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.
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:
The National Institute on Drug Abuse released a job posting seeking a contractor to roll marijuana joints “within a range of varying concentrations of delta-9-THC and analyze strength and stability of them.”
The Food and Drug Administration has scheduled a public hearing on CBD regulations for May 31.
Colorado’s House last week passed a bill 63-0 allowing medical marijuana for the treatment of autism spectrum disorders. The Senate is expected to pass it as well, and Gov. Jared Polis has pledged to sign it.
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper vetoed a similar bill last year – as well as another bill allowing publicly traded corporations to invest in marijuana businesses. At the time, Hickenlooper said that if the autism bill was signed into law, “we end up, without question, in some way encouraging more young people to look at this as an antidote for their problems.”
Hickenlooper is now touring the country as he considers a presidential bid, touting Colorado’s cannabis industry. He noted at an event hosted by The Brookings Institution that he was “famously against” legalization, especially because of the possibility that more teenagers might increase their consumption, but that now “we’re seeing evidence that the new system [of marijuana legalization] is intrinsically better” than prohibition. “We haven’t seen a spoke in teenage consumption… our worst fears have not happened,” he said.
Hmm.
Pain ReliefChronic pain is the most common reason people give when they enroll in state-approved medical marijuana programs. That’s followed by stiffness from multiple sclerosis and chemotherapy-related nausea, according to an analysis of 15 states published Monday in the journal Health Affairs.
Members in the NewsColorado Leads member LivWells buys a Fort Collins Infinite Wellness Center
Willie’s RemedyWillie Nelson officially launched his brand Willie’s Remedy and its first product: coffee infused with “certified organic, full-spectrum hemp oil grown in Colorado.”
As cannabis prices fall, states may have to go back to the drawing board
Policy analysts says states like Colorado may have to rethink their taxing schemes.
10th Circuit to rule on cannabis workers protections
The appeals court will decide whether workers in Colorado’s legal marijuana industry are entitled to wage and hour protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Longmont gets first adult-use dispensary
Elected officials, city leaders and other celebrate the opening of Terrapin’s sixth store, the first in Longmont.
State awards $2.7 million for studies on therapeutic uses of cannabis
One will research marijuana as an alternative to opiods for chronic spine pain; the other will look at CBD and autism.
Colorado rules
A new report ranks Colorado as the best state in the country to start a marijuana business.
Looking ahead
Cannabis pioneers predict where the industry is headed.
Parents upset over veto of cannabis for autism bill
One of the three bills Gov. John Hickenlooper vetoed at the end of the session would have allowed individuals with autism spectrum disorder to access medical cannabis. Parents of these children said they were devastated by his decision.
Marijuana proceeds help fund record school construction program
State officials have approved the largest ever school building program, one that is funded in part by proceeds from legal marijuana sales.
Colorado’s Wana Brands, a top seller of cannabis edibles, has entered a year-long partnership with ultrarunner Flavie Dokken to break the stigma that marijuana users are lazy and to promote it as an effective training tool and pain relief alternative.
Races on Dokken’s horizon include the Quad Rock 50 Miles, Bryce Canyon 50K, and Mad Moose Crested Butte 105K. SNEWS talked to her about her alliance with Wana Brands and why she opts for cannabis capsules over other painkillers.
New study underscores need for more research on CBD and pain.In case you’ve missed it, CNN and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, its Chief Medical Correspondent, have been running a series on medical marijuana. After a recent episode on the benefits of using marijuana over opioids, Dr. Gupta published an open letter to U.S. Attorney Jeff Sessions.
“Before I started this worldwide, in-depth investigation, I was not particularly impressed by the results of medical marijuana research,” Gupta wrote. “But a few years later, as I started to dedicate time with patients and scientists in various countries, I came to a different conclusion. Not only can cannabis work for a variety of conditions such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and pain, sometimes, it is the only thing that works.”