News

Colorado Leads Guest Column in The Colorado Sun

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The Colorado Sun published a guest column by Colorado Leads Board President Chuck Smith regarding the strong public support for legal medical cannabis in Colorado and the success of the state’s efforts to regulate it.

In the nine years since Colorado became the first state in the country to legalize adult-use marijuana, three things have become clear: the vast majority of Coloradans support legalization and consider cannabis as medicine (Opinion: After 20 years, it’s clear that marijuana is not ‘medicine’, Colorado Sun, Jan. 4).

They also believe kids should not have access to it unless it’s for medical treatment.

Nowhere is this more evident than in two Colorado laws that have just gone into effect. One closes a loophole by restricting young people with medical cards from accessing unlimited marijuana products, a practice known as “looping.” The other expands the right of students with “valid medical marijuana recommendation(s)” to access their medication at school.

Both laws are representative of the consistent collaboration among elected officials, regulators, and public-health experts and the cannabis industry, its customers, and patients. Over the last decade, the state has protected kids through responsible regulations, such as enhanced child-proof packaging, and strong education campaigns, while also recognizing that cannabis is critical medicine for post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, epileptic seizures, insomnia, and numerous other medical conditions.

The ability for multiple stakeholders and elected officials to fairly balance these complicated interests is the primary reason Colorado’s regulations are considered the strongest in the country and continue to be held up as a model for other states.

Read the rest of the article at The Colorado Sun.

The fight against opioid addiction continues 

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Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have announced a new study to determine if CBD can help minimize opioid withdrawal symptoms. More than 130 people a day lose their lives from opioid-connected drug overdoses, and CBD is a “promising pharmacotherapy for the treatment of opioid withdrawal.”  

Read More »

CBD or THC? 

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A common forensic drug testing method could easily mistake the presence of CBD for THC.  The stakes are high, considering that even in states that have legalized marijuana, it remains legal for employers, child protective services, public housing authorities and other entities to test for THC.

Read More »

All the news…

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Guaranteed to be the top-clicked story in the newsletter 

 We were going to ignore this . . . but just couldn’t.  Cannabis and sex.  Read More »

Getting what you need 

Americans for Safe Access have put out a U.S. travel guide for medical cannabis patients so they have access to safe and legal cannabis.

“There are currently 47 states and four territories with some form of a medical cannabis law, but the rights and privileges they extend to medical cannabis patients vary among them. As a result, patients who travel for personal or employment reasons can find themselves unsure as to how to access medical cannabis in an unfamiliar place.” More »

Thinking outside the box 

States with marijuana dispensaries flush with cash are exploring banking workarounds using credit unions, digital currencies, and payment apps. More »

We got this

An interesting Q and A with Natalie Riggins, program manager for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment MMJ Registry, who discusses implementation of new legislation on medical marijuana.

Westword Article »

Related: Doctors can recommend cannabis in place of opioids Read »

Cannabis love connection 

When cannabis is featured as the way two people met, fell in love and got married in the Vows section of The New York Times, you know things have changed.
Read »

NIMBYers take note

The impacts of regulated retail dispensaries is associated with a decrease in local criminal activity, according to a new study in Regional Science and Urban Economics. The study was conducted in Denver. 

“Overall, our results suggest that dispensaries cause an overall reduction in crime in neighborhoods, with no evidence of spillovers to surrounding neighborhoods. … Our results are consistent with theories that predict that marijuana legalization will displace illicit criminal organizations and decrease crime through changes in security behaviors or substitution toward more harmful substances. … Lastly, there is no evidence that increased marijuana use itself results in additional crime.”

More »

CBD and Parkinson’s 

CU Anschutz researchers jumped through seemingly endless government hoops to study CBD and Parkinson’s. What they found is that participants reported they felt less irritable and that they were sleeping better. They even saw that some of their motor symptoms, including stiffness and slowness, improved.

The researchers are helping others navigate the red tape to do more studies. 

Read More »

File under “trust, but verify”

President Trump said last week that his administration is allowing states to set their own marijuana policies.

“We’re going to see what’s going on. It’s a very big subject and right now we are allowing states to make that decision,” Trump said. “A lot of states are making that decision, but we’re allowing states to make that decision.”

Read More »

Streamlining Denver 

City regulators are streamlining the application and inspection processes for marijuana license transfer of ownership.  Information » 

Bloomberg looks at how states are working to create solutions to take tax payments from marijuana businesses.

Medical licenses drop as recreational sales jump

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Colorado medical licenses decline as recreational sales increase.  Last year, 66 percent of the total pounds of marijuana flowers and 86 percent of the total units of edibles were for recreational use.

Read Denver Post Article »

Medical News 

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Harvard University’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute found a chemical in cannabis that has demonstrated “significant therapy potential” in treatment of pancreatic cancer.  The study is the first to show not only a potential new treatment for pancreatic cancer, but other cancers.  The scientists were “startled” to find the cannabis was capable of attacking other cancer cells.  

The Florence Nightingales of cannabis 

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Colorado nurses have launched a hotline, Leaf411, to answer questions about cannabis. They said they expect many of their callers to be senior citizens, a growing user demographic that’s more likely to need health care and use the phone.

Westword Article »

Medicine will never be the same thanks to cannabis

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Cannabidiol can help stem the tide of antibiotic resistance. 

 “Antibiotic, or antimicrobial, resistance is where bugs such as bacteria can survive drugs created to kill them, making infections difficult, or impossible, to treat. Scientists in Australia found cannabidiol — the non-psychoactive ingredient marijuana — killed all the strainns of bacteria they tested in a lab, including some which are highly resistant to existing antibiotics.

Read the entire article here »

And maybe food, too…

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has exerted some pressure on the head of the FDA to develop regulations on hemp-derived CBD. 

“While the 2018 Farm Bill included my provision to remove hemp, and its derivatives like CBD, from the list of controlled substances, CBD food and dietary supplement products remain in a gray area without clarification from the FDA,” he said in a press release. 

Where do we go from here?  

AND that’s a wrap…

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After what seemed like an eternity, the Colorado legislature closed out its 2019 session last week. There were 15 bills related to cannabis and hemp and thirteen passed. Only one has been signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis, but the others are expected to be signed in the near future. 

The highlights include bills: 

  1. Adding autism spectrum disorders to the list of disabling medical conditions for medical marijuana use. Signed into law. More »
  2. Allowing greater investment flexibility in marijuana businesses.  More »
  3. Permitting delivery of regulated marijuana by regulated marijuana sellers.   More »
  4. Legalizing consumption of cannabis in designated marijuana hospitality establishments. More »
  5. Allowing  physicians to prescribe opioids to the list of disabling medical conditions for medical marijuana use. More »
  6. Two separate measures that extend and update the state’s medical and retail marijuana codes. More »