/m2) of Cannabis users and nonusers. Data from current user, highest dosage presented in Table 1. Available data show that nonusers are overweight on average, whereas the mean BMI of users is not different from the upper limit of the healthy weight range. Data are expressed as mean±SEM (N=12 data points from 11 studies, p<0 .001="" g="" hedges="" statistic="−1.16).</figcaption">

Further support for reduced BMI in Cannabis users comes from the study by Warren et al. Although Warren et al.⁶¹ did not report BMI values, they grouped obese patients by BMI.

The percent of each group that consumed Cannabis was negatively and linearly related to the BMI of the group (R²=0.96). Danielsson et al.⁶² also reported decreased rates of being overweight (BMI >24.9) in Cannabis users, but did not provide numerical data for BMI of the two groups. Thus, of 11 studies reporting data on the relationship between Cannabis use and BMI, 9 showed a significant negative relationship between Cannabis use and BMI while the remaining 2 either reported lower BMI values in Cannabis users than nonusers that did not reach statistical significance, or failed to provide statistical analyses (Table 1).

Of course, decreased BMI in Cannabis users could result from activities correlated with Cannabis use, rather than Cannabisuse itself. Two of the BMI studies adjusted for potential confounders, and significant differences remained following adjustment (Table 1). Six studies were identified that reported AORs of Cannabis users being obese or overweight (Table 2).
Hayatbakhsh et al. followed a cohort of patients from birth until age 21 and found that subjects who used Cannabisshowed a strongly reduced incidence of being overweight or obese relative to nonusers. A fully adjusted model that included BMI at age 14 yielded an AOR of 0.2 for daily users being overweight (95% CI=0.1–0.4). BMI was inversely correlated with the frequency of Cannabis use, lending support for causation.

Waterreus et al. found that a significantly lower percentage of users than nonusers were obese (53.7% of nonusers, 36.7% of occasional users, and 28.7% of frequent users were obese; p<0 .001="" p="">
Huang et al. studied three categories of adolescent Cannabis users; high users, sporadic users, and increasing users. Sporadic and high usage groups showed far lower obesity rates than low users (AOR for sporadic use=0.2 and for high use=0.1). In contrast, the subjects on the increasing usage trajectory showed increased obesity rates relative to low users (AOR=1.6). This was the only report identified in the literature of an AOR for obesity >1.

The mean AOR across data points from these studies was 0.68. The effect size was large (Hedges’ g with bias correction=−1.074, N_cannabis=18, and N_control=6), and the mean odds ratio of users across all studies and usage groups (mean OR=0.68) suggests obesity rates are reduced enough in users to provide significant health benefits. Several tests were used to evaluate heterogeneity of the AOR data. The 95% confidence interval of the AOR data of users did not include 1 (95% CI=0.53–0.84).

The Wilcoxon rank-sum test using data from the highest usage rates within each study or group resulted in a significant impact of Cannabis use on AOR (0.0025 < p<0 .005="" em="" nbsp="">N
₁=N₂=9, U=9, 72). The χ² test using data from all user groups failed to reject the null hypothesis, however (χ²=3.78, 0.1 < p<0 .05="" p="">
A recent review cited Mittleman as reporting increased obesity rates in Cannabis users, but this appears to be a misinterpretation of the data presented in that study. Mittleman et al. showed that, of patients who had suffered a myocardial infarction (MI), those who used Cannabis were more likely to be obese. This is quite different from finding that Cannabis users were more likely to be obese. These data could be interpreted instead as evidence for protection of nonobese Cannabis users from MI. These data were therefore not included in the analysis.

Overall, 17 studies have presented data from 19 data sets on the relationship between Cannabis use and body mass or rates of obesity. These studies provided a total of 36 individual data points for BMI or AOR, and 35 of these show BMI or obesity values for Cannabis users that are less than values for nonusers. Both the BMI data and the AOR data show lower BMI or rates of overweight or obesity in Cannabis users (BMI: paired t-test p<0 .001="" 1="" 95="" ables="" and="" aor="−1.07).</p" bmi="−1.16" both="" ci="0.53–0.84)" data="" edges="" effect="" g:="" nbsp="" obesity="" sets="" show="" sizes="" strong="">
Further evidence comes from the recent observation that legalization of medical Cannabis at the state level is associated with a rapid decrease in statewide obesity rates, and that obese rats exposed to Cannabis extract show reduced rates of weight gain. Indeed, the inverse relationship between obesity and Cannabis use in humans led Le Foll et al. to propose Cannabis as a possible therapeutic option for weight loss, and evidence accumulated since then has only strengthened the association.

Caloric intake data
Interestingly, frequent Cannabis users appear to have increased caloric intake relative to nonusers, despite lower BMI.

Rodondi et al. found that users who had consumed Cannabis for more than 1800 days over 15 years consumed on average 619 more calories/day than nonusers, yet showed no difference in BMI (Table 1).

Smit and Crespo reported lower BMI in users (24.7±0.3) than nonusers (26.6±0.1), despite users consuming 564 additional calories relative to nonusers (p<0 .0001="" p="">
Ngueta et al. also observed higher values for caloric intake in Cannabis users relative to nonusers; although this was not statistically significant (2375 kcal/day vs. 2210 kcal/day; p=0.07). Despite this, the users had lower BMI (p<0 .001="" p="">
Foltin et al.⁷³ found Cannabis users to have a substantial increase (1095 kcal/day) in daily caloric intake, although this was a short-term experimental study rather than a comparison between free-range Cannabis users and nonusers.

Across these studies, on average, Cannabis users consumed an additional 834 kcal/day relative to nonusers. As BMI of Cannabis users is lower than nonusers, this suggests that Cannabis users must have increased metabolic rates.

Previous explanations proposed for lower BMI in Cannabis users
Any theory explaining mechanistically how Cannabis use causes reduced BMI must consider the paradoxical increase in caloric intake of users. To date, such a theory is lacking and the interactions between Cannabis use and obesity are not well understood.

Proposed explanations for reduced BMI in Cannabis users include substitution of Cannabis for food in brain reward pathways. Pagotto et al. suggested that the sedative effects of high doses of Cannabis could reduce food consumption, but Rajavashisth et al observed detectable effects on BMI at usage rates of four times or less per month (25% of nonusers were obese, whereas 16% of people who used Cannabis one to four times/month were obese, p<0 .001="" activity="" al.suggested="" alcohol="" and="" be="" bmi.="" by="" decrease="" et="" for="" in="" increased="" initiating="" marijuana="" may="" medical="" observed="" of="" older="" p="" physical="" reduced="" responsible="" sabia="" that="" the="" upon="" use="" users="" younger="">
While all of these factors may contribute, reduced BMI in conjunction with increased caloric intake strongly suggests that the mechanisms causing the observed decreases in BMI or obesity rates of Cannabis users must include differences in metabolism, not changes in caloric intake or activity-related energy expenditures alone. These explanations obviously do not account for increased caloric intake in Cannabis users. Le Foll et al. suggested that Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) may act as a functional antagonist in high eCB tone, as occurs in obesity, reducing BMI in Cannabis users. This is essentially what we are proposing, but does not address the mechanism involved.

Theoretical explanation for the decreased BMI of Cannabis users
There are currently no proposed mechanisms for reduced BMI in Cannabis users that account for their increased caloric intake. The central role of CB₁R in appetite, energy intake, energy conservation, and diet-induced obesity, and the hyperphagia and hypothermia resulting from acute stimulation of CB₁R by THC, makes CB₁R a prime suspect for a causative role in the effects of Cannabis use on BMI.

A novel theory for the impact of Cannabis use on BMI involving changes in CB₁R expression is proposed here (Figure 3). This multipart theory includes the following components:

Figure 3. The impact of Cannabis use on the endocannabinoid system of people consuming a die

characterized by an elevated omega-6/omega-3 ratio. Acute effects of Cannabis and/or THC      consumption include hypothermia and hyperphagia, leading to increased energy intake and                storage. However, Cannabis use also causes long-term downregulation of CB1R, leading to            decreased CB1R activity, as shown in the insert on the lower right, in which each spike follows              acute Cannabis ingestion, while the overall activity level remains depressed. Decreased CB1R activity results in a decrease in energy assimilation and an increase in metabolic rates, resulting in a                 decline in body mass despite stimulation of CB1R during acute exposure. 

THC, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol.

1. A diet characterized by an elevated ratio of omega-6/omega-3 fatty acids, typical of processed foods high in grains and soybean oil, and animals reared on these foods, results in elevated levels of the eCB signals AEA and 2-AG.

The evidence is well established.

2. Elevated AEA and 2-AG act to overstimulate the eCB receptor CB1R, resulting in increased appetite and palatability of food, increased rates of energy uptake and storage, and decreased resting metabolic rates. These result in dysregulation of glucose and lipid metabolism, metabolic syndrome, and obesity.

The evidence is well established and is summarized in multiple recent reviews, for example, see Refs.

3. Decreased CB1R activity reduces obesity and metabolic disruption. Strong evidence in support of this statement is provided in laboratory experiments and clinical trials using CB1R antagonists, including rimonabant, AM6545, and URB447.

Rimonabant caused weight loss, improved lipid profiles, improved glucose sensitivity, and reduced atherosclerosis in animals and human subjects.55,56,76 Unfortunately, it also caused severe psychiatric side effects in clinical trials, including depressive disorders, dizziness, nausea, and anxiety, and trials were therefore terminated.55,56,76 The peripherally restricted CB1R antagonists, AM6545 and URB447, decreased sham feeding of fatty foods and hyperphagia in rats, reducing caloric intake.

4. Cannabis use causes downregulation of CB1R, reducing the impact of enhanced AEA and 2-AG production arising from an elevated dietary omega-6/omega-3 ratio.

Multiple studies show that CB1R is downregulated during Cannabis tolerance, and the receptor remains downregulated for about 3–4 weeks after cessation of use.

Observations supporting this theory
There is abundant evidence that rates of obesity and metabolic syndrome are increasing with changes in diet.

There is abundant evidence that these dietary changes include a shift to a high omega-6/omega-3 ratio.

There is abundant evidence that an elevated omega-6/omega-3 ratio increases eCB tone by increasing AEA and 2-AG levels, overstimulating CB₁R.

There is abundant evidence that overstimulation of CB₁R increases adiposity and leads to metabolic syndrome, contributing to chronic diseases.

There is abundant evidence that reduced CB₁R activity results in weight loss. eCBs are strongly involved in energy expenditures, increasing caloric intake, and reducing whole-body energy metabolism. The CB₁R antagonist rimonabant increases O₂ consumption and resting energy expenditures in both rats and in humans. In rats, it increases O₂ consumption by 18% at a dosage of 3 mg/kg and 49% at 10 mg/kg after 3 h of exposure. In humans, it increases resting energy expenditures of overweight or obese subjects and leads to weight loss. Similarly, the peripherally restricted CB₁R antagonists URB447 and AM6545 reduce energy intake.

URB447 reduced rates of fat ingestion in sham-feeding rats, while AM6545 attenuated diet-induced hyperphagia.

There is abundant evidence that exposure to Cannabis and/or THC results in downregulation of CB₁R. Regular Cannabis use is associated with desensitization and downregulation of CB₁R, and CB₁R levels remain depressed for 3–4 weeks following cessation of use. Because CB₁R plays a major role in assimilation, storage, and conservation of energy, this downregulation results in decreased eCB tone. According to the theory put forth in this article, acute exposure results in the “munchies,” stimulating appetite and energy consumption and causes hypothermia as metabolic rates decrease. However, rapid downregulation of CB₁R following consumption leads to long-term effects that more than offset the short-term increase in energy stores that follow acute exposures.

The current meta-analysis provides strong evidence that Cannabis use, and/or exposure to THC, results in reduced BMI (Tables 1 and 2 and Figure 2).
Predictions arising from theory

Prediction 1: Cannabis users lose additional weight during abstinence

BMI is reduced in Cannabis users, and should decrease even more when users stop using Cannabis, because CB₁R remains downregulated for several weeks following chronic Cannabis consumption.

Recently abstinent users would show reduced appetite and increased metabolic rates during this time. However, they will no longer experience short-term stimulation of appetite, energy intake and storage, and reduced metabolic rates during each episode of acute Cannabisconsumption. Therefore, weight loss will increase as energy intake and storage remain depressed, and metabolism stimulated, until CB₁R returns to pre-Cannabis use levels.

This prediction is supported, as weight loss during withdrawal from Cannabis is one of the seven symptoms of Cannabiswithdrawal listed in DSM-V.

Prediction 2: moderate Cannabis use reduces the incidence of disorders associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome

Because Cannabis use is associated with reduced rates of obesity, it should also reduce rates of obesity-related diseases in users. There is some evidence for this, but results are inconsistent.

Multiple studies, including several using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database, have reported in Cannabis users reduced rates of DM, insulin insensitivity, or metabolic syndrome in fully adjusted models, including age. Yankey et al. also reported decreased DM rates (AOR 0.42) that did not reach statistical significance (95% CI=0.13–1.36). In contrast, analysis of data from the CARDIA data set failed to detect this relationship.Danielsson et al. found decreased rates of DM in Cannabis users in a dataset of Swedish conscripts (OR 0.74), but unlike the studies from the NHANES data set, this effect was no longer significant after adjustment for age (AOR 0.74 before adjustment, 0.94 after adjustment).

Cannabinoids have potent anticancer properties, and a recent review concluded that Cannabis users may have lower rates of cancer than nonusers. Multiple laboratory studies have shown that THC slows or reverses the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, although clinical trials are lacking.

In contrast, evidence available to date does not support reduced rates of cardiovascular disease in Cannabis users, although more studies are clearly warranted on this topic.

Prediction 3: the occurrence and magnitude of metabolic benefits from Cannabisuse depend on the dietary omega-6/omega-3 ratio

The impact of diet on the eCB system is predicted to differ among populations because different populations have different diets, consuming different proportions of green vegetables, industrially produced animals, oceanic fishes, and processed foods.

According to the theory established in the current article, populations with diets characterized by a high omega-6/omega-3 ratio will see significantly larger health improvements from Cannabis use than those eating diets with more moderate ratios of omega-6/omega-3 FAs. This may explain some of the inconsistencies in the data on the metabolic impact of Cannabisuse; for example, Cannabis use by Swedish populations may not have the same health impacts as Cannabis use by Americans due to the different dietary backgrounds and obesity rates of these populations.

Cannabis use in the United States appears to provide significant public health benefits due to partial or complete reversal of the metabolic dysregulation caused by the strongly elevated omega-6/omega-3 ratio of the American diet.

Prediction 4: Cannabis use and omega-3 supplements have similar impacts on health
Both omega-3 FAs and Cannabis reduce eCB tone, through distinct mechanisms. Omega-3 FAs compete with omega-6 FAs for the enzymes synthesizing AEA and 2-AG from omega-6 FAs, and omega-3 supplements thereby reduce the synthesis of AEA and 2-AG and reduce stimulation of CB₁R.

Cannabis use causes downregulation of CB₁R, reducing the sensitivity to elevated AEA and 2-AG. Thus, the theory predicts that omega-3 FA supplements and Cannabis use should have similar positive health impacts in the context of metabolic dysregulation from a diet with an elevated omega-6/omega-3 ratio. However, it is likely that the overlap is not complete as the precursor of AEA and 2-AG, arachidonic acid,²² also gives rise to proinflammatory leukotrienes and prostaglandins,⁹⁹ an effect that might not be impacted by decreased CB₁R tone.

Prediction 5: the combination of omega-3 supplements and Cannabis or cannabinoids could be a particularly potent treatment for obesity, metabolic syndrome, cancer, and so on
Reducing AEA and 2-AG synthesis with omega-3 supplements, and at the same time reducing CB₁R density with Cannabisuse, should reduce BMI and cardiometabolic risk factors more than either option alone (Figure 4). Note that, because CB₁R remains downregulated for some time following use, weekly Cannabis use may be sufficient to observe significant weight loss and metabolic benefits.

Figure 4. Proposed weight loss therapy based on theory. Daily omega-3 fatty acid supplements (especially with decreased dietary omega-6 fatty acids) will reduce levels of AEA and 2-AG, reducing stimulation of CB1R, while weekly Cannabis use will cause downregulation of CB1R. Thus, this approach will act to both reduce levels of the endocannabinoid signals and reduce the sensitivity of target cells to those signals. The net effect is predicted to be a more potent weight loss strategy than diet alone.

Conclusions/Summary

Obesity and elevated BMI are strongly associated with disease states, and there are significant financial and public health incentives to develop effective interventions to help people achieve a healthy body mass. Pharmacological weight loss therapy is recommended when BMI is ≥27 in the presence of obesity-related risk factors and >30 in the absence of such risk factors.

The development of pharmacological weight loss methods has been problematic, Rimonabant, a CB₁R antagonist, showed promise in laboratory studies, but clinical trials were discontinued due to serious psychiatric side effects, although ongoing studies suggest that peripherally restricted CB₁R antagonists may provide therapeutic benefits in obesity without such psychiatric side effects.

Surgical methods such as the lap band or bariatric surgeries are frequently used when dietary or pharmaceutical interventions do not work, and any surgical procedure entails risk and recovery.

Surgical procedures are also expensive. Therefore, relatively safe and inexpensive methods to reduce obesity and prevent or reduce some of the most deadly and costly chronic diseases characterizing western societies merit serious consideration.

For many patients, Cannabis may be a better option for weight loss than surgery or pharmaceuticals. However, patients with preexisting cardiovascular conditions or prior MIs should avoid cannabinoids or use them with caution.

A number of states and the federal government have legalized Cannabis products containing cannabidiol, but continue to ban legal access to products containing THC. Evidence available at this time suggests that it is ingestion of THC that is responsible for downregulation of CB₁R, and therefore, for reduced obesity rates of Cannabis users. Our theory suggests that the psychoactive effects of CB₁R stimulation with THC may be a necessary accompaniment to Cannabis-induced weight loss, because downregulation of CB₁R is required for reduced BMI, and it is not yet clear whether microdosing will cause downregulation. However, weekly or biweekly Cannabis use may be sufficient as significant decreases in BMI are observed at weekly usage rates.

Medical marijuana use is increasing, leading to decreased use of multiple classes of pharmaceuticals. Patients cite improved symptom management, fewer adverse side effects, and milder withdrawal symptoms as reasons for switching from pharmaceuticals to medical Cannabis. Once patients become aware that the side effects of medical Cannabis may include weight loss and reduced risk of obesity-associated medical conditions, this shift toward medical Cannabis is likely to accelerate. Available data suggest that this will save many lives, not only from reduced rates of obesity-related chronic illnesses but also from reduced deaths from pharmaceutical overdose.

This study provides a theoretical platform to inform future studies on the correlations between Cannabis use and cardiometabolic risk factors. This theory may explain inconsistencies among studies on the impact of Cannabis use on metabolic dysregulation, as different populations have different diets. For example, epidemiological studies of the impact of Cannabis use by cohorts of Swedish conscripts may reveal different results than epidemiological studies in the United States, due to different levels of obesity in the two countries. Cerdá et al.⁹⁸ found that early, heavy Cannabis use among Swedish conscripts is associated with increased mortality later in life. In contrast, Clark⁹¹ concluded that Cannabis use is associated with a substantial decrease in the premature death rate in the United States, as it is associated with reduced rates of cancer, DM, pharmaceutical use, deaths from brain trauma, and may slow the progression of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

The strong evidence for interactions between the dietary omega-6/omega-3 ratio, obesity, and Cannabis use suggests that the balance between positive and negative health impacts of Cannabis use will differ in Swedish and United States populations. Evidence suggests that, in the United States, many people may actually achieve net health benefits from moderate Cannabis use, due to reduced risk of obesity and associated diseases.

 

Consumers are paying for government’s failure to understand cannabis

David Clement

David Clement is the North American affairs manager with the Consumer Choice Center

 

A selection of marijuana ordered from the Ontario Cannabis Store, which has become Canadas largest online pot retailer since recreational use of the mind-altering drug was legalized in October is viewed on Nov. 18, 2018 in Canada. MICHEL COMTE/AFP/Getty Images.

 

 

Cannabis is a unique and versatile product. Unfortunately, regulators at all levels fail to really understand how cannabis is used, which has led to numerous policy mishaps. 

Simply put, federal, provincial and municipal legislators have made many mistakes when it comes to cannabis regulations. These mistakes have hindered consumers when it comes to price, supply and access.

Consumers nationwide are faced with prices that are much higher than what is otherwise available in the black market. Prices are inflated from a variety of different sources, which include: the 10 per cent federal excise tax, the 2.3 per cent federal revenue tax, various compliance and security fees, and additional sin taxes such as Manitoba’s “social responsibility fee.” The ever growing tax burden, which is ultimately paid for by consumers, is rightly raising some eyebrows with those who are wanting to purchase cannabis legally.

When it comes to supply, retailers across the country face chronic shortages. Stores, whether online or bricks and mortar, often fail to have their full product range available at all times. These shortages come from the onerous regulations that are applied to the licensed producers (LPs) who grow cannabis. Because of old Harper-era and pharma grade regulations, LPs essentially grow cannabis inside of a bank vault, which limits their ability to scale up production and get product to market.

Lastly is access. Community opt-outs and limited storefronts have created a toxic policy mixture that has ensured the black market thrives. Quebec government stores are closing on certain days, while Alberta has stopped issuing retail licences.

Ontario, which was slated to have an uncapped amount of retailers, has announced only 25 licences will be granted before April, 2019. Not having quick access to legal cannabis understandably pushes consumers back to the black market. Access problems, along with the pricing and supply issues, have played a role in keeping the black market alive. So much so that cannabis is still purchased illegally by 35 per cent of consumers.

The issues regarding cannabis regulations are easy to see, but the reason for such a disastrous policy mix isn’t quite as obvious. All of these issues come from legislators and government officials who fail to understand the versatility of cannabis as a consumer product. Cannabis isn’t just a recreational product, it is a medical product and a wellness product.

Medically, cannabis is known to be useful for treating a variety of illnesses that range from cancer, MS, ALS and fibromyalgia. As a wellness product, cannabis can be used to aid in alleviating headaches, stress and sleep problems. Lastly, cannabis is a recreational product, one that is used for its euphoric high, to enhance experiences or to calm you down.

Inflated prices occur because regulators see cannabis as a purely recreational product, one the government can use to generate exorbitant revenues. The pricing on cannabis resembles how the government views alcohol.

The issue with this view is it completely ignores that cannabis is also a wellness product and a medical product. Because the government has failed to understand this, patients are now paying excise taxes on their prescribed medicine. This is incredibly cruel for patients, many who are either on disability or fixed income.

Supply shortages have occurred in part because the federal government treats LPs as if they are only growing a medical product as opposed to a producer of a recreational product such as alcohol, which has handcuffed the industry.

For access, consumers face community opt-outs, monopoly online retail options and capped storefronts. These regulations have the stain of prohibition all over them. 

They approach cannabis with the mentality that cannabis is a truly dangerous, pharmaceutical grade product that needs to be heavily regulated.

For these access issues, regulators have acted as if cannabis is a hard drug. These access questions are insanely hypocritical if we look at access consumers have for other recreational or wellness products. For example, wellness products such as over-the-counter pain medications and allergy pills are readily available at all grocery stores.

Alcohol, a recreational product, is available via government-run stores, private retailers, grocery stores and even convenience stores, depending on the province. 

Because legislators have this faulty mindset, that cannabis is a pharma-grade drug deserving of tight access limits, consumer choice is persistently infringed upon.

Cannabis is a versatile product, one that has a variety of uses. Legislators at all levels have horse blinders on when it comes to how this legal product should be regulated. 

Failing to see cannabis as a multiuse consumer product has led to a series of mistakes that should have been avoided.

Thai farmers giddy over new medical marijuana law

By AFP

Thailand's National Assembly legalised the use of marijuana and kratom, a traditional herb, for research and medical use

 

Thai farmers welcomed a new law allowing cultivation and use of marijuana for medical purposes Wednesday, in an Asian first that promises an economic bonanza but also fears that foreign companies could reap the rewards.

Thailand's National Assembly passed a bill Tuesday legalising the use of marijuana and kratom -- a traditional herb -- for research and medical use.

The move is a significant step for a region that levies harsh sentences for drug violations. It would also allow for the production, import and export of marijuana.

The bill, which still outlaws recreational use and has strict limits on the amount an individual can carry, requires royal assent to come into law, said National Assembly member Jet Sirathronont.

The National Farmers Council of Thailand praised the law as providing a "new economic crop" to help farmers diversify their production.

"I expect Thailand can make 100 billion baht a year (US$3.07 billion) from growing cannabis and selling the raw material and cannabis oil," chairman Prapat Panyachartrak told AFP.

But some fear foreign companies and pharmaceutical giants are in pole position to scoop up valuable patents to produce the medical cannabis and extracts.

Those holding the patents could stop Thai universities and government agencies from conducting research, warned Witoon Liamchamroon, director of BioThai, a network of agricultural activists, farmers and academics.

The Commerce Ministry had promised to "revoke" the petitions of foreign companies, he said, "but so far, we checked and there is no revocation."

Long time cannabis activist Buntoon Niyamabhra called on the government to cancel patent applications from foreign multinationals.

"Otherwise Thai people will not get any benefits... as the patent law is retroactive once the new law takes effect," he told AFP.

Thailand has a long history with cannabis.

Marijuana was once classified as a traditional herb before it was re-categorised as a narcotic in the 1970s -- which prohibited its production, consumption, sale and possession.

It remains readily available despite high penalties for those caught smoking it.

But Buntoon, who founded the Network of Cannabis Users in Thailand in 2013, said marijuana was once used in more than 100 formulas of Thai traditional medicine.

"I have used cannabis for more than 50 years," he told AFP. "Cigarettes and whisky are more harmful to your health."

Several nations have embraced the use of medicinal cannabis, including Canada, Australia, Israel, and more than half the states in the US.

US-based Grand View Research has estimated the global market for medical marijuana could reach $55.8 billion by 2025.

The Unfiltered Truth About Marijuana & Sex Drive

Jade Lotus

Does weed increase your libido ... or is it all an illusion?
As the year comes to a close, ten states within the U.S. have now legalized cannabis for adults, and 33 allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

According to Forbes, "The tally of states that allow the use of marijuana is poised to jump in a big way again in 2019."

And while the scientific jury is still out on exactly how cannabis — aka "weed" or "pot" — affects sex drive in men and women, it's long been considered an aphrodisiac, particularly when consumed in the form of products containing CBD but free of THC, the component believed to be responsible for its psychotropic effects.

But smoking weed is an entirely different ball-game than using a CBD-infused lubricant.

If you're considering turning to marijuana to boost your libido, there are some serious side effects to be aware of.

And I know them well from my own decades of experience having sex while high.

I remember a time when I was looking around a second-hand bookshop in Pittsburgh, when a book caught my eye: Herbs and Things, a battered old purple book that looked like a reprint of an old witches manual.

Leafing through the pages, I was interested to find the cannabis plant listed for its aphrodisiac properties.

At the time, I was quite partial to the buzz of a joint — the feeling of relaxation and lightness was one of my favorite sensations. The buzzing throughout my body felt warm and tingly ... just like love.

Seeing cannabis described this way wasn't surprising to me. My teenage years were dominated by my love affair with pot. I loved to cuddle under a tree with my lover, inhaling the sweet smoke and feeling the pleasant sensations running through me.

The intimacy and connection I felt doing something forbidden with my boyfriend was exciting.

We were in a little bubble together where nothing else mattered, creating our own universe — one that felt pleasant and exciting, a warm bubble world holding us in a place of comfort and warmth.
It was us against the world finding meaning in the taboo.

This romance came to its inevitable end, and I found a new partner who didn't smoke. My smoking radically decreased as I tried to avoid doing it around him. I realized getting high had become a crutch for me, and I knew that avoiding it now was doing me good.

Being with him was the first time I experienced what it was like to have sex in a sober state.
There was a clarity to our sexual experiences and experimentation. Before, sex felt good because my body was buzzing. Now, I explored new realms with my partner instead of lying in a mildly anesthetized state, disconnected from my true feelings and sensations.

It was fun and exciting to enter into this new relationship not just with another, but also with myself.

My awareness of my body began to increase and I noticed sensations I'd never realized were there before. My love life was a new adventure opening me up to a fresh understanding of my body and of myself.

Unsurprisingly, with the decrease in my marijuana use, more exciting things began happening in my life. I started a new job and my career was taking off.

But then that relationship ended, and I found myself with another pot smoker.

I enjoyed the old familiar habit with this new man. But somehow I realized that I didn't want to be dragged back to that place of numbing myself in order to feel good. The availability of the weed was too tempting, and it began interfering with my vision and clarity.

The frustration of battling my willpower, the lure of the smoke and the push of my drive of creativity became a tiring battle.

I knew that smoking pot was taking over my life and if I wanted to be the real me, to creatively manifest and express myself, I would have to get away from it again.

I wanted to feel my own energy.

That relationship couldn't withstand the pressure of my internal conflict. I needed time alone and found that meditation and chi kung practice took me out of the stoned world and back into my reality.

This time I really noticed my body reacting. It took me months to get back to a normal sleep pattern, and a year for my energy levels to balance again.

This time I knew I could never go back.
What had once been a paradise had become a dark and oppressive corridor to nowhere. I could see the pleasant feeling of being stoned revealed as a deception.

Some months later I met a lovely man who told me that he smoked but assured me that it wasn't often and that he would never do it around me, because he understood how I felt.

The next time he came to see me, he had one joint with him to smoke, s a one-off, of course. I don't like telling people what to do, so I tolerated it.

He fell asleep and proceeded to snore the whole night. In the morning, he was so groggy he struggled to get up. I eventually found him in the kitchen making coffee, oblivious to my presence.

This happened again the time time he came over, and the pattern repeated for several weeks, as my normally tolerant self started thinking, "Hang on..."

After about a month I finally raised the subject and reminded him that while he'd told me he wouldn't smoke around me, every time we met, he smoked.

Suddenly, his whole demeanor changed. He went from being sweet and lovely to me (if a little disinterested in sex and mutual exploration) to being resentful and angry.

He left my house fuming in the middle of the night, telling me that I knew he was a smoker all along so, what did I expect? For him to stick to his word?
I felt guilty and hurt, even though I knew it was his problem not mine.

Talking to a friend, she said, “Come on, if he's a smoker, his first love will always be the weed. You will always be the second priority."

It was a fascinating experience of the old proverbial mirror being help up to myself, a kind of karmic payback.

I remembered the times I had been boring with my former non-smoking lover, lying there stoned and feeling like I was in heaven, but completely ignoring him. And that strengthened my resolve to never smoke weed again.

Cannabis can be fun, and the sensations it gives can be great to explore with another person. But when I think about it further, is that really exploring "together"?

Looking back at the sensations I felt when I was high, they were real on some level, but at the same time, they were an illusion. Were the illusions my lover was feeling the same?

When it all inevitably melted away, what was left, really? Did we have a real connection, or just a common experience of numbing ourselves in a common space?

My life as a sober-headed lover has brought a dynamite experience of sexual energy.

I now enjoy a heightened awareness of sensations in my interactions with my lover. I don’t fall into a stoned embrace, seeing what will happen, but actively create the experience that I want.

Cannabis makes you feel loved up, that’s for sure. But in love with who?

It also gives you dry mouth, which is not great for kissing. It interferes with women's natural lubrication, and it doesn't exactly help men in the area of performance.

The only saving grace to these otherwise frustrating side effects of marijuana is that neither of you really care.
The fluffy nice feeling that overtakes you corresponds to a lack of awareness of your physical body, as well as of your lovers. It generally masks your true sensations, whether the good or bad.

Many people use cannabis as a way to escape our pain. We all carry pain that comes up for us to deal with again at some point and in some way. This might be pain from lack of love in childhood or previous experience in relationships.

Inevitably, when we become intimate with someone new, these feelings come up, and that can be uncomfortable. Many of us lack the ability to completely process these feelings, so escapism in its various forms is a popular route.

When I look back at my clumsy first attempts at sex, I realize that I was scared and clueless. I had no idea how to relate to someone intimately or sexually, and smoking pot cannabis covered up the awkwardness.

It became habitual, and at some point in my twenties I realized that I couldn't even remember having sex without drinking or smoking first in order to help me relax. The pleasant, numb sensation wasn't sexual ecstasy; it was a foggy blanket of illusion.

It can be a fun feeling to explore, just as some people enjoy a fine wine or brandy.

But it can also be a trap that sucks you in and takes over your life, like the dark side of alcohol leading to alcoholism.

When I eventually realized that I wasn't in control and stopped using, the amount of denial I encountering when telling people that cannabis could be problematic amazed me. I provoked anger just by talking about my experience.

Even when I sought professional help, I was told that one joint a day was pretty normal and not to worry.

I tried, but I knew I was relying on it to sleep, and I didn't like that. I wanted my freedom back.
Yes, cannabis makes you feel chill, as though all of your problems melt away. But what goes up must come down.

Scientifically speaking, cannabis increases the production of melatonin in your brain. But as the artificially elevated melatonin levels wear off, the drop can result in mood swings.

I don’t condemn others who use cannabis, but my experience with it taught me that it’s a perilous substance which should be treated with respect.

Looking back, I can see that the smoky daze covered the pain and awkwardness caused by the lack of love I felt as a child.

It gave me an illusion of the love I missed out on and therefore didn't know how to create in my relationships as an adult. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, for a time at least. But it was time for me to outgrow that security blanket.

I won’t deny that I still feel a buzz of excitement when a catch a whiff of someone smoking pot.

Although I know I don’t want the feeling of being stoned, the smell still affects my brain and makes me powerfully aware there must be some pleasure association programming being ignited deep within my psyche.

At least I did have some great times having sex while high ... from what I remember.