One out of six primary care patients said they used marijuana in a survey of cannabis use, with many saying their use was primarily for medical reasons. The study by researchers at the University of California Los Angeles also found that a third of cannabis consumers reported weed at levels that put them at moderate or high risk of cannabis use disorder.

The research, which was published by JAMA Open Network on Wednesday, suggests that many cannabis consumers use the drug for medicinal purposes, despite characterizing their use as recreational. The researchers behind the study say the findings indicate a need for routine cannabis screenings of primary care patients. Currently, few healthcare systems offer screenings for cannabis use in the primary care setting.

“Patients may not tell their primary care providers about their cannabis use, and their doctors may not ask about it,” lead author Dr. Lillian Gelberg, professor of family medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and of health policy and management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, said in a statement to UCLA Health.  “Not asking patients about their cannabis use results in a missed opportunity for opening up doctor-patient communication regarding use of cannabis generally and for management of their symptoms.”

In 2020, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended that primary care physicians screen their adult patients for the use of cannabis and other substances. The following year, the researchers who conducted the study launched a self-administered survey on cannabis use and medical cannabis use as part of the UCLA Health medical system’s universal electronic health record. Patients complete the survey via the system’s online portal as part of the pre-visit screening before visits for primary care.

UCLA Health is one of only a few healthcare systems that ask patients to complete a voluntary cannabis use assessment as part of the pre-visit process for primary care patients. UCLA Health uses the WHO Alcohol Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) to assess cannabis use.

The researchers used anonymized health record data collected by UCLA Health between January 2021 and May 2023 to determine the prevalence of cannabis use and the reasons patients are using the drug and to identify other factors that correlate with cannabis use. Approximately 176,000 patients completed the survey, including almost 30,000 (17%) who said they were cannabis users. Among those who self-reported cannabis use, 35% had results that suggested a moderate or high risk of cannabis use disorder.

Among cannabis users, 40% had consumed weed once or twice during the previous three months, 17% used marijuana monthly, a quarter (25%) used cannabis every week and nearly a fifth (19%) used weed on a daily or near-daily basis.

Nearly half (47%) of respondents said that they used cannabis medicinally. However, 76% used weed to manage symptoms such as mental health symptoms or stress (56%), sleep (56%) and pain (37%). Additionally, most patients who said they used marijuana recreationally had also used it to manage a symptom at some point in their lives.

The researchers note that the study had limitations, including a reliance on self-reported data. Additionally, while cannabis is legal in California, the stigma attached to the plant may mean that some patients did not fully disclose their cannabis use. The survey data was collected during the Covid-19 pandemic when the use of cannabis may have been higher than it would have been otherwise.

However, “given the high rates of cannabis use and medical cannabis use that we found in this large urban healthcare system, it is essential that healthcare systems implement routine screening of all primary care patients,” the researchers wrote.  “Integrating screening efforts to include information regarding cannabis use for symptom management could help enhance the identification and documentation of medical cannabis usage, particularly in the healthcare context.”

Dr. Benjamin Caplan, M.D., the author of The Doctor-Approved Cannabis Handbook, cited other shortcomings of the study, including its focus on cannabis use disorder. He says that the test used by the researchers is designed to assess multiple substance use disorders and lacks a detailed focus on cannabis users’ specific characteristics. 

Despite these and other study limitations, Caplan commended the researchers for “acknowledging important opportunities, like the need for informed conversations.” 

“Healthcare providers must integrate discussions about cannabis use into routine care, allowing patients to communicate their experiences openly,” he wrote in an email to High Time. “Doctors need to understand why patients choose cannabis over conventional treatments and be informed about both the risks and benefits of cannabis. This will lead to better management strategies and support systems for cannabis users, whether their use is medical or non-medical.”

Caplan added that the study “reveals a key takeaway: even patients within primary care are heavily reliant on cannabis for symptom relief. This underscores a critical issue that is seen throughout our medical system, which is that doctors are not adequately meeting patients’ needs for managing anxiety, sleeplessness, pain, and other symptoms. That is important news that isn’t discussed loudly enough.”

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It’s the start of a new festival season, as music lovers far and wide prepare for a summer full of multi-day events featuring some of their favorite artists and DJs, along with plenty of dancing. For many, the festival experience also involves consuming a variety of drugs to amp up the experience.

This year’s Drug Safety at Music Festivals study, conducted by research firm Innerbody, sheds additional light on the habits and plans of festival goers this year while also addressing some of the best ways for folks to stay safe should they decide to consume substances at these events.

The study uses survey data from 900 people and suggests that about 87% of festival attendees plan to take drugs, a 10% increase from last year’s figure. 

Examining Most Popular Festival Drugs, Genres and Events With Most Drug Use

The study focuses on a variety of topics surrounding drug use at music festivals, beginning with the most popular substances that festival goers plan to use during the upcoming season. 

Alcohol is always the top substance consumed at festivals, but the study did not include it and focused solely on drug usage. That said, cannabis takes the top slot by far, with 65.3% of festival goers who plan to use drugs saying they will consume cannabis. Authors note that the widespread legalization of recreational cannabis across the U.S. may make cannabis a less risky option for attendees. 

Cocaine was the second most popular choice (46.5%), followed by psychedelics (26.1%), MDMA (19.4%), ketamine (19.3%), amphetamines (13.7%), opioids (12.1%), benzodiazepines (10.1%), synthetic drugs like bath salts or spice (9.7%), hallucinogens like salvia or peyote (6.1%) and inhalants (6%).

Plans to use cocaine are up from last year’s numbers, though there was a 2% drop in the number of people who plan to use opioids — which authors noted as surprising given the continued opioid overdose epidemic though still “encouraging.”

The study found that rock, hip-hop and EDM are the genres most likely to have audience members under the influence of drugs, with Wisconsin’s Rock Fest claiming the top slot as the festival with the most anticipated drug use, according to survey participants. The weeklong Burning Man festival held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert took the second slot, while Coachella was third place for most anticipated drug use.

Festival Drug Concealment, Consumption and Drug Testing Behaviors

The study also looked at drug concealment, consumption and testing behaviors among those planning to consume for festivals, finding that just 32.6% bring their own drugs with them to the event while the remaining 67.4% buy them at the festival. Last year’s results found that 46% planned to bring their own drugs to the events. Millennials were the most likely generation to buy drugs at the venue rather than purchasing them beforehand.

In regard to drug testing, a majority (80.3%) test their drugs before the event or festival, an increase from last year’s approximately 67% figure. 

“This increase in testing could be due to more awareness surrounding the U.S. opioid crisis and the public education efforts that have taken place,” authors note. “But while the data is encouraging, it still reflects the reality that 20% of festival goers could be taking potentially dangerous drugs at concerts.”

Concealing drugs in backpacks and pockets are the most common choices, and researchers also found that attendees tend to take drugs in one of three places with a fairly balanced distribution: the restroom (29%), within the crowd (31%) or outside the festival gates (33%).

Health Issues, Risky Behavior Harm Reduction and Festival Drug Use

Though authors indicate that the broader prevalence of drug testing is encouraging, the study notes that more than half of survey participants said they had experienced health-related issues that warranted medical attention while under the influence of drugs at festivals. The most common complications attendees experienced were heat stroke, a bad trip and dehydration. 

The survey also found that drug use tended to lead festival goers to engage in riskier behavior at the events, with 66% of both Gen Z and millennial respondents reporting they had done so while attending festivals under the influence. Engaging in sex with a stranger was one of the most prevalent examples, most prominent among millennials, while one in every four millennials also reported “driving dangerously” after a festival ended.

Authors note that abstaining and testing drugs before using them are some of the best harm reduction methods, though surveyed festival goers largely reported self-education about the drugs they were using, the risks and potential side effects as their go-to safety measure. The second-most common strategy was starting with a low dosage, followed by drug testing.

“Being aware of your surroundings, remaining close to your friends, keeping hydrated, and familiarizing yourself with the location of medical tents are also easy and practical ways to help stay safe at music festivals,” authors close.

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It’s widely accepted that cannabis use in adolescence, while the brain is still developing, can lead to adverse effects. Of course, studies on cannabis as a whole are still catching up, and there are an abundance of gaps that researchers are still attempting to fill in.

A recent investigation, published in the journal Psychopharmacology and performed by Portuguese researchers, attempts to close some of the gaps regarding adolescent cannabis use, looking specifically at the occasional use of cannabis among adolescent subjects.

The research ultimately confirmed that subjects who occasionally used cannabis exhibited no significant changes in cognitive functioning compared to their non-cannabis-using peers.

Exploring the Gaps in an Oft-Researched Topic

Researchers begin by breaking down some of the current barriers in cannabis research, specifically how cannabis interacts with our brains. Looking at the psychological, neurocognitive and brain changes during adolescence, researchers note that the adolescent changes in the endocannabinoid system, and its role with stress and anxiety regulation, “put adolescents at increased risk for emotional and anxiety disorders.”

Still, they recognize further investigations employing longitudinal research designs are needed to address inconsistent findings in literature.

“Most adolescents engage in infrequent cannabis use, with non-disordered cannabis use being four times more prevalent than instances of Cannabis Use Disorder,” authors note. “As such, it is important to examine the neurocognitive and psychological outcomes among adolescents who escalate to heavier cannabis consumption as well as those who do not.”

Researchers utilized archival data from a large longitudinal cohort from the IMAGEN study, with participants mostly characterized by a low-to-moderate frequency of cannabis use.

The study focused on whether preexisting differences in reward-related brain activity, psychopathology and cognitive functioning predict cannabis use initiation, if cannabis use leads to impairment of these levels of functioning and, if so, if the disrupted levels of functioning recover with abstinence.

Investigating Occasional Cannabis Use Effects in Adolescents

The dataset recruited participants at eight sites in England, Ireland, France and Germany. Participants were an average of 14 years old at the baseline measurement, 19 at the first follow-up and 22 at the second follow-up. Participants had to report no or low risk of alcohol use and nicotine dependence at the baseline. 

Those who had used a specific illicit substance more than twice during their lifetime or more than eight total uses of any illicit substances in their lifetime were excluded from the set, resulting in 1,946 eligible participants.

At each timepoint, participants completed a number of questionnaires to measure substance use, psychopathy and cognition. Researchers also used the Puberty Development Scale and a scale assessing family stresses on participants.

Participants completed a cognitive task where they were asked to respond as quickly as possible to targets by pressing a button. Participants could win two, 10 or no points depending on their results, and they were informed they would receive a candy for every five points they earned.

Researchers focused on brain responses during gain anticipation and reward feedback for successful and unsuccessful trials. They also performed statistical analyses to address if baseline characteristics predicted later cannabis use, matching those using cannabis at the first followup with non-users in four logistic regression analyses.

Low-Frequency Adolescent Cannabis Use: No Evidence of Cognitive Impairment 

Looking at the first question surrounding baseline predictors of cannabis use initiation at age 19, those participants with higher conduct problems scores and lower peer problems scores at age 14 were associated with a greater likelihood of using cannabis at 19. However, neither reward anticipation nor feedback processing predicted cannabis use at 19 years old.

When comparing participants who used cannabis to non-users, researchers noted that the cannabis-using group had higher scores at 14 and 19, along with higher hyperactivity/inattention scores at 19, but no statistically significant differences in cognitive function, psychopathology or brain activity.

“We did not find evidence of cognitive impairment in light CAN (cannabis users) neither before nor after cannabis use onset,” researchers state. “Indeed, it is suggested that despite the broad association that may exist between adolescent cannabis use and neurocognitive impairment, these effects appear to be minor and may not be clinically significant”

At 22, persistent cannabis use exhibited “significantly higher” conduct problems compared to the control group, but “due to the absence of significant differences in cognitive functioning and brain activity, we did not test the hypothesis concerning recovery with abstinence,” researchers note.

Authors note that a larger sample study could help to generate more robust statistical analyses and findings. They also state that a greater representation of heavy cannabis users would increase the generalization of findings, “even though the cannabis use patterns of our sample are comparable to those of previous works that have also found no group differences in reward-related brain activity.” 

Researchers underscore that these findings may only reflect the effects experienced by low-frequency cannabis users, not heavy users or those with cannabis use disorder.

“The current study’s design allowed an examination of potential preexisting differences in brain activity, cognitive functioning, and psychological symptoms in a developmental sample of adolescents who would engage in light cannabis use in the future,” authors conclude. 

“We found no evidence of preexisting individual differences in reward processing or specific cognitive domains,” they continue. “However, cannabis-naïve adolescents with conduct problems and who were more socially engaged with their peers seem to be at a higher risk of taking part in persistent cannabis use in the future. Additionally, using cannabis during adolescence may result in the development of hyperactivity and inattention symptoms.”

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Germany’s lower house of parliament voted last week to legalize the consumption and cultivation of cannabis by adults, although the measure passed by the Bundestag does not permit commercial sales of recreational marijuana. The legislation legalizes cannabis clubs, however, allowing groups of no more than 500 adults to collectively grow weed for personal use by club members.

“We have two goals: to crack down on the black market and improved protection of children and young people,” Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said during the debate on Friday after lawmakers opposed to legalizing cannabis accused him of promoting drug use, according to a report from Reuters.

The ruling three-party coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz passed the legislation to legalize cannabis in the Bundestag on Friday by a vote of 407-226. Under the measure, adults aged 18 and up will be permitted to grow up to three cannabis plants and possess up to 25 grams (nearly an ounce) of cannabis. The personal possession and consumption provisions of the legislation are scheduled to go into effect on April 1.

The legislation also allows adults to join cannabis clubs of no more than 500 members beginning on July 1. Cannabis clubs would be permitted to grow cannabis for personal consumption by members, who would be allowed to purchase up to 25 grams of cannabis per day and 50 grams per month. Members younger than 21 would be capped at 30 grams of pot each month.

Membership in multiple cannabis clubs will not be allowed. The cost of cultivating cannabis and operating the clubs will be covered by membership fees, which will charged on a tiered scale based on the amount of cannabis a member uses each month.

The legislation bans locating cannabis clubs and consuming weed close to schools, playgrounds and sports facilities. Cannabis advertising and sponsorships are also prohibited. Additionally, the measure requires a report on the effectiveness of the legislation to protect children and youth from weed. 

German Lawmakers Back Away From Broader Legalization Plan

The plan to legalize cannabis in Germany falls short of the broad reform plan first proposed by the ruling coalition after taking power in December 2021. Under the original proposal, commercial cannabis production would have been permitted, with sales of weed occurring at licensed retailers across the country. The plan was scaled back, however, after talks with European Union officials.

Nonetheless, Germany’s limited cannabis legalization plan is opposed by conservative politicians in the Bundestag and the upper house of parliament known as the Bundesrat, which represents the country’s 16 state governments. 

“You’re asserting here in all seriousness as health minister … that we will curb consumption among children and young people with the legalization of further drugs,” conservative lawmaker Tino Sorge said to Lauterbach, as quoted by the Associated Press. “That’s the biggest nonsense I’ve ever heard.”

Although the measure does not require the approval of the Bundesrat, the chamber could delay the legislation. The conservative government of the state of Bavaria has said it will examine whether it can bring legal action against the cannabis legalization plan.

After the vote, Lauterbach told reporters that illicit marijuana “dealers have no reason at all to celebrate,” noting that the new law includes provisions that set a minimum jail sentence of two years for those convicted of selling cannabis to underage youth.

The vote to legalize cannabis in Germany makes the country the third European Union nation to take the step, after Malta and Luxembourg. Jason Adelstone, an attorney focusing on federal and international policy at the cannabis law firm Vicente LLP, said that the legalization of cannabis in Germany could spur further reform across Europe.

“It is exciting to see the scaled-back German legalization measure finally become law. Even though Germany didn’t legalize commercial sales, the governing coalition should be applauded for turning the page on prohibition,” Adelstone said in an email to High Times. “With Germany joining Malta and Luxembourg in acknowledging that regulation, rather than prohibition, better protect the health and safety of its citizens, it could help propel other EU nations to do the same.”

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An Iowa legislative panel this week approved a bill that sets limits on consumable hemp products sold in the state. The measure, House Study Bill 665, was approved on Wednesday by the House Public Safety Subcommittee by a vote of 2-0. 

The bill, which was submitted to the state legislature by the Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS), gives the state Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) the authority to regulate consumable hemp products. Under the measure, HHS can set cannabinoid potency limits on hemp products and set rules for their distribution and sale. The legislation also limits sales of consumable hemp products to adults aged 21 and older and sets criminal penalties for those who sell or give such products to minors.

Hemp products were legalized federally by the 2018 Farm Bill, followed by the legalization of the crop in 2019 by the Iowa Hemp Act. But neither law sets quality standards for consumable hemp products or includes provisions to regulate their production, distribution and sale.

The lack of regulation has led to a nationwide proliferation of hemp-derived products with intoxicating cannabinoids including Delta 8 and Delta 9 THC, among others. In Iowa, state lawmakers say they thought that such products were prohibited by the Farm Bill and the Iowa Hemp Act.

“We thought we were dealing with the intoxicating aspect, only to find out that there are ways to get around that,” Rep. Steve Holt told The Gazette. “So it’s sort of the wild, wild west out there in a lot of ways, with THC-infused drinks being able to be served to minors, a lot of other things going on that are not acceptable.”

Josie Wagler, the Department of Public Safety’s legislative liaison, said that the wide availability of intoxicating hemp products in Iowa made it necessary for the department to develop a regulatory proposal.

“We’ve seen an emergence of high potency, high-THC products hit the market,” Wagler said. “And coupled with that, there are no age restrictions for purchasing these products. So really the purpose is to get at that, and to give HHS and law enforcement some additional tools to help regulate these highly intoxicating products.”

The bill is supported by mental health advocates including Leslie Carpenter, the co-founder of Iowa Mental Health Advocacy, who told lawmakers that high-potency THC products pose the risk of serious mental consequences such as psychosis, especially when they are used by young people.

“I fully support medical marijuana,” Carpenter said during a House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, according to a report from Radio Iowa. “It’s the high potency THC products and that currently a child can walk into a store and purchase them that makes me very concerned.”

Business Owners Oppose Legislation

Business owners in Iowa’s hemp industry oppose House Study Bill 665, saying the legislation goes too far. Scott Booher, the operator of Four Winds Farms, said that his business grows hemp for CBD and CBG, a cannabinoid that many people use to help with chronic pain, anxiety and sleep. He said he has many customers who buy these products for their children, but the bill advanced on Wednesday would make such use a criminal offense.

“Let’s look at what needs to be taken care of instead of just sweeping everybody under the rug,” Booher told lawmakers at the hearing. “We have patients that are kids, we have parents that buy our hemp products for their children. For ADD, for behavioral problems.”

Licensed hemp grower Tyson Allchin called out legislators for changing the standards regulating hemp and medical marijuana production. He believes he is the first Iowa grower to produce a hemp product that meets the standards for human consumption.

“My flower was packaged and labeled as a food-grade ingredient, lessons on infusion and extraction for personal use had been planned out and promoted, and HHS approved it on January 31,” Allchin told Iowa Capitol Dispatch. 

“And six days later, this bill attempts to ban it. I’ve exceeded state requirements, requirements which exceed federal guidelines,” Allchin added. “I’ve done everything required of me, and the state (is) continuously changing my goal. How can small farms ever get established when the state keeps moving our goal line?”

Booher said that he agrees that some hemp producers are selling intoxicating products that are not in line with the spirit of hemp legalization laws. But the bill advanced by lawmakers on Wednesday conflates businesses like his that produce non-psychoactive products with bad actors in the industry.

“Some of these people who are creating high THC products need to be held accountable in a different way,” Booher said, “maybe not with people who have low THC products.”

Representative Phil Thompson said he appreciates that many people are “willing to admit there are bad actors” and that he understands the frustration of business owners who are following the rules in place.

“But this is an important conversation to advance,” Thompson said. “I appreciate DPS on working on this and bring forth some guidelines on regulating this.”

The legislation has now been referred to the full House Committee on Public Safety for further consideration.

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The Czech Republic (also referred to as Czechia) government recently published its draft regulations for cannabis cultivation and consumption on Jan. 10, but it isn’t the version that was expected.

According to Expats.cz, the Czech Pirate Party (a liberal party that joined the government in 2021 and has been a strong supporter of cannabis legalization) described the new cannabis bill as a “compromise version,” but that they will further negotiate to have other important issues included as well.

“The proposed bill includes rules for legal cultivation, operation of cannabis clubs, licensed sales and exports, and taxation,” Expats.cz reported. “It also sets restrictions on production and sales, and proposes registration of users, small growers, and cannabis clubs (cafés or meetup spots where people can freely smoke marijuana).”

National Coordinator for Drug Policy Jindřich Vobořil told the news outlet about the expectation for cultivation. “We have agreed on the self-cultivation of a limited number of plants. This will mean decriminalization for adults who grow a small amount of cannabis for their own use,” Vobořil said. Additionally, he stated that this version hasn’t been reviewed by the government, so it could possibly include a cannabis association that allows members to share their yields.

Vobořil told Expats.cz that he is not ready to give up on a regulated industry in the Czech Republic. “At present, cannabis is decriminalized in Czechia, but using it recreationally is illegal,” Vobořil said. “Czechia has one of the more liberal stances on cannabis in Europe, with people in Czechia even allowed to grow up to five cannabis plants at home for personal use. The use of marijuana for medicinal purposes has been legal for 10 years in Czechia.”

Aside from the Czech Pirates, other political parties such as the KDU-ČSL (translated to the Christian and Democratic Union) oppose cannabis overall, but still agree that cultivation regulation is necessary. “We have long opposed the idea of marijuana becoming part of retail and wholesale trade, but we don’t see the point in unnecessarily persecuting people who grow a few plants for their own use,” said KDU-ČSL First Deputy Chairman/Chamber of Duties Jan Bartošek.

Some legislators such as Agriculture Minister Marek Výborný are concerned that increasing access to legal cannabis would eventually lead to increased spending on addiction and prevention programs by the government. Organizations such as Safe Cannabis Association, Czehemp, Legalizace.cz all showed support for the recent draft, especially removing penalties for possession, but expressed the “fundamental lack” of strict regulations and the plan to deal with illegal producers.

A draft for cannabis regulation has been a work in progress since October 2022, and was initially submitted by the Pirate Party. “Through taxation, we will get billions of crowns a year and at the same time prevent unnecessary expenses on repression. In addition, if we succeed in launching a regulated market together with the German one, it will mean huge opportunities for our economy in the field of exports,” the Pirate Party wrote.

In April 2023, the Czech Cabinet announced a national effort to fix its addiction crisis. It described a plan that would persist through 2025 including: establishing a legal and regulated a cannabis market, to change its current tax policy and bring in $CZK 15 billion per year, and to establish an agency to tackle prevention and treatment for those suffering from addiction to alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and gambling.

Also in April, the government proposed regulations such as allowing people to consume five grams per day, cultivation, requiring that consumers register in a database, and establishing annual fees for cultivations and distributors.

According to 2022 data from the Czech National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, more than 800,000 people in the Czech Republic use cannabis, and one-third of people have tried it in the past.

In March 2023, the Editor in Chief of the Czech Republic cannabis magazine Legalizace, Robert Veverka, was found guilty of “inciting the abuse of addictive substances” and “spreading drug addiction through his magazine.” The magazine included content on how to cultivate and process cannabis flower among other things, and occasionally included seed packets. In an exclusive interview, Veverka discussed his reaction to the verdict. “I feel branded, damaged, and personally disgusted. Unfortunately, the verdict lends credence to the prosecution’s case, which reflects an ignorance of cannabis legislation and is based on a general repressive view that positive information about cannabis is unacceptable to the establishment,” Veverka told Cannabis Therapy. “Moreover, according to my three-year prosecution and the court’s verdict, publishing is even an illegal activity.”

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Europe, surrounded by Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Poland. Germany in particular has been slowly working on its own draft regulations for cannabis, which could possibly be coming as soon as April 2024. Meanwhile, Austria has no plans for adult-use cannabis regulation, but medical cannabis is legal. The same goes for Poland, which doesn’t allow adult-use cannabis but does allow its use for medical cannabis. Both medical and adult-use is illegal in Slovakia, but it does allow limited cannabis cultivation for research purposes only. A European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction published in June 2023 stated that cannabis is the “most commonly consumed illicit drug in Europe.”

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Over one-fifth of adults in America reported using hemp-derived cannabinoids such as cannabidiol (CBD) and delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in a survey of responses collected last summer. 

Researchers not only identified the extent of how popular hemp-derived products are, but emphasized that states that prohibit cannabis lead to a higher rate of delta-8 THC use—probably because that’s all people can get legally in those states.

The study, “Past-Year Use Prevalence of Cannabidiol, Cannabigerol, Cannabinol, and Δ8-Tetrahydrocannabinol Among US Adults,” was published Dec. 13 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and referenced data gathered in a 2019 Gallup poll.

According to the new findings, 25.2% of adults reported past-year use of any emerging hemp-derived cannabinoid, including delta-8 THC, CBD, cannabigerol (CBG), cannabinol (CBN), etc. Of those, 21% of adults said they had used CBD specifically. Other products derived from hemp had lower rates of use: 11.9% of the survey respondents reported using delta-8 THC, 5.2% reported using CBG, and 4.4% reported using CBN—one of the least significant cannabinoids. 

The study was written by doctors Adrianne R. Wilson-Poe, Tristin Smith, Michael R. Elliott, Daniel J. Kruger, and Kevin F. Boehnke. “We provide the first estimates, to our knowledge, of past-year use prevalence of CBN, Δ8-THC, and CBG in the US. A Gallup poll reported that 14% of US adults personally used CBD in 2019; our reported 21% use prevalence of CBD represents a 50% increase over the past 4 years,” researchers wrote. 

“Prevalence of past-year cannabis use was somewhat higher than in other studies but was similarly associated with younger age, and past-year cannabis use was also associated with using emerging cannabinoid products,” the report continues. “Higher Δ8-THC use in states without medical or adult-use cannabis laws suggests that cannabis prohibition may unintentionally promote Δ8-THC use. There are few controlled human studies with emerging cannabinoids, but surveys suggest these products are used for treating sleep or pain¹ and in place of other drugs, including pain medications.”

The researchers noted that hemp products are frequently psychoactive, and these are the main compounds they’re concerned with.

“Based on these results, we support ongoing public health surveillance efforts targeting emerging cannabinoids because of lack of industry standards to protect consumers and similar pharmacology or effects of Δ9-THC and its hemp-derived impairing analogues (eg, Δ8-THC), which may be of particular concern for adolescents and young adults,” the study reports. “Study limitations included not assessing emerging cannabinoid use patterns (eg, dose and use frequency) and possible sampling biases, although NORC implements probability-based recruitment best practices for their AmeriSpeak panel. Our results highlight the importance of future research to better understand perceptions of safety, motivations for use, and outcomes of use of these products.”

Researchers cautioned that the products are not regulated and could put patients at the risk of adverse effects from unknown contaminants. 

The 2018 Farm Bill legalized the cultivation and sale of hemp, and it created a legal loophole, allowing hemp-derived products that are now sold online and at smoke shops, gas stations, and other retailers. 

Medscape reports that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate hemp-derived products; therefore, no federal standards exist for testing ingredients for safety or verification of ingredients as listed on labels. 

“If someone is picking up one of these products to use medically, and it ends up having heavy metals and pesticides and it doesn’t even have the active ingredient in it, that is not good,” said Kevin F. Boehnke, PhD, a research assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. 

Prohibition Leads to Delta-8 Use

In states where medical cannabis is legal, residents had 56% lower odds of using delta-8 THC, whereas those in states where adult-use cannabis is legal had 55% lower odds of using delta-8 THC than those surveyed in states without legalization. 

The findings suggest “cannabis prohibition may unintentionally promote delta-8-THC use,” Boehnke and his colleagues wrote. 

Alice Kuo, MD, PhD, a pediatrician and professor of internal medicine and pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California in Los Angeles, told Medscape that she has seen a large increase in patients who say they use cannabinoid products, and believe them to be “natural.”

“My official response to patients who ask me for my opinion is that I don’t have enough scientific background to give an opinion: If you think it helps you and you have no side effects, then I’m not going to tell you to stop,” Kuo said. 

The FDA warns about delta-8 THC and similar products, which it says are products that have not been proven to be safe.

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According to government data released this week by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, teen cannabis use stands at historic lows, NORML reports. 

The data comes from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health. And, apparently, just over 11% of kids between the ages of 12 and 17 admitted to having consumed a cannabis product within the last year. Of course, there is always a chance that this figure is higher (pun intended), given that the survey is self-reported. While this number is up from data in 202 and 2021, when teen cannabis use apparently reached historic lows, it clocks in below pre-pandemic (2019) levels.

Meanwhile, the same data shares that 23% of Americans ages 18 and over partook in cannabis during 2022. Over half admitted to having used marijuana at least once in their entire life. 

The data is consistent with findings from various other studies that have consistently shown that the implementation of statewide adult-use cannabis legalization has not led to increased rates of youth marijuana use, NORML reports. As High Times reported, recent data from Illinois found that teens who live near medical dispensaries are not more likely to partake in cannabis. Doug Smith, the director of the Center for Prevention Research and Development at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said: “We need to combat the hysteria that legalizing cannabis is going to have a wild and resounding impact on teens in terms of substance use rates and prevalence,” Smith added. “That’s simply not the case.”

And according to a report released in May 2023 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there was a significant decline in cannabis consumption among high school students, with a 30% drop in usage from 2011 to 2021. 

This period is particularly notable as it coincides with the legalization of cannabis in nearly half of all U.S. states. Additionally, the report reveals a parallel decrease in the number of students who consider themselves current users of cannabis, with the percentage falling by a similar margin. All of such findings show that conservative fear-mongering about adult-use cannabis is wrong. Legalizing marijuana does not lead to increased consumption among teens. 

“These findings ought to reassure lawmakers and the public that cannabis access for adults can be legally regulated in a manner that is safe, effective, and that does not significantly impact young people’s consumption habits,” NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano commented.

During the pandemic, sources say that cannabis use spiked. Everyone was locked inside, afraid, and with little to do but find a way to get by and manage. While there’s nothing wrong with using cannabis, the fact that numbers have reached pre-pandemic levels may indicate that public fears are somewhat calm and have returned to normal. However, there’s a troubling version of what “normal” means in America. Regarding news on cannabis and teens, while they may be using less cannabis than in the year prior, a recent study reveals that California cops are more likely to arrest Black teens. 

“Over the past four years, the data collected under the Racial and Identity Profiling Act has provided empirical evidence showing disparities in policing throughout California,” the report states. “This year’s data demonstrates the same trends in disparities for all aspects of law enforcement stops, from the reason for stop to actions taken during stop to results of stop.” 

While this data is not explicitly linked to cannabis, according to an October 2022 The Washington Post story, while the state may have legalized adult-use cannabis in July 2021, Virginia police are still more likely to arrest Black people than White folks for cannabis-related offenses. Crime and cannabis are inherently linked. As long as marijuana is illegal on a federal level cops will find a way to weaponize such laws into racist practices. 

Recently, around Halloween, headline after headline warned about the dangers of someone underage mistaking regular candy for THC-infused gummies, getting too stoned, and falling victim to everything that Reefer Madness warned about. As High Times reported, “nothing is scarier than cannabis-infused edibles ‘disguised’ as candy for some parents.” 

Citizens concerned about the effects of cannabis and teens would benefit from looking at racist arrest data rather than ruin the fun of Halloween with fear-mongering, in this reporter’s humble opinion. 

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The South African Police Service has confirmed that they will no longer be bothering to arrest anybody for personal-use cultivation or possession of cannabis.

“In short, possession, use and cultivation of cannabis by an adult, for personal consumption, in private, is permitted. In contrast, dealing in cannabis is not permitted, therefore commercialization of cannabis is still not legal in South Africa,” Brigadier Athlende Mathe told IOL on Wednesday (a brigadier is an officer in the British army above colonel and below major general).

According to the IOL report, cannabis has been decriminalized in South Africa for several years but a new SAPS police directive has cleared up a bit of confusion that began in 2018 when the South African Constitutional Court declared a law banning cannabis use in private as unconstitutional. 

“I am of the view that the prohibition of the performance of any activity in connection with the cultivation of cannabis by an adult in private for his or her personal consumption in private is inconsistent with the right to privacy entrenched in the Constitution and is constitutionally invalid,” said Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo in his 2018 ruling.

This ruling essentially made private use of cannabis legal in the country but police still technically had the power to arrest people for it because the regulations didn’t contain enough detail surrounding what specifically constituted legal vs illegal activity.

The new police directive would allow South African cannabis consumers to grow and consume their own cannabis provided they do it in a private space. What constitutes a private space is, as with all laws, somewhat up to interpretation.

“No arrests are to be made for personal and private cultivation and/or possession of cannabis, which activities are not criminal,” Brigadier Mathe said. “Furthermore, no arrests of alleged cannabis offenders should be effected merely for the reason to achieve predetermined targets and without assurance that there is indeed a crime that will be enrolled and prosecuted by the National Prosecuting Authority,” Mathe said, referring to police quotas maintaining officers make a certain amount of arrests each month for certain types of crimes.

According to the IOL report, a private space basically just means four walls and a roof, or anything that prevents others from accessing it. This could be a house, a shed, a car, a 4×4 Vivosun grow tent placed haphazardly outside with the roof cut off. It’s a little bit arbitrary and the cultivator does not need to technically own the space to be permitted to cultivate there. As long as you’re not selling the cannabis itself to anybody, SAPS said they will not arrest you.

These changes can be credited to updates in Section 1 of the Drugs and Trafficking Act, No. 140 of 1992, which expanded the definition of the phrase “deal in” to include a more rigid definition which IOL listed as follows:

“Under the newly defined Act, the phrase “deal in” involves any act in connection with the trans-shipment, importation, cultivation other than the cultivation of cannabis by an adult in a private place for his or her personal consumption in private, collection, manufacture, supply, prescription, administration, sale, transmission or exportation of the drug.”

As many Americans living in legal states can attest to, South Africa cannabis consumers still have a long confusing path to walk before they can truly breathe easy but this still marks a sizable step forward for cannabis legalization. South Africa is one of only six countries on the African continent where cannabis isn’t fully illegal. They are also the only African country to have decriminalized cannabis for recreational use. According to the IOL report, cannabis distributed by religions, tradition or cultural healers in small quantities is also regarded as private and personal, topping off a long list of gaping legal loopholes that will make for some very interesting years to come in South Africa. 

Maybe I’ll take a trip one of these days on the off chance I find somebody growing some serious heat in a minivan somewhere, but my buddy once told me they have lions just casually walking around over there so maybe not.

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This month marks six years since Uruguay launched legal recreational sales in the country, and newly released data illuminates how successful the cannabis program has been. 

The South American country’s Institute for Regulation and Control of Cannabis released the figures, which were detailed by Forbes.

Cannabis pharmacies in Uruguay “have sold 10,693,210 grams of marijuana between July 19, 2017, and July 19, 2023,” according to the news outlet.

“Currently, 61,509 registered individuals are eligible to access pharmacies for marijuana purchases. Moreover, there are three companies producing cannabis, and the sale of marijuana is authorized in 37 pharmacies distributed across ten departments throughout the country,” Forbes reported. “Moreover, there are presently 14,592 registered users for domestic cultivation and 10,486 members of cannabis clubs across 306 clubs.”

Uruguay made history nearly ten years ago, when it became the first country to legalize all stages of the cannabis process –– growing, sale and smoking –– in December of 2013.

Reuters at the time called it “a pioneering social experiment that will be closely watched by other nations debating drug liberalization.”

In fact, Uruguay had decriminalized possession of cannabis all the way back in 1974. But cultivation and sales of pot were not made legal until the passage of the 2013 law, which was framed as a bid to stymie the power of drug traffickers in the country. 

As Reuters explained at the time, although other “countries have decriminalized marijuana possession and the Netherlands allows its sale in coffee shops,” Uruguay became “the first nation to legalize the whole chain from growing the plant to buying and selling its leaves.”

Legal marijuana sales began in July of 2017, when the new law made “pharmacists into dealers,” as The New York Times put it. 

But as the Times explained back then, the new cannabis law’s implementation was not all hunky dory. The law had been “contentious for many Uruguayans,” noting that the “thorniest part of it — establishing a system for the state-controlled production and sale of marijuana — took years to work out.”

“Government officials worried that allowing a cannabis scene like the one in Amsterdam would make Uruguay a pariah among neighboring countries wary about legalization. So they developed an onerous registration process and ruled out marketing the country as a mecca for pot tourism. Under the law, only Uruguayan citizens and legal permanent residents are allowed to purchase or grow pot,” the Times reported then.

A report in 2020 found that legalization had not led to a spike in cannabis consumption among teenagers in Uruguay. 

The study, published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, found that there was “no evidence of an impact on cannabis use or the perceived risk of use” among youth in the country.

“Our findings provide some support for the thesis that Uruguay’s state regulatory approach to cannabis supply may minimize the impact of legalization on adolescent cannabis use,” the study said. “At the same time, our study period represents a period of transition: pharmacy access, by far the most popular means of access, was not available until the summer of 2017. Additional study will be important to assess the longer-term impacts of the fully implemented legalization regime on substance use outcomes.”

The study, which was billed as the “first empirical evidence on [the law’s] impacts on adolescent use of cannabis and related risks,” likewise found that there was not “an increase in student perception of cannabis availability” following legalization.

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