News: 

• Missouri Probation Officers Send Patients Back to Prison For Using Legal Medical Marijuana. 
• Reminds Jeff of authoritarian states having ambiguous laws. 
• Is dabbing legal? 
• Many people are wrongfully charged for felonies when it comes to dabbing. 
• Surgeon General Says Stop Locking Up People For Marijuana 

- This is some positive news, yet it’s another person taking a personal position but still operating within a regime that has more than 40k people in jail. 

• Is Big Pharma Taking Over the Cannabis Industry?
• In the US, GW pharmaceuticals and Sanofi are leading the cannabis clinical trials, and some of the largest stakeholders of cannabis patents are pharmaceutical companies. Is this problematic, or better in the long run? 
• We hope that things with cannabis legalization aren’t being slowed down for the purpose of getting things in place for these companies. 
• -GW Pharmaceuticals has the first and only cannabis-derived drug, Epidiolex, to be approved by the FDA. 

Stats of the Week: 

• What Percentage of Americans Smoke Marijuana? A 2019 Gallup poll reports that 12% of Americans regularly consume cannabis (not CBD), while nearly half of the U.S. population (about 46%) have tried weed at least once. 
• -People used to believe that men smoked more weed than women, BUT as of 2020, ladies accounted for 48% of consumers. 

Controversy of the Week: 

• Most states impose cannabis potency laws. Should states tax or regulate cannabis potency with “potency-related taxes”? There might be something in the high level THC that we need research that could prevent people from getting sick, or is this recriminalization? 
• Virginia’s new law allows regulators to limit the THC % in products; 30% for flowers, 60% for concentrate.

Controversy of the Week: 

Joe Biden on Sha’Carri Richardson: "The rules are the rules," Biden told reporters. "And everybody knows the rules going in, but whether it should remain that way is a different issue."

• Is it a performance enhancer? 
• What did Joe really mean? 
• The rules are that way for the world organization, so do we have the right to try and apply it to what is legal in the United States? 

Keywords: Cannabis, THC, Cannabis legislation, advertising, cannabis  legalization, Joe Biden, Sha’Carri Richardson, Charles Schumer

News: 

•  Mexico's Supreme Court has decriminalised the private recreational use of cannabis by adults, calling the current prohibition unconstitutional. Supporters of legalisation hope it could reduce some of the violence related to illegal drugs trade, which claims the lives of thousands of people in the country every year.
• Conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas says federal cannabis prohibition may no longer be necessary. As legalization of cannabis becomes more mainstream, there will be a lot of politicians that hold the banner of cannabis freedom who also put millions of people in jail for using the plant. We must be careful who we give credit to.
• Los Angeles Lakers Guard Alex Caruso arrested at Texas airport for marijuana possession. The basketball player was found to have a grinder while he was on a departing flight from Texas, and had to pay a $3,000 bail bond and $550 fine.

Stats of the Week: 

•  More Texans support legalizing marijuana in some form than you may think! Nearly nine out of ten Texas voters say marijuana should be legal in some form, with just 13 percent still backing prohibition, according to a new poll.

Controversy of the Week: 

• The UN is Trying Really Hard to Enact a Global Ban on Cannabis Advertisements. In its latest World Drug Report, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) recommends that member nations enact a “comprehensive ban on advertising, promoting and sponsoring cannabis” in order to “ensure that public health interests prevail over business interests.
• Should there be restrictions in cannabis advertising?
• Should the rules be different from alcohol?
• Whose responsibility should it be to make sure we are responsibly advertising products that may be seen by children?

News: 

• The NFL funds a million dollars in research to see if cannabis helps players with pain. This is following news earlier this year that the NFL will no longer test players for THC during the off season. This is founded out of the pain management committee, who had mentioned that there are so few studies that they needed to invest in their own research. 
• General Motors United Auto Workers is pushing GM to allow workers to use cannabis in non-work hours and not screen for cannabis. Will this be a domino effect for other big industries? 
• Connecticut Governor Says He’s Open To Smoking Marijuana After Signing Legalization Bill. Gov. Ned Lamont said “time will tell” when asked by a reporter if people can “expect to see the governor smoking a joint” after legalization goes into effect in the state.

Topic of The Day: 

•  Cannabis makes people really happy, even politicians. 

Stats of the Week: 

•  70% of cities in California don’t allow dispensaries. Local governments have the power to curtail deliveries, too. 
• In a 2018 ranking on how friendly different cannabis counties are, Riverside scored the highest. 

Controversy of the Week: 

•  Should there be a limit on THC edibles? The THC rules are different everywhere - is that a good thing or bad thing? How does standardization help consumers vs. how do we approach those that need a high level of THC in the medical market?

Stats of the Week: 

• Primarily 86% percent of people use cannabis for pain management, sleep, or anxiety and depression. 61% of cannabis consumers use it for sleep. Source: NorCal Cannabis 

Controversy of the Week: 

• Is the Black market a threat to legal cannabis? 
• How is the consumer being hit by unregulated and cheaper products? 
• Will this have a long term impact, or will the unregulated black market go away as prices get more regular and people get attached to regulated products?

Topic of The Week: 

•  We are still in the Black Magic / horoscope for understanding terpenes. 
• Cannabis cultivation already uses 1% of all electricity in the US and 4% of electricity in Denver. Does the average consumer care about their brand being holistic, and will they pay a premium for knowing their source is “green”? Or will environmentally stable practices boil down to federal regulation? 

Stats of the Week: 

•  From Pistil data:

           - There were 488 vape brands for sale last week

          - Only 5 brands had shelf space in 25% or more stores

          - 405 brands were in 3% or fewer stores

Controversy of the Week: 

•  Celebrities in cannabis, do we listen to them? From Martha Stewart to Drake, does celebrity endorsement help or hinder consumer decisions, or not matter at all?

News: 

• Why some people are loving Delta 8 yet why some states are banning it altogether. 
• The gray areas in conflicting legislation of Delta 8. 
• Wine Country in Napa fights back against cannabis grows in their neighborhood. 

Topic of The Day: 

• CEO of Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi, says the company could get into cannabis delivery. 
• Amazon supports federal marijuana legalization and job applicants will no longer be drug-tested for cannabis. 
• Despite cannabis being legal in California, 70% of cities and towns do not allow for dispensaries. 

Stats of the Week: 

• Stat of the week - 91% of Americans approve of federal cannabis legalization, but there is one demographic that remains opposed. Only 44% of White Evangelical Protestants approve of legalization, while 88% of Atheists (non religious) polled support legalizing weed. Source: Pew Research 

Controversy of the Week: 

• Do you need to be a cannabis consumer to work in the cannabis industry? 
• Should we be asking about cannabis use in job interviews?